North Carolina State University Athletics
Training Question Answer From Coach Wayne
11/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
Question: I had a question about how much and often one should vary their workout routines. I have seen little improvement in my bench press in the last month, but haven't varied my workout all that much. I know how you should concentrate on the little muscles in the chest and arms, as well as shoulders to increase your bench press. I also have been training by benching three times a week, and doing incline and declines. I vary my workouts with dumbells and machines, but it just seems that my chest is maxed out. Any insight would be helpful.
Steve
Raleigh, North Carolina
Answer: You are right about varying your routine from time to time. Changing exercises and/or rep patterns sometimes seems to wake things up a little. I generally go by the philosophy of "If things are going well, stay with it. When you seem to reach a plateau it's time to change something". There are many different combinations of exercises and rep patterns that work well producing continuous strength gains, I'll give you one that seems to work well for a lot of the athletes that I train, but first I want to say this. Many people that are involved in weight training enjoy lifting, and enjoy reading about and adding new exercises to their programs. Because of this, they often end up doing way too many exercises. Just about every time that I review someone's lifting routine because they seem to have leveled out, I find that they are doing so many different things that they're keeping their muscles so broken down they can't grow. If you're looking for strength gains, stick to the basic, major movements that allow your muscles to feel the most weight. More isn't necessarily better when trying to improve strength levels. Hit it hard, and then let the muscles rest. O.K., now that I've said that, here's a program that I would suggest you to follow for 4 weeks and see if your bench doesn't start moving up (assuming that you're eating properly and getting enough rest). If this workout includes exercises that you haven't been doing, take 3 to 4 weeks using light weights to lay a foundation before you start going heavy. Once that foundation is in place, begin to increase the weight each set to reach a point that you need a spot to complete the reps on the last set. When you can make them all clean and in good form, move the weight up. Also, don't use so much weight on the first two or three sets that you wear yourself out before you get to the last two. I feel like it's mainly the last two sets that bring on the strength gains, so you want to be able to use as much weight as possible on them. One more thing, keep a workout chart and record exactly what you do each workout and circle the rep number on sets that you needed assistance on. That way you'll always know exactly what you did on the last workout and you'll know exactly what you need to do to beat it. You won't beat the previous workout every time, but you'll move along better if you keep those records.
Here it is, let me know how it goes.
Monday & Thursday (first rep pattern is for Monday, the second for Thursday)
| Bench Press | 10,8,6,4,2,2 | 10,6,6,6,6 |
| Dumbbell Bench Press | 6,6,4,4 | 6,6,6,6 |
| Military Press | 6,4,2,2 | 6,6,6,6 |
| Shrug | 10,8,6,6 | 10,8,6,6 |
| Close Grip Bench Press | 6,6,6,6 | 6,6,6,6 |
Tuesday & Friday (first rep pattern is for Tuesday, the second for Friday)
| Deadlift | 6,6,4,2 | 6,6,6,6 |
| Squats | 10,8,6,4,2,2 | 10,6,6,6,6 |
| Bent over barbell row | 6,6,4,4 | 6,6,6,6 |
| Pullovers or lat pulldown | 6,6,4,4 | 6,6,6,6 |
| Straight bar curls | 6,4,4,4 | 6,6,6,6 |
Coach Wayne
