Thread: Some bench press questions

You should bench at least 3 times a week, if not every day.


j/k...... What your friend has you doing sounds fine.

I'm not a bodybuilding expert but i think your friend is on the right track. Working your chest 3 times a week might seem a little too much. Personally, i only do chest once a week. For my routine i do Chest/Back - day off - Legs/abs - day off - shoulders/tri/bi - day off and then i repeat the routine again. Make sure you guys do some warmup benching first then you can decide whether going light then heavy or heavy then light will be more effective for you.

Originally Posted by Metman07

Hi,
I've been weight training for a few months and I used to do bench press 3 times a week. Basically I'd try to do 3 sets 10. Once I could do 3 sets of 10, I'd move up an additional 10 lbs. Recently I started working out with a friend who prefers a highly specialized workout plan (legs one day, back shoulders and bicep one day and then chest and tricep one day).

So now we only do bench press once a week, but we go super hard. On the first set, we do the heaviest weight we can and try to do at least 4 reps. Then we keep decreasing the weight each set.

I have some doubts about whether this approach is effective. How many times per week should we do bench? Is it like curls, which should only be done about once per week? Or is it better to do it more times. Also, what should I do in terms of sets, reps etc.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Whew...thats alot of questions! Here is my 2 cents worth based on what I have done in the past and am currently doing. Bench press (flat?): I do decline and incline when I do benching...very little flat bench, I do this once every 4 or 5 days at the most, you dont want to do it too often. The type of routine you choose will vary greatly depending on what your goals are. If your trying to build more strength and bulk up a bit I would do 4 sets getting heavier each time with reps of 12,10,8,6 with your last 2 reps on your last set being very difficult to put up (failure). If your trying to get more defined then I would do 5 sets slowly getting heavier with reps of 14,12,10,10,8 concentrating on perfect form not as much on heavy weights. I dont do bench every single week though, I will do dumbells here and there whenever I feel like it to mix things up and to get a different pump going. By the way, the old "rule" of lifting used to be "if you dont do at least 4 sets of an excercise you might as well not do it at all"...Im not saying thats gospel by any means but its a good rule of thumb for a beginner.

Thanks for your responses guys.