return bank program

For those who are not familiar with my name, I am a national level Strongman competitor in the United States. I lift rocks weighing just under 400 pounds, routinely flip a 900+ pound tire, and lift logs overhead. I eat regular food and drink protein powder, that’s it. My strength comes from my training, and that is why you can benefit from my programs. This program and the weights used are representative of my strength several years ago. Using this and other programs, my strength has soared to new heights, and so have yours!

This is a program I’ve used in the past when I haven’t been lifting weights in a while and wanted to get back in shape on the bench as quickly as possible. It’s heavy singles 3-4 times a week for as long as it works, which is usually 3-5 weeks. If you haven’t lifted anything in a while, you’ll need to have a couple of lighter bench workouts under your belt before embarking on this program. With that said, let me take you back to the first time I used this program and show you what I learned about it.

When I started this program, my previous top bench topless was 445. After taking some time off, I couldn’t get past 385 for a couple of months. I started this program planning to bench press 4 or 5 times a week, or basically as often as I could without overtraining. The first day I warmed up with 135 for a few reps, then 225, 315 and 365. At that point I could feel that I was close to my max for the day. Since the idea was to do several singles near my max, I did 385 and then a couple more singles at 365. Some days I didn’t do any assistance work, and other days I did some triceps and biceps work. The main program is simply heavy near max singles several times a week on the bench press. I repeated that workout 4 times that week and the weight seemed to feel a bit lighter by the end of the week.

When Monday came I was able to do 405 for 2 singles, 385 for 2 singles and 365 for 6 more singles. I got 405 in each of the other 3 workouts that week, but my total number of sets was more like 4 or 5 singles in each workout instead of 10. I felt like I could have been able to do a little more weight on a couple of occasions , but I didn’t want to overtrain.

The following week I was shocked when I pressed 435! I mean, I know I’ve done 445 in the past, but I was stuck at 385 for a couple of months and in just 2 full weeks of this program I was already up 50lbs! The next day I raised 440 and was starting to really believe in this crazy program. I only did one more workout that week and only went up to 405 to be fresh for next Monday.

On Monday, after 3 full weeks on the program, I lifted 450lbs without any support equipment. That’s an all-time personal record 5lbs, and 65lbs more than the 385 he had been stuck on for 2 months! I couldn’t believe it and wanted to stay on this show forever. That’s when I discovered that this program was only effective for a short time.

It is very difficult for the body to deal with the stress of heavy bench work 4 times a week. Suddenly the 405 seemed heavy and it was obvious to me that I had gotten to the point where I needed to cut my bench to once or twice a week again. Now I know the common belief is that all programs work for a while, but let’s face it: very few programs can boast a 20 or 30 pound strength gain in a few weeks, let alone 65 pounds. I also admit that it is much easier to regain strength than to gain it in the first place. My experience is that even though it’s easier to get your strength back, it’s still amazing to be able to break a plateau and set a personal best in just 3 weeks. Especially when the 3 week gain is 65lbs!

I am currently testing a variation of this program with a friend who is serving in the Armed Forces in the Middle East at the moment. I’ll be writing another article on what we learn when I return later this year.

Until next time,

Lift hard and lift heavy!

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