working to a max set on WS4SB

[LZD]

How crucial is rotating the exercises for improving strength? Will making improvements on my incline/close-grip etc translate to increases on my flat bench better than if I just do flat bench and try to improve that?

(asking with a totally open mind, btw)

 

[PCP]

How crucial is rotating the exercises for improving strength? Will making improvements on my incline/close-grip etc translate to increases on my flat bench better than if I just do flat bench and try to improve that?

(asking with a totally open mind, btw)

If you are planning on working near your max (lets say 95%+) you must rotate these exercises weekly or bi-weekly to avoid regressing on them. Making improvements on incline/close grip/floor press/boards/ WILL carry over to your raw max very nicely. Usually my raw bench is about 20-30lbs higher than my incline, 10lbs higher than my floor press, and 15-20lbs lighter than my 2board.

 

[LZD]

If you are planning on working near your max (lets say 95%+) you must rotate these exercises weekly or bi-weekly to avoid regressing on them. Making improvements on incline/close grip/floor press/boards/ WILL carry over to your raw max very nicely. Usually my raw bench is about 20-30lbs higher than my incline, 10lbs higher than my floor press, and 15-20lbs lighter than my 2board.

Oh I see. And do I rotate the assistance exercises as well? It seems like it would be tricky to figure out what weights to use for the assistance. Say I use flat bench one week as the main lift, with incline as assistance, then the next week I use incline as the ME lift, and flat bench as assistance... how do I work out what weight to use? Just make it a bit heavier than the last time I used that particular lift as assistance?

(sorry for the clumsy wording)

 

[PCP]

Oh I see. And do I rotate the assistance exercises as well? It seems like it would be tricky to figure out what weights to use for the assistance. Say I use flat bench one week as the main lift, with incline as assistance, then the next week I use incline as the ME lift, and flat bench as assistance... how do I work out what weight to use? Just make it a bit heavier than the last time I used that particular lift as assistance?

(sorry for the clumsy wording)

For assistance work do whatever. This can mean dumbbells, floor presses, boards, some machines can be useful... No two workouts should look exactly the same. On your max effort bench day I suggest some heavy low volume low rep assistance work, while on your second bench day I would suggest more high volume "pump" type shit to build size.

 

[LZD]

For assistance work do whatever. This can mean dumbbells, floor presses, boards, some machines can be useful... No two workouts should look exactly the same. On your max effort bench day I suggest some heavy low volume low rep assistance work, while on your second bench day I would suggest more high volume "pump" type shit to build size.

Ah, I see. I guess that sounds like it has some benefits, though the drawback would be, for me anyway, keeping track of my workouts and my improvements. But is the part I made bold and underlined controvertial? I only ask because it seems most people on these forums like doing the same workouts each week. Again I'm just curious.


edit: and does this also hold for noobies like me? thanks again

 

[PCP]

Ah, I see. I guess that sounds like it has some benefits, though the drawback would be, for me anyway, keeping track of my workouts and my improvements. But is the part I made bold and underlined controvertial? I only ask because it seems most people on these forums like doing the same workouts each week. Again I'm just curious.

If you do the same shit every week you will reach homeostasis. You need to challenge your body with new stressors so it doesn't stop adapting. Sure go ahead and pick some favorite exercises that you use to bring up your lifts, but don't do the exact same thing every week. My training has a predictable structure but the exercises are always begin swapped out when I stop making progress with them.

 

[LZD]

If you do the same shit every week you will reach homeostasis. You need to challenge your body with new stressors so it doesn't stop adapting. Sure go ahead and pick some favorite exercises that you use to bring up your lifts, but don't do the exact same thing every week. My training has a predictable structure but the exercises are always begin swapped out when I stop making progress with them.

Ah I see. Ok, thanks very much, I'll keep this in mind.

 

[Tosa]

Ah, I see. I guess that sounds like it has some benefits, though the drawback would be, for me anyway, keeping track of my workouts and my improvements. But is the part I made bold and underlined controvertial? I only ask because it seems most people on these forums like doing the same workouts each week. Again I'm just curious.


edit: and does this also hold for noobies like me? thanks again

Keep in mind that even if the same exercises are used, the intensity, reps, sets etc can be entirely different. So you can do things like westside, where you work up to heavy singles each week but rotate the lifts. Or you can do things were you mostly train the same lifts each week but change the load, reps and or sets. But having everything exactly the same as a previous workout doesn't make sense (the exception being something like how deloads are done in starting strength)

 

[LZD]

Just one last question: you gave me a good selection of exercises to rotate, as well as the ones on the WS4SB article, but how many of these should I use? Would it be enough to rotate between say, Flat Bench, Floor Press, and one other? If you used all six or so, you'd only be flat benching towards your max every six or so weeks, even less frequently if you used bi-weekly cycles. Is it therefore better to just use 2-3?

week 1. Flat
week 2. Floor
week 3. Incline
and repeat


or, what about

week 1. Flat
week 2. Floor/Incline/Close-grip
and repeat

(so in the latter doing flat bench every second week, and cycling the exercise to something different every other)


Sorry for all these questions!

 

[PCP]

Just one last question: you gave me a good selection of exercises to rotate, as well as the ones on the WS4SB article, but how many of these should I use? Would it be enough to rotate between say, Flat Bench, Floor Press, and one other? If you used all six or so, you'd only be flat benching towards your max every six or so weeks, even less frequently if you used bi-weekly cycles. Is it therefore better to just use 2-3?

You should use all of them. You are building your strength with these special exercises and testing your progress with the flat bench. If you try to flat bench to a max every second week you are going to be burned out in no time. In general the more special exercises you have, the longer you can go without hitting a wall.

On your second bench day you can practice form with submaximal weights on the flat bench