I think three or four bench days a week is a perfect place to start for a year or two, but once the weight gets serious you pretty much have to drop to two
100% agree Pete. I’m 34 and have been lifting for 15 years. I’m making the best progress on two bench days a week. Comp bench on Monday and usually larsens on Thursdays.
3x a week for bench is the sweet spot for me. I did the typical westside conjugate split of benching 2x a week for my first 10 years of lifting. I worked up to a 325 bench at 200lbs (not impressive i know). I had been stalled out at 325 for several months. Once i switched to benching 3x a week (dropping the volume accordingly mind you), i hit 335 easy after 6 weeks at the same bodyweight. Just my personal anecdote. I could not imagine squatting more than 2x a week though and tbh i couldn’t imagine deadlifting more than once a week😂
I’ve literally started implementing the frequency that you mentioned regarding the three lifts. The high frequency and volume back in the day was def something that would make even die hard powerlifters want to quit. The low frequency high intensity I feel is the way to go for the long run. At least for me.
Great video! We have to train smarter while training hard the more we age. Too much of anything can be self sabotaging. Appreciate your wisdom. Keep growing and keep up the great work champ. Let's be GREAT! 🔥🔥🔥
Lifetime natural and never seriously lifted before I was 40. When I was at my strongest deadlift (mid 500s), I trained it twice a week, but the second session was always lighter, and I got away with it because I didn't train squats. For example, I would come in Wednesday and work up to 450 lbs for 3 sets of 4, then on Saturday I would do snatch-grip deadlift at 350 for 5 x 5. On some weeks, I'd train lighter than that, doing deadlifts at 385 for 5 x 5 and my snatch-grip variant at 335 or even as light as 295 for 5 x 5. I felt strong. Whenever I tried to deadlift more frequently, I just fell apart. The closest thing I do to benching is close-grip floor presses off blocks (starting from dead at bottom). My elbows hate it whenever I try to do those more than twice a week. I got that lift up to 295 by mostly doing 5 x 5 at 205 or 225. My strict overhead press is in excess of 225 and it came from training it 3-4 times per week with high sets and low reps, but only for 1-2 weeks at a time or else I quickly ran into overuse issues.
I stalled for a long time benching 2x a while back, then immediately broke through it switching to 3x. With squats, anytime I've tried squatting once per week I feel really out of groove the next session. Deads though, I've recently switched to 1x per week and it's going great. The main thing now is my secondary/tertiary days are really low exertion, nothing higher than RPE 6 and usually more like RPE 5. Lets me still get in some good volume, and with the lower weight I can really focus on my technique and bar speed.
Have definitely seen this with myself. One big equipped bench day and then the rest of the week is pretty casual upper body stuff. Definitely a time/place for it.
Hey Pete, I ran Smolov Jr. four times back to back, and my bench went from 210 to 300 lb in roughly 13 weeks, at 22 years old. I perfected my form with a mirror above my bench and didn't get injured. However, Im now at a barrier where I've plateaued at around 300 lb. The MOST ESSENTIAL THING for people benching 4 times per week is a narrow grip width, in my opinion. If you bench with a wide grip 4-6 times per week, I think a pec tear is inevitable. But with a closer grip (imagine between competition grip and a narrow grip), I suffered 0 pec pain throughout 13 weeks of running Smolov Jr. back to back 4 times in a row, with 1 light deload week.
pete what did your lower body gym sessions look like while training for the ultra? did you still squat? I've ran two marathons in the past year coming from a powerlifting background and I just cannot seem to find a schedule that keeps my runs high quality while still squatting in the gym
For an over 50 lifter, i find benching 3 x a fortnight. Upper and a lower day training 3 days a week. I did try benching once a week but not quite enough. If i need a break i can cut a day from the week i do 2 bench days.
we just started splitting up our training so ill do comp singles at a sub max weight for tech practice once a week then hit my back offs on separate days so Ill be squatting and deadlifting twice a week (the deadlift day is very light speed kinda work) then we've added a 3rd day of density training on bench keeping the weight down but still gets hard as doing triples emom style. I think they key to upping the frequency for me is to not go all out all the time. It's good to leave thinking I can do a little more rather than hobbling out the gym as I pushed it and got hurt. We also use a velocity tracker to train to and try and stick within a speed parameter which kind of helps with not overshooting
I couldn't imagine us doing 3 days a week of bench. The recovery time it takes truly is absurd. The man knows how to coach. Anyone who isn't with him should jump on board for sure. He's been with me for all but one of my meets, and we have added incredible numbers.
You've benched 500 in competition, so you know! Your shoulders and pecs would get destroyed if we went to three days per week. I appreciate you brother!
@@peterubishfitness Your right about doing bench 2 times a week at the most especially for somebody like me who's 46 years old. Myself doing bench 1 time a week is better for me.
1 'heavy' day and 1 'light/technique' day seems to be my sweetspot. Especially when getting older and not having crazy goals imo it's key to minimize the wear and tear on the body. Enough recovery is key long term.
I find that benching 2x a week works best once you hit a stage where your recover every 96 to 120 hours. I do heavy and then a close grip bench heavy and I overhead press in the middle.
you know that feeling you have when you've been away from the gym for a few weeks.....everything feels ' impossible to lift' heavy, technique is off, aches and pains(oh, no!!!)?? that's me if I squat and deadlift once a week
I’ve felt that smaller guys can bench more frequently because of more flexibility in the shoulder girdle whereas bigger guys are more bound up there and also the strength difference definitely makes bigger stronger people bench less frequently
Lol, this video comes out, in the wake of me recently transitioning to benching five days a week 👀. For me, transitioning from benching two days to three, and then subsequently to four a while later yielded significant progress for me. Time will tell if 5 will continue to yield further dividends, but it seems to be going well for me, so far 🤘🏻.
I like benching 2x a week as well Pete. 3+ times a week is boring for me. I don’t like benching with tons of reps in reserve and low rpes. I don’t even care if it would potentially produce more gains it’s not enjoyable for me at all. I like one bench day with some delts and pecs after and the other day cg bench, dips and smoke the triceps. Having said that 5x5 on bench 3x a week when I was a newbie, just adding 5 pounds every time got my bench max to 275 pretty hassle free
I really hate to admit this, but when I get really strong, I have to drop my training from 4x per week to 3x per week and then alternate my deadlift and squats. So I go from bench, deadlift, bench, squat (repeat) to bench, deadlift, bench; next week bench, squat, bench (repeat).
One squat day, one bench day and one deadlift day a week is all I can recover from man. I have a very physical job at this point though so I'm always working very close if not slight over my MRV. I would really like to lift every other day when I can make it work for my schedule.
I agree with the bench and deadlift, but squatting once a week simply doesn't do it for me. I could see it perhaps with low bar, but with high bar I get better progress with 2
You grew up in a different era of powerlifting and on a different side than I know. From the people i know 4 benches a week is the standard and I have seen people benching 5 to 7 times a week. Debating between 2 and 3 is foreign to me ngl.
Hell I'm considering trying nucleus overload and do light chest work every day for the entirety of next month. Probably will rotate through bench, pushups, dips and flies to keep it from getting boring.
Training has changed so much in last 10 years I don't even know what to do cause most guys id lifted with in Tennessee are done or moved off but I ordered the micro minis as you said..
I bench 2 times per week and am having great results with this frequency. I would probably bench 3 times but it would get boring pretty quick if I did do so.
I think three or four bench days a week is a perfect place to start for a year or two, but once the weight gets serious you pretty much have to drop to two
This is what I've seen! And there's no one better to echo those sentiments than someone who has hit 500 in a competition like yourself!
I do training blocks of smolov atm. works well so far for me. Always hit a PR but usually bench 3 times a week when im not doing smolov.
I’m 54 been training 40 years. Agree with everything you said. Technique is critical too with age.
Lower intensity, higher frequency will really help anyone who is not an advanced lifter. Seasons of greasing the groove are so important.
Very true!
100% agree Pete. I’m 34 and have been lifting for 15 years. I’m making the best progress on two bench days a week. Comp bench on Monday and usually larsens on Thursdays.
Maybe it's more of an instance for us guys in our 30s. In my 20s, I was doing 3x most of the time
3x a week for bench is the sweet spot for me. I did the typical westside conjugate split of benching 2x a week for my first 10 years of lifting. I worked up to a 325 bench at 200lbs (not impressive i know). I had been stalled out at 325 for several months. Once i switched to benching 3x a week (dropping the volume accordingly mind you), i hit 335 easy after 6 weeks at the same bodyweight. Just my personal anecdote. I could not imagine squatting more than 2x a week though and tbh i couldn’t imagine deadlifting more than once a week😂
I saw success with 3x per week for awhile, but now I really like that 2x per week with high volume and it works great!
I’ve literally started implementing the frequency that you mentioned regarding the three lifts.
The high frequency and volume back in the day was def something that would make even die hard powerlifters want to quit.
The low frequency high intensity I feel is the way to go for the long run.
At least for me.
Great video! We have to train smarter while training hard the more we age. Too much of anything can be self sabotaging. Appreciate your wisdom. Keep growing and keep up the great work champ. Let's be GREAT! 🔥🔥🔥
Thank you for the kind words brother!
Lifetime natural and never seriously lifted before I was 40. When I was at my strongest deadlift (mid 500s), I trained it twice a week, but the second session was always lighter, and I got away with it because I didn't train squats. For example, I would come in Wednesday and work up to 450 lbs for 3 sets of 4, then on Saturday I would do snatch-grip deadlift at 350 for 5 x 5.
On some weeks, I'd train lighter than that, doing deadlifts at 385 for 5 x 5 and my snatch-grip variant at 335 or even as light as 295 for 5 x 5. I felt strong. Whenever I tried to deadlift more frequently, I just fell apart.
The closest thing I do to benching is close-grip floor presses off blocks (starting from dead at bottom). My elbows hate it whenever I try to do those more than twice a week. I got that lift up to 295 by mostly doing 5 x 5 at 205 or 225. My strict overhead press is in excess of 225 and it came from training it 3-4 times per week with high sets and low reps, but only for 1-2 weeks at a time or else I quickly ran into overuse issues.
I stalled for a long time benching 2x a while back, then immediately broke through it switching to 3x. With squats, anytime I've tried squatting once per week I feel really out of groove the next session. Deads though, I've recently switched to 1x per week and it's going great. The main thing now is my secondary/tertiary days are really low exertion, nothing higher than RPE 6 and usually more like RPE 5. Lets me still get in some good volume, and with the lower weight I can really focus on my technique and bar speed.
3x works in a lot of instances, I've gone back and forth with it!
Have definitely seen this with myself. One big equipped bench day and then the rest of the week is pretty casual upper body stuff. Definitely a time/place for it.
Hey Pete, I ran Smolov Jr. four times back to back, and my bench went from 210 to 300 lb in roughly 13 weeks, at 22 years old. I perfected my form with a mirror above my bench and didn't get injured. However, Im now at a barrier where I've plateaued at around 300 lb.
The MOST ESSENTIAL THING for people benching 4 times per week is a narrow grip width, in my opinion. If you bench with a wide grip 4-6 times per week, I think a pec tear is inevitable. But with a closer grip (imagine between competition grip and a narrow grip), I suffered 0 pec pain throughout 13 weeks of running Smolov Jr. back to back 4 times in a row, with 1 light deload week.
U think pec tear is inevitable even while natural?
Great content. What’s your thought on close grip bench on a non bench specific day? I.e. hitting arms on a separate day and including close grip
Up, keep up the good work Pete. I bench between 4 and 2 times a week depending on the period of the year
pete what did your lower body gym sessions look like while training for the ultra? did you still squat? I've ran two marathons in the past year coming from a powerlifting background and I just cannot seem to find a schedule that keeps my runs high quality while still squatting in the gym
For an over 50 lifter, i find benching 3 x a fortnight. Upper and a lower day training 3 days a week. I did try benching once a week but not quite enough. If i need a break i can cut a day from the week i do 2 bench days.
we just started splitting up our training so ill do comp singles at a sub max weight for tech practice once a week then hit my back offs on separate days so Ill be squatting and deadlifting twice a week (the deadlift day is very light speed kinda work) then we've added a 3rd day of density training on bench keeping the weight down but still gets hard as doing triples emom style. I think they key to upping the frequency for me is to not go all out all the time. It's good to leave thinking I can do a little more rather than hobbling out the gym as I pushed it and got hurt. We also use a velocity tracker to train to and try and stick within a speed parameter which kind of helps with not overshooting
I couldn't imagine us doing 3 days a week of bench. The recovery time it takes truly is absurd. The man knows how to coach. Anyone who isn't with him should jump on board for sure. He's been with me for all but one of my meets, and we have added incredible numbers.
You've benched 500 in competition, so you know! Your shoulders and pecs would get destroyed if we went to three days per week. I appreciate you brother!
@@peterubishfitness Your right about doing bench 2 times a week at the most especially for somebody like me who's 46 years old. Myself doing bench 1 time a week is better for me.
Pete we gotta get you a mic stand lol dig your videos man
I kind of dig this setup haha
@@peterubishfitnessholding the mic engages the bicep and that vein! Boom!
I think it looks better this because he have 1 arm being busy instead the awakward 2 hands doing whatever 😂.
1 'heavy' day and 1 'light/technique' day seems to be my sweetspot. Especially when getting older and not having crazy goals imo it's key to minimize the wear and tear on the body. Enough recovery is key long term.
I find that benching 2x a week works best once you hit a stage where your recover every 96 to 120 hours. I do heavy and then a close grip bench heavy and I overhead press in the middle.
you know that feeling you have when you've been away from the gym for a few weeks.....everything feels ' impossible to lift' heavy, technique is off, aches and pains(oh, no!!!)?? that's me if I squat and deadlift once a week
Everyone is different, I just know my low back really recovers a heck of a lot better with that week in-between!
I’ve felt that smaller guys can bench more frequently because of more flexibility in the shoulder girdle whereas bigger guys are more bound up there and also the strength difference definitely makes bigger stronger people bench less frequently
Some of the best benchers right now in powerlifting, specially below 100kg bench 3-4 times a week. Weight varies obviously
Lol, this video comes out, in the wake of me recently transitioning to benching five days a week 👀.
For me, transitioning from benching two days to three, and then subsequently to four a while later yielded significant progress for me. Time will tell if 5 will continue to yield further dividends, but it seems to be going well for me, so far 🤘🏻.
1x squat and deadlift, 2x bench has gotten me my best results by far.
I like benching 2x a week as well Pete. 3+ times a week is boring for me. I don’t like benching with tons of reps in reserve and low rpes. I don’t even care if it would potentially produce more gains it’s not enjoyable for me at all.
I like one bench day with some delts and pecs after and the other day cg bench, dips and smoke the triceps.
Having said that 5x5 on bench 3x a week when I was a newbie, just adding 5 pounds every time got my bench max to 275 pretty hassle free
I really hate to admit this, but when I get really strong, I have to drop my training from 4x per week to 3x per week and then alternate my deadlift and squats. So I go from bench, deadlift, bench, squat (repeat) to bench, deadlift, bench; next week bench, squat, bench (repeat).
Variety is key, imo. Find something that works, do it until it slows / stops, then find something new.
Repeat.
One squat day, one bench day and one deadlift day a week is all I can recover from man. I have a very physical job at this point though so I'm always working very close if not slight over my MRV. I would really like to lift every other day when I can make it work for my schedule.
I agree with the bench and deadlift, but squatting once a week simply doesn't do it for me. I could see it perhaps with low bar, but with high bar I get better progress with 2
You grew up in a different era of powerlifting and on a different side than I know. From the people i know 4 benches a week is the standard and I have seen people benching 5 to 7 times a week. Debating between 2 and 3 is foreign to me ngl.
You can tell hes been out of the game, best benchers now all hit super high frequency. It's about mastering the efficiency
Hell I'm considering trying nucleus overload and do light chest work every day for the entirety of next month. Probably will rotate through bench, pushups, dips and flies to keep it from getting boring.
what about heavy and light days? or main days and technical/variation days?
benched 4x a week for a while... one heavy day and one light day with your normal competition bench... and two variation days...
Ive benched 260kg drug free and i put it down to benching 3-4 times aweek. As long as you're eating huge you can do it
2 is money for bench and OHP, got to 270 in 6 months after 8 years off of no physicla activity
Loking much healthier since you stopped taking gear! gratz!
squat and deadlift every 5 days and bench press every 4 days
How many days per week do you bench?
Twice. Plus an overhead pressing day in the middle
I bench 4 times per week with one more day of dumbell benching
1 flat bench, 2 incline. Strength has been climbing steadily since switching to this.
Training has changed so much in last 10 years I don't even know what to do cause most guys id lifted with in Tennessee are done or moved off but I ordered the micro minis as you said..
2x
As a laborer in industrial concrete, l did deads first, then squats on a Saturday, its all l could handle and be married with children
👍💪
2 BENCH DAYS A WEEK IS PERFECT, ONE SQUAT DAY AND ONE DEADLIFT, THATS ALL YOU NEED. I HAVE BEEN LIFTING FOR 57 YEARS, I SHOULD KNOW.
I bench 2 times per week and am having great results with this frequency. I would probably bench 3 times but it would get boring pretty quick if I did do so.