T-Bone Strength Post Meet Plans

The meet hasn't come and gone yet but that doesn't mean post meet plans aren't already in order. They are. In fact I'm very much looking forward to this program as it will be a big stepping stone for me. I'm going to go on a radical diet of eating nothing but clean food, no candy, chips, soda, or anything good. Only good stuff, I will however allow myself my energy drinks in the morning which are essential to kick my day off in the right manner.

My diet is something I'll log privately and keep mainly to myself, however I have planned for one BIG thing this upcoming training cycle: Bench 500 raw sooner rather than later.

On a good day I'm fairly sure I can do 505 in a slingshot no problem. Problem is I want to do 500 without a slingshot. According to my calculations I theoretically should be right around a 200-205kg raw bench which puts me in the neighborhood of 440-455. That isn't good enough for where I want to be. I need to be eventually in the high 500's to the low 600's but I have to take the step to get there and bench 505 first. In order to that I have to do the following:

Work on raw lockout
Work on shirted lockout
Include much more resistance from bands and chains (oh yes there will be chains)
Increase speed off the chest

For the most part if I can get a weight off of my chest to around 3-board height, I can push it up no problem. With bigger weights raw, I've noticed my pop off the chest just isn't what it use to be. I'm going to address this problem by introducing the following:

More speed work with bands
Hypertrophy work with barbell and dumbbell benching
Increase lat and rear delt strength

My current plan will include 3 week waves emphasizing a 9x3 or a 12x3 matrix that will allow me to work with multiple grips plus an overload slingshot set. However, I will not include my slingshot on my speed day until I have gone through a full 3 week wave. The current plan on my DE Day is as follows:

Week1:45% of my current 1RM raw with doubled mini's 9x3
Week2:50% of my current 1RM raw with doubled mini's 9x3
Week3:55% of my current 1RM raw with doubled mini's 9x3

After this wave I will increase the band tension by doing the following:

Week1:45% of my current 1RM raw with quaded mini's 9x3
Overload Slingshot Set: Will add 20% of the 45% to add more bar weight 3x3
Week2:50% of my current 1RM raw with quaded mini's 9x3
Overload Slingshot Set: Will add 25% of the 50% to add more bar weight 3x3
Week3:55% of my current 1RM raw with quaded mini's 9x3
Overload Slingshot Set: Will add 30% of the 55% to add more bar weight 3x3

After this 6 week wave I will evaluate where I am in terms of speed and where I feel my 1RM is on the bench. Another change will be my scheduling of lifts. Normally my training split looked like the following:

Monday: DE Bench and Lockout
Thursday: ME Bench
Friday: Back and Legs

In reading my past logs I looked as where I benefited the most in my raw bench. I had to go way back when my raw bench went from 350ish to just a little over 400 in a short amount of time. I believe a huge key to that was not only that I was training with bands all the time but was my recovery time. My ME bench was on a Monday and my DE bench was on a Friday. That was a lot of time to allow my body to recover. Recovery is the main key for any lifter to succeed and I believe it will be not only with me but with Big Steve. So my new training split will look like this:

Sunday: DE Bench and Lockout
Thursday: ME Bench
Friday: Back and Legs

Adding the extra day to recover can only be beneficial. Plus with the diet I have planned out, it can only benefit me going forward towards the 700lb mark in the bench. I will also be adding in more ice baths, contrast showers, and new supplements to aid in my recovery (More amino acids, fish and flax seed oil, and glucosamine).

The goal is to be a 700lb+ bencher by the end of the year. I would love to qualify and compete at the pro meets at the LA Fit Expo and the MR. Olympia