Chapter III Dynamic Effort Methods

Speed Work on the Power Rack Future Method

Place bands at the top of the power rack to reduce the load in the bottom.
Band tension in the bottom is essential. The sets and reps remain the same— This teaches acceleration with real bar weight.
nine sets of three repetitions. Use the power rack for speed work. After lower-
ing the bar to a pin at just above the chest, relax the arms for a second. Then,
press explosively to the lockout.

Future method

By experimenting with band tension, you can regulate the reduction of bar
weight at the chest. This method was first used in the Soviet training system.
You can also place bands, kettlebells, or chains on the bar to create a different
contrast.
Power rack speed work

Ballistic Benching
Bands or chains should be used for all speed work. Reps and sets remain the
same. Lower the bar as quickly as
possible. Then, stop it one to
Speed Work with Kettlebells three inches off of the chest
and reverse it to lockout. This
Replace the bands or chains on the bar system builds tremendous re-
with a moderate sized kettlebell. The versing strength. Remember
kettlebell will produce a somewhat to use this only on speed-
unstable and chaotic state. This will strength day. This can be
teach you to control the bar, which will done with chains and bands.
lead to better technique at the bottom The most difficult method is
as well as at the top. Each rep must to attach a moderate kettle-
be held at the lockout. Sets and reps bell to the bar in addition to Kettlebells plus weight
should be the same as with all speed weight.
work. See for a picture showing work
with kettlebells. This is also considered the submaximal method.
Speed work with kettlebells

18 19
 Sample Speed Workouts

Chapter IV
Jason Fry’s Workout
SAMPLE SPEED At a body weight of 194 lbs, Jason Fry has a competition bench of 700 lbs

WORkOuTS
WORkOuT with a shirt. For his workout, he floor presses 470 lbs without a shirt. Then,
he does nine sets of three reps with 205 lbs of bar weight followed by two
sets of 15 reps with 185 lbs and 80–120 lbs of chains using a three-inch cam-
bered bar. He does one set with a close grip and one set with an extra wide
grip.

Fred also does dumbbell extensions with his elbows out to the sides on a
steep incline with 70 lbs for seven sets of eight reps followed by six sets of
dumbbell rows for 8–12 reps with varied weight for each set. He then does
three sets of high dumbbell shrugs for 12–15 reps, four sets of inverted
dumbbell flies for the rear delts, and some hammer curls.
Fred Boldt’s Workout

F
red Boldt, at a body weight of 181 lbs, benches 655 lbs with a bench shirt
in competition. For his workout, he floor presses 475 lbs without a shirt
and performs nine sets of three reps with 205 lbs of bar weight. He does
one set with mini bands, which is equal to 40 lbs at his chest and 85 lbs at
lockout. Then, he does two sets of 20 reps of dumbbell presses on a flat bench
using 100-lb dumbbells. His best with 100 lbs is 34 reps.

Fred performs five sets of ten reps of dumbbell rollback extensions with 60
lbs followed by six sets of chest supported rows with a varied weight. He also
does three sets of hammer curls. Fred always mixes up special
exercises.

Jason Fry

Greg Panora’s Workout

Greg Panora has a body weight of 262 lbs. In competition, he bench presses
775 lbs and floor presses 530 lbs. For his workout, he floor presses for nine
sets of three reps with 185 lbs of bar weight and 105 lbs of kettlebells. He
does two sets of decline dumbbell presses for 20 reps with 125 lbs followed
by five sets of barbell rows with 6–8 reps with 275–315 lbs. He does JM
presses for three sets of six reps with 275–365 lbs, three sets of dumbbell
power cleans, five sets of side dumbbell raises, and two sets of dumbbell
shrugs with two sets of reverse curls.
Fred Boldt

21
Chapter IV Sample Speed Workouts

George Halbert’s Workout

George Halbert holds 12 world records plus a 625-lb raw competition bench.
For his workout, he may do nine sets of three reps with 315 lbs using a
cambered bar. He adds mini bands for one set and uses two different grips—a
close grip and a very wide grip. Sometimes, he uses mini bands for two sets of
the first four or five sets and then removes the bands for a set. This contrast
Greg Pandora builds tremendous reactive abilities and is called the shock method.

George may do two sets of steep dumbbell inclines with a moderate weight
for him, which is 110–155 lbs for 15 reps per set. This concludes his workout
Mike Wolf’s Workout for the day.
He trains the bench five times a week—once during his speed workout, once
Mike Wolf has a body weight of 341 lbs. His competition bench is 859 lbs during his max effort workout, and three times during his special exercise
with a shirt and 600 lbs raw. For his workout, he benches nine sets of three workouts. He usually does his special exercise workouts in between his speed
reps with 275 lbs of bar weight with monster mini bands, which give him 60 workouts and his max effort workouts.
lbs at his chest and 130 lbs at lockout. Mike also does two sets of mild incline
bench with 275lbs. For one set, he uses a close grip, and for another set, he All of the workouts discussed are actual workouts. The key is to constantly
uses a wide grip. He then does three sets of 5-board presses with 200 lbs of change the grips, the contrast methods, and the special exercises. The central
band tension, five sets of low pulley rows using a close grip and a wide grip, nervous system will never fail. By changing the volume for each muscle, you’ll
three sets of high dumbbell shrugs, three sets on the rear delt machine, and seldom overtrain. A reminder—speed work can be performed on the floor
three sets of hammer curls. press with rack pins using the future method.

Mike Wolf George Halbert

22 23
 Perioidization for Dynamic Day

Chapter V
Wave 3
PERiODizATiON ffOR Perform the bench press with chains suspended from the bar. Roughly one

DYNAMiC DAY half of the chain weight should be on the floor with the bar in the rack. Per-
form nine sets of three reps very explosively. After the nine sets, do two sets
of push-ups for 15–25 reps followed by triceps work of your choice. Next,
perform upper back work and rear and side delt work. All workouts can end
with hammer curls.

Wave 4
Do nine sets of three reps off of the power rack with pins. Always relax your
muscle tension after the bar touches the pins. Change grips on each set.

Speed work, or the dynamic method, is performed using sub- After the nine sets of bench work, do two sets of mild incline presses for 15
maximal weights with maximal [Link] produces a fast rate reps with moderate weight. Work the triceps with your choice of extensions.
of force development. Remember, force equals mass times ac- Move to upper back work followed by rear and side delt work. If you choose,
end your workout with some hammer curls.
celeration.
Wave 5

A
t Westside, we use a three-week pendulum phase. This eliminates accom-
Perform nine sets of three reps with kettlebells plus bar weight. For example,
modation, otherwise known as staleness, by changing the training every
a 450-lb raw bencher should use 105 lbs of kettlebells hanging under the bar
three weeks. By doing this, we have a period of delayed transformation in
with 135–155 lbs of bar weight. This should be followed up with two sets of
our training, which leads to constant performance growth. Using this system,
20 reps of body weight dips. Move on to a triceps exercise. You can some-
we can make progress year after year. Here are some examples:
times superset these with light triceps push-downs. Finish up with some upper
back work including lats and rear and side delts and some hammer curls.
Wave 1
Perform nine sets of three reps with 45–50 percent bar weight plus mini
Week 6
bands. Use three different grips. For the first grip, your index finger should
touch the smooth part of the bar. For the second grip, move out two inches. Perform nine sets of three reps with 40–50 percent bar weight plus chains.
For the third grip, your little finger should touch the power ring. Our mini However, this time, double up a light jump stretch band and place it over
bands provide 85 lbs at lockout and 40 lbs at the chest. After the speed bench, the bar. Then, hang two or three sets of 5/8-inch chains through the looped
do moderate dumbbells and then triceps extensions. Rotate between barbell bands. This will displace more of the chain weight off the floor at all times
extensions and sometimes the JM press or dumbbells rolled back with your and will make the press more unstable because the bands will flex up and
elbows out to the side. Next, do upper back work and rear and side delt work. down somewhat.

After the speed bench, do two sets of dumbbell presses while sitting on the
Wave 2 floor with your legs straight out in front of you. Next, do lats and upper back
Use monster minis for nine sets of three reps with 45–50 percent. Use the work. Rotate the exercises as often as it takes so that you’re not bored. Select
three grips mentioned in wave one. Move on to two sets of 15 reps with a one movement from triceps exercises, bar extensions, dumbbells extensions,
barbell. Set your grip very close for one set and very wide for the second set. and JM presses. Superset these with light push-downs. Next, do some upper
Next, perform a triceps movement of your choosing followed by upper back back work including lats and rear and side delts. Add in some shrugs for this
and rear and side delt work. wave and some hammer curls.

25
Chapter V Perioidization for Dynamic Day

Week 7 Special Notes

Perform nine sets of three reps with roughly 35 percent of your 1RM raw Supersetting the light push-downs or light dumbbell extensions with heavy,
plus a light band. This band will provide 200 lbs at the top so you’ll be press- low rep barbell or heavy dumbbell extensions have produced some amaz-
ing more band weight than bar weight. This is very difficult. Don’t forget to ing results. By using the superset system, Travis Bell’s bench went from 630
use three different grips. Move on to upper back and lats and then triceps. lbs to 700 lbs in six months at a body weight of 246 lbs. At a body
Whenever possible, do two sets of high reps of dumbbell presses at differ- weight of 308 lbs, Jeff Peci jumped from a stalled 725-lb bench to
ent angles or two sets of the bench with one wide grip and one close grip for an 825-lb bench in roughly six months.
easy sets of 15 reps. Change the angles whenever you like. Follow this up with
upper back work, lats work, two sets of high rep push-ups, dumbbells presses,
wide and close grip benches or dips, triceps work, rear and side delt work, and You won’t become any faster or stronger after three weeks on
hammer curls. the same cycle because of the biological law of accommoda-
tion. This is often considered a general law of biology (V.M.
Week 8 Zatsiorsky).

Perform nine sets of three reps of floor presses. Drape chains over the bar
sleeve for two or three sets. Make sure that you use the correct percentage. At
Westside, we prefer to do 40 percent of a 1RM in the floor press for speed
benching. Remember to relax the arms on the floor and keep your butt on the
floor. Don’t cheat. Do two sets of high rep push-ups for 25–50 reps. Next,
superset light push-downs with heavy dumbbell or barbell extensions. Then,
perform upper back and lat work, rear and side delt work, and hammer curls.

Week 9
Perform dumbbell floor presses or regular flat dumbbell presses on a bench.
Use a dumbbell about equal to 50 percent of the barbell weight that you use
for speed work. For example, if you use 200 lbs for speed work, use 100-lb
dumbbells. Do eight sets of six reps. When your speed work with the dumb-
bells is done, use a barbell for the two sets of high rep work. Superset light
dumbbell extensions with heavy barbell extensions. Follow this up with upper
back and lat work, rear and side delt raises, and hammer curls.

Wave 10
Perform nine sets of three reps with a special bar—a three- or five-inch cam-
bered bar, an arch bar, a bow bar, or possibly a one-inch board press or foam
on the chest. Of course, do the two sets of high reps and then follow up with
triceps, upper back and lat work, rear and side delt raises, and some hammer
curls.

26 27
 Maximal Effort Method

Chapter VI
more exercises to choose from. Today, this system is known as the conjugant
MAxiMAL EffffORT system.

METHOD
METHO At Westside in 1970, I found the same problem and switched a major exercise
each week. I found it most effective to switch the bar exercise each week. The
Westside conjugant system is a mixture of the Soviet and Bulgarian systems
combined with my 38 years of experimentation.
Here’s a list of maximal effort workouts that should be switched each week.

Max Effort Rack Work

For max effort rack work, lower the bar to a particular pin, relax, and press to
lockout. The Westside rack adjusts at each inch so we have about 12 pressing
points to start from. You can eliminate the eccentric phase by crawling under
the bar and pressing to lockout. This rack work yields 24 possibilities for new
The maximal effort method is superior to all strength building records. By using a close grip and a wide grip, you’ve doubled the possibili-
methods to develop intramuscular and intermuscular coordina- ties to 48. By adding chain weight with wide and close grips, you’ve added 24
[Link] Bulgarian maximal effort system was the most suc- more possibilities, bringing the total to 72. By attaching bands with close and
cessful system developed. It used primarily six lifts—the front wide grips, 24 more records can be made, bringing the total to 86. By using
different amounts of chains or different band tensions, the possibilities are
and back squat, the power clean, the power snatch, the clean endless.
and jerk, and the full snatch. Because there was only one coach,
one system was taught at the national training [Link] ju-
niors trained with the seniors or with the Bulgarian national
team. If you couldn’t handle the rigors of this system, you were
[Link] perform this system, you had to be a model lifter.
This means that you had to be built to succeed in a few cho-
sen training lifts plus be able to handle the high emotional state
needed to constantly handle larger and larger loads.

O
n the other hand, the Russian maximal effort method system developed
a lifter over a long period of time and shaped up his weaknesses. The
Russians found that after three consecutive weeks of weight above 90
percent, the mental and physical stress was too great and the lifters would fail. Max effort rack work
To cure this problem, they introduced a period of time that moved the training
every three weeks (i.e. the three-week wave).

Conjugate System
Officially developed in 1972 by the Soviets in a club known as the Dynamo
Club, this early research was conducted with 25–40 exercises. With 70 highly-
ranked Olympic lifters participating, only one was satisfied. The rest wanted

29
Chapter VI Maximal Effort Method

Floor Presses Board presses can be done with or without a bench shirt. This possibility will
render ten records. Using either a close grip or a wide grip will bring about
Floor presses can be done ten additional records.
using wide or close grips,
chains or bands over the
bar, or with the future
Band Board Presses
method. They can also be There are five band tensions
performed while lying on to use with board presses. If
foam and with or without a you use a wide and a close grip
bench shirt. to establish records, you have
the possibility of 50 new re-
cords. It’s important to move
Floor press heavy weight all the time. The
Board Presses key is to change the ratio of
bar weight and band tension.
At the original Westside in Culver City, California, Bill West and George Frenn
were doing board presses in the late 1960s. The board presses played a big Foam Presses
role in bench press history. I did board pressing in the early 1970s with little
success because my triceps were weak. I stopped doing them for years until To build optimal eccentrics,
Jesse Kellum convinced me to add them again in 1990. Thanks Jesse. using foam is a must. This movement also incorporates the future method,
meaning that the weights you handle today, you will lift in the future. Jason
Fry lowered 700 lbs on to the foam blocks in a T-shirt and benched 700
lbs in a meet with Rage X. Tony Bolognone benched 780 lbs in a T-shirt by
lowering the bar on to the foam and benched 785 lbs in a Metal denim shirt
after squatting 1050 lbs.
You can use either a wide or a close grip for foam presses. You can also use
either a bench shirt or a T-shirt with these.

Board presses

Training with Board Presses at Westside

Place either a 2-board or 5-board on the chest. (This is close to ten inches on
the chest.) Lower the bar to the board, relax the arms, and press to lockout.
(You can keep tension in the arms if you want; this is completely up to the
individual.) The more boards that you have, the more the triceps will be
isolated. If your triceps are weak, you may want to start off with 3-boards and Foam press
work up to 4- or 5-boards.

30 31
Chapter VI

Chapter VII
Future Method
This system makes it FORTY-FiVE MAx
EffORT WORkOuTS
possible to unload some
of the bar weight in the
bottom of the bench.
This will help develop an
optimal eccentric phase
and teach acceleration in
the concentric phase.

Future method

By attaching a set of bands at the top of a power rack to cradle the bar, the The max effort workout must be changed each [Link] will
bar can float at chest level. At Westside, a strong set of bands supports 155 allow you to lift 100 percent of your potential each week, year
lbs at chest level. Medium bands support 95 lbs, and a light set of bands holds in and year out. It also eliminates accommodation. If you con-
65 lbs at chest level. This is mostly done without bench shirts, but you can tinue to do the same constant stimulus, you will decrease the
use one if you want. This creates super-maximal training. Use a close grip or a
positive effects over time.
wide grip. You can also place boards on the chest. This works well. To create a

S
greater contrast, attach chains. trength is measured in time, not weight. If you perform a special exercise
that takes the same amount of time to complete it as with a classical lift, it
Incline/Decline Workouts will have a positive effect on the classical lift. This is the conjugant system,
which is a weekly, monthly, and yearly system that combines all special strengths
Two old favorites at Westside are the incline press and the decline press. We together.
use different angles, ranging from mild to very steep, and we use both wide
grips and close grips. We use barbells and dumbbells, and we perform these Here’s a sample six-week max effort workout:
either lowered off the chest or high off the chest.

When we use barbells, we perform max singles up to six reps, and the work- Workout 1: Floor press
out is for maximal strength. When we use dumbbells, we perform a minimum Work up to a 1RM. The floor press can be done as follows:
of eight reps up to 30 reps, and the workout is for the hypertrophy phase.
• Pure weight floor press
Incline/decline workouts
• Floor press with chains
• Floor press with bands
• Floor press with a close grip
• Floor press with a moderate grip
• Floor press with a wide grip

Only floor press for one week and then move on to a different special exer-
cise. After the floor press, perform triceps work, lat and upper back work, side
and rear delt work, and hammer curls.

32
Chapter VII Forty-Five Max Effort Workouts

Workout 2: I suggest that you do two pins per workout.

Band pressing and its variations They should look like this:

• Mini band max Workout 1: At chest and three inches off the chest
• Monster band max Workout 2: Six inches off the chest and nine inches
• Light band max off the chest
• Average band max Workout 3: Twelve inches off the chest and fifteen
• Strong band max inches off the chest

Remember, after a max effort band workout, you must switch each week to a Remember to perform rack work for one week and then move on to other
new workout. After a band max effort workout, perform some triceps work, special exercises. After the rack workout, move on to triceps, lats, upper back,
lat and upper back work, rear and side delt work, and some hammer curls. and rear and side delt work. Then perform hammer curls. When you’re up to
it, do two sets of high rep work dumbbells, push-ups, or wide and close grip
barbell work just like on speed day.
Workout 3:
Future method with the bands
Workout 5: Foam press
In this workout, the bands are connected to the top of a power rack. By
cradling the barbell, the load at the chest will be reduced. This will make it Lowering the weight correctly is just as important as raising it. By lower-
possible to lift and lockout weights that you will do in the future. ing the barbell and plates on to foam blocks, you’ll learn how to reduce the
eccentric muscle contraction to provide a strong stretch reflex. Optimal ec-
• A light band reduces the weight by 65 lbs at the bottom. centrics are essential for reaching your true potential.
• An average band reduces the weight by 95 lbs at the bottom. Place large, foam blocks at each side of the bar. Lower the barbell on to the
• A strong band reduces the weight by 155 lbs at the bottom. foam until it stops and then press the weight to lockout. This is also consid-
ered the future method.
Again, work your triceps first followed by the lats, upper back, and rear and
side delts. Follow this up with hammer curls. Jason Fry made the same weight off the foam as he did when he broke the
world record 725-lb bench at a body weight of 181 lbs. Tony Bolognone had
So far, we have 13 weeks of max effort workouts. Do a different type of the same success. He made 805 lbs on the foam. Then, in competition, he
pressing each week. made 800 lbs at a body weight of 308 lbs and 830 lbs at a body weight of 320
lbs. He set a personal record
with a close grip and a wide
Workout 4: Power rack grip.
Rack work is as old as it gets, but it’s still very effective. We know that isomet-
ric work will radiate 15 degrees up or down. This means that you should use After your foam press max,
about five different pins starting at your chest. Work up to a max on five pins. move on to triceps. Work them
as hard as possible, doing either
• At the chest barbell or dumbbell extensions.
• Three inches off the chest This is up to you. You can also
• Six inches off the chest perform hammer curls if you
• Nine inches off the chest want.
• Twelve inches off the chest
• Fifteen inches off the chest So far, we have a least 18 max
effort methods to choose from.

34 35
Chapter VII Forty-Five Max Effort Workouts

Workout 6: Board pressing Workout 8: JM press

We use 5-boards to break records. The 1-board is two inches thick, and the We use the JM press on max effort day on a fairly regular basis. We use a close
5-board is ten inches thick. We started with 2- or 3-board presses. George grip with the index finger on the smooth part of the bar or two inches wider.
Halbert brought the 4- and 5-board presses to Westside. These were done raw
for the most part. George also started using 1–boards, but I found that this Lower the bar straight down over the clavicle, stop, and hold the bar four to
doesn’t work for shirt pressing. five inches above the body. Tilt your hands back toward your head and push
back up with the hands first. This makes it mostly an extension. Then, do tri-
If you use a close grip, you have five records to break. Use a wide grip and ceps because they’re the most important. Next, work the lats and upper back
you have five more records to break. Put a shirt on and you have five more re- followed by rear and side delt raises and hammer curls.
cords to break. I’ll stop now, but that represents 15 possible records to break.
I have described 45 variations of max effort exercises. These are limitless.
Don’t use more than two different boards per workout, and don’t do board Only your imagination will limit you and your success.
pressing two weeks in a row. After board pressing, move on to a triceps move-
ment of your choice. Follow this up with lat work, upper back work, rear and
side delt work, and some hammer curls. We are up to 33 possible max effort
workouts.

Workout 7: Incline and decline press

These exercises are as old as they come but just as effective as always. West-
side uses mild, moderate, and very steep inclines. We also use a wide, medium,
and very close grip, with the index finger touching the smooth part of the bar.
With a little math, you’ll see that we have nine records to break.

I like the very steep incline with a very close or wide grip. The decline is much
like shirt benching because you normally touch the bar on the upper stomach.
To break personal records, we use a loose grip and a wide grip on the decline.
With the possibility of nine incline records and two decline records, we are
up to 44 possible max effort workouts. Remember, after presses, do a triceps
exercise or two and then lat work, upper back work, rear and side delt work,
and some hammer curls. Decline dumbbell press

36 37
Chapter VIII Chapter IX

PERiODizATiON ffOR REPETiTiON Eff

ffORT
MAx Eff
ffORT DAY METHO AND GP P WOR k
METHOD

We don’t use periodization for a contest or at any other time By doing high reps, the size of the muscles used [Link]
of the year. We plan what we’re going to do at breakfast one should in turn make it possible to lift a heavier weight. By rais-
hour before training. Only when we’re close to a contest do we ing the volume at different intensity zones, you’ll increase your
know what we [Link] is smart [Link] know what you muscular mass.
need after a contest is fairly smart [Link] never know what
you need is ridiculous.

A
t Westside, we don’t do any more than six rep maxes with an extra wide
or very close grip in conventional benching. The higher reps are reserved
for triceps extensions and delt raises to the front, side, and rear as well
as lat work of all kinds, shrugs, and hammer curls. After examining investiga-
tions performed by Berger and colleagues in 1963, we found that six reps were
better than two reps or even ten reps. Two reps build maximum strength but
little muscular mass while ten reps build muscle mass but do little for absolute
strength gains. Remember, perform barbell repetition work in sets of six work-
ing up to a new max of six reps. For the dumbbell bench, perform 8–30 reps.
Try to constantly change the positions of the repetition work. For example,
try seated, flat, incline, and decline at different angles. Also, switch it up and
go from high reps to low reps. This will automatically change your volume and
intensity.

General Physical Preparedness

General physical preparedness (GPP) is general flexibility endurance, strength
endurance coordination, technical training, and mobility. Benchers do very
little besides bench pressing and bench pressing exercises. This is a mistake.
Many have to lose weight because of health reasons and others have injuries.
Why? Because they have no background in GPP. For the shoulders, try doing
Indian clubs of different weights for one-minute rounds up to five, one-
minute rounds.
Chapter IX Repetition Effort Method and GPP work

Small Workouts Special Exercises

While major workouts should
occur every 72 hours in between
maximal workouts and max ef-
fort workouts, small workouts
lasting an average of 30 minutes
can be done every 12–24 hours.
Always plan wisely and train your
weaknesses. If your triceps are
weak, work on your triceps, not
a dominant muscle group. These
workouts aren’t reserved for just
muscle building either. They’re also
a great time to work on flexibility
and mobility. Try including some restoration work such as whirlpools and
massages, chiropractor work, or any GPP work. All of these activities should Tony Ramos performing a lat pull–down. Concentration curl
be taken into consideration when planning small workouts.

Beginner lifters should do two small workouts per week, one upper body
workout, and one lower body workout. Advanced lifters can do four small or
extra workouts a week. At Westside, we don’t schedule our small workouts
but rather do them as we see fit. Caution: Don’t overdo them!

Small Workout Examples

• Do some upper body sled work. Use a second strap for your
hands. Duplicate curls, triceps extensions, overhead pressing, low
rows, upright rows, and external rotation. This also aids in GPP.
• Perform four sets of dumbbell presses. Rotate between flat,
incline, decline, and seated. Use a moderate weight, one that you can
do without warming up. Do 10–15 reps. This should be about ten
reps under your record for one set.
• Try rowing, dumbbell presses, barbell presses, lat pull–downs, and Weighted chins Arm bar
low pulley pulls.
• Work the rear delts and side delts with shrugs.
• Perform the bench for 15 reps using a moderate weight for one set
with a wide grip and one set with a close grip.

Perform any workout mentioned above within a time limit of 30 minutes.

Martinez does
heavy board presses with a shirt.
40 41
Chapter IX Repetition Effort Method and GPP work

Kettlebell Benching
Hang kettlebells under the
bar with jump stretch bands.

This works the stabilizers

like nothing else. Do high
reps up to 25 per set. For
pre-habilitation, do 4–6 sets
of 25 reps. This will build
tremendous endurance in the
arms, chest, and delts.

Kettlebell bench
Sled work is our main GPP work.

At Westside, we do a lot of walking with ankle weights up to 20 lbs for each

leg. George Halbert used this method to rehabilitate himself after ACL
surgery. Using weighted vests and carrying Indian clubs while walking are also
great ways to get in some GPP. Also, try wearing ankle weights of 5–10 lbs
per leg while benching or training the upper body. Don’t be afraid to do a little
extra work such as swimming. It’s great for rehabilitation and even better for
pre-habilitation.

Bench Press Technique Notes

While bench pressing, you should be able to hold your breath for at least three
reps, if not for five full reps. Put all of the air into your belly first and then
into your chest. Hold it before taking the bar out of the rack and continue
Barbell curls and upright rows Bottoms up kettlebell presses are holding it until the lift is complete.
are excellent as well. great for the stabilizers.
When taking the bar out of the rack, lift yourself up off the bench and pull
While walking with the sled, use a second strap and do curls, upright rows, your shoulder blades together. The upper back must be arched. This is very
external extension work, triceps extensions, peck/deck stimulations, overhead important. Don’t worry about the arch in your lower back because it can
pressing, or isometric work. This can be done for long durations because be dangerous. To use the triceps properly, you must learn to stretch the bar
you’re able to breathe while walking. It’s much better to work the upper body outward to fully utilize the triceps. External rotation is a must for safety and a
while walking than it is while sitting on a bench. successful bench. If you’re having difficulty with this, try using an arch bar.

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