Welcome to the RTC Big Bench Program.
I created this program during the summer of 2020 and used it with all of my athletes from the Ohio Regional Training Center. Everyone - EVERYONE - got stronger and improved their lifetime PR on the bench press.
On average, my wrestlers gained 15-20lbs on their lifetime bench PR in 6 weeks. These were not beginner lifters or guys who had weak benches to begin with. Kollin Moore improved his max from 350 (he was stuck at that weight for 2 years) to 370, Kaleb Romero jumped up from 345 to 365, and I benched 315 for the first time at a low bodyweight of 165 for the first time in over 15 years.
This program works.
So what does it involve? Here is the basic premise.
1. Pressing movements twice per week. We did our main bench day on Wednesday, and our secondary one (either dumbbell bench or close grip bench) on Saturday). You can arrange them on different days BUT you must have 3 full days after the secondary press day to allow recovery for the main bench workout. Two full days is sufficient after the main bench workout to recover for the secondary workout. Example: Main Bench Day on Monday, secondary Press day on Thursday.
2. Time under Tension - Negatives and Pause reps play a prominent and very specific role in this program.
3. 2:1 Pulling to Pressing volume - On pressing days you will do 2-3 pulling movements in between each set of pressing - one as either strength or activation, and the other as prehab. Then during the rest of the week you will have 2 more dedicated pulling workouts.
4. Precise rep progressions. Each week the workout will be prescribed with both target weights (increase your last set of 3 to 5lbs above the
previous weeks heaviest double, for example) and exact reps for the main sets. While the actual prescribed main lift may be very short - 3 x 3 for example, you will need to do as many warm up sets as possible.