Powerlifting Bench Press Techniques

As Submitted by:
Rich Daniels

I would like to share with your readers how I achieved a Florida state record. I was born in Orlando, Florida. I have been training for 14 years now. I have competed at 198 pounds and as low as 165. I currently hold the state record with a deadlift of 515@160 and have actually locked 530. I have only competed twice in deadlift and broke the state record in my second competition. My best bench press in a double poly is 425 @ 165. I am ranked in the top 10 by monster muscle magazine, top 20 by the American Powerlifting Association, and in the top 100 in the United States. I have always felt that I had a good bench, but when I trained for my first deadlift contest I learned a lot. My training is a mixture of Westside Barbell and old school techniques. My workout is as follows:

Monday
Box Squats-8 doubles w50%
Glute Ham Raises
One other assistance move (front squat, leg press, hack squats, barbell lunges, then calves)

Tuesday
We pull a light sled - 4 trips for recovery

Wednesday
Reverse-hypers, abs(standing abs,kneeling abs,etc)

Thursday
Sled-60% of what we pulled tuesday

Friday
Abs (this time either leg raises w/chain,decline w/ plate behind your head,spread eagle situp)

Saturday
Goodmornings, Pullthroughs,and either Back Extensions or Reverse Hypers

We don't do any regular deadlifts between meets. We do speed deads every 4 weeks only. We use 60% for s singles, 45 second rest. We do these standing on 2-2x6 boards. This is the exact program I used to break the state record with no previous deadlift training. I am also currently preparing for a bench meet with a record in mind. I will write about my bench press training in a future article.

Thank you,

Rich Daniels