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Precision is critical.

Requirement #2: No missed workouts.

Requirement #3: Adding a significant amount of muscular bodyweight.

Let us assume our hypothetical athlete is a fairly serious fitness buff who has several years of progressive resistance under his belt and can already bench-press 200 pounds using proper technique. Regardless if he is 6′1″ and weighs 200 pounds with a 14% bodyfat percentile or he’s 5′6″ and weighs 200 pounds with a 30% bodyfat percentile, in order to increase his bench press from 200 pounds to 300 pounds, it is critical to increase lean muscle mass. Our man will need more muscular firepower.

Any “fitness expert” who tells the uninformed that they can add 50% to their bench press in short order with no weight gain by using (or more likely purchasing) some utopian bench-press routine is either delusional or a shyster. There is no magical, mythical exercise routine that will miraculously add 50% to the bench press without a concurrent gain in muscle mass. It takes a 10% increase in lean muscle mass to net a 50% increase in strength, and that’s being optimistic. Period.

Our hypothetical athlete starts off weighing 200 pounds and will need to push his lean muscle mass up 15–20 pounds over a 26-week period.

Bench press will be trained once per week, and in each session, you will train three grips: competitive grip, the most powerful grip; wide grip, which builds starting power; and narrow grip, which builds finishing power.

PHASE I: 12-WEEK BENCH-PRESS CYCLE18

It’s possible to estimate the grip widths without bringing a tape measure to the gym. Here are several guidelines, keeping in mind that the narrow smooth bands on a standard Olympic barbell are 32 inches apart:

If you are 5′10″–6′, the power grip will have the edge of your pinkies just inside the rings.

For someone 5′6″–5′9″, the power grip will have your hands one hand-width in from the rings.

If in doubt, the power grip is simply the placement that allows you to lift the most weight. Experiment.

For all heights, from the power grip, the wide grip would be one hand-width out in both directions, and the narrow grip would be one hand-width in for both hands.

In this phase I, the athlete jumps his lean muscle mass upward by 11%, resulting in a 30% increase in the bench press. Calories are methodically increased each week, keeping the individual anabolic. How many calories? As many as necessary to provoke the requisite weekly weight gain. How much weight gain? If you weigh less than 200, aim for one pound per week of gain. If you weigh 200+, two pounds per week. There is no hard number of calories—you just need to move the scale up.

Protein must be kept high: 200+ grams per day each and every day.

Now What? Alike Yet Different

Experience has shown time and time again that after an athlete has completed a successful 12-week cycle, gains need to be solidified. Engaging in yet another power cycle immediately after a successful initial cycle is doomed to failure. The natural inclination is to be greedy and continue down the same path—that, however, is biological suicide.

Science and empirical data have shown that the body needs 4–6 weeks to reset and regain its physiological bearings. The hypothalamus gland controls bodyweight, body temperature, hunger, thirst, fatigue, and circadian cycles. The interim phase allows the hypothalamus gland to recalibrate and readjust. It is equally important to “get away” from the three bench-press versions used in phase I. We also kick the reps upward.

The ideal interim phase retains bench power by substituting heavy dumbbell pressing for barbell bench pressing. Allowing the body to “forget” the three exercises (competitive grip bench, wide grip bench, and narrow grip bench) makes these movements feel fresh and new when they are reinstituted in phase III, and the training effect is profound.

The paused flat dumbbell bench press and the paused incline dumbbell bench press are the phase II workhorses and are performed