Introducing the Henriques Bench

Chart
By Jason | June 13, 2016 | Training | |

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a simple chart you could look at that would
provide guidance as to how many reps you should train with and what kind of
weight you should use for each competitive lift? You have probably seen
Prilepin’s chart – which attempts to do that, but there are 4 big problems
with Prilepin’s chart.

That chart was set up to guide the training of Olympic Weight Lifters,
not powerlifters, and those two sports are not the same.
It gives a decent guideline of what to do in one specific workout, but it
doesn’t say how often one should perform that workout.
It is not specific to what lift it is referring to: Clean and Jerk or the
Snatch, and those two lifts are quite similar. In powerlifting the 3 lifts
themselves are quite different, you don’t train a deadlift the same way
you train the bench.
It doesn’t take into account your training age. Training will obviously
vary if you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced lifter.

It is my goal to solve those problems – to provide you – the lifter – with a

clear and easy to read chart. This chart was made for powerlifting, this chart
will provide a weekly guideline for total volume, and there is a specific chart
for each lift (squat, bench, and deadlift). In addition there is a section on
each part of the chart based on what your training age and experience are.
Click to Download (right click save as)

How to Read the Chart

You start by classifying where you are with the lift. Don’t let your ego get in
the way and use the following guidelines:

Beginner:

New to the lift (may not be new to lifting however)

Have not trained the lift consistently for 6+ months
Must completely learn new form on the lift
Has not hit a plateau on the lift

Intermediate:

Has trained the lift consistently for at least 6+ months, often up to

several years
Has achieved at least a decent level of performance in the lift (note this
can vary significantly)
Has hit at least one plateau on the lift

Advanced:

Has been training the lift consistently for 5+ years

Performance is significantly above initial levels
Has hit several plateaus on the lift and may be in one now

Once you have your correct classification, you will then find your total weekly
volume suggested for the lift. A range is given, generally start at the minimal
suggested volume or in the middle, I would not suggest starting with maximal
volume as that should be something you work towards over time with your
program.

You need to decide how often you want to train the lift each week. For the
bench, 2 times a week is the most common recommendation and some prefer
to go 3 times a week. It is tough to maximize strength development benching
only once a week.
Once you have your total weekly volume and your overall frequency, now
simply divide that up as you see fit. Of course if you are lifting just once a
week, you will hit your suggested volume all in one workout. If you are doing
two or more sessions per week for that lift, then divide it up. An even division
of the workload works fine but it is not mandatory to do that.

Here are 2 sample workouts using the chart so you can see how this plays
out. Our sample lifter is an intermediate level male lifter who can currently
bench 295 and hopes to hit 315 in 10 weeks.

In each example he will bench two times a week, for example on Monday and
Thursday

Program 1 – Change in Training Weight Occurs Every Week

Week 1

Monday: Workout 1: 190×8 5 sets

Thursday: Workout 2: 190×12 3 sets

Note: 76 reps performed at 65% this week

Week 2

Monday: Workout 3: 225×5 5 sets

Thursday: Workout 4: 225×8 3 sets

Note: 49 reps performed at 75% this week

Week 3

Monday: Workout 5: 250×3 6 sets

Thursday: Workout 6: 250×5 4 sets

Note: 38 reps performed at 85% this week

Week 4

Monday: Workout 7: 275×2 4 sets

Thursday: Workout 8: 275×3 3 sets

Note: 17 reps performed at 92.5% this week

Week 5

Monday: Workout 9: 295-2 3 sets

Thursday: Workout 10: 295-3 2 sets

Note: 12 reps performed at 100% (negatives only)

After week 5 add 10 lbs to all sets and repeat

Program 2 – Change in Training Weight Occurs Every Workout

Week 1

Monday: Workout 1: 190×8 5 sets

Thursday: Workout 2: 225×5 5 sets

Note: 40 reps at 65% and 25 reps at 75%

Week 2

Monday: Workout 3: 250×3 6 sets

Thursday: Workout 4: 275×2 4 sets

Note: 18 reps at 85% and 8 reps at 92.5%

Week 3

Monday: Workout 5: 295-2 3 sets

Workout 6-10: either add 5 lbs and repeat OR use the progression listed
below

Thursday: Workout 6: 190×12 3 sets

Week 4

Monday: Workout 7: 225×8 3 sets

Thursday: Workout 8: 250×5 4 sets

Note: 24 reps at 75% and 20 reps at 85%

Week 5

Monday: Workout 9: 275×3 3 sets

Thursday: Workout 10: 295-3 2 sets

Note: 9 reps at 92.5% and 6 reps at 100% (negatives only)

In addition to the routine this lifter follows for the bench, they would likely
want to include some assistance work. The more traditional bench work you
do (the higher your volume is on the chart) the less assistance work you
should do and vice versa.

For this lifter I would suggest they include two additional bench/chest related
exercises each workout since they are training bench twice a week (if they
were training it 3 times a week they would probably do 1 assistance exercise,
and if they were only training the bench once a week they would likely do 3
assistance exercises).

One of the exercises would be more bench specific and a compound lift, such
as:

Closegrip Bench; 2-3 Board Press; Barbell Incline; DB Incline; DB Press;

Spoto Press; etc

How these are programmed are up to you, 3-5 sets of 4-8 reps would be
pretty common

One of the exercises would be more muscle specific and it might be an

isolation exercise, such as:

DB Fly; DB Incline Fly; Dips; Cable Fly; Cable Crossover

How these are programmed are up to you, 2-4 sets of 8-20 reps would be
pretty common

To see that concept fleshed out, the bench part of the training program might
look like this:

Monday Thursday
Bench Chart Bench Chart
DB Incline 4x8 Incline 4x6
DB Incline Fly 3 x 12 Cable Crossover 3 x 15

If that was part of a larger workout routine this lifter might choose to do a
push/pull routine as follows:

Monday Tuesday Thursday Friday

Bench Squat Bench Squat
DB Incline Deadlift Incline Front Squat
DB Incline Fly Lunge Cable Xover Leg Curl
Mil Press Pull-ups DB Mil Press Barbell Row
Hammer Strength
DB Lat Raise DB Row DB Rear Delts
Row
Pullover Kneeling Tri
 Skullcrusher EZ Curl Pushdown DB Curl

Overhead Rope Tri DB Hmr Curl Bench Dips Reverse Curl

The goal in providing the above workout is to serve as a sample that you could
follow if you wished to do so, it is not something set in stone by any means.
In my opinion, one of the strengths of the Bench Chart is you can apply the
guidelines it provides into a program of your own design.

Use the Bench Chart to help program lift. Classify your level of advancement,
find your desired volume for the week, create your program, incorporate
progressive overload as you see fit, and enjoy adding plates to the bar.

Know someone who wants to get strong?...

By Jason | June 13, 2016 | Training | |