6 Week Power Bench Press Program (with Spreadsheet)

After a certain point, it becomes difficult to increase your 1-Rep Maximum for bench press.

The issue becomes even more complicated when you have a competition or lifters’ meet lined up on your schedule. In such a scenario, a well-designed bench press peaking program can allow you to overcome any training plateaus and prepare yourself for maxing out at bench pressing.

The important thing to remember, however, is that increasing your 1RM through vigorous training is not enough. You have to make sure that your program is designed to allow your body to recover mentally and physically.

If you overtrain your body, you might gain a lot of strength. But your body might not be able to perform on the day of important competitions and events because it is too exhausted and drained after putting in consistent efforts in training.

Thus, the importance of creating the perfect training regime becomes even more important, especially if you are trying to peak out before the big day.

One such training routine is the 6 week bench press peaking program designed by John Robbins and published by Dennis B. Beis in the 1990s. The program is designed to help lifters achieve their peak preparedness before a competition.

Program Principles

John Robbins’ meet prep bench program uses several powerlifting principles to help professional lifters improve their 1RM for bench pressing.

The comprehensive bench press program follows the pattern of undulating periodization to ensure that even advanced lifters can receive the amount of stimulus required to gain strength and increase their 1RM in a short span.

The program uses 1RM percentages to decide the weights. Doing so gives an objective view of the lifter’s progress on a weekly basis.

The ultimate goal of the program is to help lifters increase their 1RM by around 15-20 pounds by the end of the 6th week. The key factor to this program is that the schedule gives enough room for the body to rest and recover and perform at the top level on the day of the competition.

To achieve these primary objectives, John Robbins used the following principles:

• Weekly alternations between high-intensity/low-volume and low-intensity/high-volume training sessions for increasing stimulus and promoting strength.
• Use 1RM percentages to track the lifter’s progress and decide the initial weights for bench pressing.
• Training for peak preparedness before competitions while allowing the body sufficient time to rest, recover, and perform to full potential.

6 Week Power Bench Press Peaking Program

The 6 week bench press program involves two training sessions per week, giving the body plenty of time to rest between two workouts. The pattern of training is undulated, implying that the increase or decrease in intensity and volume are not linear but random.

This ensures that the training reaps the maximum reward in terms of increasing the maximum bench-pressing capabilities of the lifter within six weeks.

This program is highly suitable for intermediate lifters who are looking to achieve peak performance before a specific competition or event.

At the end of the sixth week, the projected increase in the lifter’s 1RM is by at least 15 pounds, depending on the consistency of training and experience of the lifter.

6 Week Power Bench Press Peaking Program Spreadsheet

The best time to use the bench press program is before a competition or for powerlifters’ meet preparations.

So, if you want to achieve peak preparedness, you can follow the training routine by downloading the spreadsheet from here.

The sheet contains all the details and information about the training program and will guide you through the entire cycle.

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Wrapping Up

Attaining peak preparedness is not all about training to the point of exertion. You have to keep your mental health as intact as your physical well-being.

The 6-week bench press program gives you the perfect way to achieve that, especially if your target is to improve your performance before a competition.