Over the years, the Westside Barbell approach to bench press training has yielded tremendous results. In geared powerlifting, we have achieved competition bench presses of 800, 900, and 1000lbs. In raw powerlifting, we have achieved bench presses of 500 and 600lbs+, with Nick Winters working toward a 700lb raw bench press before his untimely passing.
This success proves the Conjugate Training System isn't just effective for geared powerlifters; it is incredibly effective for raw powerlifters as well. Considering the achievements I just listed, you'll find it difficult to find another gym with the level of bench press success Westside Barbell has had.
The reasoning is simple: our training addresses every aspect of strength needed to build a world-class bench press. Each week we improve absolute strength, explosive power, muscular size, and muscular endurance. Because we don't divide these training goals into long-term phases, we make rapid progress while avoiding detraining or skill loss.
One common issue many folks face when trying to improve their bench press is weakness at the midrange point of the press. In this article, we will discuss a few exercises to help solve this problem.
Diagnosing the Weakness
Before we target a specific weakness, we want to make sure we've identified it correctly. Too often, folks using the Conjugate Method will have one bad day where the bench press feels difficult off the chest or at midrange, and begin overhauling their max effort and accessory exercise selections. We need more proof than just one bad workout.
Ideally, we want an issue to occur at least three separate times amongst different exercise variations before we can comfortably say we have correctly identified the problem. Say we go three weeks, and the athlete has displayed midrange weakness in the standard bench press, the close-grip bench press, and the axle bar bench press; we would then feel confident revising our programming to address the issue.
Another thing to consider is time spent at specific points of the lift. If an athlete is slow off the chest, it could cause trouble at midrange. However, is their issue the midrange point? No, their issue is they’re not explosive off the chest and begin running out of energy reserves by the time they are near lockout.
As a coach or athlete, be sure to do your due diligence, test and retest, before modifying the training approach based on an identified muscular weakness. Now, assuming we have correctly identified a midrange weakness in the bench press, let’s talk about ways to solve it.
Board and Pin Pressing
Once we identify a midrange weakness in the bench press, one of the first strategies is to perform movements that target the joint angle where the athlete most commonly misses. With board and pin presses, we can select a board or pin setting that lets us work at the joint angle where the miss most commonly occurs.
If an athlete misses at midrange, we will use a 2- or 3-board, or a pin setting that places the elbows around 90 degrees. Once we start executing these movements, we want to be strict with our form.
When executing board presses, the key is to stay rigid and in control of the barbell and avoid letting it collapse into the board. A bad habit some athletes form is letting the barbell crash into the board, creating a situation where they essentially “bounce and heave” the barbell off of the board. This will almost always result in a loss of optimal positioning and poor technique.
Pin presses are a bit different. We can execute pin presses with or without an eccentric phase.
When executing pin presses with an eccentric phase, use a similar technique to the board press. We do not want to let the barbell crash into the pins, as this will cause the barbell to bounce and throw the bar path off tremendously.
Ideally, we want a controlled eccentric and touch to the pins. Once contact is made, we will then aggressively attack the concentric portion of the lift.
We can also execute pin presses focusing on only the concentric portion of the lift. In this case, the athlete will establish their positioning on the bench and aggressively press the barbell to lockout.
My personal preference is to include a mix of board and pin pressing. I will use board pressing to include both an eccentric and concentric phase, and I will use pin pressing to focus on concentric pressing only.
When programming these two movements, we can include them as a main exercise for maximal effort upper, or as a primary accessory exercise for either maximal or dynamic effort upper. If we perform the movements for max effort, we will work up to a top set single, while primary accessory work will feature 3-5 sets of 3-5 or 5-8 reps.
Isometric Bench Press
One of the most efficient ways to address weaknesses at specific joint angles is through isometric exercises. Isometric exercises are classified into two categories: yielding and overcoming isometrics. To address a midrange weakness in the bench press, we will focus on overcoming isometrics.
This means we will press with as much force as possible into fixed pins, so barbell velocity will be zero while force output will be tremendous. The goal is to maintain this output for 3-5 seconds per rep. Most often, we will do 3-5 sets of 1-3 reps as a primary accessory exercise on maximal or dynamic effort upper.
Overcoming isometric training improves strength 15 degrees below or above the specific joint angle being trained. This means that while we want to set the pins as close to the relevant joint angle as possible, we don't negate the exercise's effectiveness if we are a few degrees off.
When programming isometric work as a primary accessory exercise, we will typically follow one of two strategies. We will either go with three weeks on and three weeks off, or alternate between isometrics and other exercises every other week.
It is also important to gauge individual response and recovery timelines when implementing isometrics. The recommendations I provided will work for most, but you must ultimately manage the training based on the tolerance and response of the athlete executing it.
Spoto Press
The final exercise we will discuss to help alleviate weakness at the midrange point of the bench press is the Spoto press. This movement achieves similar results as the board and pin presses, all without the benefit of a contact point. With the Spoto press, we will lower the bar to the relevant joint angle and violently reverse direction with an explosive concentric contraction.
The key to this exercise is controlled and disciplined reps. We want to ensure we are lowering the barbell to the correct joint angle each time; otherwise, the training becomes less specific to our needs. To make this possible, we want to train with weights that let us stay in strict control of the barbell as we execute the eccentric phase of the lift.
The Spoto press can be used as a primary accessory exercise on maximal or dynamic effort upper days. In fact, one of Lou’s preferred ways to execute dynamic effort bench was Spoto-style (before the style of press had a name).
We can also use a variety of barbells and accommodating resistance setups with this exercise. Additionally, we can choose to pause the reps, which allows us to achieve static-overcome-by-dynamic work at the weak joint angle. This helps to improve the rate of force development rapidly.
If we are executing Spoto presses as during max effort, we will work up to a top-set single. If we are going with dynamic effort Spoto presses, we will execute a typical three-week wave. If we use Spoto presses as a primary accessory exercise, we typically do 3-4 sets of 3-5, 5-8, or 8-10 reps.
For more information on how we develop the bench press at Westside, check out the Westside Barbell Bench Press Manual.
