The Most Effective bench press workout of all time

Alright, here’s the deal: This workout is tough. It’s a 30-minute mental and physical crucible that involves more bench press reps than you would normally do in a month.

But it works—I do it any time I need to break through a plateau. The workout (from my Men’s Health book Maximus Body) shocks your system with weight, reps, and intensity, eliciting a crazy amount of gains in strength and size.

Many guys, for example, come in to the gym to bench on Monday and do 3 sets of 10, or 5 sets of 5, performing, respectively, 30 or 25 total repetitions.

In this workout you’re going to do a lot more than that. Load a barbell with a weight you can lift 10 times. Now do as many reps as you can with good form in 30 minutes.

By minute 10, you’ll realize that this workout is also a psychological test—you have to block out your brain screaming at you to quit. When you learn to do that, your fitness begins to explode.

If you’re interested in how you can hack your psychology to improve your fitness, my Men’s Health book Maximus Body features an entire section devoted to just that.

Pro tip: Don’t go to failure on any set of this test. You might do, for example, as many “sets” of 3 or 4 reps as you can. By not completely tiring out your muscles on any one set, you’ll be able to pack in more reps overall.

Don’t use a bar heavier than 225 pounds. That’s the “standard” weight we use at Gym Jones, the gym where I’m the general manager.

I’m the king of the bench press at Gym Jones, and my best in this test is 272 reps with 225 pounds.

We also do a squat variation of this test. Tommy Hackenbruck, who took second place in the CrossFit Games in 2009, is the undisputed Gym Jones champion of the squat version of the test.

I once saw him do 269 reps. (P.S., if you can beat Tommy, please video it and send it to me and I’ll send you a copy of my book.) A good goal to aim for: 200 reps.

If you liked this workout and want to reach a world of fitness you never thought possible, check out my Men’s Health book Maximus Body.

In it I reveal my three- and six-month fitness programs that are guaranteed to turn even the most average guy into a Spartan warrior.

Directions

Load a bar with a weight you can lift 10 times with stellar form (don’t go over 225 pounds).

Set a timer for 30 minutes. Do as many reps as you can until the timer goes off.

To avoid injury, stress doing reps with your best form over getting more reps with bad form. I’d rather see you do 70 clean reps than 140 garbage reps.