Here at GMAAC, we do not prescribe workouts for an athlete without having a lot of information about that athlete, to include goals, abilities, liabilities, and a healthy dose of testing data that covers everything from range of motion to strength to attitude.
What we are willing to do is share the workouts that our coaches use, on *themselves*, to train for specific events. Hopefully this provides a bit of a window into their individual methods.
So, without further adieu, some recent workout templates from:
Coach Hansen
Current Workout in Preparation for a RAW Bench-Only Meet:
Tuesday: Bench Day
Bench Press:
-Barx10, 10
-135 x8, 8 (2 sets of 8 reps)
-225 x6, 3
-315 x3, 1
-365 x1-2
-405x1
We vary the top sets depending on how we feel. Usually stop at 365, went heavy the other day just to see if I could hit 405.
3 or 4 Board Press
(work up to max triple with 3 second hold on top; do 3 boards one week, then 4 boards the next, then 3, then 4, etc.)
Normal session: (3 board)
-315x3
-365x3
-385x3
-405x3
-425x3
I know that most say the higher boards don’t help the raw lifter as much, but if I do 1 or 2 boards it really bugs the shoulder, so I stick to the higher boards. I also seem to benefit from the fact that you feel a heavy weight in your hands, which is not only good for isometric and top-end strength, but is good for your head, too. ( as in, the other weights don’t feel so heavy) I know those aren’t Westside-style super heavy board numbers compared to my raw weights, but we are really focusing on quality reps off of the boards, and this is my first time doing boards without a shirt for me, so triceps aren’t super strong.
Triceps:
-Tate Presses on Incline: 5 sets of 8-10 reps
-Pushdowns: 5x10
Rotator Cuff Work
Next Night Off (Wednesday or Friday)
-Lat Pulldowns: 5x10
-Low Pulley Rows: 5x10
-Face Pulls: 5x10
-Shrugs: work up to 405x10 or so
-Rear Delt: 5x10
-Rotator Cuff Work
If I do the above workout on Wednesday, and have a chance to get in on Saturday, I do this:
-Lat Pulldowns 5x10
-Face Pulls 5x10
-Rear delt flys 5x10
-Rotator cuff work
It ends up just being rotating through these workouts as often as I can. I know this routine is far from balanced, but it’s kind of a crash course in trying to get ready for a RAW, bench-only contest. As you may notice, I have dropped almost all shoulder work, as with my ongoing issues I feel it can only lead to overuse injuries when combine with heavy boards. This is a new routine I have had to set up do to time and schedule restraints, so the only way I will know if it was successful or not is how I perform at the meet in July.
