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Bench Press 3 Days per Week - Powerlifting Programs

These are bench press programs that call for the athlete to bench 3 days per week.

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AlphaDestiny Novice Program Spreadsheet

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The AlphaDestiny Novice Program is a free full-body routine from Alex Leonidas (AlphaDestiny) built to add the most muscle and strength possible in your first year of lifting. It runs two workouts, A and B, three days a week.

You alternate the workouts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and add weight to the bar almost every session. The big lifts use a flexible 3-or-5 set scheme, so you can scale the volume to how well you recover.

It’s aimed at true beginners who can train the main barbell lifts with decent form. If you’d rather have a more guided linear-progression template, our GZCLP beginner program is a good alternative.

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Dan John Mass Made Simple Spreadsheet

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Mass Made Simple is a focused 6-week mass program from Dan John. You run a one-week break-in, then five weeks of three rotating workouts, training three days a week.

There are only seven or eight movements in the whole program, and the back squat does the heavy lifting. The sets of 10 climb toward your bodyweight and past it as the weeks go on, which is where the size comes from.

It is a great fit if you want a short, no-nonsense block to add weight and you are willing to eat. If you would rather have a longer, more varied hypertrophy plan, our 7 Week Hypertrophy Program is worth a look.

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Super Squats Program Spreadsheet (20-Rep Squats)

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Super Squats is a 6-week, full-body program built around one savage set of 20-rep breathing squats. It comes from Randall Strossen’s classic book of the same name, and lifters have used it to add serious size for decades.

The idea is simple and a little scary. You load your 10-rep max, then squat it for 20 reps, sucking in big breaths between the hard ones near the end. You do that three days a week, add 5 lb every session, and eat like you mean it.

It works best if you can already squat with solid form and you want fast size more than a polished physique. If you want a gentler place to start, our 7 Week Hypertrophy Program is an easier on-ramp.

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Askold Surovetsky 16-Week Powerlifting Program Spreadsheet

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Askold Surovetsky’s 16-week powerlifting program is a percentage-based system that programs squat, deadlift, and bench press across 8 microcycles. It was designed by Surovetsky – an Honorary Coach of Russia, CMS in powerlifting, and European Powerlifting champion – and has been tested over 3 years with lifters at different levels. The program runs 3 days per week. Squat-focused and deadlift-focused weeks alternate, and bench press is trained every session using one of two bench systems.

What I like about this program is how structured and self-contained it is. You plug in your maxes, and every set, rep, and percentage is laid out for you across all 16 weeks. No guesswork. Intensities ramp from about 74% up to 88% on working sets, with max-out sessions built into weeks 7 and 8. It’s a style of programming you’ll see in other popular Russian systems like Sheiko, but the structure here is more rigid and less customizable.

One thing to know going in: this program doesn’t include any accessory work. It programs only the three competition lifts, and bench is trained at all three weekly sessions, so pressing volume is already high. If you’re someone who needs a lot of variety or accessory volume, this might feel limited. But if you want a focused, no-nonsense peaking program for the big three, it does the job well.

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Full Year of Powerlifting Programming

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David Woolson, strong and smart dude over at Brazos Valley Strength, has boldly declared that he intends to release free powerlifting programming over the next year.

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15 Week Intermediate Powerlifting Program (2021 Update)

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This is a 15 week intermediate powerlifting program from PRs on the Platform. It utilizes block periodization and can be run repeatedly or used to peak for a powerlifting competition.

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15 Week Intermediate Powerlifting Program (PRs on the Platform)

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This is a 15 week, 4 day intermediate powerlifting program by PRs On The Platform, a powerlifting coaching service.

Thanks to PRs on the Platform for sharing this program with Lift Vault through the program submission form.

Program Overview

This powerlifting program is comprised of three training blocks: a volume/hypertrophy block (weeks 1-5), a strength block (weeks 6-10), and a competition peaking block (weeks 11-15). As such, it can be used for meet preparation.

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Simple Jack’d v1.0 + v2.0 Strength Training Program Spreadsheet

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May 2020 Update: Added Simple Jack’d 2x spreadsheet. You should probably run v2.0, as the creator of the program considers it superior to v1.0.

Simple Jack’d is a modified blend of the Bulgarian Method and the Smolov base cycle. It’s essentially a flexible one week volume accumulation block that can be run indefinitely for powerlifting and general strength goals.

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Heavy, Light, Medium (HLM) Program Spreadsheet

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Heavy, Light, Medium (HLM) programs are a simple and effective way to organize strength training. Each training session consists of either a heavy, medium, or light load for a given lift. The HLM training style is extremely flexible and can be used to accommodate many training goals.

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Tiger Shark 6 Week Bench Press Program

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Tiger Shark is a 6 week bench press program for intermediate and advanced level lifters. It was created by Nik D (@niklas.damb). As it only programs for the bench press, it is recommended that this is combined with a squat program and a deadlift program. [Read more…]

Dietmar Wolf Norwegian Powerlifting Program Spreadsheets

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Dietmar Wolf is the head coach of the Norwegian powerlifting team. Below you’ll find some programs that are either attributed to him or have been released directly from the Norwegian Powerlifting Association. One program is from a Norwegian powerlifter named Frode Haugen; this program is labeled accordingly to reduce confusion. [Read more…]

Prep10 10 Week Peaking Program Spreadsheet

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Prep10 is a 10 week powerlifting peaking program designed for beginners and intermediates. It uses block periodization to take the lifter through a 5 week hypertrophy mesocycle, followed by a 1 week transition mesocycle, a 3 week intensity mesocycle, and a 1 week deload. This program could be used to peak for a meet taking place on week 11 (assuming week 10 is the deload week). [Read more…]

The “Dad Bod” Bridge Workout Program Spreadsheet

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The “Dad Bod” Bridge program is a workout routine submitted by a Lift Vault reader. It is designed for busy people (especially parents) that are looking for any easy to follow routine that will help them grow and maintain strength in a limited amount of time. As the name suggests, it was inspired by The Bridge, a late stage novice strength program created by Barbell Medicine. [Read more…]

Lifting After A Long Break: ReTrain Powerlifting Program

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ReTrain is a 4 week powerlifting program designed to ramp up lifters that have taken a lengthy break from training. With COVID-19 shutting down gyms across the world for several months, many lifters will find themselves in the scenario of going back to the gym to start working out again. The goal of this program is to help those lifters safely and effectively ease themselves back into a regular training routine. [Read more…]

Connor Lutz 7 Week Beginner + Intermediate Powerlifting Programs

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Connor Lutz is a powerlifting competitor and coach at Calgary Barbell. These are a few different powerlifting programs he shared several years back. There are three powerlifting programs in total: a beginner program, an updated intermediate program, and an old intermediate program. [Read more…]

Joe Delaney 5 Day Full Body Split Spreadsheet

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Joe Delaney’s 5 day full body workout split is a bodybuilding workout routine focused on aesthetic goals and having fun in the gym. This workout was birthed from Joey D’s personal training experience with different workout splits and represents how he has been training as of January 2020.

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12 Week RPE Powerlifting Peaking Program by Mignone Strength

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Program Overview

This is a 12 week powerlifting peaking program based on rate of perceived exertion (RPE). It uses 4 training days per week and divides the 12 week program into four different training blocks ending with a taper. It was created by Matt Mignone at Mignone Strength [Read more…]

Empire Barbell High Frequency Bench Press Program Spreadsheet

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This is a high frequency, up to 5 training days per week, daily undulating bench press program shared by Empire Barbell. It is a peaking program for the bench press that aims for the athlete to achieve a new one rep max in 5 weeks.

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Golden Six Arnold Schwarzenegger Workout Routine

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Arnold Schwarzenegger’s workout routine known as “Golden Six” is a 3 day beginner bodybuilding routine that can be run indefinitely. It was used in the early days of Schwarzenegger’s training before he started higher volume training programs.

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Block Periodization Powerlifting Program (up to 36 Weeks) by Your Strongest Year

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This is a collection of nine 4 week training blocks published by Your Strongest Year. They amount to 36 weeks of powerlifting programming that include volume blocks, intensity blocks, accumulation blocks, realization blocks, and strength training blocks, though you do not need to necessarily run all of them.

I think this is one of the coolest powerlifting programs offered on Lift Vault and I’m really excited to highlight it for you all. [Read more…]