The 4-time World’s Strongest Man (WSM) champion (2011, 2013, 2015, 2016) Brian Shaw is not letting the postponement of the 2020 WSM competition derail his training. He is using the additional time as an opportunity to get even stronger in certain lifts, one of which is the bench press.
Shaw shared the training session that kicked off his latest four week training program that involved:
- Bench press of the following weights:
- 61kg/135lb warm-up
- 102kg/225lb
- 143kg/315lb
- 165.5kg/365lb
- 174.6kg/385lb
- 193kg/425lb
- Inverted rows using a resistance band were then added as a super set.
- Dumbbell bench press of the following weight:
- 77kg/170lb — each hand
- Chain flyes.
- Cable bicep curls superset with: dumbbell skull crushers and push-ups.
Check out the entire training session below from Shaw’s YouTube channel:
[Related: Check out Julius Maddox bench press an all-time world record 770lb.]
“Now that we know the date of World’s Strongest Man being in mid-November, we’ve got a little more time to play with. So we kind of hit the gas a little bit hard coming out of the gate. Originally, I didn’t think World’s Strongest Man would get bumped back that far. We’re kind of setting the stage a little bit better and hopefully this will allow for me…to allow for a bigger bench.”
And hit the gas he did. At 10:30 of the video above, Shaw reveals that he actually hit a rep personal record consisting of 193kg/425lb for six sets of four reps each.
“I’ve never been able to do that ever. So I’ll take that as a big win today. Very encouraged by that.”
The final exercise consisted of a push-up progression called the Juarez valley push-up finisher. It is functionally a pyramid progression where Shaw did ten push-ups, got up and walked about ten feet, went down and did one push up, then walked back and did nine push-ups. This progression continued until he completed five push-ups in both places.
Shaw had a sense that it would be deceptively difficult but confessed beforehand that he thought it would be easy. Ultimately, he struggled through it saying afterwards:
“I haven’t gotten to a hole like that where I need to do something and haven’t been able to do it. Especially something as simple as a set of push-ups. I think that’s a good thing. I had to dig a little bit deeper mentally to get through that set. Overall, I’m really happy with where we’re going, building up to this big bench.”
The big bench that Shaw is referring to is a 318kg/701lb bench press he is aiming to hit. Shaw appears to be happy with where his training is and the improvements he is seeing. Assuming that progression continues with this new training regimen, that big lift will come very soon.
Feature image from Brian Shaw’s YouTube channel.
