Bench Press Specialization with Tim Belknap - Anthony Ditillo (1982)

 

Reg Park

First mag I picked up off the first pile in the storage room had this in it! 

Tim Belknap possesses one of the most massively muscled and dense physiques to come along on the bodybuilding scene for quite some time and I feel that one of the main reasons for his success in developing such density and muscularity is his usage of strength moves in his training, all year through. 

From Tim's own mouth I have learned that the base of his physique development came from years spent while specializing on a few basic movements concentrating on developing as much muscle size and power as possible while not allowing himself to become fat. 

In other words, he constantly tried to add to his physical size and power but his diet was geared more towards bodybuilding success. How well he has succeeded is mutely expressed by his winning the Mr. America this year, and in my opinion there is NONE to equal his sheer muscularity and density at such a height and bodyweight.  

The cornerstone of Tim's upper body training is the Bench Press. He feels this movement is unsurpassed when it comes to adding allover upper body size and strength as well as impressive muscularity throughout the chest, delts and upper arms. 

While he realized early in his career that to shift heavier and heavier poundages in this movement without any concern as to the style used or the method of operation would be a mistake, since this would not in itself guarantee an increase in muscularity, he did reason that if the movement was performed strictly and without any exaggerated movements, in the long run, the more he could correctly bench, the more impressive he would appear physically. 

Coupling this trend of thought with the correct amount of assistance work for the additional upper body muscles and using his tried and proven methods of mental control and training intensity he formulated for himself quite a BENCH PRESS SPECIALIZATION routine. One that most assuredly aided him in his quest for greater size and power and one that will undoubtedly help YOU should you care to emulate his performance. 

While specializing on the bench press, Tim recommends that you still train six days per week, working each muscle group twice weekly. This way, with the major aim slanting towards size and power gains, the entire body is still trained hard and regularly with no section being neglected, nor weakened. Also, by limiting the daily workout to one or two body parts you are able to generate enough mental energy into each workout to assure that it will become as result-producing as possible.

To try and work the entire body three times weekly while at the same time trying to maintain sufficient mental energy and physical aggressiveness throughout each total body workout would be close to ridiculous, at least for the average bodybuilder, so Tim advises to group the movements in such a way (each man choosing his own groupings) that each muscle group it hit twice weekly, with each workout hitting the muscles completely and HARD!

We must also repeat here, from articles dealing with this man in the past . . . 

so far, one other from the four-part series Mr. Ditillo did on Tim Belknap for IronMan magazine:

https://ditillo2.blogspot.com/2024/02/tim-belknap-on-strength-training.html 

. . . that for bench pressing success, positive mental attitude is absolutely necessary for optimum results. 

First of all, you are in a precarious position lying on the bench with all that heavy weight over your head. This will have some of us feeling inadequate and vulnerable. This is what you have to try and fight from entering into your consciousness. You must sincerely believe that you WILL succeed just as many others have done, in moving your bench press poundage up to an all time high, a poundage you and your household pet will be proud of for several eternities. 

Also, emotional aggressiveness is a very necessary when trying to greatly intensify your workouts, so I myself can see why he believes in working only one or two muscle groups each workout since the amount of energy expended on this type of routine will take its toll physically, to be sure. 

Regarding diet, Tim feels we should follow a high-protein, high-carbohydrate diet for adequate training energy and adequate muscle recuperation and growth. To try and go without carbohydrates is like trying to run a car on distilled water. You need the fruits and vegetables as much as you need the meats and milk and to do without either is going only halfway. 

When not working toward any physique competition Tim will allow his bodyweight to rise somewhat to aid him in elevating heavier and heavier poundages in his exercises; also, this additional bodyweight means somewhat larger muscles when it comes time to train down for physique competition. To be sure, he will not allow himself become soft or fat, but during this period of the training year his bodyweight may go up to around 225 or 230. Can you imagine what he looks like at 230 pounds with a 52" chest, 21" arms, 29" thighs and calves of almost 19"???

When specializing on the bench press, Tim recommends the following exercises: 

Wide Grip Bench Press

Bent Arm Flyes

[I got my right arm run through a thresher as a kid

so that'd be one-arm, right side flyes, right?] 

Side Lateral Raise

Press Behind Neck

Lying Decline Triceps Extension

[What's a standing decline triceps extension?]

Close Grip Bench Press

Cambered Bar Curls

One Arm Concentration Curls

For the upper back and thighs he advises: 

Bentover Rowing

Chins

Heavy Full Squats

As can plainly be seen, this type of routine will most adequately work the entire body, with supersetted Low Pulley Forward Bends and Crunches with Side Bends for 6-8 supersets. 

Let us assume today he is working Chest and Back. He would begin with a few warmup sets on the bench performing 8-12 repetitions per set and going from 225 to 275, 315, 385; all of these sets being done for 8-12 reps, then going on to 430 for 5 and finally 455 or heavier for a double. For his final set he would drop down to 385 and do as many reps as possible, usually around 10. These sets would be done with a very wide grip in the beginning phases of his specialization routine to fully overwork the pectorals, then after three or four weeks, he would begin to bring the grip in somewhat and towards the end of his specialization cycle, his grip would be in where it normally is, with a great increase in pectoral size and power. 

After the benches he would move on to Bent Arm Flyes. 2 or 3 sets with 110-pound dumbbells after a few warmup sets to get the muscles "in the groove" as it were. 

Depending on his mood he MIGHT do 2 or so sets on the Pec Deck machine, but this is not absolutely necessary, or done religiously. The heavy flyes really stretch the pecs and do the same job that a cambered McDonald bar does for the powerlifters. 

Note: A couple of guys mentioned to me that the McDonald bar was originally used with a pause, bar not touching the chest, held there in the extended stretch position, then blasted back up. A variation to try with a cambered bar. 

He does not use this bar, however, since it causes shoulder strains for him. 

For the upper back Tim would begin with heavy Bentover Barbell Rows. Maybe 3 or 4 sets of 10's with up to 285 pounds on the bar. Then he'd include 3 or 4 sets of weighted Chins in Front and Behind the Neck. Once again, we must realize that he trains instinctively and while the basic training theory stays the same, the movements themselves may be increased or decreased as the mood dictates. Also, it is necessary to keep in mind that while the actual number of sets may not seem excessive, he trains with the heaviest weights possible for every set and repetitions are carried on to the point of failure! All movements are done slowly and strictly, with no arching, twisting, bouncing, etc., aiding him in elevating the weights. This is how he trains. This is what he advises us to do also. 

Note: If you're like me, you're better at lowering the damn things than elevating 'em some days, much like expectations. 

Twice per week, he will hit the Shoulders and Arms. Naturally, the shoulder work will come first. Two basic movements he regularly uses, especially when concentrating on building bench press power, are the Behind the Neck Press and Dumbbell Side Laterals. 

First would come the presses. Taking one or two warmup sets he would wind up with around 240 or so for maybe 3 or 4 sets of 8-10 all-out repetitions. He uses aa medium grip on the bar as too wide strains his shoulders and too close hits mainly the triceps. 

After these, he goes to dumbbell side laterals, once again warming up slightly to get the groove and laying on the poundage until he is at the level of round 70-80 pounds for forced all-out repetitions. There is SOME swinging on these, but all in all, there is not too much cheating, as compared to others when handling such immense weights. 

After a brief rest, he would begin with the Arms. Triceps would be worked first, as this muscle is more important to bench pressing success and also, it is larger than the biceps and therefore requires more attention. 

He would begin with decline triceps extensions (lying?) using 4 sets of 8-12 repetitions handling a heavier weight and doing each set to all out muscular failure. He uses a cambered bar for these . . . 

  

 . . . as it takes pressure off the wrists. 

If unusually energetic, he MIGHT include some Triceps Pressdowns for an additional 3 or so sets with the same rep scheme and rep-forcing to failure. 

Finally, on the arm-and-shoulder day, Tim would get into his biceps. He does nothing unusual or eccentric for the biceps, two exercises (usually) done for 4 sets each, 8-12 reps per set and working to failure on each of the heavy sets. He favors cambered bar standing curls and one arm concentration curls. 

As you can see, his movements are simple and basic. What makes the difference is the intensity he generates into each and every set. 

For working the lower body, Tim favors heavy full squats, leg extensions and leg curls. Recently, during his training for the Mr. America, he favored hack machine sissy squats, since his thighs were monstrous from the full squatting done for so many years (720 x 1 max). But primarily, during the growing years he did plenty of HEAVY FULL SQUATS. Tim does not believe in wearing wraps when training for physique competition, doing hack squats, etc., but rest assured when full squatting he feels wrapping the knees is a necessity. He favors a medium stance of the feet with the bar high on the back and not using the hips when coming out of the lift. He tries to use primarily his thighs and NOT the hips as so many powerlifters do. He also favors sets of increasingly heavier weights with rather high repetitions, as this assures muscle growth and protects against joint and tendon injury. Favoring sets of 8-12 reps, he would perform 4 or 5 or perhaps 6, some days going on to 7 or 8 sets of 8-12 reps with heavier and heavier weights. 

From here he would go into 4 all out sets of Leg Extensions and 4 sets of Leg Curls. These sets would all be done to failure so as to maintain intensity throughout the entire training routine. 

Tim credits proper squatting technique in enabling him to hold such a heavy bodyweight for his height with such unbelievable development. 

He tries (at least, he did try) when working for bench pressing power, to make the heavy full squat secondary in importance as he feels proper work on this movement acts as a physical catalyst for the entire body and you benefit all over from such intense repetition work using these two heavy, very fatiguing movements.  

As I mentioned earlier, he favors Low Pulley Forward Bends, Crunches, and Side Bends for the abdominals. These are done 2 to 4 times weekly, as he happens to feel at the moment. He supersets the first two in between the side bends. Even on his stomach work he will work each set to failure, or complete burnout. He leaves little to chance when it comes to training thoroughness and training intensity. 

Before I forget, I must also mention that during times of bench press specializing, he will include the 45 degree Incline Press along with his bench presses. During these times the pec deck work is curtailed, but the Bent Arm Flyes will remain. On the Incline he would similarly do sets of 8-12 working up to around 315 for a few sets of 10 repetitions. These would be done either after the bench pressing that day or sometimes thrown into his shoulder routine, depending on his mood at the time. 

Tim also warns you not to fall into bounding, shifting, thrusting the bar when trying to increase bench poundages. In the long run, you will either go stale or get hurt, or at worst, both. Take your time and do the movement correctly for best all around results. 

As I may have mentioned earlier in past articles on this man, he uses no exotic movements and no fancy routines. Every workout is short, condensed and as INTENSE as humanly possible. This is what he advises you to do when trying to add to your bench pressing poundage and to your allover upper body size and muscularity: 

1) Work each area hard and completely.  

2) Do not use cheating movements in your routine. 

3) Even with dumbbell movements, use the heaviest weights possible.  

4) Hit each basic area HARD, twice weekly.

5) Work to total failure on each set (besides warmups). 

6) Maintain the proper muscle-building diet. 

And there you have it. 

Enjoy Your Lifting!