By: Brady Stewart

Brady Stewart
Age: 28
Weight Class: 110kgs / 242lbs
Result:  287.5kgs / 633.8lbs Bench Press @ OPEN 110/242 (2^nd Place Finish)
Occupation: Financial Analyst
Residence: Germantown, Illinois
Training Location:  The Belleville Weightlifting Club (BWC), and gym in basement

                Each time I train for a major competition, I constantly ask myself if I am improving.  Like any sport, to be on top or even close to the top, you have to be willing to do what you’ve never done…and in some instances, what no one else has ever done before.  Obviously, there are athletes in the USAPL and IPF that are stronger, but my journey is very specific to me.  There are multiple sport specific variables to consider.  How does my body respond to certain combinations of programming and planning?  What types of residual and delayed effects did my training have on my performance?  What about changes in diet, exercises, cardio, rest, extra-curricular activity?  Aside from breakthroughs in training science such as RTS and TRAC, it can be an invisible equation that is difficult to approach.  For me, and probably most RTS athletes, I utilize many RTS principles (TRAC included) while keeping my training instincts at the forefront of my decision making.  I try to maintain a very analytical and progressive approach to programming training always reevaluating my results each week to make sure that I am track for success.

                During this entire training cycle, I tried a few new things.  They included rotating exercises, extended my training cycle length, managing stresses instinctively, supportive exercises, a new form of cardio, and developing a stronger mental state when training and competing.  These new ideas seemingly worked out very well in the end.

I rotated my exercises every 2-3 weeks.  For the past 2 years, I would rotate them every 4-6.  That change seemed to work in my favor and kept me from stagnating with the exercises selected.  The only thing that remained constant through the entire mesocycle, were equipped bench presses as my primary bench press main exercise slot.  Those never changed.  Shirted bench pressing is too specific of a movement to not train it exclusively in this slot for an equipped bench press meet.  Without getting into the details of what exercises I selected and when, I’ll just let you know that I selected a progression for each slot that I felt would benefit my equipped bench press the closer I got to the competition.

   For the previous 6 or 7 contests I would stay with a standard peaking mesocycle length of 7 weeks.  This was out of comfort.  Training for Bench Press Nationals was the first time that I extended a peaking mesocycle over that with 13 weeks, including the week of the competition.  I did not deload once during this time.  During the 6 weeks of accumulation, I stuck with the theme of fatigue resistance, so that when I made the switch to frequency, the training sessions were not only easier to get through, but I could recover from them very quickly.  I trained all upper body movements (minus traps), including extra exercises 2x per week as illustrated in the above training templates.  This, I feel conditioned my body for long bouts of training.  When I made the switch from accumulation to transmutation, I utilized a frequency template where I bench pressed 4x per week.  After switching, it took me a couple of weeks to get accustomed to training through slight soreness, but I always felt like I was leaving the gym with a large surplus of energy.  Going from transmutation to realization felt even better.  I only trained with weights 3x per week and was able to recover 100% between workouts.  Progressing through this mesocycle, I never missed a rep in training and I believe that having this longer mesocycle only improved my results at the competition.  I realized that I don’t need to deload as often as I thought. 

Instinctively managing stress and intensity was essential in not overtraining in the 13 weeks training for this contest.  I did start each week following the plan outlined in the tables above.  However, if I was training during a week where I felt that I should be recovered, I would take out some extra exercises, reduce stress on others, and/or train with lower intensities.  There were times that I knew that I would feel banged up, but at certain times during the meso, I wanted to be fully recovered without any residual stress creeping up on me.  I micromanaged certain sessions (or weeks) of training to achieve the effect and end result that I wanted.  On the other hand, there were weeks that I knew that I wanted to achieve high amounts of stress and didn’t hold myself back.  The point of this is to stimulate gains/growth.   This doesn’t naturally occur during the high stress weeks, but the low and medium stress weeks following when your body is recovering from the higher stresses from before. 

Extra supportive exercises were utilized every week training for this competition.  I injected them after the primary, secondary, and supplemental exercise slots.  I’ll call them supportive exercises to simply define what I was trying to achieve.  They weren’t intensive or very stressful in themselves, but they did add some volume on top of what was already accumulated.  Exercises included DB flyes, Captains of Crush Grip Work, DB Bench Presses, Flat Bench Presses with light weights, bicep curls, pushdowns, more rowing, more shrugs, band pull-aparts, face pulls, or anything else that I felt I needed to work on.  These exercises were intended to flush blood into the muscles, keep the ROM fresh and mobile, not to exhaust or fatigue.  If I needed manage my stress down/lower, I would first start with eliminating these exercises before I lowered the stress/intensity on one of my important main slots.

My wife and I purchased mountain bikes with the expectation that we’d ride a little around town.  Little did I know that I would enjoy going off road with mine.  So, we’ve been doing some trail riding at a nearby lake that has some miles of trails for us to ride on.  What I like about trail riding, is that not only is it physically challenging, but that you don’t have much time to think about being out of breath when you are facing a steep decline, stairs, roots, obstacles, etc.  It’s an enjoyable form of cardio for me that I actually look forward to doing.  This makes cardio training a lot more fun.

The last change/improvement that I made was with the mindset that I trained and competed with.  Having a positive attitude is key to training effectively.  After all, the body does what the brain tells it to do.  So if you think weak…you’ll be weak.  If you believe that you are powerful…you will be.  There were many rides to the club after work that I felt tired and weak, so I had to try and pick myself up during this period and mentally tell myself that I was strong, that I was training with purpose, and that no matter what happens, I will hit my intended numbers for the day.  During this time I also tell myself that if I want to be the best, I have to train like there is no tomorrow.  I’d go over this over and over until it sunk in and I started thinking positively again.  Once at the gym, I feel unstoppable. 

Competitions don’t make me nervous anymore.  I am usually nervous when I am unsure of how my training went.  Training for nationals was the best bench press training I’ve ever had.  I went over 600lbs over 35 times.  All of these reps touched my chest.  That built my confidence and I believed in myself…to a point.  My confidence in my abilities was there for sure, but being the tallest and skinniest of my competition always plays with my head.  How am I going to out-lift the entire 242lb weight class.  IT IS FULL OF MONSTERS.  I had to tell myself that they didn’t train like I did, they didn’t sweat and bleed like I did, and they certainly aren’t prepared like I was.  I don’t care how big they are or how strong they look.  They are going to have to take first place from my cold dead hands.  Well Kevin Mayer took it from my hands, but they weren’t cold or dead…maybe a little clammy.  He out lifted me by 2.5 kilos.  But my positive-aggressive mental state did help.  Even after missing 617 on my second attempt, I wasn’t going down without a fight.  I knew what I was capable of.  When 633.8 was loaded, it was just me and the bar.  I wanted to win and in my mind, I knew I was going to win.  I had total self-confidence.  My dreams were right in front of me for the taking.  Even though Kevin out-pressed me, I still felt like a winner.  I improved, PR’d, and stood nearly on top of the 242s.  I will never be upset with progress.  This was a great competition.