This plan is a 10-minute-per-day, four-week program for upping your main lifts, like the bench press, squat, and deadlift.
First, start by quickly warming up thoroughly with cardio and planks. Let’s say you’re doing bench press and your top set of four reps is 225 pounds. Warm up with pushups and then press the bar for about 20 reps.
After that, add a 25-pound plate on each side for six reps, then add 10 to 15 pounds for sets of six until you get to around 185 pounds for a set of six.
Do the same thing next week, but work up to 205 to 210 pounds for a set of five. After that, you should be able to bust through 225 pounds for a set of four the week after.
So it looks like this:
Week 1: 5 warmup sets and 1 top set of 6 reps, leaving 2 reps in the tank
Week 2: 5 warmup sets and 1 top set of 5 reps, leaving 1 rep in the tank
Week 3: 5 warmup sets and 1 top set of 4 reps, going all out and trying to get a personal record
Week 4: Rest and do reps with 50% of what you hit last week
Tucker Loken is an elite powerlifter, bodybuilder, and contest prep coach in Los Angeles.
