Ted Arcidi is an American former professional wrestler, actor and powerlifter from the United States of America. He is known to be the first man in human history to officially benchpress over 700lb. Here’s Ted’s training routine
Monday (Day 1)
Bench Press 405lb to 415lb – 420lb 3 sets of 5 reps
Press Behind the Neck 260lb-275lb-300lb for 1 set each of 5 reps
Supine Tricep Extension to Nose 340lb-350lb-350lb 1 set each of 6 reps
Standing barbell curls 160 to 195lb for 3 sets of 6 reps
Lat Machine Pulldowns 235lb-240lb for 3-4 sets of 10 reps
Thursday (Day 2)
Benchpress 560lb-570lb for 3 sets of 6 reps
Press Behind the Neck 225lb for 3 sets of 6 reps
Supine Tricep Extension to Nose 340lb-350lb-350lb 1 set each of 6 reps
Standing barbell curls 160 to 195lb for 3 sets of 6 reps
Lat Machine Pulldowns 235lb-240lb for 3-4 sets of 10 reps
Saturday (Day 3)
Squats 550lb 1 set 5 reps
Deadlifts 540lb to 620lb 1 set of 5 reps
Press behind the neck 335lb and 365lb 1 set 3 reps
Important notes:
Monday: Go light on the Bench Press and medium effort on the Press Behind Neck.
Tues: Lat Machine Pulldowns are sometimes performed on this day rather than Monday
Wed: Complete rest
Thur: Go HEAVY on the Bench Press and light on the Press Behind the Neck.
Fri: This is a scheduled rest day but occasionally Lat Machine Pulldowns are performed rather than on Thursday. Jump the training intensity and go for 270- 290 lbs. for 4 sets of 10 reps.
Sat: Heavy intensity on the Press Behind the Neck.
– he didn’t believe in singles (singles are good for explosion)
-The repetition scheme of 6’s are important for progress.
– High Reps on light training days
-Highest rep on the bench he did: 505lb 21x
-Avoid STALENESS in training.
-Control the SPEED of the repetition.
-Rest 5-6 minutes between sets of the 3 POWERLIFTS.
-Rest 2-3 minutes between sets of assistance work.
– Ted really concerned about resting
– Nutrition and Rest extremely important
– He did naps during day (he did 1 1/2 hour every day)
– Without rest you will stop gaining
Press behind the neck
Ted: “Behind the Neck Press, I cherish as being one of the greatest upper body exercises to aid the Bench Press. This exercise provides a great base for great back support and great shoulder strength, a must, I think, for a Bench Presser.”
Ted: “Everything has to be EXACT, TIME SCHEDULED and TECHNIQUES have to be perfect or else you don’t get the gain!”
Mental attitude
“I like to train in a commercial gym because people are my number one PERPETRATORS for success!!! They help your mind out, and get you physically up for your lift. You know with their presence you are going to do better because like all humans, we watch other people and we want to see how they do. It does help your lifts through increased MOTIVATION to know that someone is watching you make a GAIN. If I was by myself in the cellar, people probably wouldn’t believe me if I made good training lifts. I don’t think great bench gains would be evident if it wasn’t for the people factor. People factor is very IMPORTANT through their vocal accord in getting me PSYCHED up for a big life.” – Ted Arcidi
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