This is a version of Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 routine that I modified to help my competition bench. I needed something structured to stick to for a while to see if could make some real progress with my bench. My bench always seemed to do better when I did 3RMs and 5RMs instead of just 1RMs all the time.

The entire routine is structured around the strength curve that you would use while benching in a good shirt. The main exercises are floor presses with chains, 4-boards, 5-boards, and shirted bench work. I started this routine sixteen weeks out from my meet. Each wave is four weeks long with the last week as a deload week.

Week 1, wave 1:

Floor press with 80-lb chains, 3 sets of 5 reps with the last set being a near but not total max. I started with 275 lbs plus the 80-lb chains for my main last set. The other two sets were 185 lbs and 225 lbs.

Floor press, 4-board with 80-lb chains for two sets. Find a weight that you can do 5–8 reps with. In my first week I couldn’t even do the same weight that I could do with full range.

Floor press, 5-board with 80-lb chains for two sets. Add about 20 lbs to the 4-board weight and do 5–8 reps.

Week 2, wave 1:

Floor press with 120-lb chains, 3 sets of 3 reps. Stick with the same bar weight for each cycle.

Floor press, 4-board with 120-lb chains. Same weight as last week. Keep the reps to five.

Floor press, 5-board with 120-lb chains. Add about 20 lbs to the 4-board weight and do five reps.

Week 3, wave 1:

Floor press with 180-lb chains. Work up to your base weight from the last two weeks for one rep. Perform doubles or triples for your warm-up sets.

Floor press, 4-board with 180-lb chains. Same weight as last week. Keep the reps to 3–5.

Floor press, 5-board with 180-lb chains. Add about 20 lbs to the 4-board weight and do 3–5 reps.

Week 4, wave 1:

Floor press or regular bench with straight weight for 3 set of 5 reps with 60%, 65%, and 70% of your straight weight on a 1RM.

I do the main workout on Wednesday, and on Sunday, I do dumbbell bench or regular 4-board for reps, whatever I feel needs work. My bench always feels better on Wednesday if I do something on Sunday.

Week 1, wave 2:

Floor press with 80-lb chains, 3 sets of 5 reps. Add 5 lbs to last week’s weight even on the two work up sets. If you started with 185, 225, and 275 in the last wave, do 190 X 5, 230 X 5, and 280 X 5.

Floor press, 4-board with 80-lb chains for two sets. My weight on these went up faster than the full range. Try to add 10 lbs and do 5–8 reps.

Floor press, 5-board with 80-lb chains for two sets. Add about 10 lbs to the 4-board weight and do 5–8 reps.

Week 2, wave 2:

Floor press with 120 lb chains, 3 sets of 3 reps. Stick with the same bar weight for each cycle.

Floor press, 4-board with 120-lb chains. Same weight as last week. Keep the reps to five.

Floor press, 5-board with 120-lb chains. Add about 10 lbs to the 4-board weight and do five reps.

Week 3, wave 2:

Floor press with 180-lb chains. Work up to your base weight from the last two weeks for one rep. Do doubles or triples for your warm-up sets.

Floor press, 4-board with 180-lb chains. Same weight as last week. Keep the reps to 3–5.

Floor press, 5-board with 180-lb chains. Add about 10 lbs to the 4-board weight and do 3–5 reps.

Week 4, wave 2:

Floor press or regular bench with straight weight for 3 set of 5 reps with 60%, 65%, and 70% of your straight weight on a 1RM.

Week 1, wave 3:

Floor press with 80-lb chains, 3 sets of 5 reps. Add 5 lbs to last week’s weight even on the two work up sets. If the last wave was 190 lbs, 230 lbs, and 290 lbs, do 195 X 5, 235 X 5, and 285 X 5.

Regular bench with shirt for 2 sets of 2 reps, 80% of 1RM.

Floor press, 4- or 5-board with 80-lb chains for two sets. Add about 10 lbs to last week’s weight and do 5–8 reps.

Week 2, wave 3:

Floor press with 120-lb chains, 3 sets of 3 reps. Stick with the same bar weight for each cycle.

Regular bench with shirt for 2 set of 2 reps, 85% of 1RM.

Floor press, 4- or 5-board with 120-lb chains. Same weight as last week or if you feel you are making good progress, go up to what you can do for a 5RM. Keep the reps to five.

Week 3, wave 3:

Floor press with 180-lb chains. Work up to your base weight from the last two weeks for one rep. Do doubles or triples for your warm-up sets.

Regular bench with shirt for 2 set of 2 reps, 90% of 1RM.

Floor press, 4- or 5-board with 180-lb chains. Do what you can for 3–5 reps for two sets.

Week 4, wave 3:

Floor press or regular bench with straight weight for 3 set of 5 reps with 60%, 65%, and 70% of your straight weight on a 1RM.

Week 1, wave 4 (last wave before competition):

Floor press with 80-lb chains, 3 sets of 5 reps. Add 5 lbs to last week’s weight even on the two work up sets. If the last wave was 195 lbs, 235 lbs, and 285 lbs, do 200 X 5, 240 X 5, and 290 X 5.

Regular bench with shirt for 2 sets of 1 rep, 85% of 1RM.

Floor press, 4- or 5-board with 80-lb chains for two sets. Add about 10 lbs to last week’s weight and do 5–8 reps.

Week 2, wave 4:

Floor press with 120-lb chains, 3 sets of 3 reps. Stick with the same bar weight for each cycle.

Regular bench with shirt for 2 sets of 1 rep, 90% of 1RM.

Floor press, 4- or 5-board with 120-lb chains. Do what you can for 3–5 reps for two sets.

Week 3, wave 4:

Floor press with 180-lb chains. Work up to your base weight from the last two weeks for one rep. Do doubles or triples for your warm-up sets.

Regular bench with shirt for 2 sets of 1 rep, 95% of 1RM or meet opener.

Floor press, 4- or 5-board with 180-lb chains. Do what you can for 3–5 reps for two sets.

Week 4, wave 4:

Floor press or regular bench with straight weight for 3 set of 5 reps with 60%, 65%, and 70% of your straight weight on a 1RM.

If floor presses don’t feel like a productive exercise for you, try doing regular bench presses with chains or bands and wave the tension the same way. You could use the same tension every week and wave the bar weight. If you feel you need more practice in the shirt, perform the shirt work first in the last wave before the meet.