Eric Spoto is one of the greatest bench presser’s in the history of powerlifting. One thing you will notice when you watch him train is the ease with which he can lift very heavy weights of up to 500 pounds. What makes his lifts look easy is that he can knock out a lot of reps at a rapid pace. If it weren’t easy, he wouldn’t be able to do very many reps and the weights wouldn’t be flying off his chest.
Fast and Slow Reps
My sense is that Eric didn’t become strong by doing slow strenuous reps. When he is training, most of his reps are fast. Does he ever do slow reps? Yes, he generally starts out with a slow negative rep when lowering the bar on his first rep. He then pauses the bar on his chest and takes off with fast reps until the last rep of the set. Once Eric reaches his last rep, he once again lowers the bar slowly and pauses it on his chest before lifting it to full extension and racking it.
Occasionally Eric pushes past the point his ability to maintain a steady even fast rep pace, and will finish with a few slow reps. You can see this in the next two videos where he lifts 500 pounds for 17 reps and 315 pounds for 45 reps.
14 fast reps followed by 3 slower reps which include a pause at the bottom
40 fast reps followed by 5 slower reps which include a pause at the bottom
Some Reps Replicate Standards for a Powerlifting Meet
Notice that Eric utilizes both fast reps and slow reps within the same set. His lowers the bar slow on his first rep and some of the reps at the end of the set are slow, but all the reps in between are fast and explosive. When benching in a powerlifting meet, a lifter must pause the bar on his or her chest until the judge gives says, “lift.” Eric generally replicates the form that would be used for a powerlifting meet on the first rep, and at least one rep at the end of every set. The rest of his reps are more for developing strength and explosive power.
If you want to improve your strength from a static start while also improving your explosive power, learn from Eric’s lifting habits and borrow from his benching methods. He didn’t become a great bencher by accident, and you can use his methods to improve. Best of training to you.