Doug Young - Bench Press Program

“Doug is a rarity, a naturally strong, competitive man who has the capacity to push himself toward a distant unrewarding goal. Steve Stanko was such a man, as were John Davis, Gary Gruber, and Ken Patera. If Doug is able to avoid injuries and maintain his enthusiasm, he has the capacity to join those men listed above. He could well become the worlds strongest man at his body weight in the world.” – Terry Todd, Inside Powerlifting.

When 70’s 242 lb. World Powerlifting Champion Doug Young first began to lift weights he gained an incredible 82 lbs. of body weight and added 235 lbs. to his bench press max over his first 84 workouts. At 242 lbs. of body weight, Doug sported a 22″ neck, 20″ arms and 29″ thighs. Below, are the exercises and the heaviest weights that he handled with those exercises during this amazing 8 month period. These exercises were done three days a week on Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Friday’s. Heavy doubles would be substituted for singles on the bench if he was still sore from the previous workout.

Bench Press

• 135 x 12
• 225 x 6
• 325 x 2
• 375 x 2
• 425 x 1
• 465 x 1
• 485 x 1
• 500 x 1
• 515 x 1
• 530 x 1
• 540 x 1
• 540 x 1
• 490 x 9
• 300 x 14

Williams-Front Deltoid Raise

50 pounds for 3 sets of 15

Stiff-Arm Pulldown on Lat Machine

100 pounds for 6 set of 6

Flys with Cables

50 pounds for 5 sets of 6

One-Arm Concentration Curl

55 pounds for 6 set of 6

One-Arm Rowing Motion

110 pounds for 6 sets of 6


Terry Todd on Doug’s bench pressing technique:

“In all my years of watching people train and compete, I have never seen anyone do benches the way Doug does them. The difference between Doug and other benchers is the way he lowers the bar to the chest. Whether there is 60 pounds on the bar or 600, Doug lets it down slow, people, slow, perhaps taking as long as 5 seconds from the top position until the bar touches his chest. You have to see it to believe it.”