Strong beyond his years.

At the tender age of 22 most people are thinking about broads, booze, and trying to gain lawful employment. It’s probably the age you went to your first whiskey bar or finally got a halfway decent watch. But then there are the select few, the people that are well on their way to mastering what they love, those few who people deem too “serious” because of their laser like focus on a certain goal. Peter Edgette is one of those 22 year olds.

At 22 years and 4 months he has beaten the 600 lbs bench press record previously held by Josh Bryant who had it at 22 years and 10 months. Edgette, a Plano Texas Native, completed the feat earlier this month at the Metroflex Strength Association, Wild Game Feast powerlifting meet at the world-famous Metroflex Gym in Arlington, Texas. His trainers say he never misses a meet and he has an almost Zen like focus.

It goes down at 2:17 into the video:

While that’s awesome for him what does it mean for you? Well in the words of another great, “Good artist copy, great artist steal” – Pablo Picasso. Steal Edgette’s unconventional path to greatness and make it your own.

Bench Press LESS Often

We know this is sacrelig to some of you gym junkies and social media whores but sometimes training less is more. Besides looking cool on your timeline, overtraining can cause burnout and even injury. Edgette scaled his bench press back from 2 to 1x per week in order to stay injury free and mentally fresh for each session.

grain of salt.

While this is good for fast gainers such as Edgette, hard gainers beware. While fast gainers recruit greater muscle fibers, thus needing more time to recover, hard gainers actually need to practice longer and with more frequency since they are less genetically gifted.

Increase your upper back training frequency

The upper back provides a great shelf for you to bench press off of and even gives you a little spring on your bench press which equals power. A strong back equals a strong man. Peter Edgette did high frequency training of at least 32 sets per week with a whole day dedicated solely to the upper back.

Application

Whether you’re a hard gainer or fast gainer, when it comes to the upper back, frequency is where it’s at. Do exercises such as pull-up variations, lat pull downs and keep rows chest supported, to build your upper but protect your lower which doesn’t recover as fast.

Find Your Weak Point

While it’s hard to find a “weak point” on Peter Edgette, if we’re talking about bench pressing 600 lbs then it was his triceps.

By implementing partial weighted dips he was able to take his stalemate benchpress to record breaking proportions. Instead of going through the full range of motion, he focused on the range that would serve him best for the task at hand.

Application

Whether it’s your drive off the chest or lockout strength (as in Peter’s case), find your weak point and apply a direct method for the featured exercise.

Focus On Technique

During the whole 12 week cycle Peter lifted weights over 540 lbs for a total 8 reps. This is because he decided to focus on using lighter weights while focusing on technique, tightness and every single repetition putting maximum force into the barbell.

But Why?

While harder, better, faster, stronger is a great name for a daft punk song, in the gym it doesn’t always carry over so much. While the intensity of training will depend on the individual, technique, tightness, and maximum force is what you should every lifter should be striving for. Try lower weights with increased control and perfect form.

While the specifics of Edgette’s 12 week training regimen might not be for everyone, if there’s one thing to take away it’s to know yourself. Know your body and what it responds to and train specifically for the set goal you have in mind. Use what works and discard the rest. Happy lifting!

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