I used a bench press program that went off of reps with % of max for years. It works. 5 sets on flat bench and would get stronger the next week. Heavy sets was 3 reps at 90% of max, 5 reps at 85% and 8 reps at 80% of max. Those 3 sets required a spotter if you wished to live. NFL used the system back in the day for strength training. It worked very well.
Every time you got your 3 reps at 90% on your own you added 5 pounds on the bar the next week. Everytime you went up 10 pounds on your 90% the other sets went up 5 pounds.
“I used a bench press program that went off of reps with % of max for years. It works. 5 sets on flat bench and would get stronger the next week. Heavy sets was 3 reps at 90% of max, 5 reps at 85% and 8 reps at 80% of max. Those 3 sets required a spotter if you wished to live. NFL used the system back in the day for strength training. It worked very well.”
If you are under 45yrs and need to be stronger than the other guy, there is no substitute.
And injury haunts them too.
The difference being the time to full recovery.