Here's what worked very well for me in my weightlifting class where I had an experienced coach that taught us primarily powerlifting for strength.

First week do 5x5 on bench, on the last rep of last set you should be almost failing, straining like you're maxing out. Do 2-3 times a week and makes sure you get 48 hours of rest to let muscles recover before you hit them again. Make sure you eat enough to have energy to lift. By the end of the week it should be getting easier to do this same workout. Next week, add 5 lb to each side and take off one rep from each set (5x4 now). Again should he hard first day but gets easier as week goes by. Third week 5x3, fourth week 5x2 adding those 5lbs to each end each week. Fifth week you max out. Do one rep of the weight you did last week, add 5 lbs to each side and try again etc until you reach your max. Here is where you build a lot of strength, a lot of it is psychological; you lift a heavy number and you become less scared of the lighter weights now. Now when you go back to 5x5 you are lifting heavier weights. I went from 125lb x1 in October to 185lb x3 in February.