Thread: My benching numbers

A powerlifter once told me that you if you want to lift a weight, your body has to be used to holding the weight. After your first max of 165 until your next max of 165, did you ever force rep 170 or more?

Just a thought.

well today, i tried 170, couldnt do it so i tried 165 again.
So wat you are saying? just hold the 165 weight and not actually bench it?
I'm sorry if i am confusing.

no, use a spotter to spot you with 170, do it like 3 to 4 times.

try to cut down to about 1 day of chest a week. also boost you weight and lower your reps. throw some freeweights in there. when i was your age I also flat benched like crazy instead of freeweights. Do incline and flat freewieght, about 4-6 reps per set, maybe about 2-3 sets with heavy weight. Throw some flies in, either freeweights or if you dont feel comfortable with them yet jump on the pecdeck. I liek to do about 3-4 sets of cable crossovers with reps of 6-7. basically lay off the flatbench for like a month, build up your stabilizers and your bench will go up. Another thing you might look into is strengthening your back, it could be holding you back. Get rest, eat and go heavy and you should see gains if you check back in about a month

Ok, Ill give an example. Lets say you do a max squat at 315. The next time you max out you are going to want to improve on that to say 345. So the couple of weeks prior to that put 380 on your back and go through the motions, not necessarily performing the squat, but putting on your shoulders and getting in position to squat. Train your body to perform the lift.

So for bench, if you want to max at 170 (this time), put 185 on the bar and lift off and hold the weight, then rerack. Do this a few times until the lift off is easy. If you are feeling saucy, you might bring the bar down a little bit just to get used to the negative, but of course do not go all the way down.

Do this a few times over the course of a week, then next week come in and rep out the 170, it will feel light (relatively speaking of course).

PS: use a spotter or some sort of safety precautions.

Originally Posted by PTYP

Ok, Ill give an example. Lets say you do a max squat at 315. The next time you max out you are going to want to improve on that to say 345. So the couple of weeks prior to that put 380 on your back and go through the motions, not necessarily performing the squat, but putting on your shoulders and getting in position to squat. Train your body to perform the lift.

So for bench, if you want to max at 170 (this time), put 185 on the bar and lift off and hold the weight, then rerack. Do this a few times until the lift off is easy. If you are feeling saucy, you might bring the bar down a little bit just to get used to the negative, but of course do not go all the way down.

Do this a few times over the course of a week, then next week come in and rep out the 170, it will feel light (relatively speaking of course).

PS: use a spotter or some sort of safety precautions.

I still say you cut out the benching for a month and goto freewieghts, I went hard on freeweights for a month and brought my bench from 245 to 275. I may be able to get close to 290 now if i deside to max. im about you size 5'9" 175-180 and im on a cut so my strength is not all there. take my advise and you will see gains prob around 15-20 lbs in a month

Originally Posted by kicka19

I still say you cut out the benching for a month and goto freewieghts, I went hard on freeweights for a month and brought my bench from 245 to 275. I may be able to get close to 290 now if i deside to max. im about you size 5'9" 175-180 and im on a cut so my strength is not all there. take my advise and you will see gains prob around 15-20 lbs in a month

Im assuming the original poster is referring to freeweights.

ya i mean DB press incline/ flat he should be doing, not normal benching with one bar. Poor choice of words on my part

Originally Posted by LexusGS

ok, I have some trouble incresing my benching numbers.
I'm 16 weight about 170, 5"11 and been lifting for about 6 months.

I tried maxing myself about 2 months ago and I did 165 on flat bench.
Now i tried again today and my max stayed the same. I couldn't even do 170 2 mos. after.

I work out 3 times a week. for my triceps and chest i do

first set: 120 X 16 reps
second set: 140 X 8 reps.
Then I do 120 again however many times i could and then move to incline bench.

For my triceps i do skullcrushers and bench basically.

How can I get my numbers higher? Because what I'm doing now is obviously not working.

All the help is appreciated.

at 16 with 6 months of trainnig you shouldn't be seeing any kind of strength plateau, there is a definete problem with your training.

are you doing chest & triceps 3x a week ?

working any muscle group 3 times a weak is worthless, all you are doing is breaking down the tissue and not letting it grow back.

sorry if i confused. I work out 3 times a week. i only bench on mondays and fridays, so 2 times a week. Is that too much? Anyways, thanks you all very much for the good advice.

Lots of possible ideas, here is mine. I would say now that you have tried YOUR way and got basically nowhere try this: lower reps and heavier weights, use more dumbbells, add more tricep work.

Try no more than 4 sets of 6-8 reps heavy as you can and keep your form.
Ditch the barbell for a couple of weeks and work your butt off with dumbbells.
Hit those tri's...heavy as you can again.

Remember, powerlifting is different than bodybuilding (basically). Want to lift more weight? Lift MORE weight while training.

ANother thing, if you went that long without significant gains then you better examine your diet/eating as well. Good luck.

i wouldnt let yourself get stuck on a weekly schedule, its not always ideal. i like to do chest once every 5-6 days. some people will argue with me but im also a huge proponent of progressive resistance. I have always used progressive resistance from set to set, and never do 'burns' or 'burnouts' or that thing where you drop a bunch of weight off the bar after your last heavyiest set and pump a bunch of reps out.

my chest routines usually consist of three types of presses and one or two fly movements.

Originally Posted by BiggerNstronger

Lots of possible ideas, here is mine. I would say now that you have tried YOUR way and got basically nowhere try this: lower reps and heavier weights, use more dumbbells, add more tricep work.

Try no more than 4 sets of 6-8 reps heavy as you can and keep your form.
Ditch the barbell for a couple of weeks and work your butt off with dumbbells.
Hit those tri's...heavy as you can again.

Remember, powerlifting is different than bodybuilding (basically). Want to lift more weight? Lift MORE weight while training.

ANother thing, if you went that long without significant gains then you better examine your diet/eating as well. Good luck.

exactly what im tryn to tell him also

1st. If you can bench 140 x 8 that gives you a 1 max rep of about 178.
2nd try this for a week or two 2 x a week.....Partial reps. Set pin on a smith maching about 6" from the top of full extension. Rep it as many times as you can. If needed pause at the bottom by letting the bar rest on the pins. Now after two weeks of partials do 1 normal set of 8 reps with 100 lbs. Then do 1 set 1/2 as many as you normally do for partials of 200 lbs. Now put 175 lbs on the bar and rep it one time. The day you go for this max make sure for a few hours before you lift that you load up on carbs and protein. Give it a try Lad.

Do less reps! Do triples of heavier weight. Do one heavy bench workout, and one asistance bench workout per week. Make sure you always have a spotter. Just ask someone, they will help you. You also need to strengthen your reardelts, also do hammer curls, and really work your triceps. Make sure you take in a lot of air when you are lifting, and make sure you are also working your core. Bring the bar down a little lower on your chest. Make sure you are touching your chest, and not doing a half bench.

Could you please explain how hammer curls would help someones bench press. I'm waiting to here this one. Working the lats and triceps will help in strength gains for the bench press. HAMMER CURLS.....IS A NEW ONE ON ME....nOW LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT PARTIALS 1.5 X YOUR MAX. It helps you get use to handling heavy weight. Sometimes the mind when you get under a weight which is going to be a new one time max rep just scares the shit out of you. When you do partials for a bit with 1.5 times your max, it relieves you from that mental block of I can't handle this much weight. Partial are very good.
I can currently incline bench 390lbs for one rep. Can't do 400 lbs. I'm doing partials right now on the incline with 615 lbs for 5 reps. I raise it 5 lbs a week with no problem. I will guarantee you by July 14th i will have a new 1 time rep on the incline of 400 lbs. IMO mental is 90% of this game if not more. If it wasn't then why do little old lady's pick up thr front of the car when it falls on someone. Beat the mental game to your new personal best.

Originally Posted by Lil Mendy

Do less reps! Do triples of heavier weight. Do one heavy bench workout, and one asistance bench workout per week. Make sure you always have a spotter. Just ask someone, they will help you. You also need to strengthen your reardelts, also do hammer curls, and really work your triceps. Make sure you take in a lot of air when you are lifting, and make sure you are also working your core. Bring the bar down a little lower on your chest. Make sure you are touching your chest, and not doing a half bench.

ya, hammer wont do anything, triceps tho are very important

Ok stupid question time -
Back to the original intent of your question - are you:
a) trying to increase the bench press mass you are lifting?;
b) trying to increase your strength; or
c) all of the above?

Because if you're merely trying to increase the bench press mass you're lifting then you can adjust/correct your form to allow other stabilising muscles to work more, such as, triceps etc. There's a few good links to correcting bench press form to allow you to lift greater mass floating around this site somewhere.

However, if you're trying to increase your strength then most of what the rest have said will do you fine and dandy.

Also a good idea for prepping for your 1RM would be to rest the week or so prior so that when attempting it you are fresh without muscle fatigue.

Originally Posted by Adamjs

Ok stupid question time -
Back to the original intent of your question - are you:
a) trying to increase the bench press mass you are lifting?;
b) trying to increase your strength; or
c) all of the above?

Because if you're merely trying to increase the bench press mass you're lifting then you can adjust/correct your form to allow other stabilising muscles to work more, such as, triceps etc. There's a few good links to correcting bench press form to allow you to lift greater mass floating around this site somewhere.

However, if you're trying to increase your strength then most of what the rest have said will do you fine and dandy.

Also a good idea for prepping for your 1RM would be to rest the week or so prior so that when attempting it you are fresh without muscle fatigue.

Sorry I disagree. I one time back in the latre 70's had a 670 lb bench press. I never took off a week in order to try to put up a personal high. I doubt that there are any powerlifters who take off a week so they can put off a personal best. First take off a week and try to come back with a personal best. Not going to happen. 1 motivation is lost and it's just not going to happen..PERIOD

Originally Posted by Tough Old Man

Sorry I disagree. I one time back in the latre 70's had a 670 lb bench press. I never took off a week in order to try to put up a personal high. I doubt that there are any powerlifters who take off a week so they can put off a personal best. First take off a week and try to come back with a personal best. Not going to happen. 1 motivation is lost and it's just not going to happen..PERIOD

Yeah - I see what you're saying about the motivation and I agree with that but most first class athletes (olympic, football, etc) taper back before competition - did you used to be a powerlifter in the 70's (I presume)? and what do the powerlifters usually do now? To be honest I'm really not sure. I just can't see how you could do your best when still fatigued from your standard training - particularly when he is training bench twice per week.

The current world raw record is 715. Ted Arcidi was the big bencher back in the day, in 1985 he was the worlds first 700 bencher with 705.5 with an early shirt. Kaz was doing mid 600s raw.

Well I know i wasn't raw not after 7 years straight on anadrol, test and D-bol

Originally Posted by Mudge

The current world raw record is 715. Ted Arcidi was the big bencher back in the day, in 1985 he was the worlds first 700 bencher with 705.5 with an early shirt. Kaz was doing mid 600s raw.

I mean raw as in no clothing assistance, there is only one really strong guy I'm aware of claiming to be natural and he isn't a raw lifter. Shawn Lattimer has a personal record of 847 or thereabouts, shirted (double ply) and supposedly natural - he has passed tested meets at least.

847 lbs? jesus christ, can you post a pick of this guy, im betting he is 5'6" and 300 lbs

http://www.shawnlattimer.com/

He uses a lower volume Metal Militia routine.

He put up 909(looked easy for him)... and your telling me hes "natural"... hmm you cant tell me thats not hard to believe.. Even though it said he was "drug-free" on his site...

Originally Posted by VipeR

He put up 909(looked easy for him)... and your telling me hes "natural"... hmm you cant tell me thats not hard to believe.. Even though it said he was "drug-free" on his site...

The idea that top "natural" power lifters or bodybuilders are really natural is ludicrous. Plus bench shirts can give some people an extra 290 on their bench..Mendy for example has a raw 715 bench and a shirted 1005 bench.