Cursed Bench

[RCfootball87]

Guys, I have a question. I have been training for about 8 months now I think. I'm 15, 5'8" about 140 lbs. Ive gained some good size since I started lifting, but my bench sucks. Its like this. Last time I maxed bench was about a month ago and I did 115 pounds. But when I did squats last night I did 3 sets of 12 with 165 pounds. I could probably do 10 reps at 175. Judging by the chart here:http://www.criticalbench.com/chart.htm My 1 rep max squat would be around 223 pounds. Now I know squats are supposed to be more than bench obviously but there are other things that are disproportinate. I use 65 pounds for sets on barbell curls. 70 or 75 pounds for military press. I can easily pump out 3 sets of 12 with 35 pound dumbells on both the incline and decline dumbell presses, and do sets with 40's. I am stronger than the two guys I train with in every single other core lift but they still beat me on the barbell bench press, putting up 130, 135 or 140. What do you think the problem is?

 

[Mudge]

Technique possibly. I thought I was pathetically weak as a freshman, but I was about average, I was putting up 150 when I first arrived but I weighed a little more than you.

The strongest bencher in my school that I knew of was doing 330 even, but some of the neighboring schools had stronger students, we were considered the nerd school.

Do you do pullups, or pulldowns? Lats are one of the several important muscles for bench.

 

[RCfootball87]

Originally posted by Mudge
Technique possibly. I thought I was pathetically weak as a freshman, but I was about average, I was putting up 150 when I first arrived but I weighed a little more than you.

The strongest bencher in my school that I knew of was doing 330 even, but some of the neighboring schools had stronger students, we were considered the nerd school.

Do you do pullups, or pulldowns? Lats are one of the several important muscles for bench.

Yeah what I was thinking about doing is having my coach watch and see if he spots something I'm doing wrong, because he knows more than anyone I know about training used to do powerlifting back in the day I think. I do some pulldowns, but I sohuld start doing them more often. As far as other sophmore-to-bes I'm above average. I go to a smaller private school with only like 350 high schoolers, Which means theres a lot of pussy soccer playing types. What other support muscles do you think could be weak and causing this?

 

[Mudge]

Back (lats), delts, triceps. I put about 15 pounds on my bench just getting the "form right."

Find a way to do pullups, even if you can only do 4 or 5. I gained on my bench when I abandoned pulldowns.

http://www.ironmagazineforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11158&highlight=how+to+bench+big

I would go into the gym for about a week with 135 to do just one set to learn it, by about the end of the week I had the form down. I tell you what it made life ALOT easier on my shoulders too, for awhile I was able to bench heavy with ZERO problems in my shoulders, lately though they seem to bother me every so slightly again when going heavy (I usually have one heavy set or two). I actually dont put my arms all that wide anymore, but for a really heavy bench you usually go a bit wide to reduce the distance traveled, powerlifters go wide on nearly everything in meets, squats too - so wide I am unsure how they stay standing up

My freshman year there were two italian guys who didn't train at all, walked in and did 185 relatively easily, freeweight. Those same guys were doing 225 for reps not long afterwards, and one of them I had seen in college a few years later sporting at least 21" arms. The guys in the best shape in my area were always italian guys, and a coupld black dudes I knew who were in the low 300s (jr/sr year not freshman).

 

[RCfootball87]

Yeah, one of starting varsity running backs last year, who will walk on at Northern Illinois this year(didn't except Div. 2 scholarships) did I beleive 275 for 2 reps. I'm not sure what his one rep max was. We have these squat machines in our weight room. And of course you can squat much more, probably 1.75 times your regular max with these things. So one time we all kinda stopped lifting, and looked for all the heavy plates we could find. We took ALL the 45's and 35's we could find till we ran out and stared having to put 25's on. Then there was no more room for any plates on either side, so we had to justt kinda set some somewhere else on the machine. In total I think it was 710 pounds of plates and he squated it on that machine. Insane.

 

[RCfootball87]

Mudge, after reading that article and practicing the form a little I maxed again tonight. I did 135 lbs. which is up 20 pounds from what I maxed at 3 weeks or so ago. My old max was pretty easy with the new form. Thanks for the help, I was stuck at 115 forever and it was sad. Most everyone still benches with the kind of form I used to but the guys that are little and still put up a lot do it like this, I used to wonder what they were doing. Everyone should read this article! Thanks for the help.

 

[Mudge]

I tell you what. When I was in high school, there was a 15 year old who broke the 500+ pound bench barrier. He was entirely too large I think to play football, but I was almost dissapointed that our best bencher was doing 330. Then again, its all too easy to scoff at those who are doing way more than you are, nowdays I know better

We did have at least one gearhead but he wasn't playing football, and I never really got to see him bench, he was lean year round too. Very diciplined guy, could play guitar like a mother f'er and held down 2 jobs in the summer time. I last heard he had hurt his back lifting the back end of a car, I wish I could have seen it.

I hope the article did help, not only did it help my shoulders in a BIG way, but it did add some to my bench too I was never able to bench heavy for too many weeks in a row before my bench would start going down from the pain, until I read that peice.

 

[RCfootball87]

The kid with the best bench in our grade is doing like 235 I think. But then again, We have a lot mroe girls in our grade then guys, like 2:1 . Isn't 500+ pounds at 15 a record or something? That's huge. I was thinking that since I only practiced that new technique for like 5 minutes, that maybe I can get it down even better and add another 5 pounds. 5 more pounds and I'm Benching my own weight. Isn't benching your own weight not bad for the average 15 year old kid, I mean, Not just weightlifters but in general? Most of the big guys my age that do 170 or 180 also weigh like 200 or more pounds.

 

[Mudge]

He was a record breaker at that time, it was well into the 500 range and he was probably well into the 300s himself, he was a big friggin boy.

If you can bench your own weight your doing ok IMO. Most of the more athletic guys were doing 160/170 my freshman year, where I was doing 150, and of course we had Eric Fong who was only doing the bar...

 

[RCfootball87]

Originally posted by Mudge
He was a record breaker at that time, it was well into the 500 range and he was probably well into the 300s himself, he was a big friggin boy.

Was he Pretty fat too? It's hard not to be at 300 pounds at age 15.

Originally posted by Mudge
and of course we had Eric Fong who was only doing the bar...

Yup, we have a skinny cross-country kid with a weird last name that only does like 65.

 

[Mudge]

Yes, if he was solid then heck yeah he could have played football! He was "large and in charge" naturally, although he could very very well have been joozed too and I dont doubt it, but he had size and strength on his side naturally too.

 

[OceanDude]

I agree that form is a big factor - it's just damn hard to get the right feel. I still don't believe I have got it down yet and am currently shoulder limited in my bench since I feel it much more in my shoulders than I do in my pecs. I think I got an extra 15 lbs simply still though by thinking a couple of thoughts: 1) Bear Hug, 2) I envision squeezing or sliding my palms sideways along the bar as if I want to bend the bar into a "V" shape while I press. It seems to help me get more pec and less shoulder into the motion.