to the big benchers here..

walt0r

I know this is always done to death but I'm going to ask it again anyways.
Any big benchers here would they please post their routine, or give advice on what they find the most beneficial routine for increasing their bench. I just started training regularly again and on my bench day I'm doing something along the lines of this : Bench: 2 warmup sets, 3 sets x3. Dips : BW warmup, weighted - 2 sets x 4/5, 1 set x 3/4, tricep DB/BB extensions: 3 sets x 6-8
Should I be doing lots of weighted chins and pullovers on the other days and what about incline pressing? I was doing incline DB presses lately and found them pretty good but I moved to a new gym because of work and their dumbells don't go high enough. Any input appreciated.

Mickk

Not a huge bencher, best was 4 out of 150 but I was clean so it wasnt bad. From personal experiences I think you need to up the reps a bit, for strength 4-6 reps was perfect for me.

I have found also that with weighted dips its very hard to hit the chest rather than the tris as to hit the chest you need to lean forward but weights, especially if you just hold them between your ankles, make it hard to lean.

Try heavy flies or heavy cable flies, the bottom of your bench is the hardest part so the middle of your chest is often what can let you down, cable flies (I do them in the exact same motion as db flies rather than doing cable crossovers) are great for the middle of your chest.

Good luck

walt0r

Thanks for the advice, yeah I have been told that before about flies. I never do them really so I should start. I hate machines really but they do have a pretty cool fly machine in the gym so I might give it a shot after benching from now on and see where I get. I'm going to stick with ~4 reps for the next few weeks and see if I get any advances. I see what you're saying about the dips hitting your tri's way harder than your chest alright and it's a bitch having to lean. I use a dip belt though so it's easier.

Transform

Heavy flies and cable flies - i couldn't disagree any more!!!

Those movements are so over rated and i am astounded at the number of people who waste their time on these moves with little or no progress in weight.

Post your whole program (weights, reps sets etc), your weight, age, height diet etc and your goals

Question is too general fora specific answer

Jak

My bench program changes somewhat every 4 weeks or so but I can post more or less what I was doing in the last one and the types of changes I make.

Few points I always make are

1) Get a decent spotter/training partner - without this forget it. You will not become a serious bencher. I train all sessions alone bar chest - you simply cannot train safely or close enough to your limits without it and you will not progress at any rate without it. You can maintain strength reasonably training chest alone, but you will slide backwards eventually.

2) As with most training, good overall development will lend itself to benching. Strong arms, forearms, grip, shoulders, lats will all play a role in being solid on the bench - if any of the above are lagging in development, again, forget it.

3) Diet nutrition for growth etc etc etc.

4) Train hard and lift aggressively

Anyhow, current session is frontloaded with the heavier OBP stuff - not designed to hit a 1rm, but works well for me atm...

OBP

12x60 10x 80 8x105 6x120 5x140 4x150 3x165 2x175 1x185

Widegrip BP

5x140 5x140 5x140 5x140

Inc BP

12x70 6x110 12x70 6x110

DB Flyes

8x70lbs 8x70lbs

Supinated DB bench (only new - trying it out)

8x80lbs 8x80lbs 8x80lbs

BW Dips leaning forward

~35 then ~25 then around 10 as slow as I can

Push ups

Set or two to failure

And that's it. Things I change are sometimes fronting it with Incline rather than OBP, also sometimes scrap heavy work for failure sets toward the end, also have a catalogue of secondary excersises which I can mix in once OBP, Incline and Wide Grip are done.

JAK.

walt0r

21 years old, 6'5", 185lbs and gaining
First off: In good shape, bfat has to be about 8%, and I look more than I weigh (most estimates are 14 stone - 196lbs)

Monday:
Flat bench press: 60kg x 12, 80kg x 6, 95kg x 3 x 2
incline DB press: 20kg x 8, 30kg x 5, 32.5kg x 4
Dips: BW x 10, bw+20kg x 5, bw+30kg x 4, bw+32.5kg x 4

I also incorporate squats and deads on the other days, but I'm not concentrating on them at the moment, it's my bench that's lacking

deadlift max: 180kg, squat max: 150kg

Diet:
Breakfast - 9am: 600cal USN shake before i leave house, usually a fry at work(i know i know), a piece of fruit, yogurt, glass of orange juice
Lunch - 12pm: Dinner - bacon/turkey/meat of some kind, potatoes, etc...
Tea - 3pm : Sandwich, orange juice, yoghurt, tea
Dinner at home: pasta+2pieces chicken fillet/sometimes burger and chips in a local pub/goodfellas pepperoni pizza maybe and another 600cal shake
Snack before bed: piece of fruit/orange juice

Not the greatest diet in the world but I'm gaining slowly at the moment, my goals are to gain 6lbs-8lbs per month for next few months and see where I go from there...

Another thing - I'm a student but working on placement at the moment but STILL go and have a fair few pints. I've cut it out mid-week now, but I still feel weekend drinking affects my lifts/strength gains. How much does it really diminish one's gains?

Patto

6'5" 13 stone and deadlifting 180Kg - that is hugely impressive

Bench pressing numbers are very impressive also.

I wouldn't have thought those stats were possible.

RPGGAMER

ANSWER to your question is SIMPLE:

who are the best benchers in the world????

powerlifters as it is one of our lifts.

my bench before training 60kg 19yrs
now 190kg after 6-7 yrs. thats drugfree by the way.

what helped me. regular cycling of max effort exercises. westside barbell style. Soviet conjugate system of training everything at once? bad simplification?

my favourites: 1,2 and 3 board press, ultrawides, inclines, floor press,

getting upper back very strong and thick too is a must.
rows in particular: t-bars, single and two hand; barbell row, deadlifts of course etc.

shoulders limited me a lot in the early days(needed for off the chest/mid portion) - military presses, vertical pin presses, one hand barbell standing press, hex bar press. ones that ****ed my shoulders: dumbell presses, 'hind neck presses, front raises.

i could go on all afternoon here so here's what to do if you want a bigger bench: start powerlifting, look up idfpa.plus.com its the irish drug free website. then read about westside barbell club and metal militia etc.

as you will find out getting strong is soooo easy when you know how. problem is today all this fitness guru bs!!!!!!!!!!111

walt0r

I do 160kg x 4 at moment, haven't maxed in a long while though but it's deffo up there around 400lbs. It's not that impressive from reading some of the threads on wannabebig.com with 18/19 year olds claiming benches and deads of 300-400 and 500-600 pounds respectively. C'mon now, my bench is fairly weak. I don't buy into the whole 'I have long arms' thing. I think I should be able to bench with long arms if I have the mass. God damn, but gaining is hard work and slow progress.

RPGGAMER

ANSWER to your question is SIMPLE:

who are the best benchers in the world????

powerlifters as it is one of our lifts.

my bench before training 60kg
now 190kg thats drugfree by the way.

what helped me. regular cycling of max effort exercises. westside barbell style.

my favourites: 1,2 and 3 board press, ultrawides, inclines, floor press,

getting upper back very strong and thick too is a must.
rows in particular: t-bars, single and two hand; barbell row, deadlifts of course etc.

shoulders limited me a lot in the early days(needed for off the chest/mid portion) - military presses, vertical pin presses, one hand barbell standing press, hex bar press. ones that ****ed my shoulders: dumbell presses, 'hind neck presses, front raises.

i could go on all afternoon here so here's what to do if you want a bigger bench: start powerlifting, look up idfpa.plus.com its the irish drug free website. then read about westside barbell club and metal militia etc.

as you will find out getting strong is soooo easy when you know how. problem is today all this fitness guru bs!!!!!!!!!!111

Patto

walt0r wrote:

I do 160kg x 4 at moment, haven't maxed in a long while though but it's deffo up there around 400lbs. It's not that impressive from reading some of the threads on wannabebig.com with 18/19 year olds claiming benches and deads of 300-400 and 500-600 pounds respectively. C'mon now, my bench is fairly weak. I don't buy into the whole 'I have long arms' thing. I think I should be able to bench with long arms if I have the mass. God damn, but gaining is hard work and slow progress.

6'5" at 13 stone is skin and bone. Where is all that strength coming from?

Transform

Most of your qestion has been answered

1. For better benching you have to be prepared to focus on the whole body not just the bench - add in rotator cuff work into your program also

2.Clean up your diet as its lacking in many areas e.g. do you use a post workout protein drink etc

3. Be prepared to focus your goals just on lifting and very little aerobic exercise as most people who have big lifts are big guys themselves (thoug i have see some very big i.e. fat bodybuilder wana be's lifting tiny weights relative to their size). This is something i am not prepared to do as i like running, tennis and will do New York marathon in november with 3 clients (in under 3hrs 30mins)

4. Record record record -write what you do down so you can track what methods work best for you and take your weight up by no more than 2-4lbs per week (use fractional plates)

All the best and im off to gym to do another total body workout as thats what works well for me and not split programs

BrianD3

Patto wrote:

6'5" at 13 stone is skin and bone. Where is all that strength coming from?

His BMI works out at about 22 which is well within average range. Also his bodyfat is 8% so that means he probably has more muscle mass than most people of BMI 22. Of course mass isn't everything when it comes to gaining strength, a lot of it is due to neuromuscular factors. This is one reason why some guys who look like they have little muscle can be massively strong.

Now his height could cause him to have a biomechanical disadvantage over a shorter person but I'd say if he has a disadvantage for the bench he could have an advantage for the deadlift or vice versa (eg relatively long arms should give an advantage for the deadlift but might hinder his bench)

I agree with you to a point though, his lifts are still v. good and deserve praise.

walt0r

Transform, yeah I do take shakes after every training, my bad for leaving that bit out. But everything you wrote I know and already do so it's nothing new to me. I just gotta bust my ass more I guess. Thanks

walt0r

I'm thin enough but look heavier than 13 stone. I have pics(no nudies) but deffo not posting them here. I'm strong enough for my weight, I really want to be up in the 230's though. I really trying to gain that 1-2lbs every week over next few months.

Transform

Ok gonna have to say this - if you know all of what was said then clean up your diet! Pizza, pints, fry ups, chips etc this is NOT the approach of someone who will get to over 200lbs with the big three (bench 300 squat 400 dead 500).

Foods like that will slow your progress significantly and you have not mentioned any basic supplements e.g. multi vit, vit c, fish oils, etc

t-ha

walt0r wrote:

I'm thin enough but look heavier than 13 stone. I have pics(no nudies) but deffo not posting them here. I'm strong enough for my weight, I really want to be up in the 230's though. I really trying to gain that 1-2lbs every week over next few months.

'Look' has nothing to do with it. You either have the muscle mass or not. I would agree with RPGGamer, look at the PLers and copy their training methods. Always analyse what it currently holding you back from benching more. Usually there will be at least one weak link that will need to be brought up, as with RPG's shoulders for example.

RPGGAMER

by the by: remember what a bench is:

its powerlifting style down, pausetouching chest, even press to lockout.
Ass, shoulders and feet maintaining contact. ARCH big is usually better by reducing shoulder rotation. Shoulders are by far the commonest weak link and injury site so bench right or end up like many lifters, that includes powerlifters with bollixed shoulders

not being anal but

its the safest way to bench

also interestingly leads to most gains in beginners. the muscles have to do the work and adapt and they're not just using stretchrelex/bounce OR half presses etc or lifting ass off bench

RPGGAMER

Transform wrote:

Ok gonna have to say this - if you know all of what was said then clean up your diet! Pizza, pints, fry ups, chips etc this is NOT the approach of someone who will get to over 200lbs with the big three (bench 300 squat 400 dead 500).

Foods like that will slow your progress significantly and you have not mentioned any basic supplements e.g. multi vit, vit c, fish oils, etc

'cept dave tate, wha'? you WILL get big lifts but you'll be a fat heap!!

walt0r

I take my 500mg Vit C per day, Vit E, Centrum multi-vit, b-complex, etc...I'm okay on the vits I need to clean up the diet alright though. What about the board press? What dimensions are these boards?