Ways to bring up my bench

Southern Dandy

Hows the going lads,

started the bench again lately and really wana bring up my benching, this is preety much my routine, wednesday i do chest and biceps, generally i do a lightish day for chest starting off with the flat bench

15 x 50kg (warmup)
10 x 60kg
10 x 60kg
6-8 x 70kg
6-8 x 70kg
4-6 x 75kg

incline dumbell

flat flyes

I do chest and tricep on saturday at heavier weight

Flat bench
60 x 10 (warmup)
70 x 8
80 x 6-8
90 x 3-4
100 x 1

incline bench

incline flyes

Now i do the deadlift with my back workout to build up strength (just in case someone says you'll never bring up your bench without doin squats or the deadlift) but i wana shatter the 100kg mark in time,

Just incase heres the rest of my workout
monday - tri and bi
tues - Shoulders
Friday - Back and forearms
All with a bit of cardio and some abs

Is what im doing now a good method and just keep at it or what would ye change any help appreciated

cheers

tiernanobrien

I stand to be corrected on this as I am no expert but for the bench press i think you could be doing to much. By the time you get to the 75Kg mark your muscles will be exhausted and so you probably won't be doing what you should be able to.
For my chest I do a warmup set and then go straight into 4 sets of 8 at a weight I find hard but isn't to heavy if you know what I mean and leave it at that.
This is followed by incline bench press and then flies (again at 4 sets of 8)

One of the problems I find about benching with a bar is that if you're on your own you are afraid to push yourself all the way as your afraid you might drop the bar on yoursef and look like a tit. I do it with dumbells and give it everything and if i cant do it then I can drop the weights.

I'm sure there will be plenty of people that'll disagree with my style but it has worked wonders for me

Arsenal1986

well if you soley want to bench 100 kilos and thats ur short term goal then what id do is have two bench workouts a week one max effort one Repition based

somethinn like this day 1
Bench Press 10 x bar
5 x 50
3 x 60
1x 70
1x 80 1 x 85
1 x 90

follow this for ur first week then add on 2.5 kilos a week till u stall out do all the other uper body/chest exercise u want after this

Day 2
either DB bench Press or Db Incline press
4 x 8 -12
then whatever upper body/chest stuff u want


Also identify where ur weak point is on ur bench an tailor ur rogram to meet that need ie if u find u fail getting the bar off ur chest then ur chest is weak you need to do more DB presses....if on other hand you cant lock it out then do more tricep stuff dips skullcrushers etc

Dubdude

I think you should cut down to 1 chest day and go all out on this day your only giving yourself 2 days rest from your 1st chest day

qt9ukbg60ivjrn

My goal last year was to get 100kg so I based a lot of my workout on getting to this

I had two different days

Chest & Shoulders

Back & Arms

Absolutely no legs cause I was running and playing football so I didn't want to add extra stress on them


I'd have a session of each day with 3 sets of 10 reps, then 3 set 8 reps, then 3 sets 6 reps then back to 3 set of 10

Mon - C&S (3X10)
Tue - B&A (3X10
Wed - REST
Thu - C&S (3X8)
Fri - B&A (3X8)

Weekend (ones light session)

Mon - C&S (3X6)
Tue - B&A (3X6)
Wed - REST
Thu - C&S (3X10)
Fri - B&A (3X10)

I continued like that....

On the bench I'd push it up 5kg each time i reduced my rep numbers

Eg/ 80kg = 3X10
85kg = 3X8
90kg = 3X6

Then back to 10 reps

85kg = 3X10
90kg = 3X8
95kg = 3X6

this was the formula I used through out my whole program with other exercises, obviously not moving up by 5 kg each time on everything, but the problem is I kept it going for too long and didn't switch the program, got to my goal for a couple of weeks but I just stalled and lost interest/motivation

The closer I got to 100 the smaller my increments in weight were

I’ve been reading up on techniques for getting over a plateau which I might try when I need to.

In hindsight there is a lot I would change about the program but it got me the goal and I was in great shape a good strength through all my exercises

My chest Exercises were

Bench / incline + decline Barbell or Dumbbells (or flat) / incline + decline + flat flys / push ups that’s about all I can remember but I mixed them in on different days and mostly tried to do 3 Chest exercises a session

Pugmister

Are you looking to bench 100kg for reps or to set a new 1rm for yourself?What do weigh at the moment ?

Chris89

Carter Proud Sweatshop wrote: »

Absolutely no legs cause I was running and playing football so I didn't want to add extra stress on them

what a whimsical remark.

Southern Dandy

Pugmister wrote: »

Are you looking to bench 100kg for reps or to set a new 1rm for yourself?What do weigh at the moment ?

I weigh 75kg i can already do the 100kg for one, what i want is to beat that, lets say by setting a goal for 110kg for one or 120kg for one, chances are if i get that ill be doing a few reps of 100kg as oppossed to just the one, if that makes sence to you, basically i just wana keep beating my records and what i wana find out is am i going the right way about it with my current programme

qt9ukbg60ivjrn

Chris89 wrote: »

what a whimsical remark.

i've got legs made of glass:D

Bench is my weakest lift. I'm 93-ish kg and I can only do 1rm of my bodyweight. I think this comes down to the fact that the bench never gets a lot of attention from me due to the fact that there is always someone on it.

Pugmister

Your pretty much the same as myself then, im 73.5 and hitting 100kg for two reps. I have been doing heavy floor presses the last while and found that these have helped with loking out the weight. I attempted 105kg two nights ago and didnt have the power to get to the half way mark ( had I of got there im sure I would of locked out).
In two weeks time im going to try again but im changing up my routine so im coming into a benching session with two days rest from lifting (Sat and Sun) and see if that makes a difference.

Id say judging from Hanleys posts that he would offer the best practical advice for thi type of situation.

itsallaboutheL

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055341078

injured365

looks like your doing too much work on ur upper body. as said before your better off only doing one or two warm up sets on low weights, then move on to high weights low reps

Al_Fernz

Carter Proud Sweatshop wrote: »

i've got legs made of glass:D

How does not training them solve this problem?

Southern Dandy

injured365 wrote: »

looks like your doing too much work on ur upper body. as said before your better off only doing one or two warm up sets on low weights, then move on to high weights low reps

How many reps do you reckon 4-6? on the heavy day im assuming your on about?

Flex

One way of getting my bench press up alot has been to pyramid starting with a heavy weight for low reps, and working towards a lighter weight for higher reps. Do a few warms up set before hand too.

Ive found doing a few warm up sets, then a 1 rep max and then 3 RM, 5 RM, 8RM has let my 1 RM bench increase about 2.5kg a week, which in turn increases waht I can lift on my following sets.

cunnins4

Just read this thread now and the other one linked on page 1. I've been hitting the bench hard for the last 8 weeks or so, and whilst I've seen progress, I've hit somewhat of a plateau at 80kg. I weigh 85kg and I really want to hit that bodyweight mark, but it just won't come. I feel I have it in me, but I just can't get the bar off my chest at that weight. I can do about 3/4 of the range of motion, but never the full whack.

I've been doing something similar to what Flex suggested above and I've found that all the <80kg weights feel easier and I can do more reps on them now, but I still can't break 80. I also mix in flys, inclines and dumbell bench and usually do chest twice a week.

Any suggestions for that first bit of the lift, when it's on your chest. I just feels like it's stuck there!

cunnins4

cunnins4 wrote: »

Just read this thread now and the other one linked on page 1. I've been hitting the bench hard for the last 8 weeks or so, and whilst I've seen progress, I've hit somewhat of a plateau at 80kg. I weigh 85kg and I really want to hit that bodyweight mark, but it just won't come. I feel I have it in me, but I just can't get the bar off my chest at that weight. I can do about 3/4 of the range of motion, but never the full whack.

I've been doing something similar to what Flex suggested above and I've found that all the <80kg weights feel easier and I can do more reps on them now, but I still can't break 80. I also mix in flys, inclines and dumbell bench and usually do chest twice a week.

Any suggestions for that first bit of the lift, when it's on your chest. I just feels like it's stuck there!

Something that worked with me to get my bench up to bodyweight was to stop. That's right; stop. I ignored chest work for two weeks. Then started back into it. Within two weeks, I went from 80 - 93kg on my bench. I have done 1rm of 105 since but that's long gone as I don't have access to a bench any more. But give it a go. Chest workout twice a week can be a bit too much, give yourself a rest. This technique also worked with other parts of my body.