Advice please - adding weight to bench press

ragg

Hi All, What is the best way too add more to your bench?
I'm currently weigh about 70KG & I can push about 70KG for a few reps. How can I get this number up?

I think i'm looking for some assistance exercises, My tri's a re first to go so im working them a bit more, also I havce started floor pressing to strengthen the mid point, but im at a bit of a loss as to what i else i can do??

Any help, greatly appreciated

ray jay

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056017523

ragg

cheers

Barry.Oglesby

One of the lads in the gym went from 90kg to 135kg in about 8 months. He did it through a) following a good programme and b) adding 1kg to the bar every week.

ragg

Jesus, thats a serious increase? Did he have to add much body weight to get the numbers up that much?

Barry.Oglesby

Nope he actually lost some fat. Gained a little weight but not much. Sorted his shoulders out, trained hard and the rest is history

ray jay

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

trained hard and the rest is history

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WjPhcntYKM

Will Heffernan

I went from 140kg to 180kg in 22 days

I pretty much ate my way there...it was brilliant fun

ragg

Is that some kind of joke that I don't get?

Will Heffernan

ragg wrote: »

Is that some kind of joke that I don't get?

Nope...there was a thing in the paper about Paul O'Connell benching 180kg...I said I thought that was **** considering he was a young professional athlete...a bunch of lads said I couldn't do it....I was benching 140kg at the time...I filled my pie hole constantly...added about 5-7kg...started actually training and 22 days later benched 180kg and picked up about €400 of the about €1000 that was bet against me...the rest of them didn't pay up.

Boss_eye

Hi I'm not one for typing loads so i make this brief,
Small inc's every week , increasing weight but adjusting reps and sets

Eg:

wk
1- Try one rep max so you know where you are at.
2 - 3 sets 8
3 -3 sets 8
4 - 2 sets 8 and 1 drop back set
5 - 1 set 8 & 2 drop back sets
6 - 3 sets 5
7 - 3 sets 5
8 - 2 sets 5 1 drop back
9 -1 set 5 2 drop back
10 - 3 set 3
11 - 3 set 3
12 - 2 set 3, 1 drop back
13 - 1 set 3, 2 drop back
14 - 1 set of 2
15 - One rep max

These are 'work sets' and do not include warm up sets, you should prob do about 3-4 warm up sets (at least) depending on how heavy you are going up to.

Start cycle again each time you peak you WILL peak stronger

Try do triceps on a different day a few days away from bench day - include close grip benching on this day .

Do dips (weighted if possible or eventually) on your bench day

There is a 101 assistance you can do but its a long conversation, stick to the basics.

The trick to a bigger bench is MORE bench!

Make sure your form is good, feet solid on the floor , tight grip on the bar, grip not too narrow, flare your lats, keep the whole body tight.

Hope this helps.

The Guvnor

Will Heffernan wrote: »

Nope...there was a thing in the paper about Paul O'Connell benching 180kg...I said I thought that was **** considering he was a young professional athlete...a bunch of lads said I couldn't do it....I was benching 140kg at the time...I filled my pie hole constantly...added about 5-7kg...started actually training and 22 days later benched 180kg and picked up about €400 of the about €1000 that was bet against me...the rest of them didn't pay up.

I don't believe this - you ate your way their yet gained only 5-7kgs in the 22 days!

I heard from someone who apparently saw the testing results that POC has done a 200kg bench in the past.

The Guvnor

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

One of the lads in the gym went from 90kg to 135kg in about 8 months. He did it through a) following a good programme and b) adding 1kg to the bar every week.

I have to say I am not a fan of the 1kg per week system. Not doubting it works but why take 8 months if you can/could do it sooner?

Some days in the gym are great and some are downright awful and IMO & IME sometimes the great days happen when you feel crap and vice versa so I always judged the weights to a certain degree (within certain parameters) by how I felt.

I think a lot of guys could get a 10-20kg increase straight away in 1RM with the right technique, confidence and the correct reps/set range on the 1rm day.

Hanley

Boss_eye wrote: »

Hi I'm not one for typing loads so i make this brief,
Small inc's every week , increasing weight but adjusting reps and sets

Eg:

wk
1- Try one rep max so you know where you are at.
2 - 3 sets 8
3 -3 sets 8
4 - 2 sets 8 and 1 drop back set
5 - 1 set 8 & 2 drop back sets
6 - 3 sets 5
7 - 3 sets 5
8 - 2 sets 5 1 drop back
9 -1 set 5 2 drop back
10 - 3 set 3
11 - 3 set 3
12 - 2 set 3, 1 drop back
13 - 1 set 3, 2 drop back
14 - 1 set of 2
15 - One rep max

These are 'work sets' and do not include warm up sets, you should prob do about 3-4 warm up sets (at least) depending on how heavy you are going up to.

Start cycle again each time you peak you WILL peak stronger

Try do triceps on a different day a few days away from bench day - include close grip benching on this day .

Do dips (weighted if possible or eventually) on your bench day

There is a 101 assistance you can do but its a long conversation, stick to the basics.

The trick to a bigger bench is MORE bench!

Make sure your form is good, feet solid on the floor , tight grip on the bar, grip not too narrow, flare your lats, keep the whole body tight.

Hope this helps.

Guys, just so ya know, that's Ireland's best bencher telling you what to do. Listen to him.

Barry.Oglesby

The Guvnor wrote: »

I have to say I am not a fan of the 1kg per week system. Not doubting it works but why take 8 months if you can/could do it sooner?

Some days in the gym are great and some are downright awful and IMO & IME sometimes the great days happen when you feel crap and vice versa so I always judged the weights to a certain degree (within certain parameters) by how I felt.

I think a lot of guys could get a 10-20kg increase straight away in 1RM with the right technique, confidence and the correct reps/set range on the 1rm day.

All true. I was just holding him up as an example of simplicity over complication. The full story is he also hugely increased his muscular endurance, pulling strength deadlift over the same period and did it safely and with no injury difficulties, which I don't think many gym goers would do. In my experience a lot of people who are looking to increase their bench quickly do it at the expense of their shoulders.

kieran dolan

I got this 14 day high frequency bench routine off Dave Fitzhenry the first man in ireland to bench 300kg. I've used it in the past with people in the gym that hit a plateau in their bench.

Say for arguments sake that your bench press 1RM is 100kg.

Day 1 you do 8 sets of 3 reps with 70kg. Each day you add 2.5 kg to the bar and continue to do 8 sets of 3 reps for the bench press.

Day 1 8X3 70kg
Day 2 8X3 72.5kg
Day 3 8X3 75kg
Day 4 8X3 77.5kg
Day 5 8X3 80kg
Day 6 8X3 82.5kg
Day 7 8X3 85kg
Day 8 8X3 87.5kg
Day 9 8X3 90kg**
Day10 8X3 92.5kg**
Day11 8X3 95kg**
Day12 8X3 97.5kg**
Day13 8X3 100kg**
Day14 8X3 102.5kg**

** When you approach weights above 87.5-90% of your 1RM you will not be able to get 8 sets of 3 reps. The number of sets you get will drop. The key to the program is not hitting failure. If you feel you can't get another set don't do another set. At 90% you might only get 4-5 sets and the last 4 days of the program the number of sets will drop further. By day 14 you will hit 1 set with 102.5% of the 1RM for 3 reps.

Say you can hit 70kg for 3 reps on the bench. For arguments sake say 3 reps works out at 90%. So a rough estimate of the 1Rm would be 77.5kg.

The handiest way to modify the program would to scale back from day 14 so we'll use 77.5kg as your end weight.

Day 1 8X3 45kg
Day 2 8X3 47.5kg
Day 3 8X3 50kg
Day 4 8X3 52.5kg
Day 5 8X3 55kg
Day 6 8X3 57.5kg
Day 7 8X3 60kg
Day 8 8X3 62.5kg
Day 9 8X3 65kg**
Day10 8X3 67.5kg**
Day11 8X3 70kg**
Day12 8X3 72.5kg**
Day13 8X3 75kg**
Day14 8X3 77.5kg**

** Remember as the weight gets much heavier you will be unable to hit 8 sets of 3 reps. Just only do the number of sets possible and don't go to failure.

Also avoid training the chest shoulders and triceps when you are doing this routine. You can train your back as normal. Make sure you get in some rowing action as in seated rows single arm rows or or cable rows 2-3 times per week whist on the routine.

In some cases the shoulders can get sore from the routine but not in all cases.

Barry.Oglesby

Ah yeah but what would he know?

Hanley

Is linear periodisation cool again?

Will Heffernan

Hanley wrote: »

Is linear periodisation cool again?

It was never cool...it was always conjugated periodisations ugly step sister.

ragg

Some really good useable advice in this thread. Thanks

The Guvnor

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

All true. I was just holding him up as an example of simplicity over complication. The full story is he also hugely increased his muscular endurance, pulling strength deadlift over the same period and did it safely and with no injury difficulties, which I don't think many gym goers would do. In my experience a lot of people who are looking to increase their bench quickly do it at the expense of their shoulders.

That's a good point Barry about the shoulders - something also which may not be apparent at the time.

Touch wood mine are fine but if I was doing it all again - I would defo look at more RC and prehab shoulder work!


It's not like a 50% increase in 8 months is bad. How has he done since - added much more?

COH

Will Heffernan wrote: »

I went from 140kg to 180kg in 22 days

I pretty much ate my way there...it was brilliant fun

I'm not sure where I heard/read about this before. But that sounds like my kind of training!

Will Heffernan

COH wrote: »

I'm not sure where I heard/read about this before. But that sounds like my kind of training!

It was great fun...lots of people say they don't believe it...there's vids of the lift and I also did 20 reps at 100kg right afterwards...afterall...I get ask what my 20RM bench is all the time

COH

Will Heffernan wrote: »

It was great fun...lots of people say they don't believe it...there's vids of the lift and I also did 20 reps at 100kg right afterwards...afterall...I get ask what my 20RM bench is all the time

100x20 is easy though. What training did you do in the 22days? And what did you eat?

Will Heffernan

COH wrote: »

100x20 is easy though. What training did you do in the 22days? And what did you eat?

100x20 I struggled with on the day...blew my load on the 180kg.

I think from memory I only did 2 heavy bench sessions, did 3 or 4 dynamic effort sessions, practice my technique every other day....did a tonne of floor pressing, chins and supplementary work.

As for what I ate...I ate everything and anything...I borderline force fed myself...it was awesome fun.

ray jay

I can't wait for the "I didn't add 40kg to my bench but I got fat" threads in early october

Will Heffernan

ray jay wrote: »

I can't wait for the "I didn't add 40kg to my bench but I got fat" threads in early october

1. Adding weight helps...better leverages help.
2. Haven't seen any bad advice here and at the level we're talking about pretty much anything will work if committed to.
3. The problem for most people is they find the gorging easy and the training hard.

Mellor

The Guvnor wrote: »

I think a lot of guys could get a 10-20kg increase straight away in 1RM with the right technique, confidence and the correct reps/set range on the 1rm day.

This was me imo. Recently corrected some errors in my bench.
tuesday 70kgx5, press up sets concentrating on my form, which goes to **** when I bench
friday 70kgx8, 80kgx3, both PBs,

BigDuffman

kieran dolan wrote: »

I got this 14 day high frequency bench routine off Dave Fitzhenry the first man in ireland to bench 300kg. I've used it in the past with people in the gym that hit a plateau in their bench.

.

Great post, going to give this a lash. What length rest period are we talking between sets and days between work outs?

Hanley

BigDuffman wrote: »

Great post, going to give this a lash. What length rest period are we talking between sets and days between work outs?

Kieran doesn't post much here, so in case he doesn't see your Q - Rest as needed between sets, just get them done. And I believe it's 14 days straight.

Sangre

Great thread. I have recently decided to work a lot more on my bench, especially my technique.

The Guvnor

Mellor wrote: »

This was me imo. Recently corrected some errors in my bench.
tuesday 70kgx5, press up sets concentrating on my form, which goes to **** when I bench
friday 70kgx8, 80kgx3, both PBs,

Good man - no reason why you cannot hit 100kg by years end.

AntiVirus

Will Heffernan wrote: »

The problem for most people is they find the gorging easy

Not everyone

Mellor

thanks, chest again tonight, want to make 80kgx8 by october, (doing a log with goals in bench, squat, DL, 4km run, 3km row and weight loss) on track to hit them all)

After that its 100kg 1rm bench amoung others, xmas sound as good as any

The Guvnor

They say it's easier to lift big in the southern hemisphere - something about gravitational pull...:D

Definitely 100kg in 2010. Only thing I can say is don't sweat the detail too much - if your feeling it go a bit heavier and vice versa.

The only thing I've always seemed to do when maxing out was take consistent jumps in weight be it 10/15/20kg per set.

Keep us updated mate!

The Guvnor

Mellor,

How is the bench going mate - any advance on the last pb?:)

Rycn

kieran dolan wrote: »

I got this 14 day high frequency bench routine off Dave Fitzhenry the first man in ireland to bench 300kg. I've used it in the past with people in the gym that hit a plateau in their bench.

Does anyone know if this can be applied to the back squat?

Mellor

Haven't tried any more on the bar yet, but reps are slightly higher and smoother.
100kg won't happen this year, prob have 90kg in me now, I'll test it for the end of the year.