Bench press HELP !!!
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So having a few folk round for a barbie in a month and a bit and I know that whilst BBQing, playing darts, chasing children, drinking etc the old bench press in the garage is gonna get a working over. Now due to not having done bench regularly for awhile I was slightly dismayed to find my previous best of 22 reps of 75kg has snuck down to 18. Fuck, not good. Not like I haven't worked the chest with other exercises. I guess I put it down to lack of practice and the muscles not being completely used to it. <br />
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Basically I need a bit of a blitz program to increase it as fast as I can and make sure I beat all my guests. Confident on most of the boys but worried about a couple of them mainly a Samoan who is as wide as he is tall. <br />
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My basic plan is close grip and normal twice a week ( Sunday and Thursday ) going for as many reps as I can in as short a period as possible much like JKs chin up progression. So maybe 18 reps, a minutes rest, next lot, a minutes rest and so on until I reach 40-50. Does anyone reckon this should work or does anyone have a better plan ? <br />
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Fucken annoying, none of my other lifts have suffered like this !!!! -
maybe try gripping as wide as you can. wider you go, more chest into the exercise, and the bar moves less. I used to be able to do 70 + at 60 kilos in the good old days of being a 104 kilo hooker! And that was using as wide a grip as possible!
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I would def recommend checking out the crossfit bench vids - some reall clear info on how to improve different aspects of your bench. Different width in grip, speed and playing around with the weight to reach your goal. I find them a bit less 'wanky' than the raaagghh!! lift a car vids you get with the roid-burger bodybuilders ; )<br />
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Not those clean, mean ones like Bart! -
Cheers fellas, yeah I'll take the advice on board. To be honest I've never really been comfortable benching with a really wide grip but we'll give it a go. I'm picking that the muscle memory should ensure I get to 22 reps ( hopefully more ) again ! Lets just hope it is by March !
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alternate between low rep and heavier weight (4-6 reps*3 sets) with higher reps and lower weight (say 70% of you 1RM) and 12+ reps per set. On the lighter lift days go for bar speed and really power up from your chest.<br />
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depends how wide you are going - narrow grip is more tricep focused so you don't want your grip to be too narrow. Even moving your hands an inch or so can make a difference.<br />
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working on your shoulders will also help (at least it has for me). <br />
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Push that tin bro! -
just lock the garage and save your ego <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/invision/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';)' />
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Aside from TR theres some solid advice here boys. Gonna give my workout regime a try, after all CGBP has helped regular BP in the past. Whether lifting heavy or light I will be doing so explosively....<br />
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Needless to say the fern will get to hear my progress ! -
[quote name='Paekakboyz']working on your shoulders will also help (at least it has for me). [/QUOTE]<br />
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just want to reiterate this. I've been doing 153 sets dips with strict form-and going down deep, twice a week for ages now, and I'm noticing my benchpress is improving. It's always been weak, but just today in a mate's home gym I did 3 sets of 683kg unspotted-which is excellent for me, I reckon there's scope to go for 90kg. -
Do you reckon thats possibly more from improved tricep strength than shoulders kea?
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improved triceps strength would def be a factor JK, going really deep on dips certainly puts the work on your shoulders too. Triceps, shoulders, bit of back all come into play when you are working through your chest. Your pecs don't do it on their own!<br />
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Kea you should totally have a crack at 90!! do if first up after your warm up so you can smash it! -
Ok, well today I tried again-did 8*83kg, then with a friend as spotter thought I'd give it a shot so slapped on 10 pounds and did 1 'easy' rep, and went up with 10 more pounds, although that was more difficult, but there was still a bit left in the tank. The spotter never touched the bar, just stood by in case...<br />
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so, I'll edit this later once I find the exact weight including bar, but today's approximately 92.5kg is my most ever, up from 83kg. Later I did 2 alone<br />
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Yes, I suppose the triceps from the dips are helping a lot. And correct full pull ups. -
This site probably has the answer you're looking for. [url]http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/nfl-combine-trainer-225-bench-press.html[/url] Seems to be a program to get a high max reps benching 100kgs.
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Ok things progressing pretty well, up to 20 reps with 75 now so pleasing that my regime seems to be working ! A few more beers than I usually have last night with a ferner shouldn't hinder the recovery too much I hope....
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Woohoo ! back up to 22 reps again ! Pretty damn pleased to put it mildly. Jury is still out whether this is down to good old muscle memory or if the system I am using actually works. Would be awesome if I smashed out 23-24 next time !
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I used to love doing this sort of shit - hitting the gym and looking at your training partner and saying, "lets be sily buggers", and then caning the chest, or getting all the dumbells out and curling each weight until you can't anymore and dropping to the next one... Good days!
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Yeah basically that is what I'm doing, luckily I am extremely adept at rolling the weight off my chest on my own once I hit failure which in this case was on the 24rd attempted rep, YEEEEEEEEAH !!!!!
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I'm almost jealous. maybe at the end of this BB season I'll have a silly bugger month!!
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[quote name='BartMan' timestamp='1329859569' post='271195']<br />
I'm almost jealous. maybe at the end of this BB season I'll have a silly bugger month!!<br />
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Yeah dunno Bart, my form on the last few reps might be a bit dubious for a highly tuned slab of muscle like yourself <img src='http://www.daimenhutchison.com/rugby/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/hi.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hi:' /> -
form, schmorm, when you're doing high number the end is always ugly!
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[quote name='BartMan' timestamp='1329897196' post='271343']<br />
form, schmorm, when you're doing high number the end is always ugly!<br />
[/quote]<br />
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Yep, my right side tends to lag a bit for the last few reps. -
my dodgy left shoulder kicks in when the fatigue starts to bite, sucks! But heaps better (touch wood) than it has been!
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Tried again and once more crapped out on the 24th attempt, nearly got the fucker !<br />
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I might have a week off and hopefully come back stronger. 25 reps is in sight ! -
the BBQ must be getting near now?
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Haha was supposed to be today but due to a wedding next week we have canned it for awhile. Possibly in the next few weekends, time to try and get the reps higher....
