[quote]GDollars37 wrote:
I’m thinking shoulder strength might be the problem, I never really have trouble locking out, which is where triceps come in the most, right? Be curious to hear what you guys do for a standing military press vs. your bench. For me, I think my military max is maybe 155, pretty bad. Any raw powerlifters, what do you do for your shoulders?[/quote]
Lockout has never been an issue for me, so focusing on shoulder strength has always pushed my bench up. I took my strict overhead press from 165 to 205 when I hit my 335. Personally I love overhead pressing and it’s think it’s the most diesel thing you can do with a bar, but others seem to be against it for powerlifting purposes (and these tend to be from the shirted bench crowd as well).
[quote]Donut62 wrote:
GDollars37 wrote:
I’m thinking shoulder strength might be the problem, I never really have trouble locking out, which is where triceps come in the most, right? Be curious to hear what you guys do for a standing military press vs. your bench. For me, I think my military max is maybe 155, pretty bad. Any raw powerlifters, what do you do for your shoulders?
Lockout has never been an issue for me, so focusing on shoulder strength has always pushed my bench up. I took my strict overhead press from 165 to 205 when I hit my 335. Personally I love overhead pressing and it’s think it’s the most diesel thing you can do with a bar, but others seem to be against it for powerlifting purposes (and these tend to be from the shirted bench crowd as well).[/quote]
I remember reading that Ed Coan trained his shoulders heavy on a different day than he benched; others believe that it is over training the shoulder socket. I usually just do shoulders as an assistance exercise, but every once in a while I will try them as a ME movement. When I used to work at the gym though, many of the big benchers there would do them like Ed Coan did, but typically they all did them seated and if they did them standing up, usually they cheated with leg drive.
I got 240 for a double Saturday@194lbs, I’d deff. like to get 300 in the Spring. Here’s the kicker though, I think my body can’t tolerate a lot of heavy sets or else my upper just tanks after 3 heavy sets.
[quote]GDollars37 wrote:
Great thread. I’ve been “one program away” from 300 for a full three years. Shoulder injuries haven’t helped, but still, my bench has gone up ten pounds, tops, in that time, I hover between 275 and 285.
Have done lots of 5x5, Waterbury’s 10x3, Westside-style ME stuff…none of it has helped the bench. Deadlift has gone up a lot, triceps strength too, but the bench itself has been stuck.
I’m thinking shoulder strength might be the problem, I never really have trouble locking out, which is where triceps come in the most, right? Be curious to hear what you guys do for a standing military press vs. your bench. For me, I think my military max is maybe 155, pretty bad. Any raw powerlifters, what do you do for your shoulders?[/quote]
hey dude, i remember reading this article over the summer concerning the rotator cuff strength vs bench ability
im aiming for 300 still. im about 15 away, and luckily have been seeing pretty steady gains on all bench variations. my goal is 300 by New Years… but that might be difficult…
thanks for the thread link lbh110, i too have a shoulder weakness i think…
I did this exact program and it worked wonders for my bench. The only change I did was to replaced the “lockouts” with three board presses. Good luck. Let me know if you have any questions [/quote]
I completely agree with this recommendation. Sheiko is what worked for me…I was stuck at 285 for years…3 months of Sheiko and I am now up to 315. I fully expect to hit 330 or better before Christmas.
[quote]detazathoth wrote:
I got 240 for a double Saturday@194lbs, I’d deff. like to get 300 in the Spring. Here’s the kicker though, I think my body can’t tolerate a lot of heavy sets or else my upper just tanks after 3 heavy sets.[/quote]
rest longer, or lower the weight and increase the speed of the reps. if you’ve been working strictly low reps for the last 2 months switch to higher once a week or vice versa.
I can’t if I want to keep lifting in the 165Ib weight class. I could afford to lose some fat instead but actually gaining alot of weight kind of defeats the purpose for me.
I remember when I got 315 for the first time… felt so damn good lookin at those three plates on each side. Right now I weigh 176-177 and am benching 340+… it just takes time, just make sure you hammer all those supporting muscle groups… and I beat the hell out of my shoulders on a seperate day as chest.
[quote]pwrbarboy wrote:
I remember when I got 315 for the first time… felt so damn good lookin at those three plates on each side. Right now I weigh 176-177 and am benching 340+… it just takes time, just make sure you hammer all those supporting muscle groups… and I beat the hell out of my shoulders on a seperate day as chest.[/quote]
That is what impresses me, you guys who are 160 to 190 and putting up 275 through 300 and beyond. When you’re that light and push up big weight that is serious strength.
I used to be really good at deadlift when i was 120 lbs to 165 lbs. The added weight gain has pushed my bench and squat up tremendously, thanks to sheiko in the past 6 months.
I’m going to try for 308 or 315 on Saturday, hopefully all goes well. At least I can say that I’ll either get a clean pause or no lift. Bounces will not be counted, lol.
What I find interesting is the whole 3/4/5 deal you guys talk about. I’m more 3/5/4.5 LOL. I can do just about anything in the realm of sheik and my squat or bench just goes up. Deadlift is another story.
What I find interesting is the whole 3/4/5 deal you guys talk about. I’m more 3/5/4.5 LOL. I can do just about anything in the realm of sheik and my squat or bench just goes up. Deadlift is another story.[/quote]
Most people will have a stronger dl than their raw squat, but it all comes down to leverage. Do you have short arms? That will make it more difficult to deadlift, but it is better for bench.
[quote]Synthetickiller wrote:
I used to be really good at deadlift when i was 120 lbs to 165 lbs. The added weight gain has pushed my bench and squat up tremendously, thanks to sheiko in the past 6 months.
I’m going to try for 308 or 315 on Saturday, hopefully all goes well. At least I can say that I’ll either get a clean pause or no lift. Bounces will not be counted, lol.
What I find interesting is the whole 3/4/5 deal you guys talk about. I’m more 3/5/4.5 LOL. I can do just about anything in the realm of sheik and my squat or bench just goes up. Deadlift is another story.[/quote]
You’re counting what you can squat with briefs and wraps.
[quote]Airtruth wrote:
detazathoth wrote:
I got 240 for a double Saturday@194lbs, I’d deff. like to get 300 in the Spring. Here’s the kicker though, I think my body can’t tolerate a lot of heavy sets or else my upper just tanks after 3 heavy sets.
rest longer, or lower the weight and increase the speed of the reps. if you’ve been working strictly low reps for the last 2 months switch to higher once a week or vice versa.[/quote]
I’ll rest longer than, and I think the next program I’ll do will be more Westside influenced, since I want to get into Powerlifting. Thanks man.
went from 195 to 255 @174 lbs bw since september, with a shitty program consisting of just doing heavy lifts, not organized. though that was after a break, i could do 225-235 about a year ago. just started a v-diet but my diet was so crappy i wouldn’t be surprised if my max goes up while on it.
after the v-diet i’m going to try to put on some quality mass and hit 300 by april, ideally 315, but thats wish full thinking. Need to beat my friend in a bet, its a race to 405 deadlift, 315 bench, 225 clean and jerk, 135 bicep curl.
I just tested my max at the end of my WSB program and I put 15 pounds on my bench in 9 weeks. While I won’t type out everything week by week, I can post my template if you’re interested. I also used it about a year ago to add 50 pounds or so to my deadlift.
I have my wife (who I also train) doing it and it seems to be boosting her strength as well.
[quote]ChaseT wrote:
Synthetickiller wrote:
I used to be really good at deadlift when i was 120 lbs to 165 lbs. The added weight gain has pushed my bench and squat up tremendously, thanks to sheiko in the past 6 months.
I’m going to try for 308 or 315 on Saturday, hopefully all goes well. At least I can say that I’ll either get a clean pause or no lift. Bounces will not be counted, lol.
What I find interesting is the whole 3/4/5 deal you guys talk about. I’m more 3/5/4.5 LOL. I can do just about anything in the realm of sheik and my squat or bench just goes up. Deadlift is another story.
You’re counting what you can squat with briefs and wraps.[/quote]
Very true.
I don’t max on squat raw. I get a lot of hip pain as well as some back pain from a previous injury. Its not worth re-injuring myself to prove my “true” squat max.
[quote] I usually just do shoulders as an assistance exercise, but every once in a while I will try them as a ME movement. When I used to work at the gym though, many of the big benchers there would do them like Ed Coan did, but typically they all did them seated and if they did them standing up, usually they cheated with leg drive.
From the start of my training until 6 years later, I NEVER flat benched. My shoulders couldn’t take it, and I believed the incline was a much better substitute for an athlete.
Then, since a lot of form instructions and fucking flyes(of all the movements in the world), my shoulders and pecs loosened up and I started doing them flat …
I thought it would be easy, if I could do 255+ for reps on incline I would EASILY be doing 285+ on flat, right ?
Well … it took quite some time to get to a respectable number, turns out there is lots of difference in muscles used between the two. Took quite a bit of ego-swallowing too.
At my strongest I was about 190 and put up 315. Right now I’d say I’m around 285-295 [at about 183]. To get to 315 I layed off of flat benching forbout 6 weeks. I got my incline up to 225 for sets of 6 and flat db’s with the hundo’s for sets of 8-10 on chest day, and close gripping 225 for sets of 6 on arms day. After training on a split like that went in and maxed on the flat. Got 315 after not touching flat for 6 weeks. I think taking that break helped as much as anything else.