[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
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.[/quote]
I hadn’t benched in a year and a half (ever since I stopped playing football after I graduated high school), but over the summer last year before I came to university I went on the Houston Astros’ 52-week program. Can’t say much for a lot of it lifting-wise, but it definitely helps your baseball skills out. At any rate, DB bench/DB incline bench was on the plan, and towards the end of the summer my friend and I were up to 100’s x 11 for our third (last) set. The last time I had benched was in high school, and I hated weights then and put up 185 for a 1rm. After only doing DB bench, DB incline and flyes (ugh) for a summer, I put up 255. I guess that’s a little more of a “break”, but there definitely is something to be said for taking a break and working with DB’s.
[quote]Leeuwer wrote:
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.
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I agree. My incline and my flat havve no correlation. I can take a break from flat, work my incline up 30 pounds and then lose 30 on the flat in that time.
Yes, a sort of hybrid between a push press and a military press; not that common amongst the garden variety gym rat who you see in a commercial gym. This movement is closely related to the bench press with a bounce, or the bench press with your ass raised at least 3 feet off of the bench; two more common movements that you see when you work at a gym.
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
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.
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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
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.
Which Sheiko programs did you do?[/quote]
I would like to know also. I looked through all the programs and didn’t see a bench only.
[quote]Hanley wrote:
For those of you benching 300+, how easy was it for you? It was by far the hardest lift for me to achieve of the 3/4/5 combo.
The squat came easily, but has barely friggin moved since in the last 9 months, it’s starting to go up now.
Deadlift was hard but once I put my head into it and started to work hard it came.
Bench just hasn’t co-operated tho. By far the hardest of the lifts for me. But funnily enough my shirted bench has gone up like 60lbs in since january and is hovering around 400 now.[/quote]
Well, I think bench was the easiest one to come on. Then again, I train with several raw double bodyweight benchers and a couple raw 400+ benchers. I’m also pretty fat, so I don’t have to press very far. On a sidenote, I’m amazed at how long the bar path is with some of the skinny teen lifters I see at meets. Hard to believe our arms were all that long once!
For me, bench responds better to volume and frequency than the other lifts. Lot’s of sets, reps, days/week, etc.
My bench is my weakest point about me. I really cant bench for shit. Its my longish arms i think. My max bench is unknown but im guessing it would be around the 200 lbs mark
On the other hand, my DL is ok. I still dont know my 1RM, but i know i could break the 400lbs mark without many problems.
I would trade some of my bench for some squat poundages. I’ve been on and off for years, but only really started training correctly (once I found T-Nation) starting January of 07. From then I went from about a 230 bench max to 275 by May, but it’s hovered there since. Then I injured my lower back which shot any progress I was making on my deads and squats to hell.
Now that the back is feeling better (took quite some time), I’ve been doing the Madcow 5x5 subbing rows for powercleans. Just did a reset on weights after stalling but am going to do a strength test come March 28th where I’m hoping to get 250lbs on squat, 285 on bench, 200 on clean and jerk, and 300 (all the weights I have) for deadlift (if I achieve the deadlift goal I’ll buy more). Then I’m going to start the 4 day a week Sheiko.
Right now I’m 6’3 195 with skinny skinny legs. Current lifts are squat 220x5, bench 250x4, clean and jerk 185x3, and deadlift 270x5.
If I could get 300 by mid-summer, I’d be pretty goddamned ecstatic.
Side note - Hanley, I like your sheiko log thread, respect your posts, and have learned from your training videos. It’s cool to see the progress and learn a thing or two along the way.
[quote]jtg987 wrote:
currently my bench is stuck at 120kg, 264lbs…lately just been finding it easier than squat
my dead lift is alright but my squat is pathetic
current body weight around 228lbs @ 6’2
max bench - 120kg
max squat - 125kg
max deadlift - 200kg
goals are squat 180kg, bench 150kg hopefully i can acheive it by the end of the year[/quote]
update yesterday bench 125kg, was rough didnt set up properly but still threw it up, thats shameful that my max bench and squat are the same, time to go back into the squat rack i reckon
^^Thanks, that’s awesome. I’m glad people are benefiting from it. Keeping a log like that is actually one of the smartest things I’ve done in a long time.
The name’s a big of a misnomer at this stage since I haven’t run a Sheiko cycle since last year, but it was the starting point of everything that came after so I think it’s a nice tribute.
I’d say right now, if you get good results with the 5x5, why not run it again? I’ve been far to eager to chop and change in the past and to “throw the baby out with the bath water” so to speak. Instead of making small adjumstments to what I’ve done that has worked, I’ve gone and done soemthing COMPLETELY different. It hasn’t really worked that well for my squat, when I went back to old school 3x6’s and 5’s pushing the weight up over the weeks I made much beter progress and hit PR’s. I’ve a feeling that’ll happen again this time arond.
Simiarly with my bench I tried to be TOO fancy, and now I’m just doing regular bench, close grip and paused followed by rows and extenstions on one day, and inclines and shoulder work a few days later. It seems to be working well, and it’s so simple. Lots of benching = bigger bench!!
Just some more ideas to work with. If you do decide to go down the sheiko route, it’ll either kill you or make you stronger.
I hear you on that…Keeping a log is the only way to go. I always refer back to previous workouts to note what lb I was using for a certain exercize and either increase weight, or increase reps whatever I feel needs to be done.
I’m dying to get a video camera with USB. I’ll be getting one soon though becasue I’m about to get a job at the steakhouse. I can lift 315 for 7 reps raw in high school without a spot to break or help. There’s really no secret but to vary the rep schemes and just bench every other day and over a period of time the pounds will keep coming. I think I’ve been lifting for 2-2 1/2 years.
Also I should add though just after readin a recent T-Nation article and I agree with it. Even though I’m not huge(though still big in person), I can lift a lot of weight becasue I mostly train heavy in the 6-8 rep range so most of the time even though I’m bigger than average, people don’t expect me to be as strong as I am.
sed26 are you the stongest in your H.S. When I was in High school, we had 2 maybe 3 guys possibly who were putting up 3- on the bench. And both of these guys who I know about for sure were 5"8 and under but stocky as RHINO’s. All I used to see them do is bench high weight, low rep.
