Tried 350 for the first time yesterday. I got it but not with great form. My butt came up. Been doing Wendler’s 531 since June and making amazing progress. Hoping to keep it going and reach 405 by June 2012.
Good job man! For someone with longer arms that is a great bench. I think you should really focus on learning to squeeze shoulder blades better and try and build up a bit of an arch. This can really help shorton your super long stroke. Also, maybe set the pins 1 lower so it’s not so hard to unrack the weight! I find it makes a big diference!
Again though, congrats on the bench and keep working hard! No doubt you will get 405 if you keep pushing hard!
Awesome! I feel like if you had a spotter you wouldn’t have had to waste energy lifting the bar off the pins and the rep could have gone smoother. Having a spotter always helps me a lot. Great job regardless.
Good lift bro. Ballsy without a spotter hah. Where was your PR when you started 531? I myself have been running this program since July and currently my max bench is 325. I think I started around 300/305. I have; however, gone from hitting 245 for 7 to just this week hitting 275 for 6. Just wandering where you started so I could make a comparrison. Thanks bro.
good press
Arramzy- I agree about the energy of unracking. I did set my shoulder blades and I think that is why I had a harder time unracking. Normally I’d always have a spotter but when I got going with my workout no one was around and I was feeling to good to quit. Thanks for the feed back though.
DukeStrikes- I hit 320 back in Feb of this year. So I based my % off of that. I started the program in June and went hard for 2 months and took Aug off of the program and started back in Sept going hard again. I’ve really been moving up with my legs (my weakest link) and I think that has helped. I’m only doing a 3 day split. Monday-legs, Wednesday- Chest, Friday- Back. I hit Bi’s and Tri’s on Tuesday and Thurs. Heavy one day and reps the other. I’ve increased my overall body weight by 12 lbs too during this time 200-212. Hopefully that helps.
nice.
How long have you been working out
Nice bench. I definitely agree with arramzy about setting the pins lower. It seems like you lost most of your tightness while unracking, which may have caused the sloppy form. Still 80lbs better than me! I can’t wait to even hit 300 lol.
Does your butt come up with lighter weights? I ask because your butt came up a LOT on that rep, which suggests to me that it might be a habit.
On PR attempts, get someone to help you lift off, you are losing a lot of tightness and your shoulders are coming forward.
Solid effort though man, youre gonna kill it with perfect form soon.
Dixie and Burt- My butt doesn’t normally come off the bench. I stick to tight form for 99% of my reps. On my previous set of 320x2 my butt didn’t come off at all.
Rock- I’ve been lifting for about 11 years. First time I’ve really put an all out effort to lift heavy. And I love it! I’ve done mostly BB style lifting up until now. I’m just not into trying to eat clean all the time.
Thanks for the input guys. I’m going to lower the pins next time and hopefully have a spotter around next time. I lift right after lunch so not a lot of people around I trust to unracking and spotting. I guess someone is better than no one.
Couple things I saw:
-
The bar is set to high. Your upper back is unlocked the entrie time because you are stretching to almost end range just to unrack the weight. Drop it down a couple inches and work one PULLING the bar out of the rack, not PRESSING it out.
-
Your thoracic mobility is very limited. This could be due to your set up but it doesnt look like your shoulder blades are pulled back at all. The pressure from the bar needs to be going through your upper traps/neck. It looks like your upper back is flat on the bench. It could be a technique issue, which it probably is, but if your thoracic mobility is bad, you won’t be able to retract and depress your scaps/stay as tight as you could.
-
Your ass shoots up because your hips are too far away from the bar. Fixing what I said in number 2 and focusing on “walking” wour hips as close to your upper back as possible will help. You’ll know you are doing it right when your lower back gets a “pump” after a heavy press. This is uncomfortable at first but just get more mobile and it will be fine.
-
Your feet look a little too far forward. Pull them back under your knees a little more. It looks like you coulde be getting a lot more out of your leg drive. Also, try truning your toes in a little bit. I will create more tension in your hips which will help stabilize you when you press the bar off your chest.
I hope you don’t think I am being a dick here. Thats a solid press. Fix some form/mobility issues and it will be a whole hell of a lot better. Nice work.
[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:
Couple things I saw:
-
The bar is set to high. Your upper back is unlocked the entrie time because you are stretching to almost end range just to unrack the weight. Drop it down a couple inches and work one PULLING the bar out of the rack, not PRESSING it out.
-
Your thoracic mobility is very limited. This could be due to your set up but it doesnt look like your shoulder blades are pulled back at all. The pressure from the bar needs to be going through your upper traps/neck. It looks like your upper back is flat on the bench. It could be a technique issue, which it probably is, but if your thoracic mobility is bad, you won’t be able to retract and depress your scaps/stay as tight as you could.
-
Your ass shoots up because your hips are too far away from the bar. Fixing what I said in number 2 and focusing on “walking” wour hips as close to your upper back as possible will help. You’ll know you are doing it right when your lower back gets a “pump” after a heavy press. This is uncomfortable at first but just get more mobile and it will be fine.
-
Your feet look a little too far forward. Pull them back under your knees a little more. It looks like you coulde be getting a lot more out of your leg drive. Also, try truning your toes in a little bit. I will create more tension in your hips which will help stabilize you when you press the bar off your chest.
I hope you don’t think I am being a dick here. Thats a solid press. Fix some form/mobility issues and it will be a whole hell of a lot better. Nice work.[/quote]
I thought his facial hair + long hair combo was pretty impressive. No?
[quote]detazathoth wrote:
[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:
Couple things I saw:
-
The bar is set to high. Your upper back is unlocked the entrie time because you are stretching to almost end range just to unrack the weight. Drop it down a couple inches and work one PULLING the bar out of the rack, not PRESSING it out.
-
Your thoracic mobility is very limited. This could be due to your set up but it doesnt look like your shoulder blades are pulled back at all. The pressure from the bar needs to be going through your upper traps/neck. It looks like your upper back is flat on the bench. It could be a technique issue, which it probably is, but if your thoracic mobility is bad, you won’t be able to retract and depress your scaps/stay as tight as you could.
-
Your ass shoots up because your hips are too far away from the bar. Fixing what I said in number 2 and focusing on “walking” wour hips as close to your upper back as possible will help. You’ll know you are doing it right when your lower back gets a “pump” after a heavy press. This is uncomfortable at first but just get more mobile and it will be fine.
-
Your feet look a little too far forward. Pull them back under your knees a little more. It looks like you coulde be getting a lot more out of your leg drive. Also, try truning your toes in a little bit. I will create more tension in your hips which will help stabilize you when you press the bar off your chest.
I hope you don’t think I am being a dick here. Thats a solid press. Fix some form/mobility issues and it will be a whole hell of a lot better. Nice work.[/quote]
I thought his facial hair + long hair combo was pretty impressive. No?
[/quote]
I am sure his Nordic ancestry contributed to at least 50lbs on that press.
[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:
[quote]detazathoth wrote:
[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:
Couple things I saw:
-
The bar is set to high. Your upper back is unlocked the entrie time because you are stretching to almost end range just to unrack the weight. Drop it down a couple inches and work one PULLING the bar out of the rack, not PRESSING it out.
-
Your thoracic mobility is very limited. This could be due to your set up but it doesnt look like your shoulder blades are pulled back at all. The pressure from the bar needs to be going through your upper traps/neck. It looks like your upper back is flat on the bench. It could be a technique issue, which it probably is, but if your thoracic mobility is bad, you won’t be able to retract and depress your scaps/stay as tight as you could.
-
Your ass shoots up because your hips are too far away from the bar. Fixing what I said in number 2 and focusing on “walking” wour hips as close to your upper back as possible will help. You’ll know you are doing it right when your lower back gets a “pump” after a heavy press. This is uncomfortable at first but just get more mobile and it will be fine.
-
Your feet look a little too far forward. Pull them back under your knees a little more. It looks like you coulde be getting a lot more out of your leg drive. Also, try truning your toes in a little bit. I will create more tension in your hips which will help stabilize you when you press the bar off your chest.
I hope you don’t think I am being a dick here. Thats a solid press. Fix some form/mobility issues and it will be a whole hell of a lot better. Nice work.[/quote]
I thought his facial hair + long hair combo was pretty impressive. No?
[/quote]
I am sure his Nordic ancestry contributed to at least 50lbs on that press.[/quote]
I’ll take whatever I can get