Before Strongman I benched. I did 4 sets of 3-6 reps a week, and one triceps accessory. Usually Nosebreakers or something similar, and at some point I started doing DB Shoulder presses for 3 sets of 10 and eventually Military Press, standing and both in front and BTN. When I stopped benching I was doing 358 x 5 for 4 sets. I just went in every week and when I could get 6 reps on all the sets I’d add weight the following week. No magic there, straight linear progressive resistence.
Overhead pressing is definitely underrated for a bigger bench.
For me, BTN was magic. Because it actually isolated my triceps and made them work - they were my weak point. I was using my chest and delts too much on regular OHP to get the activation. Once the triceps started getting that extra work things went up.
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I never did much BTN pressing. I’m considering entering a bench contest next year. Maybe I’ll throw some in and see how it goes.
Yeah I was going to compete this summer. But then it all got called off. I don;t think I have flat benched in 2020. But I feel like I should attempt to get to 350lb or even 405lb. Just to say I have. I mean its one of those standards.
@beerisgoodforyou
Thanks for the reply - thats about as detailed as I could every have hoped for.
Yeah I think 250 for 2x2 would be my absolute max.
This is what my focus is on at the moment. And although I’ve not benched regularly in months I have had the odd mess about on the bench. And I’ve not seen a drop off in my numbers. To be honest I’m currently pressing and incline benching with such intensity and frequency I’d be disappointed if I didn’t get some kind of carry over in to my bench.
Overhead pressing of some sort is always a good thing. Big delts and traps will make your physique more esthetic and will benefit in almost any physical activity. Overhead and incline alone will definitely have a little carry over into flat benching, but if you’re looking to reach 350, you’re going to need to also bench at least once a week, likely twice. The program I outlined should get you there within a year if you’re willing to plump up along the process.
I’m a rugby player and wanna be strongman. I dropped bench as the OHP and incline were all I needed. I would do dips as well but I have shoulder issues. And yeah BIG sholders look great.
This is the issue. Is a 350lb bench important enough to me to dedicate a day to it? If it were not for my strong man goals or rugby I’d go for it. I might still. Main reason, as much as I hate being asked “What do you bench bro” - being able to shut them up with a big fat 350 would be nice.
It won’t. No matter what you answer, they will know someone that does more.
Mike Jenkins used to answer 800lbs (more than the world record) and note how people didn’t seem to care.
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Bench is an accessory exercise if you are doing Strongman. Throw it in after your OH work. It does carry over to Log Press and the tricep work doesn’t hurt. You could use it instead of Incline and alternate them even.
This was something I was thinking about. It would take longer BUT I’m fine with that. I got a few years to hit 350.
You might be trying to serve too many masters here, especially early in the game. Rugby is counter productive to strength training and unless your bench is seriously deficient, if 250 is heavy for you, even lightweight strongman might be out of grasp. Either play rugby or spend some time building up the basic lifts and putting on size. I’ve never met a strongman competitor that couldn’t bench 315 for a few reps.
Yeah learnt that last year. Really made 0 progression for 7 months. Which is why rugby will be playing 2nd fiddle to strength training this year.
My realistic goals for next summer are:
Strick press 100kg for reps / 120kg log for reps
Front squat near 200kg
Deadlift over 275kg
If I can do this I do well at under 105kg (I want to stay under 105kg)
Really? I don’t know anything about rugby but have always pictured it being somewhat comparable to American football, and to me, lifting weights and playing football go hand in hand.
EDIT: Or are you just saying that he can’t be as great at each thing as he could be if he just focused on one of them?
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Tbh I’m not great at rugby maybevill be okay lol. But yeah competing ability to recover. It’s not possible to train strong and hard for strong man and play rugby hard.
Terry Holland’s played rugby for England and Is pretty Good at that strongman stuff too !
Guys, he’s saying that training for and playing rugby will tax your recovery which works against training for strength, not that being good at rugby makes you bad at being strong.
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So just to continue this convo. How about training to be strong and then playing rugby. My experience of playing lower level rugby (many years ago) is that it’s not that taxing depending on what position you play. A skills session during the week and a game wouldn’t be a bad way to work on some conditioning.
It depends on the position and playing style. I’m a 2nd row forward. For NFL fans - defensively I have the same responsibility as a line backer.
In offence - I have the same responsibility as big running back.
I used to train like this:
Monday - full body (press and squat) - HIIT
Tuesday - contact training rugby
Wednesday - Full body (dead lift and bench) - LISS
Thursday - skills
Friday - off
Saturday - Game
Sunday - try not to die.
I give too much when I play. I can’t help it. I struggle to recover enough to get a good squat or deadlift work out done. Especially if I’m doing additional cardio. Which I need. I have dropped my aspiration with regards to rugby. I’m now confined to lower league. At least until I get a season of strong man done. I can train easy on a Wednesday night and I can be as unfit as I like.
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Count the sport as conditioning and drop the HIIT and LISS?
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Pro Rugby players do this in the offseason, they train hard for strength and hypertrophy and typically weigh in at their heaviest at the beginning of the season.
Once they start doing conditioning, skills work and matches they put gym work into ‘maintenance’, being as much as they can do without impacting performance.
Over the season they almost unanimously lose weight and weight room strength.
As @T3hPwnisher said, its competing recovery sytems. Yes you CAN do both, if you are playying low level casual rugby and just going to the gym without any real serious goals about it, great, but if you want maximal strength gains, training for and playing any significant amount rugby will probably limit your progress.
True, but he wasn’t immediately worldstrongestman level strong as soon as he stopped playing rugby. After he stopped playing rugby and focused on strongman only funnily enough he got a lot lot stronger.
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