A Slow Saunter to a 550lb Raw BP

I recently hit a 510lb raw bench in competition and felt that I had at least 520 in me. I’m starting this thread to keep myself motivated to keep moving forward. It didn’t take me very long to get my raw bench into the 400’s but it seemed to take forever to finally break into the 500’s with a competition pause. Lately it’s been taking off again and I’m hoping to make a run for a mid 500 competition bench. In the grand scheme of powerlifting a 500lb raw bench really isn’t that rare but the further you can move forward from 500 the more rare it becomes and that’s my goal.

Anyway, I’m sure there are plenty of lifters here that can give me a run for my money. I would love to hear from you and what you are doing to make progress.

Let the saunter begin.

I’m definitely nowhere near that but 510 in competition is great - good job and good luck!

What weight class out of curiosity?

[quote]michael_xyz wrote:
I’m definitely nowhere near that but 510 in competition is great - good job and good luck!

What weight class out of curiosity?[/quote]

my walk around BW is between 245 and 250. I typically compete in the 259 class but i really want to start competing in the 242’s.

thanks for the kind words.

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:

Let the saunter begin. [/quote]

Did someone say saunter?

Following- you give me advice not the other way around so I can’t help you there but based on your recent progress I’m going to guess you are less than a year away from 550.

For those who don’t go into the over 35 forum- Meat’s 510 competition BP video is posted in his log there. He also got 550 with a Titan on his fourth attempt at the same meet as the 510 raw.

Meat, when you made the most progress, did you train your bench supramaximally (basically, the way laid out in your log for the past year+)? I am thinking of switching back to that type of training. Been on pure Westside for the past 12 weeks and will test how went in a meet in June, but I feel weaker than before when i hit 315 bounce-and-go (hehehe) in the gym. There is just something to it - if i don’t train with heavy weights, I get stapled by them. Like, yeah my floor press may go up, but since its less than my bench, the moment I try to bench heavy shit just feels like a ton of bricks.

Thanks big guy! Good luck. It would be great if you hit that within the next couple of years

[quote]novaeer wrote:

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:

Let the saunter begin. [/quote]

Did someone say saunter?[/quote]

yeah… baby…yeah!!!

[quote]DBasler wrote:
Following- you give me advice not the other way around so I can’t help you there but based on your recent progress I’m going to guess you are less than a year away from 550.

For those who don’t go into the over 35 forum- Meat’s 510 competition BP video is posted in his log there. He also got 550 with a Titan on his fourth attempt at the same meet as the 510 raw.[/quote]

thanks buddy. i appreciate all the support you have given me.

[quote]mlekava000 wrote:
Meat, when you made the most progress, did you train your bench supramaximally (basically, the way laid out in your log for the past year+)? I am thinking of switching back to that type of training. Been on pure Westside for the past 12 weeks and will test how went in a meet in June, but I feel weaker than before when i hit 315 bounce-and-go (hehehe) in the gym. There is just something to it - if i don’t train with heavy weights, I get stapled by them. Like, yeah my floor press may go up, but since its less than my bench, the moment I try to bench heavy shit just feels like a ton of bricks.

Thanks big guy! Good luck. It would be great if you hit that within the next couple of years[/quote]

the way i train really hasn’t changed. i’ve always trained suprmaximally. I have dabbled with 5/3/1 but, like you, if i don’t train with weight above my max then i don’t progress. I attribute my most recent increase in my bench press to training with the slingshot and titan. right before my last meet i got up to almost 600lbs with the titan. then i would drop back to straight weight and the weight would feel so damn light in my hands.

highlights from tonight

bench press against chains- 455 +70lbs of chain x 1

close grip paused bench off 4 board- 455x6

close grip paused bench off 4 board- 495x3

body weight- 240

Hoornstra like technique seems to be working well for you.

Solid workouts in here, well done

[quote]gorangers0525 wrote:
Hoornstra like technique seems to be working well for you. [/quote]

yes it does… it definitely added a good bit to my max bench right off the bat.

[quote]daraz wrote:
Solid workouts in here, well done[/quote]

thank you.

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:

[quote]gorangers0525 wrote:
Hoornstra like technique seems to be working well for you. [/quote]

yes it does… it definitely added a good bit to my max bench right off the bat. [/quote]

How does the downward movement of the bar after the press command not get called?

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:

[quote]gorangers0525 wrote:
Hoornstra like technique seems to be working well for you. [/quote]

yes it does… it definitely added a good bit to my max bench right off the bat. [/quote]

How does the downward movement of the bar after the press command not get called?[/quote]
Good question.

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:

[quote]gorangers0525 wrote:
Hoornstra like technique seems to be working well for you. [/quote]

yes it does… it definitely added a good bit to my max bench right off the bat. [/quote]

How does the downward movement of the bar after the press command not get called?[/quote]
Good question.[/quote]

There are a a good number of good raw benchers that do that. I’ve actually been trying to teach myself to do it a little because I don’t see it called.

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:

[quote]gorangers0525 wrote:
Hoornstra like technique seems to be working well for you. [/quote]

yes it does… it definitely added a good bit to my max bench right off the bat. [/quote]

How does the downward movement of the bar after the press command not get called?[/quote]
Good question.[/quote]

There are a a good number of good raw benchers that do that. I’ve actually been trying to teach myself to do it a little because I don’t see it called.[/quote]

Got an easy 385 CG with it. Definitely worth mastering.

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:

[quote]maraudermeat wrote:

[quote]gorangers0525 wrote:
Hoornstra like technique seems to be working well for you. [/quote]

yes it does… it definitely added a good bit to my max bench right off the bat. [/quote]

How does the downward movement of the bar after the press command not get called?[/quote]

for me, i just let it sink until it won’t sink anymore. once i get the press command it can only go upwards.

bench’n

highlights-

weight PR on bench against chains.

close grip 4 board rep PR

R/P set - 225x50