Big back is a big bench. But you get a bigger bench training your bench more so than training a big bench. I know way too many strong ass pullers that have shit benches to every really tie benching to your back. Yeah big lats, strong rhomboids all help but to get a big bench in PL you literally train your bench, train it for reps, train it for range, train it for max effort. Nothing is better for your bench than training your bench.
I have always been really slow/weak off my chest.
Things that help me
-benching with my feet in the air or on the bench
-floor pressing
-dead benches
-benching 3-4 times per week
Dead benches suck for max effort use them as a supplemental lift.
Things that haven’t worked
-speed work
-incline benching
-benching once per week
-board work
[quote]rehanb_bl wrote:
one word: lats[/quote]
This
Its not just having them its about being able to use them as well.
You want to be able to avoid as much internal rotation for as long possible and you can accomplish this by drawing your elbows into your body and bracing your humerus with your flared lats during the eccentric portion.
My elbows begin drawn into my sides and only spread out during the bottom few inches of the lift.
The longer your arms the more difficult this becomes.
Im having these Same problems with westside
[quote]csaanimal55 wrote:
Im having these Same problems with westside [/quote]
I read that as “I’m having problems selecting effective supplemental and accessory movements that build my bench” so, what are you doing exactly? Maybe we can get to the bottom of why you are having issues.
[quote]Curls4Girls wrote:
Big back is a big bench. But you get a bigger bench training your bench more so than training a big bench. I know way too many strong ass pullers that have shit benches to every really tie benching to your back. Yeah big lats, strong rhomboids all help but to get a big bench in PL you literally train your bench, train it for reps, train it for range, train it for max effort. Nothing is better for your bench than training your bench.[/quote]
Just as a note, a build for pulling is generally a build for a crappy bench. There is a reason big pullers often have crappy benches, unrelated to the topic. I’d still contend these pullers you know with crappy benches would probably be even worse at benching with weaker backs.
I didn’t bother reading the rest of the replies, Im sure some of them are good, and Im sure Im repeating some, but this post should still be relevant.
I moved my “sticking point” from just off my chest to about a 3-4 board by pausing every bench rep for most of a year and drastically increasing my lat/upper back work.
Like other guys have said, it depends alot on your style of benching and many other factors. As someone who overcame their 300lb bench about a year ago and has now got it up to 350, I know how much it means.
Things I did to improve my bench:
- Pause bench (3, 4 or 5 second pause, prevent stretch reflex. Usually 5 or 6 sets of 3 with 60-70% of max after my main sets).
- Explode the hell out of each rep as soon as it leaves your chest, on warm ups, work sets, pause bench, anything which involves a benching movement.
- bench 2x a week
- do dips 2x a week.
A huge thing to bear in mind is to avoid testing your max often; at the very most you should do it once every 6 weeks. As tempting as it is, you’re not building strength, just testing it (paraphrasing Brandon Lilly there). As soon as I stopped going for 1 rep maxes and improved my rep PRs at 70, 80%, my max went up alot. Obviously it is important to train close to the max regularly, but no more than 90 - 92%.
To those who bench (or have squatted or pulled for that matter) three times a week to focus on it…
How do you manage/deal with soreness/DOMS? I’m just looking at the additional time that I’m going to have to spend on stretching/foam rolling/access to spa/ convince the wife to give me massages etc.
I guess there is no way around it right? Or can you train in a way to temper this? I’m usually sore for 2-3 days after ME Bench days.
[quote]Brett620 wrote:
To those who bench (or have squatted or pulled for that matter) three times a week to focus on it…
How do you manage/deal with soreness/DOMS? I’m just looking at the additional time that I’m going to have to spend on stretching/foam rolling/access to spa/ convince the wife to give me massages etc.
I guess there is no way around it right? Or can you train in a way to temper this? I’m usually sore for 2-3 days after ME Bench days.[/quote]
Generally you would drop volume and or intensity in each workout. When I’ve done higher frequency training, I don’t really get sore much. You typically aren’t killing yourself on the lift each session. 2 sets 3 days a week results in less soreness that 6 sets 1 day (especially once you are used to it).
[quote]Brett620 wrote:
To those who bench (or have squatted or pulled for that matter) three times a week to focus on it…
How do you manage/deal with soreness/DOMS? I’m just looking at the additional time that I’m going to have to spend on stretching/foam rolling/access to spa/ convince the wife to give me massages etc.
I guess there is no way around it right? Or can you train in a way to temper this? I’m usually sore for 2-3 days after ME Bench days.[/quote]
Essentially you just put up with it.
After a few weeks the soreness goes away. You remember the first time you got into weights, how long the soreness lasted? After about 3 weeks of that it went down to 2/3 days right? Same thing here.
Mobility and soft tissue work is much much more important when you up the frequency of training a movement. Essential really.
You should see the bench program Thibaudeau gave me when I asked for a strength specialization one. I had never seen anything so intimidating. It was basically a Russian Squat Cycle style thing PLUS more work and more volume. The first few weeks were absolute hell. But it worked and put 50 lbs on my bench. I won’t give it out because it was a customized program but it was brutally effective.
In related news, my little brother squats 6 days a week, 5x5, 3x5, 3x3, 5x5, 3x10 or 5x3, and OH squats. Just look at that. He rarely gets sore now, but he stays on top of the tissue work and he does get tight.
I don’t think you need to do bench 3x a week per se, but if it’s something you’re considering then go for it. I would suggest taking your current bench workouts and just distributing the work load over 3 days instead of 2 as your starting point. Then the middle day add bench pressing in but at a lighter weight–say for example on mon/wed/fri pressing, either do dynamic pressing wed and something moderate friday, or vice versa with moderate wed and fri speed bench.
Basically you are doing your old 2x/week program on 3 days now, and just adding 1 movement (a bench on the day that wouldn’t have had it)
[quote]Brett620 wrote:
To those who bench (or have squatted or pulled for that matter) three times a week to focus on it…
How do you manage/deal with soreness/DOMS? I’m just looking at the additional time that I’m going to have to spend on stretching/foam rolling/access to spa/ convince the wife to give me massages etc.
I guess there is no way around it right? Or can you train in a way to temper this? I’m usually sore for 2-3 days after ME Bench days.[/quote]
I think on a good three-day-per-week program you won’t be going for a true maximum until later in the cycle. Also, I tend to notice that my DOMS becomes less pronounced the more frequently I do a movement.
After hitting 330 in competition,
I started pausing every rep of my flat bench sets- as well as a majority of my assistance bench sets.
-
Pause reps help with technique and strength off the chest
-
You need VOLUME work - so why not use a bench accessory.
I did my volume with 5x10 sets of bench @ 50% + chains after regular benching. I varied the grips a bit, paused some reps, but most importantly got all that extra pressing in there, with the chains increasing the tricep (top half) work and teaching my body to accelerate.
I did 5x10 steep incline on my military press day, just varied the grips to hit my shoulders.
I hit a very easy 350 after a few months of that. Then I started doing some different stuff and my bench went back down to 340 or so.
So hit every part: Paused reps, Volume work, top end work.
Create your own poor mans cambered bar by using fat gripz. It’ll increase the range of motion at the bottom a little.
[quote]Brett620 wrote:
To those who bench (or have squatted or pulled for that matter) three times a week to focus on it…
How do you manage/deal with soreness/DOMS? I’m just looking at the additional time that I’m going to have to spend on stretching/foam rolling/access to spa/ convince the wife to give me massages etc.
I guess there is no way around it right? Or can you train in a way to temper this? I’m usually sore for 2-3 days after ME Bench days.[/quote]
As has been said a few times already, on high frequency programs, you won’t be working at high intensities very often. That’s a major factor. The other major factor is high frequency training develops work capacity and enhances your recovery abilities; training more gives you the ability to train more. But it sure does feel shitty for the first few weeks.
[quote]Rschwitalski wrote:
Anyone still use a cambered BP bar??[/quote]
I would if my gym had one
I dont know if its been mentioned yet, but doing negatives could help you bust through a plateau. Maybe work them in once a week with a spotter.
Once every other week, work up to singles at 80 90 95 all competition paused, then drop back to around 75% and do 6 second pauses on your chest. Jump up around 10 lbs each set.
[quote]Curls4Girls wrote:
Once every other week, work up to singles at 80 90 95 all competition paused, then drop back to around 75% and do 6 second pauses on your chest. Jump up around 10 lbs each set. [/quote]
Interesting idea. Where’d you find that?
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
[quote]Curls4Girls wrote:
Once every other week, work up to singles at 80 90 95 all competition paused, then drop back to around 75% and do 6 second pauses on your chest. Jump up around 10 lbs each set. [/quote]
Interesting idea. Where’d you find that?[/quote]
Ive done something like this too. If you happen to be doing a program with prescribed reps (5/3/1, 5x5, Juggernaut, Sheiko, etc), pause the last rep of sets for as long as you can. Got the idea from watching Ben Rice’s log.