Currently I am benching 330lbs raw. I am 17 years old and I have only been working out for a little more than two years. I want to reach a bench max of 405 before summer begins and I am open to any tips or motivation of any sort to help me reach this goal.
I am familiar with my weakpoint which is starting from off my chest, I have been incorperating a lot of heavy shoulder workouts like military press and incline press and they have helped me alot with my bench. I also do a heavy back workouts too like all types of rows.
After a few weeks of prioritizing my shoulders just to balance and switch things up I will prioritize my triceps for a few weeks and see where I stand at regular bench afterwards. So far this approach has been working great and I have been making good strength gains Does any one have any sort of recommendations on how to approach my goal I am open to any sort of help. Thanks for reading
-Charming
Seventy-five pounds in 6 months can be a tall order, especially if you’ve recently been making good gains. You’re bound to slow down a little sooner or later. That being said, I don’t want to discourage you and I wish you good luck.
It sounds like you’re on the right track. Keep hitting your triceps and shoulders hard. Mix it up. Military presses, board presses, floor presses, dumbbell work. Also, if you’re weak off the chest, you might want to try some speed benching and some reps with pauses on the chest to develop that initial explosiveness.
Make sure your form and technique are sound. Tight upper back, shoulder blades pinched together, glutes tightened. Get as large of an arch as you’re comfortable with. Fill your belly with air before the lift.
Also, I’m a big fan of “feeling” heavy weights. Two or three months before you attempt to press 405, do a lot of partial rep work with heavier than 405. For example, do some 3, 4, and 5 board presses and some rack lockouts. Maybe even just do some unracking of heavy weights just to “feel” it.
I don’t know if this does anything physiologically to better prepare you, but at the very least it will help psychologically. You get more comfortable holding the heavier weights. 405 won’t seem nearly as intimidating once you have held and locked-out 450+ various times.
405 is a nice round number to shoot for. While I don’t know what your form looks like now- I would be willing venture that you could get some real easy gains just by using a good set-up. There’s a Sebastian Burns article on the Metal Militia site that gives a good primer on maximizing your set-up. While some of it may benefit shirted lifters more- the key ideas- leg drive, big arch, tight upper back- are common to both raw and shirted. You may also get a lot out of speed work ala Westside- doubles or triples with around 50-60% of your max. While these did nothing for my shirted bench- they worked great for raw. Also, reverse band presses are good for getting accustomed to heavier weight.
[quote]I’mCharming wrote:
Currently I am benching 330lbs raw. I am 17 years old and I have only been working out for a little more than two years. I want to reach a bench max of 405 before summer begins and I am open to any tips or motivation of any sort to help me reach this goal.
I am familiar with my weakpoint which is starting from off my chest, I have been incorperating a lot of heavy shoulder workouts like military press and incline press and they have helped me alot with my bench. I also do a heavy back workouts too like all types of rows.
After a few weeks of prioritizing my shoulders just to balance and switch things up I will prioritize my triceps for a few weeks and see where I stand at regular bench afterwards. So far this approach has been working great and I have been making good strength gains Does any one have any sort of recommendations on how to approach my goal I am open to any sort of help. Thanks for reading
-Charming[/quote]
it aint happening, shoot for 405 for next december.
405 will not be easy but hey, what’s the point of having goals if they are easy? If you are weak off the chest you could do heavy floor presses, add chains sometimes as well. Also, start doing paused reps and 1 and 2 boards as these will also help with strength off the chest. You can also start playing with different grips to see if you can find one that gives you a little more strength off the bottom (probably wider).
Blast Your Bench program off boards set right at your sticking point should get you about 40-70lbs on your bench if you do it two times over the seven months its a three week program
[quote]jlesk68 wrote:
I’mCharming wrote:
Currently I am benching 330lbs raw. I am 17 years old and I have only been working out for a little more than two years. I want to reach a bench max of 405 before summer begins and I am open to any tips or motivation of any sort to help me reach this goal.
I am familiar with my weakpoint which is starting from off my chest, I have been incorperating a lot of heavy shoulder workouts like military press and incline press and they have helped me alot with my bench. I also do a heavy back workouts too like all types of rows.
After a few weeks of prioritizing my shoulders just to balance and switch things up I will prioritize my triceps for a few weeks and see where I stand at regular bench afterwards. So far this approach has been working great and I have been making good strength gains Does any one have any sort of recommendations on how to approach my goal I am open to any sort of help. Thanks for reading
-Charming
it aint happening, shoot for 405 for next december.[/quote]
Dude, don’t you remember what it was like to be 17? :-)I say he’s got a shot at it.
Weak off the chest - read “Starting Strength” and “Benching Like a Stripper” (I think those are the titles) over at elitefts. Also, one thing I’m playing around with is narrowing my grip. I can lockout A LOT more than I can get off my chest. By narrowing my grip I get a better stretch reflex from my tris to get the bar off my chest, then I just have to grind the bar out and focus on my lockout. Who knows if that’ll work tho, I’ve been chasing 405 raw for more years than I care to admit
[quote]I’mCharming wrote:
Currently I am benching 330lbs raw. I am 17 years old and I have only been working out for a little more than two years. I want to reach a bench max of 405 before summer begins and I am open to any tips or motivation of any sort to help me reach this goal.
I am familiar with my weakpoint which is starting from off my chest, I have been incorperating a lot of heavy shoulder workouts like military press and incline press and they have helped me alot with my bench. I also do a heavy back workouts too like all types of rows.
After a few weeks of prioritizing my shoulders just to balance and switch things up I will prioritize my triceps for a few weeks and see where I stand at regular bench afterwards. So far this approach has been working great and I have been making good strength gains Does any one have any sort of recommendations on how to approach my goal I am open to any sort of help. Thanks for reading
-Charming[/quote]
Have someone spot you with 405 loaded on the bar, and then just do some negatives, or just lower the bar to your chest, and have the spotter help you lift it back up, eventually you will be able to press it back up yourself.
[quote]I’mCharming wrote:
Currently I am benching 330lbs raw. I am 17 years old and I have only been working out for a little more than two years. I want to reach a bench max of 405 before summer begins and I am open to any tips or motivation of any sort to help me reach this goal.
I am familiar with my weakpoint which is starting from off my chest, I have been incorperating a lot of heavy shoulder workouts like military press and incline press and they have helped me alot with my bench. I also do a heavy back workouts too like all types of rows.
After a few weeks of prioritizing my shoulders just to balance and switch things up I will prioritize my triceps for a few weeks and see where I stand at regular bench afterwards. So far this approach has been working great and I have been making good strength gains Does any one have any sort of recommendations on how to approach my goal I am open to any sort of help. Thanks for reading
-Charming[/quote]
I am currently weighing in between 235 and 240 but I am 6’3" so I don’t have that much fat to my body. So far I have been doing a lot of heavy triples with pressing movements and I want to start incoperating more dumbell work but the problem is that the dumbells in my school gym only go up to a whopping 85lbs fuck yeah!
I am trying to incorperate more leg drive but I feel the problem is that I make my form so tight that I don’t feel I can incorperate leg drive… maybe someone can help me
[quote]KBCThird wrote:
jlesk68 wrote:
I’mCharming wrote:
Currently I am benching 330lbs raw. I am 17 years old and I have only been working out for a little more than two years. I want to reach a bench max of 405 before summer begins and I am open to any tips or motivation of any sort to help me reach this goal.
I am familiar with my weakpoint which is starting from off my chest, I have been incorperating a lot of heavy shoulder workouts like military press and incline press and they have helped me alot with my bench. I also do a heavy back workouts too like all types of rows.
After a few weeks of prioritizing my shoulders just to balance and switch things up I will prioritize my triceps for a few weeks and see where I stand at regular bench afterwards. So far this approach has been working great and I have been making good strength gains Does any one have any sort of recommendations on how to approach my goal I am open to any sort of help. Thanks for reading
-Charming
it aint happening, shoot for 405 for next december.
Dude, don’t you remember what it was like to be 17? :-)I say he’s got a shot at it.
Weak off the chest - read “Starting Strength” and “Benching Like a Stripper” (I think those are the titles) over at elitefts. Also, one thing I’m playing around with is narrowing my grip. I can lockout A LOT more than I can get off my chest. By narrowing my grip I get a better stretch reflex from my tris to get the bar off my chest, then I just have to grind the bar out and focus on my lockout. Who knows if that’ll work tho, I’ve been chasing 405 raw for more years than I care to admit[/quote]
I looked up those two articles, not my thread, but thanks.
Also think of pushing YOU away from the bar on the bar away from you push you back this will keep everything in the upper back shoulsedrs and the arch TIGHT. if you push the bar away from you ppl tend to unlock the shoulders and push them forward Not Good.
Here’s a bench program that a couple of buddies and I tried out. Our gains were pretty significant.
From Monster Muscle forum, posted by: Ryan Kennelley.
“Start at 50% of your one rep raw max and you will do 8 sets of triples at this weight, and each week you will go up 5%, or the next week you would go 55% of your one rep max. Then when you get to 70% you will lower your sets to 6 sets of triples, then at 80% you will only do three sets of triples. The week you do 90% for 3 sets of triples, you will take off 95% week and rest for your 100% day, you may do 2 sets of three reps or only on set of 3 reps on your 100% day, either way you will have a new Raw max for sure. And you will still do speed work on your light day, and as assistance work you can do some board presses with close grip, and rack lockouts also.”
Before I started this routine my max was 385lbs, and after I was done my new max was 425lbs. Overall a 40lb increase is not too bad.
So go ahead and give it shot. If you have any questions feel free to ask away.
Anything else Dave Tate has written is good too. I made more gains my freshman year of college than any other time simply becuase I quit running as much, started eating more, and I was still lifting the same as ever.
[quote]BigMG wrote:
Here’s a bench program that a couple of buddies and I tried out. Our gains were pretty significant.
From Monster Muscle forum, posted by: Ryan Kennelley.
“Start at 50% of your one rep raw max and you will do 8 sets of triples at this weight, and each week you will go up 5%, or the next week you would go 55% of your one rep max. Then when you get to 70% you will lower your sets to 6 sets of triples, then at 80% you will only do three sets of triples. The week you do 90% for 3 sets of triples, you will take off 95% week and rest for your 100% day, you may do 2 sets of three reps or only on set of 3 reps on your 100% day, either way you will have a new Raw max for sure. And you will still do speed work on your light day, and as assistance work you can do some board presses with close grip, and rack lockouts also.”
Before I started this routine my max was 385lbs, and after I was done my new max was 425lbs. Overall a 40lb increase is not too bad.
So go ahead and give it shot. If you have any questions feel free to ask away.