I got 270x12 for my 5’s week Wednesday on 5-3-1, which wasn’t quite a PR but close…
Also worked up to 295x3 in floor press…have no idea if that’s any good or not since I’ve never done them before, but I’m going to start hammering those to try and improve my lockout since that’s where I usually miss…
Got 350x4 touch-and-go Tuesday. At 370x4 I’ll be able to get 400 based on my previous experience maxing. I should be there before summer ends, but that’s all assuming my shoulder doesn’t bomb on me again. Will be working with 355 next week so we’ll see how it goes.
I’m in as well. Based on my results for my first 6 months of 5/3/1, I should be there in another 6 months. Rep PR’s lately (touch and go): 315x7, 330x4. I figure my max is somewhere between 360 and 390, but I’ve never tried anything over 350 (which I haven’t missed yet, and usually get for 2)
Got 335x3 followed by 345x3 yesterday which was a PR, first time that I’ve repped anything over 315 so I’m pretty happy about that. After I weighed in at 172 I realized thats a TRIPLE at 2x my bodyweight! Pretty excited. I also tried out my homemade slingshot and had a blast, I got 405x1 and surprisingly it didnt feel heavy in my hands which I thought it would so everything looks to be on the up and up!
[quote]Travis56 wrote:
Any tips on increasing my strength a the bottom of my bench. Seems to be where I am sticking mostly. [/quote]
I found working on reverse band bench press to really help w/ my explosive push off my chest. I realize the main advantage of reverse bands is to increase lock strength, but i’ve notice I explode at the bottom from this work.
not sure how many of you do the reverse grip bench. if you can get good at it doing that, it will help your regular bench, big time. its a rather difficult and awkward lift. i recommend doing it in the power rack so you don’t have to worry about any mishaps.
Well…not going good for me. Stuck at 315. I recently got a new job and been working 65 hours a week and thats really messed with my workouts. I’m going to keep at it and we’ll see…
I’d like to hop into this… 405 has been a goal for a long while now, way too long actually, hit a huge plateau. I’ve decided to focus a little less on body building style routines over the last month and focus really on power lifting so my goal is 405 by August. I was doing a home made program that really resembled Wendler’s 5/3/1 which I had never read about so I’m going to just adjust my personal program slightly to mimick his.
365 went up pretty easy tonight, on a 380 attempt my hamstring cramped and it was enough distraction to miss it.
Speaking of, does anyone else have hamstring problems when benching? I know its a sign of getting good leg push, but my damn hammy has done this multiple times. Before I was lifting, back in high school, I pulled it while running the 2 mile in track. It’s supposed to be a sprinters injury. And I don’t think its supposed to be a bench press injury haha.
[quote]mkral55 wrote:
365 went up pretty easy tonight, on a 380 attempt my hamstring cramped and it was enough distraction to miss it.
Speaking of, does anyone else have hamstring problems when benching? I know its a sign of getting good leg push, but my damn hammy has done this multiple times. Before I was lifting, back in high school, I pulled it while running the 2 mile in track. It’s supposed to be a sprinters injury. And I don’t think its supposed to be a bench press injury haha. [/quote]
This happens to me the odd time, more commonly though my hip flexor will cramp up pretty good and its frustrating as all hell. Probably another reason I need to work on stretching more often.
Got 360x4 and 370x3 on Tuesday. I’m seeing great bench progress right now and think I can get 370x4 next week. I should be able to do 400 pretty easily before the end of the summer.
Today went 405x1, 345x3x2, 315x5x3
[quote]Mexecutioner wrote:
Today went 405x1, 345x3x2, 315x5x3[/quote]
Nice press big man!!! This thread is starting to come together…anything you found along the way that helped you hit the big 4 plates the most?
Got 300x10 tonight in my “531” week today…that’s good for a calculated max of 400, which was a huge PR for me…now just to get my calculated and actual maxes to align with one another!
Part of me wants to increase my training max by more than 5 pounds for next cycle since I’m getting 10 reps in my 3rd week, but JW says to stay the course and only go up in small increments so that’s probably what I’ll do…will start working with the heavier weights in the couple months leading up to my next meet…
[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
Nice press big man!!! This thread is starting to come together…anything you found along the way that helped you hit the big 4 plates the most?[/quote]
I personally like tons of volume. As an example, instead of hitting 315 for 8-10 I like to split that up into sets of 5 and get as much volume in as I can. I believe one of Thibs old school articles mentioned lifts above and below 80% have a different motor pattern so I aim to get in as many overall reps as I can above 80% of my max and making sure every rep is as fast as possible. Once my reps lose any speed I quit benching and save it for another day.
[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
Got 300x10 tonight in my “531” week today…that’s good for a calculated max of 400, which was a huge PR for me…now just to get my calculated and actual maxes to align with one another!
Part of me wants to increase my training max by more than 5 pounds for next cycle since I’m getting 10 reps in my 3rd week, but JW says to stay the course and only go up in small increments so that’s probably what I’ll do…will start working with the heavier weights in the couple months leading up to my next meet…[/quote]
10 reps on your 1+ set does sound like a bit much, but I agree, don’t stray. It’s possible you did undershoot your max a bit much (should be 350 with a traning max of 315 based on doing 300 for your 1+ set) but thats okay, according to Wendler.
Before I actually bought the e-book, I missed the part about using 90% of your max for a training max, and the numbers caught up to me in 5 cycles for squat, and woulda caught me in another 1-2 in bench and deadlift. I think my case might be the only one for recalculating training maxes since, well, I haven’t yet.
I will say this though: my first set of actual 5/3/1 felt like a damn warmup. 245x5, where my last warmup set has been 225x5 for quite a while. I think thats part of the point, though.
Loving the challenges on this forum, I hope I can hit 400lb withing the next 12 months.
Best so far is 150kg/330lb x3 and 160kg/352lb x1
I pressed 405 lbs about 5 weeks ago for the first time after failing my previous 2-3 times at it (not the same day). Seemed like I would never get 4 plates up. Following CT’s advice in his articles has made a huge difference in my strength gains.
Put up 315x8 pause touching the chest, explode up, very clean reps last week. Felt amazing actually. My goal is 405 by August 14th. When i go for it, I definitely want a video of it.
[quote]TRTblastcruise wrote:
Put up 315x8 pause touching the chest, explode up, very clean reps last week. Felt amazing actually. My goal is 405 by August 14th. When i go for it, I definitely want a video of it. [/quote]
I wouldn’t be surprised if you are already there for a touch and go 405