Let's Get to a 400lb Bench

Training Powerlifting
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[quote]TRTblastcruise wrote:

[quote]mkral55 wrote:

[quote]TRTblastcruise wrote:

[quote]mkral55 wrote:

[quote]TRTblastcruise wrote:
Off to bench in about an hour… keep telling myself I’m going to wait till next week to get under 400 but I can’t seem to shake the thought of trying it today. We’ll see how the warm up sets go - its either a rep max at 315 today and single rep progression to a max next week. Or I could do a progression to a 3 rep max today and see where I’m at with that. [/quote]

And?[/quote]

Ending up stopping at a single max of 390. My inner eblow, sort of where the bicep connects is holding me back. I have the strength for more in everything else, but that pain is causing me to limit the weight. I’m going to do two things:

going to get some elbow sleeves to keep it warm and put a little compression on the area

move my grip slightly back in. I moved it out about a month ago and this is only when the problems started. Its much comfortable with a closer grip - ring finger or even pinky finger on the ring. Been using middle finger on the ring and its really uncomfortable.

Going to do a deload session Tuesday, and then probably look for a triple max on the following Saturday or Sunday. [/quote]

Nice, 10 more pounds to go. I think I mentioned in this thread, I get that elbow thing here and there, Ace bandage on the forearm erases it. But, it sounds like mine might be a different place than yours. Mine is on the medial side of the elbow knuckle, on the forearm side of the joint. “Where the bicep connects” kinda implies yours is on the upper arm side of the joint? If so, your bicep muscles and/or tendons might be struggling with the stabilization job they have for benching. [/quote]

Agreed. It is on the inner side. I have neglected any direct bicep work for about 2 month focusing on more “meaningful” lifts - I’m going to add back in some work see if I can strength then up a bit more. Its not that they’re terribly weak, but certainly could use a little work. Do you have any recommendations about how to directly strengthen it for benching (as opposed to just doing curls) other than just benching?

Thanks[/quote]

I’ve always felt that bicep isolation is a waste of time, and just ego masturbation, but some people disagree, or have different goals. To me, biceps are a muscle that can always be trained with something else, primarily the back, obviously. I used to have a whole day devoted to back/biceps, before I started 5/3/1, which advocates supersetting a bunch of rows/pulls on pressing days. I’m liking it so far.

The other thing I’m gonna start doing again too, is pronated grip curls. Different angle on the bicep, and some grip work (My grip blows)

Far as trying to directly strengthen the part that is sore though, I dunno. It might be overtrained already. And while the Ace bandage/elbow sleeve works for me, I’m no trainer/doctor, it might just be a real problem that needs a real solution, not a band-aid.

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I’m not doing bicep curls for ego masturbation… I outlined the reason I thought it might be a good idea. But you’re right - I do plenty of back work (no specific day for it, but chins/pull ups and rows in between all pulling sets) so my biceps should be getting plenty of work. I’m going to back off for a week and then won’t be doing a one rep max again for at least 3 weeks so maybe with my grip adjustment I’ll be fine again.

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Tripled 380 and doubled 390 this week, neither were maxes. I’m going to stick to my plan of not doing 400 until I can double it, though I easily could have done it this week.

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[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:
Tripled 380 and doubled 390 this week, neither were maxes. I’m going to stick to my plan of not doing 400 until I can double it, though I easily could have done it this week.[/quote]

that’s big lifting man give yourself a deload then you’ll be good for a double. Do you compete?

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[quote]TRTblastcruise wrote:
I’m not doing bicep curls for ego masturbation… I outlined the reason I thought it might be a good idea. But you’re right - I do plenty of back work (no specific day for it, but chins/pull ups and rows in between all pulling sets) so my biceps should be getting plenty of work. I’m going to back off for a week and then won’t be doing a one rep max again for at least 3 weeks so maybe with my grip adjustment I’ll be fine again. [/quote]

Nah that wasn’t a crack at you or anything, and not a crack at people who do like to do a lot of curls. Just how I feel when I’m doing them haha

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[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:
Tripled 380 and doubled 390 this week, neither were maxes. I’m going to stick to my plan of not doing 400 until I can double it, though I easily could have done it this week.[/quote]

Nice lifts. You are definately >400 for a 1RM, no need to rush to it.

87

[quote]mkral55 wrote:

[quote]TRTblastcruise wrote:
I’m not doing bicep curls for ego masturbation… I outlined the reason I thought it might be a good idea. But you’re right - I do plenty of back work (no specific day for it, but chins/pull ups and rows in between all pulling sets) so my biceps should be getting plenty of work. I’m going to back off for a week and then won’t be doing a one rep max again for at least 3 weeks so maybe with my grip adjustment I’ll be fine again. [/quote]

Nah that wasn’t a crack at you or anything, and not a crack at people who do like to do a lot of curls. Just how I feel when I’m doing them haha[/quote]

lol… i gotcha. i love the little guys with the 45s on the bar in the squat rack doing a psuedo bicep curl/powerclean type lift

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I’m also in, if it’s not too late to jump on this.
Current 1 rep max is 335 touch and go, but have recently done 5x315 (haven’t tested max in awhile).
BW - 220.

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[quote]irishlifting wrote:

[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:
Tripled 380 and doubled 390 this week, neither were maxes. I’m going to stick to my plan of not doing 400 until I can double it, though I easily could have done it this week.[/quote]

that’s big lifting man give yourself a deload then you’ll be good for a double. Do you compete?[/quote]

Haven’t in years, but the last competition I did was a bench meet (395 at 190 or so). I plan on doing one when I can get 400 paused on my worst day.

I’m avoiding a delaod as long as possible, but the goal is to push up to a 400/405 triple before backing off for a month or two with high reps. I was good for probably 395x2 this past bench day, but I didn’t want to go all out and stall there.

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[quote]mkral55 wrote:

[quote]HeavyTriple wrote:
Tripled 380 and doubled 390 this week, neither were maxes. I’m going to stick to my plan of not doing 400 until I can double it, though I easily could have done it this week.[/quote]

Nice lifts. You are definately >400 for a 1RM, no need to rush to it.[/quote]

Agreed, and thanks. I’ll put a 400 video in here when I do it.

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Since my original post on 4/15 I increased from 300 to 315. Still along way to go for 400 but I’ll take a 15lb PR any day. I also got a 3-Board “shirted” PR of 500lbs. Continued success to all trying this lofty goal.

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Hit 335 for a triple today (former 1RM), and my BW went down to 213 from 220. Off to a good start this summer.

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^Hit this last weekend, I started the juggernaut method this week, one of my goals being to bench 350 at the end of the program.

405 is a huge goal for me that I hope to pass sometime next year.

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Got 300 for 10 today on my 5’s week, felt pretty good. This marks my first 1RM estimate of 400. I will believe it when I get something in the 3-6 rep range that says >400.

[quote]Island Strength wrote:
Since my original post on 4/15 I increased from 300 to 315. Still along way to go for 400 but I’ll take a 15lb PR any day. I also got a 3-Board “shirted” PR of 500lbs. Continued success to all trying this lofty goal.[/quote]

15 pounds in 2 months is a lot more progress than one might think. All you gotta do is keep it up.

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@ 147.9 bw

Next goal: 400!!! Will be a couple of years though haha

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Hit 345, 370, 390 x 1 this morning. I completely have the strength for more, its my left elbow that’s getting in the way. I can’t control the path of the bar as well as I’d like because of the elbow weakness. However, my right elbow was in a similar bind about 3 weeks ago and now works perfectly. Hopefully, my left elbow will follow suit and strengthen to catch up to the heavier lifting. 390 is a personal best for me though so I’m happy, and it went up easily.

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You’ll have to take my word that 400x2 was a lot tighter, but my cameraman uh-ohed and didn’t save the video, so I got mad and did 405.

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Hope it shows up this time…

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For 2? Showoff…

nice work man!

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[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
For 2? Showoff…

nice work man![/quote]

VT help me out man (or anyone)… I’m stuck at 390 because as I lower the weight, my inner elbow where the bicep ties in is in pain. It starts at about 275, but is fine after the first rep. Its just the first rep of each set that i have to take down so slowly to try to find the least painful path to get down to my chest, so obviously going for singles at 90%+, each rep is a killer. Any suggestions on fixing this would be much appreciated as my strength is not lacking, its my elbow stability from this pain. I’m knocking out 315 for 10/11 paused reps, but moving up in weight the pain just starts to take over.