Hey all I have a serious problem, my bench sucks and i cant figure out why, I started out weightlifting as a powerlifter for the first 5 years and racked up a world and national champiuonship… at age 16 i was squatting 390, deadliftng 395 and benching 200, anyways lately I can’t figure our why my bench is sooo DAMN low for my bodyweight, im 250 and my bench is 235 and im now getting ready to hit 19, My bench is soo weak, even after 15 weeks on ian kings super strength program i only added 10 lbs to my bench, while for my chins i added more like 70 lbs to them, and I dont understand why… it really made me frustrated when my 135 lb friend benchs only 20 lbs less than I do, Dont say expierience and form cause they are near immaculate starting with a powerlifting background has made me learn the values of good form, and i have been lifting for almost 6 years so I am very well trained, but any other insight as to why my bench is soo bad…I should be hitting about 350 for my weight and expierience, even now while my squat and dead have gone up to 425 and 435 my bench has only gone up 35 when I have focused on it soo much! any insight or program that could help me would be appreciated…
man im not such a big bencher myself but wouldnt an article like the how to bench a 1000 pounds be a starter - go through the archives its in there somewhere
I have a similar problem. I have been training for about 5 years and my bench is weak also. I’ve benched 305 in meets and 315 for 2 reps in the gym. That total itself isn’t that bad, but I’ve been stuck at that number for about 3 years. Whilst my squat and deadlift have gradually increased. I’m 6’2" and I have long arms, so that is a problem. My form could probably improve also.
You may be doomed to a "weak bench" compared to your other lifts. Some people can pull a lot of weight while others can press a lot of weight. While my bench isn't great I can pull a good amount. I'd just concentrate on your strengths.
I have the problem of lifting more with dumbbells then barbells. I don’t knif it is a mental thing or what. I can use 80-100 pound db’s, but I struggle with barbells. Other people are the exact opposite. Go figure.
Are you overtraining the bench? Try substituting a different exercise (military press or weighted dips) for bench.
What assistance exercsises are you doing for bench? Try developing tricep strength.
go to yahoo and type in Ed Coan Bench routine. you type in your max and it gives you your entire program. Me and the 3 guys i lift with all added exctly 50 pounds to our bench just like the program said. It rocks. Trust me. 2 of the guys are current power lifters and one of them used the program to get to 500pnds but ended up blasting 505 like it was’nt shit. (natural) let me know how it goes.
No offense to Mr. King, but I think the “Super Strength Program” is a horrible program for bench strength. Great program for overall upper body strength and hypertrophy, but if you really want to focus on your bench drop that program.
Nah not overtraining it usually once a week
any programs that helped,come to think of it the time when my bench went up last year from 200 to 225 was when I was on Androsol and fina. other than that very slow progress. any programs?
my bench at 195 is 5 times last time in my book, The funny thing is though that I am able to do 220 for 2 on close grip only ten pounds less than my reg bench that kinda struck me as odd…
Check your grip on the bench. Narrow, close, medium. Experiment to see where your the strongest. Check bar placement on chest. What is your current routine? What I’ve found to be the best exercises for myself were: bench, closegrip bench, press BTN or in front, DB bench, weight dips, bent over rows (same grip and bar placement as bench), and hammer curls. Reps for bench, closegrip, and press were in the 3 to 5 rep range.
Yeh Ive already expieremnted with my grips I use medium grip, usually my pinkie or ring finger on the lines of the bar. I use to use a wider grip, idex finger on outside of lines, but I grew out of that when i started having shoulder probs in the beginning of the summer. Anyways, I really dont know what exercises will help my bench, i know dbells dont for good, I Know that i don’t do alot of incline press either, any other suggestions, My current program is Meltdown, which i just started but before that last week I was just finishing up the final phase in a 15 week super strength cycle.
Have you thought about pure negatives? Not just for the bench but perhaps for assisting muscles as well. Perhaps racklouts may make a good addition to your tricep program. Floor presses and timed dumbell press could add a lot also (they’re outlined in Dave Tate’s article in the current paper issue) Good Luck to you, especially because we all know how much we hate a stuck bench.
Read the article “100 Reps to Bigger Muscles.” I had a lot of success using pushups in 5 sets of 20. Also read “Bench Press 600 Pounds.” Also, Chad Waterbury wrote an article about training the same muscle group twice a week, once heavy and once explosive. Try that.
It helped me and yes it is odd you can close-grip bench press 10 lbs less than your bench max?? Also do you work your back in the same plane ?? (item 12) Good luck hope it helps you too.
Check ou t"bench press 600 lbs. " My bench shot up considerably (225 to 275 at a body weight of 155-160lbs). There is a lot of good tips in that article.
You’re probably training too infrequently with too much volume (reps & sets) with too little intensity (% of 1rm max) and probably also using techniques such as forced reps etc. Bodybuilding training will make you weaker in some instances. Since it’s slow training it teaches you to be slow and less powerful. Think about it. The focus of bodybuilding is to make the muscle work as hard as possible against the weight (oftentimes even when using very light weights one can still cause a lot of muscle damage). The purpose of powerlifting is to make the muscle work as little as possible with really big weights. You need to focus on either strength or size but not both.
Yeh Ive already expieremnted with my grips I use medium grip, usually my pinkie or ring finger on the lines of the bar. I use to use a wider grip, idex finger on outside of lines, but I grew out of that when i started having shoulder probs in the beginning of the summer. Anyways, I really dont know what exercises will help my bench, i know dbells dont for good, I Know that i don’t do alot of incline press either, any other suggestions, My current program is Meltdown, which i just started but before that last week I was just finishing up the final phase in a 15 week super strength cycle.
Where’s the weakest spot in the lift for you? Is it the beginning or the end? You might want to try just working that spot… next off… how is your triceps strength? And how tall are you? You might want to consider really working on your triceps if you want your bench to go up considerably. Find out where your sticking/weak point is though!