290lb touch and go. Count me in should be up there in a few weeks.
I’m shooting for 315, but 300 is on the way obviously. I’m at 265 so not too far, although I was at 225 just a few months ago so I think I’m gonna plateau soon… When that happens I’ll start taking creatine. Hoping to hit this before 2012.
245 with pause, ill catch up
Hit 285lbs yesterday which is a +10lbs PR. Fuuuuu so close yet so far.
20lbs on squat and deadlift no problem in a couple of weeks/months but bench takes forever.
I feel like the movement is trolling me.
I’m in since Ashy and a few others are already racing to 315.
My BP is 260 a little while back, doubt it’s moved too much.
[quote]IronAbrams wrote:
Finished the last session of Smolov Jr yesterday at 10x3x225 (base max of 245, have done 260). It was definitely the hardest day out of the program.
I’ll report my success on Thursday or Friday next week.[/quote]
I missed 265 after 6 days of rest. I’m going to withhold judgement and try again next Thursday.
How does this work, is there a certain amount of updating required per week/month? Count me in regardless. I have a body weight of 142-145 and a gym 2 rep max of 245 for two, both with a pause. I have a Full Power meet PR of 248 right before I missed 253. Does this require video proof, my meet footage is on youtube?
Update as often or little as you want. You can do video if you want, I don’t think anyone cares. Video is always nice just to have it and get critiques on your form.
Any comments or advice would be welcome.
Let’s do this! right now 270lbs paused.
I’m hoping to get 295-300 in may 23rd
see you there guys! 
[quote]Fletch1986 wrote:
I’m completely stuck at 285 and have been for months. Does anyone have tips for someone with a shoulder history, long arms, and a narrow torso? At this weight I’m losing it in the bottom close to the middle.
I want to get to the 181s for a comp in summer, but I’m starting to think the only way that bench is coming up is through gaining weight, but don’t want to do that until after the comp.
185lb
5’10" long limbs, short narrow torso[/quote]
Pull your shoulder blades together, watch a dave tate video reference on youtube about the bench press, I personaly have been injured from my rotators and shoulder tendons before and this bench pressing form is helping me a lot. i hope this works for you too, since it cuts like 2 inches of distance (Your long arms are going to love this!) and activates more muscles in the tri’s and back.
I’ve seen the Dave Tate vids. Good stuff. But I like this vid a lot too. I knew about the squeezing shoulder blades together, but I didn’t know I wanted to pull the upper back down like shown with the arrows on the guys back early in the video. I’ll be trying that in a few minutes (it’s DE bench day). I’m going to start doing back work for some of supplemental bench work (the second movement) too. Might help with power off the chest and more importantly, improve shoulder health.
I did 303 (raw) at a meet last year weighing 196. I’d like to hit 315 in the 181s this year, but two weeks ago, was testing 300, heard a pop and tore some muscle between my chest and shoulder. It seems to be recovering fast, though.
I’ve always been pretty strong off my chest and slow down between 1/3-2/3 of the way up. Heavy shoulder pressing and a disgusting amount of triceps work have always done well in bringing my bench up.
Im in, just finishing the first week of Smolov Jr for bench. I tried my previous max (265lbs) after the 10x3, last time it was a real grind. Today, after 10 heavy sets, it went up really easy, i reckon i could get it by july
[quote]Fletch1986 wrote:
I’ve seen the Dave Tate vids. Good stuff. But I like this vid a lot too. I knew about the squeezing shoulder blades together, but I didn’t know I wanted to pull the upper back down like shown with the arrows on the guys back early in the video. I’ll be trying that in a few minutes (it’s DE bench day). I’m going to start doing back work for some of supplemental bench work (the second movement) too. Might help with power off the chest and more importantly, improve shoulder health.[/quote]
I tried it. I could touch lower on my torso like that, and it made the whole push the barbell towards your feet thing make more sense. I can also see why tucking the chin is helpful now. It was easier on my shoulder too.
I’ll join in with this, I hit 275 for a real grinder a couple of months ago - it may take a while, I am weak sauce on bench!
300x1
Got 300 today!
Just done 292x1! Close!
Completely failed at Smolov Jr come max day. I didn’t miss any reps on the program although the last 10x3 was brutal.
After 6 days rest I tried 265x1 (a would be 5 lb PR) and got stapled by it. I tried again 3 days later only to fail again. Very disappointing.