RAW Lifting In Commercial Gym

Training Powerlifting
21

[quote]jtrinsey wrote:
lesboporn (haha i feel all funny quoting that name to start a reply),

I am curious to see what kind of numbers you are getting as a raw bencher and what you’ve done to attain them[/quote]

First off - WOW! Thank you all! That is exactly why I read the articles and posts on this site - real info!

My numbers: From 1st ever WABDL Meet in September (I competed RAW - just so there is no confusion about why I’m asking for RAW advice when I’ve competed in an association that allows gear)

Bench 336
Dead 560

I’ve benched 355 in the gym but I don’t think it would have counted in a meet as I bounced off the bottom a little.

It’s really hard to find RAW lifters on the West coast. I’ve done some reasearch through Google and have found that the majority of people holding raw meets are on the East coast.

22

[quote]RickJames wrote:
lesboporn, how much do you bench now, and how much do you weigh?

Please excuse me. I neglected to respond to the second half of the question in my previous post.

I weighed in at 256 at the WABDL meet. With a little Holiday fat I’m probably around 265 right now. I’d really like to bench 405 and dead lift 650 “close” to my current weight. I’m sure with better technique and trying to improve my dynamic speed out of the hole I can get there.

23

Hey bud,

Generally good advice here. Let me try to bring it all together for you…

  1. Train bench twice per week; one day max effort, and one day for speed/rep bench.

  2. ME exercises should focus around full range movements: regular bench press, ultra-wide pause benches, close grips, bottom-up presses, and inclines. You can toss in a few top end exercises as well to help with overload and sticking points: reverse band press, floor press, and 2 board press.

  3. Don’t neglect heavy rep work either after your ME attempt, or every other week alternated with speed work. If done on ME day, you can just do your ME exercise and then drop the weight a bit and hit a couple sets of 5-6.

  4. Speed work is a must for raw benchers. It builds speed, and rate of force development. You can pause your speed benches some weeks and touch and go other weeks. Add bands as well to build speed.

  5. Finally, don’t neglect working overhead pressing and heavy back work as both are extremely important to a raw bencher. The first 2 inches of a raw bench is nothing more than a strong contraction/flare of the lats. They act as a spring, so build them big and strong. Second, overhead press strength comes into play as well since the bench press involves the front delt tremendously, and you need to muscle balance that overhead pressing and lat/rear delt work provides to counteract all the hevay benching.

Follow those 5 points for a couple months and you’ll be benching 405+ as long as you eat. I guarantee it.

Matt

24

Matt, what would you recommend as far as a raw template for bench press that incorporates some of the points you made?

25

Just a standard Westside template would be the best option.

ME Day:

  1. ME Exercise
  2. Occasional Top End Work
  3. Upper Body hypertrophy work

DE/ Rep Day:

  1. Speed Bench or Raw Bench for heavy reps
  2. Heavy overhead work
  3. Upper body hypertrophy work

That’s it.

Matt

26

I’ve heard of people taping 10 pound plates to the 100 pound DB’s.