There is a contest in my area. I want to do it this year. It’s a bench 225 for reps contest. Any tips on how to train for that. I am a powerlifter and not very good at reps. The best I have done is 225 for 21 so far.
21 is good man other than the just get stronger advice you will get try doing
225 x 10
225 x 10
225 x 10
225 x as many as you can
and takeing 10 seconds off the rest periods each week sooner or later you should be able to do a non stop 30+ reps creatine would be a good supplement to take for this kind of benching I have never done it, but it sounds like it would work
work up to 90% of your 1RM rest for 5 minutes and bench 225 close to failure.
mike boyle wrote an article about this:
there’s some good ideas here. Thanks. I also think I need to work some speed work with minibands into it because the guys that are good at this just do it like a plyometric movement without completely locking the elbows.
Max strength is foundational to all other elements of strength.
Trust me, I’ve been tested every year I’ve played football. Best results? when I concentrated on low rep strength.
Worst results…working with high reps.
Test it ever few weeks if you want, but I’d STRONGLY reccomend heavy, low reps.
Where do i sign up?
CURRENT 225 REP MAX= 3.5
I want to get in on this too. My best is maybe 7-8 reps at 225. Pathetic. I have DeFranco’s DVD for Football Combines and he says that maximal strength is the key to the test, even though the test is more strength/endurance oriented.
He suggests taking as wide a grip as possible to shorten the distance the bar has to travel, and to use an arch. He also suggests holding your breath in 3-5 second bursts. He suggests no more than 12 TOTAL warm up reps, done at increasing weights. In the video the guy does 135 x 5, 185 x 3, 225 x1, then 275 x 1. He explains that when you drop back to 225 the weight will feel even lighter.
I would do as many suggested and train around it not on the 225 exactly but above and then below it it bit as well for speed and reps with bands get that LA resistance SKY high. Work on maximal strength, work on repping say 315 or 265, and then the speed work a bit.
if you get STRONG and also get used to repping the higher load 225 will be cake when the day comes. The UBER high rep say minis and 95 - 135 get used to the LA burn you should be golden
Good luck and 21 is pretty good starting point bro.
Phill