Worst bench? Guilty, brother. 205 x 3 is my best, and that was a week ago.
[quote]PrimaryClone wrote:
Worst bench? Guilty, brother. 205 x 3 is my best, and that was a week ago.[/quote]
Heh, were probably about level pegging, I fully intend to be pushing 200x6+ in the next 6 weeks or so, my commitment to training hard has never faltered, however, my commitment to progressive overload has held me back. Right now I’m keeping a decent log, and its working wonders so far…
------self derail----
Regarding the comments on England, I’d say it depends on your situation and background, as a first-year student ALL I wanted to do was a year abroad (as part of my degree) in America, Canada, Australia… however due to a relatively LTR which I’m still in and also due to being very concious of not being able to afford to carry on bodybuilding etc. at the same capacity over there (funds) I didn’t end up applying this academic year and have missed my chance. One of my best friends at Uni is a VERY LUCKY BOY and has got a place at UCLA (Los Angeles) doing Film, he has a dual nationality passport (american/english) which may well have swung their decision… the first person EVER in my “school” to get into UCLA…
I digress, I got so far away from the point there… basically though, I see the mass of this country as having no ambition, being happy to play video games, be very lazy and drink copious amounts of booze. The media industry over here is also basically ALL UPPER CLASS-WHITE MIDDLE AGED MEN and is not something I particularly wish to partake in (I do Cinema & Photography) however, this is mostly everywhere. So really- I want to move to somewhere purely for the weather. I would be happy with a hot-most-months climate. I would be almost as happy with a climate that allowed me to snowboard in the winter. That is all.
—end self-derail—
Missed the part where OP said how long he’s been training, which is about as long as I’ve been training. Ouch dude, oh well I guess you already knew this and will be getting shit done from now on.
[quote]DeltaOne wrote:
[quote]trav123456 wrote:
[quote]DeltaOne wrote:
I bench a considerable amount of weight and my chest still sucks while my shoulders get bigger.[/quote]
What’s a considerable amount of weight?[/quote]
A considerable amount of weight.[/quote]
I’ll assume 5 plates for reps
[quote]trav123456 wrote:
Missed the part where OP said how long he’s been training, which is about as long as I’ve been training. Ouch dude, oh well I guess you already knew this and will be getting shit done from now on.
[quote]DeltaOne wrote:
[quote]trav123456 wrote:
[quote]DeltaOne wrote:
I bench a considerable amount of weight and my chest still sucks while my shoulders get bigger.[/quote]
What’s a considerable amount of weight?[/quote]
A considerable amount of weight.[/quote]
I’ll assume 5 plates for reps[/quote]
5 plates is what you think is a considerable amount of weight??? is that 5 plates when you combine both sides of the bar? lol
[quote]gregron wrote:
[quote]trav123456 wrote:
Missed the part where OP said how long he’s been training, which is about as long as I’ve been training. Ouch dude, oh well I guess you already knew this and will be getting shit done from now on.
[quote]DeltaOne wrote:
[quote]trav123456 wrote:
[quote]DeltaOne wrote:
I bench a considerable amount of weight and my chest still sucks while my shoulders get bigger.[/quote]
What’s a considerable amount of weight?[/quote]
A considerable amount of weight.[/quote]
I’ll assume 5 plates for reps[/quote]
5 plates is what you think is a considerable amount of weight??? is that 5 plates when you combine both sides of the bar? lol[/quote]
lol No I was joking. Mysterious considerably heavy bench numbers will remain mysterious.
@Jake J_M I’ve swam at the Edge Pool for galas and had a look round the gym in between sessions. Looked alright but I hate technogym equipment and plates they feel plastic and flimsy. I have a few friends at Leeds who all train at Andy Bolton’s gym. Sheffield and York have ‘hardcore’ gyms if you mosy around as well. Yorkshire ftw
[quote]PrimaryClone wrote:
Worst bench? Guilty, brother. 205 x 3 is my best, and that was a week ago.[/quote]
I just barbell benched for first time in my life yesterday (previously dumbbells, 55lb max) and only got to 154 x3… I win!
[quote]Bambi wrote:
@Jake J_M I’ve swam at the Edge Pool for galas and had a look round the gym in between sessions. Looked alright but I hate technogym equipment and plates they feel plastic and flimsy. I have a few friends at Leeds who all train at Andy Bolton’s gym. Sheffield and York have ‘hardcore’ gyms if you mosy around as well. Yorkshire ftw[/quote]
Yeah, you could get a bad impression from the look around, its very “fancy” but a lot of unnecessary stuff. If you ignore the vast cardio/shit machines section the amount of hammersmith style and freeweights is definitely comparable to anywhere I’ve been (bar Rall’s).
Yorkshire IS good for gyms though, 2-4 hardcore ones around in my town (very near Sheff).
I can see myself doing a session or so a week in Rall’s, but its very much orientated towards powerlifting and from going a couple of times it was rammed once everyone had finished work to a point where you could only use what was available (not the easiest gym to work in at)
I actually posted on a thread yesterday about switching gyms, I agree the plates are shit but the larger (proper) sized 20s are a big improvement and don’t break like the little fat ones… the rubber dumbells have already started to degrade on the top weights though…
[quote]Johnny T Frisk wrote:
[quote]PrimaryClone wrote:
Worst bench? Guilty, brother. 205 x 3 is my best, and that was a week ago.[/quote]
I just barbell benched for first time in my life yesterday (previously dumbbells, 55lb max) and only got to 154 x3… I win!
[/quote]
First time I benched I know it wasn’t above 20-25kg. Then again I was around 15… having to work up to 1 plate smith bench pressing is what I can remember from the first year (where I definitely didn’t know what I was doing at all.)
I could barely bench a standard bar when I first started.
[quote]jake_j_m wrote:
[quote]Bambi wrote:
@Jake J_M I’ve swam at the Edge Pool for galas and had a look round the gym in between sessions. Looked alright but I hate technogym equipment and plates they feel plastic and flimsy. I have a few friends at Leeds who all train at Andy Bolton’s gym. Sheffield and York have ‘hardcore’ gyms if you mosy around as well. Yorkshire ftw[/quote]
Yeah, you could get a bad impression from the look around, its very “fancy” but a lot of unnecessary stuff. If you ignore the vast cardio/shit machines section the amount of hammersmith style and freeweights is definitely comparable to anywhere I’ve been (bar Rall’s).
Yorkshire IS good for gyms though, 2-4 hardcore ones around in my town (very near Sheff).
I can see myself doing a session or so a week in Rall’s, but its very much orientated towards powerlifting and from going a couple of times it was rammed once everyone had finished work to a point where you could only use what was available (not the easiest gym to work in at)
I actually posted on a thread yesterday about switching gyms, I agree the plates are shit but the larger (proper) sized 20s are a big improvement and don’t break like the little fat ones… the rubber dumbells have already started to degrade on the top weights though…
[quote]Johnny T Frisk wrote:
[quote]PrimaryClone wrote:
Worst bench? Guilty, brother. 205 x 3 is my best, and that was a week ago.[/quote]
I just barbell benched for first time in my life yesterday (previously dumbbells, 55lb max) and only got to 154 x3… I win!
[/quote]
First time I benched I know it wasn’t above 20-25kg. Then again I was around 15… having to work up to 1 plate smith bench pressing is what I can remember from the first year (where I definitely didn’t know what I was doing at all.)
[/quote]
Direct arm work may be something you can implement, who knows. But if your back, traps, and rear delts are not strong then your bench will suffer. And it could be that your setup sucks. And it could be that your just not built to BB bench press. I stopped benching (BB) around 365x4-5 because it just hurt too damn much. I have been doing DB’s for 2 years now and love it. The only BB I touch is incline. If you are trying to increase your chest size then there are far better choices than flat BB bench anyway…
Wow. I don’t feel so bad now. I’m a horrible bencher with a max of 265 and set of 225X6. I have db benched 105X6 though. Not big numbers at all, but for a lanky framed individual I can live with it. I could dunk at 6’ so I’m built for running and jumping. And hawt abbbbzzzzz
[quote]trav123456 wrote:
Missed the part where OP said how long he’s been training, which is about as long as I’ve been training. Ouch dude, oh well I guess you already knew this and will be getting shit done from now on.
[quote]DeltaOne wrote:
[quote]trav123456 wrote:
[quote]DeltaOne wrote:
I bench a considerable amount of weight and my chest still sucks while my shoulders get bigger.[/quote]
What’s a considerable amount of weight?[/quote]
A considerable amount of weight.[/quote]
I’ll assume 5 plates for reps[/quote]
Maybe on a Hammer strength decline bench.
No I don’t post numbers because I can’t back up with videos, that means, on T Nation standards that I can’t do it. Also, I don’t like posting numbers when I randomly post, it makes me sound like I’m trying to look impressive.
However I say, it’s good amount of weight, not that much but not something most people would rep out. I may have good a good body structure for benching.
[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
I could barely bench a standard bar when I first started.[/quote]
Yeh, that’s what I meant by 20-25kg, the two bars I used weighed 7.5kg and 10kg, and I don’t think I could get much more then a 5kg a side first time I ever tried.
[quote]Mateus wrote:
Direct arm work may be something you can implement, who knows. But if your back, traps, and rear delts are not strong then your bench will suffer. And it could be that your setup sucks. And it could be that your just not built to BB bench press. I stopped benching (BB) around 365x4-5 because it just hurt too damn much. I have been doing DB’s for 2 years now and love it. The only BB I touch is incline. If you are trying to increase your chest size then there are far better choices than flat BB bench anyway…[/quote]
I do direct work for every muscle group now, my back strength in general won’t be holding me back as it’s much better then pressing strength, but only in the last couple of months have I been doing r. delt twice a week, and twice a week/non-sporadic arm work has only been maybe 4-6 months… (starting to ‘get it’ now). I will say I’ve done close to no direct trap work, so I’m hoping this helps as I’m starting it when my straps arrive, I will also say that incline BB feels much more natural for me too, but for now I’m sticking with both.
Today I hit 82.5kgx5 flat BB (182), 67.5kgx8 inc BB… now to keep up the progression.
Jake, do you feel any pain or discomfort when benching? (haven’t read the whole thread, sorry)
Post a bench session perhaps…
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
Jake, do you feel any pain or discomfort when benching? (haven’t read the whole thread, sorry)
Post a bench session perhaps…
[/quote]
Hey CC, thanks for dropping by, I tend to babble so I can see why you wouldn’t want to wade through.
In short- not really, I did have bad wrist pain when pressing however using wrist wraps for all my non-warmup sets seems to have sorted that out. Never had elbow pain yet. As I wrote last post for whatever reason Inc. Bench seems a lot more natural but using a grip around 2 inches outside the knurling (slighly closer on inc.) probably helps save my shoulders- wide grip pressing never felt right to me.
Today I did-
Bench Press- WU- Barxmany, 40kgxmany, 60kgx3, 65x2, Work sets- 70x8, 75x8, 82.5x5
Inc. Bench Press- WU- 30kgxmany, 40x2,Work- 50x10, 60x10, 67,5x8
Flat Flyes- 12x10, 14x10, 16x10, 18x6
& for tri’s today just-
Lying behind head extensions (I think similar to PJR pullover you promote, though not 100%). EZ+20kgx8, +22.5x8, +25x7
Bent-forward pressdowns 20x8, 22.5x8, 25x6ish
I’ll be honest, I’m still trying to nail what’s best for tri work- doing them after chest or shoulders makes both CGBP and Dips tough- my bench grip is close to CG as it is though I obviously don’t deliberately emphasise the triceps doing the work.
See I blab.
Edit: Pullovers are done as Tim Henriques does in his new article - YouTube
[quote]dnlcdstn wrote:
Wow. I don’t feel so bad now. I’m a horrible bencher with a max of 265 and set of 225X6. I have db benched 105X6 though. Not big numbers at all, but for a lanky framed individual I can live with it. I could dunk at 6’ so I’m built for running and jumping. And hawt abbbbzzzzz[/quote]
lets see a video of you dunking. Theres a vert thread in the conditioning forum… Post it over there. that would be sweet
Figure I might post some useful info. For those who are interested:
I’m not a big fan of this approach but it helped me get through sticking points on my pressing ( and subsequent chest development ). For those of you who wanna try something different other than straight up by-the-book bodybuilding, try adding this after your regular bench sets.
-
A wide grip burn out set. Maybe 85% of your 1 RM. 2 sets ( make sure you do this with bb form ). Lower weight under control.
-
Dead Stop Bench Press. Find a rack, set pins a little over your chest, load weights you can handle for 1 rep. 4 or more sets, ramping up. Lower weight under control. ( Good movement for those that have trouble at bottom position ) Use whatever form wanted.
I believe Josh Bryant uses this method with his clients.
If you want a bigger bench focus on the bench press and hit triceps and delts. 315 is an intermidiate lift, I got a bigger bench by benching.
[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
I could barely bench a standard bar when I first started.[/quote]
Haha same here… in my old training log I see sets of 45x4… I remember 95 being such a big deal. My training partner at the time told me I had “graduated” rofl
[quote]gregron wrote:
[quote]dnlcdstn wrote:
Wow. I don’t feel so bad now. I’m a horrible bencher with a max of 265 and set of 225X6. I have db benched 105X6 though. Not big numbers at all, but for a lanky framed individual I can live with it. I could dunk at 6’ so I’m built for running and jumping. And hawt abbbbzzzzz[/quote]
lets see a video of you dunking. Theres a vert thread in the conditioning forum… Post it over there. that would be sweet[/quote]
I doubt that I could still dunk. Doing plyos’ and olympic lifting for football in high school and college gave me some hops, but now I could prolly dunk a tennis ball if I’m lucky. Haven’t tried in years so I might have to see where I’m at.