Bench Press challenge...
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[quote name='BartMan']i have NO flat bench in my programme at the moment - might ask my PT to add this into the programme once I gave done those comps in October![/quote]<br />
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Why's that out of interest Bart? Something to do with maximising shape/definition in right areas? -
no idea GG!! If my PT said to hop on one leg while whistling dixie I would - mine not to question why, mine just to do or die!!<br />
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But would assume that GG - definition and ripping - I'm not going to get any bigger before the comp, all about shape and looking ripped I assume.<br />
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When This is over late October, I expect I'll (hope!) start getting back to basics - big weights, low reps, to build mass! -
Has the PT got you doing incline presses though? <br />
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Lots of it depends on body shape, like the length of arms etc, but I find that the flat bench works the front delts more than the chest. Also by changing the position of the elbows slightly you can transfer a lot of the tension to the arms which is great if you are going for a bench press record but not so good if you are trying to isolate the pecs<br />
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For me inclines, declines, dips and flyes hit the pecs better and I only do flat presses after pre exausting that area. But again its about body types and different leverage and angles people have. -
I have a close grip bench to my rib cage on the smith machine - that hits into shoulders and tris more than chest - that supersetted wth decline press, whcih again y this stage kills triceps as much as chest.<br />
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Before that SS I have on the machine press a 4 second down movement press (sets of ten) super setted with incline press - that is aaaaallllll chest. Actually that is a flat bench isn't it, just not with a bar - I hate machines!! -
I'm not that big on the bb bench press. Love using dumbbell incline presses in supersets with lower body exercise. <br />
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Something I like doing is the triple down db press set. 1 set is: <br />
7x seated shoulder press<br />
7x incline press<br />
7x flat bench press<br />
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You do that without rest in between, other than when you adjust the bench. The idea is that as you get weaker, the press gets easier.<br />
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I do this in a pyramid weight set with 1min rest between, ie start at say 17.5kgs dbs 1st set, then 20kg 2nd set, 22.5kg 3rd set, and then back down to 20kgs and to finish off a set of 17.5 to almost failure. In terms of an allround arm, shoulder, tri's, chest workout, its great. -
Any of you boys do drop sets for Bench ? ( or any other exercise for that matter ) as an example the other night I repped 80kg to failure, dropped to 60kg, then 40kg.....<br />
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bust that out every now and again and 40 feels like a ton after a few reps. Great "pump" and fark ya feel sore afterwards.....saves time if you're in a hurry as well. -
[quote name='MN5']Any of you boys do drop sets for Bench ? ( or any other exercise for that matter ) as an example the other night I repped 80kg to failure, dropped to 60kg, then 40kg.....<br />
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bust that out every now and again and 40 feels like a ton after a few reps. Great "pump" and fark ya feel sore afterwards.....saves time if you're in a hurry as well.[/quote]<br />
Every now and then<br />
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If you've got a weights set at home keep stripping it down until you're just pressing the bar. It's a wierd feeling when the muscles totally give way and you can just do a sit up to get out<br />
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It would be a brave man that does that at the gym though. You can guarantee that a pretty gym chick will walk by as you are pressing just the bar with tears rolling down your cheeks -
have done that once years ago - and is great. Went down until the just the bar, and that felt like a ton after just a few reps. It's almost self mutilation I reckon!!<br />
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And of course the trusty Prop Cyril was training with me at the time, and when your spotter is taking the piss as you press the bar, it's just not funny!! <br />
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Of course, when I was spotting it was hilarious...<br />
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Would recommend it thought for sure.<br />
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Also on BP - negatives. With a spotter as you need one here. warm up and then load the bar ABOVE your max bench press. let the bar down as slow as you can. Then your spotter and you rep it back up (spotter taking as much as he can, this is not the work phase), and repeat. Murderous. Also when pressing normally with a spotter, throw in three or four negatives once you have hit failure and you will know all about it! -
[quote name='Duluth'][quote name='MN5']Any of you boys do drop sets for Bench ? ( or any other exercise for that matter ) as an example the other night I repped 80kg to failure, dropped to 60kg, then 40kg.....<br />
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bust that out every now and again and 40 feels like a ton after a few reps. Great "pump" and fark ya feel sore afterwards.....saves time if you're in a hurry as well.[/quote]<br />
Every now and then<br />
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If you've got a weights set at home keep stripping it down until you're just pressing the bar. It's a wierd feeling when the muscles totally give way and you can just do a sit up to get out<br />
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It would be a brave man that does that at the gym though. You can guarantee that a pretty gym chick will walk by as you are pressing just the bar with tears rolling down your cheeks[/quote]<br />
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Not an issue at the MN5 home gym ! Yeah going to ABSOLUTE failure with the bar would be funny. OK, gonna do that and not stop at 40kg this time. Will get to the point where I have to roll the bar off and probably be too weak to even lift open the garage door xzxcool<br />
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Duluth I agree about the bench working the front delts, they are always more sore than the chest itself. I have resonably long arms but still favour a closer grip than what is recommended ( apparently a closer grip favours the short armed Norm Hewitt types ) but it just feels more right for some reason ! -
[quote name='Duluth']I find stacking the plates in reverse helps too. So you strip off the larger plates early and the smaller plates towards the end.[/quote]<br />
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Gonna do some pyramiding tonight I think. 10 x 50% of 1rm, 8 x 65%, 5 x 75% etc building up to the 1RM then back again. Should take me about half an hour ( they advise 3 minutes rest between sets ) so hopefully I survive. -
Hmm I'll give this a shot on my next chest day, which is tomorrow<br />
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I'm 192lbs or 87kg<br />
So 70% = 134lbs or 61kg<br />
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Thats almost exactly 1 45lb on each side + the 40lb bar weight<br />
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No idea what I can do, I never do reps that high, but I would hazard a guess of around 25 - 30, now watch me embarrass myself and do about 12.... -
[quote name='MN5'][quote name='Duluth']I find stacking the plates in reverse helps too. So you strip off the larger plates early and the smaller plates towards the end.[/quote]<br />
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Gonna do some pyramiding tonight I think. 10 x 50% of 1rm, 8 x 65%, 5 x 75% etc building up to the 1RM then back again. Should take me about half an hour ( they advise 3 minutes rest between sets ) so hopefully I survive.[/quote]<br />
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DOH !!! Some shit lifting last night. Going well until the lift 100% ( recently cracked 120kg ) but it only got about half way up and I had to do the roll off. I blame the lack of sleep from the boy yelling the last few nights. Maybe I needed more rest between sets and maybe the lack of food during the day didn't help either.....oh well gonna lay off weights for a week or two to give the joints time to recover and hit it with gusto then ! -
The original challenge in this thread came from "Rexona's Australia's Greatest Athlete"<br />
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They've just finished a second series of that with Billy Slater (again), Wendy Sailor and rugby rep being JOC (if they wanted a young union player they should have gone with Digby or Pocock..)<br />
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If anyone is having a slow day at work the whole series can be viewed in small clips here - [url]http://www.greatestathlete.com.au/[/url]<br />
The bench challenge stuff is in ep 5 -
[quote name='Duluth']The original challenge in this thread came from "Rexona's Australia's Greatest Athlete"<br />
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They've just finished a second series of that with Billy Slater (again), Wendy Sailor and rugby rep being JOC (if they wanted a young union player they should have gone with Digby or Pocock..)<br />
<br />
If anyone is having a slow day at work the whole series can be viewed in small clips here - [url]http://www.greatestathlete.com.au/[/url]<br />
The bench challenge stuff is in ep 5[/QUOTE]<br />
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Sheesh big Del was lifting up a storm. Indicates he is a strong/heavy bastard really ! -
Slater and O'Connors power:weight is amazing - ripping out 30+ reps at 60 odd kg is impressive, even if you are a pro athlete!<br />
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Although O'Connor didn't display much intelligence with pushing the sled! thought he should be pushing from the top which dug the front of it into the ground... -
we used to do 60kg rep max workouts - 70 odd was my best IIRC - mind you, I was weighing in at about 110 then, ready for battle!<br />
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Might do one of these as I lean down for comp - have chest tomorrow in fact - maybe I'll do this instead o the negative reps on the machine to pre exhaust. I think it'll work!! -
Let us know how you get on. I'd like to know
