Bench help

[hardgainer09]

what's a good way to get your bench up. i've been stuck at 275 forever. poeple tell me to do lots of incline and flys but that doesn't seem to work. my diet is the only thing i can think about uping. right now i'm at around 3,200cal/day. i was thinking maybe boosting it up to at least 3,600cal/day. sound good?

[MrBman]

wat is your current routine like? how long have you been doing it for - how do you train on a weekly basis?

[pyro_mvmc_va]

I have found that when I get stuck at a weight that if I switch from barbell to dumbells and keep the weight the same that when I switch back to barbell's that I will have surpassed my old best weight. When you use dumbell's you not only use all the core muscle but you use all the little muscles to stabilize the weight. Hope that helps.

[advanced-stealth]

Definitely change up your routine if you do the same one all too often.

Ever tried negatives?

[dennis]

Originally Posted by advanced-stealth

Definitely change up your routine if you do the same one all too often.

Ever tried negatives?

AS is 100% correct..CHANGE ROUTINE ! YES NEGATIVES HEAVY AS HELL ! Here is what you do : Forget dumbells for awhile,do this workout with a barbell,a spotter, and 1 time per week.
Find your max weight on 12 reps flat bench barbell.Start with that weight and add weight as you go down in sets in this order ; 12,10,8,6,4,2 you will be adding 10-20 lbs each time.Take 2 to 2.5 minute rest between each set.Now strip weight as you go back up...4,6,8,10 ,12...you can do 2 different tri exercises at this point and the chest day is over.If you do this correctly for 60 days you will increase your bench.As the weeks go by you will have to start off with more weight as you get stronger.It is a failure workout...if you get through the entire workout every set every rep you have to add weight the next week so at some point you begin to fail..this is why you have to have a spotter.At end of work out every other week load the barbell with 10-20 % more weight than your 2 set and do a few ( 4-6 ) negatives...OUCH !!!!!!

[prodigy06]

back work will also help w/ the negative part of the lift. mostly rowing movements with your hands in the same position as they would be durring a bench (bent rows). You might also want to bench using different hand positions on the bar, closer and wider then you're used to. Form is also a big deal, make sure your head is right under the bar, not behind it. Make sure you're arching your back (not to much though) and lowering the bar to the lower part of the chest, not your nips or above. Doing 5x5 on incline and prioritizing my triceps helped my flat a lot.
Eating 3,600 cals may more maynot be enough, what are your stats?

[advanced-stealth]

Originally Posted by dennis

AS is 100% correct..CHANGE ROUTINE ! YES NEGATIVES HEAVY AS HELL ! Here is what you do : Forget dumbells for awhile,do this workout with a barbell,a spotter, and 1 time per week.
Find your max weight on 12 reps flat bench barbell.Start with that weight and add weight as you go down in sets in this order ; 12,10,8,6,4,2 you will be adding 10-20 lbs each time.Take 2 to 2.5 minute rest between each set.Now strip weight as you go back up...4,6,8,10 ,12...you can do 2 different tri exercises at this point and the chest day is over.If you do this correctly for 60 days you will increase your bench.As the weeks go by you will have to start off with more weight as you get stronger.It is a failure workout...if you get through the entire workout every set every rep you have to add weight the next week so at some point you begin to fail..this is why you have to have a spotter.At end of work out every other week load the barbell with 10-20 % more weight than your 2 set and do a few ( 4-6 ) negatives...OUCH !!!!!!

Set up very nice bro.

These negatives hurt like hell and me sore.

[dennis]

Originally Posted by advanced-stealth

Set up very nice bro.

These negatives hurt like hell and me sore.

A powerlifter taught me this routine..I use it every year for 3 months straight..it will add to your bench no doubt. I freaking love to do this on test for those 3 months..I know that is cheating but damn it gets you strong as hell.And just to make myself clear you do not need the gear to increase your bench on this workout..just lots of food and rest.

[advanced-stealth]

Originally Posted by dennis

A powerlifter taught me this routine..I use it every year for 3 months straight..it will add to your bench no doubt. I freaking love to do this on test for those 3 months..I know that is cheating but damn it gets you strong as hell.And just to make myself clear you do not need the gear to increase your bench on this workout..just lots of food and rest.

It's not cheating when you are on Test!

[bigbench]

Originally Posted by advanced-stealth

It's not cheating when you are on Test!

Lol, MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY! I must say that I love to do negatives too. I will start with maybe 25 lbs over my two rep max and then work my way up to about 50-60 lbs or more over it. After just a few weeks, my max usually increases by a good 20 lbs or so

[advanced-stealth]

Originally Posted by bigbench

Lol, MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY! I must say that I love to do negatives too. I will start with maybe 25 lbs over my two rep max and then work my way up to about 50-60 lbs or more over it. After just a few weeks, my max usually increases by a good 20 lbs or so

They are a pain in the butt and you need a good spotter. But you are right you can get your bench up a good amount.

Great to use to get past sticking points!

[dennis]

Originally Posted by advanced-stealth

They are a pain in the butt and you need a good spotter. But you are right you can get your bench up a good amount.

Great to use to get past sticking points!

A pain in the butt ???? Are you referring to steroid injections or negatives ????

[bigbench]

Originally Posted by dennis

A pain in the butt ???? Are you referring to steroid injections or negatives ????

Lol, I think both and with both of them, they are worth the pain!

[hardgainer09]

Originally Posted by dennis

AS is 100% correct..CHANGE ROUTINE ! YES NEGATIVES HEAVY AS HELL ! Here is what you do : Forget dumbells for awhile,do this workout with a barbell,a spotter, and 1 time per week.
Find your max weight on 12 reps flat bench barbell.Start with that weight and add weight as you go down in sets in this order ; 12,10,8,6,4,2 you will be adding 10-20 lbs each time.Take 2 to 2.5 minute rest between each set.Now strip weight as you go back up...4,6,8,10 ,12...you can do 2 different tri exercises at this point and the chest day is over.If you do this correctly for 60 days you will increase your bench.As the weeks go by you will have to start off with more weight as you get stronger.It is a failure workout...if you get through the entire workout every set every rep you have to add weight the next week so at some point you begin to fail..this is why you have to have a spotter.At end of work out every other week load the barbell with 10-20 % more weight than your 2 set and do a few ( 4-6 ) negatives...OUCH !!!!!!

Excellent stuff here man. thanks for the help. my bench is finally going up now.

[dennis]

Originally Posted by hardgainer09

Excellent stuff here man. thanks for the help. my bench is finally going up now.

Please take time to tell us how much it increased and what all you did to get it that way.Newbies can learn from this thread..this routine works for everyone who does it correctly..everytime.Do it for 3 months if you can then go back to a more traditional body building routine..the problem is though when you get away from this routine you might lose some strength againGives you a good reason to do it again 3 months later !

[hardgainer09]

Originally Posted by dennis

Please take time to tell us how much it increased and what all you did to get it that way.Newbies can learn from this thread..this routine works for everyone who does it correctly..everytime.Do it for 3 months if you can then go back to a more traditional body building routine..the problem is though when you get away from this routine you might lose some strength againGives you a good reason to do it again 3 months later !

Basically all i did was first print out the section of help you gave me and followed it. i warmed up with 135, then after that did 225 12X, 245 10X....etc. a couple weeks in i got all the way up to doing 345 2X (with help of course). but the past week i did 315 3X by myself so this routine really works. my meal plan has been pretty crappy. i don't eat near enough, just enough to get by. my bench form is not that great though. my delts are really messed up, but i'm still pleased with the results i'm getting. another thing i started doing was keeping my arms tucked in when i went down when doing bench instead of letting them go out wide. that made a significant difference as well. i also increased the amount of weight i did on my back and tricep workout days. that helped a ton as well. thanks too all for all the help.

[dennis]

I know you do not want to hear this but if the delts are "messed up " you should not be going overboard on the bench.When I was in my late 20's and midway through the 30's it was so important to me to bench big.Now in my 40's all I need to do on bench is enough to make me sore..It is not important to me anymore to lift a big number on the bench..correct form and keeping myself growing is what is important to me now.I am glad to hear about your progress bro..hard work always pays off..just be carefull with injuries that might shut the bench down for you....

[hardgainer09]

Originally Posted by dennis

I know you do not want to hear this but if the delts are "messed up " you should not be going overboard on the bench.When I was in my late 20's and midway through the 30's it was so important to me to bench big.Now in my 40's all I need to do on bench is enough to make me sore..It is not important to me anymore to lift a big number on the bench..correct form and keeping myself growing is what is important to me now.I am glad to hear about your progress bro..hard work always pays off..just be carefull with injuries that might shut the bench down for you....

i totally understand. i take anti-inflamatory pills to help. i think once summer comes around i'll try to take some time off from benching heavy and focus on healing up my body.

[juangutieres]

All excellent advice! Just to throw out a couple other ideas.…if your like me and need quick and simple. One of the workouts I use is very similar to the one above, I used excel to make them. You can format the different cells so that you put in your one rep max in the first cell, the next four cells are configured so that they are 65%, 75%, 85%, 95% of the first cell doing sets of 10, 6, 4, 2 respectively. Then I do my negatives, what I like to do is use a rack and set the catch bars so they are maybe an inch below my chest when fully inflated. I like it cuz I feel like I can fight it a little more when it gets close to my chest. Exhale and slide out from under the bar. Doing it this way you can do it by yourself and just grab someone to lift the other side to rack it. If anyone has any interest on using excel to make a workout just PM me.

[dennis]

Juan..good work out scheme bro..but i would not go from doing the work out I outlined directly into the one you designed.....way too much stress on ligaments,joints etc..I just do not want to confuse anyone..go from either Jaun's routine or mine into a lighter weight scenario for a couple of months