Yet another benching question!

Nowadays all I bench for is strength (cause I dont have much lol)..when I usually do my benching I do 175lbs 5x3 (or more depending on how I feel that day) would this be the quickest way to gain strength? er...somone help me....this week I threw in a "light" day where I did 135 sets of 10....and incline and decline....will all those help me? I guess the main question is what is the quickest way for me to build strength in that area (like raise my max)(and Im 15 if that changes anything) Thanks for any help!
 
I always stay around the 10 rep range, and no more than 100 reps in total for the chest. I also find negatives to help a lot with increasing strength.
 
Negatives are where you have increased tension during the eccentric portion of the lift (for bench-super heavy on the way down usually supramaximal). The Westside Barbell Club uses a method where they have one day of benching that uses around 60% of their 1RM called Dynamic day and they lift as fast as they can for 10 sets of 3.

They then have a second day during the week where they work up to a 2-3 rep max over 8 sets of 3.

You really can't argue with these guys, they're the strongest powerlifters around. Here's a couple articles that outlines their training.
 
gotta love the powerlifting

I know that when you want to increase a certain lift (like bench) the best exercise to do is that exercise. A lot of people will say, do tricep pull downs and pec flies, but I think the best bet is to just stick with the one lift you want and not get distracted with supplement lifts. So, I would say to stick with flat bench and work on that for now.

You're doing the right thing by keeping the reps low, 3 reps is good, but make sure that when u end a set, you know you could have gone for one or two more reps. This will keep you fresh so you can keep practicing your form.

For form:
Lay down on the bench with your lower back slightly arched. Your feet flat on the ground so your quads feel their strongest. Grab the bar and unrack it. Now, before you go any further bring your shoulder blades are close together as you possibly can and push your shoulders towards your hips.

From there, inhale 70% of your max breath and tighten your abs. Pull the bar down towards your chest, a little below your nipples. Try to feel your lat muscles pulling the bar down. Tap the bar onto your chest. Tighten your ass muscles and drill your feet into the ground. Press your tongue into the roof of your mouth. Clench your abdominals, your belly should feel like its holding an atomic bomb, but keep your butt cheeks cleanched, and your sphyncter.

Now, pretend that you are pressing your body into the ground under the pressure of the bar. If you are having trouble getting the bar up, final rep, whatever, pretend that you are folding the bar in half. This will rectruit your pec musclesX100 and you will probably finish the rep.

That's it for form.

For a routine. Check out...stay thin and gain strenght or something like that, its a post right underneith and there is a pretty good convo about strenght and a good routine involved.

Just remember to never go to the point of failure, and bench as often as you can. This will mean though, that you can't get yourself tired with one workout. Don't blast your brains out on workout because you can't practice your bench the next day. And yes, you can bench twice in a row, just take a day off after that and wait a week before doing another two day bench circuit.

Try

Monday
1 set x 2 for 90% max
1 set x 3 for 80% max

Tuesday
1 set x 3 for 85% max

Thursday
2 set x 1 for 95% max
1 set x 3 for 80% max

Sat
1 set x 3 for 85% max
1 set x3 for 80% max

Do that for about 4 weeks and thentest your max.

Don't workout any other upper body stuff during this period. Wait 3-5 minutes between each set. You should feel stronger after each workout.
 
Mike if your suggesting benching 4 days in a week your very wrong.

Do high intensity lifts with no more than 8 reps per set (i would suggest 6's) and you might want to read what evolution posted.

Don't bench more than twice a week.
 
really newf?

then maybe I should call up the russian bench press team and tell them to stop bench pressing 8 times a week and only do it twice a week.
 
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I see you edited your post lol That's my strong opinion it may be wrong but i really don't think so. Besides all them russians are on steriods.

They must be on roids to bench 8 times a week.

Any working out is good in my opinion but if you want strength results you shouldn't bench 4 times in one week in my opinion.

I grew up with powerlifters and i'm sure they would raise 2 eyebrows if someone was benching 4 times a week.
 
opinions are nice but everyone has one, here are some facts to back up my statements

first off, gunning the barbell with highintensity creates a firing rate burst. when the body is forced to create a bursting surge of energy it automatically follows up by forcing the muscles to relax. so for benching this will work as long as you are working with 60%1rm and hitting out reps of three. if not, then you better hope to get the bar up to lock out. this is why, when putting out heavy it is better to grind the bar up slowly and then, use that last blast of energy and then lock out to save your "relaxed" muscles. this is, only if you need to do it.

secondly, an athlete can train as frequently as he or she wants as long as they are fresh. the workout i described is gonna keep him fresh and the back to back workout is fine. in the 1960's it was discovered in germany taking a day off from strength training sessions reduced their effectiveness by 50%. "The general idea in planning strenght training sessions is to have the athlete do as much work as possible while being as fresh as possible", said Soviet Olympic teams Prof. Vladimir Zatsiorsky.

the russians are on steriods? granted the russians made steriods popular in the 1952 olympics when they dominated the weight lifting scene I don't think it's all too easy to juice in the olympics anymore

I don't understand how it wouldn't make sense anyways. Strength is a practice, you are practicing your ability to contract the muscles that you will never fully be able to contract. Why not treat it like a practice? I don't want this to be an argument or anything like that but I guess benching 4 or 5 times a week for 1 or two sets a workout seems odd so hopefully this will explain it.

btw, i edited this post too cuz I guess thats funny?
 
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Newf,

What you have to understand is the over all volume. Mike is using the example of Eastern block trainees, their methods are different than most but it works. If, however, you were to look at our olympic athletes (olympic lifters in particular) you'll see they train 6-7 days a week. They don't go all out everyday, they have low volume each day that equals out over the end of the week.

Neither is right or wrong, just different approaches.
 
mike100 said:
opinions are nice but everyone has one, here are some facts to back up my statements

first off, gunning the barbell with highintensity creates a firing rate burst. when the body is forced to create a bursting surge of energy it automatically follows up by forcing the muscles to relax. so for benching this will work as long as you are working with 60%1rm and hitting out reps of three. if not, then you better hope to get the bar up to lock out. this is why, when putting out heavy it is better to grind the bar up slowly and then, use that last blast of energy and then lock out to save your "relaxed" muscles. this is, only if you need to do it.

secondly, an athlete can train as frequently as he or she wants as long as they are fresh. the workout i described is gonna keep him fresh and the back to back workout is fine. in the 1960's it was discovered in germany taking a day off from strength training sessions reduced their effectiveness by 50%. "The general idea in planning strenght training sessions is to have the athlete do as much work as possible while being as fresh as possible", said Soviet Olympic teams Prof. Vladimir Zatsiorsky.

the russians are on steriods? granted the russians made steriods popular in the 1952 olympics when they dominated the weight lifting scene I don't think it's all too easy to juice in the olympics anymore

I don't understand how it wouldn't make sense anyways. Strength is a practice, you are practicing your ability to contract the muscles that you will never fully be able to contract. Why not treat it like a practice? I don't want this to be an argument or anything like that but I guess benching 4 or 5 times a week for 1 or two sets a workout seems odd so hopefully this will explain it.

btw, i edited this post too cuz I guess thats funny?

Anyway, dude i really shouldn't be opiniated on these forums because i don't really know has much has a lot of you guys frankly.

But how the hell do you know is the russians are NOT using riods? Apparently, it's much like computer viruses. The good is always chasing the bad to detect it.

BTW i'm a newfie in Newfoundland Canada. Hence the name Newf.

edited :D
 
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