Busting my Bench

B

bud

0
As mentioned i need to boost my 1RM to 300

End of last month it was 245

I did 225 6 times on Friday so i know it has gone up w/ my current workout but i have only 2 wks left and i still have a little ways to go...

My work out goes like this right now...


Bench Press Max - 245 (having to boost this a lot to make it to 60%)

10 - 150
8 - 180
6 - 225
10 - 165
10 - 120


My question is this is more of an all around workout technique, endurance and stregth.

I need nothing now but strength....i just have to do 300 one time.

How do i work towards this for the next 2 weeks?
 
for pure all out strength, i lowered my reps to 4-6 max, increasing the overall weight i was using from my warm up, to my max.......this helped me to get to a 1RM of 425lbs.

2 weeks is not alot of time though, i was doing this for 2-3 months, but in eother case i think it might be your best shot.
 
Just to make sure everyone is on the same page... do the most weight you can do 4 to 6 times as your workout. Something lighter in the 8 rep range for a warm up. Do not try to do 245 (your max) 4 to 6 times - unless you have gotten so much stronger that you can. You do mention that you do 225 6 times at one point in your workout. Maybe do that for your entire workout - or up it if you can.
 
I'm looking at like 180 for warmup and trying 275 as reps....

The weight i pick...should i be able to finish a 6 rep w/ it?


Or is that my goal?
 
dont know going to try to see how many i can do today. That is the reason for my question....

Is the goal to pick the weight and punch it out 6 times or what?


I took the weekend off to give my body some revovery time from last weeks hell week and i feel great....I really got to thinking that my weight isnt coming down so i am going to have to puch this 300 mark. I am losing inchs just not pounds.
 
I think you want the heaviest weight that you can do at least 4 times, and 5 or 6 with that weight is better (jump in if I am wrong, Prodigy). I would also think that you want to do 3 to 5 sets of it.

Congrats on the weight/inches thing. I know your situation is a bit different than most, but a lot of us would be thrilled with that happening! You are going to do well on the test and on top of that you are going to be freaking ripped! You go, boyyeee!
 
kalrog hit it on the nail, warmup, then use a weight that u can only do 4-6 times, and do it , for example, after warmup, i might use 365 for 6reps, then increase a bit maybe 385 for 4-5reps and then hit my 1rm for 1-2reps....after my 1rm i usually drop back to the weight i could do 6 reps with (365). I did this with with all my weight training for awhile and noticed huge strength gains.
 
If pyramids work well for you and you wish to keep doing your training this way, I would recommend as well that you change your reps. If you are working towards a 1RM goal, you need to work in the strength zone. Although strength and hypertrophy overlap quite a bit, 10 reps is a little too much. You could change your pyramid to the following:

8 - 200
6 - 225
4 - 230 or 235 (see what you can do)
6 - 225

If you want to do a warm-up set, add a 10-rep set at the beginning. Ideally, you would progress to the following:

6 - 225 or more
4 - 230 or 235 or more
2- 235 or 240 or more
4 - 230 or 235 or more
*Warm-up would be an 8-rep set

See how you are working towards increasing the weight as you decrease the reps? Even the warm-up set changes ;)

2 weeks is a short time though. But in the future, know that you need to progressively overload but then also work towards the reps you need to work at. That is, you would overload (ie add weight) to the first pyramid and progress to the second one, then overload on that one...I just wrote in those weights to give you a clear picture...example, your 6-reps might be at 230 by then, hence the "or more").

Hope this will help you! :p
 
Im stoked today,

I tried to do 265 yesterday and barely got it once, So i backed down to 245, got it twice. Down to 225 and did it 5 times. I was in the dumps till i weighed that afternoon after my workout.

Ive lost 10lbs and like 1 1/2 inch and 2 wks to go. So i was a little better. The best was yet to come.

Later last night while i was woking i got the courage to work out my percentages and see where i stand.

Doing everything as much as i can now and w/ i am at .6060 overall.

YEP I HAVE DONE IT!!!!!!

I am past the 60% bearier, but i am still going to work jsut as hard and just as much. I actually bumped my runs up to 2 mls to make the 1.5 at the test feel shorter.

I am so stoked i know that how i am now is good enough and the work i continue to do is only going to make me better....

Thx all
 
oh yea....

Yesterday, I got a message from my old trainer and was telling hime the dilima about my weight and bench.

He told me to concentrate on Cardio and BP and nothing else for the next 2 wks. He wouldnt normally recommed such a scaled down workout but this is a speacial circumstance for a short time.

He told me to work only my my BP MWF and Cardio MTWTF. He said to work the BP out kinda like yah said. Warmup - Max Reps - Cool down.

THis is why i tried the wieights like i did yesterday, I know that my max weight is just going to have to be 230. WHen i puch it 6 times i ll move up. Right?

SO itll kinda go like this.

8 - 150
6 - 230
10 - 135

What do you think?
 
Choose the weight you can rep 6 times...for example, if you did 225 5 times the other day, after the heavier sets, you should be able to use 225 for your 6-rep set in this pyramid...

Also, if you can push 225 6 times, you can push way more that 150 8 times, so up that to a weight that takes you to failure

Add a 10-rep warm-up sets if you want, but after the 6-rep set I would add another set of 4 reps (with whatever weight you can push 4 times) and then back to an 8-rep set:


optional warm-up set : 10 reps
8- 215
6- 225
4- 230 or 235
8-215

or something like that. Do you see the idea?
Good luck! :)
 
dont think i can get the 230 4 times...i can barely get the 225 6. The sixth one is like uhhhhhhh....dont know how to put it but if you lift u know what i mean...my whole body flexes to get that sixth rep.
 
Yes, i do lift....if you can't get 225 6 times, go to 220 (or even 222.5 believe it or not), and then use 225 for your 4-rep set. The idea is to start lifting for less reps....since you're working towards your 1 RM...specificity is the key. If you can pump out a 6th rep at 225 without cheating, that's good, you're going to failure, which is the key. If not, take it down 2.5 to 5 pounds, like I said, and then use 225 for your 4-rep set....you should be able to do 4 at 225 even after doing 6 at 220. Also, what kind of rest are you taking between sets? That is important as well...when you are working at loads of this intensity, your rest should be siginificantly higher than if you were lifting fro 10 reps. Ie, 2-3 minutes.

Let me know how it goes.;)
 
My rest is long enough for my partner to get his set in....

So what we are saying is something like this then?:

185 - 8
220 - 6
225 - 4
215 - 8

That alll seems weird but hey i will try it....


I switched my routine a little to work for these specific tasks....

MWF - BP and Cardio (includes running 2mls and swimming a few laps w/ 3 min of stairs to finish it off.)

TT - Pure Cardio (no lifting)

Do you think that this is ok or can i push it and BP everyday?
 
Definitely don't BP every day as you will get no gains this way. It is when your muscles recuperate that you actually get the results (ie adaptation). Why does it seem weird?

Your first set of 8 should be the same weight as the last one. Pyramids are progressive in nature, but if you want to add a warm-up sets, add a 10-rep set, as I said before. You are trying to max out (ie 1RM), so you need to be lifting higher loads for fewer reps...specific adaptation to imposed demands (SAID principle).
So ya, if you choose the 225 for your 4 reps it would go like this:


8 200 or so
6 220
4 225
8 200 or so

You have to take each set to failure, doing 185 8 times I would assume is really easy for you!

and soon you should be doing a pyramid like this:

6 220
4 225
2 whatever you can do
6 220
etc etc etc
 
oh yes and it probably takes your partner less than 1 minutes to do a set of 8 or 6 so.....not enough :(

take 2 minutes at least
 
i alway thought you had to have a WU and CD set.....ur saying you dont?
 
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