+ 2 How much Ya Bench?!?!!!
So you decide it’s time to see just how strong you really are. You throw your shit in your hot rod (or your all electric smart car if you a west coast dude :-/ j/k) and head to the gym. When you get there you.........so what do YOU do?
For me it’s a step down routine on bench and hack squats. I could tell you any weight and with no way to prove it why bother so I’ll just use these numbers for an example
315 as many reps as possible
Drop down to 225 while resting 1 min
225 as many reps as possible
Then about the same type of deal with squats.
Just wanted to know what everyone else does. I don’t want to debate who’s way is better or what someone should do based on x, y, and I’ve been lifting since I was 14 and trained with Arnold yada yada slob suck. No homo. Whadya do to test your strength.....brethren of mine!!
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I can do 405 for 2 on incline, cant do that on flat cuz it kills my right rotator cuff. Seriously it sucks once i get to my 6th rep with 315 on the flat my rotator cuff starts telling me too fuck off.
AnonI have the opposite effect, my shoulder gets sore once I hit the incline which is why i always do flat first.
405 for two on a good day.
My strength test is how many pull ups I can do in a row. This last week, I did 20 no cheat, palms forward, legs out at 90 degrees or better. The next set, I struggled to hit 10. However, my main focus is endurance, and my measure of endurance would be 10 rounds of jumping rope with 3 minute rounds and 1 minute rest. I have to sprint ever 30 seconds for 15 seconds during each round. The most I have done is 8 rounds. Just two more to go. Maybe next month.
At 38 and some past injuries, I don't really care about how strong I am anymore. I have found I can grow more muscle when concentrating on TUT and a slow and controlled positive and negative lift rather than max or explosive power.
If I was a powerlifter, I would have a different opinion but my number 1 and 2 goal now is to stay injury free and look good in the mirror.
I usually don't lift anymore than 225-250 lbs on bench, and try to hit 12 reps while staying under tension for 40 to 60 seconds each set. Going slow enough where the 12th rep is almost failure. Usually 10 to 15 sets per muscle group.
You are spot on my friend. The older you get the more you feel all those heavy lifts and when things start creaking and popping you know it is time to take it a little easier. It is so easy to hurt yourself with a 1rep max when you are older that it just isn't worth it. Hell, I tell younger people that I train that they don't have to kill themselves trying to max out. There is a simple formula for it. In fact here is an online calculator that does it for you:
https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/other7.htm
Put the number of reps that you performed at a certain weight and it'll spit out your theoretical one rep max. I say theoretical because at my age I would probably blow out an elbow or shoulder at what it tells me. haha.
I measured my strength by overall lifts in every exercise and then compared it by percentile to other lifters in my age group. Overall it came out pretty good considering I have a weak bench, but my squatting, hacks, and curls make up for it.
When I was 23-24 my max bench was 505lbs on flat 1 rep. Was doing 460 on incline 8- reps.
Actually increased my reps by 4 without trying my max again.(Was on gear)
When I first turned 23 before ever using gear i was able to do 460 on the flat bench for 2 reps.
Lifted a total of 2 years straight to achieve that, but lifted off and on since the age of 14 (mostly off)
Quit lifting due to life until the age of 39 almost 40. I am now at 400lbs on flat bench for 8 reps after about 6 months. I have no idea on incline.....the highest i went so far is 355.
Have a goal of 550 on flat 1 rep. As of now I'm dealing with what I think is a tear in My upper right pec.
Also trying to get my military press strength back! Was at 320 doing seated military presses for 8 reps............now 260 6-7 reps.
back in the day I didn't need as much for a warm up, but I would still do a plate on each side 12-15 reps, then 2 plates 12-15reps, then 3 plates12-15 reps then I would do a weight where a was usually in the 2-6 rep range....Any more than that and I would use a higher weight usually.
I would then usually do pretty much the same on incline. Didn't do much more than that back in day. Would try to switch things up of course using dumbbells etc and changing the order.
Now days i need a good 6 sets to feel warmed up so it depends on how I'm feeling. Because pain , I have been doing a lot of higher reps. Just the bar, then 1 plate for 3 reps......2 plates for 30 reps then 2 plates again for 12 reps. Then 3 plates 12 reps then sometimes I go in the mid 300's then go to 400 from there if I can stand the pain. Then same idea on incline.....
Have also been trying to throw 3 sets of decline in.
Good post brother, lot of variety with us all +
Yeah I never thought I’d get this kind of response or there would be this much variety in what guys do. Even those that are more focused on size and tone than actual strength itself still like to test themselves. I’ve read a few things I want to try. Some I know I’ll have to set as a goal and work up to. That’s the one thing I think we all have in common, not just us here but guys on every board and that are dedicated lifters everywhere, Goals. Never being satisfied and always trying to find that new thing to challenge ourselves with that will keep us focused and pounding away until we conquer it. I’ve been married 20 years and I’ve used the same approach. The goal to win an argument with my wife, we’ll no doubt be married another 100 years.....
Totally agree, we all have a little crazy in us that pushes limits and loves personal challenge, I make everything competitive lol and won't lose, that mindset is everything. I'm married as well, congrats on 20 years brother, definitely understand the victory of every argument won!!☺️
I wish Bigpoppapropionate would chime in on this one - he's easily the biggest bencher I know of on eroids.
Thanks brother, this is of course a great topic ! for me getting to that next level with this lift was a by product of being a bodybuider/powerlifter, as you know press1 I was fortunate to train with the best and the one thing that stuck with me was always make your max become your rep weight!. Personally I do the opposite of what op gave as example and I work up, I'll hit flat and do like two sets of 20/25 reps of 225 , that gets a lot of blood in the chest, then I'll do two sets of 12/15 reps of 315, once I've got those higher reps counts out the way, I'm ready and go heavier I'll rest few minutes then put 405 on, I like to do sets of 8 with 405, same on incline, when I want to go for big numbers ill do this then go to 465 for maybe two more sets of 5 reps and pause to conserve energy and then start above 500, sometimes doing 525 for three reps on flat and incline back to back leading with flat, of course depending on how I'm feeling or where I wanna go from there is dependent on if I'm going for a pr one rep max or just staying heavy, I'll either throw more on and get narley lol or end it.
AnonHow often do you press over 500? Any problems with muscle tears or shoulder issues? I see we're the same age and I think I was doing it too often and ended up permanently deformed. Strength is finally coming back though.
I have been lucky too never have any real serious injuries from lifting, one time being dumb repping fast got a small partial tear that healed fast and left little calcified scar tissue, took awhile mentally to go heavy again but I did, I do feel waaay different getting older, as far as joints etc. I go to 500 or above every two weeks maybe, tend to stay with sets of 405 on incline and flat regularly, where I struggle is from boxing for years and running growth I have bad CTS plus lifting raw, having everyday pain in forearms/wrist is the main drawback with continuing to go heavy for long periods. Hope youre strength continues to come back and you can lift heavy and functionally overcome any deformities. Good luck bro
AnonKeep it up brother, I'm trying to get back to the 500 club.
I've always liked the 5x5 training method. I don't go for 1rm anymore. Not worth the injury when ultimately injuries are set backs to training. I do 3 to 4 warm up sets to get the muscles hot with an easy weight. Then jump right up to my heavy lifts. Dropping weight as I go to stay as close to the 5 rep range as possible (having a good spotter is awesome too). I also like to count my reps like so 1: 2 one thousand, 3 one thousand on the negative, 2: 2 one thousand, 3 one thousand etc.. Explode up and work the negative to really get a burn with time under tension. Doing this has helped me tremendously improve my form and reduce the weight I'm lifting which in my mind equals less chance of injury.
It seems like there is a lot more variety in how everyone’s test their self then I would have imagined. This is awesom. I’ve tried a couple of things on here that have been suggested and damn some of you guys are animals!! I consider myself pretty strong but I guess with age comes decline lol.
I don’t flat bench in my current routine, but I incline with 365 for 6-8 reps
AnonThat's pretty damn stout, I couldn't manage that when I was maxing 525 on the flat.
Thanks bro, but 525....damn man! That’s awesome. I know I deff could not get that on flat. I’ve always prioritized incline over flat to make my chest more full. My flat is only a little ahead of my incline.
My max is actually around 308, I believe it's not too bad because I started training weight lifting since 2015 before that I only had strong experience in aerobic/anaerobic training (cycling/running). I don't train with the "as many reps" as possible protocol but target reps either in the force or volume reps, recently I have used the 5x5 protocol that I found very interesting.
Honestly I haven't tried a 1 rep max for years. Currently I am at 245 lbs four 4 sets of 8 reps; 1 set at 225 lbs to failure and then move to dumbbell bench at 85 lbs in each hand for 4x8. I am currently adding 5 lbs/week to barbell bench and 5 lbs to one set (since it is actually a 10 lb increase) to my dumbbell sets. I have found that to be a nice blend of progressive strength gains while still getting a solid amount of weight in.
I was introduced to weight lifting (almost 15 years ago now) by a novice competitive power lifter and some of our workouts would legitimately just be "Find 3 rep max on flat bench". Lifting purely for strength will always have a place in my heart, but I am much more concerned with aesthetics, overall health and not blowing out all of my connective tissue at this point in life.
I'm the same way. I do more of a "powerbuilding" style because of this. I do sets of 3 for the big 3, everything else in the workouts are for aesthetics.
I love the three by threes on big compound lifts. I occasionally shift to them for a month or two to mix things up and then go back to the 4 by eights
I don't flat bench these days just do incline fifteen reps with 225 is all I can push out now.
I can usually hit 255--260 for 8 or so reps.
RivaI usually just rep 225 for 10 to 12 and maybe 1 heavier set for 5 reps.
I think CrossFiters are weird....but damn they are strong. The real deal it’s a life style CrossFiters anyway. Just left the gym and i was talking to one of them about how to test strength. He told me he had a wod for that. Lol. That’s workout of the day I learned. It was insane....he incorporated insane strength with hi level endurance. Those guys are a different kind of strong.
I'm currently on 470 lbs for 1 / 405 *5. Work up to a max and then use doubles & triples as drop off sets.
About 3 years ago while on a Deca and Test (300mg x 250mg pw) cycle I regularly benched 3 x 10 x 325lb (including bar). I ended up resurrecting an old and painful shoulder injury and now can't do anywhere near that. I'm proud of that achievement but realise that there really are some things that you can't continue to do as you get older.
RivaI feel that age really starts becoming a factor as the years go by.
According to your profile you are 27. With respect - I don't think that you can comment about age becoming a factor, at least not from experience, but thanks for the sentiment.
Amen on the “can’t do as you get older” part!.....this past winter I did 305 flat bench first time ever... no comparison to what most people here do but a pr for this old fart .... 225 is plenty for me to rep and get a good pump....
Keep killing it brutha, and no more beach vacation pics!... it’s still cold here!
Thanks mate. Congrats on the 305! - it's a good achievement. Yes, agreed: about 225lb bench is about all I do now-a-days. Also, I know that you really did want another beach pic just so you could remember what you are missing, so I added it to my 'pic' post. Enjoy!
Haha! Thanx!
Flat bench with heavy weight will tax your rotator cuffs like no other. I stay away, 225lbs for reps nothing more. Incline bench and dumbbell press is where I found growth for me. I’ll go 275lbs on incline bench for 6 reps x3, then pyramid down, 225/205/185 and burn out with 135. Superset some Arnold’s in and your chest will have a good pump going.
Did 105 or 110 x20 warmup incline dumbbells yesterday. Wanted to see what I could do before I lost my breath.
Went up from there but could only do 125 x 8 then dropped back to 100 to finish incline but gave me a nice start.
Now if only My apartment office would open the gym back up I would stop having an excuse for skipping cardio lately. “They said only 2 weeks” it’s been 3”
Btw I’m not bulking right now was just trying to wake me up a little
135 on the Smith for 3 reps
HA!! Yeah right....and I ate a dinosaur for breakfast. Smh....your laying it on way to thick with that one
Keeping pumping, you'll be doing 135 for 5 reps before you know it, lol.
5 reps is my goal and than I'll move on to 20lb dumbbells
Shoot for the stars bro!!
PUmp is unreal!
Lol
I hit 315 pause bench but since then I have stuck to dumbells. Usually dont go more than 100lbs. Tried the 150's once. Once...lol
Never used a barbell for pressing. Only dumbbells.
Actually 110lb per side.
I stick to shake weights to really get that burn
That burn you get from the groin can be explosive.
I once cut jalapenos up for salsa and went to the bathroom without washing my hands. The burn is real boss. Real bad