Bar Speed

[goodtobeapimp]

I haven't been lifting extremely heavy all summer,because of my diet. Winter is fast approaching and I know its time to bulk. Last year I finally got over the 500 pound barrier on the bench. Here the past few weeks I've been going with a few less reps just to give me a rough idea where i'm at.

The first thing I noticed immediately was my bar speed on heavy weight is horrid. From the time that I "set" the bar from the rack,to when I'm hitting my chest it's like I'm reading a book or thinking about sex and forgot what I'm doing.

The strength decrease is expected but **** the bar speed is killing me. Plus its that much more of a strain on my body to bring the weight down that slow. Last winter I did do a lot of extremely slow heavy reps. Ex 3 second pause with 450 sitting on my chest. Soley for the fact of learning a perfect bar position,that and It looked great.

Now I'd venture to say that I'm right above or around that area as my full max and full go(bar speed). Dropping calories is my problem here and I can fix the strength problems in a few months. Thats not my problem. My problem lies with reading war and peace while over 400 lbs is dangling over my head.

Before anyone says anything...Yes I have done westside barbell. I didn't have what you would call "usual" results with it either. Using the lighter weight on the speed days totally ruined my workouts.I done MM for about 2 months last year and loved it. Never really have grown to like using chains,but I'm thinkin about giving them a shot again. Any other thoughts on how I might build my speed back up? Thanks.

[BARBENDER29]

Chains are not my favorite either bro, but it seems to be the best training out there to increase your speed.Something we've tried recently is taking 4 chains and putting them on the bar with 225lbs,doesn't sound like much weight but trust me.Get as may reps as you can and as fast as you can before racking.Rack and then get your spotter to drop 1 chain off of each side.Get as many as you can the same way and then rack it.Drop the other 2 chains and then do the same process.Believe me bro,you're concetrating on getting that wieght off of you so much that speed is the only thing that can help you.I hope this helps you.Peace!!

[itsallmental]

try using bands man, not only that but this is more of a mental task as opposed to physical. its all in the come down, ive mised lifts just because my stupid ass came down with the weight too slowly. put less emphasis on the negative part of the rep, and more on the positive. the more energy you excert on yourself when the bar is coming down, the less you will have when the bar is going up bro.

try to just let the bar come down by itself, but not too fast.you want control, but dont want total control. when you have total control, ya it does feel like you can read a book by the time the bar even comes down to touch your chest.

[goodtobeapimp]

Thanks for the thoughts and replies guys... Much appreciated.