Bench Press

[goodtobeapimp]

Alright im up for some advice.I've been lifting for 6 years.I'm 5'10,235lbs.I've had a pretty good winter ive doubled what my goal was on the bench(450) My current best single is 475 (raw) I was doing this routine 135x10,225x10,315x4,405x2 and then a heavy double or single of what i was wanting to do that day..a recent change by skipping 315 has added a lot of weight to my max and overall bench.Now i do 365x10 then 435x3 then go to my double or single.I know im wearing myself out before i get that high but i have pretty good overall stamina so i can go rep for rep for awhile.It takes a good bit to get me warm.I come from a small town and county there are only 3 people that can bench over 400 in it and they all lift at my place.Its hard to get advice from people that do nothing but gel their hair and wear corral necklaces and swear anyone that is stronger then them are on juice.This fall i tried the westside barbell workout.It was suggested by a former powerlifter that i knew.It messed my bench up pretty bad by the fourth week i decided just to try a little heavy free weight and i had lost a lot of power off my bench.
Well he told me to stop because it was the first time he'd seen someone get weaker off of that workout.So i went back to my regular workout and i benched twice a week...Thats how i got where i am now..But ive been doing some board presses and stuff such as that to hope i can reach 500 in a decent amount of time.I'm going to really have a hard time puttin much more weight on before summer. Anyone with any workouts id be sure to consider..thanks

[Swellin]

It is good to see people reaching their goals! If you are interested in another program that should kick up your poundages, research the Doggcrapp methods. There are some threads here at AR, and on some other boards. His program is receiving the best reviews I have ever seen.

BTW, his name gets spelled differently every time somebody types it...so you might leave off a g or a p when you search...run multiple searches.

[powerlifterjay]

i use a similiar approach myself. But what i do is hold back on the last few reps or so as you go up. Say hit 365 for 6 to 8 instead, then go to 435 for maybe 1 or even do 425 for a double. Then go up close to your max but not right to it and go for a double. Once you hit a triple go up higher. Or if your really feeling strong go for a max. But after your heavy set try the 435 for 3 and 365 for 10 plus. Because of your low reps going up you will not be as fatigued as you think. I myself have done more reps coming down then going up because i feel like the heavy weight made the lighter weight feel even lighter, and i am good and warmedup at that point. My best workout on bench came 4 weeks out from a meet and i video taped what i thought was going to be a shirted bench but i felt so strong and PR'd on all sets raw. I never ever max raw but that night i warmed up to it and decided to come down all out. Went like this:

warmups 135,225
315x10, 405x5, 455x3 now i start: 500x5 525x3 545x1 500x5 455x8 405x13 315x23

My workouts were like this except i never went over 500 and when i started i was only doubling 500. But coming down 455 best was 6, 405 was 10 . Anyway i have rambled!! You see my point though. Its kinda like warming up at a meet, your not gonna kill your self backstage. When you lift the kinda weight you do warming up takes longer and you can fatigue easily. Your triple should be set one if your going to max. The rest are warmups up to that point.

[kdawg21]

Determine what your weakpoints are and train them the hardest. I.E. if you have trouble locking out, increase the poundage on you Tricep exercises. Your experience with the Westside Routine is Bizzar, most of the lifters I know swear by it, I have even seen excellent results off of the program myself. Plyometrics are great for developing overall explosiveness.

[powerlifterjay]

i know lots have had success with westside. I myself made better gains doing my workout and shirting up 3 weeks out. Boards on a seperate day. But i did try it and did a little better in the following meet but what was evident in my gain was speed. I was ungodly fast. We actually use a stop watch and try to beat our times. But strength wise my raw bench dropped. But my lockout power got better. Westside is better for shirt lifters. My opinion.

[kdawg21]

Ill conceede that it is geared more toward shirted lifters. However, their dedication to plyometrics is what really gives them the edge.