I wanna bench 225!!!!!!!

[ambitionzZ]

When I first started lifting, I wanted to bench 135 soooo bad nd now I can do it no problem. But now I wanna do 2 plates. My current max is 185 at 140lbs. What should I be doing in the gym to bring my bench up? Sets reps ? Should I add 5 lbs every week ?

[Davidmau]

Hey Mate,

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you - 60kg was my dream 18 months ago...

after a good 18 months of training I hit a bit of a wall at 90kg x 8 for quiet some time... then had about 3 weeks without training due to life getting busy.


i started up again doing the following...

I do flat bench Mondays, Incline dumbell bench on Thursdays

60kg x 5
85 x 5
85 x 5
85 x 5
85 x 5

then the next week...

62.5kg x 5
87.5 kg x 5
87.5 kg x 5
87.5 kg x 5
87.5 kg x 5


and so on and so forth....

next week i attempt 100kg x 5 (just managed the 97.5 this week ) so i'm pretty excited

I'm sure other people have better ideas but this seemed to work for me

[Backtothestack]

what worked for me was to figure out which muscle groups were carrying my bench and corrected it and reaped the benefits of liftin heavy and eating good.

example. I was close grip benching 225 before I could wide grip it, obviously my triceps were over powering. solution: started hitting chest monday(heavy 3-5 rep range)/friday(lighter loads) went wide( index finger on hand marker lines) on all the benches and incorporated more cables and flat bench dumbbell flyes for 8 weeks. Current 1RM for flat bench, with shoulder width grip is 275, and 235 for incline.

cheers

[Dannyding]

First of all give a 100% in the gym and workout a minimum of 4 times a week.
Don't just do benchpress but also db incline press, dips, small grip bench press, flýes, all that stuff. That will all improve your bench, even working out your back will improve it.

Technique is really important, put your toes on the floor and gently put your butt up, so you lower back won't be touching the bench and the top of you shoulders will touch the bench. It will now be a more natural motion for your shoulders and you will be able to lift more.
Now when you have touched your chest with the bar, don't focuss on pushing the bar up but focus on pushing your back into the bench as hard as you can. This will make you use your backmuscles too and you will see that it becomes easier.

Every month change your sets and reps and switch up your routine!

[ambitionzZ]

First of all give a 100% in the gym and workout a minimum of 4 times a week.
Don't just do benchpress but also db incline press, dips, small grip bench press, flýes, all that stuff. That will all improve your bench, even working out your back will improve it.

Technique is really important, put your toes on the floor and gently put your butt up, so you lower back won't be touching the bench and the top of you shoulders will touch the bench. It will now be a more natural motion for your shoulders and you will be able to lift more.





Now when you have touched your chest with the bar, don't focuss on pushing the bar up but focus on pushing your back into the bench as hard as you can. This will make you use your backmuscles too and you will see that it becomes easier.



Every month change your sets and reps
and switch up your routine!

Thnx for for the advice ! Appreciate it

[IkeFord]

Doing Bench with Dumbbells help your strength alot. So does forced reps, drop sets, and negatives. I tried the 5x5 style lifting and it made it easier to lift that day, but it's not for me. It killed my endurance and now a month later I'm a tad weaker so I'm trying to get that back.

[jake131]

Get pissed and just bench the sh*t !

[yeahbuddy1]

When I first started lifting, I wanted to bench 135 soooo bad nd now I can do it no problem. But now I wanna do 2 plates. My current max is 185 at 140lbs. What should I be doing in the gym to bring my bench up? Sets reps ? Should I add 5 lbs every week ?

I got a good tip that worked for me. Do your normal stuff, but add on a push up routine:

close grip for 10
shoulder width grip for 10
wide grip for 10
feet raised for 10
hands raised for 10

Once you can do that in one go, double it. Should add 20k to your bench pretty soon.
My benchin I do, warm up on 60k, then go for my heavy set, 3-5 reps, two sets, then knock it down to something you can just squeeze out 10 and no more for a couple of sets.
Went from about 80k, to 140k in about 2.5 months. And do deads, it makes you better at everything else! (140k = 300lbs)

[ambitionzZ]

I got a good tip that worked for me. Do your normal stuff, but add on a push up routine:

close grip for 10
shoulder width grip for 10
wide grip for 10
feet raised for 10
hands raised for 10

Once you can do that in one go, double it. Should add 20k to your bench pretty soon.
My benchin I do, warm up on 60k, then go for my heavy set, 3-5 reps, two sets,
then knock it down to something you can just squeeze out 10 and no more for
a couple of sets.
Went from about 80k, to 140k in about 2.5 months. And do deads, it makes
you better at everything else!
(140k = 300lbs)

I'll be sure to try that. Thnx!

[rickaysurvive]

try to grip the bench with your shoulder blades, also depth push ups are a great way to help improve your bench

[rob2093124]

When I first started lifting, I wanted to bench 135 soooo bad nd now I can do it no problem. But now I wanna do 2 plates. My current max is 185 at 140lbs. What should I be doing in the gym to bring my bench up? Sets reps ? Should I add 5 lbs every week ?

make sure you are doing one- two warm up sets for bench... then doing anothe 3-4 sets with rep range 4-6.

Another good thing to do is to switch between incline and flat bench every week. I had better gains doing incline. Hit the dumbbells too. I usually did incline dumbbells no matter which bench press i did. On other days, make sure you hit other parts of your body too... for bench... your triceps and front deltoids are working with your chest to press.

Once in a while i throw in some negatives for my last two sets on bench.

Another thing to try... which helped me get past hurdles (like 225, 275 and 315). you're going to need a spotter (if you dont already have one... which you should) put on 225 now, even though you can only do 185. have your spotter help you with the lift off the bring down and the press just so you can feel out the weight. when i had trouble with 225.... my trainer put on 255 and had me do this... just one rep. usuallly people say "that wasnt too bad". after that... he put 225 back on and i pressed 225 with ease. it surprised the hell out of me. lifting involves your mind more than you know.

Diet wise..... eat eat eat. Check out my Gaining Weight beginners guide on my blog for some more detail.

I was in your shoes before bud... i know how you feel.

[ambitionzZ]

make sure you are doing one- two warm up sets for bench... then doing anothe 3-4 sets with rep range 4-6.

Another good thing to do is to switch between incline and flat bench every week. I had better gains doing incline. Hit the dumbbells too. I usually did incline dumbbells no matter which bench press i did. On other days, make sure you hit other parts of your body too... for bench... your triceps and front deltoids are working with your chest to press.

Once in a while i throw in some negatives for my last two sets on bench.

Another thing to try... which helped me get past hurdles (like 225, 275 and 315). you're going to need a spotter (if you dont already have one... which you should) put on 225 now, even though you can only do 185. have your spotter help you with the lift off the bring down and the press just so you can feel out the weight. when i had trouble with 225.... my trainer put on 255 and had me do this... just one rep. usuallly people say "that wasnt too bad". after that... he put 225 back on and i pressed 225 with ease. it surprised the hell out of me. lifting involves your mind more than you know.

Diet wise..... eat eat eat. Check out my Gaining Weight beginners guide on my blog for some more detail.

I was in your shoes before bud... i know how you feel.

I'll be sure to due this my next benching day. Prob tuesday.

So my spotter helps me lift the bar off the rack i gho down slow nd he helps me lift it.

sounds good brotha

[mikeh91]

Shoulders play a massive role in benching i was stuck at benching 200 kg for an age! Strengthening the shoulders is what made me hit 220, and i started with a useless narrow ass grip, make sure you are using your chest/shoulders and not just relying on your tri`s!

[blkbelt42]

heavy floor presses helped my flat & incline tons.

[IkeFord]

I;m stuck at 405 right now so I'm gonna start using the power rack and adjust the bars about 4-6" off my chest, and use some heavy weight to hopefully break threw my plateau.
My spotter says I'm strong off the chest and strong after about 4" but that 4" in between I'm slow to come up with heavy weight. I almost got 455 but got stuck about 6" off my chest. It sucks!