Bench Press Help

[workingout247]

HI All,

I have had this life long goal of benching 405. I hit 400 lbs 2 summers ago and attempted 405 after and got it 3/4 up and failed. I have been shooting for my birthday next Sunday to reach my goal...not sure how to approach this week. I usual bench twice a week one lighter day and one heavier day. I went heavy today doing after warm up 315 for 10 355 for 5 385 1.5 then 365 for 3. 2 things I need advice on..do I just rest until next Sunday and go for it with a couple days of auxilary stuff or stay the course with a light day on wednesday? Also how do you guys approach going for a max lift...I seem to gradually go up but do reps even with heavier weight like today. As I have gotten older it seems that doing a few reps with 345 or 355 helps instead of just doing singles but not sure...I want to hit this goal and then lose some weight for summer! I am currently 5'8 195...any thoughts for the PL experts as I am not one! Thanks

[Jdellorco]

Im no expert but i would say rest until the day and make sure to strech and have a good warmup. If you can bench 315 for 10 reps you should have no problem putting up 405 in my opinion.

[Jdellorco]

Im no expert but i would say rest until the day and make sure to strech and have a good warmup. If you can bench 315 for 10 reps you should have no problem putting up 405 in my opinion.

Also I would warmup with very lightweight and put up a good pit of reps to get started. Then go heavy and buildup but maybe two sets at the most of one rep, then try your mac

[workingout247]

Also I would warmup with very lightweight and put up a good pit of reps to get started. Then go heavy and buildup but maybe two sets at the most of one rep, then try your mac

Thanks for the advice...any other ideas out there? thanks

[workingout247]

Thanks for the advice...any other ideas out there? thanks

Bump..any advice?

[neilmorgan77]

5lbs in two years. Sounds like you make progress about as quickly as I do. I think if you've been lifting heavy for the last two years, you should know what to do to warm up. You should be experienced in what makes you fatigued vs. warmed up, and what is a good approach prior to a max attempt. My preference is to do one or two attempts that are relatively close to the max before going for it, just because I get some short-term adaptation to handling that amount of weight. If I have a big jump up to the max I can miss mostly because of the shock of jumping up through the weights.

[workingout247]

5lbs in two years. Sounds like you make progress about as quickly as I do. I think if you've been lifting heavy for the last two years, you should know what to do to warm up. You should be experienced in what makes you fatigued vs. warmed up, and what is a good approach prior to a max attempt. My preference is to do one or two attempts that are relatively close to the max before going for it, just because I get some short-term adaptation to handling that amount of weight. If I have a big jump up to the max I can miss mostly because of the shock of jumping up through the weights.

I totally agree with you...I just need to stop myself at one rep when i start handling the heavy weight...I think it is mental..I knew last sunday when I hit 355 for 5 pretty easily that I would smoke 385..had I done one or two I might have been able to go past 385 on that day. I think it is hard to gain once you start maxing heavy weights...i could probably make more gains but I would have to gain more weight and my wife already thinks I am too heavy lol.

[workingout247]

I totally agree with you...I just need to stop myself at one rep when i start handling the heavy weight...I think it is mental..I knew last sunday when I hit 355 for 5 pretty easily that I would smoke 385..had I done one or two I might have been able to go past 385 on that day. I think it is hard to gain once you start maxing heavy weights...i could probably make more gains but I would have to gain more weight and my wife already thinks I am too heavy lol.

Did 315 for 10 355 and easy 5 then hit 390 pretty easy then was going to do 395 friend pushed me to add 2.5 for 400 and did that barely...will try 405 next week then cut weight so my wife is happy!

[Link815]

If you're trying to bench 405, quit doing so much before. Do 315 for 3, 365 for 1 or 2, then go for 405. If you miss it, oh well, you missed it, you know you've gotten anything less than that.