Fun Competition with Friends

[Jacked_J]

Alright, I'm having a fun a competition with other friends. It all started while someone else started working out, and started talking about how he can bench more than us. I laughed because I used to workout and I was positive I would rape him if I started working out again.

Here are the rules to keep things safe:

1 - No arching back.
2 - Spotter does not help you lift it at the begining, but will help you rack it up at the end. This prevents us from putting more weight than plausible.
3 - 3 Reps must be completed. Yes, we aren't doing a max rep.
4 - Feet on floor and ass on seat.
5 - No bouncing off chest.

I believe that's it for now. We might have a sponge or something. I don't know how anal they will be about that.

Anyways, I want advice how to increase my Bench Press. It's already more than high enough to win, but I want to beat personal goals/predictions.

The competition is at the end of June or start of July.

10-12 weeks ago I started with benching about 115 pounds 12 times maybe.

After hard work, but could have worked harder... I now do about 185 pounds 10 times. So far, I've gained about 70 pounds on my Bench Press. I got about 5-6 weeks to go!

Note: I used to workout, so I went up quickly.

My prediction is that I will go 3 Reps of 210 Pounds. I would love to rack up 225 pounds and do that 3 times.

Enough with all that talk... here is my routine for Chest:

Not including warm-ups, which now consists of light weight flyes and bench.

Chest Day 1 (Monday)

Bench Press

- 1st Set, 7-8 Reps... or more if I can. I put on the weight so I fail in that region, a lot of times I will fail at like 10-12. I put more weight every week, but then the same thing happens again. It's very annoying, but I love the gains.
- 2nd Set, 4-5 Reps... I usually fail in this zone, but use the spotter to hit 6-7 Reps.
- 3rd Set, 7-8 Reps... I usually fail in this zone, but use the spotter to hit 9-10 Reps.
- 4th Set, 10 Reps... Less Weight, but very slow movement.

Cable Fly

- Simply hit them hard for 3 sets, and after very set I do what I call a failure set, which is lower the weight and keep pounding them.

Seated Bench Press Machine

- 3 Sets of High Weight. I love this because it's safe for individual use, and I can go all out. I also do failure sets on here too. This is usually 7-12 Reps, or sometimes less because my chest is exhausted.

Chest Day 2 (Friday)

Bench Press

- 2 Sets... Lower Weight, but very slow. (10 Reps)
- 2 Sets... This is one is complicated to explain. I go down to my chest, bring up half-way, back down, then all the way up. That is one rep.

Incline Dumbbell Press

- 3 Sets... About 10-12 Reps.

Decline Dumbbell Press

- 3 Sets... About 10-15 Reps.

THAT'S ALL FOLKS!

Of course, I do all my other body parts. I do everything twice a week, except for Shoulders and Legs. Yes, my legs will be sore tomorow... and I WORK!

Chest is always the first muscle worked on the specific day.

Any techniques to increase my Bench Press?

What about my Pre-Week to the competition?

Note: My diet is also good and clean.

[NatPLingCHaMP]

Dude, looks like you train like a bodybuilder...

what i suggest is making a new bench routine

on day one you do
raw bench (3x3),a chest asst (4x6), and tri asst (4x8)

on the other day you do
raw bench (3x3),boards(tripples),lockouts(tripples),pushdown s (4x6)

do the 3x3 as heavy as you can, if you can do 185x10 you can do 200x3x3 most definitly, start at that weight (200x3x3) for the first workout then every workout add 5 lbs

[Tormented]

Cripes man, how many times do you go to failure in a week on chest? That'll work fine when you're just starting out (or getting back into it) but if you want gains to continue you'll have to take it easy. You want to get the best three rep max possible? Then train with closer to three reps. You should limit the assisted reps, too, those are very taxing on your muscles and are more effective for bodybuilding purposes than strength gains.

[Jacked_J]

Awesome, thanks for the help.

I am also trying to get bigger as well (bodybuilding), so I guess I can devote one day a week to pure powerlifting for my chest.

I have another question...

For the "competition", should I go raw, or go with gloves?

Note: I worked my shoulders yesterday, and worked them harder than I normally do. Not hard compared to others, but I usually take it real easy. I just bumped up the weight a little. The volume was the same and everything. Now, my tendons are a little sore. Not painful, but I guess it's enough to take a few days off. Tomorrow, I will have a Recovery Plan for those few days and a Prevention Plan from now on.

I can still lift things over my head and everything. Perfectly fine, just a little sore. I want to be safe about it.

[Jacked_J]

Cripes man, how many times do you go to failure in a week on chest? That'll work fine when you're just starting out (or getting back into it) but if you want gains to continue you'll have to take it easy. You want to get the best three rep max possible? Then train with closer to three reps. You should limit the assisted reps, too, those are very taxing on your muscles and are more effective for bodybuilding purposes than strength gains.

I only do failures on Day 1.