5 board press weights?

[brianmincher]

What does everyone do on the 5 board press in relation to their max with a shirt? I just tried 5 board with a close grip for my max effort for the first time last Thursday. I got to 405 real easy, jumped to 455, expecting to smoke it as well, and got it after a little bump from the spotter off the boards. I expect to get it clean next week, but was wondering how others did in relation to their best shirt bench. My best effort in a shirt has been 475. Thanks in advance for replies.

B.

 

[Deciever]

ok well, i've never done a 5 board press, but i think what i've done is pretty similar... i just do a 1/4 bench in the power rack, with the safety pins set about 3/4 of the way up.... when doing that i repped 215 easily, and my max is 195 ... i duno if its similar or not, but i would think it is

 

[aka-tapout]

the most ive done is a 4 board---- i was benching 350 area and i got a 405 4 board at the time no shirt but now im benching 445 area so i'm not sure what i could 4 board because i have not done it for awhile cause my elbow hurting so bad. but soon i will try againg because i'm starting to get my bench up---i would think 4 board press should be 30 lbs + over bench and a 5 board should be 50 + over bench. i know pljay benches 625 right now and he 4 boards(if i remember correctly) around 700 i think he said.

 

[b fold the truth]

Never done more than a 3 board and it seems to equal my estimated 1RM in a shirt. I have a lot of problems getting any kind of speed from the position that a 3 board leaves me.

Unless you are skinny and very long armed...I don't think that the 5 board press is what you are looking for to translate over to you benching with a shirt on. I would go with a 3-4 board personally.

The press off of pins is not the same as a board press...not at all. You don't have to balance the weight on the pins like you do on a flat bench press. You do on the boards.

B True

 

[1-dawg]

5 boards is not meant to be a max effort exercise, but an assistance lift. ANyhow, to answer your question, my best 5 board is about 555 for a dbl, and my best comp bench is 500.

 

[I'D RATHER BE DEADLIFTING]

Wow, I fookin suck!!

Let's just say I haven't tried to max my 4 boards, but it is lower than my shirt bench.

 

[CytoMel]

I did a 3 board yesterday for ME I got 405.I watched around 12 others do it too. The 3 board is noticably less than a bench with a shirt based on what a saw yesterday and all
so lifters seem to fail every time on the same area, RIGHT ON THE BOARD I think that its really hard to get it started off the board. When I first tried the 3 board I thought it would be easy like a half range but it is not. I might get heat for saying this but I think the 3 board max is around the same weight as a raw max for most. Also I did a 365 incline and a 405 3 board in consecutive weeks and that 3 board is around 10% range with the incline for many others too. Its really hard to translate ME between each other because of VARIENCES

 

[powerlifterjay]

Well my shirt bench is around 625lbs, but in relation to my boards, and i knwo ya'll are gonna go "what the fuck" But i do not go to failure. I go to were i feel like the 1 rep was enough. I just hate to fuckin miss. And mentally it disturbs me. The only time i will max out totally on boards is when i am in the rack with the bands suspened. And that is what tapout was reffering ot 700lbs. I have done 725 off 4 brd. But we weighed the range of motions with areobic blocks and a scale and i had about 660 at lockout and about 625 or 615 on the board.

BUt i have done 4 board with bar loaded to 545 with green bands choked at the bottom.

I have done around 600 on the 4 board.
recently started 5 brds and smoked about 620 with about 25lbs left to spare. And thats with no bands.

But i have noticed this in th epast i can usually shirt about 30lbs more then i can 4 board. With boards you must overcome inertia. With a shirt you have rebound. Big difference. So Brian your percenatges are pretty close. YOu might just not be used to 5 boards yet. The first time we did 5 boards was a few weeks ago and i missed a lift (groove wise) that next set i smoked on the 4 board. It was becasue i wasnt used to it at all. BUt now i see big numbers.

I did hear that George Hlabert has done a 5 board with 585 lbs loaded and had the big blue bands choked down. SO he is up in to over 700's at full lockout and dam close on the board. Freakin unbelievable!

 

[Screwball]

5-Boards...

I've never done 5-boards. I really want to start the 5-boards and use band tension to work my lockout. My lockout is weak. As far as bench vs. board this is all I can offer. My 4-board press is 35-45 lbs. more than my raw bench. Until I get my new shirt (fat boy special) I won't know how the boards compare to a shirted max.

- Screwball

 

[I'D RATHER BE DEADLIFTING]

I agree with what Cytomel said. I find it hard to drive ight off the boards. It's like I am expecting the bar to come down further before I bang it up. I dunno.

My 3 board max was just slightly higher than my raw bench max.

 

[speedDemon]

how many times aweek do you do this exercise ??

 

[powerlifterjay]

We do them once a week. Bands choked week 1 , bands suspended week 2, no bands week 3.

 

[speedDemon]

i don't have bands so are they worth doing without the bands?also what is a good starter contest for benching?

 

[b fold the truth]

Worth doing with or without bands. I don't use bands on Max Effort days because my joints take enough beating from them on dynamic effort days. They are a very good exercise!!!!

B True

 

[powerlifterjay]

Yes they are worth doing. BUt i wouldnt do them every week. I do cause i change where the tension is gonna be. So i feel like its a different exercise every week. Its works in a different way , the way i do them. But if iwas you i would use a 2 brd week 1, 3 brd week2, 4 brd week 3, then do floors or something.

I use bands for max and dynamic. (when i do dynamic). But if i do dynamic its squats not bench. And i will deifintly not use bands twice in a week for lower body.

 

[Sergeant]

Is it worth it to use one board and other times to use a cambered bar with one board? ( I never use a shirt. )

 

[b fold the truth]

I suggest doing 2-3 board presses because they allow you to use heavier weights without putting a super stress tension on your pecs. A 1 board press probably would not be much different than just a regular flat bench press.

B True

 

[Exodus]

thats true.......... the board will sink in a great deal............. so i dont thing 1 board would do wonders for you either

question?

powerlifterjay.......... do you do the 5 board presses as a max effort everyweek or what?........... do you do them after the max effort after triceps or what?

doing the same exercise with bands in differnt places or with no bands at all seems logical but differnt?

thanks

b fold got me hooked on doing the 2 and 3 board press......... i love em........ their great.

X

 

[powerlifterjay]

Exodus We flat bench on mondays and do tri asistance. Thurs is boards first. I go thru all of them. What changes the feel and keeps my body producing IS swapping were the tension is every week. Bands up , bands down. no bands , repeat. Yes we do boards every week. And when i , and my crew feel over trained we skip it completely. If we every stop producing PR's then we will re evaluate and maybe drop them for awhile.

I have done it all and the boards are very crucial for what i am going for. I do not care about the bottom of the lift. Even though we do flat bench our shirt gets the bottom. SO if it aint boards it would be lockouts or something pertaining to lockout first before i move on to tris. And tris are done after boards, and after flat bench on Mondays.

 

[I'D RATHER BE DEADLIFTING]

Jay- When you sayyou guys flat bench Mondays, do you always go heavy? What type of set/rep scheme are we talking?

Also, do you ever substitute for the flat bench?

 

[aka-tapout]

to id rather be deadlifting
yes we always go heavy . we do warm ups then a 8-10 rep set jay does this at 405,a 5-6 rep set jay does this at 455,then a 2-3 rep set jay does this at 500. sometimes we do another set there. lately we then do drop sets. a 10 rep set for jay done at 405 then a 20 rep set for jay done at 315 at end. this we switch around and if we are shirting we end with big weight no rep sets at end. jay latley trying to pr each set(more reps then last time) for a change.

 

[powerlifterjay]

Tap out is correct. H ejust missed one set last week monday went like this

135x20 3 sets
225x10
315x10
405x6
500x2 Now all these sets were really warm ups. I could have done a few more reps on all of them. My goal is endurance right now so after the 500 for a quick double. And i mean quick, it went like this

455x6
405x10
315x20 Done with bench. Then it was elbow outs ext on flat bench
75x10
105x10
120x10
pushdowns 3 sets of 10 to 20

then we did side raises
3sets oof 10 with 30's to 50's on last

Then face pulls on row machine for reardelts. 3 sets of 6 to 10.

That was monday. I never substitiut flat bench. I change reps and weights but never this exercise. Beside that it works for all of us, we all enjoy flat benching very much as well.

Thurs will be about the same except we start with boards instead of flat bench, and we change the tri assistance exercise. Very simple and productive. Boards like i said we change the bands and were they are placed so that hits our bodies in a differnt way each week. Reps are no more then 3 then up to a single , actually several singles till we get up to the 5 board and miss. We start with the 3 board and do triples. When triple willnot go we move to the 4 board reps now are all singles and when we will knwo we will miss one more rep, we now go to 5 board and go to a max.

We take pretty big jumps so i might do 1 to 2 sets with the 4 brd and 2sets with the 5brd. Were not on boards all night! Its 45's on each end till it gets pretty heavy then the change goes on.

 

[I'D RATHER BE DEADLIFTING]

Wow!! That is amazing! Also shows you not only have 1rm strength, but can rep out with huge weights on the bar too!!

So if those are 2 of your days, what do the other days look like? Lower body and lats??

 

[powerlifterjay]

Yes thats right IRBD. And i am proud of the fact i can bench both ways. And i knwo you dont wanna hear this but you wanna bench big you need to bench. Period. My goal without a shirt is a 600lb bench raw. That to me would be just as rewarding as a 700plus with my shirt. But if i had to pick one it would be the 700 with shirt!

As far as my rest of my workout you got my email right? Thats what we do short ans sweet. It actually aint all that short but it is intense has they get.

Monday bench , tri's, shoulders
tues low back assistance, lats, bi's, and forarms
wed off
thurs Tris (boards) assistance , maybe light shoulder raises.
Fri Squat day. Low back assistnace as well. Reverse hyper
or something.

Thats it bro. My email had description.

 

[I'D RATHER BE DEADLIFTING]

Yup, got the email. Very helpful, thanks.

 

[I'D RATHER BE DEADLIFTING]

Jay- I know I emailed you like 90 times about this program already, but I left something out. This goes for any of you guys actually. I'm just curious if you vary grips on the board presses? When I tried 3 boards I used a medium grip, 4 boards I used my close grip. Should I always go close? Vary?

Thanks

 

[powerlifterjay]

Everybody is differnt on this. I would stay not narrow but in from your compt grip on the 3 board, and maybe wider on the 4 board, then i would max totally out with your compt grip on last set with 4board and your 5 board. If you wanna vary grips each week that would be fine too. Just remember where they are so when you bench the following week you can beat a pR that you set. And if you fail , and feel upset make sure its not because you were narrower. You follow me?

 

[I'D RATHER BE DEADLIFTING]

Sounds good. Gracias