Low Rep Heavy Bench Sets

[r0dx]

A few questions about them...

I know I know "LEAVE YOUR EGO AT THE DOOR". My friends friend hit 315 for 3 reps and was jumping around in circles...I was just giggling to my friend, that it wasn't that big of a deal. I'm not cocky, nor care about how much I lift at all.

I actually mostly do DB's and occasionally I'll do bar flat bench sets. Anyways, today I did...135x15 warmup, 185x12 warmup - then did 225 for some reps then got to my working sets...275x10 (usually go to 285 then 295 or something similar) So he's like blah blah, I bet you can't even do it 3 times, and honestly I just wanted to make everyone laugh, since they we're "filming" his 3 reps. Hopefully I'll get the copy so I can stick it on YouTube. Keep in mind I weight 175lbs and this guy is like 200+.

So my sets ended up being:

135x15 - warmup
185x12 - warmup
225x10 - to build up the weight
275x9 (this set felt like a brick fell on me)
315x6 (same thing again, felt like a piano)
335x3
225x7 (drop set, to get some reps about 1-2 minutes later)

Then we moved onto incline db's with are normal weight. The weird thing is today I was very tired (6 hours sleep) and ate about 25 minutes before hititng the gym (a big meal) and dehydrated so I wasn't feeling that great. I was actually pretty pissed at myself for going heavy, as I could careless about weight, and more about looks, and I'm a competitive bodybuilder around here.

Question's are...

1. Can any growth be made from this, or just a waste of a chest workout? (I was weak/dead after these first few sets)

2. Was the drop set I did after it pointless?

3. Is it dangerous to lift this heavy, for your general health (brain, lungs, heart, bp, etc)

4. Is it dangerous to lift this heavy with less sleep then normal/dehydrated?

5. Will I atleast maintain my chest size until next week?

All in all, I'm not sure why I went so heavy today, it was basically I was in a pissed off mood (first day back at school) and these guys were really pissing me off. Not to mention my reps we're SLOW and CONTROLLED as his were like a little kid bouncing off a trampoline.

 

[crxdog]

hmmm i dont know about eating a big meal before punching out some heavy weight that would make me feel really lethargic........

Looks like a good chest workout if your getting over 6 reps on your max weight. You could scale it back and just do 3 sets of 6 reps of your absolute max, that would be some serious tear and repair !

 

[automaticj5]

THats for the most part what I do -- and I have seen nothing but gains gains gains in the last 4 months..

 

[st8grad]

That was absolutely not a waste. You went outside of your normal training parameters and posed a different challenge for you muscles. Muscles grow for any number of reasons. Shit, men's Olympic gymnasts have great builds and they never even touch weights.

My point is it doesn't always only come down to sets, rep ranges, or weight used. That is to say you don't always need to be in the 10 rep range for maximum growth.

At points you do need to be focusing on hypertrophy as your main goal. But you also need to vary it to shift focus to strength, power, and endurance. When all of these are integrated at various points throughout the year you can maximize your overall goal, which for your is hypertrophy and aesthetics.

All long distance runners do sprints and all sprinters do long distance runs.

As for training under stress, you are fine. It isn't something that you do often so don't even let it begin to worry you. Let's talk more about it if you are training on 4 hours of sleep every night for the next 6 months. But 6 hours in an adult world is ok -even though not ideal - most of the time. Strive for 8-10 but if you get 6 once in awhile don't sweat it.

And it is not detrimental to your health to lift heavy. If you are maxing out all the time you might lead to over reaching and possibly over training, but again this isn't something that you do on a regular basis.

BTW nice work on 335 at your weight. Look sometimes when you feel crappiest, you put together a great performance. Just enjoy blowing that dude away for awhile.

 

[silver_shadow]

Question's are...

1. Can any growth be made from this, or just a waste of a chest workout? (I was weak/dead after these first few sets)

2. Was the drop set I did after it pointless?

3. Is it dangerous to lift this heavy, for your general health (brain, lungs, heart, bp, etc)

4. Is it dangerous to lift this heavy with less sleep then normal/dehydrated?

5. Will I atleast maintain my chest size until next week?

All in all, I'm not sure why I went so heavy today, it was basically I was in a pissed off mood (first day back at school) and these guys were really pissing me off. Not to mention my reps we're SLOW and CONTROLLED as his were like a little kid bouncing off a trampoline.

1. yes it is beneficial to lift heavier. have a look at ronnie coleman for proof. amongst the strong men there's pudzianowski. lift heavy for a few weeks, deload, increase the reps/set for a few weeks, deload, repeat.

2. nah not really. i'm not sure why exactly but i don't see why it should be totally pointless.

3. it's not dangerous unless you get stuck under the bar (so make sure you have a spotter - but at the same time he shouldn't touch the bar unless he has to bail you out).

4. refer to 3. but yes, you obviously need to sleep and need to not be dehydrated anyway.

5. duh! of course you will. strength workouts help you build muscles too! plus of course 1 week isn't going to make a huge difference this way or that so don't obsess over it.

PS: for a guy that hit a 335x3 bench without practising and claims to be a competitive bodybuilder i find those questions a bit surprising.

 

[alexl2]

1. yes it is beneficial to lift heavier. have a look at ronnie coleman for proof. amongst the strong men there's pudzianowski. lift heavy for a few weeks, deload, increase the reps/set for a few weeks, deload, repeat.

2. nah not really. i'm not sure why exactly but i don't see why it should be totally pointless.

3. it's not dangerous unless you get stuck under the bar (so make sure you have a spotter - but at the same time he shouldn't touch the bar unless he has to bail you out).

4. refer to 3. but yes, you obviously need to sleep and need to not be dehydrated anyway.

5. duh! of course you will. strength workouts help you build muscles too! plus of course 1 week isn't going to make a huge difference this way or that so don't obsess over it.

PS: for a guy that hit a 335x3 bench without practising and claims to be a competitive bodybuilder i find those questions a bit surprising.

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That's because he is not a competitive bodybuilder nor can he bench 335, there is no way in hell someone that experienced would be asking those kinds of questions.

 

[silver_shadow]

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That's because he is not a competitive bodybuilder nor can he bench 335, there is no way in hell someone that experienced would be asking those kinds of questions.

lol! that's what i was hinting at - you are like a bull in a china shop though

 

[alexl2]

lol! that's what i was hinting at - you are like a bull in a china shop though

Yeah i know, i just wanted to make sure that this kid knows that we know he's full of shit.

 

[tropo]

Yeah i know, i just wanted to make sure that this kid knows that we know he's full of shit.

Yeah, I agree.

The kid OCCASSIONALLY does flat bench and easily knocks out 315 for 6 very strict reps at bodyweight 175. Then he starts asking really dumb questions.

It shouldn't take him long to reach 400 if he starts doing benches more regularly.

 

[automaticj5]

I thought that was a given....lol -- without being to much of an ass at least we still answered right ?