The Beast Strikes Again!! (2 More Bench PR's)

[WalkingBeast]

Hit 275x17 and 380x1. I plan to manipulate my routine a little next week and do less reps with the 275 and hit a PR with 315 for 8-10. ThanX for all the encouragement everyone!! Heres the exerpt from my journal:

8-5-04 Thursday Chest and Abs (SLAUGHTERED THAT SHIT ONCE AGAIN!!)

I hit 2 more PR's on flat bench tonight. 275x17 and 380 for a single. The maxes are still secondary to my repping for the time being, in this routine. Still want to hit those rep PR's! If I were to focus on max only for a month, I believe Id have a very good chance of crushing 405. Ive learned to be patient, it will come in good time. Ill get some vids up as well, when I get the opportunity. I have the camera, just looking for the right moment. God was with me tonight!! Seemed to help alot, drinking around 60 oz of gatorade the night before. I rarely get in enough hydration. I think Ill make gatorade a new supplement for my diet! I weighed in at 194 with clothes on. This puts me very close to 2X bodyweight on the bench again, so aslong as I gain strength with the weight, then Ill assume its good weight. I strive to maintain a 2X bodyweight bench. I believe I could of hit 385 today too, if not for my shoulder acting up after a failed attempt with 385. So I backed off and went lighter after that. Next week I plan to possibly manipulate my routine in a way that will bring some more PR's. Specifically 315x8-10 reps. 10 will be the goal. I havent decided yet, but next week I may do 275 for 8 reps only as a warm-up and not take it to 17+ reps (failure). Then Ill hit 315 for as many as possible. Then onto 325 and a max attempt with 385 most likely. Heres the routine:

(194lbs before meals, clothes on) ("Speed Stack", 60 oz gatorade night before)

Flat Bench Press:

135x20
225x12
275x17 (PR by 1.25 reps)
315x7.5 (best, but not a PR)
325x5 (1/2 rep off from best)
380x1 (5lb PR)
385 (about half way)
300x6.5 (cut workout a little short due to some shoulder pain after 385)


Hammer Strength Wide Chest Machine:

180x15
270x17
360x6.5
320x9

Abs:

Seated Ab Crunch Machine (pin loaded):

120x15
120x15
120x15
120x15

 

[wnt2bBeast]

Nice work bro!!!! you a benching maniac!!!!!Thats my weakest lift but im working on it..i would think your weights would go higher if you just did some warmups and lowered your reps on all your sets except for your working sets..
135x10
225x8
275x6-8
i think you should be warmed here if not maybe put 295 for 3..then hit 315 and i think you would definitely be able to get 10 reps..just a thought..keep it up bro!!!!

 

[cwick0]

Congrats. Not to suprised of the progress, persistance and dedication are paying dividends. Once you lower your warmup sets a bit, you will get 315 for 10.

 

[WalkingBeast]

Nice work bro!!!! you a benching maniac!!!!!Thats my weakest lift but im working on it..i would think your weights would go higher if you just did some warmups and lowered your reps on all your sets except for your working sets..
135x10
225x8
275x6-8
i think you should be warmed here if not maybe put 295 for 3..then hit 315 and i think you would definitely be able to get 10 reps..just a thought..keep it up bro!!!!

ThanX for the encouragement and feedback brother!! Much appreciated!! Bench was never a strong point for me either, I couldnt even bench 45lbs when I started! haha The two things that made a HUGE difference in my bench was getting a training partner once a week and putting alot of TIME as well as maximum effort into each session. The desire is strong, so thats not a problem. Though Ive gone through plenty of dry periods where I was frustrated with my progress. One year was especially bad, with practically NO PR's on the bench. haha I believe that was 2003. When I say alot of time, when I started benching with my training partner, these were 7 hour sessions! Its very hard to find someone as dedicated as you are, but even someone with a decent amount of fire, will serve as a good spotter, at the very least. And you can MOLD them until they give you the perfect spot, and both trainers should adapt to eachother well. This aspect alone is huge in bringing up the bench. Before I had a spotter, I used to have to call random people every bench day to spot me, who would almost ALWAYS help with the weight, and thats not a good thing. I only made so much progress this way. My obsession with getting stronger and larger was the reason for these massive sessions. At first I would hit over 20 sets of flat bench, and these were all beyond failure. Basically Id do as many forced reps as possible for anything over 275 lbs. I even did forced reps with 435 and 455, when I was barely getting reps with 315. haha Not conventional training by any means. This worked well, but then I wanted to start doing everything myself without any assistance, for a change. Now the sessions are closer to 3-4 hours Id say. It took some time to find a perfect routine, or atleast what seems to be a good routine for me. ThanX for the warm-up suggestion brother!! I really need alot of warming up though, and when ive tried doing less my sets always suffer for it and joints are still stiff and sore. Its just the nature of the beast! 135x20 and then 225x12 and 275x8 seems to be the minimum I can get away with. When maxing Ill add a few one rep sets as well before going to the one rep max. I think I should be able to hit 315x10 next week by not taking my 275 set to failure. At the very least I expect 9! Im never fully recovered either on my chest days so thats always a factor as well. I plan to KILL that shit next week though!! ThanX again brother!! Keep KILLING that shit yourself!!

 

[WalkingBeast]

Congrats. Not to suprised of the progress, persistance and dedication are paying dividends. Once you lower your warmup sets a bit, you will get 315 for 10.

ThanX brother!! Much appreciated!! Yes, it does pay off eventually, even when things seem bleak. Last year I seemed to make no progress in chest size or strength. Though I made some major deadlift gains, and other back strength gains. No measurable chest/back size increase though, and almost NO benching PR's. I can go through very long plateaus, but theyve always managed to come to an end, with enough perserverance and work. So far. Sometimes it seems to come in long delayed spurts. Constantly working towards improvement and trying different things can also help greatly. I should be able to hit 315x10, or atleast 9 with no problem next week. Ill just lessen the reps with 275 and not take it to failure. ThanX again brother!! Keep on KILLING on!!