The Beast's Benching Pics And Extras

[WalkingBeast]

thats awesome bro!! scares me personally, the only time the bar is that high for me is on inclines. keep killing it!

ThanX alot brother!! Yes, I still have a bodybuilding style bench. I never made the switch to the powerlifting stlye since my goals are both strength and size. Ive thought about it alot. Like you said though, it would take alot of practice and would interfere greatly with my current routine. Im real close to breaking 400 as is, so Ill probabally stick to this style for a while. I might make the change one day, when my chest size is somewhat decent in my eyes. Maybe 57". TRAIN OR FUCKIN DIE!!

 

[WalkingBeast]

very impressive bro keep killing that shit thats some serious weight and volume you look good to thick as hell bro

ThanX alot brother!! Much appreciated!! KILL..THAT..SHIT!!!!!!!!!

 

[WalkingBeast]

Nice bro, keep at it your all but there to your goal of 400. KILL THAT SHIT!!!

ThanX brother!! I dont have to tell you to KILL THAT SHIT!! Keep getting massive!

 

[DaveTSI]

fuck yeah hes killing it right now, and your right, two weeks and it feels pretty good. After about 2-3 weeks i had it down great and was really comfortable. my bench went up considerably with mastering this form. i just want to see you KILL THAT SHIT bro! like i said when beast gets this form down, that is if you try it, youll make leaps and bounds in your benchpress. And when you put a shirt on the big numbers will start falling real fast.

my benchpress fucking sucks but it went from 310-315 to 335-340 in no time using this form (raw). with someone moving big numbers like you beast and your training partner, you guys will see even bigger jumps in numbers. now go have fun and pile on a few more plates

 

[WalkingBeast]

beast- i am not taking anything away from you or talking down on you, but your form on bench sucks bro (for powerlifting/heavy benching), thats what im getting from those pics anyways. dont get me wrong, you look great and are strong as fuck, alot better on bench than i. But if you tweaked your form a little and got used to it, i GUARANTEE you, you could easily KILL 405 right now, no questions asked. Try this for a couple days-

1. lay down on the bench almost to where youd set up for close grip (usually a lot farther under the bar than regular bench)
2. put your feet under you (almost under your ass), shoulder width apart, legs should look something like this from the side: < your thighs/quads should be really tight in this position, pressing the balls of your feet into the ground.
3. keep your legs and ass planted and use your arms to push your upper body back where you would normally bench. your ass should not move while you do this, the idea is to get the biggest arch in your back as possible. they call this "balls to the bench" basically try to touch your balls to the bench without lifting your ass and keeping your shoulders planted.
4. in this position you should feel really tight. now keeping that arch in your back, use your arms to pull your shoulders off the bench about an inch. Now drive your traps into the bench as hard as you can. I mean really dig the tops of your traps in and dont let up.
5. by now you should like a loaded spring waiting to explode off the bench. your legs in this position can give you so much power.
6. if you have short arms like me you need a spotter at this point because you can barely reach far enough to unrack the weigh. make sure your spotter doesnt unrack to hard and pull you out of position. when you have the weight, let your shoulders drop, like your trying to touch you shoulder blades together. this movement alone takes like 2" off the length of my bench. *dont forget to do this, it makes a huge difference*
7. keep your elbows close to your sides and squeeze your lats like your doing widegrip pullups. you should be trying to rip the bar in half. now when you touch, touch almost the top of your stomach, or right under your nips (like your decline benching).
8. now when you push off your chest, go in a straight line (not on an angle back over your face, a straight line is the shortest distance from a to b). you should be trying to push through the floor with the balls of your feet, like your doing a leg extension into the floor. this generates alot of upper body power and will get alot of weight to move.

Now i know this is alot to do just for a benchpress, but trust me bro, when you get this down, 405 will go down, easily. this came easily for me, i tried getting my training part. into it and he doesnt like it. i took to it instantly though. if you have any ? just ask. now beast go FUCKING KILL THAT SHIT!!!!!

ps. i want your arms beast, if this form works out for you, we have to trade

ThanX for the extensive post brother!! Great post, and I agree completely! My bench is bodybuilder style as Ive mentioned before. One reason Ive never made the change to the powerlifting style is that I train for both size and strength. Still want to build my chest massive! The other reason Ive never done it, is due to the massive setback it would cause in my current training.
It would be like starting over in a sense. Not quite that bad, but Id be working with much lighter weights for a while to learn the form, and whenever I dont push myself all out, I pay for it with size and strength losses. Working with 225 to learn PL form would be the equivalent of skipping weeks of chest!
I could supplement with hammer strength machines, but that equals shrinkage for me when it replaces freeweights. I tried that during my injury, it wasnt good. So as you can see my goals arent in one place. Alot of people mistake me for a powerlifter on here, but really I train VERY heavy bodybuilding with powerlifting concepts and many power related goals, such as increasing one rep max. I incorporate ideas from many different areas into my training. For this reason Ill progress slower then I would if I focused on one area, but it will allow for steady progress in both. Atleast so far. The post is excellent though, and I really appreciate you taking the time to write that! Great to see that on the boards! I feel 405 will still go down shortly, and 400 should be any day now. Ive tried to incorporate some of these into my bench, but it felt very awkward. I never gave it an all out attempt though, since my goals are dual purpose. haha ThanX brother!! Appreciate the kind words!! Im still hungry for that 20" mark, cold. Thats my next short term goal. One of them. ThanX again brother!! TRAIN OR FUCKIN DIE!!

 

[WalkingBeast]

its good sound advice Dave, but it will take some back stepping to get the form right for him. I'd say 2 weeks of getting comfortable and he'd have it. I totally agree with you though. To keep the numbers going up without the shoulders hurting in the future, that would be my recommendation too. but he's killing it pretty well right now.

ThanX brother!! 2 weeks wouldnt be bad, but knowing me, it would probabally take a few months to get a feel for it. Training chest light for 2 weeks however, would really bring my strength back down. During that 9 days out of the gym (hurricane) I dropped 10lbs and bench went down from 315x10 to 315x5 and it took months to get the strength back. If that gives you an idea! KEEP KILLING THAT SHIT!!

 

[DaveTSI]

ThanX for the extensive post brother!! Great post, and I agree completely! My bench is bodybuilder style as Ive mentioned before. One reason Ive never made the change to the powerlifting style is that I train for both size and strength. Still want to build my chest massive! The other reason Ive never done it, is due to the massive setback it would cause in my current training.
It would be like starting over in a sense. Not quite that bad, but Id be working with much lighter weights for a while to learn the form, and whenever I dont push myself all out, I pay for it with size and strength losses. Working with 225 to learn PL form would be the equivalent of skipping weeks of chest!
I could supplement with hammer strength machines, but that equals shrinkage for me when it replaces freeweights. I tried that during my injury, it wasnt good. So as you can see my goals arent in one place. Alot of people mistake me for a powerlifter on here, but really I train VERY heavy bodybuilding with powerlifting concepts and many power related goals, such as increasing one rep max. I incorporate ideas from many different areas into my training. For this reason Ill progress slower then I would if I focused on one area, but it will allow for steady progress in both. Atleast so far. The post is excellent though, and I really appreciate you taking the time to write that! Great to see that on the boards! I feel 405 will still go down shortly, and 400 should be any day now. Ive tried to incorporate some of these into my bench, but it felt very awkward. I never gave it an all out attempt though, since my goals are dual purpose. haha ThanX brother!! Appreciate the kind words!! Im still hungry for that 20" mark, cold. Thats my next short term goal. One of them. ThanX again brother!! TRAIN OR FUCKIN DIE!!

No problem Beast, just trying to help a brother out. i know what your saying about having to use light weights learning this style, and loosing strenght/size while doing it. But i didnt loose any size or strength learning this style, maybe i took to it faster than most people (literally two weeks and i had gained 20lbs. on bench). i do think about how much different my chest would look by now if i had stuck to BB style benchpressing. I have a thick lower peck, and flat upper, looks like ive only decline benched for a year lol. i see your points though bro. if you are looking to move some big weights in competition, especially using a shirt, this is the BEST way to do it.

 

[bignate73]

I dont bench for my "chest" per se, but it sure gets a blasting. I bench high arch, to my belly. there was a good article out that stated that in actuality, with elbows flared to the side, the front delts take quite a beating, and the chest actually doesn't get as much as people think. with the elbows down closer to 45 deg. pec major is more active. I'll see if i can dig it up. also there is nothing saying that you can't do inclines for "complete development". I bench the same way for inclines, i take a medium grip, tuck my elbows and bring it all the way to my chest, pause and explode up. since switching from an elbows flared bench to this, I can actually bring it to my chest, which tells me how much stress i was putting on my front delts.

when I teach a bench press, I usually will have my clients bring it lower than most and I show them why. I have them flare their elbows, and usually they cant touch the bar, then i have them move it down about 3-4 inches to thier abdomen, and they can usually let go of the bar and pull their hands down about an inch or so. this is pretty compelling when I think about the stress they are putting on their front delts. it also tells me why people rub their shoulders after benching BB style, and complain of AC joint pain.

I benched wide for years, and always had some nagging shoulder stuff. about a year and a half ago, there was a huge thread on here about benching. I, being so smarty pants'ish, went head to head with PL'ers. I conceded to "giving it a try", to learn. I did it, and noticed that the people who bench big numbers for a living actually knew what they were talking about!!! hehehe. go figure. So, I've never looked back, moved the most weight I ever have and never rubbed the front of my shoulders either since!
just food for thought.

 

[powerlord]

Beast you are amazing bro,one dedicated hard working bro!I'm just getting back into the gym,not heavy yet,your pics and attitude just inspired the hell out of me,the boost I needed bro. Thanks man,and you know what to do!!

 

[WalkingBeast]

Beast you are amazing bro,one dedicated hard working bro!I'm just getting back into the gym,not heavy yet,your pics and attitude just inspired the hell out of me,the boost I needed bro. Thanks man,and you know what to do!!

Im glad brother!! Shit, that alone makes it all worthwhile!! Keep KILLING that shit!!