Warm-up Prior to Max on bench

[Kraftig]

Yesterday I maxed out at flat bench with a new PR of 270lb. Before I lifted the 270 I did: 185X5, 185X5, 225X1, 250X1. I finished at 225X6. I am trying to figure out if I'm burning myself out prior to max or am I about on target. I have shoulder pain that typically goes away on my second set of 185 so I'm scared to go 185 then 250. Any help on maximizing my full strength potential would be great. 225X7 is my best so I figure that I should be maxing around 275 or better.

 

[spatts]

If I did that, I would be burning out. We worked up to a 1RM on 3 board today. I did 3's at the bar, bar + 22's, 133, 177, etc..then at about 221 I switched to singles. At 265 I shirted up and worked up to 353 for a single. Even that seems like overkill to me. IMMV.

 

[DOM]

Yep, you're definitely using all the gas on the warm up. Try something like this. You can do the first few warmup sets very quickly and then take a couple minutes on the rest.

bar x 5
95 x 5
135 x 3
185 x 3
225 x 1
255 x 1
Then go for 275.
If you get it, go for 295 and so on.

That set with 225 x 6 probably killed you -- you never want to do a set to failure -- or even near failure -- before you max out.

 

[benchmonster]

Everyone is different, but for myself personally, I prefer to take big jumps and only do singles after the first few sets. I will give an example for what I am planning on at my next meet in a few weeks.

Bar x 10
135 x 5
225 x 3
315 x 1
Shirt up and do partials for the remainder
405 x 1
455 x 1
Then open up with 505 for the first full range shirted rep, then hopefully 530, and 550-555 for a third, depending upon how the first two reps go.

I probably do fewer warmups than most people. Do what works for you, but for me, I would much rather err on the side of being not quite warm enough rather than err on the side of burning out prior to taking a max weight.

It doesn't really matter what you do to warm up, it is up to the individual lifter, but for me, personally, less is better than more.

B.