Bench Press Max

[Midkiff]

About a year ago i started lifting weights to gain some muscle and at first nothing happened. i was 6' 145lbs. myt first bench max was 95 lbs and i would do 4 sets of 10 reps at my 70%. that worked really well to get me cut, but i didn't get any bigger or stronger. i went to 4 sets of 10 reps at my 80% for a while and steadily got a little bigger. for about three months i would do my 90% as many times as i could in 3 sets. that worked great for strength and mass, but my muscle definition started to go away. So now i've switched back to doing 4 sets of 12 reps at 80%. i would have to say that high reps and sets with a moderate amount of weight works the best overall. i want to get stronger while still maintaning a really cut body, and i don't want to lose any flexiblity. my weight now is 170lbs with a bench max of 170 lbs.

[Midkiff]

About a year ago i started lifting weights to gain some muscle and at first nothing happened. i was 6' 145lbs. myt first bench max was 95 lbs and i would do 4 sets of 10 reps at my 70%. that worked really well to get me cut, but i didn't get any bigger or stronger. i went to 4 sets of 10 reps at my 80% for a while and steadily got a little bigger. for about three months i would do my 90% as many times as i could in 3 sets. that worked great for strength and mass, but my muscle definition started to go away. So now i've switched back to doing 4 sets of 12 reps at 80%. i would have to say that high reps and sets with a moderate amount of weight works the best overall. i want to get stronger while still maintaning a really cut body, and i don't want to lose any flexiblity. my weight now is 170lbs with a bench max of 170 lbs.

[Sohan]

About a year ago i started lifting weights to gain some muscle and at first nothing happened. i was 6' 145lbs. myt first bench max was 95 lbs and i would do 4 sets of 10 reps at my 70%. that worked really well to get me cut, but i didn't get any bigger or stronger. i went to 4 sets of 10 reps at my 80% for a while and steadily got a little bigger. for about three months i would do my 90% as many times as i could in 3 sets. that worked great for strength and mass, but my muscle definition started to go away. So now i've switched back to doing 4 sets of 12 reps at 80%. i would have to say that high reps and sets with a moderate amount of weight works the best overall. i want to get stronger while still maintaning a really cut body, and i don't want to lose any flexiblity. my weight now is 170lbs with a bench max of 170 lbs.

You need a mix of heavier weight/lower reps and moderate weight/higher reps. Try cutting your reps and work up to 3 sets of 5 with a weight you can perform for a 7 rep max. Give yourself plenty of rest between sets, at least 3, and perhaps even 5 minutes. I used to take extraordinarily long rest breaks, on average 9 minutes, but it worked for me in benching over 400 as a teen without drugs.

This is something often neglected in strength training. You have guys taking 2 to 3 minute rest breaks and wondering why they can't bench very much. To stay warm, massage your chest, shoulders and tris between sets. Short rests are great for muscle pump and hypertrophy, but if you want to bench 300 someday, take your time.

Also, if you want to bench bigger, then bench press and don't waste time and energy on a lot of supplemental movements. Stick to basics. I had periods where all I did was bench and do some pulldowns and rows for balance. My best bench was done on this program, and my physique was very strong.

Benching your weight is OK (and it's admirable the improvement you've made), but you can continue to do better. 1.5 to 2 times your bodyweight is what you should shoot for and you can do it this way.

With respect,

Sohan

[Meguro]

Is there a point where trying to max out on the bench becomes pointless? When is enough, enough? How about counting the number of one arm push-ups instead of plates on the bar? I just dropped down and did two. Nothing I'm proud of, but then again it was the first time I ever tried.

[Sohan]

Is there a point where trying to max out on the bench becomes pointless? When is enough, enough? How about counting the number of one arm push-ups instead of plates on the bar? I just dropped down and did two. Nothing I'm proud of, but then again it was the first time I ever tried.

Strength is like money. The more you have, the more you can do.

As far as pushups go, pushups are relative to your bodyweight. The lighter you are, the better you tend to be able to be at them. The thing about the bench press is that it is a measure of pure strength. Note I didn't say power, though it is a so-called "powerlift". It really isn't an indicator of one's ability to produce power. But it is a direct measure of the strength of the muscles used in punching, grappling, and blocking.

Don't buy the bit about the 400 lb bencher that can't do pushups and the 165 bencher who can do 200. I could do a ton of pushups when I benched big, and unless you're pretty light, a 165 bench won't translate to too many pushups.

With respect,

Sohan

[Meguro]

Strength is like money. The more you have, the more you can do.

Who doesn't want more strength or more money? I could use both! My point is that at some point, any extra effort you put into increasing the poundage on the bar is time and effort taken away from developing strengths and skills in other areas that in the end will have a bigger pay-off on the mat, street, social calendar, job-front, happiness index, etc. Say you can bench 300 lbs. Is it worth it to go for 400, when you could instead improve on flexibility, groundfighting skills, or taking the kids to soccer practice?

Yes, push-ups are an indicator of relative strength and not a measure of absolute strength. These days my objective is developing relative strength. I'd like to be as strong as I can be without going up in weight.

[Sohan]

Strength is like money. The more you have, the more you can do.

Say you can bench 300 lbs. Is it worth it to go for 400, when you could instead improve on flexibility, groundfighting skills, or taking the kids to soccer practice?

It really depends on what it takes to get to that next level. To add 10 lbs to your bench is probably not worth the extra effort if you are already at your potential (which few people are). It really depends on whether you have been optimizing your training. If your training isn't at or near optimal, and you can make improvements without living and breathing powerlifting, then go for it. For example, Tank Abbott made a career out of basically being not much more than a devastating puncher, and he benched over 600 lbs (a pure strength lift for him--he wasn't much for technique).

And I agree completely that working on MA technique is important. Spending time with family is even far more important. I missed karate this morning to attend my son's baseball game, so I think I've got my priorities right in that regard. But any strength gains you can make can make a big difference in a real fight, and it just makes you that more formidable when tacked onto your regular MA skills.

With respect,

Sohan

[Meguro]

Tank Abbot, now there's a guy who could have spent more time on fighting technique! Obviously he had the brute strength thing working for him already. Say you took 200 lbs off his max on the bench and put that into ground and stand-up fighting (not that pounds of iron = fighting skill, but you get the idea), he would've rose to even greater heights.

[Sohan]

Tank Abbot, now there's a guy who could have spent more time on fighting technique! Obviously he had the brute strength thing working for him already. Say you took 200 lbs off his max on the bench and put that into ground and stand-up fighting (not that pounds of iron = fighting skill, but you get the idea), he would've rose to even greater heights.

Actually, I'd prefer to just keep the 600 bench and improve his technique. It's kind of like being smart or being pretty. I'd rather be smart, because I can always do things to make myself more attractive. You can learn the technique, but strength isn't so easy to acquire.

Ever been hit by an untrained guy with freakish strength? It's still like being hit with a ton of bricks.

With respect,

Sohan

[bushido_man96]

With my current workout, the last set of 1 rep that I do is 260 lbs. My 3 reps are with 240 lbs. I have not done an actuall max out testing, these lifts are just part of a workout that goes 8-6-6-3-2-1-4 -- those are the sets.