Max bench press

[Slim]

I maxed out at 270lbs today which beat my old max of 265lbs set about 6 years ago. Anyway I'm pretty stoked about it.

I've not benched consistently since that previous max because since then I've had no workout partner and working on a max bench is difficult without a spotter. My school's gym now has safety bars that I'm able to put at a level just high enough that I can still bring the bar down to my chest but if I get into trouble all I have to do is exhale completely and I can roll the bar off of me.

Anyway, I did inclined dumbell press 3 sets of 8 reps at 85lbs before I worked on my bench (wasn't planning on getting my max today) and I'm not sure that is the best way to warm up.

Any of you weight lift and have any recommendations on the best way to up your max? Also how do you guys warm up before trying for your max?

[woot]

I usually jog for a few minutes at the beginning of a workout to get the blood flowing, and find that it doesn't matter too much what I do to prep for max if I do that. I usually do a quick light set anyway. Bench was always my weakest lift in high school, but things seem to have switched for me these days, since my knees mostly prevent me from squatting and I don't trust my back enough to try to deadlift. I put up 315x2 on bench a few months ago and haven't tried anything close since then. Hopefully I wasn't just having a stress-induced adrenaline moment. My workouts haven't been consistent for the last few weeks due to school kicking my ass so I doubt I could do 275 right now.

[FN Phat]

I maxed out at 270lbs today which beat my old max of 265lbs set about 6 years ago. Anyway I'm pretty stoked about it.

I've not benched consistently since that previous max because since then I've had no workout partner and working on a max bench is difficult without a spotter. My school's gym now has safety bars that I'm able to put at a level just high enough that I can still bring the bar down to my chest but if I get into trouble all I have to do is exhale completely and I can roll the bar off of me.

Anyway, I did inclined dumbell press 3 sets of 8 reps at 85lbs before I worked on my bench (wasn't planning on getting my max today) and I'm not sure that is the best way to warm up.

Any of you weight lift and have any recommendations on the best way to up your max? Also how do you guys warm up before trying for your max?

Not bad at all. Especially for the man with the name "slim"

[Hot Lunch]

I maxed out at 270lbs today which beat my old max of 265lbs set about 6 years ago. Anyway I'm pretty stoked about it.

I've not benched consistently since that previous max because since then I've had no workout partner and working on a max bench is difficult without a spotter. My school's gym now has safety bars that I'm able to put at a level just high enough that I can still bring the bar down to my chest but if I get into trouble all I have to do is exhale completely and I can roll the bar off of me.

Anyway, I did inclined dumbell press 3 sets of 8 reps at 85lbs before I worked on my bench (wasn't planning on getting my max today) and I'm not sure that is the best way to warm up.

Any of you weight lift and have any recommendations on the best way to up your max? Also how do you guys warm up before trying for your max?

Some might disagree with me but the stronger your triceps are the better your bench will be. That muscle plays a huge part in how much you are able to bench. So I would suggest getting your triceps stronger as well.

[Surfah]

Some might disagree with me but the stronger your triceps are the better your bench will be. That muscle plays a huge part in how much you are able to bench. So I would suggest getting your triceps stronger as well.

Also having really short arms helps.

[Hot Lunch]

Also having really short arms helps.

I was always jealous of those short arm dudes throwing up a ton of weight. It really does help.

[Slim]

Also having really short arms helps.

So being 6'4" isn't helping me any.

[Surfah]

So being 6'4" isn't helping me any.

Probably not. I have a big wingspan though I am a few inches shorter than you and it hurts my bench.

[Slim]

Does anyone have an opinion on alternating between light days and heavy days?

I usually work each muscle group hard (to failure or close to it) once a week. I recently read, however, that some people will alternate heavy days with lighter days for a given muscle group. Does anyone do this? Any opinions on this?

My typical workout schedule is like this:

Mon: Chest and triceps
Tues: Back and biceps
Wed: Run/cardio
Thurs: Shoulders and abs
Fri: Legs
Sat: Run/Cardio

Repeat.

Should I try doing lighter lifts the next week? Would there be any advantage to this? I was under the impression that a week between each muscle group would be enough time for me to recover.

[woot]

Does anyone have an opinion on alternating between light days and heavy days?

I usually work each muscle group hard (to failure or close to it) once a week. I recently read, however, that some people will alternate heavy days with lighter days for a given muscle group. Does anyone do this? Any opinions on this?

My typical workout schedule is like this:

Mon: Chest and triceps
Tues: Back and biceps
Wed: Run/cardio
Thurs: Shoulders and abs
Fri: Legs
Sat: Run/Cardio

Repeat.

Should I try doing lighter lifts the next week? Would there be any advantage to this? I was under the impression that a week between each muscle group would be enough time for me to recover.

I can't imagine any advantage to doing that. If your muscles aren't fully recovered, then you shouldn't be working them out yet, and if they are fully recovered, then you should be blitzing the shit out of them just like last week. A light workout is better than no workout, so maybe it's fine if your motivation wanes after a really tough week, but physiologically it seems like bad advice to me.

I like to read workout and nutrition stuff on the internet sometimes, and have been doing so a bit more lately because I'm teaching a class called "Nutrition and human evolution" right now. I must say that at least 95% of what I see on the internet is what I would classify as "bro science" i.e. totally made up but it sort of sounds good so you can seem smart if you're talking to a bunch of meat heads.

Unless you're an extremely advanced lifter, a week between muscle groups seems like a good interval. The only thing that might give you some trouble is that you're probably going to working your shoulders quite a bit on Mondays since your front delts work in anything that also works your chest and your lateral delts will get worked with incline stuff. I usually do shoulders on the same day as chest for those reasons. However, there will always be overlap no matter how much you try to separate so it's not too big of a deal.

[Slim]

Thanks woot. Yeah a week off is usually enough for me to fully recover so I'll stick with that.

What kind of sets do you do? About 90% of the time I stick with three sets of eight reps. Occasionally I'll do 5x5 or 4x6.

Also on the topic of nutrition, what is your take on the whole protein debate? I weigh ~192lbs and typically take in about 100-150 grams of protein a day. This feels like enough to me but I've heard some people suggest a 1:1 gram protein to lb ratio or even 2 grams for each lb. I've always just assumed the real advantage to taking in that much protein is that you are getting your calories from something other than sugars/carbs.

[woot]

Thanks woot. Yeah a week off is usually enough for me to fully recover so I'll stick with that.

What kind of sets do you do? About 90% of the time I stick with three sets of eight reps. Occasionally I'll do 5x5 or 4x6.

Also on the topic of nutrition, what is your take on the whole protein debate? I weigh ~192lbs and typically take in about 100-150 grams of protein a day. This feels like enough to me but I've heard some people suggest a 1:1 gram protein to lb ratio or even 2 grams for each lb. I've always just assumed the real advantage to taking in that much protein is that you are getting your calories from something other than sugars/carbs.

Regarding sets and reps, I usually try to stay somewhere below 10 reps, going over if I have to on the final set in order to make sure I'm at failure. If I've been going often enough to know where I'm at, I try to adjust weight so as to fall in the 6-8 range, but ultimately it's about muscle failure so I'm not too strict about numbers.

The protein debate is difficult and will depend on bulk vs cut cycle, etc., but it seems to me that as long as you're getting 20-30% of your calories from protein you're probably ok. 1g/kg or even 1g/lb is probably ok if you can comfortably do it, but I don't think it's really necessary. I'm 6'3", 235, so even 235g of protein would only give me less than 1/3 of my necessary calories, so it's hard to really overdo it unless you just really love meat. 2g/lb seems a bit much, but if you're on a really heavy bulk cycle and are eating 5k+ Cals a day it would probably work. As long as you have enough, it's mostly about calories. If you have excess you'll gain weight, if you have a deficit you'll lose.

One issue with protein is that its thermogenic effect is much higher than fat or even complex carbs; a lot of calories available in protein are burned in the effort to digest them (I've heard 30% compared to less than 10% for fat and carbs, but I don't know how current those figures are). Keep that in mind if an overly large percentage of your calories are coming from protein, as it might turn caloric excess into deficit. You're right that lots of protein tends to prevent you from eating too many processed carbs, but protein is often accompanied by a lot of saturated fat so I don't know which is worse. If you dig stuff like tuna, chicken and lentils you're probably ok regardless.

Hopefully there wasn't too much bro science in there.

[bluegoose]

My typical workout schedule is like this:

Mon: Chest and triceps
Tues: Back and biceps
Wed: Run/cardio
Thurs: Shoulders and abs
Fri: Legs
Sat: Run/Cardio

I do a similar routine with a slight change, like what woot hinted at in his reply. I have 3 basic workouts that I do each week:

1) Upper body push (pecs, triceps, anterior and lateral deltoids),
2) Upper Body pull (biceps, lats, rhomboids, posterior deltoids) and back
3) Legs.

I work in abs whenever I can either during or after one of my other workouts.

I also try to run 2-3 days per week and ride the bike 2-3 days per week. If my legs are dead one day, then I will mix in either a stairmaster or elliptical workout with minimal resistance for recovery.

As to maxing out on the bench press, I haven't maxed out in close to 20 years. But when I was trying to bump up my max I typically did a pyramid-type workout, starting at 12 reps, gradually increasing weight by 20-50 pounds and decreasing reps until i hit failure on a 1 rep max.

This was in high school using typically high school workouts, so i don't know if that was standard for serious body builders, but it worked well for me.

I also agree with hot lunch about focusing on your triceps in order to increase your bench press max.

[Commando]

seriously? Week-long intervals?

[Slim]

seriously? Week-long intervals?

What do you mean?