My 315lb max bench journal

I am not going to naysay you, because anything is possible. I would suggest you start pyramid-sets once a week heavy, and work on form with 225 or less the other bench day. ex, 1 set 135lbs 15-20 reps warm up, 1 set 185 10-12 reps, 1 set 225 10 reps, 1 set 245 8 reps, 1 set 265 6 reps, 1 set 285 4 reps, 305 2-3 reps. Depending on how strong you really are you may want to drop the initial 185 set and go right to 225 after the initial warm-up. I am assuming that you are already working on incline and decline benching in your work-outs. (altrnating work-out sessions with close grip and wide grip will increase your max as well) As a credential I have benched in my normal work-out 455 while pyrmiding. I have never gone for a max because I don't see the point. Maxing out on anything puts you on the limit of control. (people tear things like pecs and shoulders) It is more important that you get your body used to the stress of the heavier weights by training with them. Good luck and let us know how it turns out, Scott

 

If your goal is based on time 12 weeks focus on taxing your entire body i e.. heavy squats and running. In doing so your body release growth hormones more than normal allowing you to target train. Usually spot training does not work but we are talking about working inside out not losing belly fat. Focus on negatives lowering the weight as slow as possible, the heavier you list with less repititions the more demand your creating.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_contraction

Muscles undergoing heavy eccentric loading suffer greater damage when overloaded (such as during muscle building or strength training exercise) as compared to concentric loading. When eccentric contractions are used in weight training they are normally called "negatives". During a concentric contraction muscle fibers slide across each other pulling the Z-lines together. During an eccentric contraction, the filaments slide past each other the opposite way, though the actual movement of the myosin heads during an eccentric contraction is not known. Exercise featuring a heavy eccentric load can actually support a greater weight (muscles are approximately 10% stronger during eccentric contractions than during concentric contractions) and also results in greater muscular damage and delayed onset muscle soreness one to two days after training. Exercise that incorporates both eccentric and concentric muscular contractions (i.e. involving a strong contraction and a controlled lowering of the weight) can produce greater gains in strength than concentric contractions alone.[3][4] While unaccustomed heavy eccentric contractions can easily lead to overtraining, moderate training may confer protection against injury.[4]

Keep us posted.

 

Great posts thus far. Educated and well versed. I am actually suprised.

My workout partner is 160lb, 9% body fat. I am 194lb 12% body fat. We both bench about the same, lol. Our best was reached a week or so ago at 285 for three rep. Did not try to go more. Our goal is to hit 315 in the next month or so. My advice to you is to not forget your back. Training your upper back will allow your whole torso to handle more weight safely. I nearly always do full body circuit training to burn fat while building strength. I don't ever gain weight but see big gains in muscle. Try this: 5 sets of your body weight bench supersetted with pullups to failure without rest between sets. Make sure to have someone spot your bench. This will keep you from gaining weight (high cardio) but will build a lot of strength.

IMO, body part specific training will lead to injury and overtraining.

 

Try and up it by incriments of 5lbs.

 

Training the legs heavy will help a lot, but you are going to start gaining mass quickly........ The sliding bar in the cage with pins is a good idea. (sorry, can't remember the correct term!) I use it for close grip tri's and heavy weight. Shoulders are also a huge component in the bench. If you are not doing straight bar free weight military presses seated, you should. Slow and steady, Scott

 

Go here: http://www.westside-barbell.com/ , read the articles and you'll be there in 6 weeks! 240 for 5 reps puts you right at 275 lbs for a one rep max. Pushing 275 to 315 is a cake walk as long as you stay consistent in your training. Best of luck to you.


Also check out articles by Dave Tate, Joe DeFranco, and Charles Poliquin. For nutrition to help you get strong look at Dr. John Berardi's stuff.

J

 

Here is an article I was looking or in my first post.

http://www.defrancostraining.com/articles/articles.htm

This lays out a westside workout really well. It's very basic for a westide program, but that's all you'll need at this point.

J

 

Same thing here. I get sore only every once in a while, no matter how hard I train.

RMX

 

Are you the type who pretty much has very little body fat on your legs and triceps compared to the rest of your body?

Studies have shown that those with low estrogen levels tend to be more severely affected by post-workout muscle soreness, estrogen would see to have a protective effect that lessens DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness).

So you might have low estrogen levels... if you legs and triceps are generally leaner than the rest of your body, it would tend to show that your estrogen levels are indeed low.

Soreness DOES NOT give you any indication of the effectiveness of a workout. Results do! Are you getting stronger, getting bigger (hypertrophy), getting in better shape, or generally feeling better? If your are generally attaining your workout goals, then continue doing what your doing. If not, change it up. Don't associate soreness with effectiveness. Soreness usually results from change in a workout (new workout, different reps/set numbers, higher weights), or a general lack of conditioning.

 

Soreness won't usually kick in until the next day. That is essentially where the no pain no gain slogan comes from. The inflammatory response to the torn muscle tissues as the body heals itself. (thats why you can train harder and more frequenly with steroids) If a body part is sore the day after I know I trained it well and probably hit it in a different way. Anything you can do to keep the muscle stimulated (adjusting your movements/varying weights and reps) will increase growth and strength. If you can train and grow without soreness, you will probably always look forward to the next workout! Maybe my estrogen levels aare high!! ;o) Just my 2 cents, Scott

 

Best of luck. I'm also going for a max bench (my deadline is November), except I'm aiming for 100lb db's on the flat bench. Right now I can do 1 set of 8 and another set of 5 with 90lb db's, so I'm not too far off. I should actually rephrase this. My goal is to complete 3 sets of 8 with 100lb db's, rather than a max press of 1 rep.