Bench Press Help

[TheCowboy]

I am 5'11" 260 lbs and I can only bench 135 lbs. I want to improve this. Some say do dips and I do, but I want to hear anyone's tips or strategy.

Thanks

 

[CowboyWay]

Start with bench pressing 135 till you can do it 10 times.

Then bench press 145 til you can do it 10 times.

Then bench press 155 til you can do it 10 times.

Step and repeat until you get up to 2000 lbs.

 

[WV Cowboy]

Just keep lifting, and every couple of weeks try to add a little more weight.

There are no shortcuts.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Start with bench pressing 135 till you can do it 10 times.

Then bench press 145 til you can do it 10 times.

Then bench press 155 til you can do it 10 times.

Step and repeat until you get up to 2000 lbs.

I would say, follow this except add until you can do three sets of 10 with no more than 2 minutes between each set. Don't bench press by yourself. Especially with weight at or over 80% of your max or any weight till exhaustion.

Also, I would do 5lbs increases rather than 10lbs increases. If you move up 5lbs and can still do 3 sets, add five more pounds.

I would do more than bench press too. You don't want to only work specific muscles. You will look odd once they start to grow and while other muscles do not. :laugh2:

EDIT: btw, if you can't do three sets of 10 at your current weight, then lower the weight until you can and start from there.

 

[joseephuss]

Do tricep exercises such as dips and do them on days you are not doing chest exercises.

Do dumbbell flys both flat and inclined.

Do some shoulder exercises to protect your rotator cuff. Heaving bench press workouts can put a strain on the rotator cuff. Also weak rotator cuffs can limit how much you bench.

 

[kapolani]

Not sure what your goal is.

Are you just trying to get stronger only on bench press?

I ask because - I'm going to put it bluntly - at 260lbs you are pretty weak. Not saying it's bad. Some people don't have to put up 400 lbs. That's why I'm asking you what your goal is. Generally, if you can do your body weight once, then you're not too bad off. So, you should at least be doing 260lbs.

If you are trying to work on all around fitness I would tackle the problem differently. If you are just trying to improve bench press I would approach it another way.

Basically you have to exchange some of that extra weight (if it's not muscle) to some useful muscle mass.

Benching takes natural strenght. That's a given. But, good technique can help tremedously.

I'm only 185lbs, but back when I was lifting hard (for work former military) I could bench 415lbs max. Rep 225lbs 20+ times. I've always been strong for me weight/size etc.

Pyramid workout. Start at a base weight and stack more weight till you reach your goal. Do it over time. Don't over train and hurt yourself.

Stick with core strength. Don't waste too much time on the synergistic exercises i.e. incline dumbell presses, yada yada, it's not rocket science. You get stronger by doing...

Good luck!

 

[Yeagermeister]

Steroids.....It worked for Bonds, McGuire, and Sosa.

 

[kapolani]

Steroids.....It worked for Bonds, McGuire, and Sosa.

They could afford the good stuff. HGH.

HGH actually changes your body type! Steroids on the other hand increase RBC's thus inflating muscles cells etc. You don't tend to keep the mass that steroid provides.

HGH on the other hand makes your melon grow bigger ala Barry Bonds...

 

[big dog cowboy]

I am 5'11" 260 lbs and I can only bench 135 lbs. I want to improve this. Some say do dips and I do, but I want to hear anyone's tips or strategy.

Thanks

Some great advice in here. Good luck!

 

[Cowboy Brian]

Lift.

 

[Yeagermeister]

They could afford the good stuff. HGH.

HGH actually changes your body type! Steroids on the other hand increase RBC's thus inflating muscles cells etc. You don't tend to keep the mass that steroid provides.

HGH on the other hand makes your melon grow bigger ala Barry Bonds...

and other things shrink :laugh2:

 

[kapolani]

and other things shrink :laugh2:

 

[basstapp]

If I were you I would get on a cardio plan and drop some weight. I am 6 ft and 245lbs and Im a rather muscular guy. I can put up 285 which is still not alot for my weight. If I were you I would do some drop sets. Start with 135lb bench that as many time till you cant do it anymore. Drop it down to 125lb bench that as man times as you can. Drop it to 115lbs and do the same repeat 3x. You can adjust the weight to whatever you want, but that builds some muscle staminia and I see huge gains in my stregnth when I do drop sets.

 

[Cowboy Brian]

If I were you I would get on a cardio plan and drop some weight. I am 6 ft and 245lbs and Im a rather muscular guy. I can put up 285 which is still not alot for my weight. If I were you I would do some drop sets. Start with 135lb bench that as many time till you cant do it anymore. Drop it down to 125lb bench that as man times as you can. Drop it to 115lbs and do the same repeat 3x. You can adjust the weight to whatever you want, but that builds some muscle staminia and I see huge gains in my stregnth when I do drop sets.

Honestly bulking up some muscle would help him lose weight in the long run, each pound of muscle gained results in an extra 70-75 calories burned a day by doing nothing.


What you should do if losing weight is one of your goals is work every muscle group, focus alot on the back/legs as they are big groups of muscles and therefor you will put on more muscle quicker, resulting in weight loss in the long run.

Gaining a pound of muscle a month would be a modest goal if you work hard and eat alot of protein(which at 260 lbs, im sure you do), that'd be 12 pounds of muscle a year, resulting in you burning when at rest around 800 calories more per day(around 80 pounds a year!). Do some cardio, but when trying to drop fat weight training is best friend.


(Edit: By dropping weight, I mean dropping fat. Obviously when you put on muscle your weight will go up lol, but fat will go down over time).

Plus best part of trying to drop weight this way is you can continue to enjoy food, as in a year you'll be burning alot more weight quicker without having to run on the treadmill endlessly.

 

[Hostile]

Power in the bench comes from triceps, pectorals, and deltoids a lot more than it does biceps. Those are your target muscle groups for bigger and better benches.

If you can do dips at your body weight you should be able to bench a lot more than you are. You could be using really bad technique. Dips are the best exercise ever and you can develop more muscle groups faster than any other single exercise for power and mass.

Herschel Walker never lifted weights. He did pushups, situps, and wind sprints for years and added distance running later.

For development of the areas you need to get your bench up I suggest chin ups, push ups, and dips as well as actual work on the bench. You also need some cardio to get oxygen moving in your blood stream. It helps you rebound faster from workouts.

What Kapaloni said in his posts is dead on. What is your goal? That matters more than people realize. Without goals in lifting you plateau. You have to push past the plateaus to reach peaks.

 

[YosemiteSam]

. Dips are the best exercise ever and you can develop more muscle groups faster than any other single exercise for power and mass.

I disagree. Squats are the single best exercise.

 

[TheKey]

I did a workout that added to my max pretty quickly. It's called the 5x5. Look it up online. Basically you do 5 sets of 5, with the same weight for each set.

P90x is a good one to get your body confused and adding muscle quickly. I put on 7 pounds in about three weeks.

 

[Duane]

When I needed help increasing my bench press I'd get my brother to help me do negatives.

 

[joseephuss]

I disagree. Squats are the single best exercise.

That or cleans.

 

[kapolani]

I disagree. Squats are the single best exercise.

I disagree.

Squats for your average joe gets more people hurt than any other exercise.

In BUDs all we did was pushups, dips, pullups, and ran our ***** off.

I don't even lift weights anymore. All I need is my pullup bar and some extra space.

When you do dips you hit way more muscles than squats.

But, it all boils down to what your goal is. You wouldn't do squats if you're trying to build upper body strength. Likewise, you wouldn't do dips to rehabilitate a knee injury either (wouldn't do squats then as well).

People think they have to get all exotic and do 50 million different exercises. You don't.

Do the exercise you're trying to get better/stronger at.

FWIW - pull ups separates the men from the boys. I'm not talking bout sissy marine chin-ups. Pull ups with thumbs in.