"Suitable" bench press goals and strategy for someone in their 50s

[tenpoundsleft]

53 yo, ~97kg (~215lbs), ~13%BF

Now that my arm tendonitis is finally on the mend, or gone, my trainer suggested that I should shoot for developing my flat bench this year. Last year I took my squat to 4 plates for 2 clean reps, the 3rd was ugly. Haven't practiced dead lifts much as my gym doesn't have a proper DL area - I've mostly done Romanians. Because of the previous tendonitis, my hands are somewhat weak, so I can't really DL more than 3 plates for reps without wraps.

I've steered away from any flat bench barbell work for several reasons - afraid of being under a heavy bar since I workout on my own, except when I'm with the PT - wrists haven't been too happy with a straight bar - DBs activate more "small" muscles - and finally, flat BP is notorious for f-ing up shoulders and pecs.

So, what should I set as my goal for 2017? My PT is talking in terms of 1RM, but I'm not a powerlifter, and I think I'd be more comfortable with a goal set in terms of what I can do at least 8 reps with.

Also, your thoughts in general on this area?

BTW, my arms, chest, and shoulders are lagging my legs - so it's a reasonable suggestion from my PT that I should focus more on upper body.

I'm also working on my shoulder flexibility - I want to do clean overhead squats this year - currently I've gotten my shoulders to function with overhead squats if I place my hands extremely wide. Will work on a more "normal" grip width as flexibility increases.

 

[Perrin Aybara]

275x8 seems reasonable to me.

 

[franchise24]

Set up in a squat rack. Position the safety bars slightly below chest level. If you fail you can roll the bar on the safety pins. Use wrist wraps until your wrists strengthen or for heavier sets.

As far as stress on the shoulders from flat BB bench. If you press with your shoulders flared you will stress them more than you should. If you press to close more emphasis on shoulders and triceps.

We discussed this in the powerlifting corner sticky. Here is the link. Meso Powerlifting Corner

If you tuck your elbows in °45 degrees on the way down you won't have any issues. Just work on proper bench technique. You will be pressing some good weight.

 

[Masters Power]

All good tips from @franchise24. I will add one that some others may disagree with but finding good form and easing pressure on your shoulders can be greatly aided using a false grip.

Definitely use a squat rack and set the pins just below chest level. I've only had the grip fail me once in about 6 years of using it and that was when I had a chest injury and had narrowed my grip and was concentrating more on the touch point on my chest than my grip.

The bar sits directly in line with the wrists on the false grip. If you lose it is will be forward below the chest which is what happened in my case. Bounced off the safeties. No harm done other than a warped bar.

 

[tenpoundsleft]

All good tips from @franchise24. I will add one that some others may disagree with but finding good form and easing pressure on your shoulders can be greatly aided using a false grip.

Definitely use a squat rack and set the pins just below chest level. I've only had the grip fail me once in about 6 years of using it and that was when I had a chest injury and had narrowed my grip and was concentrating more on the touch point on my chest than my grip.

The bar sits directly in line with the wrists on the false grip. If you lose it is will be forward below the chest which is what happened in my case. Bounced off the safeties. No harm done other than a warped bar.

Thanks, agree, I typically the false/suicide grip whenever applicable - it feels much better on the wrists. Also, I've read that gripping with a "normally" closed hand raises your blood pressure. I find that it also fatigues the forearms more.

Looks like I need to get my own squat rack or half cage or something - birthday in March....

 

[DonQKong]

275x8 seems reasonable to me.

With a good PWO, I would say 275x8 easily without synergising his receptors too much

 

[Perrin Aybara]

With a good PWO, I would say 275x8 easily without synergising his receptors too much

I don't know what that least part means, but no need for a PWO for 275x8.

 

[tenpoundsleft]

@Perrin Aybara - to improve ability to get past the sticking point, would you recommend working with bands or partial ROM (focused on just that area) or maybe a combo? or is there any other exercise that better helps improve performance in getting past that place about 5 inches above your chest where it gets stuck?

 

[Perrin Aybara]

@Perrin Aybara - to improve ability to get past the sticking point, would you recommend working with bands or partial ROM (focused on just that area) or maybe a combo? or is there any other exercise that better helps improve performance in getting past that place about 5 inches above your chest where it gets stuck?

I wouldn't just do a partial, but you can pause the weight just below your sticking point on the way up on each rep. Not as your main bench movement, but like as a secondary. 5x5 once a week is a good start. Bands or chains would be okay, too.

 

[tenpoundsleft]

I wouldn't just do a partial, but you can pause the weight just below your sticking point on the way up on each rep. Not as your main bench movement, but like as a secondary. 5x5 once a week is a good start. Bands or chains would be okay, too.

Thanks Perrin - I'm totally new to bench pressing - funny considering that so many guys seem to ONLY do that at the gym. My arm tendons just hated this in the past.

As you know from this post, I'm working with my PT to come up with a good program for the next 3-4 months, focused on BP. I'm obviously going to work on my back too - I love those bent over rows - so would you say that alternating BP and the back rows every other day is an OK work/volume load? For better or worse, I like to work to failure, is this counterproductive?

(I'm planning on going on a light tren cycle starting in February, so I should have slightly improved recovery, otherwise running plain TRT for at least the first 1 or 2 months. That's part of my "TRT+" test to see what my blood work looks like on a small tren dose, as well as how it feels in the gym and off.)

 

[Perrin Aybara]

Thanks Perrin - I'm totally new to bench pressing - funny considering that so many guys seem to ONLY do that at the gym. My arm tendons just hated this in the past.

As you know from this post, I'm working with my PT to come up with a good program for the next 3-4 months, focused on BP. I'm obviously going to work on my back too - I love those bent over rows - so would you say that alternating BP and the back rows every other day is an OK work/volume load? For better or worse, I like to work to failure, is this counterproductive?

(I'm planning on going on a light tren cycle starting in February, so I should have slightly improved recovery, otherwise running plain TRT for at least the first 1 or 2 months. That's part of my "TRT+" test to see what my blood work looks like on a small tren dose, as well as how it feels in the gym and off.)

So you're saying bench press one day, rows the next, then bench, then rows and so on? 3-4x a week frequency on each? That's totally fine. I wouldn't go to failure on that kind of frequency though, that's a recipe for injuries and overtraining. Going to failure is more suitable for lower frequency.

 

[Oregongearhead]

Are you talking about squats or bench press goals ? Im confused here ....can you bench press 250lbs for one rep ? How about 225 for one rep ? That should be your first goal .

 

[franchise24]

X2

 

[franchise24]

Thanks Perrin - I'm totally new to bench pressing - funny considering that so many guys seem to ONLY do that at the gym. My arm tendons just hated this in the past.

As you know from this post, I'm working with my PT to come up with a good program for the next 3-4 months, focused on BP. I'm obviously going to work on my back too - I love those bent over rows - so would you say that alternating BP and the back rows every other day is an OK work/volume load? For better or worse, I like to work to failure, is this counterproductive?

(I'm planning on going on a light tren cycle starting in February, so I should have slightly improved recovery, otherwise running plain TRT for at least the first 1 or 2 months. That's part of my "TRT+" test to see what my blood work looks like on a small tren dose, as well as how it feels in the gym and off.)

Here is a rule I use. For every pressing movement I do a pulling movement. Due to minor issues in my back this helps to keep my shoulders from rolling forward and out of alignment. I mentioned before. Stretching, internal external rotations will maintain shoulder health. Pull a parts shoulder dislocations. And you will be good. This does not guarantee that you won't get injured but it can minimize injury and if you train smart and listen to your body you minimize risk of injury even more.

 

[tenpoundsleft]

Are you talking about squats or bench press goals ? Im confused here ....can you bench press 250lbs for one rep ? How about 225 for one rep ? That should be your first goal .

Hi - this is just talking about BP. It came about since my trainer talks in terms of 1RM numbers, but I'm not really into 1RM anything, I prefer to keep the rep count higher, my idea is that reduces the chance of injury.

With that in mind, I was curious what you'd consider a worthy 10 rep number to gun for - given my stats. Not this month, but say by the middle of summer, i.e. with six months of focused training.

I've yet to try maxing my BP - I've only worked with DBs so far - I can do about 6 clean reps with the 100s on the flat bench.

 

[tenpoundsleft]

Here is a rule I use. For every pressing movement I do a pulling movement. Due to minor issues in my back this helps to keep my shoulders from rolling forward and out of alignment. I mentioned before. Stretching, internal external rotations will maintain shoulder health. Pull a parts shoulder dislocations. And you will be good. This does not guarantee that you won't get injured but it can minimize injury and if you train smart and listen to your body you minimize risk of injury even more.

That's exactly why I'm planning a 50/50 press/pull program.

Last couple of weeks I've done a lot of shoulder flexibility movements - as another goal of mine is to be able to do clean overhead squats this year. Progress has been amazingly quick - I can do overhead squats with a "sumo" grip on the bar now - so working on getting my hands to the point where I can do it with a finger on the outer rings.

 

[Oregongearhead]

Hi - this is just talking about BP. It came about since my trainer talks in terms of 1RM numbers, but I'm not really into 1RM anything, I prefer to keep the rep count higher, my idea is that reduces the chance of injury.

With that in mind, I was curious what you'd consider a worthy 10 rep number to gun for - given my stats. Not this month, but say by the middle of summer, i.e. with six months of focused training.

I've yet to try maxing my BP - I've only worked with DBs so far - I can do about 6 clean reps with the 100s on the flat bench.

Im still lost to what your goals are and what your limitations are ?

 

[tenpoundsleft]

Im still lost to what your goals are and what your limitations are ?

That's the question - what's a reasonable goal to shoot for?

I don't have any major injuries - there's the shoulder inflexibility that I'm working on, and the largely healed forearm tendonitis (sometimes still shows itself if I do heavy hammer curls, or heavy pronated grip work).

I'm disproportionately weak in BP since I haven't done this exercise in decades - so maybe I'll even get some noob gains here as I improve the muscle-mind connection.

What Perrin suggested early on - the 275x8 - sounds like a good goal.

 

[franchise24]

That's exactly why I'm planning a 50/50 press/pull program.

Last couple of weeks I've done a lot of shoulder flexibility movements - as another goal of mine is to be able to do clean overhead squats this year. Progress has been amazingly quick - I can do overhead squats with a "sumo" grip on the bar now - so working on getting my hands to the point where I can do it with a finger on the outer rings.

Nice. Keep us updated on your progress. Always nice to see the progression of ones training.

 

[Perrin Aybara]

Alternate your reps, too. Run through a few different reps and sets schemes. Like 3x10 one day, 5x5 the next, 6x3, whatever ranges you want within reason and keep things fresh. Generally like 15-30 reps total.

On that kind of frequency don't get any closer than one rep short of failure ever, try to keep most sets two reps short of failure. Failure and form breakdown on a high frequency basis will be hell on your elbows, forearms and shoulders.

If you can do 100's for 6 I'd guess you'll be repping 225 very quickly once you get used to the new movement. The strength is already there.

As it's already been mentioned stay on top of shoulder health with stretches and stuff. Watch a video on form if you need to or if your PT is knowledgeable have him show you.