How to warm up before maxing?

[Whid]

I'm goin to be entering a bench press competition in March. Its at my university... i'm at around 199 right now and i'm able to do 315 for 8 good reps... its goin to be just touch and go... no bouncing... keep ass down and feet in place.. if i'm going for around a 395-405 bench, what should be my rep/warmup weights to get htere at the comp?? what would be a good buildup before i jump to the max? i was thinin like 225x8... 275x2... 335x1... and then go for it... how does that sound??

 

[Gavin Laird]

I'm goin to be entering a bench press competition in March. Its at my university... i'm at around 199 right now and i'm able to do 315 for 8 good reps... its goin to be just touch and go... no bouncing... keep ass down and feet in place.. if i'm going for around a 395-405 bench, what should be my rep/warmup weights to get htere at the comp?? what would be a good buildup before i jump to the max? i was thinin like 225x8... 275x2... 335x1... and then go for it... how does that sound??

I'll peg you down to a 365 - 385 bench (low projection based on what I assume to be a lack of experience handling max / near max weights...if you do a lot of 5's or thereabouts with 370 then your 405 might be OK but if you usually train 8's Id go for a lower number first to ensure safety).

With that in mind I'd take a few more attempts to get up to that projected 405, just in case.

Bar x 20
135 x 8
225 x 5
267 x 2
315 x 1
335 x 1
355 x 1
375 x 1

etc. Play by feel from there. Doing it that way if you CAN bench 405 then only the 375 will "feel" heavy at all...the rest of the warmups will be really easy singles and will not tire you for it, and if you CANT hit 405 you will def get at least 375 and you wont have any misses to mess with your head in between times.

Cheers,

Gav.

 

[AnimalMass]

Good advice Gavin.

Stick with singles almost entirely throughout the warmup phase, with the exception of the first couple sets.

Also, when is this meet? And how are you currently training for it?

If you have 4 weeks or so, we can most certainly get your bench up a bit between now and then.

AM

 

[Champ]

bench prep

Assuming you're not using a shirt......i think an important consideration is first finding your groove - or getting a good feel for the movement, as well as determining a consistent position on the bench. Alot of lifters can fail to find their groove when they are beginners. I would also recommend getting a slight amount of blood flow to your back, and warming up/stretching your rotator cuff muscles thoroughly. I think the comments the others had about the weight progression would be good from there.

OB

 

[AnimalMass]

Good thoughts Champ..and welcome to the board! Are you a competitive powerlifter?

Tell us about yourself in a seperate thread.

AM

 

[Whid]

the meet is march 3... its only about 3 weeks away... after the 315x8 i got 365x2 but i failed to say that... i appreciate the advice and any advice ya'll have to give... i'm still doing a bodybuilder training schedule... mainly repts between 6-10... but this past tuesday is when i did flat bench instead of incline and thats when i did the 315x8 and 365x2... so it was the first time i've done flat bench first in over 2 years...

 

[AnimalMass]

the meet is march 3... its only about 3 weeks away... after the 315x8 i got 365x2 but i failed to say that... i appreciate the advice and any advice ya'll have to give... i'm still doing a bodybuilder training schedule... mainly repts between 6-10... but this past tuesday is when i did flat bench instead of incline and thats when i did the 315x8 and 365x2... so it was the first time i've done flat bench first in over 2 years...

O holy crap - no flat bench or maxing in 2 years? Man, I wish I had about 8 weeks to put you through a strength training program.

That being said...here's what I'd do...

If the meet is 3 weeks from Saturday (which I assume it is), then I would do this...

This saturday: Do a flat bench press for a max. Concentrate on staying very tight on the bench with your shoulder blades pulled together and your lats flared. Don't really change anything else about your bench stroke, because it's too late.

Don't go nuts on the accessory stuff. Maybe do 3 sets of 5 for close grip. Then knock out some heavy military presses (maybe a 3rm.) Then go home. Eat like crazy and sleep.

Wednesday: Flat bench for some speed singles. Work up to something fairly heavy, but something that you can throw pretty fast (somewhere around 315) and do about 5 singles with it. Concentrate on all your warm up sets and your speed sets to really get comfortable with your form. Move that weight fast as hell.

Then do low incline for a max. (Don't worry, you won't overtrain - just drop the weight back down from the 315 you were doing to about 225, and hit 225x2, 275x1, 315x1, and go for a max. .) Trust me.

Next Saturday: Close-grip for a max. Military Press for a max.

Next Wednesday: Speed singles again. Again, get comfortable with the form you will use for the comp. This time work up after the speed singles to say, 365 or so for one. It should be fairly easy - don't kill yourself on these.

Low Incline for a max again.

The following Saturday: Flat Bench Max. Set a new PR here. You should be quite comforable with maxing at this point, and you won't be overtrained, but you'll feel like your are getting on the verge of it.

Then, the following Monday, (48 hours later), hit a few (4 or 5) really fast singles around 300.

Don't do a single thing in the gym past Wednesday. And don't do any chest, shoulder or tricep work past Monday.

Between Wednesday and Sat eat like crazy and rest.

Don't go nuts over the next several weeks on accessory work on any day. (even legs). Just go heavy and keep volume low. Do some heavy barbell rows on back day as your main exercise.

AM

 

[Whid]

damn AM.. i appreciate that but i just looked at the calender... its march 3... thats not the upcoming wednesday, but the next wednesday... so really its 12 days from today.. i wish i woulda known i was goin to do it earlier.. i wasnt going to becuase i'm going to be at the lower side of my weight class... but i recently found out that the winner of each weight class is determined not by the total weight, but the ratio of weight pound for pound... so i think i have an alright chance if i come in around 200 and can throw up around 385-400 especially since its mostly (not all) college students... i have triceps tomorrow and shoulders for the first time in a couple weeks... i'll do some heavy close grip and militarys... and my next chest day is next tuesday (8 days from the meet)... should i max out on tuesday? and just let that be it till the meet?

 

[Whid]

i just did chest... its wednesday.. the meet is next wednesday, 7 days from now... today i went strictly heavy... did 315x4... 345x2... and got 385 for one and almost a second time.. then did 2 negatives with 435...385 came fairly easy.. so i'll probably go for 390 for my first lift after the warmups... then i did heavy incline up to 275 for sets of 3... i have shoulders/tris on saturday .. i'll go low volume and heavy sets... any advice for hte next few days would be greatly appreciated...

 

[Whid]

bump

 

[Whid]

the meet was last wednesday... i got 5th overall and 3rd in my weight (180-198)... out of about 20-25 people overall... all ages... i was the only student to actually make top 5 and i'm a freshmen so that was good... i weighed in at 194.5... i got 385 for my first lift... then did 390 and got it too easy so i went for 405 and i didnt rest long enough..i barely missed the lift... i was pleased wtih double my weight... i wish i coulda trained for it and even used a shirt since the top 3 guys did use a shirt... oh well.. it was fun...