what do you bench?

[soserious]

http://media.putfile.com/BenchPress25

http://www.scotmendelson.net/video.html

looks like he has a little helping hand? (http://www.scotmendelson.net/video/Scot_1005.mpg)

crazy.
personally i couldnt do 1/4 of that.































yet.

[hugh g rection]

Not that much, that guy is a monster. 6'1 320? Jesus.

[Tmac 1 LeBron 23]

I don't do much just about 20kg a side :? so 40kg.

[Master Long]

He's so muscle bound, he probably has trouble reaching his zipper in the bathroom. I'd hate to be him.

[Tmac 1 LeBron 23]

:lol: :lol: Probably :lol: :lol:

['TheBugKahuna']

His friends is fucking abnormal looking.

[Shane_Bos]

40kg's is about my max. I do reps on 35kgs.

['TheBugKahuna']

250 lbs.

[soserious]

damn Kahuna you`re pretty damn strong.

['TheBugKahuna']

I have a decent amount of upper body strenght. I wouldn't say I am that strong though. My legs on the other hand... :x

[Bobo]

I don't really get it, what's so special about bench pressing? For some reason it's the universal unit for strength, the question is always "how much do You bench press"? Well, nothing wrong with that, only it doesn't tell much of a persons overall strength in my opinion. I have long arms, which makes things like bench pressing a bit harder for me (pure physics). Usually, the length from the tip to tip of the fingers when arms are spread to the sides ("wing span") should be close to ones body length, like I'm 183cm tall (six feet) so my "wing span" should be close to that, but for some reason my "wing span" is 195cm (6 feet 5 inches), I guess I'm close to my monkey ancestors... :lol: Anyway, one of my friends who's shorter than me always bench pressed more than I did, but every other move at the gym was my clear victory. All he ever did was train bench pressing while I trained my whole body, and he did bench press about 240 lbs but that was all he could do, the other muscles in his body were weak. His shoulders started to point forward because his front and back weren't in balance. Oh, sorry... what was the question? Oh... well, I haven't been to the gym since last may but I guess I'd bench press about 210 lbs now. Planning to start visiting the gym again, starting tomorrow.

[Valk]

I have long arms, which makes things like bench pressing a bit harder for me (pure physics). Usually, the length from the tip to tip of the fingers when arms are spread to the sides ("wing span") should be close to ones body length, like I'm 183cm tall (six feet) so my "wing span" should be close to that, but for some reason my "wing span" is 195cm (6 feet 5 inches)

All these excuses, excuses and excuses. :roll: :lol: :wink:

You're right though. Do you deadlift and squat?

[soserious]

well it was more of a rhetorical? question. it isnt an overall strength test no.
conversely my armspan is under my height.

[Bobo]

Haven't done those for ages, I'm a bit nervous about squating because of my operated knee (busted ligament), so I can't say how it'd go now. I've avoided deadlift too for the same reason even it's not as straining to the knees as squating. My legs aren't the strongest part in my body, and because of my marathon hobby I have more endurance than maximum strength in them. But, I'm quite heavily built for a marathon runner, I weight about 90kg (200lbs)... but I'll still have to avoid straining my kness with too heavy weights (excuses, excuses... :lol:)

[Bobo]

...my armspan is under my height.
Oh, yes... that's the word: armspan. "Wingspan"... where did that come from? :puke:

[Valk]

:wink:

I dont know if all these heavy compound exercises are healthy in the long run, but I love doing them (although I hate squats because I'm just an inflexible mofo with too long legs), especially Deadlifts.
I like the feeling of handling heavy weights.

[Bobo]

Be careful with them, because it's easy to get injured with heavy weights if You don't know what You're doing (not saying You wouldn't... just a general warning). I was lucky enough to get some personal assistance from one of the top finnish powerlifters in the late 80's when I first started going to the gym, he showed me all the tricks and techniques. I have never injured myself at the gym, but without his teachings I propably would.

[MagnumXL]

Its not how much you bench press its how strong your grip strength is. Lets see you crush an apple in your hand, then you can call yourself strong. Who cares how much metal you can push off your chest, theres too much cheating involved and it does not prove shit.

[soserious]

haha- i used to be able to crush apples in my grip- they would go from seemingly ok to just outright exploding.
sticky apple debris everywhere lol.

im too weak to do that now.
i think,,
*goes to try it*
*nope- cant do it*


the titrle question was more of an opener for the links, rather than an actual question. i didnt make that clear but its unimportant anyways.

[Valk]

Eat Zi Apple, Don Nut Crush Iit!

[soserious]

*washes apple,
starts to eat it*

[MagnumXL]

haha- i used to be able to crush apples in my grip- they would go from seemingly ok to just outright exploding.
sticky apple debris everywhere lol.

im too weak to do that now.
i think,,
*goes to try it*
*nope- cant do it*


the titrle question was more of an opener for the links, rather than an actual question. i didnt make that clear but its unimportant anyways.


DAYMM SS! I read a statistic somewhere that less than 3% of the worlds population will ever be able to do that. You are crazy strong dude.

[soserious]

haha, thanks man.
but i used to have an apple tree in my old yard- so many apples everyyear so i had them on tap so to speak, so i was always using them for stuff like that.
but what matters is current and i cant do it now :?

[Master Long]

The most I've ever benched is about 160 lbs. What's that in kg?

[soserious]

71.74kg

2.23 pounds to a kilogram

[Wylde Bill]

Well seeing as how I am just back to the gym I am not as strong as I once was. I currently bench three sets of 8 reps at 155lbs. I am quite sure I can bench much more then that but I have never been a bulk builder. I would guess though that I could probably bench 225.

[Tmac 1 LeBron 23]

:shock: 225! Shit your quite a bigman :mrgreen

[Wylde Bill]

I am not really that big. Not unless you include my stomach :lol: I have always been able to lift lots of weight though. I don't think I would take a chance on the 225 anytime soon though. I need to get the muscles back in order.

[MagnumXL]

225 is pretty strong.

[Wylde Bill]

I suppose... I never really thought much of it though. I might be guessing higher then I can... I am positive 200 would be no problem though.

[Tmac 1 LeBron 23]

:wink:

[Nosophorous]

230lbs

I'm 5'11" 145lbs too...
huzzah!

[Bobo]

I went to the gym today and after a good warmup I pushed 100kg up (220lbs) which was quite surprising because I haven't been to the gym for months and that's exactly what I could do when I quit last may. Well, I've done some pushups at home every now and then and I guess that's why I kept my strength. I could propably get a bit more than that up but I've had some shoulder problems in the past and don't want to rip the old wounds open. That 100kg went up quite easily to my surprise. I usually never test my max strength because of the injury risk.

[soserious]

the force is with you sir :mrgreen

[Master Long]

230lbs

I'm 5'11" 145lbs too...
huzzah!

Jesus Christ. I weigh forty more pounds and lift seventy pounds less. :(

How much do you leg press?

['TheBugKahuna']

How much do you leg press??
Forget that, how much do you squat?!?! AHH. :x

[hugh g rection]

How much do you leg press??
Forget that, how much do you squat?!?! AHH. :x


The sled maxes out at 1200 pounds, Ive done that 3 sets of 10. Max squat I can probably put up 450, last semester I was doing 300+ on my last two sets and could probably squat 500.

[soserious]

lol, you guys KILL me with strength.
if i tried to squat 500 id be a busted heap of muscle and shattered bones.

[BIGOKE]

I have a decent amount of upper body strenght. I wouldn't say I am that strong though. My legs on the other hand... :x

SNAP! :puke:

[BIGOKE]

I weigh about 86kg and a chicken has bigger calves than me. :cry:

[G-Spot19]

At my peak i benched 215 on sets. I maxed out, one lift, on 250. But that was back in my rugby days when i worked out alot. I need to start back though. I used to leg press, GENUINE knees to the chest then fully extend at about 1000 doing 4 sets of 5. My squat wast as good maxing at 270. I could not dream of matching those numbers today.

[soserious]

hmm, those are impressive G,
short arms are supposed to help bench press lifts- but wide shoulders help better than narrower shoulders. sometimes i wonder if just being small overall is a disadvantage to pressing and lifting- especially since my shoulder width is small in line with being smaller. as opposed to a 6ft guy.

[G-Spot19]

They werent very impressive when you play rugby. :lol:
Those guys were like oxen.

[The Big Banana]

At my peak i benched 215 on sets. I maxed out, one lift, on 250. But that was back in my rugby days when i worked out alot. I need to start back though. I used to leg press, GENUINE knees to the chest then fully extend at about 1000 doing 4 sets of 5. My squat wast as good maxing at 270. I could not dream of matching those numbers today.

How big were you back then, because your photos make it look like youd be lucky to be about 70kg nowadays?

[G-Spot19]

You aint kidding. I was 160 back then

[The Big Banana]

160 kilos or pounds?

[G-Spot19]

Pounds

[The Big Banana]

Pfft thats only 72kg anyway ya skinny little bastard, im nearly 100kgs... A few more kgs and I can start playing santa at shopping centres.

[G-Spot19]

I am skinny :lol: I hate it. I would love to be 180 pounds or more.

[The Big Banana]

You just need to learn the 5 food groups: doughnuts, chips, ice cream, chocolate and bacon... and dont forget plenty of beer to keep your fluids up.

[Tmac 1 LeBron 23]

TBB, he wants to be bulky not fat :lol:

[Valk]

hmm, those are impressive G,
short arms are supposed to help bench press lifts- but wide shoulders help better than narrower shoulders. sometimes i wonder if just being small overall is a disadvantage to pressing and lifting- especially since my shoulder width is small in line with being smaller. as opposed to a 6ft guy.

Being small isnt an disadvantage, its an ADVANTAGE!
The weight has to travel a shorter distance to complete a rep, the lever is smaller etc etc.

[Bobo]

I'm 6 feet tall and weight about 90kg (200lbs), which is alot for a marathon runner. I do have some muscle mass but I also have some annoying excess fat around my waist. I'm trying to loose some, slowly but surely.

[Valk]

How much did you weight around my age?

[Bobo]

Well, after my growth spurt at 16 I weight about 63kg (~140lbs) so I was very skinny. Then I started going to the gym and when I was about 25 years old (when I ran my first marathon) I weight about 74kg (~163lbs)... then some more gym and about 82kg seemed to be the standard at 28 y.o. Then some more gym and loads of food... and 90kg (~198lbs) it is now, including several kg:s of fat. :x

No, I haven't been visiting the gym for 16 years in a row or I should be a giant by now... on/off have my gym habits always been.

[Valk]

But do you eat like a bodybuilder? (or someone who's very fanatic about weighttraining)
Six meals a day, egs, protein powder, lots of meat etc etc?
It seems to me you are quite busy at work so you dont have enough time to eat more then 3 times aday.

[soserious]

being smaller isnt as popularly believed an advantage at all..

its like a child vs an adult- bigger bone structure and largr bodies generally (everything else being equal) produce more strength.

i think theres a lot of heresay myths regarding these things.

[Valk]

I think you compare a normal smaller guy with a big, tall powerlifter type of guy. But those people are rare. Most taller people are relatively thinner then normal people, so their bone strenght isnt bigger, its smaller because their bones are longer.
And the arguments about leverage and distance to travel is simple physics

[Bobo]

But do you eat like a bodybuilder? (or someone who's very fanatic about weighttraining)
Six meals a day, egs, protein powder, lots of meat etc etc?
It seems to me you are quite busy at work so you dont have enough time to eat more then 3 times aday.
Well, I'm so busy at work that too often I forget to eat a decent meal or I don't have time for it. But I do eat quite healthy and I take my supplements, and during my gym periods I do take enough protein supplements to get all the benefits possible from my workouts. I've always eaten a lot, partly because my metabolism was crazy up to the age of ~25. In the army where I was still quite skinny I ate twice the amount the big boys did, and I got some reputation because of it too. My metabolism was so fast that I could eat as much as I wanted and no fat gathered around my bones, but after the age of 25 my metabolism slowed down and now I must be careful not to eat too much, the damn fat has started to feel cozy in my body now. But, by running alot and by visiting the gym regularly I can still eat alot, only during the past 2-3 months I've been too lazy and a few kg:s of fat sneaked in.

[soserious]

no, im saying bigger versus smaller and everything lse remaining equal.

leverages are only a pound for pound thing.

[soserious]

what was your army experience like Bobo?
(if) i make it in im scared about commiting 4 and 1/4 years- but if i can deal with the lifestyle itll be better.

how might one imagine that lifestyle?
the regimented 24/7 way of life?

[Valk]

yes, but I dont see those kind of bigger guys very often. Those are rare.
Just admit it, your body type is much stronger then my body type, even though I am taller.

[soserious]

not really- take Kahuna for example,
hes a tall guy,hes not massive but is stronger than me.

im not strong. my shoulders are not wide enough and if my arms were longer itd actually allow me to be stronger.


btw your bench improved?

[Bobo]

being smaller isnt as popularly believed an advantage at all..
As Valk said, it's simple physics that makes it easier for a shorter guy to lift big weights than a tall guy. But that doesn't mean the shorter guy would be stronger, it only means shorter arms makes it possible for him to get up more than the taller guy can lift. If You take one tall guy and one short guy that have equally strong muscles, the shorter guy will get more iron up because his bones are shorter and the "lever" and distance are shorter. Difficult to explain, but that's the way it is.

[Valk]

If your arms were longer, and not thicker, then now, on an exercise like curls you would lift LESS then you are now, probably.

[soserious]

yesyes, ok lets talk `levers` the width of ones shoulders is very important for this `lever` theory.
the narrower the shoulders -the worse the `lebvers` of the arms are.
conversely the wider the shoulders the better the `levers` are.

so for a lot of strength itd be short arms + wide shoulder girdle.

most small guys have short arms + narrow shoulder girdle.

so a tall guy with wide shoulder girdle + similar arms is at advantage.

ovcourse a tall guy with narrow shoulders + long arms is at a disadvantage too.

its all relative.

[Valk]

btw your bench improved?

Yep, though still shit though.

I use only dumbells (barbell too dangerous on my own) and lift something like 32 kg. :( and I lift almost 6 months. :o

[Bobo]

what was your army experience like Bobo?
Good times and good friends, I did enjoy it. I was a MP and did my duty in a city environment so it was quite different compared to the guys in the forest and tents... It takes a certain type of man to enjoy that, and if You have a problem with authorities then it's not Your place at all. But if You're prepared to always do what You're ordered to do no matter how stupid the order is, then go for it. Take it as a form of exercising and You'll be ok.

[soserious]

If your arms were longer, and not thicker, then now, on an exercise like curls you would lift LESS then you are now, probably.


yes and no- its not just bone length, its where the muscles originate from and insert to- just 1cm eitherway can have a significant difference.
this aside we`re still talking relativity- pound for pound.
bt in real life 200lb bench is still a 200lb bench regardless of relativity.

[soserious]

Good times and good friends, I did enjoy it. I was a MP and did my duty in a city environment so it was quite different compared to the guys in the forest and tents... It takes a certain type of man to enjoy that, and if You have a problem with authorities then it's not Your place at all. But if You're prepared to always do what You're ordered to do no matter how stupid the order is, then go for it. Take it as a form of exercising and You'll be ok.

hmm, theres a military police station near here but its small.

as an exercise? hmm.

you know, when i was at college idve been great for army in that i was eager to please and do my damn best under orders.
but as ivegotten older im more, um, cynical and likely to question.
however, im genuinley unsure now if id be moody taking orders or if id just get on with them.

the 4 1/4 minimum year commitment feels like a prison sentence- especially since id be around 30 when i could leave at the earliest.

i shouldve done this about 3 years ago...
god what a timewaster!! :cry:

but on the other hand i dont want to be 30 and think "my life is STILL crap- at least at 24 i couldve DONE that military stuff.."

you know?
im scared to try it,
but im scared NOT to try it too.

oh, what to do..

[Bobo]

If my hands would be 10cm shorter than now but my muscles would be equally strong, I would bench more than I do now. For example, a friend of mine always benched ~20-30lbs more than I did and he was about 15 cm shorter than I am with shorter arms too... but when exercising on a "Pec Deck" where we could try out with similar "lever" length I was the stronger one. You're correct, SS, about the shoulder and chest width because a wider chest means longer muscles, but the differences between chest widths are much smaller than arm length differences.

[Bobo]

What army are You talking about, SS?

[soserious]

hmm, yeah. i just wanted to express that being shorter has disadvantages too.

hey, how are/were your chins and pullups compared?
i always wondered if longer arms were an advantage in that movement.

[Valk]

Ss, you are right about the attachment and origin of the muscles. I think it makes a big difference. Thats probably another reason why my strenght sucks so much.

[soserious]

What army are You talking about, SS?


oh- yeah the British army,
http://www.army.mod.uk/careers/index.html

i think id like to go ARMY AIR CORE, this is the link. (http://www.army.mod.uk/careers/combat/jd_aviation_groundcrew_spec.html)

[soserious]

Ss, you are right about the attachment and origin of the muscles. I think it makes a big difference. Thats probably another reason why my strenght sucks so much.

yeah- mostly one cant actually `see` those, it does suck though. im not particularly strong by any stretch, but i guess we do what we can with what we have.
that is all we can do.

[Bobo]

hey, how are/were your chins and pullups compared?
i always wondered if longer arms were an advantage in that movement.
Again, a disadvantage... longer movement, more energy needed. In the army I could do 28 chin ups in a row, but now I'm way too heavy for them and I'd be surprised if I would do ten. Haven't tried them for ages... In the army I also did 49 pushups in 30 seconds, now it's closer to 30. :x

[soserious]

damn!
28 chin ups! i struggle hard to get to 10. :shock:
and even 30 push ups in 30 seconds.. :shock:

Sir you are hard on yourself, those are kick ass, even now. :cool

[Bobo]

Well, I did score well in the army in every physical test ("excellent" in every category), now I'd be "only" average. :wink:

:x

[soserious]

lol, crazy.
so even after all the beatings your body took you still have kick ass effort!

hey, what could you run for 1.5 and 2 miles?

[Bobo]

lol, crazy.
so even after all the beatings your body took you still have kick ass effort!

hey, what could you run for 1.5 and 2 miles?
I never tested those, but in the army I ran 3200 meters (~2 miles) in the Cooper test... hey wait: that means I ran two miles in twelve minutes, so there's Your answer! Right now, with all my excess weight, I can run~2950-3000 meters in the Cooper test. Fat fuck, that's what I am. :x

Well, relatively I'm not doing too bad because now I'm 12 years older and 16kg:s heavier than back then.

[soserious]

i dunno man.. thats still fast.
much faster than "light small " me. i have a light small frame to carry around- but i cant move anywhere near that fast..
AND ive been training for it for like 2 months now :mrgreen

[Bobo]

Training is the key. Despite of my stress and exhaustion during the last year, I've run four marathons already in the last 11 months. You must develop good oxygen intake and train Your muscles to use it economically, and the only way to develop those is loads and loads of running. While training, speeed isn't important, it's the high mileage and loads of training hours that counts.

[soserious]

!
damn thats a hella lot of mileage!
:shock:

your like a machine.

ok, this is where i pick up some advice :mrgreen
so youre saying that longer distances = a faster time over a short distance?

[Bobo]

Well, when You're starting out Your running habits it's important to first build a good base, and that can only be built with long runs and slow enough speed. Why slow? Because that's the best way to develop Your veins and fat metabolism. When You have a good enough base health and Your body is used to the strain that running causes to Your joints, You can add intervals and other more speedy exercises to Your running schedule to improve Your short distance speed. First a good base, and only then speed and strength.

[G-Spot19]

Damn your fast and in some awesome shape. I would be dead to the world if i tried 2 miles in 12 minutes.

[BIGOKE]

Back to anaerobic activity. I find that even though I'm prob av height I suffer more from muscle fatigue, than muscle weakness. For some reason when I load up the weight my muscles seem to get exhausted very quickly. If I'm doing sets of 8 reps then by 5 I'm struggling in the 3rd set and the 4th set is only about 4 reps or so. But I've learned to live with it. Its happened right from when I first started back in the 80's. I've always gained even though I never really complete any of my target sets.

[Spike]

Have you tried using a bit less weight?

[Shane_Bos]

Its natural for muscles to tire. Like Spike said, use a bit less weight, maybe start on 12 reps and you'll end up on 8.

[Spike]

Or you could pyramid them. 10 reps @ light weight, 8 reps @ medium, 6 reps @heavy, 4 reps @ fucking heavy.

Also 4-6 reps is good if you're going for mass.

[Bobo]

When I started going to the gym, I added more weight too fast too soon. Then I was lucky enough to get some assistance from one of the top powerlifters in Finland in the 90's and he showed me how it's done. I had to drop the weights to about half of what I were using to get the full range of motion and technique to my training and *poof* I started getting stronger fast! It isn't easy to train with small weights when the friends are lifting 2x more, but when taking a closer look one realizes they're only doing half of the full range of motion the muscles could do. Use less weights and concentrate on the full range of the motion, controlled moves without the whole body swinging around... and You will gain strength fast. Less is more.

[G-Spot19]

Or you could pyramid them. 10 reps @ light weight, 8 reps @ medium, 6 reps @heavy, 4 reps @ fucking heavy.

Also 4-6 reps is good if you're going for mass.
Thats actually how our rugby coach had us training. It helps too. Alot. It was written in Men;s Health that its the best way to train to bulk up and increase strength. Also the order of exercises you do helps. Dont try to work a primary that you fatigued trying to work another.

['TheBugKahuna']

not really- take Kahuna for example,
hes a tall guy,hes not massive but is stronger than me.

im not strong. my shoulders are not wide enough and if my arms were longer itd actually allow me to be stronger.


btw your bench improved?

That is only in bench though, man. I have always had a decent amount of strength there, no large chest though. My shoulders are no where near the strenght that I would like to have:

Military press/behind the neck press: 75lbs 10 times; 95lbs 10 times; 115 lbs 7 times.

Squats: 125lbs 10 times; 145 lbs 10 times; 165lbs 10 times; 185lbs 10 times.

Bicep Curls: 65lbs 10 times; 75 lbs 10 times; 85lbs 10 times.

My last set is the only one that is to failure.

Also, I weigh approximately 180. I am 18 and my diet is improving somewhat. I have been eating like crazy; up until the hurricane hit.

I haven't worked out for a few days; the gym is closed.

[soserious]

gym closed huh, hmm.
How is it going over there?

['TheBugKahuna']

Alright. Staying up late, as usual. I'm hungry...is it bad to eat a protein bar before bed? -there is nothing else to eat, except eggs...which don't sound that bad.

[soserious]

its not too bad, so long as its not a huge bar lol.

[Baseballer8]

If it is a whey bar then eat the eggs since egg protein will take longer to digest and absorb.

[soserious]

I bench less than I did 9 months ago.
I decided last workout to do a few negatives- I just got under the bar and lowered it down to my chest- then I got out from under it (I made 2 wooden stand boxes so that I wouldn`t get trapped under it- that`s where the plates rest leaving me just enough room to climb out). Then I kinda deadlift the bar back to the rack- lay under and do it again. It was quite hard, but I think the negatives help. I eat very poorly though, I am trying to counter this.

[Valk]

I bench TP's granny.

[Thought Pro]

I bench TP's weight plus approx 30%.

[Valk]

I can bench TP who's sucking milk out of his mothers titties and gets his diapers changed by his granny.

[Thought Pro]

Is that all? :lol:

[Valk]

Well, dont forget all the liters of milk in your mothers titties and the enormous amount of poopoo in your diapers.

[soserious]

:x Moderate yourselves you damn ruffian children!! :x









































:lol: :lol: :lol: lmfao at you two Feckin eedjits! :lol:

[Thought Pro]

Valk is my workout bitch :D

[ownd]

285 3 times

[G-Spot19]

Used to bench 250 for 4 reps at the most. That was long ago when i was in shape. Now, i doubt i could do 150 one time. :(

[PepeLePew]

I have a real weak beach due to my lanky arms. Max I ever got was 265 for 2 reps but that was about 2 years ago when I weighed about 190-195lbs at 6'1" & when I was going to the gym everyday and trying to bulk up...I ate everything I could to gain weight...which was lots of bad crap and lots of sugar. I wasn't fat looking at all, I looked real big and was losing my cut up look and more looking bulked up, my shoulders were boulders...but I definately didn't have any abs and went to about a pant size 36. But looking back on it now it was a waste of time to try bulking up like that, I'm happy with my 173-180lb cut up look with abs now...tho I can only probably max at like 230-235lbs now bench, but I'm more of a dumbbell guy now.

I'd rather be the guy who has the ripped/cut up body lifting lower amounts of weight then the big bulky fat guy lifting massage weight & never looking any better.

[Baseballer8]

I personally rather be that guy who looks like he works out but isn't all that big, however when he gets under the bar he puts up massive weight. I weigh 190lb at ~12% BF (top four abs defined) right now and by the end of the year I want to pull a 500lb deadlift.

My bench is about 230 right now but that is only going up as I have been rocketing up in the weight room lately

[jason12]

I felt the same way until I started lifting heavy ass weight and got injured. Now I would rather look amazing and be moderately strong lol. Benching is a lift that you always see people getting hurt on. I would much rather have a huge squat than bench. I have seen people bench some big numbers but rarely see anyone squat some real weight. I get sick of watching people do horrible reps on bench and leg press and even squats. One thing I like about dead lifts is you can't really fake it. You can always do it wrong but there is no cheating on those.

I get offended when people think I am really strong because I take it like I don't look like I should be throwing up the weight I am. Recently I was deadlifting and had a few people come up to me asking if I was a powerlifter. Now I would have felt way better if they asked me if I was a bodybuilder or like a fitness model lol.

[Baseballer8]

Squats - people cheat with quarter or half squats calling that a rep
Bench - people cheat don't even touch the chest and call it a rep
Deadlift - try and cheat there goes your back. If its too much no spot is going to get it up, completely dependent on you.

A huge deadlift gets more respect from me than a huge bench.

[nunu1919]

I don't think you should come ALL the way down to your chest on the bench. People tend to cheat by bouncing it off the chest. On my reps I come down to about an inch from my chest. That way your muscles are always under tension, as opposed to coming to rest on your chest where you arms aren't at that point. That's just my personal preference though.

[PepeLePew]

A lot of people don't know how to perform squats correctly at all. I laugh in my head when I still see people put about 185-225lbs on the squat rack and they are skinny as hell...then perform about 1/4 way down with a spotter helping them the entire way. They are just hurting themselves.

Same for bench press. Tho I have to say BB8 that some people don't let it touch their chest to just mix things up abit...well that is if you met just barely not touching their chest, but if you mean hardly done at all I feel ya. Barely not touching chest, about 2-3 inches is pretty tough as well to hold, so it's still working chest pretty well. I can't stand when people put too much weight for them to be lifting and bouce each rep off their chest, arc their back (pretty much their whole back & ass come up in the air) trying to push the weight up. As well if they are using spotters who are doing about 80% of the work.

It's stupid, they just want to look cool to others with big weight on the bar, pathetic.

[nunu1919]

I agree Pepe although it's always good to get those last 2-3 force reps in where you do need the spotter to help you get them up.

[PepeLePew]

I don't think you should come ALL the way down to your chest on the bench. People tend to cheat by bouncing it off the chest. On my reps I come down to about an inch from my chest. That way your muscles are always under tension, as opposed to coming to rest on your chest where you arms aren't at that point. That's just my personal preference though.

Very true. I actually do a 2 seconds pause down before exploding the weight up with each rep. You won't be able to do as many reps but you'll be able to lift heavier weight in no time. I was try to hit atleast 8 good reps.

[nunu1919]

That's twice we posted at the same exact time lol

I switch it up sometimes. Sometimes I'll lower the bar slowly then explode up. Sometimes I come down fast, pause, and slowly lift the weight.

[PepeLePew]

Nasty ACL tear on Squats...really wide stance for so much weight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctAP-1eOJxk

Another
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8CIFmy4rVg


See...why would you care to be so fat looking and power lift like that...jesus look at all the spotters they need.

[PepeLePew]

That's twice we posted at the same exact time lol

.

You must be my long lost identical brother. :lol:


As for now tho my leg workouts of my favorite squats, lunges, and deadlifts are abit on hold due to me possibly blowing out my ACL again or another torn ligament in my knee...can't find out anything till I get a good job after school with some health insurance since I'm not under family plan anymore since I turned 23. Blew it out again playing basketball, same as 1st time...also blocking a guys shot from behind! argh! :(

[PepeLePew]

I agree Pepe although it's always good to get those last 2-3 force reps in where you do need the spotter to help you get them up.

I agree with that. I'm more bothered by those who have the spotters do around 80% of the work for 8-10 reps, lol.

[Steve Madden]

In my opinion the bench press is a misguided tool for testing one's strength. Overhead presses, the military press in particular, is a much better gauge.

Being strong is being safe. The only way to become strong is to move heavy weight. Heavy weights have never injured anyone. Poor form injures people.

Dead lifts are great for developing strength. The strength/mass ration on dead lifts is so sewed towards the former that it is an ideal drill for serious athletes (or anyone else) who could use additional strength but cannot afford/does not desire excessive mas gain. Dead lifts are also an excellent choice if you have questionable knees; all pulls have the advantage of going easy on and even improving battered knees. Dead lifts take huge toll on the CNS; this is an element of its strength developement property.

Squats are great if you want to squat a lot or are interested in large gains in the mass of your legs. Squat strength typically carries over to dead lift strength more than the latter carries over to the squat, but the strength/muscle ratio of squats is much less than with dead lifts. The primary reasons one should pursue the squat would be if it is a lift in their competition or if they are interested in developing massive legs.

Getting back to the bench press: it is in my opinion a somewhat silly, non-functional lift that is prone to causing overuse injuries of the shoulder even if done correctly. That isn't to say that BP'ing is inherently dangerous or that everyone who performs BP will injure their shoulder, but it is much more common than with the main overhead lifts.

The same thing applies to high volume pushups. The push up should be treated as a strength-developing exercise, ie sets should be limited to 3-5 reps. One arm, one arm/one leg, elevated; whatever it takes to get you in the 3-5 solid rep range. High volume push ups should only be used by boxers/fighters who need to be able to stay loose to snap punches back in a high lactic acid environment, or on the short term by those looking to gain mass (brief periods of sarcoplasmic hypertrophy can lead to increased strength/myofibril hypertrophy once the primary heavy weight/high volume regime is resumed).

Just my thoughts.

[Baseballer8]

What we have here is a conflict in ideologies, primarily the powerlifter vs the bodybuilder. The powerlifter is concerned with lifting lots of weight within the parameters of the competition. The body builder is concerned with hypertrophy.

Some examples on this thread

"Such a wide squat for that much weight"

Actually the people in the world who squat the most use an extra wide stance. It gives a stronger base and also minimizes the distance one has to travel from the 90 degree stop point to lockout. It also allows recruitment of the hips and glutes as opposed to focusing on the quads

"Arching the back is bad"

If you are a power lifter you are taught to drive from the feet through the back of the shoulders and to arch your back to add extra power to the lift. This is not ideal form if you are attempting to gain mass, but does help recruit a stronger base. Also power lifters will keep their elbows in and push from a lower point on their chest than a body builder. This allows for a shorter distance for the weight to travel and keeps the shoulders from bearing much of the weight. The motion is so unlike a normal bench that for the powerlifter it is almost more effective to train dips than normal benching for their competition bench. Granted your average person in the gym who does this doesn't know anything about powerlifting or proper form.

"The only way to get strong is by lifting heavy weights"

While this ideology is moderately true most powerlifters train with 40-50% of their max lift weight. Their focus is not so much muscle breakdown but total nerve recruitment. Their lift is relatively fast down, pause at the stop point for 1-2 seconds and explode up. This applied to the proper template will make you stronger than anyone in your gym, but over a year might only add 10-15lbs of muscle, even though your lifts have all gone up by over 100lbs

"why would you care to be so fat looking and power lift like that"

Those guys have a lot of extra body mass because they compete in the heavy (read unlimited) category. They carry around the extra weight because they don't want to sacrifice anything strength or muscle wise towards healing. Look at the worlds strongest man competitions and you will see there is a mix of heavies and lean people. At that level they could care less what they look like, but rather how it all performs.

[PepeLePew]

I realize all that BB8, they choose to be that way...but I just view it as a little dumb? But then again I guess I'm not in there situation & don't have the same thought process as them. I'm just not impressed by it all...and sure some probably aren't looking to impress people. I'm sure if I told a few powerlifters I do NPE, they may not understand it and think it's dumb, etc. whatever. I understand they want to get as big as possible, no matter how much fat that is to lift as much weight...but for me I wouldn't do it, lol...but hell I guess they got nothing better to do or would rather not take the more scultped look route...and hell they get paid for it.

Just not my tastes tho, but to each his own. I lift more for my health and how it makes me look. And of course for the ladies that are attracted to healthy, good looking, etc., etc. men. :twisted:

[Steve Madden]

"The only way to get strong is by lifting heavy weights"

While this ideology is moderately true most powerlifters train with 40-50% of their max lift weight. Their focus is not so much muscle breakdown but total nerve recruitment. Their lift is relatively fast down, pause at the stop point for 1-2 seconds and explode up. This applied to the proper template will make you stronger than anyone in your gym, but over a year might only add 10-15lbs of muscle, even though your lifts have all gone up by over 100lbs

It is true that many lifters often work in this range of their max, but what is an all out max lift for these guys? You can't tell me a "man" in the gym doing 5 lb triceps kickbacks is even approaching that conservative estimate for mean percentage of 1RM that many power lifters operate within. And every successful power lifter approaches his max at least some of the time.

As far as building muscle goes, again you should go heavy. The science of muscle building is "get a pump with a heavy weight". Doing 12 reps with a 20 lb dumbbell leads to protoplasmic hypertrophy; useless, inflated, cosmetic muscle that only lasts as long as the pump. Heavy, high volume (low rep, many sets) training triggers myofibril hypertrophy, or an actual thickening of the muscles fibers. Real muscle. So although pure strength training won't be the best if huge muscles are your goal, a guy interested in packing on some lean pounds still has no excuse to puss around with super-high rep schemes and purple plastic coated weights.

[jason12]

A lot of people I know don't train to failure and even have programs where they will only do a percentage of their normal lifts every few weeks. Going crazy heavy on all your lifts seems to be harmful for you cns and make strength gains very poor.

One thing about lifting is that you pretty much always have a chance of getting an injury, no matter how good your form is. It just goes with the sport. I am even tempted to say that you are almost guaranteed some kind of injuries as a bodybuilder/powerlifter.

Rest pause sets are amazing and I like to do them on some of my lifts. I also like to focus some what on the negative of the lift considering that it hits your muscles that much more during the negative portion. At a minimum I make sure to keep my lifts controlled and not just let the weight free fall on the way down.

I used to bench more like a powerlifter but it was only because it seemed to be the only way my shoulder would let me do flat bench. Even with squats my knees can't handle a close stance while doing a back squat. If I do front squats I can do a closer stance and really hit my quads but because I do not weigh that much, really heavy front squats took way too much out of me. Also some people do partial reps on squat or bench for a reason. You will see powerlifters using those wooden blocks for their bench or there are exercises like box squats. I personally love rack deadlifts and have found that they put way less of a load on your whole body and are a much better exercise to build the back for a bodybuilder. They would also probably serve a purpose to a powerlifter as well.

[PepeLePew]

Negatives are excellent! :hug:

[Steve Madden]

There's a world of difference between lifting heavy and going to failure. In one of my above posts I mentioned in passing almost always keeping your strength lifts in the 1-5 rep range. You'd have to be really close to your 1rm to go to failure on a 5 rep set, and in these cases you stop at rep 4, 3, or even 2; whatever it takes to have at least a drop still left in the tank.

Training to failure is most definitely rough on the CNS. It is also unproductive for building strength. The groove become rusty; failure begets more failure.

[jason12]

I wouldn't say that training to failure is bad for a bodybuilder at all. Look at the way dorian yates trained.

[Steve Madden]

Training to failure is productive for stimulating muscle growth, ie if you're only concern is triggering any kind of hypertrophy. My comments on avoiding failure were in reply to what appeared to me to be your association between training heavy and training to failure to the effect that training heavy=training to failure.

If all you want is a high-rep pump, then training high reps to failure is an effective approach. It's not going to do very much for your strength, though. Dorian was a strong guy, and if I'm not mistaken there was a large strength element in his training.

[Steve Madden]

Negatives are excellent! :hug:

Negatives are where you get most of your muscle growth. The nice thing about the dead lift (versus the squat say) is that you can half drop the bar to de-emphasize the negative and gear your work more towards strength if that's your goal.

[G-Spot19]

i think i am on the same side as Steve on this one. In my opinion, you dont want to train all the way to failure if you are looking to increase strength or endurance. You want the last rep to be a tough one, but not to the point you may injure yourself. Also, those who go to failure usually get those last few as cheat reps and risking injuring more parts of your body. Think of someone injuring their back swinging up huge weight on an arm curl trying to hit their failure point. I also think that many people do too few reps and dont push hard enough. There is a nice balance that has to be found.

[PepeLePew]

Can we move this thread to the Bodybuilding/Supplements section?

[Torpedo]

i think i am on the same side as Steve on this one. In my opinion, you dont want to train all the way to failure if you are looking to increase strength or endurance. You want the last rep to be a tough one, but not to the point you may injure yourself. Also, those who go to failure usually get those last few as cheat reps and risking injuring more parts of your body. Think of someone injuring their back swinging up huge weight on an arm curl trying to hit their failure point. I also think that many people do too few reps and dont push hard enough. There is a nice balance that has to be found.

Very true. I think that frequently going to total failure when doing pushups is what caused my shoulder injury awhile back.

[w3]

Nice CC action right here.
The thread started as how much you bench, and you are talking about training in depth!

But yeah, all to his own.
If someone wants size, do bodybuilding training.
If one wants strength, do it the powerlifter way.

Size will follow up on powerlifter way eventually too, but at a much slower rate.

And injuries are a bitch.. I used to get injured when doing martial arts a bit younger, and those fucked up the rhythm and routine.. Hard getting back up to speed when you've spent months just resting.
Right now the only injuries I have are from weight training, training too hard.
I guess I made old injuries come back..