Anybody have a good 2 month program to increase amount of total reps one can bench press his bodyweight?
[quote]dad4 wrote:
Anybody have a good 2 month program to increase amount of total reps one can bench press his bodyweight?
[/quote]
DeFranco has a lot of stuff about training for the combine, with 225 rep test. That should be helpful.
I’d try four things:
-Make sure your form is together, you stay tight, keep your elbows tucked etc. Also find out where you are weakest.
-Work on your maximum strength (1rm)
-Work on repping with a less weight I.e. 135
-Speed work.
If you know anything about westside, try doing one day where you do an exercise that will help bring up your maximum strenth.
Then do another day with a focus on speed.
Do the rep work either as a second exercise or rotate it with the speed work.
My training partner was a quite good at reps (225x40 something if I remember correctly) and he had a routine that he really liked. He would pick four weights and rep out one of them each week. For him the weights were 225, 275, 315, 365. So he would complete that routine in a month, you could do it twice in 2 months. Then once he did that routine, finishing with 365 on week 4, he would go back to 225 and test on it. Always seemed to give him another 3 reps or so.
Some of the advice would depend on where you are now (for example if you are shooting for 5 reps vs 30 reps the advice would be different). So what can you do now approximately and how many are you hoping for?
[quote]Tim Henriques wrote:
My training partner was a quite good at reps (225x40 something if I remember correctly) and he had a routine that he really liked. He would pick four weights and rep out one of them each week. For him the weights were 225, 275, 315, 365. So he would complete that routine in a month, you could do it twice in 2 months. Then once he did that routine, finishing with 365 on week 4, he would go back to 225 and test on it. Always seemed to give him another 3 reps or so.
Tim,
This would be an endurance event. I can do about 20, looking to shoot for 30.
I train predominately in the 3-8 rep range, with 10-12 being high reps for me.
Should I a)add approximately 5% to the weight and train with that. b)do 3 sets of 10 or 2 sets of 15 and gradually decrease rest between sets until I reach my goal.c)do this once per week and train heavy once per week.
d)add ancillary movements to help attain my goal.
e)or none of the above!
Some of the advice would depend on where you are now (for example if you are shooting for 5 reps vs 30 reps the advice would be different). So what can you do now approximately and how many are you hoping for?[/quote]
[quote]dad4 wrote:
Tim,
This would be an endurance event. I can do about 20, looking to shoot for 30.
I train predominately in the 3-8 rep range, with 10-12 being high reps for me.
Should I a)add approximately 5% to the weight and train with that. b)do 3 sets of 10 or 2 sets of 15 and gradually decrease rest between sets until I reach my goal.c)do this once per week and train heavy once per week.
d)add ancillary movements to help attain my goal.
e)or none of the above!
[/quote]
Well, what you might try is doing what I suggested above but modified for your weight. From your picture I am going to say you are 185 lbs in weight. So for you your working weight might be this:
week 1 - 185
week 2 - 215
week 3 - 245
week 4 - 275
You would rep out each weight for as many as you can until positive failure. Your reps might go something like 20, 14, 8, 4. After that exercise do auxiliary work, 2-3 exercises for chest, etc whatever has been working for you in the past. You might do one week heavy and one week reps. Since your training has been low reps I would do some higher rep stuff so you get more used to it but keep some low rep stuff to keep/improve your strength. As another poster noted work on form, the more efficient you are the better you will be. I don’t know if you allow yourself to rest (with your arms straight) in the middle of the set but if you can a well timed rest (usually before you get completely tired but not early enough to ruin your groove) can add several more reps to your total. For example you might do 15, rest, 3, rest, 3, rest, 2, rest 1, rest 1, fail. You can experiment around and see how you feel. Good luck with it.