Big Bench Small Bench

Ive been lifting for about 2 years starting my sophomore year. Im 16 and bench 305. My cousin wich is in the same school as me is a sophomore this year im a junior. We work out together usually and on bench days its so hard just cuz hes so far behind. His one rep max is 220 and he seems not to get any gains. It takes him about 2 months to get 5 pounds i dont know maybe thats normal. What can i do with him to get his gains up. Any bench exercises i might not be doing? Thanks

Tell us what your upper back work looks like. Also, what are your parameters (sets/reps) when you bench, and how often do you vary them?

Bear

i usually get my bench up by performing pre-exhuasting sets to my chest. ill go in and do everything as normal. i can bench 355 for a 1rm. so usually when im done i will strip it down to 225. then i will go get a pair of heavy dumbells. sadly my gym only goes up to 90lb.s so i use those. then i go back to the bench. i perform 6 reps with the dumbells drop them and go straight to the bar. i give it about 3-4 reps and i usually will need a spotter because you shouldnt be able to do much. if you can the weight on the bar is not enough. the entire point is to find a weight to where you cant push out more than 3 reps. this technique has gotten my bench stronger. i dont perform it often. about twice a month.

My Upper Back exercises are Back Flys, dumbell rows, lat pull down, seated row, shrugs, highpulls, shoulder press, side lat raises, push press, hang clean, bent over row all these usually consist of 3 sets and 8-10 reps. My bench day consists of
Bench Press- Pyramid starting at 195
Incline dumbell- 3 sets 200
Decline Bench- 3 sets 225
Dumbell Flys- 3 sets 45
Dumbell bench- pyramid starting at 75 goign to 90

I recommend Poliquin’s 1-6 method for you. Also, some people are not built to perform well on some lifts. Bench is not the only lift you can push heavy weights.

Without knowing anything about either one of you, I would say his eating could/probably is a big factor. You have to eat big if you want to lift big.

Be easy on him though, you guys are benching a lot of weight, not just for your age, but all together.

Without insulting you, are you sure that your form is good? Maybe he’s staying a bit tighter during his lift than you are.

[quote]GathCity wrote:
Without knowing anything about either one of you, I would say his eating could/probably is a big factor. You have to eat big if you want to lift big.

Be easy on him though, you guys are benching a lot of weight, not just for your age, but all together.

Without insulting you, are you sure that your form is good? Maybe he’s staying a bit tighter during his lift than you are. [/quote]

True. Maybe you are built better for bench press as well. What does his back work look like? If you do all of those exercises you listed each week, you’ve probably got a decent balance between push/pull. Maybe he doesn’t. If his back work sucks, then that’s something to focus on.

Also, I’ve found that push press, push jerk, OH squats (that’s for you Dan John), and OH dumbell pressing work with a full range of motion help me a lot with the bottom portion of the bench. Maybe try to get some low end work in with very pronounced ROM overhead pressing.