Friendly Competition Between Buddies

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

3 of my friends are having a 1rep max bench competition on 4/20/09 and last night while they were talking about it I loved the idea and joined in. Now its 4 of us total, friendly wager of $35 a piece. I want to take this home. As you all know the money has little to do about it (although a nice Biotest shipment would be great)… for me its all about beating my pals.

Heres my situation as of today (1-18-09):

Height: 6’4
Weight: 216 lbs
Bench 1rp: 225lbs

The height and weight was just to give you an idea of my frame, I’d estimate my bf% at or around 15-16%. I dont have a shoe handy so I apologize for the aproximation.

The time period I have to work with is decent, just about 3 months exactly. As far as the conest goes the only rules we have in place are no illegal supplements and we defined a rep as assisted lift off… spotters hands come off the bar (if the spotter touches it at any time after that your dq’d), touch your chest and backup for a full lockout.

I currently employ more of a body building approach to the bench (widened grip, elbows have a flare). My plan is to adopt a power lift style, increase my caloric intake (no weight classes here so If I gain 15-20 pounds from now till then no big deal).

I am creating this thread because I’d like to ask you all what you would suggest for a workout. I also want to log the workouts I’m doing because I find when you put it on paper your just that much more motivated.

I currently do antagonistic pairings very similar to Thibs Beast Building Pt3. I have no issue with doing a very specialized chest workout. I want to bring all of my lifts up and that includes my bench. Dedicating the next 3 months to that end is exciting.

I WILL win this, and whats even better is that I’m even more motivated for my workouts. Thanks in advance for all the help guys.

2

[quote]plutusplutus wrote:

3 of my friends are having a 1rep max bench competition on 4/20/09 and last night while they were talking about it I loved the idea and joined in. Now its 4 of us total, friendly wager of $35 a piece. I want to take this home. As you all know the money has little to do about it (although a nice Biotest shipment would be great)… for me its all about beating my pals.

Heres my situation as of today (1-18-09):

Height: 6’4
Weight: 216 lbs
Bench 1rp: 225lbs

The height and weight was just to give you an idea of my frame, I’d estimate my bf% at or around 15-16%. I dont have a shoe handy so I apologize for the aproximation.

The time period I have to work with is decent, just about 3 months exactly.

As far as the conest goes the only rules we have in place are no illegal supplements and we defined a rep as assisted lift off… spotters hands come off the bar (if the spotter touches it at any time after that your dq’d), touch your chest and backup for a full lockout.

I currently employ more of a body building approach to the bench (widened grip, elbows have a flare). My plan is to adopt a power lift style, increase my caloric intake (no weight classes here so If I gain 15-20 pounds from now till then no big deal). I am creating this thread because I’d like to ask you all what you would suggest for a workout. I also want to log the workouts I’m doing because I find when you put it on paper your just that much more motivated.

I currently do antagonistic pairings very similar to Thibs Beast Building Pt3. I have no issue with doing a very specialized chest workout. I want to bring all of my lifts up and that includes my bench. Dedicating the next 3 months to that end is exciting.

I WILL win this, and whats even better is that I’m even more motivated for my workouts. Thanks in advance for all the help guys.[/quote]

Hm, I think you’d be better off posting this in strength sports since the majority of powerlifters post there.
Good luck in your competition.

(maybe the mods will move it)

3

Thanks, thats a great point. I post/most view primarily here and thats why I came back to the BB forum. Mods if you think it will fair better on the strength forum then so be it.

4

Hope these help.

5

I don’t have much in terms in advice, other than good luck. Cool to see a dude the same height as myself goin for a big bench though. Friendly competition is great though! Losing is not an option!

If you do, you’re out of the family :stuck_out_tongue:

6

Those are some great articles.

It would seem the concensus (if one is ever really reached in the world of strength and bodybuilding) is a workout consisting of a maximal effort day and a dynamic effort day spaced about 72 hours. The rest of the workout is at my own discretion but ive read some things about pulling on the same plane as the push that I want to advance I.e. barbell rows instead of pulldowns for backwork.

My school gym isn’t the greatest in the world (no chains etc…), but I’ll be able to make it work. If anyone has any sample workouts they desinged specificaly for upping their bench please share. I’m finalizing my workout plan for the next 12 weeks later on today and getting in for my Max effort day tonight. I’ll post my gameplan once I finish it up. It’s going to be Tate’s stuff nearly verbatim with small changes (because my gym doesn’t have chains and other things).

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Look up articles on here by Dave Tate. I think he has a series of articles specifically on bringing up your bench.

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[quote]chimera182 wrote:
Look up articles on here by Dave Tate. I think he has a series of articles specifically on bringing up your bench.[/quote]

Someone just posted them :slight_smile:

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Also look at this:

See if your lacking in anything will only take 2 days :slight_smile:

Rotator cuff training WILL help alot if you currently dont do it.

Also read this:

atlargenutrition.com/upyourbenchpress/
Up%20Your%20Bench%20Press%2030lbs%20in%2030%20days.pdf

And finally this:

http://www.halfsquare.net/shetler_111705.php

The key to it really is to take ONE program and stay on it for a while, there must be progression… and if you chop and change then you will end up nowhere.

Wish you the best of luck, i also HATE to lose ^^

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Lol are your buddies members of any forums and asking for advice? If not, you better win this damn thing! You have a plethora of info at your fingertips and a lot of advanced powerlifters and trainees to shoot questions at. Do T-Nation proud!

BTW are you guys all around the same strength?

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steroids.

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In terms of strength I’m only really worried about one of the guys. His bench is probably in the 250 range right now. My other competitor is around where I am, maybe 5-10 heavier and the last one is 10 pounds behind.

Why does the guy 10 pounds behind me not worry me when the guy 10 pounds ahead of me doesn’t really worry me either?? Exactly what waylander said… I just have access to so much. That being said knowing all the techniques in the world wont lift the weight for me I’m going to go do work. Live I stared at your avatar for 5 minutes, thanks.

I’ll post my workout tomorrow. Take it easy guys.

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Try hitting them.

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Gotta be honest, if you can only bench 225 pounds at your height and weight, a benching contest should be the last thing on your mind. To increase you bench in such a short time span by any decent amount will not happen without a high risk of injury. If you are doing it to push yourself in the gym to make more progress, then hats off to you. But it you are doing it to try to impress your buddies, then it is not worth it. It takes time to increase the bench without injury since it takes time for the joints and ligaments to strengthen also.

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Hey HD,

In my mind the reality is this is one more thing to push me. While I agree with you that it is unrealistic to presume I will go from 225 to 285 in the next three months… I am not strictly dealing with muscle growth here either (to your issue with joint and ligaments needing to strengthen).

The reality is I have always benched in a style that is supposed to “maximize pectoral development” whatever that means, and not neccesarily move the most weight. I am learning an entirely new style of pressing here. The conventional wisdom is that this pressing (elbows tucked not flared, coming from lower on the torso, no j-curve instead I will straight press, and the differences go on and on…) is a great deal more conducive to moving more weight.

I am not attempting to JUST build up muscle here for my pressing comp in three months, I’m training to press the most weight. While I agree a big part of that will be me in the gym upping the weight whenever possible… learning to press the weight most efficiently is also pivotal to my UPCOMING success.

Blah I need to sleep, My body is going to need it. Thanks for reading the thread. Keep coming back and keep telling me what you think.

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Oh and to attackofthechris (with the sweet Pat Bateman avatar), we’re all on the same Lacrosse team and our season is about to start. Hitting them is something I plan on doing every single day.

17

[quote]plutusplutus wrote:
Oh and to attackofthechris (with the sweet Pat Bateman avatar), we’re all on the same Lacrosse team and our season is about to start. Hitting them is something I plan on doing every single day. [/quote]

Lol well played

18

take superdrol and do a bench program

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[quote]plutusplutus wrote:
Oh and to attackofthechris (with the sweet Pat Bateman avatar), we’re all on the same Lacrosse team and our season is about to start. Hitting them is something I plan on doing every single day. [/quote]

Haha AWESOME.

20

Alright so I’ve begun a pretty classic westside template here. I’ve got so much to learn and their results really are unquestionable.

The general layout goes as follows:

Day 1: Dynamic Effort Bench Work
Day 2: Max Effort Deadlift/Squat
Day 3: Off
Day 4: Max Effort Bench Work
Day 5: Off
Day 6: Dynamic Effort Deadlift/Squat
Day 7: Off

I did my dynamic bench day yesterday:

Dynamic Bench- 8x3x135
RackLockouts- 3x3x215
Standing Barbell Military Press- 4x6x115
Bent Over BB Row- 4x6x150

Alright well I read over and over again about how people misunderstand the whole point of the dynamic bench and fail to appreciate this is a speed/explosive thing and not really a weight lifted excersize. I had to fight my urges to up the weight. I kept thinking;
“Man I’ve got three months and here I am doing 3 reps at a time of 135?? Come on lets get up in the 200’s”.

I stayed true to form and focused on being explosive and trying to build my bar speed. MY sticking point is about 4 inches off my chest and from what I’ve read that points to lack of bar speed. This dynamic day could be just what the doctor has ordered.

In regards to the rack lockouts. My weak point is much further down on my bench. It terms of the tricep portion of the press (in this racklockout I’m finishing the last 6" of the bench) I’m strong. I’m expecting to move a good bit of weight relative to my strength in this.

I couldn’t find alot regarding the volume and load parameters for the shoulders and back portion of the workout, in this case it was military press and bent over row. I chose a generic 4x6. If thats wrong YELL AT ME! I want to do it right.

Thanks a ton guys. Today is supposed to be Max low day but I’ve just had a teeth puled and got some gas. The doc said to take the night off so I’ll do some homework I suppose.