Hi guys, I’ll go right to the question. Those of you who bench 405 pounds ( 180 kg ). How do you warm up for it ? I know there are some articles on here, but I wanted a discussion. Thanks in advance.
45 x 12
135 x 8
225 x 5
275 x 3
315 x 2
345 x 1
375 x 1
405 x 1
when lifting raw, I have 2 boarded 425 for 2 and 395 paused off the chest so that’s close enough. If not, fuck you lol
Seriously tho, I did the old band pull apart thing, then start with the bar for sets of 5, when that started to even get heavy drop to 3’s. Last set of 3 was 335-ish. then bang singles till I maxed. Usually only jumping 25 or so pound each set.
I have also been known to warm up using reverse bands benches. I’d jump plate and quarter each set till I was upwards of 455. then drop to straight weight and bang singles. This was a great Jedi mind trick.
hope this helps.
Ive changed it recently, but thats kinda program related. Im taking some PT classes, so I have an hour of body toning and circuit training before I get to my strength work, so lately its been a ton of singles. Might look like this:
Bar x 15
135x10-15
185x5-10
205x3
225x3
245x1
275x1
295x1
315x1
335x1
355x1
375x1
395x1
405x1
Something like that… 395 might be too much for a work up set but you get the idea. It might look like a lot, but its only 5 total reps at/over my 10RM so its not super taxing. More like weight acclimation than an actual warmup. Before I did this it would have looked a lot more like BlueCollarTr8n’s post.
Edit: I guess you are looking for more depth rather than just weights haha. I almost always do some rotator/shoulder stuff in between warmup sets, and try to get a small bicep and lat pump. Was gonna look for a video on what I do for rotators, but pretty much grab some light weights or light bands and move around. Im not positive its super helpful, but Ive never had any shoulder problems, something that may be rare for 400+ benchers.
If you are going for 405lb/185kg at a contest I think the warmup should be no greater than 5 reps and no RPE above 7. Might look something like this:
20 x5
60 x5
90 x4
115 x3
135 x2
150 x1
160 x1
*OPENER: 170
*second: 180
*third: 185
That is my approach (all in KG). The attempts could maybe go 165-175-185 but I personally find that for bench I can’t really estimate what my max will accurately be until i get to at least 95% so from 175 I would have a tough time guessing if I should call anywhere from 182.5 to 190.
In training this has been a very common warmup for me lately (doing many heavy singles each week):
100 x5
115 x5
130 x5
145 x4
160 x3
170 x2
180 x1
185 x1
All in kg.
This is not productive for setting PRs but I like getting in some volume on the way up in training.
At a mini meet I just did Sunday I did:
135x4
185x2
225x2
275x1
315x1
345x1
Opener: 380
2nd: 400
Passed on 3rd because this was a tune up for a meet 3 weeks away.
I just don’t see the need for much warming up after I’ve squatted, because I’m already pretty much warm at that point.
50% x3 60%x3 70%x1 80%x1 90%x1 100%x1
205x3
245x3
285x1
325x1
365x1
405x1