Adding reps to a 60kg bench press for a test...

[Anthas]

So I have a firemans test in two months where my goal is to hit 15 reps with 60 kg bench press. I dont' think it should be to difficult.

I stalled at 3x5 with 75 kg while doing SS, just before I herniated a lumbar disk on january, 3 and a half months ago...

How should I go about this, keep uping my max or work more on my strenght resistance... And how does one go about that? Any good programs?

Thanks!

 

[Badger67]

Any specific rules to this bench test or is it any type?
Are you struggling with endurance during the 15 reps? I say test it out and see where you are. Will help us more if we understand how far off you are; 3 reps? 7 reps? etc.

Possibly having two bench days a week may be useful, one for strength and the other for reps, but guys like Tosa, ironwolf, selfcritical etc are better for a pure powerlifting background on this so their opinions will be better than mine.

 

[boingyman]

It depends on many factors including how much reps you can currently do with 60kg, your ROM and technique. I think badge's recommendation is reasonable. I also agree it depends on what they consider a rep and how strict they are with the rules.

I never specifically trained for high reps, although I would do them quite often in training for fun or to top off my bench day. We use to do 225 max reps for fun and I could beat my training partners that could bench 40-50 pounds more then me which I think was due to my efficient bench stroke (t-rex arms, index finger on line, retracted shoulderblades, fair arch) and better muscle endurance. l almost won a body weight for reps contest at a LA Fit Expo a while back, but another powerlifter (go figure) beat me by 1 rep. I could have won $3000 cash! I regret weighing myself in clothes as I could have easily dropped another 3-4 pounds, even a lot more if I intentionally cut water weight...

 

[Tosa]

Do you get bonus points for reps over 15? What are you benching right now?

The approach of just getting stronger would work, since if 60kg is a small enough percent of your max, doing it for 15 reps will be pretty manageable, even if you don't do a lot of high rep work. But, given the limited amount of prep time, some specific strength endurance work may be necessary to score as best as possible.

 

[selfcritical]

TLR do the 10s and 8s waves of the juggernaught method using the 6 day template for bench (with a heavy light and medium day, heavy day being the competitive movement with an AMRAP set, medium and light days being assistance movements with slightly lower volumes). The intensity range should preserve existing strength, while frequent rep PRs at lighter weights should build you up toward pushing through for maximum reps.

 

[selfcritical]

If you don't want a particular pre-existing program, you'd basically want your program to have
1) Lots of volume
2) limited rest periods
3) semi-frequent AMRAP sets (probably once per week)
4) Limited exercise variation with joint and angle specificity ( Floor press, board press, maybe board press= yes. Overhead press, dips, flys, etc should be lower priority and definitely shouldn't be high enough volume to interfere with the shitload of benching you'll be doing)
5) undulating volume or load throughout the week. Just doing for example three sets til failure on a bench variation for example would just result in you being fatigued AF by the actual test. You need a hard easy medium type of setup
6) most or all of the volume should be between 60-85 percent of 1rm.

 

[Anthas]

Thanks guys! I'll try my 5 rep max this week and see how I am , but expect it to be around 70 kg... No extra points, the 15 is the max they ask for (really, really low, considering the rest of their other physical tests demands) I'll apply your suggestions! Thank you very much!

 

[ironwolf]

How many can you do right now?

Sorry if I missed it, it's scotch time here.

 

[daken7]

Day 1. Max effort of 3-5 reps with a back off set of 15-20 reps. Using linear progression trying to add weight to the bar each week. Maybe start at 40-50kg for the back off set? Over 2 months the max effort set and the back off set should get you ready for your test.

Day 2. Someone else can hopefully help you there lol. Maybe 3-5x5 with a more moderate weight than day 1s max effort day.

 

[Anthas]

So I finally tried and was able to do 12 60kg reps, with a couple of pauses but within the 45 seconds time limit. A couple of days later I tried but was only able to do 10... Is that normal? I think it was because of how I warmed up that particular day, maybe too many reps at low weight?