Benching for great justice

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doomburrito

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When I started lifting two months ago, I jokingly bet my curl-monkey friend that if I could hit 225x1 by the end of March, he'd have to start incorporating squats and deadlifts into his routine. It was a longshot at the time (given that I was doing 105x5 or something). But now, about 3 weeks out, I'm at 180x4 as of today, and still making pretty consistent progress.

What should I be aiming to hit x5 in order to hit 225 as my 1rm? Any other last minute advice that might help me?

And yes, I realize this is a pretty specialized question about a dumb bet. But it's for the greater good of public squat awareness.
 
5RM ~ 85% of your 1RM. So about 190 to 195.
 
doomburrito said:
When I started lifting two months ago, I jokingly bet my curl-monkey friend that if I could hit 225x1 by the end of March, he'd have to start incorporating squats and deadlifts into his routine. It was a longshot at the time (given that I was doing 105x5 or something). But now, about 3 weeks out, I'm at 180x4 as of today, and still making pretty consistent progress.

What should I be aiming to hit x5 in order to hit 225 as my 1rm? Any other last minute advice that might help me?

And yes, I realize this is a pretty specialized question about a dumb bet. But it's for the greater good of public squat awareness.
Click to expand...

Start eating enormous amounts of food. The weight gain will help your strength and you could put on quite a few pounds by then.

Aside from x4 numbers, what is your 1RM?
 
hunto said:
Start eating enormous amounts of food. The weight gain will help your strength and you could put on quite a few pounds by then.

Aside from x4 numbers, what is your 1RM?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I don't have a spotter normally, so I stay away from bench 1rms. 180 is the highest I've lifted.
 
If your friend is not a technique nazi, incorporate massive leg drive (ass leaving bench) and heave the bar.
 
180x4 with 3 weeks to go. You're not going to make it.
 
Are you arching? If not, you could start using a huge arch. Some people say you won't get the benefit right away, but when I switched to arching, I got a good 10-15 pounds out of it, right away.
 
My opinion -- you need to start using a spotter or a power rack at least every other workout, going for heavier poundages including attempts at 225 and heavy singles at 205 or so.

You may be benching conservatively now because you're afraid of getting stuck under the bar.

Plus, if it gets to be "go" day and you've never attempted anything heavier than 180, you may get psyched out and fail at 225 even if you had the strength to do it.
 
flak said:
My opinion -- you need to start using a spotter or a power rack at least every other workout, going for heavier poundages including attempts at 225 and heavy singles at 205 or so.

You may be benching conservatively now because you're afraid of getting stuck under the bar.

Plus, if it gets to be "go" day and you've never attempted anything heavier than 180, you may get psyched out and fail at 225 even if you had the strength to do it.
Click to expand...

I agree. You need to feel what it is like to hold heavy weight. Get a spotter or use the power rack and feel what it is like to bench 205. You might even try loading the bar up with 225, lifting it off the bench and getting a feel for the massive weight difference. My 185x5 cooldown feels like a breeze in comparison to my 185x5 warmup, I attribute some of that to working heavier in between, you need 225 to feel natural. If your heart isn't in it you wont be able to get it up.
 
Old Man said:
Let's keep it clean, this is a lifting forum.
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"heart" is used in the sense of; being in the state of mind that believes you are actually able to lift the weight. If you aren't confident, you can't lift it. No reason to be a douche over semantics. Everyone knew what I meant. It's not like god is going to come down from heaven and lift the weights for you.

Edit: Sense of humor is broken today, maybe someone fill find this funny..............
 
joshetc said:
It's not like god is going to come down from heaven and lift the weights for you.
Click to expand...

He does for me all the time.

Yes, God came down from heaven and lifted those motherfuckin' weights.
 
If you don't have a spotter or a rack unrack 225 before ayn of your working sets hold it in locked out position for a while and then rerack. You might even go higher than 225.
 
Probably the best way to get your curl monkey friend to squat it to stick to lifting heavy and once your moving some big weight on squats and deadlifts shame him into a decent program.
 
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