Keith Wassung
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I have yet to meet a single lifter who did not want to add a few pounds to their bench. When you have been training for a period of years, you will eventually hit a plateau and its wise to have some tools in your arsenel to bust through them. If you are training consistently and in a progressive overload manner and have hit that plateau--what do you do? just train harder, add more sets, more food, more sleep? maybe---but if you are able to step back and analyze your workout, I am more than willing to bet that the majority of plateau's are due to one primary thing--a weakness someone in your lift--it might be a technical weakness, it might be a physical weakness, it might be a mental weakness or a combination of all of the above--but once you figure it out, you can attack it, make it a strong point, make some gains and soon you will be looking for a new weak point to hammer into oblivion. This is so often overlooked in strength training programs--in some sports, strengths can hide weaknesses--you play tennis, you have a weak backhand-but you make up for it with a strong forehand and serve--you get the idea.
If you can bench press 400lbs with the only exception being the lockout, you cant quite lockout 400lbs--you can only lockout 370--then you have a 370 bench and strengthening the bottom part of the move will not change that--you have to find and strengthen the weak link-over and over again.
Now, lots of ways to do this--but here is my favorite for improving a weakness that may be challenging you physically, technically and mentally.
Determine your weak point and be honest about it--lets say you stall at a spot about 5 inches off the chest ( common place to stall) what you are going to do--after your normal sets is to get in the power rack, and put a set of pins in the racks so that the bar is just across your chest--maybe even a bit tight--in the starting position and then put another set of pins at the 5 inch mark--(in a commerical gym you may have to bring your own pins--just get a set of pipe from a HW store for a couple of bucks) You are going to start in the bottom position of the bench and push the weight up and to the second pin--touch and then lower it under control with a momentary pause and then back up again for a total of 5 reps--keep everything tight and use good form--then on the 6th ( and final rep) you are going to push the weight up into the pin--and try to push the bar through the pin-AS HARD AS YOU PHYSICALLY CAN--for a total of 12 seconds. Keep your form, dont let the bar drift off the pins--if you can have a partner call out time increments to you and hurl insults--even better.
Use a weight FAR LESS then your normal bench weights-the weight is not that important--at least where you start--if you are at least a 200lb bench, then use 115-135 for a start. a 275-315 bencher 135-150 and so on.
This is brutal to say the least--do one set after your normal workout until your weak point becomes your strength and then adjust the pins to your new weakness. You have to push as hard as possible-its like an isometric--we have even put in wooden broomsticks and tried to break them by pushing through the wood.
Keeping the bar steady will also improve your technique in a very good way.
In most cases, weaknessess turn to strengths in about 6-8 sessions, kind of depends how often you bench
Remember -just one set--dont overdo it
keith
If you can bench press 400lbs with the only exception being the lockout, you cant quite lockout 400lbs--you can only lockout 370--then you have a 370 bench and strengthening the bottom part of the move will not change that--you have to find and strengthen the weak link-over and over again.
Now, lots of ways to do this--but here is my favorite for improving a weakness that may be challenging you physically, technically and mentally.
Determine your weak point and be honest about it--lets say you stall at a spot about 5 inches off the chest ( common place to stall) what you are going to do--after your normal sets is to get in the power rack, and put a set of pins in the racks so that the bar is just across your chest--maybe even a bit tight--in the starting position and then put another set of pins at the 5 inch mark--(in a commerical gym you may have to bring your own pins--just get a set of pipe from a HW store for a couple of bucks) You are going to start in the bottom position of the bench and push the weight up and to the second pin--touch and then lower it under control with a momentary pause and then back up again for a total of 5 reps--keep everything tight and use good form--then on the 6th ( and final rep) you are going to push the weight up into the pin--and try to push the bar through the pin-AS HARD AS YOU PHYSICALLY CAN--for a total of 12 seconds. Keep your form, dont let the bar drift off the pins--if you can have a partner call out time increments to you and hurl insults--even better.
Use a weight FAR LESS then your normal bench weights-the weight is not that important--at least where you start--if you are at least a 200lb bench, then use 115-135 for a start. a 275-315 bencher 135-150 and so on.
This is brutal to say the least--do one set after your normal workout until your weak point becomes your strength and then adjust the pins to your new weakness. You have to push as hard as possible-its like an isometric--we have even put in wooden broomsticks and tried to break them by pushing through the wood.
Keeping the bar steady will also improve your technique in a very good way.
In most cases, weaknessess turn to strengths in about 6-8 sessions, kind of depends how often you bench
Remember -just one set--dont overdo it
keith
