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Beginners program

Well it is bad in my opinion. I'm not doing strength training for competition or anything like that but having a weak bench press = having a weak upper body and in my case this certainly holds true. How can I look decent/strong if I cant even bench 100kgs?

My OHP is also really weak. I'm doing reps at 45kg's (unable to complete the full 3x8), so my max is probably under 60kg. OHP progression is even slower than the bench but that's to be expected.

My technique could be part of the problem, but I have analysed it many times and there is nothing obvious.

There are guys at my gym that couldn't squat 90kgs but are benching 120kgs with form that looks worse than mine :(
And yes they look much fitter/stronger than I do.
 
Well it is bad in my opinion. I'm not doing strength training for competition or anything like that but having a weak bench press = having a weak upper body and in my case this certainly holds true. How can I look decent/strong if I cant even bench 100kgs?

My OHP is also really weak. I'm doing reps at 45kg's (unable to complete the full 3x8), so my max is probably under 60kg. OHP progression is even slower than the bench but that's to be expected.

My technique could be part of the problem, but I have analysed it many times and there is nothing obvious.

There are guys at my gym that couldn't squat 90kgs but are benching 120kgs with form that looks worse than mine :(
And yes they look much fitter/stronger than I do.
 
You can't analyse your own technique, that's why we have coaches and trainers. You're in the middle of a big effort, you're too busy trying to get the fucking weight up there to notice little details. As well, it's you, and nobody looks at themselves objectively.

Lastly, your technique may or may not be "wrong", but it may reveal weaknesses, weaknesses which are holding back your bench.

So get someone else to look at your technique.

With or without that, remember that rep ranges are merely guidelines. They're not engraved in stone. The important thing is always to do more than you did before, more weight or more reps or more sets.

An easy way to go for this is "debt reps" - whatever was your target reps, whatever you're short, do that many reps afterwards, and then the same again - however many sets it takes. For example, if you were meant to do 3x8 and got 8,7,5 then you are 4 reps short, so you owe 8. You do 8,7,5...4,2,2.
 
You can't analyse your own technique, that's why we have coaches and trainers. You're in the middle of a big effort, you're too busy trying to get the fucking weight up there to notice little details. As well, it's you, and nobody looks at themselves objectively.

Lastly, your technique may or may not be "wrong", but it may reveal weaknesses, weaknesses which are holding back your bench.

So get someone else to look at your technique.

With or without that, remember that rep ranges are merely guidelines. They're not engraved in stone. The important thing is always to do more than you did before, more weight or more reps or more sets.

An easy way to go for this is "debt reps" - whatever was your target reps, whatever you're short, do that many reps afterwards, and then the same again - however many sets it takes. For example, if you were meant to do 3x8 and got 8,7,5 then you are 4 reps short, so you owe 8. You do 8,7,5...4,2,2.
 
Yeah that's true, I guess there must be something specific holding me back. I think it might be the supporting muscles more than my chest. Also my shoulders are pretty weak. Then again my chest is where I feel the burn/pain when I'm about to do my last rep so I dunno.

I go to fitness first (don't laugh) so I'm not so confident about the quality of the trainers there considering some of the bad technique they don't correct with their clients.
 
Yeah that's true, I guess there must be something specific holding me back. I think it might be the supporting muscles more than my chest. Also my shoulders are pretty weak. Then again my chest is where I feel the burn/pain when I'm about to do my last rep so I dunno.

I go to fitness first (don't laugh) so I'm not so confident about the quality of the trainers there considering some of the bad technique they don't correct with their clients.
 
There's far more to bench than your chest, shoulders and tri's
Lats, "core"/abdominal muscles and even legs have a big part to play
"Neglect one to the detriment of the others"
 
There's far more to bench than your chest, shoulders and tri's
Lats, "core"/abdominal muscles and even legs have a big part to play
"Neglect one to the detriment of the others"
 
Mzanin said:
Yeah that's true, I guess there must be something specific holding me back. I think it might be the supporting muscles more than my chest. Also my shoulders are pretty weak. Then again my chest is where I feel the burn/pain when I'm about to do my last rep so I dunno.

I go to fitness first (don't laugh) so I'm not so confident about the quality of the trainers there considering some of the bad technique they don't correct with their clients.
Click to expand...
No one can blame you for not trusting the trainers at FF.

Have you tried resetting the weight on your bench press to a weight you CAN do for 3x8, and working back up? It's probably a better path than the 1.5hr chest workout you listed on the previous page, which, frankly, sounds like something I'd expect from a trainer at FF.
 
Mzanin said:
Yeah that's true, I guess there must be something specific holding me back. I think it might be the supporting muscles more than my chest. Also my shoulders are pretty weak. Then again my chest is where I feel the burn/pain when I'm about to do my last rep so I dunno.

I go to fitness first (don't laugh) so I'm not so confident about the quality of the trainers there considering some of the bad technique they don't correct with their clients.
Click to expand...
No one can blame you for not trusting the trainers at FF.

Have you tried resetting the weight on your bench press to a weight you CAN do for 3x8, and working back up? It's probably a better path than the 1.5hr chest workout you listed on the previous page, which, frankly, sounds like something I'd expect from a trainer at FF.
 
No I haven't tried resetting/deloading the weight yet, as nothing about that is mentioned in the beginners program. I might try resetting back to 60kg's. The thing is 60kg's is easy but just adding 5-10kgs makes it so much harder? Strange that so little weight difference can make it that much more difficult.

Would it be worth using dumbells instead for a while? I can do about 35kgs in each hand, which I find strange considering how much I bench.

In regards to my lats/core/legs... I barbell row about 10kgs more than I bench and I can do 10 pullups, so I don't think it's my lats that are holding me back.
 
No I haven't tried resetting/deloading the weight yet, as nothing about that is mentioned in the beginners program. I might try resetting back to 60kg's. The thing is 60kg's is easy but just adding 5-10kgs makes it so much harder? Strange that so little weight difference can make it that much more difficult.

Would it be worth using dumbells instead for a while? I can do about 35kgs in each hand, which I find strange considering how much I bench.

In regards to my lats/core/legs... I barbell row about 10kgs more than I bench and I can do 10 pullups, so I don't think it's my lats that are holding me back.
 
Well my abs are pretty weak I guess since I never do abdominal work (how to measure ab strength?), but then again my squat max is 140kg's so my core/legs can't be that weak.

I do my weight increases by 2.5kg's.
 
Well my abs are pretty weak I guess since I never do abdominal work (how to measure ab strength?), but then again my squat max is 140kg's so my core/legs can't be that weak.

I do my weight increases by 2.5kg's.
 
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