Anyone interested in a group fitness challenge?

[Vutulaki]

Yep and those gym bros dedicate themeselves to benching, bench or bench variant 4 x per week for years

[Anastasios]

So its been a while since I checked my 1rm, but I checked it today and I increase it by 12%, which is supposed to be near impossible for seasoned lifters. Got 263.8 lbs, and actually my muscles were not even the limiting factor, if my bicep wasnt sore af I know I could have done more, possibly 10 lbs more which would be gains so good it would be truly sickening. When the weight was at the bottom my bicep felt crunched, my delt felt crunched, and my wrist felt crunched, but my muscles just kinda felt like they were working through a moderately hard set. Truly I am thankful for this gift of gains, but now I must rest. I will try to get to a sauna this weekend and eat some pho.

Great job mate. I trained for over 10 years to get to 120kg bench press.

Do you do bicep work? I find that bench press hurts biceps when I don't train biceps.

Thanks bro. I never train biceps, because I find all bicep workouts are either boring or cause tendonitis real fast. Though if it will help my bench I might start incorporating some stuff.

Try something like concentration curls at higher reps. Stuff like heavy barbell curls or swinging standing DB curls will just worsen tendonitis obviously. But you have to work the muscle so it stays in shape, otherwise it won't keep up with the demands of heavy bench pressing.

[Anastasios]

My bench is ridiculous. 70kg x5
140kg x5 squat
150kgx5 deadlift
OH Press 55x5

I wonder what's wrong with it. I'm reasonably strong.

Long arms and same technique level as I had when we trained together in 2010. Check my latest bench vids for technique, even better find Niklas Lindroth, I developed my technique trying to emulate his at the gym, although we are too different in proportions to emulate, I kept what worked and tweaked what needed change. Bench press is a very technical lift.

[Vutulaki]

Have a watch of those I havent seen the last one and have some work to do now but elite are legit so I doubt its a waste of time the first two are good

Another thing I did last week was benched with my feet off the ground to see if it made much or any at all difference to my bench. It was minimal if anything which based on the powers of deduction means Im probably not using leg drive correctly. Ive been at bench for years now and have tried to use leg drive correctly for most of that time and still not doing it with much if any effectiveness

Anastasios and Luigi you guys are more accomplished benchers, just as an excerise would you mind testing your feet down us off the ground bench at some stage to give us an idea of what the difference should look like when performed properly? im guessing its over 10lb but thats a guess

[Anastasios]

Have a watch of those I havent seen the last one and have some work to do now but elite are legit so I doubt its a waste of time the first two are good

Another thing I did last week was benched with my feet off the ground to see if it made much or any at all difference to my bench. It was minimal if anything which based on the powers of deduction means Im probably not using leg drive correctly. Ive been at bench for years now and have tried to use leg drive correctly for most of that time and still not doing it with much if any effectiveness

Anastasios and Luigi you guys are more accomplished benchers, just as an excerise would you mind testing your feet down us off the ground bench at some stage to give us an idea of what the difference should look like when performed properly? im guessing its over 10lb but thats a guess

I do my second bench exercise, the cambered bench press, with my feet up. When my feet are up, I can't arch. I don't have leg drive in the sense that it helps push the weight but rather the legs are positioned and flexed so that my arch is tight and stable. If the arch is good enough and shoulderblades are back and down (retracted and depressed), and the elbows are moving down the same path they are going up, it becomes a bit of a decline bench press. When pushing decline on a flat bench, you need a very stable and strong arch. For a strong and stable arch, you can't just flex your abs and erectors. You need a solid support, bridge, standing on your shoulderblades/traps and your feet. Your glutes should just be touching the bench. That's leg drive.

[Vutulaki]

Have a watch of those I havent seen the last one and have some work to do now but elite are legit so I doubt its a waste of time the first two are good

Another thing I did last week was benched with my feet off the ground to see if it made much or any at all difference to my bench. It was minimal if anything which based on the powers of deduction means Im probably not using leg drive correctly. Ive been at bench for years now and have tried to use leg drive correctly for most of that time and still not doing it with much if any effectiveness

Anastasios and Luigi you guys are more accomplished benchers, just as an excerise would you mind testing your feet down us off the ground bench at some stage to give us an idea of what the difference should look like when performed properly? im guessing its over 10lb but thats a guess

I do my second bench exercise, the cambered bench press, with my feet up. When my feet are up, I can't arch. I don't have leg drive in the sense that it helps push the weight but rather the legs are positioned and flexed so that my arch is tight and stable. If the arch is good enough and shoulderblades are back and down (retracted and depressed), and the elbows are moving down the same path they are going up, it becomes a bit of a decline bench press. When pushing decline on a flat bench, you need a very stable and strong arch. For a strong and stable arch, you can't just flex your abs and erectors. You need a solid support, bridge, standing on your shoulderblades/traps and your feet. Your glutes should just be touching the bench. That's leg drive.

Yeah makes sense, back when I was benching more per week when Id start to fail and as usual my left foot would start to raise off the ground if I focused properly and positioned right and drove my left foot down and my left trap hard into the bench the bar would go from feeling overwhelming to light as fuck but id always be too gassed by then to take advantage. Im guessing that was the very beginning of getting leg drive right or possibly I was dying or some shit IDK

[Anastasios]

Missed posting the last workout of last week:
Bench press, 90kg x 30 (new max)
Wide grip pullups x 6, 8, 8, 6

Last nights workout
Squats, 180kg x 8

Been a while since I strained on squats, felt light headed for a while after. Niacin flush just when I started squatting didn't help, got a really bad itch. But set felt great, tiny pinch in the injury, did not hinder me. Felt like left leg gave out before right, which seems like a sign that I am now good at delivering equal pressure on both legs since left is weaker. Looking back at the vid maybe there were more reps to squeeze out. Eithreer way not so bad for first real working set squat since 2021.

[Anastasios]

By the way Vutulaki, the first video is not that useful. He missed that SSJ Bobb drastically changed his setup and fixed the stability issues he had. He now has a good arch, good pressure on his legs and his elbow position is more predictable and closer to his body. The other ones are good with a lot of specific tips. If you have access to a cambered bar, it is better than the dumbbell stretch IMO.

[Vutulaki]

Funny you mentioned the stretch, that was the one thing I am was so so about, I honestly feel like static stretching makes me weaker in the short term. Also im not sure long armed guys are always pec dominant at benching cause im all tris when I bench but then again I suck at benching so yeah

Squats are looking good malaka, what shoes are those? I need to buy some lifts soon, using 1.25kg plates under my heels when I squat isnt ideal

[Som-Pong]

Fuck. Looking at your squat I'd say I need to go deeper on mine.