Beginner Bench Press - tips/advice
Replies
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JoshuaMcAllister wrote: »Iron_Miss_Canada wrote: »
Got to agree with this. Just for example, my warm up for the platform is 7 sets. And I use that warmup every time I'm working at 85% or above. I know how every rep feels on bad, average, good and really good days and know how to make adjustments based on that.I like to max out once every couple months. It's the only real test of true strength because you remove fatigue and endurance as variables. My suggestion is that when you max, you do one light warm up set of maybe 10 reps to stretch out and warm up, then jump to your max the next set so you're not tiring yourself out leading up to the max.
i would never jump from a warm up set to a max effort. you need to gradually warm up and add weight. you do need to be aware of warming up without fatigue. but going from a warmup set to a 1rm is not safe
Well just because you would never do it does not make it unsafe. There's no evidence that going from a 10 rep set at 50% of your max to a 1RM your next set is dangerous. If anything it's shocking to your CNS, but it does not increase your risk of injury as long as your form is good. If you have evidence to the contrary, I'd love to see it, otherwise, it's just anecdotal...
a 10 rep set at 50% is not a warm up set. going straight from one warm up stretching set to a 1rm is what you said. injuries happen all day long from people not being amply warmed up before going heavy.
Can you go from 50% to max effort? Sure. But you're placing a huge unnecessary beating on your nervous system. And I prefer to leave those for my programming, not to just jump weights around.
I don't max test often - it's been 10ish months since I last did. I've had a couple times when I KNEW I had the next increment when I was scheduled to be at 100% and just did it, but no actual formal max testing.
If that's the case then you'll never truly figure out what your max is cause by the time you've done 7 sets, you're too fatigued to hit a true 1RM.
You DO realize that both of the posters you're talking to/about are competitive powerlifters, right? I imagine they probably know a thing or three about warming up for 1RM lifts.
So you have to be competitive to have knowledge on the subject. I'm not doubting their method, maybe AJ_G is but I know personally if I was to do 7 sets of any power lift then try to 1RM I'd fail hence why I think it a bizarre, that's not to say its wrong. These guys train for power and big lifts in comps, it doesn't surprise me than can max after what most would call a chest workout and they call a warm up.
Again, read Sonya's response. They're not doing hypertrophy-type sets of 8-10 reps, they're doing short 1-3 rep sets with long rest periods in between.
No, you don't have to be competitive to have knowledge - but I'd certainly say somebody who trains and competes in PL has more knowledge about the subject than somebody who doesn't. Since they, you know, do it all the time.
Sonyas post hadn't loaded on my page when I pressed reply. Reading it makes much more sense.
That's true, I'm not arguing that but, you know, they both train for the same event so of course they'll use the same method as each other which has no doubt been taught to them from yet another powerlifter. That doesn't necessarily mean it's the only way to test your 1RM.0 -
arditarose wrote: »i think it depends on what you are training for and what your program is. I have a max effort day once a week for each of my 3 lifts where i do some kinda variation of a one rep max, but i'm a powerlifter and thats what we do.
There are some websites where you can put in your 3 or 8 or whatever rep weight and it calculates what your 1rm would be, but i dont know those websites. If you google them you can find them or maybe someone knows and can post the links.
I like this one. http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/OneRepMax.html
It tends to be a bit modest but I have found it to be pretty spot on for me.
Another quick calculation is (weightxreps*0.03333)+ weight
For the OP it would be (90*3*.033333)+90 or around 98lbs.
I usually round down so probably 95 lbs. The calculation gets worse beyond 10 reps.
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Thanks for all the input. Like I said, I am very new at this, and appreciate the input.
My end goals are to become a powerlifter. It seems such a lofty goal right now, since I still don't know a whole lot about lifting AND I'm very overweight. Obese even.
So I appreciate the advice and input. 0 -
Iron_Miss_Canada wrote: »
Got to agree with this. Just for example, my warm up for the platform is 7 sets. And I use that warmup every time I'm working at 85% or above. I know how every rep feels on bad, average, good and really good days and know how to make adjustments based on that.I like to max out once every couple months. It's the only real test of true strength because you remove fatigue and endurance as variables. My suggestion is that when you max, you do one light warm up set of maybe 10 reps to stretch out and warm up, then jump to your max the next set so you're not tiring yourself out leading up to the max.
i would never jump from a warm up set to a max effort. you need to gradually warm up and add weight. you do need to be aware of warming up without fatigue. but going from a warmup set to a 1rm is not safe
Well just because you would never do it does not make it unsafe. There's no evidence that going from a 10 rep set at 50% of your max to a 1RM your next set is dangerous. If anything it's shocking to your CNS, but it does not increase your risk of injury as long as your form is good. If you have evidence to the contrary, I'd love to see it, otherwise, it's just anecdotal...
a 10 rep set at 50% is not a warm up set. going straight from one warm up stretching set to a 1rm is what you said. injuries happen all day long from people not being amply warmed up before going heavy.
Can you go from 50% to max effort? Sure. But you're placing a huge unnecessary beating on your nervous system. And I prefer to leave those for my programming, not to just jump weights around.
I don't max test often - it's been 10ish months since I last did. I've had a couple times when I KNEW I had the next increment when I was scheduled to be at 100% and just did it, but no actual formal max testing.
If that's the case then you'll never truly figure out what your max is cause by the time you've done 7 sets, you're too fatigued to hit a true 1RM.
You DO realize that both of the posters you're talking to/about are competitive powerlifters, right? I imagine they probably know a thing or three about warming up for 1RM lifts.
Yes I realize, thanks. Power lifters have to max out a lot more often than anybody else does, or should. You can imagine what you want, but I think the worry about injury on a one rep max is overblown and nobody has provided me anything to dissuade me of that notion. People are much much more likely to get injured when they are performing olympic lifts past the point of fatigue and past the point of form degradation, then they are when performing a slow, controlled one rep max with good form.
Don't know where that strawman came from (the bolded), as nobody was talking about doing oly lifts past the point of fatigue.
Read Sonya's response to you right above your last one. They're doing work-up sets of 1-3 reps and probably resting 3-5 minutes between sets. Fatigue and form degradation aren't factors under those conditions.
Not trying to use that to refute her point, so not sure that can be classified as a strawman. I was just trying to point out that many people seemingly believe that a 1RM is a big cause for injury in the gym. Most lifting injuries come from other sources. I thought that point was valid to this discussion, if it wasn't, I apologize.
In regards to the work up sets, I'm supposed to believe that 7 sets of increasing weight of 1-3 reps has no fatiguing effect on a lifter? Just based on personal experience (yes I know it's anecdotal) I can tell you that wasn't the case for me. I've done the textbook long lead up to a 1RM where you add weight and do 1 or 2 reps for 5 sets, and I've also done it how I do it now. I always felt much more fatigued during the long warm up. There is an argument to be made that it can hurt your lift when you don't prepare your CNS for the max. I understand the argument, but I never felt that way in a practical setting when I tried them both out. My performance was always better with a 10 rep 40%-50% of max, then about a 3 minute break and a 1RM. I get it, people are more inclined to side with the power lifters based on credentials. I've never competed in power lifting, but I've been lifting for a long time, and I've tried different methods, and with my method I've never even come close to an injury, and I've never walked away with any pain, tendon soreness, joint issues, etc. In my book it's a spectrum and you have to find the happy medium between lifting as much as possible and playing it as safely as you can. There's a middle ground.
No one said there is risk of injury for a 1rm. The risk of injury i mentioned is risk of injury from not being properly warmed up. And i'm glad your 10 rep warm up method works for you, that doesn't mean it works for (or is safe for) everyone.0 -
One warm up set doesn't work for me either, but maybe that's just me, more like 5 sets. And, I don't start with 40-50%, I'll start with just the bar and work up from there.0
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