The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

what was your last weight you were able to do 5 sets of 5 reps with? you should only be going up 5#'s. the way i have been doing it, since i am a shift worker and my schedule is so messed up, is to have two good sets of 5x5 in a row, or (5x6 for me), then go up 5#'s. i keep track of how hard it is, and if it was super hard to get my last set of 6, then i might do the same weight the next workout. some days are different. when you are going heavy, having a good sleep the night before means a lot, or maybe you played 18 holes before your workout, keep that kind of stuff in mind.

i have been stuck at 225# on the bench. the first day i moved up to 225 i did my 5x6, then the next two workouts i couldn't, then the last i was able too. so it will be 225 for my next and if i hit it, i'll go up 5#s. my sleep habits are messed though going from days to nights all the time so that probably effects me a lot.

 

dang!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtxXR8cl-Lc

 

same story here. im there to visit fam. for a month an a half.

 

Ya ive been doing the same thing. I did two days at 140, then I moved up to 145 the last week. Maybe ill try and push for a third clean 145# 5x5 this week and go for 150# next week.

Ive just heard that dropping 10-20# and doing 8-12 reps is good to bump your max... Someone chime in??

 

Lay on the floor and bench press

 

This.

 

Although without hooks to put the bar back on it may be akward

 

And it's not full range of motion.

 

Meh i like it When you lay on the floor and start bench pressing the ladies thing your a serious bad ass

 

DANG indeed! that makes my shoulder tingle just looking at it.

 

I've never actually done it, but I've heard/read that it's actually a really good exercise because there's more contraction of the muscles trying to get it back up from your elbows being on the floor.

 

It's a half-rep, it's not really beneficial in comparison to the full repetition. At that point it seems more like a tricep exercise than a chest one because if you aren't bringing the bar down to your chest, you're not using your pecs to push it back up.

 

When I bench I just go to parallel with my elbows.. Anymore and good bye shoulder...

 

i touch chest, other wise it's not a full rep. i bench with my elbows tucked, back arched and bar landing right below the chest, i feel nothing in my shoulders.

 

My arms are also STUPID long. I arch my back and pinch my traps together. When I never arched before I couldn't even do any reps on the bench without shoulder pain... Read about arching/pinching traps and the pain went away. But still any lower than parallel it's game over haha

 

If your shoulders hurt, chances are your form is bad. Also, I'd almost bet doing those half reps is just as "bad" for your shoulders, if not worse.

If you have a previous shoulder injury, switch to dumbbells.

 

How do you achieve bad form on the bench? Lol.. I ain't worried one bit.

 

Same way you have bad form in any other lift. You do it wrong, thus causing more stress on the joints.

You can continue to half-rep, just remember your numbers are going to be highly elevated to the real numbers.

Like I said, you're not doing your shoulders any favors half-repping.

 

http://youtu.be/WDBP_xdzyxI

 

I never touch the bar to my chest, i stop at parallel pretty much