Bench Press - How to work up to your 1RPM?

Bench Press - How to work up to your 1RPM?

I have a completely different and unorthodox approach to be honest mate LOL.

My chest was always my weak point. It was flat and embarrassingly weak so I started training it twice a week extremely intensely. It now looks great
and I have a decent bench press but my aim in life is to reach 180kg LOL.

I basically max out on bench twice a week (Monday's and Thursdays). I do the 5 sets building up to my max and once that is done, the rest of my training
is all hypertrophy where my rep count is around 8 (give or take). I feel for me, this gave the best balance of strength and muscle building. I'm only 82kg
and looking at it realistically, maybe someone of my bodyweight is not supposed to be able to hit 170kg+.

It's just weird as when I started gear, my bench jumped from 140kg to 170kg in 8 weeks and I could do that weight week in, week out on Mondays and Thursdays
but for the past couple of weeks, I always seem to fail on one of the days and most recently, I've been failing on that weight all together on both days LOL.

My rep count for all other weights has remained the same or even increased so it's really quite strange. Maybe I've just completely burnt myself out

 

Bench Press - How to work up to your 1RPM?

Just goes to show how different people are. My chest has always been a strong point but if I trained it twice a week id be burnt out so quickly id be useless in the gym. It seems to be working though for your chest development so fair play.

With regards to strength increase though, it sounds to me like you could maybe do with upping the reps a bit, even for a couple of weeks. Try staying around the 5 rep range for a wee while and id say you'll find you feel stronger when you lift heavy again.

Thats a very impressive bench for your bodyweight btw mate. Have you ever done any powerlifting comps?

 

Bench Press - How to work up to your 1RPM?

I know exactly what you mean mate. I guess it's just tolerance that you build up after doing the same thing for years. My routine has definitely worked for me but I just want
even more now, but everyone obviously alway's reaches a level where progress slows down considorably I suppose.

I think I'll definitely be trying what your saying mate. I can feel that my chest may be knackering out now so maybe trying something different might spark some life back into it.

I've never done any sort of competitions to be honest with you mate LOL. Before using gear I weighed in at 104kg and my max bench was 140kg. After starting gear, I also decided
to cut down and lean out as my girlfriend was complaining that I looked to bloated LOL, so I started a very strict diet and here I am now at 82kg. I myself am surprised how my strength
on the bench managed to sustain itself even though I shed off so much weight.

I've alway's considored competing but I don't really know where to start from and working part time and being a student doesn't really leave me much time for anything else besides going gym
and spending time with my other half.

 

Bench Press - How to work up to your 1RPM?

Bump just to get a few more opinions from a few other experienced lifters

 

Bench Press - How to work up to your 1RPM?

not sure on 1 revolution per minute mate

get your self warmed and go up in singles .

 

Bench Press - How to work up to your 1RPM?

I've seen people doing it this way as well but I assume you'll start off fairly heavy then after your warm up?

For example...

Warm up
120kg x 1
140kg x 1
150kg x 1
160kg x 1
170kg x 1

Would that look about right?