New Bench Press Video 350lbs (15y/o, 170lb b/w)

Alright everyone, some of you probably remember me from the other bench thread, but I thought I would fill some of you in on some of my recent progress.  About a month ago, I injured my sternum working out and I have been taking it easy and healing since then.  Before that time, I was maxing out on the bench at a dead even 400lbs.. but I am down a good bit since then.  The video I took today is about where I am at right now, at 350lbs.  I am hoping to get back into and get the bench up to where it needs to be.  That weight wasn't too hard for me as you will see in the video.. so I think I could of got 10 or more pounds out of it, but I just kept it at that for now.  Regardless, it is still a real good bench for being 15 and weighing a 170lbs... I just thought that some of you would be interested in this, since it is of a lot better quality and just overall better.  This might be in the wrong section, but I wasn't positive of where to put it since the categories are kind of weird, but I think it is fine here.  Here is the video and let me know what you guys think:
 
http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w198/TobyCook/?action=view&current=HPIM0638.flv
 
Toby
 
 

excellent lift, congrats

 

deadlifts: 550 lbs
bench press:370 lbs
militery press : 265 lbs
squat : 425
bw: 209

impressive.

i'm 19
incline bench press 160lbs 100reps
incline dumbells curl 100lbs 2 reps
stiff leg deadlift 220lbs 100reps

Thanks guys... yeah, I am going to have to get my bench back up to where it needs to be because this is pretty pathetic for me right now, but I can't do much about it.  I should be able to build back up quickly so we will see... I would love to get one of me doing 400lbs, but I am not positive of how long that will be.  We will find out.. 
 
Toby

Your not really that small of a guy are you?... your 170lbs but you must only be around 5'9.. I say that because you look about the same size as me and im 6'1 198lbs.
 
Well anyways it looked really good.. The form was a bit different and would be conciderd more of a floor bench but a bench is a bench and you touched your chest and went all the way back up,  you also made it look really easy.   The only thing i was a little iffy about was the degree angle of your arms on the bench.. you raised your butt off the bench and chest into the air causing your arms to stop as exactly a 90 degree angle.  On the other hand you didn't slam the weight onto your chest and then thrust it up.  It was a good clean bench,  im jealouse... very.... 
 
I noticed something else about your bench.. The bar didnt flex as much as it flexed on me when i was repping 255lbs... That must mean that your grip must be really wide on the bar...  I am going to try using your form to max bench more weight.   Actually your wide grip explains alot.. the bar doesnt bend your arms stop at exactly a 90 degree angle.   
 
This might actually help me up my weight by 20lbs or so for my bench comp.. Can you tell me where you possition your index finger or pinky finger according to the bar?  It looks like your were possitioning your hand in a certain spot. 
 
I usually line my pinky up with the part of the bar that has no grip.. you know what im saying?  there is like a line that seperates the grip and I put my pinky there.. it almost looks like you line up your index finger to that line..  How many inches beyond shoulder width are you placing your hands?  at 6'1 I think your form would actually work best for me since I have such long arms.

wow for 15 years old 350lb. bench is amazing but u only did a half rep, still amazing though

Haha... I don't see how you think that was a half-rep, but whatever.  In reply to IBendBarbells, my grip is about average.  I don't use a real wide grip when I am benching... I try to keep it equal distance with the hands a little wider than shoulder width apart.  On my bar, there are grip marks that I use as a guide.  There is one in the middle of the bar that is maybe 6 inches long and then there is about maybe 8 inches on each side of that middle grip until it gets to the rest of the grip, which takes up the rest of the sides of the bar.  You might be able to see what I am talking about if you look at the bar in the video closely.  But I usually put my index fingers and thumb about 5 inches from where the outer grip marks start.  I know that may be hard to picture.. but if you watch the video closely, you will be able to find out what I mean.  They are probably about four inches apart from each shoulder blade. But yeah, I am not sure why the bar isn't noticeably flexing, but I am sure it is there.. you just can't tell very well.  Another reason for that might be that the bar is only a couple months old.. so that might explain partially also.  I am pretty bulky though for my size.. I am 5 foot 10 so you were pretty close. 

so if your that strong at 15 your obviously naturally strong but even the best genetics wont get you a 350lb. bench without working hard, ive been trying to get my bench and other lifts up too so do u have any tips for increasing lifts or maybe a certain program you've used?
 
o and do u do any strength competitions? because if u dont you should.

ORIGINAL: SupraTurbo

Haha... I don't see how you think that was a half-rep, but whatever.  In reply to IBendBarbells, my grip is about average.  I don't use a real wide grip when I am benching... I try to keep it equal distance with the hands a little wider than shoulder width apart.  On my bar, there are grip marks that I use as a guide.  There is one in the middle of the bar that is maybe 6 inches long and then there is about maybe 8 inches on each side of that middle grip until it gets to the rest of the grip, which takes up the rest of the sides of the bar.  You might be able to see what I am talking about if you look at the bar in the video closely.  But I usually put my index fingers and thumb about 5 inches from where the outer grip marks start.  I know that may be hard to picture.. but if you watch the video closely, you will be able to find out what I mean.  They are probably about four inches apart from each shoulder blade. But yeah, I am not sure why the bar isn't noticeably flexing, but I am sure it is there.. you just can't tell very well.  Another reason for that might be that the bar is only a couple months old.. so that might explain partially also.  I am pretty bulky though for my size.. I am 5 foot 10 so you were pretty close. 

 
actually he is kind of right... I could post my video reping 255 and you can see my elbows go way below my chest.  Yours stop at exactly 90 degrees.  Some body builders find it harder to go at 90 degrees slow down and then push up though... They say 90 degrees can be harder then a full rep because your not slaming the bar on your chest and exploding up,  thats why i said it was a clean max rep. 
 
I figured you werent that tall.  I also think your upper body could be more "beefy" because you have not worked on your legs very much from what you said. 
 
By any means its impressive man.  Great job!!

yes it's a half rep.

i'm 19
incline bench press 160lbs 100reps
incline dumbells curl 100lbs 2 reps
stiff leg deadlift 220lbs 100reps

impressive man it's a full rep they are just mad cause your 15 and stronger then them good lift you will be a beast if you stick with it
 

Height 5'10"
Weight 200lbs
Incline bench press 300
curl 115 5 times sitting down
Skull crushers 105 lbs 12 times 4 sets
One arm Bent over row 90 lb dumbell 4x12
Body fat 14.2

Yeah, thanks man...  I am planning to stick with it for sure.  I just hope I can build back up to where I was before kind of quick because I have a contest here coming up in April.  David1991- I understand what you are talking about..  I don't really have any specific tips other than to work hard and don't give up.  It took a lot of practice for me to get where I am at.. it has been 3 years so far.  The workout that seems to work for me though when trying to increase my weight on the bench is to work with... first, something you can rep about eight times, and then go to a weight you can do about five times for about five sets, and then just keep on adding weight and decreasing reps.  I would do that about four times a week if you really want to increase your bench.  That has seemed to work great for me, as my bench has rapidly gone up since this past summer (290lbs-400lbs) lol. That was with no supplements or anything.. all natural.  So yeah just keep on working at it and you where you want to be.  
 
Toby 

well that looked like a good rep to me! and benching more than DOUBLE your body weight at 15 is very, very impressive. Good genes are nothing without motivation, tenacity and hard work!
 
keep it bro, you should be very proud of yourself!
 
wood

woodmeister

age: 24 as of 02/07

weight: 170

bench max: 8 @ 270

leg press: 8 @ 450

Squat: 5 @ 315

wow man thats terriffic.. i diddnt actually see the vid but EVERY ONE ELSE DID my pc is stupid and didnt load the page.. but at 15..thats damn rediclous im gunna be 19 and i JUST did 410lbs LOL and im 230lbs haha ima college fullback.. if i showed this to some of our guys they would SH#T them selves HAHAH u kno..i think sooo much of lifting is FORM.. and well obv u got the genes..but 170...damn.. age is NOTHIGN any more.. its weight and stuff.. but u weight 170..thats illll.. im also training for the Empire games powerlifting my lifts are good by june ill be at 450lbs bench(hopefully) and deadlift 600..squat 650...at a clean weight of 225 I PRAY!!!!! ..write me back and check my critique my physiquue.. when u can

ORIGINAL: lowredxtreme

impressive man it's a full rep they are just mad cause your 15 and stronger then them good lift you will be a beast if you stick with it

 
im 15 too so why would i be jealous? obviously i would like it if i could bench 350 but i dont really give a crap that someones stronger than me cause theres always someone stronger, its pretty obvious that he is amazingly strong for his age but its still not a full rep

ORIGINAL: SupraTurbo

Yeah, thanks man...  I am planning to stick with it for sure.  I just hope I can build back up to where I was before kind of quick because I have a contest here coming up in April.  David1991- I understand what you are talking about..  I don't really have any specific tips other than to work hard and don't give up.  It took a lot of practice for me to get where I am at.. it has been 3 years so far.  The workout that seems to work for me though when trying to increase my weight on the bench is to work with... first, something you can rep about eight times, and then go to a weight you can do about five times for about five sets, and then just keep on adding weight and decreasing reps.  I would do that about four times a week if you really want to increase your bench.  That has seemed to work great for me, as my bench has rapidly gone up since this past summer (290lbs-400lbs) lol. That was with no supplements or anything.. all natural.  So yeah just keep on working at it and you where you want to be.  

Toby 

 
wow going to failure for chest 4x a week wouldnt that be really overtraining??

nice job.

only thing i have to comment on is a spotter, i just find it risky maxing without someone there to make sure nothing goes wrong. Especially with that kind of weight.

ORIGINAL: David1991

ORIGINAL: SupraTurbo

Yeah, thanks man...  I am planning to stick with it for sure.  I just hope I can build back up to where I was before kind of quick because I have a contest here coming up in April.  David1991- I understand what you are talking about..  I don't really have any specific tips other than to work hard and don't give up.  It took a lot of practice for me to get where I am at.. it has been 3 years so far.  The workout that seems to work for me though when trying to increase my weight on the bench is to work with... first, something you can rep about eight times, and then go to a weight you can do about five times for about five sets, and then just keep on adding weight and decreasing reps.  I would do that about four times a week if you really want to increase your bench.  That has seemed to work great for me, as my bench has rapidly gone up since this past summer (290lbs-400lbs) lol. That was with no supplements or anything.. all natural.  So yeah just keep on working at it and you where you want to be.  

Toby 

wow going to failure for chest 4x a week wouldnt that be really overtraining??

notice he's benching 350 and he's not that big. 4x a week wont build that much muscle but powerlifters dont follow the same rules. I cant believe you havent hit a major plauteu. I agree with bklyn on the spot thats the first thing I though. 350 is more than enough to kill you if you tear a pec or tricep and drop that on yourself.

Gin Rummy: Simply because you don't have evidence that something does exist does not mean you have evidence of something that doesn't exist.(from the boondocks)

Looks fishy to me.
He shifts the weight on the rack too easilly, I don't see even a hint of bend in the bar.

I see build guys at 265+ that can't shift 350 so easilly. Just saying.  

I havent seen a bar bend much on anything under 500 but maybe with older/newer bars its different. you can see it flex a little when he puts it down. and yeah he does move it pretty easy. and it could be 2 10lb rubber plates I've seen used for PC but I dont have any reason to not believe this kid. if he can thats great if he cant it doesn't effect my life in any way. 

Gin Rummy: Simply because you don't have evidence that something does exist does not mean you have evidence of something that doesn't exist.(from the boondocks)

Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted up anything on here for a while, I just haven't been thinking about it lately.. but yeah, that video is totally legit, about the bar bending, I have to agree with chrisshepard, there really isn't a HUGE noticeable flex noticeable on the bar unless you have a ****-load of weight on there like 450 plus or so.. but yeah, I know that rep wasn't as clean as it should have been, it was mostly do to my sternum there still creating a problem for me... I honestly shouldn't have tried that, since my sternum wasn't completely healed at the point, I could feel it while I was doing that actually, which is one of the reasons I took it easy and didn't try to bounce it or use other techniques.  I have now actually changed up my routine by trying to add more size, I have only been benching about twice a week now and I do more sets with reps, but I am still hitting the higher weights also.. I am still at about 350 right now and I am in the progress of preparing for a bench competition come April 28, so I am trying to get ready for that.  But yeah, I have also been working a lot on form, so that has been getting a lot better too..  That's about it for now, if you have any questions or comments or whatever, go ahead and post them up... I am probably going to try to get some other videos up when I get the chance, probably of me repping lighter weight or whatever, I will try to work on that.. anyways, thanks for those who are on my side. 
 
Toby

sternum

 
I did not realize how damn seriouse this is... without the sternum your body cant even fight off bacteria.. thats bad in all sorts of ways.. I hope all is well with you Turbo, your a nice kid.
 
Anyways I am so stuck on this.. im stuck on the video and the concept everything.. the form was actually perfect from what others training concepts are.. I mean people believe that just under 90 degrees is where you want to be that way height and arm length wont be a factor and anything past the 90 is pointless and just wears down the muscles before you can run another heavy set on them..
 
I don't think anyone gave you enough credit for this.. Probably because they were all turned off that it was 90 degrees.  But I for one am turned too it.. what people dont stop to concider is if you put your legs up and kept your back flat you would still hit 315 - 335lbs.  Which is still an incredible number for your age,  your technique and the angles that you bench have helped you excel past everyone on this form. 
 
I just wanted to congradulate you once more on a job well done.  I have actually taken your form on the bench and incorperated it into my split routine. 

I didn't really express it in my last post but I am also completely blown away by this. It's just hard for me to fathom because my bench is just so.. horrible. All the props in the world to you bro, I am extremely impressed.
 
I might apply a routine similar to what you've mentioned to my upped body work. I'd rather beable to move more weight then to be bigger and for lack of a better word "weak" in comparison to my lower body strength. Maybe get a little more proportional and then train for size.

Blake
Age 19
Hieght ~5'10.5"
Weight ~196
Bench ~275
Squat ~390
Dead Lift ~375
MilitaryPress ~200
Hang Clean ~205
6-17-07
Put this in your profile if you or someone you know is fighting, has survived, or has died in a pokemon battle

Certainly some good natural strength. Good acceleration of the bar............ Cleaning up your form, getting more of an arch, keeping your butt down, etc you could put up some MAJOR numbers as a lifter.  Good luck

[image]http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/203/njmuscle66qg2.gif[/image]

Im going with odw777 on that one. The bar does not at all. There is a crazy russian lifting team at my gym on Friday nights. These guys all over 280lbs 6'2 plus and creat quite a crowd. They cannot CANNOT move that much wheight with just a turn of the wrist. An never lift anything over three plates without a spotter.

I'LL TELL YA RIGHT NOW IT WAS A DAMN GOOD BENCH  woa capitals oops but yeah about the bar bending when i squated 500 the bar didnt bend much only at the moment when i thrusted up so i dont think its fake at all it was simply a great bench good job

ORIGINAL: Cagefighter511

Im going with odw777 on that one. The bar does not at all. There is a crazy russian lifting team at my gym on Friday nights. These guys all over 280lbs 6'2 plus and creat quite a crowd. They cannot CANNOT move that much wheight with just a turn of the wrist. An never lift anything over three plates without a spotter.

I don't agree with you both.. first off a man who is 280 should be pressing almost 400lbs if not more.


I don't think anything is up with the lift... last week a say a 50 year old man bench press 405lbs just the way this kid did.. the old man looks to be 5'10 220lbs.

Hey guys, thanks for all your comments and everything.  I appreciate it. I kind of forgot to check back up on here to see whats up haha.. but yeah, I have been working on getting back up to where I was, and as of now I am back up to 370lbs, so I am doing ok.  I actually got a video with strict, clean form of that if anyone is interested.. its uploaded on youtube.  Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxBpIiTFEJU
 
Once again, thanks for your comments and compliments and sorry for not being able to reply earlier. 
 
Toby 

damn dude, I am so jealous of your bench.

Blake
Age 19
Hieght ~5'10.5"
Weight ~196
Bench ~275
Squat ~390
Dead Lift ~375
MilitaryPress ~200
Hang Clean ~205
6-17-07
Put this in your profile if you or someone you know is fighting, has survived, or has died in a pokemon battle

holy crap, lol. man i wiegh 212 and ive been stuck at 235 for a while. but my chest is realy week, ima blame it on bad genetics

Age: 17
Supplements: none at the moment
Wieght: 208
Body fat %: comming soon
Bench: 235 (max, 3 reps)
bicep: 15 1/2 inch. (cold)