Oct 2 ME Bench. Holy Shit.

[DOM]

ME Bench today. Rack lockouts first time ever. After watching WSB bench videos I figured these would be slightly higher than our 1RM on flat bench. Wrong.

Flat Bench Max, Raw:
Me -- 295, probably more like 315 now though, just haven't maxed in a long time.
My training partner -- 215 three weeks ago

Rack lockout max:
Me -- 495 with 2" range of motion. Had more in me too. (This is in a gym where nobody has loaded 500 lbs on a bar for any reason, ever, so we got quite a few stares. Next time we do these, I'll pop the cherry and go over 5).
Partner -- 405 with 3" range of motion.

This took roughly an hour since we started doing about 30 pound increases around 300, and had no idea we'd be able to go this high.

Close grip bench for triceps:
Back to being mortal
Me 3x3 @ 275
Partner 3x5 @ 185
Then we got the fuck out of there because we'd been there about an hour and a half.

Guess I'm not going to be failing a bench at lockout for a long long time. Something to look forward to.

Anyway, why the huge difference between bench max and lockout max? I thought these were supposed to be fairly comparable. I also figure we were doing something wrong -- because even though we both have sticking points at the bottom, it's not like we could throw the bar into the air after a max on flat bench with 300 lbs for example... and we should have great speed based on our lockouts. But we don't have that sort of speed, so we must be doing something wrong.

 

[GRIMMER]

Nice. Next time try doing them lower. Like with a 6 inch lockout. The weight won't be as muc and will probaly transfer over better to your actual bench. 2 inches is all tris , well so is 6 but big difference.

 

[jeremys]

maybe your weak link is your shoulders? or lats? or maybe it is speed..

 

[Deciever1]

damn impressive

 

[IrishPower]

no offense intended here:

it makes no sense to do 200lbs over your best bench press in an exercise. this is obviously not your weak point.

you should

a) lower the pins
b) use a close grip for the exercise to get more tricep involvment
c) use pin presses sparingly

westside seems to have moved away from pin presses as they really dont simulate the bench all that well. the chances of you having the bar in the position you start from when you are in competition is not likely.

however, good luck.

/irish

 

[DOM]

Yeah I definitely agree with you IP and Grimmer. No offense taken.

We need to lower the pins for more ROM. We were just bored and tried a new exercise -- really had no idea this would happen.

We did use close grips and these definitely nailed our triceps right above the elbow, but probably don't have a place in our training for a few more years when we can move the sticking points up.

 

[spatts]

I agree with Irish (what's new?). My lockout is 405 (6 inches). I bench 190ish. Why? Because my shoulders are weak. My floor press is, and has been for MONTHS, 177. I could do lockouts all day long to make myself feel better, but my bench would never improve on the whole. When the BOTTOM gets to 250, then I will feel like I got somewhere.

Sounds like a good workout though!

 

[JDarty6173]

For me I only do pin presses for heavy tricep work... Usually on DE day for about 2 weeks at a time.. I set them for about a 6-7 inch lockout and I use a setup recomended by Benchmonster... I use doubled Light Bands ran under the Rack to the bar... This feels to be at least 300 pounds of band tension.. I haven't set the bar on scales to be certain, but it feels about equivalent to about 315 or so bar weight... Then I add 205 to the bar and go for 4 sets of 5... Of course you can start with Minis or use Average or strong bands if you're strong enough..... But these really kill my tris, but are also really taxing, hence I use these sparingly for short cycles....

 

[spatts]

We do close grip band lockouts too. They're killer!