Bench Question

[Armin00]

Hey guys, I started SS a month ago and I am well happy with it. When I get to bench the 1st 2 sets seem pretty hard and then on my third set when i ask someone to spot me it seems to be easier than the first and the second set.Why do u think is that?is it just in my head?also does anyone else ever get this?

[Jonathan Vechet]

Hey guys, I started SS a month ago and I am well happy with it. When I get to bench the 1st 2 sets seem pretty hard and then on my third set when i ask someone to spot me it seems to be easier than the first and the second set.Why do u think is that?is it just in my head?also does anyone else ever get this?

Are you resting longer for your last set? I usually do.

And whenever I have a spot I feel more confident in shooting for that extra rep that I might not otherwise; so it could very well be a mental thing.

[Tom Narvaez]

You have insufficient warm-up if it isn't in your head. Upper body stuff responds different to warm-up for some people. Some people need more volume and others need to lift closer to their work set.

If you ever generally find yourself lifting better in your latter sets, you either accidentally fixed a major form problem or you are not warming up well.

[Carlos Daniel]

It might be the lift off, if the spotter does help you with that. It makes a huge difference for me.

[Les Hahn]

It might be the lift off, if the spotter does help you with that. It makes a huge difference for me.

Same here.

[Subsistence]

It might be the lift off, if the spotter does help you with that. It makes a huge difference for me.

Same

[FKYT]

You have insufficient warm-up if it isn't in your head. Upper body stuff responds different to warm-up for some people. Some people need more volume and others need to lift closer to their work set.

If you ever generally find yourself lifting better in your latter sets, you either accidentally fixed a major form problem or you are not warming up well.

This. When I started SS, I generally didn't do any warm-ups since I felt I was lifting low enough numbers where I didn't need them. After a while, I started to notice that the first set felt a lot heavier than the 2nd or 3rd sets, and that's when the importance of a good warm up sunk in.

Another thing too -- I sometimes find it easier to set PRs if someone's watching me. It's like I push extra hard because I don't want to embarrass myself.

[Armin00]

I never ask for a lift off. I thought I would only ask for it when trying my max.
I always try to warm up properly and I try to keep my rest periods the same,though i'll try and add another warm up set and see if that helps.
Ofcourse when there is a spotter I dont want to embarass myself and i never ask them for any assited reps.
Thanks for all the responses!

[Carlos Daniel]

The lift off helps because it's easy to get out of position when you have to unrack the bar yourself.

[Justin Jordan]

You have insufficient warm-up if it isn't in your head.

Maaaaybe. On bench, regardless of my warm up, my second set is almost always my easiest set if I'm doing sets across. I'm sure there's a reason why, but I never pinpointed. Possibly mental, possibly not. Sometimes you just get weird shit going on. I would guess the OP's deal probably is mental - feeling more secure about the lift.