weak bench, assistance work?

[hawkins_allen]

Hey, my bench is terrible. All the other lifts are going along well, body weight is going up(+30lbs) but i've had trouble on bench from day one. Made it to 133.5 on 2.5lb increases and had to de-load, and now almost back to my sticking point. But the weight still feels very heavy.

currently i do basic SS, and just recently started adding chin ups to the program. Other than that i do no other lifts, or assistance stuff. Is there any suggestions for assistance work to help my lagging bench? Or should i just continue benching and it will work its self out?

Thanks a lot.

stats are 6', 195 lbs up from 165, squat 195 up from 75, DL 200 up from 85 (made a silly de-load early thats why its lagging) OHP 92.5 up from 55, and just started PCs

[gzt]

All your lifts are weak, but it's good that they're going up (along with your bodyweight). How long have you been on the program? How is your form? Are you staying extremely tight on the bench? Like, "bracing yourself for somebody to hit you on the gut with a 2x4 while you are benching" tight? Like, "if somebody pokes you on the side, you won't move" tight? How long are you resting between bench sets? What is your failure looking like?

Anyway, to directly answer your question, the best assistance might be pint hammer curls. Fill a pint glass with milk... It's good that you've gained 30 pounds, so you're obviously doing something right. The next best assistance exercises are probably pullups and chinups for the extra lat and biceps strength that indirectly help.

[hawkins_allen]

i've been piddling with SS since last year on and off, but only in the recent 3 months have i been serious, done the program (minus PC), ate and didn't do a bunch of cardio/random lifts along with it.

I'm staying tight, i don't believe that is it. As far as failure, i never have. I train alone, and there is no power racks. I've read in a thread about letting the weights fall off on the one side then the other in the even of a fail, but i've not been too crazy about trying that out. Should i just push it harder and deal with the fail when it comes, or is it ok to stay within what i think is my limits?

[gzt]

So you've just been cutting sets short if you don't think you can get them? How short? Like, 5,5,4, or like 5,4,2, or what? The problem is that sometimes it turns out you could have made it. Of course, sometimes it also turns out that your neighbors will find your corpse a week later.

[LimieJosh]

I dont think your bench is particularly lacking with respect to your other lifts.

You say you've never failed, yet you also say you've already done a deload. I assume this means you simply decided on numerous occasions to not even attempt to last few reps of your bench workout. If this is the case, you need to grab a spotter and attempt them come what may. You may be surprised at how far from your limit you actually are.

[slowjoe]

i've been piddling with SS since last year on and off, but only in the recent 3 months have i been serious, done the program (minus PC), ate and didn't do a bunch of cardio/random lifts along with it.

I'm staying tight, i don't believe that is it. As far as failure, i never have. I train alone, and there is no power racks. I've read in a thread about letting the weights fall off on the one side then the other in the even of a fail, but i've not been too crazy about trying that out. Should i just push it harder and deal with the fail when it comes, or is it ok to stay within what i think is my limits?

What it sounds like is, when the bar speed gets really slow, you cut the set?

My simple-minded solution would be to work towards a fast bar. Dynamic effort bench day 8 sets of 3 at 60% of your current working set, focussing on a fast bar speed. Might work, might not.

Or find a friend to spot. Or go to a public gym for a spot for a couple of bench workouts, to find out how close to a real "fail" your estimate is.

[LimieJosh]

I feel DE sets for a near 200lb man not yet benching 1 plate is overkill

[Alyion]

I'll probably get flak for this, but I suck at bench too (had to make 1/2kg micro jumps at 135lb). Doing some dip work helped definately helped - its not DTP per se, but I feel it got through a sticking point

[MazdaMatt]

I'm also a bench-loser. I got up to 155 using Tate's style which can move more weight, then switched to rips and deloaded to 135 and that blew out my shoulder. My last bench session was 130 using 2.5lb jumps and it was hard (and hurt my shoulder somewhat again)... i will probably crap out around 140 if my shoulder even lets me get that high.

I thik some people just suck at bench. I'm deadlifting 325 tonight and my squats were at 280 before I decided to go to texas method. I just get baffled when I see guys who can dead and squat mid-200's and are benching 3 plates.

[hawkins_allen]

I've always made my 3x5s. With the deload my 3x5s worse and worse so i decided to drop back down before i got pinned.

Also bar speed is pretty slow for all the sets, with the last few reps on the final set being very slow