Training Program

[Swaggin916]

Originally Posted by NY-Knicks

I was very dissapointed in my bench press today, couldn't lift 209 and couldn't lift 198.

Swaggin, do you think this is the right way to increase the max power in my bench press and the amount of reps I'll be able to do?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLN0vr4nQDw

if not, what do you suggest?

That looks fine. Personally I would never do the one arm bench press like him cus it's hard on the back. You can do them with a dumbbell in the other hand tho... like alternating 1 arm bench press, that's not bad.

I wouldn't do 87-93% of my max on flys tho... that's way too much stress on the joints. It's an isolation exercise anyway.... just do like 12 reps or so on flys, or just don't do them at all... They aren't really necessary.

[carpevicis]

Originally Posted by NY-Knicks

'm not one of those guys who lies about having a 40 yard dash of 4.25, a 43 inch vertical and a 300 lbs bench press.

In my opinion being 6'3, 193 lbs. and being able to bench 198 puts you well above the average shooting guard here. I don't know how the 2's are near you guys?

I don't have a 43" vertical or a 300lb bench but I'm sure I could say I have a great 40 yard dash

Being able to bench 198 is very good. The 'standard' for bench press is being to press your own weight, but most people can't even do a fraction of that so doing it is above average. Doing more is even better, 1.5x your weight and you have a great power to weight ratio.

By the end of the year I hope to have a 165 lb x5 bench, 34" vertical and a legit 40 yard time. Never measured, but I think a 4.5 is attainable.

[raiderfan19]

Originally Posted by carpevicis

I don't have a 43" vertical or a 300lb bench but I'm sure I could say I have a great 40 yard dash

Being able to bench 198 is very good. The 'standard' for bench press is being to press your own weight, but most people can't even do a fraction of that so doing it is above average. Doing more is even better, 1.5x your weight and you have a great power to weight ratio.

By the end of the year I hope to have a 165 lb x5 bench, 34" vertical and a legit 40 yard time. Never measured, but I think a 4.5 is attainable.

It depends on what kind of 4.5 you are talking about. If you mean the high school football 4.5 where the coach inflates it or intentionally miss times it then yeah theres a fairly decent amount of people who can do it. If you mean a legit 4.5 you do understand thats damn fast right? Im not saying its impossible(I dont know you) but 4.5 is about the running equivalent of a 38 inch standing vert.

[raiderfan19]

Originally Posted by NY-Knicks

I was very dissapointed in my bench press today, couldn't lift 209 and couldn't lift 198.

Swaggin, do you think this is the right way to increase the max power in my bench press and the amount of reps I'll be able to do?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLN0vr4nQDw

if not, what do you suggest?

Im not swaggin and I dont claim to know as much about the basketball workouts as he does(or alot of other people for that matter) but I do know how to bench. Swaggin is right that the 1 handed bench the way he did it is terrible. If you want to increase your bench there are 2 major areas you need to strengthen, your chest and your triceps. Doing bench will help your chest a ton though if you are doing it for a high one rep max or if you are doing it to improve your rep max changes what you need to do.

If you want to improve the one rep max then try a pyramid workout such as (I believe your max is around 198 right?) for you it would be 1x10 @135, 1x8 @ 150 1x6 @ 165 1x4@ 180 and 1x2@ 195 then repeat in reverse order(you shouldnt be able to finish the workout without a good deal of spotting. If you cant do either of the 1x2@195 by yourself you can skip pyramiding back down and just do 135 for a set of ten to finish off your bench portion). Add in some incline(I hate incline but I know a ton of people who swear by it). Then you can do some skullcrusher/blasters though its important not to do too much weight that you cant do it right. The form on skullcrushers is SOOOO much more important than the weight. You can do some flys though I wouldnt recommend it unless your doing them on the machine. If you are doing enough weight for them to do any good on dumbells then you are risking a serious injury. If you already did bench and/or incline you probably dont need to do them anyway.

Finally the last thing to do to finish any chest/tricep workout you can do tricep pushdowns but dont just do 3x12 or 15 at a certain weight. Figure out whatever the most you can do a set of 12 for is(im guessing based on your bench it should be around 120) Start with the weight about 20 lbs lower than that and do a set of 12. Without resting move the pin up one weight and repeat. When you finish those 12 without resting move the pin up one weight and repeat. Do it one more time and then you are done(Note you can also do this in 20lb intervals depending on difficulty and ability to complete the workout) Im not saying to do everything every day because overtraining is an issue but if you add the tricep countdowns at the end of your bench workouts I promise your bench will go up in a hurry.*(Your triceps will burn alot for a while though)

Your more than welcome to ignore this obviously, its just one possible solution to increasing your bench. There are a ton of different ways to go about it.

[Swaggin916]

Shoulders also play a big part in the bench press. You could do nothing but military presses and your bench would increase.

There are definitely all sorts of ways to go about it tho. The bottom line is training for power, and you know how to do that. With any kind of power program tho, you have to take breaks. Trust me... after working out for 7 years straight doing heavy weight, my body has broken down on me. I still have ok size, but in 3-4 months time, I will be a shell of what I used to be if my problem areas don't heal up. So, do a program for 3 months or so... then take at least a month off. Your power will decrease a little in that time... but it's better than it decreasing for a year because you tore something.

[carpevicis]

Originally Posted by raiderfan19

It depends on what kind of 4.5 you are talking about. If you mean the high school football 4.5 where the coach inflates it or intentionally miss times it then yeah theres a fairly decent amount of people who can do it. If you mean a legit 4.5 you do understand thats damn fast right? Im not saying its impossible(I dont know you) but 4.5 is about the running equivalent of a 38 inch standing vert.

I probably mean the high school one, I don't know of any legit methods of timing around here and all I hear are HS times so I'd base it on that.

A 4.5 legit 40 is still in my goals though, and if it's the running equivalent of a 38" vert then that's good, cause touching rim is also in my goals and 38" would be just enough for me to grab rim.