looking for some help raw bench

[superdave]

hello,
Currently 510 raw pr in the gym. @ 240lbs. 6.0'. I use bands for speed work and try to keep up with a "westside" style program. I notice that if i miss out of the hole (or off my chest) pause or touch and go. I miss it hands down. I recently have started using heavy bands on max eff. day. Although my sq. and dead arent bad i would love to hit a 600 raw BP! I do not board press and I am limited to 7' bars where i lift. My grip is all inside the ring, i do close grip and i am starting to incline press more. I have gone away from BB shoulder work. (i didnt see much from it), and now mostly lateral db work for shoulders. Lats work is mostly pulldowns but db rows can be 160s for 20, on a good day. any help is much aprciated i would love to compete soon (just unsure about the weight class). Thank you, Dave

[jtteg_x]

http://www.elitefts.com/documents/600lb_raw_bench.htm
Vincent Dizenzo is also a member of this forum. Hopefully he can chime in and give you better input.

[NickAus]

From reading what you said I would say setting up as tight as humanly possible and more upperback work will help you.

You are already on the right track and have a great raw bench so maybe spending some time with top lifters is what you really need to move to the next level.

Good luck!

[elilliebridge]

Althought benching is my least favorite lift... my best is 550 raw touch n go and 525 paused in the gym... best in competition is 507 all at around 260ish in body weight and 20 years old. Doing your close grip bench is awesome because i have also done a wider grip (ring fingers on rings) and done close grips (an inch or two inside the rings) and i've noticed switching up my grips helped out a lot with my explosive power off my chest and lockouts. I also do board work too, usually 2 or 3 boards for anywhere from singles to triples and these also help out a lot. You will be able to use heavier weights more often and focus a lot on your lockouts. I also like doing "backdown sets" which would be after hitting your heavier workings sets. I usually like doing weights that i know i can do for more than 10 reps...it helped my bench go up a lot. I have had a pec injury and it's been almost 14 weeks since then and i'm pretty close to 500 again on bench, but i'm basically doing the exact same stuff as i was before and it's coming right back. For accessory work if you do some heavy dumbell pec flys and some heavy tricep work that will also help too. Do you have any videos of your raw benching? maybe i can take a look

[Travis Bell]

Using band combinations in the gym is a very good idea so long as you don't use them exclusively.

As Eric said, using close grip variations is a big help. If your sticking pointis somewhere towards the top, using boards is a good idea as well

I never used to be a big fan of shoulder work because my shoulders got so much work from the benching, however I've changed my opinion on that one within the past 6 months or so. Pressing work can really help if it's done right and you can allow your shoulders to recover from the abuse

[vdizenzo]

Video of your lifting would be helpful. Also, you said you use a Westside style program. Could you elaborate on that.

[ehopkins932]

Pressing work can really help if it's done right and you can allow your shoulders to recover from the abuse

Could you elaborate on this and how to include shoulder work (and of what kind) into the standard full-lifter template?

[Travis Bell]

Could you elaborate on this and how to include shoulder work (and of what kind) into the standard full-lifter template?

Just keep the pressing work on your ME bench day. Barbell or dumbbell work is really your preference and I like to keep the rep ranges in the 6-8 rep range.

If you're a full meet lifter you just need to take into consideration what you plan on doing on your ME squat workout. If you're working with the straight bar, you need to experiment and see if your shoulders recover quick enough from the bench work to be fresh for squatting.

Things like increasing in mobility and massage will make a big difference in their recovery rates as well.