Since I am going to try to get my ass back in the gym today and start with a big
chest day, I figured I would start a chest training thread. (Back training thread coming soon!)
Training chest is interesting for women, since most women do not bench press, and ones with implants are not supposed to. I actually LOVE to bench press big weight and I love to train chest.
I think that alot of women do not bench press because they have never tried it and are generally intimidated by the exercise. I think they also do not realize how much weight they could actually press. I can remember being in the gym several years ago (like prolly 6 or 7 years ago now), before I understood how heavy I can/should be lifting, and I was bench pressing the bar by itself (45 pounds lol). This guy came over to me and said, "You do realize that you can press WAY more weight than that, don't you?" I had no idea, as I had no understanding at that time how to lift big weight. He added 25 pounds to each side of the bar and spotted me...I was like WOW, that's pretty cool!
I don't have implants (yet), but I am nervous about what would happen to my chest workouts if I do ever get them. Anyway, that's definitely not what this thread is about...it's about training chest! (although if there are any fbbs out there who do have implants, I would love to hear what your chest workout looks like!)
I also love to do bench press competitions during my off-season (October - February), but I do not train like a power lifter, and I actually really don't know how to. I train like a BB even during the off-season when I am prepping for a bench press competition.
So what I would
REALLY like is some suggestions as to how I can modify my chest workout to train more for powerlifting. I need to learn the proper form, etc., and I need to train to maximize my numbers on the bench, and I really don't know how to do that in terms of modifying and/or focusing my training.
How do powerlifters train for big numbers? How often should I be trying to max out? etc.
My bench has suffered from my last contest prep, and I am still struggling to get it back up to last year's off-season numbers. I also have ONLY benched RAW - without a bench shirt. I want to get a bench shirt this year and train with it, but I do not know how to start training with one.
For the most part, my chest workouts are pretty simple. I stick to basic exercises, and I very rarely use any machines except for the pec-deck for flies.
-I warm up with two sets of
push-ups, one with a wide grip and one with a close grip. And I do a quick chest stretch.
-I always
bench press. I will very occasionally use dembells instead of the barbell. This is usually the first exercise I do, and I do four sets. Right now, my heavy sets are 135 pounds for about 8. Last off-season, my heavy sets were 165 pounds for about 6-8, and my max bench raw is about 185-190 pounds.
-I always do
incline presses. I always use dumbells. Three heavy sets.
-I
sometimes do two sets of
incline dumbell flies after the incline press. Not really heavy weight...I just do long sets (like 20) to get a good stretch before I press again.
-I will either do
decline bench press OR close grip bench press, depending on what mood I am in. Three sets of whichever I choose.
-I do either
pec deck or cable flies to end the workout. Three sets with a good stretch.
Not much variation...sometimes I will do some sets on the Hammer Strength incline press, but not very often.
IF I am going to miss a tricep workout during the week, then I will definitely do the close grip bench press, and I may add in three sets of weight-assisted tricep dips, as those also hit the chest pretty hard.
I'll add my current numbers later this week. And then I want to know how to get them UP. There is a bench meet on November 3 that I would love to be ready for, but I am not sure I will be.
