Very strong!
It is a pretty good set. I certainly can't do that right now though, in fairness to moi
, I have been unable to train since late '13 (long story). But before that, I had a good twenty years' hard lifting under my belt, and I like to think I learned a little along the way.
So...for starters, let me back up: when I call that a pretty good set, I don't mean that as a back-handed compliment. It is more controlled than most benching I've seen over the years; typically, gym rats I know will bounce the bar off their chests and try to dry hump the ceiling, especially when they get into doing a few reps with 225-275ish. And before I was sidelined, I saw an increasing number of stupid newbie jackoffs just doing the top half or maybe two-thirds of the ROM.
Also, the effort put forth was good. In my parlance, I'd call that technical failure.
However, for someone who constantly whines about lack of pecs as Matt does, I would have approached that set differently.
One, strip the weight to no more than 225. 185 would be even better to start because it'd give more room to add weight to the bar before getting back into progressively lower, but still productive, TUT ranges.
Two, pause each rep on the chest as if each rep was being judged in a powerlifting meet.
Three, lower the bar slower. 3 second negatives.
Four, only fully lock out those reps when nearing failure; otherwise, pause at the bottom, explode up just shy of lock out, then lower the fucker again.
~15 reps (or whatever) to near failure/going to the point you can't get another without help is plenty. A drop set to 135 for less strict, rapid-fire reps to really flush your pecs with a great pump would be all I'd do for flat benching.
Go on to a couple of hard sets of a pec deck, but again, do them RIGHT. I told you this weeks ago, Matt, and I ain't trying to be mean, but you filmed yourself doing a set of a machine fly motion. I think you said you were using the stack on that thing?
Wes and I both tried to correct your horrid form on that machine. You were doing partial reps AND hunching forward on every rep to boot!
Reduce the weight a LOT, get a good stretch at the bottom, and hold it for a couple of seconds, focusing on squeezing your pecs together...and for God's sake, when you're on the thing, Matt, keep your scapula back and try to point your chest to, again, the ceiling!
Two sets to failure, or one with a drop set.
Depending on training frequency, I'd do more than 3 or 4 such very hard sets twice/week, not including warm-up sets of course. On a once weekly schedule, I'd throw in dips for sure, though I think it's best to combine pecs and tris in so doing.
