Bench press strength training for ORM

[3084life]

I have been competing as a bench only guy for a while now, and just started on trt, with a little + added in. 54, 6'1, 290ish pounds. Max comp bench was in Dec of last year 197.5/435.something. After that meet I had 1/2 my thyroid removed and my strength shit the bed! For my last meet prep I ad 3 bench days, M/W/F Monday is a heavy day, barx20, 70x8, 120x5, and then working sets start at 85% ORM for 4x3, 90% 2x2, and 90% 2x1. 95% 1x1 all long 2-3 second pauses an all reps. Every week I add 1kg to all sets until failure and then I back the first working set back to 3x3 until failure. Then the top sets stay stationary until I'm able to complete the series without failure, then back to adding 1kg a week.
Wed is light weight "high volume ish". Bar x20 70x8 120x5 then working sets are 72.5% 6x6, 87.5% 2x3 95% 1x1 following the same flow as monday with the 1gk per week... All reps are touch and go but no bouncing.
Friday follows the same warm up but then the safeties get moved up and I do close grip pin presses' with a complete release at the bottom of every rep. 130x5, 140x5, 150x5, 160x5 and 170 ARAP usually 2-3, every other friday I'll bust out the sling and load up 225 for a couple sets of 5 or 6, and a couple 275 doubles, full paused reps and a couple 600 doubles

M and F has tri orentineted dips at full depth for 4 sets of 20, W has lower chest orentineted dips with just the top portion being done for 4 sets of 20.

Took me from 175 in June to 197.5 in December (the trt helped a bit)

Between every set on every day there is a pulling movement, either upper back rear delt cable pulls, lat pulls using different hand placements, and landmine pull with a double D handle.
Unfortunately this kicks the shit out of my front and middle delts. I have a couple torn cuff tendons but nothing worth going under the knife for. NPP has helped a bit but this thyroid issue has me kicked in the ass!
I'm 5 weeks out from the surgery and 415 kicked my ass this past tuesday at a PL gym I'm starting to go to to work on my equipped benching.
With 8 weeks to go till my next meet my shot at taking the record at it is looking pretty dim. I need a 450lb or about a 202kg (this fed uses lb and not kg). I don't think I have enough time or halo (joking) to make that happen if 415 is a struggle.

Not sure where I was going with all that but... I thought I'd start a thread to track how I do and where I end up at the meet.

 

[3084life]

So 2 weeks later and 415 went smooth as butter, 435 moved 3 inches off my chest and died. So a few things are going on. My sticking point was always in the top 1/4 of the press never off the chest, so i'm shocked that 435 is so much heavier than 415 that it stuck that low. A banded 605 and a 645 went pretty smooth right after the 435 failure so triceps are still there but the pecs are shitting the bed. Not sure how to deal with that other then to beat the shit out of the bottom of the movement. I'm 6 weeks out and really wanted that 450 but at this rate I'm not sure it's going to be there. I still need to factor in the week rest before the meet and the on stage bump, so it's still possible I guess.

 

[genetic freak]

I competed in, placed and won several powerlifting meets (nothing super competitive). I always trained as a powerbuilder instead of a powerlifter, so I am always fascinated with powerlifting training styles. I always wondered if I could have held my own with the bigger names if I would have focused on powerlifting. I really didn't have much choice though, as being in the Marines and infantry on top of that, I still had to have a lot of muscle endurance.

Good luck brother! I hope you stick that 450.

 

[rawdeal]

I have been competing as a bench only guy for a while now, and just started on trt, with a little + added in. 54, 6'1, 290ish pounds. Max comp bench was in Dec of last year 197.5/435.something. After that meet I had 1/2 my thyroid removed and my strength shit the bed! For my last meet prep I ad 3 bench days, M/W/F Monday is a heavy day, barx20, 70x8, 120x5, and then working sets start at 85% ORM for 4x3, 90% 2x2, and 90% 2x1. 95% 1x1 all long 2-3 second pauses an all reps. Every week I add 1kg to all sets until failure and then I back the first working set back to 3x3 until failure. Then the top sets stay stationary until I'm able to complete the series without failure, then back to adding 1kg a week.
Wed is light weight "high volume ish". Bar x20 70x8 120x5 then working sets are 72.5% 6x6, 87.5% 2x3 95% 1x1 following the same flow as monday with the 1gk per week... All reps are touch and go but no bouncing.
Friday follows the same warm up but then the safeties get moved up and I do close grip pin presses' with a complete release at the bottom of every rep. 130x5, 140x5, 150x5, 160x5 and 170 ARAP usually 2-3, every other friday I'll bust out the sling and load up 225 for a couple sets of 5 or 6, and a couple 275 doubles, full paused reps and a couple 600 doubles

M and F has tri orentineted dips at full depth for 4 sets of 20, W has lower chest orentineted dips with just the top portion being done for 4 sets of 20.

Took me from 175 in June to 197.5 in December (the trt helped a bit)

Between every set on every day there is a pulling movement, either upper back rear delt cable pulls, lat pulls using different hand placements, and landmine pull with a double D handle.
Unfortunately this kicks the shit out of my front and middle delts. I have a couple torn cuff tendons but nothing worth going under the knife for. NPP has helped a bit but this thyroid issue has me kicked in the ass!
I'm 5 weeks out from the surgery and 415 kicked my ass this past tuesday at a PL gym I'm starting to go to to work on my equipped benching.
With 8 weeks to go till my next meet my shot at taking the record at it is looking pretty dim. I need a 450lb or about a 202kg (this fed uses lb and not kg). I don't think I have enough time or halo (joking) to make that happen if 415 is a struggle.

Not sure where I was going with all that but... I thought I'd start a thread to track how I do and where I end up at the meet.

and 415 kicked my ass this past tuesday at a PL gym I'm starting to go to to work on my equipped benching.
With 8 weeks to go till my next meet my shot at taking the record at it is looking pretty dim. I need a 450lb or about a 202kg (this fed uses lb and not kg). I don't think I have enough time or halo (joking) to make that happen if 415 is a struggle.

Not sure where I was going with all that but... I thought I'd start a thread to track how I do and where I end up at the meet.

That highlighted in red part above caught my eye. If quality of life for many of us can be defined by how good we look or by how much we can lift, your 54yo young ass might wanna guard against the too-eager-too-soon approach. The transition from unequipped to the Shirt can be seductive ... and misleading.

Lotta guys here have lifted big weights in PL or "just" in bb, and there's lots of discussion available here about injuries, aging, surgeries, recovering, etc. from them who did that when they were at where you (seem) to be now.

my .02, which is currently trading @ .01, but be careful out there .....

 

[searay]

You are way over training. Thats why you have shoulder injuries. Recovering from 1 rep max takes 10-14 days. Train your bench 1 x per wk and I guarantee your max will shoot up higher than ever. Check out Dante Trudel's Dogg Shit rest pause training which is a M-W-F workout. 1 week you bench m+f, 2nd wk w, 3rd wk m+f, 4th wk w, etc. The other days are legs which you could just do cardio or light legs. Deep squats will expand your chest for more muscle growth.

 

[genetic freak]

You are way over training. Thats why you have shoulder injuries. Recovering from 1 rep max takes 10-14 days. Train your bench 1 x per wk and I guarantee your max will shoot up higher than ever. Check out Dante Trudel's Dogg Shit rest pause training which is a M-W-F workout. 1 week you bench m+f, 2nd wk w, 3rd wk m+f, 4th wk w, etc. The other days are legs which you could just do cardio or light legs. Deep squats will expand your chest for more muscle growth.

Yep. DC training is the powerbuilding I was talking about and it was the strongest I had ever been. At 255 lbs, again not even training as a powerlifter, I hit 505 lbs bench, 710 lbs squat and 730 lbs deadlift at a meet. The squat and deadlift were and will forever be my PRs. I hit 545 lbs on bench with an Inzer denim shirt in the gym at 230 lbs.

Now if I can't lift it for at least 8 reps I won't even think about touching it.

 

[3084life]

You are way over training. Thats why you have shoulder injuries. Recovering from 1 rep max takes 10-14 days. Train your bench 1 x per wk and I guarantee your max will shoot up higher than ever. Check out Dante Trudel's Dogg Shit rest pause training which is a M-W-F workout. 1 week you bench m+f, 2nd wk w, 3rd wk m+f, 4th wk w, etc. The other days are legs which you could just do cardio or light legs. Deep squats will expand your chest for more muscle growth.

Odd. I followed that type of training cycle, mixed in with others for about 3 years and it got me to a 380 bench. As soon as I moved to the one I'm at now I flew up to 435 comp with a few pounds left in the tank, 450 gym ( they don't count I know) in under 8 months. The delt issues are from decades old injuries, there is pain but not enough to stop me or get them corrected. They just limit my volume, pecs and tris are never the limiting factor the delts just peeter out but no more then when I was doing the one day a week benching. I'm thinking the increase in NPP up to 40mg a day is really doing its job this go around because the delts are feeling pretty good over since I upped the dose. I might pay the price after this cycle but fingers crossed.

 

[3084life]

That highlighted in red part above caught my eye. If quality of life for many of us can be defined by how good we look or by how much we can lift, your 54yo young ass might wanna guard against the too-eager-too-soon approach. The transition from unequipped to the Shirt can be seductive ... and misleading.

Lotta guys here have lifted big weights in PL or "just" in bb, and there's lots of discussion available here about injuries, aging, surgeries, recovering, etc. from them who did that when they were at where you (seem) to be now.

my .02, which is currently trading @ .01, but be careful out there .....

While I'm not actively looking to do any more damage I'm not willing to wait and waste time I have in hopes that one day I'll be better. There's an old proverb Butist I believe about a broken glass, that I tend to live by. Basically it boils down to living while you can and not for a future no one can guarantee. Now that doesn't mean I'm going to do something stupid. I've been in gear for about 4 years now so it's not new, I just found a place that is focused on equipped lifting, in hopes that I can advance safely. Unracking 650 by myself was NOT safe, but when there's no one to help...

 

[genetic freak]

When my shoulders started bothering me a lot I switched to reverse grip for a while to give them a break. Not exactly the same pressing movement, but you get pec activation and I actually came back a lot stronger than before.

 

[3084life]

When my shoulders started bothering me a lot I switched to reverse grip for a while to give them a break. Not exactly the same pressing movement, but you get pec activation and I actually came back a lot stronger than before.

It's been awhile since I did reverse grip. I might have to add some in.

 

[searay]

When my shoulders started bothering me a lot I switched to reverse grip for a while to give them a break. Not exactly the same pressing movement, but you get pec activation and I actually came back a lot stronger than before.

I would switch to db for awhile to heal up. The ability to keep your palms turned in takes alot of pressure off your shoulders.

 

[searay]

Yep. DC training is the powerbuilding I was talking about and it was the strongest I had ever been. At 255 lbs, again not even training as a powerlifter, I hit 505 lbs bench, 710 lbs squat and 730 lbs deadlift at a meet. The squat and deadlift were and will forever be my PRs. I hit 545 lbs on bench with an Inzer denim shirt in the gym at 230 lbs.

Now if I can't lift it for at least 8 reps I won't even think about touching it.

Your the first person who has ever 'replied' to a post I made about DC training. The first time I used it I had a big increase in my bench. An all time high. I was gaining strength so fast I ended up hurting my shoulder and needing surgery for a tendon repair. I haven't used it since but my shoulders are finally good to go, thanks to BPC157. Highly recommended. I didn't use tb500 with it because I'm on GH.