How Much You Bench?
- Thread starter Furious B
- Start date
General Zod
Ruler of Australia
While I'd agree that diet is the most overlooked, underappreciated aspect of body building, I'd suggest you've made the opposite mistake and devalued training. Diet fuels muscle growth and determines body fat percentages, but a perfect diet without training won't grow your muscles in the slightest. I'd say body building is equal parts diet and training, with a very small percentage being supplementation.
To Furious B's original question, I'd say track what you eat using Firday.com. It's free, simple, and will help you recognize how what you eat impacts your body. What works for one person, is less effective for the next. As a general rule of thumb, if size is what you're after, attempt to get 18 calories per pound of body weight. Make sure to take in 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. Try to get your fats from healthy sources; avacados, nuts, fish oils, etc. Try to get your carbs in the morning and your fats at night.
If size and strength is what you're after, why not try an established program, by someone whose put a lot of thought into it, rather than just making up a program out of thin air? Here's the program I'm currently using, it's called MaxOT:
AST Sports Science - Max-OT Course: Table of Contents
You'll need to sign up, but it's free to do so. Although they push their supplements, the program is very solid and thought very highly of within the online body building community. It's built on the principles of low reps, heavy weight and high intensity.
You should also consider what your ultimate goal is, as it will impact how you should approach training. For me, I could care less how much I can lift. I lift purely for the aesthetic value. I'd much prefer to look like I can bench 500 pounds than actually be able to do so. There are a lot of the guys who work out at my gym, who lift more, but who don't look anywhere near as good. Of course, there are also guys who lift less and look better.
As for the thread title, I haven't done a one rep set since I was 17. I have no interest in ruining a lift day to find out what my max is. Lately, when I do flat barbell bench, my last two sets are with 225. I follow that with three incline dumbell press sets with two 90 pound dumbells.
Zod
General Zod
Ruler of Australia
Declines (from what I've read), should be used sparingly. For starters, there are a lot of people who feel that any exercise that puts you upside down, with blood flowing towards your head, is inherently bad. As for flat vs. incline, I do both (all heavy sets). When it comes to chest day, I'll start with flat barbell bench and than do incline dumbells. Every few weeks I switch and do incline barbell first and then flat dumbells. I'll occasionally finish up with one heavy set of decline.
Zod
Krilons Resa
Jerry's married?!
Of course I did. My aim was to pummel the diet aspect into the mind. Im sure people wouldnt map out an intricate diet scheme without picking up a weight.
General Zod
Ruler of Australia
Fair enough. For packing on size, if that's your goal, the diet aspect can't be overstressed. On one of the body building sites I like to frequent, they like to say, "You gain muscle mass in the kitchen, not in the gym.".
Zod
Krilons Resa
Jerry's married?!
J.
Old Fart
thanks for the info guys! really appreciate it. i've been tearing it up on the food lately so hopeful i'll be able to reach my goal this year. i think i'm going to have to bite the bullet on this one and get a gym membership though.
peanuts are, but from my understanding, should be in low quantities. things are high in protei, but have a lot of fat. i believe it's still "good" fat. (i.e. not trans fatties like your mom).
peanuts are, but from my understanding, should be in low quantities. things are high in protei, but have a lot of fat. i believe it's still "good" fat. (i.e. not trans fatties like your mom).
dorian gray
Returning videotapes
- Apr 8, 2004
- 21,258
- 489
- 83
Fat is tasty.
Furious B: do you have a place to keep your own weight bench? You can get a heavy bench and squat rack and a 300 lb Olypmic weight set for the price of a year membership to your typical gym. That's what I did but had to give it away when I moved to a smaller place
Anyway, it may sound silly but at least you'd own your equipment instead of lining someone else's pockets every year
Furious B: do you have a place to keep your own weight bench? You can get a heavy bench and squat rack and a 300 lb Olypmic weight set for the price of a year membership to your typical gym. That's what I did but had to give it away when I moved to a smaller place
Anyway, it may sound silly but at least you'd own your equipment instead of lining someone else's pockets every year
General Zod
Ruler of Australia
General Zod
Ruler of Australia
The gym vs. home gym, for me, is about more than simply money. I get motivated watching others, seeing what they've accomplished. In addition, you'll never be able to constuct a home gym that's going to allow you to do everything you want to do, without spending way more than what you would with a gym membership.Furious B: do you have a place to keep your own weight bench? You can get a heavy bench and squat rack and a 300 lb Olypmic weight set for the price of a year membership to your typical gym. That's what I did but had to give it away when I moved to a smaller place
Zod
JayKeeley
Be still, O wand'rer!
Man, we need a thread dedicated to getting fit, lean, and healthy WITHOUT bulking up!! I can't afford a new wardrobe, I want to fit into my clothes I was wearing 10 years ago!
[/notkidding]
[/notkidding]
Furious B: do you have a place to keep your own weight bench? You can get a heavy bench and squat rack and a 300 lb Olypmic weight set for the price of a year membership to your typical gym. That's what I did but had to give it away when I moved to a smaller place
See, that's the problem: no room. But I want to own. plus, one of the reasons i now want a gym membership is that it gets me into an environment conducive for training. just like what Zod said. it'll keep me motivated.
General Zod
Ruler of Australia
The fitness aspect of it is all the same. Lift heavy, lift heavy, lift heavy some more, and do 20 minutes of cardio three times a week. Putting size on, maintaining your physique and cutting body fat, all come back to the same thing; caloric intake. As a rule of thumb, take in 15 calories per pound to maintain, 18 to gain, and 12 to cut. Tweak those numbers slightly as you find effective. Eat 1.5 - 2.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight. You'll find probably find that eating that much protein is 30% of your allotted calories for the day. The remaining 70% should be broken down 40% carbs and 30% fats (<--- the healthier the better). Again, tweak these numbers slightly and slowly as they benefit you personally. Philosophically, it's really that simple.Man, we need a thread dedicated to getting fit, lean, and healthy WITHOUT bulking up!! I can't afford a new wardrobe, I want to fit into my clothes I was wearing 10 years ago!
For you personally JK, given what you told me about how you were lifting, I hope you changed it a bit. With any exercise, you want be utilizing training programs that advocated failing between at no more than 10 reps. Anything more than that won't stimulate effective muscle growth (rep ranges beyond 10 are for endurance training). It's muscle that burns calories and has the most dramatic impact on reshaping your body.
Zod
Dazed and Brutal
Yall About to Witness
I have to lift a lot for football (which I still have no idea why I even bother to play it) so my flat bench is about 275, but I'm much better on squat.
J.
Old Fart
Thanks for the info. I eat a lot of 'em. I also eat a shitload of almonds., which I've heard are good for a bod.
I don't eat peanut butter too often at all.
dorian gray
Returning videotapes
- Apr 8, 2004
- 21,258
- 489
- 83
Yeah, it *is* way more fun to work out where other people are working out, especially when you're all the same type of lifter. As for doing everything you want to do, that'd be true if you're into stuff like bent over dumbell rows but lifting just for lifting's sake, all you need is a squat rack, a bench, and a big set of weights. It's well-documented that so-called "isolation" movements don't do shit. Your muscle either contracts or it doesn't. It either moves the extremity in one direction or it doesn't. People may enjoy doing 12 different exercises for their biceps, and that's cool. I understand the appeal, but it's simply not necessary.
General Zod
Ruler of Australia
I'd agree, for the most part, with this. As my dad use to say, "If you can bench squat 800, bench 500 and curl 300, you'll be huge all over."
Nail meet head. I've heard it taken further, and argued that isolation exercises are actually dangerous, as it's unnatural for your body to do anything in isolation. I laugh at some of the the silly exercises I see people doing at the gym. It's one thing if you're training for competition and are doing both morning and evening sessions. For everyone else, isolation movement are a complete waste of time. That said, I do like to change up how I approach my compound exercises, to keep both my mind and body guessing.
Zod
dorian gray
Returning videotapes
- Apr 8, 2004
- 21,258
- 489
- 83
Interesting point. Makes sense to me.
I've been out of lifting for so long that I've forgotten the names of most of the silly exercises but there are some funny ones out there. My brother used to have this contraption that he could wear on his head and attach weights to it, to work out his neck muscles. Looked extremely dangerous to me. He used it once and that was it.
Similar threads
