Bad in bench press

[jakesmith99]

Hi all,

Im a 33y/o male, go to classes 4/5 times a week and I suck at push ups and bench press. I would say my deadlift is decent (1rm 170kg), but I can’t bench press more than 70kg. In addition, when push ups are part of the WOD, I already know that this will fuck my pace. Looking for suggestions to get stronger.

Should I focus on adding more weight each time when training the bench press? Or should I increase reps with current weight. Maybe switch a class with a strength training?

Thanks

 

[dawn16]

@jakesmith99 Are you me?

 

[kcpaint2]

@dawn16 Am I you?

 

[noname5137]

@dawn16 Im going to piggy back here because there isnt much useful info down there and I took the time to write something helpful out.

You dont want to wait until you're fatigued, post work out to do the thing you need to progress. You also dont want to focus too much energy on something like bench press/push ups when you have a wod to do. You also probably wont do another work out because you would have done that already if you could.

My favorite way to add volume without overtraining is to add progressive overload in a warm up. Matt Wenning talks about it a lot, and he knows a thing or two about bench press.

I did 3 sets x 20-25 reps of db bench press with say 20lbs on monday, wednesday, and friday. Monday with decline bench, wednesday with flat bench, Friday with incline. Or, flat, 45 degree incline, 60 degree incline. Then, next week do 25lbs.

You can do that with progressively lower ring push ups, parallette push up progressions, handstand push up progressions, dips, weighted dips, weighted ring dips, etc.

I prefer to do this after more of a mobility warm up and some light conditioning to get the heart rate up, but before working up to a working weight for my strength stuff.

For a crossfit class setting, I'd get in a little early, get my mobility work in, do a little heart rate warm up (row/bike/jog) and then do my sets in a quiet corner. Dont rest much between sets - 1 minute should be plenty.

For mid-wod thoughts, break up your push ups into workable sets. If its 20 push ups and you can only do 10, dont do 10 reps. Do 4 sets of 5 with like 2 breaths between sets. Might end up as 5-5-3-2, but its better than 10-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1

 

[inthewoods]

@dawn16 I was literally going to say the same thing. 170kg deadlift, 122.5kg back squat, 70 kg bench press. 52yo, 83kg male. My overhead press ain't great either

 

[novihartanti]

@jakesmith99 CrossFit is not strength training. If you want to get a bigger bench press, train that. If you want to get better at push ups, train that.

I can bench 315# but I'm still susceptible to push up fatigue.

 

[jam216]

@novihartanti I too will highlight the difference. When my max bench was my body weight, I could crank out 50+ push-ups. It’s now 1.5x body weight and I don’t know if I could do 30 or 35 straight.

 

[nihao]

@jakesmith99 I work on my bench twice weekly, I went from 175lbs to 260lbs in a year and a half. I recently started targeting my triceps with body weight dips as another avenue for increasing my bench, seems to be helping.

 

[joyanta001]

@nihao What kind of rep scheme/program have you been following?

 

[nihao]

@joyanta001 Week 1 Work up to 5x5 at 75% of my next pr goal on Monday followed by 3x5 at 85% on Wednesday
Week 2 5x3 at 85 Monday then 3x1 at 90 Wednesday
Week 3 3x1 at 90 Monday then pr attempt Wednesday, if successful, rinse repeat, if not then another week a 5x5 85 both days and a pr attempt the following Monday.

This is my general approach, in the fall, September to December, our box does Juggernaut strength programming, progressive periodization, I threw bench into it as well, broke a hard plateau at 245 going to 255 with Juggernaut. Added 5 more lbs last month. I've got a pr attempt coming this Wednesday, wish me luck!

 

[tawananyasha]

@jakesmith99 I do push-ups randomly throughout the day if I’m at home hanging out, just sets of 12-15, whatever I’m feeling. They’ve gotten easier and easier and I can now do way more pushups consecutively than I could a couple months ago.

 

[bagr4]

@tawananyasha Oh man im starting this now. Its embarrassing

 

[mcewan_15]

@jakesmith99 CrossFit rarely uses the bench/bench press...but CF uses lots of pushups.

 

[bluemind84]

@mcewan_15 This is why I do at least 2 body building style workouts a week. I’m not doing competitions anymore so I just do what makes it fun for me. And CrossFit classes alone misses some things

 

[mcewan_15]

@bluemind84 Yep...depending on individual goes, an athlete may have to supplement. Which I think would be the case for an fitness program.

 

[bluemind84]

@mcewan_15 Even if you look at top competitors they are doing static lifting that is often not present in a CrossFit class.

I’ve watched training videos of games athletes doing dumbbell flies. When have you ever seen that in any CrossFit class? Like maybe if you happen to be on a bench training plan for a few weeks and if your coach has some traditional lifting experience and added them in…..maybe? But I’ve never seen it.

They are doing those lifts like curls, tricep extensions, lateral raises. Things normally associated with bodybuilding but obviously have a functional component to individually strengthen

 

[lovemychildren21]

@jakesmith99 In my experience pushups and benchpress are 2 different things. Finding ways to do super high volume with pushups makes a world of difference like 20 sets of 20 twice a week, and a evening session of 100 two and three pump burpies without a jump at a slower pace to make Shure you get em in 4 or 5 times a week. While I have used this to excel at pushups, and muscle stamina it didn't really help my 1rm bench at all. The only thing I've found that helps that is to back cardio quite a bit and run powerlifting bench programs and gain a little weight while running them

 

[pterinochilus]

@jakesmith99 This sounds familiar lol. A decent bench will be the end of me!

 

[dustin44]

@jakesmith99 If you want to build your bench press and push ups, I highly recommend strict dips and weighted strict dips. I prefer doing them on rings but bar dips work too. You’ll see a significant difference pretty quickly doing these a couple times a week

 

[shanelg94]

@jakesmith99 You get better at bench press by bench pressing more often and, more generally, by more chest volume (and to a lesser extend triceps).

Crossfit only rarely programs bench press, nor any other heavy chest exercise. All that overhead work does not translate well to bench press.
Thus, to improve your bench press, you'd need to do some additional strength training.