Strength / Weight Training

Makes sense. I just need a kick in the arse to get back at any lifting.

400kg bench

???

1.5 * bodyweight is pretty normal

Just riffing on dst2's comment. Still chipping away at 140.

Is this you?? 😂😂😂

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Or the imposter?? 😂😂😂

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Cultivating that much mass might be my only option soon!

Eddie had no issues with a little inflation 😂😂

My bench makes me very sad at the moment, shoulder injury makes it an absolute nightmare. Hoping it will get better soon.

Man, this hits hard. Anytime load is enough to make real progress and something flairs up. Inch by inch brother

Edit: it's not affecting overhead for your comp coming up is it?

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Legs today. Killer. Probably won’t be walking tomorrow.

Nah overhead is fine for some reason. I think cause it's all push press and the pain is mainly in the bottom of any movement so it's a bit bypassed.

Gonna see a physio that another strongman has recommended and hope that they can help.

I'm sort of new to all this (44 year old male) and am trying to built up my upper body.. due to the fact I'm pretty skinny and also have osteoporosis and weight bearing exercises are good to increase bone mass. I have a bar with various weights, squat rack, bench, and pull-up bar..

What's the best way to increase my weights on benchpress and in general? doing 3 x 12 sets of a weight for a week, then just trying to jump up by 5Kg or adding more reps in?? or trying to go heavier with 5 x 5 or similar?? I seem to get stuck at the same weight range for all exercises..

Trying to up my protein and using shakes to do this daily..

I would start by keeping a log. 3x12 is great. Keep doing it. Include a warm up set or 2 of 20 reps. If you can go up in weight, do it. If not. Try an extra rep. If you can get in a few extra reps, increase the weight marginally.

It'll seem like you're not progressing. But just keep at it. If you're new, you don't have to worry about plateaus yet. Progressing takes time. Gaining weight takes time.

If you're interested in body weight/ bone density, don't stress about always having to increase your weight on the bar.

After a hiatus I started lifting again at the end of last year with 3x10 but eventually hit a plateau - just couldn't manage to increase the volume with the higher reps after a while.

Recently gone back to 5x5 and managed to increase the weight a bit in a few weeks, 1kg at a time but still creeping up - give it a try & see how it goes, I certainly find it easier to increase with lower reps & higher weights for a similar overall volume e.g. 65kg 3x10 = 1950kg vs 75kg 5x5 = 1875kg total.

5kg jumps sounds like too much though - especially if you're struggling to add more weight, the little 0.5 / 1kg plates are your friends here - try increasing by 1 or 2kg each time & maybe break down the exercises into different days, 4 consecutive days of bench won't allow the mucscles enough time to recover & will also hinder your progress.

Edit: Yeah, also - what chainbreaker said, adding reps is also adding weight (total volume) so don't necessarily get hung up on lifting more & more weight

The initial warm-up set / sets? Is that the same weight?? I had been doing a single set of 12 with just the bar - 7ft Olympic.. which is about 13kg.. then adding 5kg, doing a set, then adding 10kg, doing a set, then adding 20kg and doing my 3 sets.. I'm only a wee fella LOL.. 65kg.. so not expecting massive weights or gains.. just hoping to try and be consistent.. and grow a bit and increase both my weight and also lifting weight..

The 5kg jump is purely because of what 2" weights I have.. so maybe just trying extra reps until I can take the jump..

Maybe HAVE A LOOK at Stronglifts to see warm up and progression. You do not necessarily have to do the program.

Olympic bar should be 20kg I think.

Gotcha - you could even mix it up & do your regular 3x12 or whatever then add the 5kg and do a single set at the higher weight, see if you can increase the reps there

Don't feel wedded to always doing 3x12, or 3x8, or whatever. Change it up. Change the weight. Have fun with it.

Go heavy some days. Go light others.

Doing that was a revelation for me, and made progression way less of an an anally retentive and tedious grind.

Ours is only 7ft to fit in the shed.. :-) so think it's around 13kg..

Thanks for all the input.. plenty of info to get me going..

You can also add bands to a benchpress to increase resistance but not buy more plates.
There's also the mental blocker to get over - the thought of not being able to push the bar up can be pretty major and so if you're plateauing around here then that could be a cause. Could someone spot you? I had been stuck at 80kg bench and finally just asked someone to spot me the other day and push out 86kg for 5 reps. shouldve swallowed my pride and done it a couple weeks ago!