How much wieght should I add and when? Bench press question.?

Question

Im 66 kg, 5ft 11 and I am currently benching 40kg, due to not having a spotter and the bench being in my shed. I was wondering how much weight I should add, like 4kg every month? or less?

Answer 1

I press with dumbells as i dont have a spotter too. It much harder and works many more assisting muscles.

My program works my chest once per week (trainign for strength and mass). Generally i try to add 2Kg to each arm every week......but that doesnt mean i can do it. on the whole 4kg per months sounds about right for you.

Answer 2

I think 4 kg, especially in a beginning lifter is a very achievable goal. When training a young athlete I have them increase their lifts by 1 kg once per week. The strength increases are not linear but in the course of a year most guys will add 80-120 lbs to their bench.

Answer 3

Aim to add a couple of pounds every week.

Go checkout http://www.cagedanimal.net  post your question in the beginners cage and you will get tons of relative info and support.

Answer 4

You should add 0.5kg every time you bench

Answer 5

Don't worry about a spotter too much.  I'm a powerlifter and I often train without a spotter.  I just don't go to failure so that I know I can rack the weight.

It's actually very simple.  Firstly, rep ranges for some muscle groups are different but for chest the best rep range is 5-7.  This is the best to build and gain some strength.  A good amount of sets is 3.  Later you can experiment with different reps and sets.

So I'll work with 40kg.  You have to add intensity in 2 ways.

1) With every set

2) With every workout.

There are 3 ways to increase intensity.

1) Do one more rep than last time

2) Add more weight than last time

3) Shorten the rest period.

Don't worry about 3 for now.

So you want to add 2.5-5kg per set.  Your body actually responds better to small increases.  So if you can lift 40kg for 6 sets on the last set then you have to start lower on the other 2.

So set 1 would be 35kg, set 2 would be 37.5kg and Set 3 would be 40kg.  

You would only add weight once you can do 7 reps on all 3 sets.

So lets say that this week you do 7 reps of 35, 6 reps of 37.5 and 7 reps of 40.  Next week try for 7 reps of 35, 7 reps of 27.5 and 6 or 7 reps of 40.  

Now you get to a week where you can do 7 reps at those weights for those 3 sets you have exhausted those weights.

Next week you would up everything by 2.5-5kg.  For now 2.5 is best, later you'll add 5,10,15+kg but that's much later.

You might find that you can do 7 already.  Next week just add another 2.5 until you can only do 5.  Then work your way up.

Just remember that sometimes you won't add another rep or weight.  It happens.  Don't stress about it.

Now those number might sound very low but if you add 2.5kg every 2 weeks that's 5 a month.  That's 60kg a year.  That means you'd be benching 100kg in a year.

Another important thing is to change your routine every 4-6 weeks.  Also take 1 full week off every 8-10 weeks.

I've been doing this for about 6 years now and I haven't hit a plateau in that time.

I can now bench 230 for 5 reps.  My 1 rep max is 260.

I know 40 sounds low but bare in mind I'm 54kg heavier than you and I've been doing this for years.

Just keep doing what I told you and you'll be benching the big numbers in no time.

Answer 6

Add weight whenever you can.  You should be trying to add weight to the bar every workout.  If your not pushing yourself hard and trying to add weight, your gonna make very poor progress.

Answer 7

Try your best to do like 13reps on a high weights but then after increase the weights but lower the reps and then so on, this will effect your body rapidly if you are aiming to get big, this is calld the triangular workout or the pyrimid workout, look it up for more info... glad to help :)

Answer 8

less

Answer 9

im 56kg at 5ft 7 and benchin 85kg with no spotter

Answer 10

Try to add a little after every other workout, at least 2.5 - 5lbs.