How much does your bench decrease after 1st work set?

[SacToSD]

I'm curious about this when I read people's bench logs, since I see a pyramid style like 225x10, 235x7, 245x5, 255x4 or sometimes straight sets of 10, 10, 9, 8 using the same weight... except for me, my bitch -- ahem -- "bench" seems to be more like this: 225x10, 235x5, 225x5, 215x6. I remember long ago when it wasn't like this, for me. It's starting to bother me, though, because I don't see as much of a decrease in strength/endurance after the 1st set for lots of other exercises. Am I alone?

 

[PharmGrown]

No.. Mine goes 285x8, 255x8, 225x8-10 depending on how i feel. And thats all I got that I can push out on each set.

 

[buselmo]

rest more between sets... you'd be surprised at how much strength you gain back with an extra minute of rest

 

[michelin]

.... 225x10, 235x5, 225x5, 215x6.....

why not stay on 235 for your 3rd set? why drop the weight?

you're only mentally confirming your own plateau by doing what you're doing right now.

next time you do bench try this - do your warm up sets and go straight to 235 and try and get 20 reps out in as little sets as you can. Next time do it in 3 sets and the next time you'll be upping the weight.

This works for me when I get stuck at a particular weight, I hope it works for you

 

[Lenny]

Agree, I think it boils down to rest in between sets. Resting Under 60 seconds and resting 2-5 minutes make a huge difference in how I perform my second set. Also, being properly warmed up.

 

[MSTR Painter]

Agree, I think it boils down to rest in between sets. Resting Under 60 seconds and resting 2-5 minutes make a huge difference in how I perform my second set. Also, being properly warmed up.

I agree..My sets go like this,warm-up 135-8,225-4,275-2,315-10 rest-pause 15 sec. than 2-4 more. I`ve been doing this for about six weeks and my strength has gone thru the roof.

 

[617ricky]

rest more between sets... you'd be surprised at how much strength you gain back with an extra minute of rest

Definitely true.. I work out at home, so sometimes I'm going like 5-8 minutes between sets.. I wonder if it's counter-productive tho, waiting like that.. So what I usually do is 3 sets with my normal wait time, then I do a 4th set like a minute after my 3rd, basically when I catch my breath.. I don't get many reps on that 4th set obviously, but that's where I totally go to failure..

 

[Pekkerwood]

rest more between sets... you'd be surprised at how much strength you gain back with an extra minute of rest

When I have lost my strength/size due to illness or laziness over the last twenty years, this was always one of my keys to getting my strength back quickly. I read Polquin's studies and rest times versus predicted weights lifted and back in the day, and I try to rest up to three minutes on heavy sets for hopefully a 90% recovery. I especially rest during the days I do negative sets only. I only do these when I am strying to build strength back.

Again this is personal, based on my one time reading of some things Polquin studied many ago (at least ten) as its been that long since someone borrowed/stole my book.

I do modify this as my strength regains acceptable, non puscadore levels back to a more modest rest period.

 

[shawnkarbabacz]

I thought i read somewhere a long time ago, that waiting 2 mins in between sets allows you to recover just as much as 4 mins, and it would take ACTUAL recovery to get more then about 70-75% of your strength back. I know i read something like this, but it was quite a while ago :/

On heavy lifts i usually wait about 1 and a half to 2 mins and i feel im ready to go again. If i wait longer i start losing the pump (mentally the pump helps me). What i personally find is its the next excercise that i tend to have trouble with the weight. Like if i do incline bench, then go to flat, my flat would be like 70% or so of what it is if i did it first. I guess that makes sense though....or that could be a tell tale sign that daunte and the low volume guys have it right....hmm...

 

[tkav1980]

i notice it more when i increase weight. for example last week was ...warm up......work set 365 x 8, 335 x 9, 315 x 12, fail on each set. this week..... 375x 8(spotter touched the bar near the top of last rep), 345 x 8, 315 x 9. i honestly believe that each week something different can be going on in your body that causes you to either excell or fall alittle short. but if you go to true positive failure on your 1 work set you should not be able to repeat that set again in the same work out. im chalking up my failure to the fact i woke up with a nasty head cold today.

 

[SacToSD]

Thanks for all the replies. I don't feel so bad, now. But, I like the guy's idea above about starting out with 235 then trying to get 20 reps in as few sets as possible... I'm always trying to figure out how to bump up my weights every week on the bench. Lately I've been trying to make it to 12 reps on the first set, and when I can do that, then I add another 5 lbs.

 

[dragonfire101]

mine weight goes up usually because I pyramid up, unless I'm doing 5 x 5 on the 4th and 5th set reps go down by 2.