A little worried about bench

[AdamJM]

My bench press seems to have like stalled at 195 lbs, which isn't even close to enough. As a matter of fact I have to be up to 205 in 2 weeks from today. So what suggestions can you all give me. I currently work chest twice a week and max out first then do three sets as much weight as I can manage 6 reps each.

The funniest piece of advice I ever heard someone give to a question like that is "Push Harder!". Unfortuantely, it ain't that easy.

Try some heavy partials. Get into a rack and set the pins so the bar will be about 6" from lockout. Put about 250 pounds on the bar and do sets of 10 to 20 reps. You will be in the strongest position on your bench press and the weight will move for you. Next workout, add some more weight, and so on. By the time you get back to regular benching 200 won't seem like that much. Give it a try, it works!

[Piper]

what do you mean? put more weight on and then partially lift them?

[Fudomyo]

I've had good luck with a set of 4-6. Then 4 sets of 2. (All after warming up, of course).

I'm pretty sure I got that from Arnold's book but it works great. The only workout advice of his that helped me. Luckily you have only 1 workout to find out. :S

Fudo

Yes, put the weight on and just push it from the very last 6 inches to lockout. You don't want to try a full movement bench press with this. It is only the very last portion of the exercise. By using the heavier weights when you go back to your regular weight it doesn't feel as intimidating. Old time strong men used to use that technique to add pounds to their lifts.

If it wasn't for the time constraint, I'd say trying going down in weight for a couple weeks, then try again.

But dont overtrain, or you might not be able to lift 205 when the time comes in two weeks.

[AdamJM]

Ironman, should I do this on chest day or what? Also should it replace bench press for a week or just suppliment it?

[Lee J B]

Arnolds Book ? where can i see this , whats it called , and are we talking about that terminator guy?

Adam - I would do them on chest day and substitue them for regular benches. Do the same amount of sets you are doing now but keep the partial reps up between 10 and 20.

Lee - same guy, wrote the book "The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding". Here is a link to view it: amazon.com