Been doing SS for a few weeks now

So does every other lifter you fucking mong. Do you think that there is any money in the "sport"? Even the top guys in the IPF have full time jobs. Are you retarded?

Bench press is the best exercise for developing chest strength, if you want the strongest chest you can get you need to bench. Unfortunately, it's also not so great for your shoulders and isn't a very natural movement for the body, but most of the time the benefits tend to outweigh the negatives if all you care about is strength. If you don't really care that much about strength (but I assume you do since you are doing ss) there are plenty of other excersices that you can do instead that will give good results for size or general fitness. I know that there are a few elite level bodybuilders that avoid bench entirely and opt for isolation exercises instead.

Personal rant, the chest is the most overdeveloped muscle in most people, one of the main problems being too much of an emphasis on bench and having a big chest as a measure of strength or physique. It causes some postural issues such as pulling the shoulders forward if the rear delts and back aren't developed enough to compensate, and if you are benching regularly they probably will never be able to catch up. I think that the obsession with bench pressing is kinda stupid. Peronally, I still bench, but I put much less emphasis on it than other lifts or muscle groups. Take this advise as you will.

Sorry about the spelling. I'm slightly messed up on cold medication and lack of sleep right now.

It's definitely a good idea to do as many sets of rows as sets of bench. Most lifters don't do this. Based on my observations, a good 90% of people have some degree of internal shoulder rotation. I'm a completely skelly DYEL and my chest still looks bigger than average in clothes because I'm one of the very few people with correct shoulder positioning.

That's some pretty solid advice. I may work it into my routine if I can figure out a good way to do it.

>2.5plate deadlift
>2plate squat
>still struggling with 1plate on bench
What am I doing wrong?

Another thing people do is do pull downs or chins and think they are balancing pull to push ratio. But lats are connected in front of the shoulder so they actually pull your posture forward if overdeveloped.

Retract the fuckin' scapulae

Probably the beard mang

I watched his videos when I started lifting and I feel like he gave more information on form than most youtubers do, but maybe that's just because I haven't watched every single video of every single fitness channel ever lol

The chest does most of the work at the very bottom of the rep.

So if you're doing a powerlifting style with a big arch, short ROM, and leg drive to get it out the hole, then you're barely working chest at all.

Don't be one of those fuckwits who lifts their feet off the ground, but if you want chest gains, get rid of the massive arch and use less leg drive. You'll push less weight, but if your goal is a bigger chest, that shouldn't matter.

nigga are you me??

>tfw
ohp 135, bench 175, squat 365, dead 385
get on my shitty chest level

Massive arch is not needed but a good arch is. It's key to getting them there scapulae retracted proper like and keeping proper bar path. So get a healthy arch going but no need to overdo it.

This dude's got the right idea. I went to a doctor for a shoulder injury and the guy completely evaluated my posture from head to toe just because he was a good guy. My back was arched, my shoulders rolled forward, and my neck as well. Dude told me to fix my form and I'd have less aches and pains, and sure enough he was right. Plus, Idk it may just be me, but standing up straight with your chest out and shoulders pulled back (to a natural position in line with your back, not some autist tier naruto running stance) gives a feeling of confidence. I've noticed a difference between that and bad posture even at higher/lower bf%. Always had better reception with good posture.

But yeah, work your back, don't neglect rows, sit up straight when you're sitting down, and stand straight.

Because it's a competition movement in Powerlifting and let's be honest it's the staple in literally every goddamn program in the gym since the dawn of modern barbell training. The only reason he didn't throw shit like Curls in the program is because he wanted to focus on compound movements for starting lifters.

Hell Rippy admits to the Dumbbell Bench being "better" in the damn book.

>Why is BP important?

Because if you don't Benchpress you're a fucking pussy.

>tfw
ohp 125, bench 225, squat 170, dead 300
get on my shitty everything level.

>dumbbell bench better
WOT. Is this for real?

What the hell same here.
DL and squat are way up, but bench is like yours

bench will fuck the shoulders so i'd drop it.
deadlift too, backsnapper, drop it.
squats is exploding knees, dropped.
ohp will fuck your shoulders too, drop.

power cleans are all you need

Nigga are you me?
Why can't you squat?

because exactly what rip said in the book nigga. you can bench MORE. more weight equates to more gains

i would always go quicker than I should and would fuck up my back. Now just doing 5 lbs a week added on. slowly ramping up

Bench is in there because bench contributes to overall pressing strength (including overhead) because it allows you to use more weight. However, the carryover is different depending on how you're built.

If you have no interest in powerlifting, you can develop excellent full body strength just doing OHP 3x a week in its place - just don't expect to have a 400lb bench if you never do it.

Yes and no. Dumbell bench WOULD be better if it wasn't for two important facts:

1. Unless you're lucky enough to live near a gym that has them, dumbells that go up in infinite 1lb increments are very hard to come by (and they'll be necessary to make improvements after a certain point.)
2. Unless you have someone who really knows what they're doing to coach you, it's very hard to judge ROM on dumbbell exercises.

There's actually a few exercises that're THEORETICALLY better than benching (weighted dips, pushups, dumbbells) but they all have practical limitations that make them unfeasable in a program for the general lifter.

Ah. Thanks for the solid input. I think adding cable rows to burn out my chest has helped. Thought about adding DB but I'll just stick to cable rows then.

Did SL5x5 last year for about 4 months but lost access to gym equipment and gained crippling depression. Now I've been back at it for about 2.5 months starting from the bar on Greyskull LP:

OHP - 105 lbs
Bench - 115 lbs
Squat - 195 lbs
Deadlift - 195 lbs

My squat was progressing at 10lbs per session but I ramped it down to 5 because I'm only eating at maintenance (fatty) so my deadlift should surpass it in a few weeks. Honestly the bench has been the easiest exercise for me to pump out volume (with GSLP last set is to failure.) There have been days where I did 25 reps when the weight was a little lighter.

My body looks 10x better than it ever did on SL5x5 that's for sure.

Her neck looks like its having fun

Well it's not for bodybuilders or weightlifters either.

What the hell is this thread?
> actual useful advice
> no /pol/shit
> no /r9k/shit
> no manlet / lift for girls / face-height-frame shit
Where am I? Who are you and what have you done with Veeky Forums?

As in coaching, yeah.
And sponsors etc.

Doubt they work 9-5

Wait. Where is the rack? Is her head off the bench? What the hell is going on here?

I think summer is ending, hopefully

Most decent thread in ages

yeah trainer at my gym who I'm friendly with pulled me up on this and told me to do more rows because of the shoulder rotation I was getting. In my defense I had just done OHP so it was a bit of pump associated with it but yeah. literally with 6 sets of light rows really focusing on contraction, I was standing more upright

not to mention that you hit that endpoint on dumbbells pretty quick without them getting clunky as fuck. I'm currently running texas method and I'm about to hit the dumbbell weight limit at my gym (40 kg) so I'm going to do barbell bench for my monday 5x5 and Friday 1rm and then dumbell bench as my light bench on the alternating wednesdays

Good mornings and leg curls are all you need

I´m trying out incline bench press on Greyskull for a few weeks. It feels so much better than that flat shit.

the rack is right there, they're not that big but they're there.

His form videos are great, his knowledge is all good even if he isn't a top tier competitor, he is really good at presenting o formation to make it digestible for anyone without a previous background in the material, his cooking videos are great, and he has a lot of tips from his own experience that can benefit most novice and intermediate lifters.

He's also probably stronger than anyone on Veeky Forums, successfully built, run and grown his own gym and is most definitely natty.

Though his video titles can be a bit clickbaity and reddit.

So does touching boobies count as full RoM? Makes sense small-chested women get greater RoM and thus chest development.

Wtf my over head press is 135 but my bench is 245, 3pl8 squat and 3pl8 dead, were you born a horse?

if u havent noticed some people can squat some people can bench its genetic and has to do with how your body is formed proportionally some people can do both

I think it's to reinforce linear progression in a very simple way. Your OHP will stall very early on in comparison to a flat BP and you won't be able to progress with the same amount of weight each session unlike a BP. You'd have to program OHP in a different way or else the program doesn't really have much of a lifespan for this daily progression it tries to achieve.
Basically just shush and keep benching unless you want to plateau in a few months like a motherfucker.

I learned more from watching Thrall's form videos than from the dozens of other youtuber videos combined. Haven't seen much else of his except for some Q&A. In addition to being concise, well thought out, even entertaining, one of the major selling points is he's not a dude yelling from the other side of an echoey noisy gym in to the mic on the camera.

I'm dyel excelsus, but at least I can bench lmao 1pl8.

No one in my gym benches 1pl8 so I always get the patronizing stares when I load it up. The benchbros in my gym do a billion sets with 50kg on both flat, incline and decline bench instead of adding weight

Where do you work out, Curves?

According to Rip, the bench is a compromise for practical progressive overload.

In SS, Rip makes it clear that PUSH-UPS are superior to bench in all areas except weight loading (also, see pic related from the SS forums).

If you have the money, you could buy a good weight vest and some push-up stands. The weight vest will need to be easily load-able in 2-4 lb increments for progressive overload.

"... the bench is to the pushup what the lat pulldown is to the pull-up."

- Starting Strength page 272

Kek

>what is general strength
If SS were a powerlifting program it wouldn't have a 1 to 1 bench to OHP ratio.

You're actually almost at 1/2/???/3 which isn't so bad depending how long you've been lifting. But Jesus Christ do your squats.

>doing a meme workout for a few weeks.

you are fucking your shit up. good job.

At the very least this shows more than one person on this shitty board has actually read the book.

>not realizing that the op's pic is designed to show off her abs and tits.
>thinking it has anything fucking at all to do with bench pressing.

Guys I'm scared. I've started ss and it's been a week
I find deadlift the most tough
Squats easiest
Ohp hard
Bench press ok

I'm really scared of deadlifts. And I only did 75 kgs
I weigh 83 kgs

>SS is a powerlifting program
no it is not you pilfering retard

>I'm really scared of deadlifts
>I've started ss and it's been a week
>75 kgs
Then lift less til you are more confident in the lift.

How long do u think it will take me to hit 1/2/3/4?

I hit weighted chins twice a week and rows once a week. am I safe? (bench twice a week)

those were about where I was a while ago. keep at it for a full year.

I'm now at 365/225/405 sbd after a year.

fucking this
lats function is internal rotation too

How long do you think it will take me to become a millionaire?

As long as it takes. Depends. Maybe a year.

you're not going to reach 1/2/3/4 if you're afraid of the exercises

Not exactly scared of exercises but of consequences of injury.

How would.uou guys personally rate the difficulty for each exercise?

>How would.uou guys personally rate the difficulty for each exercise?
Depends on the weight.

>475 deadlift
>415 Squat
>235 Bench
>140 Ohp
I fell for the SS meme.

Looks like I'm just being a pussy. I'll just stay consistent. Thanks guys

Good form videos. It's not like his lifts are bad either. He's well beyond 2/3/4/5 if I'm not mistaken

underrated

Deads are the best. Its the only one of out of the big 4 that haven't stalled for me. Deadlifting three plates but only benching 160 for reps (never tried to max out). My grip is starting to fail on deads though, have to wrap gym towels around the bar or it slips out of my hands

My issue in the squat is actually hip pain. There is something wrong but I am unsure what.

>300 DL

did you run out of weights to add?