Benching Question

[Mamba]

I do:

Warmup: 135 lbs - 10 reps

Set 1: 160 - 8 reps
Set 2: 195 - 5 reps
Set 3: 215 - 3 reps

I do some other chest exercises; but I've got a question about benching. I workout by myself, so I don't usually max because I usually don't have a spotter. Last time I maxed, I got 240.

Would I get a better chest workout if I did something like:
Warmup: 135 - 10 reps

Set 1: 185 - 8 reps
Set 2: 185 - 8 reps
Set 3: 205 - 5 reps

Lower weight, more reps?

If it matters; I'm 5'11 and 180.

 

[JfizzleBlazer]

more reps usually means that it will make you more toned.

more weight, less reps usually will get you more beefed up (less toned)

 

[tim]

Man, looking at that makes me feel weak. I max at around 140

 

[Mamba]

Would it be a good switch up though for my body? Like if for the next couple of weeks I did more reps; less weight? Should I like switch between the two.

 

[JfizzleBlazer]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (tim @ Aug 13 2008, 11:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Man, looking at that makes me feel weak. I max at around 140

</div>

How old are you? I used to do like 160 when I was a senior in high school. Then when I went to College I started using supplements and skyrocketed. I actually learned how to do good workouts too

 

[JfizzleBlazer]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Black Mamba @ Aug 13 2008, 11:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Would it be a good switch up though for my body? Like if for the next couple of weeks I did more reps; less weight? Should I like switch between the two.</div>

Based on what my weight training teacher in high school used to have us do it doesn't matter.

All that matters is how you want your body to look.

 

[tim]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (JFizzleRaider @ Aug 14 2008, 01:58 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (tim @ Aug 13 2008, 11:57 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Man, looking at that makes me feel weak. I max at around 140

</div>

How old are you? I used to do like 160 when I was a senior in high school. Then when I went to College I started using supplements and skyrocketed. I actually learned how to do good workouts too

</div>
17. So hopefully that goes up eventually.

 

[Mamba]

What supplements did you use?

 

[JfizzleBlazer]

Creadrive (a type of Creatine), 100% Whey Protein and PM Protein. (All GNC brands)

I drink 2 creatine shakes a day, 1 protein shake directly after my workout, and 1 PM protein before I go to sleep.

 

[Dumpy]

Safety is paramount. If you don't have a spotter, use less weight, more reps. Anything can happen.

 

[Legacy]

Do protein shakes really help you get stronger/build muscle after you work out?

 

[Really Lost One]

Yeah.

Creatin definitely works. I have a couple of friends who started taking it last year, and now they look completely different. I wanted to start taking it this summer, but my parents wouldn't let me. ****

Anyways, just wondering, I don't really have a bench, so do exercises like dumbbell bench press and flyes work out your chest equally well? Because that's what I do...

 

[Legacy]

There's no side effects or anything else? Why didn't your parents let you use it?

 

[Really Lost One]

I don't think it's good for your body...

I'm pretty sure it's not good for the heart. That's why my parents don't want me taking protein shakes or anything either. So I'm all natural, like always. I'm raw

 

[JfizzleBlazer]

I don't think it's good for your body...

I'm pretty sure it's not good for the heart. That's why my parents don't want me taking protein shakes or anything either. So I'm all natural, like always. I'm raw

Thats false. How could protein shakes be bad for you? It's nutritional if anything.

Read up on creatine here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatine_supplements

There are reports of Creatine making your heart stronger, and reports of it not being good. I don't think it is bad for you heart, but to each their own. My parents freak out over me taking Creatine but I'm not a little kid and they think anything like that is bad when they are uninformed. It's just parents being parents.

 

[JfizzleBlazer]

By the way your body makes its own creatine, so its not like its a foreign substance. Meat contains creatine.

 

[JfizzleBlazer]

There's no side effects or anything else? Why didn't your parents let you use it?

the side effects I get are nausea, but it just goes away if you drink more water. While your taking creatine you have to drink crazy amounts of water.