Topic: Do you guys bench press?

[Andy Dick]

I quit benching when I started becoming serious about oly lifting for competitions.  It has very little carry over to the lifts so for specificity and recovery reasons I dropped it.  You are a different case it seems because you still doing other sports.  At one point I considered working bench back into my program just to put extra weight on and to built my chest a little for racking weights.  But my chest kept getting sore and tight especially tight when back squatting so I dropped it out again.

I would say if you really wanted to keep it in as a core lift I would follow Matt's set scheme with low reps and higher weights and do it after the oly lifts for the day.  It is unwise to do bench before the oly lifts because the high power and technical nature of the lifts it is best to do them first while still fresh.  If done tired or fatigued it may affect your technique negatively and tire you out too much for the more important oly lifts.

[Chuck Lopez]

I find the bench press helps my power jerk immensly, and if I can power jerk a weight I can split jerk a weight at least 5kg more; lots of professional lifters bench with not affect; I have not found bench to affect shoulder flexiblity at all then again I am double jointed in my shoulders

[Dustin Oranchuk]

i also agree that bench press can be useful as well, if you moving up a weightclass, or want to find another way to train your lockout, or strengthen your shoulders or chest ext... (there are several videos of international lifters doing it, ie, kolecki, asinidze, chigishev, Yurik Vandanian etc...

i personally do it maybe once a month or so because proportionately my upperbody is probably to strong compared to my legs.  i also find that getting the bar in the right position in the jerk is difficult the day after i bench (and I'm pretty flexable), so if you want to do it, i would suggest doing it on your last workout before an off-day.

[Peter Mongiello]

Ok im glad you guys do throw the bench in. I was thinking of maybe doing a wendler kind of deal but instead of dead and squat being the core lifts maybe making the cores snatch and C+J

[Chuck Lopez]

wendler? like 5/3/1? too low frequency and intensity for my taste; something like bill starr's would serve better to work the snatch and clean I think.

[Paul LaDuke]

I rarely bench and I never plan to bench.  Since I work at a high school and occasionally a bar isn't stripped of its weight, I will bench it several times just for fun before I have to strip the weight.  If 135# is left on the bar, I try 20 reps, 185# = 10 reps, 225# = 5 reps.  This happens maybe once every 2 weeks.  I benched 225# for 7 reps about 3 weeks ago and shocked myself.

I do a lot of push ups and ring push ups.  I like the conditioning aspect of push ups plus the additional core work that push ups require over the traditional bench press.  Ring push ups are great for shoulder stability and kinesthetic awareness also, so they are a great choice if you have gymnastic rings!

[Peter Mongiello]

i do  alot of push ups, but the main reason i add bench in is cause i am a thrower. I also just like all forms of lifting in general. could somone possibly give a skeleton of an oly work out that has bench a either a core lift or as an accesory that i work regularly.

[Erik Blekeberg]

A good rule of thumb is to bench about what you snatch. It's likely you are benching significantly more than that, so don't bother with it for a while.

I'm glad this topic was posted. I have been mulling this over for a while.

I actually can Snatch more then I can bench. Then again the last time I benched was probably 3 years ago. I have been afraid that benching with tighten up the chest and then I  won't be able to have the flexibility in the bottom position of the Snatch. From the textbooks on weightlifting that I have read it doesn't really say that benching is done very often but, it is done. Perchance it is time for me to add benching to my arsenal.

I know that the bench is the single best way to put the most amount of load on the shoulder joint as well. Probably why it does have carry over to the olympic lifts, obviously not as much as a standing overhead press but, still.