ooops i made another stupid bet

[Acemanhattan]

So about five years ago, I could bench 200+ pounds. Well i havent lifted since then, what do you think the chances are of me lifting my body weight in 2 weeks? I weigh 176 today, and havent done any sort of lifting for a long time, this includes job or otherwise. The bet is 100 dollars. I was drunk at the time of this bet, but i think its not unreasonable. thoughts?

[shemp]

I like your end on the limited information you give. I think retaining 80-85% of a modest to begin with 1rm is reasonable.

Love to hear a trip report.

[Acemanhattan]

Good news is i have been drunk ALOT lately, so i think if i stop drinking after today, I will prob lose 6 pounds of beer weight by then, so i will only have to lift 170.

[Blarg]

This is definitely a situation tailor-made for grease-the-groove. If you do body-building stuff, I doubt you'll improve much on your strength in two weeks. Or regardless what you do really. GTG though could actually do something, but since you need a bench for it, unless you're willing to live at the gym for two weeks or have a bench at your house, you'd have to find different ways to do it and then hope for some carryover.

Closest thing I can think of for someone who doesn't have a gym in their house would be handstand push-ups. You don't have to do complete ones, and simply doing holds in one position could help a lot too. You can even leave a foot (or two) on the ground if you need to, with your back up against a wall.

The exercise that comes first to mind for most would probably be dips but they aren't as hard as handstand push-ups, and if you're going to try GTG, you need to do something that pushes your strength limits really hard. You're probably a lot less likely to overwork yourself on handstand push-ups too.

Anyway, that's what I would do if I had only two weeks to improve my strength. Maybe add in some holds for dips, being careful not to overwork yourself. Five or six days a week, five times a day, one set, five reps or less and even one rep is okay, as hard and heavy as you can do, or at least 85% of the way there. You won't be sore, won't have to spend any real time working out, and can get a big boost in strength very quickly. But don't expect to gain much mass doing GTG.

Also, no drinking and get plenty of sleep. You need to max your recovery potential, even though GTG doesn't put much strain on it at all.

[Thremp]

You could try to do assisted one arm pushups as well... May be a way to increase intensity?

[Blarg]

heheh

One-armed push-ups isn't a bad idea either. Maybe better than handstand push-ups for a bench-specific bet.

Some people find it a real strain on the shoulders. I think it's better for people who have already been in some kind of training for a while or have naturally well-balanced development in the shoulder girdle. I can see getting sore from those, for a lot of people.

[Thremp]

[ QUOTE ]
heheh

One-armed push-ups isn't a bad idea either. Maybe better than handstand push-ups for a bench-specific bet.

Some people find it a real strain on the shoulders. I think it's better for people who have already been in some kind of training for a while or have naturally well-balanced development in the shoulder girdle. I can see getting sore from those, for a lot of people.

[/ QUOTE ]

You could do a variation with like offset hand position or something to limit ROM. Have not given it a ton of thought, but should have more carryover than just doing a ton of HSPU. Both should be def better than moving into the gym though.

[shemp]

Day 1: 2x10x95
Day 3: 3x8x105
Day 5: 4x6x120
Day 7: 6x4x135
Day 9: 8x3x150
Day 14: Profit

[Acemanhattan]

I like the GTG routine. Sounds like something convinent and available. What do you think of shemps idea? A good alternative?

[Blarg]

It sounds fine, but GTG is both better for strength and less likely to make you sore. However, having to do a benching movement every hour for five hours means you'd need a bench in your house or to start living at the gym for two weeks, so GTG will probably mean doing a movement that isn't close enough to benching to get ideal results for benching specifically, even though it will do wonders for your strength. Shemp's idea is predicated on your just going to the gym every other day rather than living there for five hours a day, so it's more practical in that sense. It is also more specifically directed toward benching, and that's good too. For stuff requiring a gym, a gym work-out is best. For stuff you can do at home, GTG is best. I'm not convinced shemp's suggestion will get you much stronger in two weeks. But at least it sounds specific and practical.

Frankly if I were you and going to the gym, I would try to do something to maximally stimulate growth hormone release, and consider that almost as important as your benching program. That would be either squats or deadlifts(I like deadlifts and think they're easier to learn and get great benefit from immediately). You'll get much better growth in your upper body if you put your body on alert that it needs to make systemic changes, not just local adaptations, by working squats and/or deads as heavy as you safely can. After that I'd probably get out of the gym and save your energy for recovery. And I would try to go to bed at 10 or 11 every night at the latest, and eat like a ravenous bear, just about enough to get disgusted with yourself, but good wholesome food.

I think I'd also go heavier than shemp suggests on the benching, if you can handle it, and do fewer reps. Something like 8 or 10 reps is good for general conditioning, but I think you should find a weight that you find heavy, do some light warm-ups but not too many, and then do something you can lift no more than five times for a set and either do three sets or do as much as you can lift for five reps, then add weight and do something as much as you can lift for three reps, then for two, then one. Rest as much as you need between sets so you can keep those reps heavy.

Again, I wouldn't neglect the stuff that has nothing directly to do with benching, as that will make a very big contribution to your recovery. Two weeks doesn't give you enough time to get sore or overworked and get over it. You've gotta be tip top. For two weeks, it should be doable to put up with a little sacrifice and weirdness in your lifestyle.