[HELP] Negative rep advice

[Skeng]

Salutations sports arena,
I've come here for some advice or even your thoughts on negative reps. So here's my situations/current way of thinking:

I go to the gym with my housemate, we do the same routine and on our last sets we usually end up giving each other some slight assistance. Recently I've decided to start pushing myself a little further in terms of adding weight more frequently with my exercises; for instance on the bench press I've been stuck around 80KG for my final set for about a month now so last week I added 5KG pushing me up to 85KG for my last set then earlier this week I added another 5KG making my final set 90KG. On my last set I aim for 6 - 8 reps now in the past my last two or three reps need a little assistance but since I've started moving the weight up I seem to need assistance throughout all my reps. What I mean by assistance is this, I take the bar from the rack without any issues and lower it to touch my chest, I then get about 10cm from my chest putting my arms at a 90 degree angle; my arms tend to lock at this point and I need a little help getting past this so my housemate will put his hands flat under the bar in-between my grip and slowly add a little pressure to push me through the locked position where I can happily get the full extension on my own. However I'm just wondering if this is a wise choice since now I need help on all my reps, My train of thought is sooner or later I'm going to hit a point where I just can't lift it maybe in a week or two's time when I've added an extra 10KG if I keep this up will it mean by that time when I get to 90KG where I need help now, In two or more weeks will I be able to lift this without the need of assistance? Or am I best just dropping the weight and scrapping the assistance all together?

regards -Skeng

Edit: I forgot to mention I don't get as much of a "burn" when I get the assistance this is what has gotten me thinking that maybe I'm just cheating my way through it with the assistance.

 

[grudas]

if you can't do a single rep on your own then it is too heavy for you

keep on 85kg(if you manage to push it) and try to get to 8 reps if you can't then keep doing until you manage the 3x8 or w/e you sets/reps are.

you need proper form too.

 

[Skeng]

if you can't do a single rep on your own then it is too heavy for you

keep on 85kg(if you manage to push it) and try to get to 8 reps if you can't then keep doing until you manage the 3x8 or w/e you sets/reps are.

you need proper form too.

I'll give it a go tonight, do you have any tips for how my back should be when I'm on the bench. I've seen some people arch their back so their applying more pressure to the upper back which allows them to lift more. Would you say this is suitable?

 

[MoNkeE]

bro i hav sum bad nuwz :X

You're not actually doing an 85kg bench press. The negative part of the rep isn't what you think it is. Your friend is helping you too much.

The negative is where you're lowering the bar to your chest. The "positive" (can't remember the proper word) for it is where you're pushing it back up.

What you are doing is half the positive rep, then your friend is "spotting" you to push the weight back up to the starting position. You're then doing the negative, and half the positive again, repeat ad nausuem.

This means the weight you are using is too heavy for you. It's fine doing this for the last few reps on your last set or two, but not for every rep in a set you numpty

 

[MoNkeE]

I'll give it a go tonight, do you have any tips for how my back should be when I'm on the bench. I've seen some people arch their back so their applying more pressure to the upper back which allows them to lift more. Would you say this is suitable?

This is nothing to do with more pressure on the upper back. Whoever is telling you this stuff is a moron. The reason power lifters do this is A) if helps pin back the shoulders for maximum pec involvement and B) it actually makes the ROM (Range of Movement) for the lift smaller, as your chest is already closer to the bar. It doesn't help you lift more, it makes the lift shorter.

It also isn't going to help you

Leave your ego at the door, stick the weight back down to 70kg and work on 3 sets of 8 by YOURSELF. Then when you can do that, stick the weight up 2.5kg.

 

[Skeng]

This is nothing to do with more pressure on the upper back. Whoever is telling you this stuff is a moron. The reason power lifters do this is A) if helps pin back the shoulders for maximum pec involvement and B) it actually makes the ROM (Range of Movement) for the lift smaller, as your chest is already closer to the bar. It doesn't help you lift more, it makes the lift shorter.

It also isn't going to help you

Leave your ego at the door, stick the weight back down to 70kg and work on 3 sets of 8 by YOURSELF. Then when you can do that, stick the weight up 2.5kg.

You've probably just saved me a lot of time doing half measures cheers

 

[MoNkeE]

Yeah there's nothing wrong with going back to basics, and you'll get a lot more benefit from hitting the reps out yourself.

Negatives are great though. If I had a training partner, I'd love to do long 5 second negatives for a set at the end of my bench workout

 

[Banzai_Joe]

I agree with monkee, whenever i had someone spot me on bench, regardless of weight, id say to them "im aiming for x reps, when i struggle help me do 2 more then rack it"
I'd rather have something help on the concentric (positive) part then lower the bar for the eccentric (negative) part of the rep on my own.

So, as said, if you need help on more than 2 reps, drop your weight.

 

[icecold]

Well done for asking!

Too many bros assume this is the logical progression for increasing your bench (or they're just letting their ego get involved), when it's almost guaranteed to completely stop all gains.

Look at your form and consider deloading the weight by 15kg and working back up.


Monkee, you are becoming increasingly internet-handsome to me...

 

[grudas]

the gym ego is just funny.. some guys go pick 30kg dumbells and can't do a single rep without support.. :| its like the numbers mean a lot, i might look funny doing curls with 10 kg dumbell but hey im just starting out

 

[MoNkeE]

ice, you can download me on to your 3.5" floppy any day.

 

[Skillmister]

the gym ego is just funny.. some guys go pick 30kg dumbells and can't do a single rep without support.. :| its like the numbers mean a lot, i might look funny doing curls with 10 kg dumbell but hey im just starting out

If your spotter doesn't get a workout at the same time you're doing it wrong. I always make sure i get a good deadlift session in by spotting my training partners bench.

 

[Banzai_Joe]

ice, you can download me on to your 3.5" floppy any day.

Get a room boys...get...a...room!