Safe solo benchpress training?

[Ronin]

Get a weight belt and you can attach weights to it .
The dips is called by some as the upper body squat, alone with the deadlift, it works almost every muscle in your upper body, you will get very strong.

[sung]

Whiteshark. Ok, I won't... I'll save it for when I have no other choice.

Ronin69. Sounds good to me! I am trying to keep to the 5-8 rep range right now... so I think I'll need to add some resistance. :cool:

Sung

[Nid]

(unless I sport a backpack with weights in it!)...

Do precisely that. Seriously. The way to do it in the gym is to attach plates hanging from a belt....same thing. Conveniently enough, you don't even need "weights"...could even use bricks, or jugs of water...whatever. You're hitting the same basic muscle group, and you'll get a lot more doing dips til failure than you will be with the flat bench worrying about whether or not you'll be stuck underneath.

[Ronin]

Sung , how much do you weight?
if you are Benching 150lbs now, just add the weight to your body weight to get to 150, that is a good place to start. If you are over 150 in body weight, see how much you can do with no weights and then go from there.

[kismasher]

seriously, don't depend on being able to make the weights fall off the bar. i have had my arms completely fail before and without a spotter i would have had 40lb dumbells hit me square in the face.

dips rock

[Ronin]

I alternate my chest workout , 1 week bench press and one week dips, I love dips :)
I can't wait to break the 100lbs add on for my dips ( for reps) :)

[sung]

Keinhaar. I know what I'll be trying on Friday...

Ronin69. I weigh 165lbs...

Slightly enlarging the topic... I've been training MA´s now for about 7 years, but I've just started weight training (2 months ago). Makes for a very refreshing change, as I 've never focused on just on strength / physique. All of my previous training has been very endurance oriented, and failing under load feels different to failing from exhaustion... Or it might be that I don't yet "know" what I am feeling during weight training.

Sung

[Ronin]

Weight training is for strength, it's piss poor for endurance compared to the other options.
Do as mych reps as you can for your dips, if you go ver 10, add 10lbs, if you go over 12, add 15lbs, if you go over 15 reps, add 20. Use a weight that will cause you to give out at no more than 8 reps if you want size and no less than 6 reps, but if all you want is strength and min size increase, go for a weight that you can only do for a max of 6 and min of 3.

[Shuma-Gorath]

Originally posted by WhiteShark
Also with bench you can usually roll it down to your hip area and sit up.

Did that once. Had to roll the bar down to my abs, hook my feet around the bench legs, sit up and upright-row the thing back onto the bar support.

[FingerorMoon?]

If you love the bench press (which I personally don't...) use dumbells instead of a barbell
when your spotter isn't around.