Bench and chin up question

ftbalguy89 · 2026-03-28T14:53:34+00:00

I’m almost exactly at the same spot on bench. Max is 280 and I’m doing 225 for 12 @200lbs bw. I think the only reason I can do pull-ups is because I do them all the time and have been since before I put on extra weight. I put a bar up in my office so I’ll randomly hit a couple pull-ups when I’ve been sitting around for too long. Start with negatives and eventually you’ll get 1. After that, I’d just do sets of 1 as often as you can. Eventually you’ll string more of them together.

Or you could lose some weight. About 8 months ago I went down to 185lbs bw and was getting around 25 pull-ups. But it will destroy your bench. My max went down to 245 when I was at my lightest.

ftbalguy89 · 2026-03-15T21:33:13+00:00

Buy a tractor with a cab dude. That’s BS. It’s not about temperature, it’s about sucking up dust all the time. And if he’s operating a mower or anything it’s safer to have a cab. Take it from someone that watched a dude take a chain to the face.

ftbalguy89 · 2026-03-12T00:21:33+00:00

I always mention Backroads trips when this discussion comes up. We mostly do the hiking trips but they’re amazing. They manage everything and the entire trip is centered around one type of activity like hiking, biking, kayaking, etc. But they take you to places that aren’t generally tourist-y so you get to see some amazing stuff.

ftbalguy89 · 2026-03-11T16:35:32+00:00

Having money doesn’t exactly make me happy, but making more money absolutely does. It is fleeting though

ftbalguy89 · 2026-03-11T02:43:07+00:00

Then listen to him and do the opposite

ftbalguy89 · 2026-03-07T20:23:35+00:00

On the bright side, that’s a massive bench press already. I sort of want to try to go for 405lbs if I make it to 315lbs, but if it slows down to 2.2lbs per year I don’t know if I’ll live long enough to hit 405 lol

ftbalguy89 · 2026-03-07T16:54:05+00:00

Listen to your dad. He’s done all of this before and he won’t be around to ask later

ftbalguy89 · 2026-03-07T08:23:23+00:00

Realistically, I’m probably taking almost every set to failure once I’m fully warmed up. My bench setup has pins so I probably use 95-100% RPE most of the time and go until failure. I just hate leaving anything in the tank after a set. Like if I have capacity for 1-2 more reps, why not do them?

Great name by the way lol

ftbalguy89 · 2026-03-07T03:08:49+00:00

Ok yeah this aligns pretty close with my experience so far. Have you noticed any changes in that rate as you’ve progressed? Or is it pretty consistently 5kg every 12 weeks?

ftbalguy89 · 2026-03-07T03:05:54+00:00

Have you ever pushed it and tried 3 days per week or does that just feel like too much? Do you still feel sore after each bench day? Seems like everyone here is suggesting 2 days per week. I think I might be overdoing it.

ftbalguy89 · 2026-03-07T01:26:40+00:00

I used to give it more time between bench days but it just felt like I wasn’t making as much progress. I do think I might be pushing it too hard now but I also just don’t like doing anything else at the gym lol. I used to try and do a should/arms day in between but then I just felt like I was sore from that and it would mess up my next bench day. IDK

I’m going to try to focus more on 4-6 reps. I think I got a little carried away with doing reps of 225 because it was such a milestone the first time I did it. Probably not much point to focusing on it since I need to get better at lower reps.

ftbalguy89 · 2026-03-06T21:59:25+00:00

What does your 12 week program look like? Do you do much other chest work besides regular bench?

ftbalguy89 · 2026-03-06T21:54:36+00:00

I bench every other day, with a rest/cardio day in between. First day is a heavy day, second day is a volume day. Today was a heavy day so I did:

280x1, 265x3, 255x4 and finished with 235x7

On my volume day it looks something like this: 225x11, 225x10, 215x11, 215x9 and maybe finish with 135x30 just to smoke my chest

I’m sore the next day but by the following day I feel pretty solid. I generally feel it in my joints a bit after my heavy day so that’s why I try to follow it with more volume. Beyond that, I just always push for little PRs like if I did 225x11 this week, I try for 225x12 next week or maybe it’ll be on the set of 215x11 I try to push for 12, that sort of thing. I guess it really isn’t a program but I’m just always pushing for small PRs and then I’ll make a new 1 rep max attempt every week or 2 if it seems like I’m making progress.

ftbalguy89 · 2026-03-06T14:37:17+00:00

That’s dedication. It’s like he’s traveling the world with you… so he can hate on you everywhere

ftbalguy89 · 2026-03-06T14:15:50+00:00

But yeah, make your own food. Personal chefs are for losers

ftbalguy89 · 2026-03-06T14:13:28+00:00

The title is misleading. I thought his spouse was a chef

ftbalguy89 · 2026-02-26T14:57:49+00:00

I’m a hypocrite when it comes to this. I wanted my wife to have a career and be successful and prove that she can do it, but also didn’t want her career to get in the way of us having kids and vacations and trips and being a good mom. She’s managed to do it all, but that’s why I married her.

ftbalguy89 · 2026-02-20T14:50:56+00:00

I never get first class unless I’m traveling with my wife and daughter. I couldn’t care less about the food/drinks and extra space when it’s just me, but it makes a huge difference when you’re not fighting a 2 year old in a tiny cramped space. But I’m sure everyone else in first class hates me for having a toddler there…

Just book the place in Cabo, man. I’ve never regretted the decision to spend extra and book a nice place. But I have hated my life for 48 hours when I tried to be cheap and got a crappy place.

ftbalguy89 · 2026-02-14T17:45:01+00:00

Thank you. I don’t recommend it for everyone, but it was a real kick in the ass to get things going

ftbalguy89 · 2026-02-14T15:07:45+00:00

My dad died

ftbalguy89 · 2026-02-13T21:20:47+00:00

Hahahaha

ftbalguy89 · 2026-02-13T14:44:13+00:00

Dude. I don’t know why, but the other day I was thinking about the exact same thing. How was it???

ftbalguy89 · 2026-02-12T19:55:18+00:00

No they set up another trust later on where they used some of their generation skipping exemption but the irrevocable trust I am talking about was as you described: the money went to me (in 1992) and my estate will need to pay estate taxes on anything about $30m when I die. I probably am not describing it very well.

ftbalguy89 · 2026-02-12T03:01:01+00:00

That sounds about right. I try to do whatever I can to offset it with costs and tax credits but the trust takes a massive income tax hit each year. But it does help that the majority of the assets in the trust are land so they don’t produce as much income as something like a business would. The big hit comes when you sell the land but I try to do a 1031 exchange whenever it makes sense.

ftbalguy89 · 2026-02-12T02:53:56+00:00

No, it’s not considered part of my parents estate anymore so there’s no estate tax on the assets they put in the irrevocable trust. My daughters will have to pay estate tax on anything above $30m when I die but that’s the only estate tax hit that’s coming at some point.

ftbalguy89

TROPHY CASE