Today was my bench assistance day. I have found over the past couple years that my best benching has come when my floor press and/or incline is strong so this day focuses on that.
Floor Press- 4x8
315, 315, 365, 405x5. Last set with 405 got weird. The 365 set moved really well so I had no reason to doubt myself here. Handout was kind of awkward and for whatever reason I just didn’t quite have it today. However, 405x5 still ties a rep PR for me so good indicator nonetheless.
Changing my days back to squatting and pulling on Sundays. The only downside to the combo day is that it takes quite a bit of time so having all of Sunday afternoon makes that a little easier. Also, the guys I am training with SQ/DL on Sunday and bench Wednesdays so it makes the flow of the gym better when we are on the same schedule.
Squat Deload- 5x1@50%- 5 singles with 375
Dead deload- Same- 5 singles with 355
Form squats- 5 x 3- 325 x 5
Really liking the new wider stance, starting to feel pretty natural. It’s light weight but I am very encouraged by this session. Wanted to get some reps in to work the stance.
What do you think about having a little bit heavier bench assistance day (kind of like what you do) in a conventional four-day rotation with separate SQ, BP and DL days? As opposed to the pre-exhaust, very light upper body assistance day example outlined in the book.
I am not a huge bencher and think I can handle at least some lighter barbell work on the fourth day (floor presses, military presses etc.)
If you can recover from it I don’t see any reason not to do that. I’ve had a lot of success with the bench accessory day being heavier (in the 4-8 rep range). However, if you start to get beat up the first thing I would drop is the intensity of the second upper day.
315 x 2 x 5, added sling shot 315 x 2 x5. I could tell that my biceps/elbows were a little beat up so I added the slanger to relieve some of that stress.
Inclines- 3x15
135, 185x2
Hammer curls
Rev. Curls
I’m not one of the powerlifters that insists bicep work is stupid. Regular upper arm work has kept elbow pain away the vast majority of the time for me.
I am very optimistic about my bench right now. Heavy benching has been just OK but my floor pressing and incline work has been great. I’ve found that whenever one or both of those lifts is strong, my bench is strong. Moving in the right direction.
Incline- 4x8
225, 275, 295, 315. The 315 set was about 8rpe. I’m not sure what the most I’ve inclined before is, but I am positive that this is the most I’ve trapped out.
Dumbbell press- 4x12
85s. This felt kind of weak actually. I haven’t done much dumbbell pressing for awhile. Apparently need to work it more.
Pressdowns 4x25
Face pulls 4x25
Chest supported rows 4 x 12
Plenty of high volume work. Mass moves mass right? Check out big raw benchers, these dudes are fuckin jacked. Spoto’s forearms are as big as my head. Working on getting big to bench big.
Trained at Detroit Barbell and had a much bigger group than usual. Awesome to have some extra help. We were able to burn through this session quick with the extra guys to spot and load. Very much appreciated.
SQ/DL- 3x3 to 7RPE
Squat- 425, 515, 605. I am really encouraged by this. I’m still figuring out the new wider stance and need to get more automatic in the setup but the last set here was very easy. My previous 5 rep PR was 605 and I know that I could have easily beaten that on this day. Great progress.
Deads- 315, 405, 495
Pause Squats- 5x3
315 x 5 sets. I was supposed to do block pulls but changed on the fly. I think the pause squats are more useful to me right now. I need to build strength out of the hole since I have never really squatted like this before. I also need to learn where depth is. With my previous, more narrow stance, I knew exactly where I needed to be and never had a problem with depth. I just knew it without thinking. Now I am kind of all over the place so getting some volume in and feeling the bottom position with a pause is helping me learn faster.
All three sets were done with long pauses (3+ seconds). A guy asked me when to start including paused benches in your training recently. ALWAYS. Main bench work, especially heavy work should always be paused. At least for a competition pause. If you bring the bar down under good control, the press call comes quickly. One of the dumbest ways you could bomb out of a meet it not knowing how much you bench with a press command or missing the command all together.
Sling shot Close grip- 4 x5
315, 315, 365, 365
Pressdowns
Hammer Curls
Rev curls
Another very good bench day. The 405 was easy. The first time I benched 500 raw, I had pressed 405 x 5 a few weeks before. 7-8 reps would’ve went on this day.
I’m ashamed of being a bench fag for the summer. But I know to total 2000 I need a bench over 500 pounds. I’d really like to seal the deal on 2K this fall with my opening or second attempt deadlift. I’ve done well pulling under pressure and hitting a big lift to make the total I want, but I don’t want to be in the position. I’d like to wrap it up with a very safe second attempt dead and skip right past 2K with a big third.
Bench- Light (deload) Singles
250, 265, 290, 290. My training partner was working up to his opener for a June meet so I just took whatever he loaded for singles. Light stuff.
Slingshot Close grip- 2 x 5
315 x 2
Incline Dumbbell
80s x 3 x 12
Hammer Curls
Reverse Curls
Really easy session, just a planned deload nothing exciting. Next week though the training starts to get real. No more of this lighter volume shit. SQ/DL gets more fun too soon.
4 chains total+ 95, 135, 185, 185. This was way harder than I thought it would be. I had the chains set up pretty high, so at the top of the lift the 4 sets were adding about 120 pounds of swinging weight. Really had to stay tight, lower the weight under control and pause at the bottom to let it all settle.
My training partners and I got involved with Relentless Detroit last fall. This year we are hoping to go way above and beyond with our fundraising. To be quite honest, I’m not very good at asking for donations. I just don’t like asking for money even though I know it is a great cause that tons of people are getting behind. So we decided to get a little creative and copy what Matt and Julia Ladewski had done for Relentless Minnesota this year. On Saturday, we hosted our first meet at the Paw Paw, MI location of Strength Beyond.
The gym is pretty small and the May Michigan weather is beautiful. So we moved our platforms outside, set up a warm up area, moved a couple thousand pounds of weight and had a meet! It really turned out quite well with 17 lifters and plenty of equipment to go around. We had some very new lifters that had decided to do the meet about 24 hours in advance as well as some very experienced guys. Saw a few 400+ raw benches and at least 3 700 pound deadlifts.
We were very happy with the results and the amount of money raised. I know I have a couple things I want to improve on before we have another meet but this was a great start. It was a lot of fun and there is just something kind of cool about outdoor meets. Just need to get a couple tents for more shade next time!
Deload Squats- Singles
Did a bunch of singles up to 450ish. Just focusing on feeling good and technique.
Speed block pulls- Triples
5 triples with 315. Weight up on 4 inch blocks. I find that on block pulls I really have to get tight as hell and squeeze the weight off the blocks.
I’ve been leaving out my fourth day of training on purpose because it is typically really boring. The fourth day is what Brian Carroll refers to as a fluff and buff day. I use this day for active recovery and to get some extra volume on stuff I wouldn’t normally do.
Right now I have two upper days and one lower since I am training for bench only. As a result my F&B day is focused on lower body. If I was training for a full power meet right now, I would have two lower days and 1 upper so the F&B would be upper focused. The purpose right now is to keep my hips and back feeling good and do some high rep quad and hamstring work. A typically lower fluff and buff would go something like this:
Warm-up/Back Recovery- I do this for 50-75 reps of each
Birddogs
Rolling Planks
McGill Curl Ups
High Volume Lower Fluff- This is typically done as a circuit for 4-5 sets of 12-25 reps
Hack Squats
Leg Extensions
Abductor/Adductor machine (this is that weird, OB/GYN papsmear machine thing in every gym)
Kettlebell swings- I like to do both the traditional sumo stance and conventional
Conditioning- Ends up being about 100 yards of each
Prowler Push
Wheel barrel push
The whole session takes maybe 30-40 minutes. It’s hard because the pace is fast and I’m fat. But the weights are light and doesn’t beat me up. I end up feeling very refreshed the next day and manage to stay in good enough shape to get through long squat/deadlift days.
405 x 2 x2. Decided to rep out 405, tied my PR with 5 reps. Reverse bands with 435 x 2. All pretty good work here. Tying that 5 rep PR after a fair amount of benching was good, my bench is absolutely going in the right direction.
Reverse band Close grips- 5 x 5
315, 335, 335, 355, 355. This was MUCH stronger than the past few weeks. I really like this movement.
Skull crushers with chain- 3 x 15. 2 chains+50 pounds
I helped out Ezra Salmon with APF Senior Nationals so I ended up moving this training up a day.
Floor Press- 4 x 8
225, 275, 275, 315
Incline Dumbells
80s x 3 x 15
Chest Supported Rows- A lot
Face pulls 4 x 25 with monster mini band
Pressdowns 4 x 25
Tired as hell after working the meet this weekend. We set up 3 of everything in the warm up area and the competition platform, so 4 monos, bench and 12 bars. I think around 5000 pounds of plate weight. Turns out that is a lot of work!
Our monolift was borrowed for APF Seniors for the warm up room so sadly I had to squat out of a power rack. I didn’t have much help so I decided to squat a little lighter with the cambered bar and pull heavier.
Squat- Cambered Bar- 4 x 3 @ 6RPE
315, 365, 405, 455. The rack I was squatting out of blows. I really need to get a better one. Could’ve went to 500 but didn’t feel safe.
Deadlift- Triples against chain.
405+ 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 sets of chain. I have no idea how much weight this adds and I don’t really care. I was just going until it either got really heavy or I ran out of chain. I ran out of chain.
