A Bench Log, Yes it's Come to This

Training Training Logs
101

[quote]Monopoly19 wrote:
bignate wrote:
hey monopoly lookin good, i was going to start doing push presses as my main shoulder movement since i moved to a serious gym where i can do that shit, but my shoudlers apparently hate them! So question, would you reccomend log presses for shoulders/tricep heavy movement? And any instruction on how to do it or will i figure it out pretty fast?
thanks lookin good, happy new marriage man

Hey bignate,

What part of the movement does your shoulder not like? If they don’t like push presses, I doubt they will like the log! Can you do strict military presses? DB presses? Let me know and I can try (stress try) to help you out.

5/25 r/e upper/recovery day

Flat bench of foam roller; 135x10, 135x10, 225x10, 225x10, 275x8, 225x13?

Hammer strength shoulder press superset with close grip lat pulldowns; 4 sets of 12

Face pulls superset with tricep pushdowns; 4 sets of 12

Reverse hyper; 3 sets of 10

Somewhat easy day. Elbows and shoulders felt really beat up. Today is off, tomorrow is going to be high rep leg press, stones, and accessory/recovery work.

Monopoly[/quote]

Hey, I’m going to jump in here because I think I can help.

If your pain is somewhat at the upper aspect of your shoulders, read on. . .

Bignate, from my experience with shoulder pain in overhead pressing, doing lower trap work can really help things out. Having your lower trapezius firing and strong helps in healthy upward rotation of your scapulae. Healthy upward rotation of the scapulae more or less ‘moves’ the acromion process out of the way of the humerus when it is moving upward in overhead pressing. There are structures between the acromion process and humerus that get impinged if you don’t have strong lower trapezius action going on.

Here is a good visual of the area of the shoulder I am talking about
http://www.southwest-ortho.com/images/sports/shoulder-rotator-cuff.jpg

And here is a good visual of where the lower trapezius is

To help with your shoulder pain, do the following:

  1. - YouTube before you train for 12 reps with shoulders DOWN AND BACK
  2. Queue DOWN AND BACK on every rowing motion you do
  3. Do a Lower Trapezius Specific exercise, like one of the following
    a) Strength Training, Bodybuilding & Online Supplement Store - T NATION
    b) - YouTube

I know this shit is boring, but it really helps. It’s prehabilitation to avoid supraspinatus tears, subacromial bursitis, and problems with the long heads of the biceps.

By all means, lift heavy shit, but this stuff can help :slight_smile:

Hope this isn’t too much of a hijack, Monopoly :slight_smile: Nice axle pressing, btw

When you say fixed axle, do you mean that the bar doesn’t spin?

102

up its mostly the bottom is really uncomfterable, i have it if i bench wide alot too and inclines, but neutral grips seem to help so i thought that might, also i row alot and do lots of face pulls, roatations and rows in genral and rear delt raises so idk i stopped doing anything but just seated militarty presses only going down to the chin but i need a power move!

103

hey both of you guys monopoly and flow, today i did face down incline shrugs for the lower traps could feel it pretty good then i did seated barbell military press coming down to the chin, felt fine, i was in the power room when i was done so i tried log press with 30pnds on each side (no idea how heavy the log is), did a few sets fo 3, felt fine no shoulder problems and this is after alot of pressing work so this is my new heavy shoulder movement. Monopoly tips on log presses? mostly the clean part was awkward,i like pendaly rowed it to my legs sat down with it then rolled it up and pressed, stabilty was hard it will get better, thanks to both of you though
its alsoa much more comfterable hand position my arms are out in front instead of the awkward pushed to the side push presses

104

5/27 lower body

Foam box squat(box 1" below parrell); 225x5, 315x5, 405x3, 495x3 with metal ace breifs and belt, 545x1-maybe a pr at this depth, (move box up about 4"), 585x1-shitty, add knee wraps, 635x1-new all time pr.

Sled drag; Heavy sled. 5 trips of 120ft. Totally spent after this.

Over 2 hours of squatting and dragging sled. Even with a 35lb pr on the squat, I’m really dissapointed. Last time with this setup I hit 585 without the breifs so I was hoping for something over 650. I did not feel like I was getting much out of them today, they are really loose in the hips and I was having a hard time sitting back far enough. My lower back also felt really weak, was probably NOT the day to go for a pr but fuck it. Did not get stones in today so we will hit that on Saturday as the last heavy thing we do before the comp.

Nate: I’m not sure if I’m reading you right. The pain is when the bar is below nose level? That’s probably why the log does not hurt, it sits much higher on your chest than a bar. If benching hurts as well, bench off of a 2 board or foam roller, it will be far better than not benchin and you can turn that back into a “power move”. Really hard for me to give you tips on the log in written form. Do you know what triple extension is? For me, that’s what the clean is all about. I’ll look for some good video and get it posted in here for you to watch.

Monopoly

105

Here’s a good log video. Watch how after he laps the log, he gets power out of his hips, knees and ankles. It’s a total body movement.

106

yeh thats how i try to clean the log up, seemed pretty good for the light weight, also i bench with a close grip only now, and go raw, 1brd and then 2brd switching through those each week, i think it keeps my shoulders healthy for benchin but dont lose alot of strength off the chest

107

5/30 event day

Axle clean; warmups, 270, 290 continental, 315?x1 and jerk. The clean was so damn easy I figured what the hell, I’ll press it. Flew up.

Stones; Just using the yoke, so really stones over the bar. 48". 250x3, 250x3, 300x5, 360x3, 390x2-just missed the third by a cunthair, 390x1 after 2 misses, 300x6-took 8 attempts

Yoke; Just did 20ft runs. Shins are better but not all the way yet. Felt better with start commands today.

18" frame deadlift; Worked up to 650, I have no idea why we did these, just sounded fun.

Overall a good day. Will just do lighter bodybuilding stuff this week. Weight was 253 on Saturday, will see if I can cram enough food down to hit 255-260 by game time.

Monopoly

108

I think the drol finally started working. I got a major pump this morning just washing my hair and I had to try on 3 shirts before I found one that fit. Tonight should be fun.

Monopoly

109

6/1 Upper

Flat bench with axle; barx20, 135x10, 135x8, add foam roller, 225x8, 275x5, 315x5, 365x4.5-barely missed the last rep. My bar path was shit today, probably why I missed the last one. That may be a PR, I need to go back and read my logs.

Cable crossovers; Right as we were starting on these Phil Heath jumped in with us. Fucking cool! Had fun jawing with him and doing some stupid reps/weight.

Close grip lat pulldown superset with face pulls; 3 sets of 10.

Sled drag; 2 trips of 120ft

Done. Wanted to do more but left elbow felt really shitty. Tweaked it on the bench I think?

Starting to get hyped for this weekend! Tomorrow is our last training session before the show.

Monopoly

110

6/3/09 Recovery/lower work

Just an easy day, last bit of work before the show this weekend.

Dynamic snatch; 6 sets of 3

18" frame pickup; 3 work sets of 450 for triples

Sled drag; 2 runs of 120ft

Hyper and abs.

Finally got some ART as well. Back, shins, knee, ankles and glute. Had a full pizza for dinner. Feel somewhat rested and ready. We leave tomorrow early so the other two guys going can get weighed in. One is cutting 10lbs, the other around 5. I’m sure they will be hating life when I chow down on the way out there and they are starved! I think all of us have a good chance at winning our class, should be fun.

Monopoly

111

Hey Monopoly. How’d the contest go? I’m sure you ripped it up.

112

Thanks flow.

I will say, it’s great when a plan comes together. I did end up winning my class by a narrow margin. Kinda bummed, 3 guys in the 230-250lb range jumped up to the HW class, it only had 6 guys in it. Wish they would have stayed so there would have been more competition. I have a feeling some up them jumped up just so they could say they won a Plat HW show…

Axle; Easy axle. Was smaller than 2" and it was knurled. Warmups went well.

270 opener; so fucking easy
300 2nd; still easy but kinda shitty form
320 3rd; killed it. would have been good for 330 and maybe 340

should have opened at 280, to 310, to 330. 320 is a 20lb all time PR from the ground so I should be happy. Oh well. Came in third here, winner set a new LW record (Dave from CA) at 345lbs, second was 340.

Yoke; Best yoke I’ve ever used. 650 felt like a feather. I rushed my setup however and the bar was not in a good spot on my back. Dropped it about halfway through the run and still managed to come in second by about a second. I was FLYING with it.

Farmers/powerstairs medley; 260 farmers, 350 up 3 steps. Killed it, won the event by over 2 seconds.

Stones; 250 to 340 (I think) to 50" (I think); Almost a flawless run, all 5 stones in just over 15 seconds. First by over 2 seconds.

Dave really pushed me which was good. I am not happy about dropping the yoke but thankfully it didn’t kill me.

Our LW had a great 2nd show. He came in second by one point and gave 1st away. He missed a 280 axle on the third attempt by a hair and did not load the last stone.

Gertz rocked it in the LW pro class. SMASHED a 350 axle, 3 guys tied for second at 320. He was good for another 10-20lbs on that day. He slipped on the first stone in the series that cost him the win. He was in the high 19 second range and Blake beat him with a low 19 second run. Think he came in second by one point as well. Really good show for our crew! One win and 2 second’s. I have some video’s but they are really short. I am going to try to splice them all together for one longer video. Not sure what is next. Maybe summerfest for a LW pro card, or TX for a HW card, or Nats. Here is a shot of the 320.

Nothing is sweeter, or more fleeting than the taste of victory…

Monopoly

113

AWESOME.

114

[quote]Flow wrote:
AWESOME.[/quote]

x2

115

Thanks guys. Did not do much today. Figured I would sneak in an arm day when I had the chance so that’s what I did. Also did hyper, foam rolling and face pulls.

Here is my first attempt at editing and creating videos. I will probably post it everywhere as I’m proud of it.

Monopoly

116

What did you do to get healthy enough for atlas stones after your lower back problems?

You were really quick on all those events.

117

Speed is my friend! With strongman, I’m at my best when I’m moving.

My logs have posted most of the stuff I’ve done for my back.

LOTS of reverse hyper, foam rolling, stretching for hips and hammies, cable pull throughs and I stopped free squatting. I really didn’t do much lower body work at all those 9 weeks I was doing the westside bench thing. That was the first time I’d actually given it some time to “heal”. I also did the Matrix repatterning which I think helped alot as well.

I may have posted this as well, but when I got my MRI back and it showed nothing was wrong I just said fuck it, I’m going to train. Not sure if it was in my head or what but it seemed to improve rapidly after that point.

You can see my progression on the stones. I just started small and worked up week by week. If I felt good I did more, if not I bagged it. My back is still really weak with stones to the higher boxes, that has not come back yet.

Monopoly

118

6/11 Not much

Zerchers; Worked up to 315 for 3

GM; 2 sets

Insane lower back pump at this point, having a hard time doing anything.

DB row; Up to 135 for 10

Seated one arm pulldowns; 4 sets, worked up to stack

Talked a bunch, helped some guys squatting. Jumped in on some back jerks, I think all the work there is what has caused my shin splints. Going to use tomorrow as a test day on some events for the Texas plat plus show.

Monopoly

119

6/13 Events

Log; Wamrmups, 260x1, 280x1, 310xmiss, 225x11? 280 was very easy, I just just missed the 310. Really happy about this as log is my weakest event and I have not worked it at all. 280 is a good starting point.

Axle deadlift; 225x5, 315x3, 405x3, 500x10 in 60 seconds. Holy hell that sucked. Now, I just need to do 600x10 in 60 seconds, lol.

Tire flip; 650 tirex10, x10. Lower back is shot.

Sled drag; 2 trips of 200ft. Legs are jello.

Good day overall. Very little pain. We had a new guy in the crew today and he did well. Good attitude and I think he will bring alot to the table. Thanks biggjames! We are also slowly converting the powerlifter in our gym. He is 22 and strong as an ox. He killed the 280 log today as well, said it had been over a year since he hit it! Looking forward to summer training, it’s going to be fun. Here is a video of the log and axle.

Monopoly

120

Warning; some ugly reps in here…