My arms are 30" each with a total span of 75.5". With index fingers on the rings and a decent arch, my ROM is right about 14". You may be overestimating your total ROM. You’d need over 40" arms to have a 24" ROM, unless you’re benching with a shoulder-width grip.
[quote]JayPierce wrote:
My arms are 30" each with a total span of 75.5". With index fingers on the rings and a decent arch, my ROM is right about 14". You may be overestimating your total ROM. You’d need over 40" arms to have a 24" ROM, unless you’re benching with a shoulder-width grip.[/quote]
Just checked and from my shoulder to the tip of my hand is 32". ROM is about 17in with arms straight up so I did overestimate. Maybe I’ll try that high pin press before a bench some time…if anything it at least looks like it didn’t hurt your following bench press strength (and in the long run may have helped)
This may be a dumb question but is there a specific way you decide what your initial “top set” will be or you just go by feel… Like something you think you’ll be able to get?
I kinda took this idea and smashed it together with a 5/3/1 rep scheme. So I just use my maxes for those reps as my first set and go from there. On the pin presses, I’d shoot for 25% more than your full-range max, to start with.
Just a quick update. The PR’s are still rolling in, even on some of the lifts I’m not really focusing on right now. I started a training log in my hub, if anyone cares to give it a look.
I was a little bummed out about how much gym time this type of scheme was taking, so I decided to try to shorten my rest times. The result today was that I PR’d everything. Every lift. And I trimmed off about 30 min.
My next chest session is another max attempt. I’m hoping to press 290, but 255 for a triple today was pretty damn tough, so we’ll just have to see. After that, I’m going to focus on my back for a little while.
[quote]Amiright wrote:
This may be a dumb question but is there a specific way you decide what your initial “top set” will be or you just go by feel… Like something you think you’ll be able to get?[/quote]
This method stemmed from a powerlifting cycle geared toward hitting PR’s in the sq/bp/dl. So you start with your projected 1rm (a reasonable goal) and work backward using the percentage equation i posted early in the thread. To apply it toward bbing you would merely project what you think you should get for your top set. For example you know you can get 275x6 but would like to get it for 8. So your first set would be 275 (assume you get 7). Then drop the lbs but add a rep on set #2 (so do 8). Do the same for the following sets.
Alright, so here’s a quick update. I saw some great gains for the first few weeks, but then stalled abruptly. Rode it out for another couple of weeks with no progress, took a deload week, and got back to it. Still no more progress.
So it seems to me that I should reserve this method for busting plateaus rather than using it as a full time strategy. That said, it did net me some exciting short-term gains, so it’s definitely staying in my toolbox