And just for fun I will throw some recent measurements in here too:
Chest: 44"
Arms: 16"
Thighs: 26.5"
Calves: 16"
Waist: 34"
Forearms: 13"
Neck: 16.5"
(these are in inches by the way)
Week 3, Day 3, Part 2:
Squats:
275x5
315x4
315x3 (ahhh great my boxers ripped from squats again)
315x3
335x1 (damn that was hard, havnt even touched this weight in over 2 months)
275x5
RDL: 195 4x8
Well…I have to retire another pair of boxers to the grave lol. Has this ever happened to anyone else? Once again, that is one of my indicators for if I went parallel on squats. I have 2 tears that I look for:
- Quads feel like they are tearing? CHECK
- Boxers tearing at the bottom of the rep? CHECK
Other than that I just did some RDL’s and that was it. I can’t wait for sunday!!!
Greatest bench day of my life!!!
Week 4
Mini session #1:
Single Cluster set: 245x10 Yes!!!
Mini Session #2:
Drops sets:
Set 1: 250x1, 235x1, 220x1, 205x1 Easy
Set 2: 255x1, 240x1, 225x1, 205x1 (As you should recall this tied my all time best ever max)
Set 3: 265x1, 245x1, 225x1, 205x1 (Can you say PR!!!)
Mini Session #3:
5x5 Cluster:
Set 1: 235x5
Set 2: 235x5
(stopped after 2 because my left elbow was hurting and had been hurting since the first session)
This day was AWESOME!!! I smashed through my year long plateau today by 10 pounds! To be completely honest I felt like I had 270 in me, but that will be for next week 
Going into the gym for the second workout I did not expect that I would be breaking any records today. My plan was to go in and hit 255 and tie my best ever bench. When I put up 255 on the second set with ease Austin told me I should deffinitly for 265 and not 260 on the next set. So I turned up my music, put the ice pack on for a minute, and then destroyed my plateau!!! After I got up from my set I put the pressure on Austin and told him he better put up 300 today. We loaded the bar up with 300 and sure enough he smashed it as well. His best ever bench was 290so at this point we both have broken our previous records with 4 weeks of the program left to go. I expect to be putting up 275 in the next 2 weeks and Im hoping to bench 285 by the end of the program. I know Austin is going to destroy 315 before the end of the program as well. I think he will be able to hit 325, maybe 335 by the time we are done with the program. I cant wait until next sunday when I get to break some more records. Hopefully I will remember to bring a cammera to some of these sessions so I can post some videos of this nonsense lol.
Until next time,
-Alex
Day 2, Week 4
Dead stop bench press:
Set 1: 205x3
Set 2: 215x3
Set 3: 225x3
Set 4: 225x2
Set 5: 215x3
Speed bench with pause: 155 8x3
Pull ups: bodyweight 10 5x5
Kroc row: 65 L:22 R:20
All of my sets on the bench press today felt explosive and easy. The only problem I ran into today was that my left elbow started hurting again after the 3rd set of the dead stop benches. I cut out the 6th set since each set the pain got progressively worse. Its a good thing that today wasnt a heavy day lol. I followed this up with some back exercises and thats about it. I keep thinking how great its going to be when I bench 275 in the next few weeks. Bring it on!!!
Week 4, Day 3
Pin press: 9 holes showing
Set 1: 275x5
Set 2: 295x5
Set 3: 305x4
8 holes showing:
Set 1: 275x3 (easy)
Set 2: 285x3 (easy)
Set 3: 295x3 (not so easy)
Negatives:
275 3 sets of 4
285 1 sets of 3
Squats (no belt):
Set 1: 275x5
Set 2: 295x4
Set 3: 315x2
Set 4: 275x5
Good Mornings:
145 4 sets of 8
This is my second time posting this because my first post w/video did not go through yet. Maybe because the video I put on it is making it take longer to post.
This is from Week 4, Day 3
EDIT: Video did not work so it is posted below
Week 5, Day 1
Session #1:
Single cluster set: 255x10
Session #2:
Drop sets:
Set 1: 255x1, 240x1, 225x1, 210x1
Set 2: 265x1, 245x1, 225x1, 205x1
Set 3: 275x0, 245x1, 225x1, 205x1
Session #3:
5x5 Cluster sets:
Set 1: 245x4
Set 2: 245x3, 225x2
Close grip bench press:
175x6 (easy)
185x6 PR!!!
185x6
185x5
I was unable to post this on sunday so here it is now. I struggled to get all 10 reps on the first cluster set this week, so im not sure how 265 next week will go. Drop sets were fine, except I got a little excited and wanted to do 275 on the last set. I got it right to the make or break point (halfway) and it stopped. Oh well, I will get it next time. I dont even think I need to explain what happened on the 5x5 cluster sets lol. I pretty much just said Fuck It, and finished with some PR sets of close grip bench press. I will post todays workout later tonight if I have the time.
Week 5, Day 2
Dead stop bench: 215 5x3, 225 1x2
Speed bench with pause: 155 8x3
Neutral grip pull ups: bodyweight x 4 sets to failure
Set 1: 10
Set 2: 10
Set 3: 8
Set 4: 8
Hammer strength rows: 3 sets with 45 and a 25 on each side
I have a video of one of the dead stop benches that I may post later when I have more footage of other things. I only filmed one set since almost all of my sets were at the same weight. I did not tape anything else because I was distracted by the scrawny kids that were squirming around while benching. It looked like they had restless leg syndrome. Did I also mention that they dumped the weights twice? Yea I was about to go tell them to stop but I figured that the TRAINER standing RIGHT NEXT TO THEM would acctually do his job and tell them that they were going to hurt themselves. I should have known better than to think a personal trainer might actually do their job or assume that they even knew what proper bench press technique looks like. Does anyone else experience this in their gym?
-Alex
Week 5, Day 3
Pin press 9 holes showing:
Set 1: 295x3
Set 2: 305x3
Set 3: 315x3
8 Holes showing:
Set 1: 285x2
Set 2: 285x2
Negatives: 285 3 sets of 4 reps, 295 one set of 3 reps
Squats (with belt):
275x5
295x5
315x4
335x2
275x8
Leg curls: 155 3x10
*Video notes
** the dead stop set was from tuesday. on the second clip it says 295x3 and I believe it was 305x3.
** On the 285 sets I just could not get the third rep lol. I also did not record any squats since my warm ups felt shitty, but as soon as I put the belt on the work sets went rather well.
-Alex
Week 6, Day 1
Session #1:
single cluster set: 265x4 (failed on 5th rep)
Notes: Well I didnt feel bad at all going into this first workout, but 265 is just too heavy to get the required amount of reps. The first rep was a breeze, but each rep after that got harder and harder to get through the sticking point. Austin tried to go for 295 today on his cluster set and failed on the second rep so he dropped down to 275 for about 5 more reps and then he called it off because his strength just was not there this morning. We talked about it, and have decided to end the program now since our gains have more or less come to a hault. I will attempt to hit 275 when we go back to the gym for the second session and Austin will max later in the week when his strength is back. I will post videos of both of our maxes in the next couple days and give an overview of the program for those of you that may be interested in giving this program a try.
Until later,
Alex
Alex, vids looking nice, good shit. How are you enjoying the 8 weeks to a record bench program? I have been thinking about trying it out but do not want to change my program for one that I havent spoken to someone whose had success with it.
Im currently at a plateau and need to do something to shoot past it. Thanks a nd good luck with your bench.
[quote]Achilles of war wrote:
Alex, vids looking nice, good shit. How are you enjoying the 8 weeks to a record bench program? I have been thinking about trying it out but do not want to change my program for one that I havent spoken to someone whose had success with it.
Im currently at a plateau and need to do something to shoot past it. Thanks a nd good luck with your bench.[/quote]
If you have been in a plateau, then I would deffinitly try it out. I have been stuck in a bench press plateau for almost a year and this is the only program that has been able to get me out of it. I put on about 25-30 pounds on my bench in only 5 weeks. I started the program with a max of 245, and today I almost got 275. I would deffinitly try to run the program as it is outlined in the original article for the first week or two and then asess if you need to change anything. If you read through my entire log you will see the changes that I made to the program. In addition to my success, my friend is running this program with me and he has taken his bench from 285 to 315 in only 5 weeks as well. He missed 315 today, but if he had more sleep he would have crushed it since last week he hit 305 like nothing.
Here is the video of our second sesion today.
Notes: Austin went to a concert yesterday so that = no sleep lol. It deffinitly affected him because last week he hit 305 like nothing and today after failing at 315, his drop set with 305 was slower than molases lol. I feel like if I tried 275 before the first session today I would have had it. Oh and just wanted to say that all of our sets of close grip bench press were PR’s. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO lol
Nice vid. And cool Ill probably start it next week since this is my last de-load week. my max is in the low 400’s but ive been stuck at repping 315 since early june. Hopefully this will work, anyhow good luck with yours seems to be doing well
[quote]Achilles of war wrote:
Nice vid. And cool Ill probably start it next week since this is my last de-load week. my max is in the low 400’s but ive been stuck at repping 315 since early june. Hopefully this will work, anyhow good luck with yours seems to be doing well[/quote]
Thank you, and if you have any questions later on when you are doing the program, just let me know.
SUMMARY OF PROGRAM:
By far, this is the best program I have ever done to increase my bench press. In the past, I never really followed a specific program for bench press training. I just made sure I got in the gym and benched 3 times a week. This worked well up until last year when I got stuck at a max of about 245. At that point I began researching different training methods to further my progress. I fixed up my technique and began using a less effective from of Westside training which improved my max to about 255, where it remained for several weeks. I then decided to try and bring up my other lifts sicnce my bench had stalled. I started the Juggernaut method and impoved my deadlift and squat by over 100 pounds each, but my bench press max remained the same. Frustrated, I converted to 5/3/1 training in hopes that using heavier weights in each phase would help my bench go up. This did not work either, in fact my max actually went down to 245. (I feel like this was due to only benching 1 time per week.) I was about ready to give up all hope for increasing my bench press when I found the 8 Weeks to a Record Bench Program. When I first read it I thought it was insane....just the kind of program I needed to make some insane gains. Sure enough, here I am 6 weeks later with 30 pounds added to my bench. Thank you Christian Thibadeu!!!!!!! With my plateau shattered, and my mind at ease, I have decided to end the program early and get back to training my squat and deadlift. I am still working out the details, but I am planning on either doing a pure Westside training split or a Westside/Juggernaut method hybrid. My reasoning for this is simple, my bench improves the most when I bench often and when I bench heavy (Westside), and I have made HUGE gains on my squat and deadlift by training with submaximal loads with high volume (Juggernaut Method). With that said, I am ending this log and will be starting a new one called.....The Best of Both Worlds......
-Alex