Chest
Flat bench
Hit 240x1 easy, went for 250 and missed it. Looks like my bench is finally progressing nicely!
DB incline
65lbsx10
80lbsx6(haha, I couldn’t even do 70x1 three weeks ago)
75lbsx6
65lbsx13
HS iso-lateral
45/sidex10
90/sidex8
135/sidex5
115/sidex10
Quick but great workout.
Today’s Legs
Leg Press (took these all the way down till knees were almost on my chest):
675x12, 495x20
*Went too light on my heavy set for sure, and probably should have gone heavier on the 20 rep set too. Hadn’t done leg press in a good 8+ months so I had no idea what I could do. I’ll jump the heavy set to at least 16 plates next week.
Lying Leg Curl:
140x14, 7, 5 (26 RP)
*Kinda got some cramping at the very top of my right calf on the last miniset. Had to stop and try to stretch it out a bit then continue. I’ll make sure to stretch my calves real good before doing the leg curls next week.
[quote]dre wrote:
Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
Stuntman Mike wrote:
dre wrote:
Had two good sessions over the weekend. Don’t remember the poundages or anything.
Question, I did rack pulls for the first time of Saturday. I suck at them. I did them from about 1 inch below the knee. The heaviest I could go was 315. WTF? Aren’t you suppose to be stronger on rack pulls?
My legs were almost straight so I couldn’t get any leg drive to start the movement. So, does that mean my back is weak?
Dre, I have the same problem. I think we are either missing something huge, or we simply aren’t built for the movement.
Bug can do reps with about a billion pounds, so why the hell can’t we do at least twice that?
I think we’re missing something.
I need something to work with guys… Shoot me a vid.
Think I have a few ideas as to what you’re doing wrong… But a vid to see what’s really going on would be better.
Stuntman Mike - According to my body type, long arms and legs, deadlifting is more natural for me. Maybe that doesn’t carry over to rack pulls?
C_C - Next time I do them I’ll try to bring my camera and get a vid. What ideas do you have C_C? Does it matter where you are pulling from? Like say mid-shin is harder than just above the knee?[/quote]
The lower the bar at the beginning the more difficult (and more dangerous) the lift becomes.
But there’s way more to it.
I’ll wait for the vid before commenting though.
[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
alright so im having a problem.
my DB flat bench is stalling.
for the 2nd week in a row i havent busted any new reps on any set.
heres how its looking
100 lbs
x7/x5/x3
85 pounds
x6
my DB incline has been slacking too
75 lbs
x7/x5/x5/x4
and my BB decline has been progressing slightly
today was
175x8/x8/x8 145x7
yea its light weight on a decline but its after 2 other chest workouts so im pretty beat.
AAAAAAAAnyway, i was thinking of dropping the DB flat bench and switching it out for HS horizontal bench press.
or maybe ill switch back down to the 95s til i can hit 8 reps on 3 sets.
any other suggestions?[/quote]
Erm, maybe start doing less work-sets so that you don’t slow your strength gain down so much?
(seriously)
Or at least use a barbell for a while…
Anyway guys, I’m rather busy atm with both work and family-related stuff. Going to take a little break from the interwebz… I’ll check my mails on occasion and maybe the brotherhood of iron 2.0 and DC threads every now and again…
Cheers
BTW:
Get that rack-pull vid up for critique anyway, I’ll comment on it some time and bug and josh (or ScottM and Sento) can probably help out, too.
So guys today is chest after work and I STILL haven’t picked my third lift…lol
1 - ??
2 - Smith Low Incline
3 - Pec-deck
I’m still debating between BB bench or HS Incline. My HS Incline kinda stalled, but I was going to switch it and stop doing only the bottom 1/2-2/3 ROM and start doing the full ROM and work it up again.
But I also kind of want to do BB bench for a couple months just to see where its at since I haven’t trained it in 5-6 months and 35ish lbs of bodyweight.
Edit: I should mention though that the big thing pushing me away from the BB bench is that I train alone and therefore it would be a bitch trying to get someone to spot me throughout my entire triple RP session each week.
Had snow today during my run, but I kept up a good pace. My hands were numb for about 30 minutes after though.
Should be lifting with a friend later this week, will be interesting to see how our strength compares at this point, since he’s bulking and I’m cutting…but I’ve got more time training under my belt hehehe.
Josh, I say try BB bench, it’ll motivate you to see the strength gains you’ve made without regular BB benching.
If you enjoy it, keep doing it for a while to switch things up. If not, just go back to HS incline with full ROM. One session ain’t gonna hurt you.
[quote]hungry4more wrote:
Josh, I say try BB bench,
One session ain’t gonna hurt you. [/quote]
Ha!
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
LiveFromThe781 wrote:
alright so im having a problem.
my DB flat bench is stalling.
for the 2nd week in a row i havent busted any new reps on any set.
heres how its looking
100 lbs
x7/x5/x3
85 pounds
x6
my DB incline has been slacking too
75 lbs
x7/x5/x5/x4
and my BB decline has been progressing slightly
today was
175x8/x8/x8 145x7
yea its light weight on a decline but its after 2 other chest workouts so im pretty beat.
AAAAAAAAnyway, i was thinking of dropping the DB flat bench and switching it out for HS horizontal bench press.
or maybe ill switch back down to the 95s til i can hit 8 reps on 3 sets.
any other suggestions?
Erm, maybe start doing less work-sets so that you don’t slow your strength gain down so much?
(seriously)
Or at least use a barbell for a while… [/quote]
do you mean less work sets total or less work sets for DB press?
[quote]josh86 wrote:
So guys today is chest after work and I STILL haven’t picked my third lift…lol
1 - ??
2 - Smith Low Incline
3 - Pec-deck
I’m still debating between BB bench or HS Incline. My HS Incline kinda stalled, but I was going to switch it and stop doing only the bottom 1/2-2/3 ROM and start doing the full ROM and work it up again.
But I also kind of want to do BB bench for a couple months just to see where its at since I haven’t trained it in 5-6 months and 35ish lbs of bodyweight.
Edit: I should mention though that the big thing pushing me away from the BB bench is that I train alone and therefore it would be a bitch trying to get someone to spot me throughout my entire triple RP session each week.[/quote]
What about dumbbell bench instead of bb bench?
Session last night, nothing great.
Incline dumbbell press
55x8
55x8
60x8
60x6
incline flyes
25x10
25x10
-started to hurt right shoulder so i quit
incline barbell press
135x10
145x8
155x8
165x6
-again, hurt right shoulder
preacher curl
70x8
80x6
80x6
one arm cable curls
25x6
25x6
25x6
reverse grip barbell curls
45x10
65x8
75x6
There you have it, like I said, nothing special. Don’t know why my right shoulder is bothering me, I haven’t played any volleyball or anything in a while. that’s usually what causes it to hurt. I think I just need to do some shoulder dislocates to get it stretched out.
There will be no training sessions tonight because everything is closed. We got about 6 inches of snow last night and it’s still coming. I love Wisconsin in the winter time…
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
hungry4more wrote:
Josh, I say try BB bench,
One session ain’t gonna hurt you.
Ha!
[/quote]
Ya really, it only takes 1 session to tear a pec. But I don’t think I’m at a high risk for that. I bench elbows tucked and control the eccentric, touch the chest, then go. No bouncing or sloppiness. But who knows how good my form would be on the third miniset of the triple RP…haha
[quote]dre wrote:
josh86 wrote:
So guys today is chest after work and I STILL haven’t picked my third lift…lol
1 - ??
2 - Smith Low Incline
3 - Pec-deck
I’m still debating between BB bench or HS Incline. My HS Incline kinda stalled, but I was going to switch it and stop doing only the bottom 1/2-2/3 ROM and start doing the full ROM and work it up again.
But I also kind of want to do BB bench for a couple months just to see where its at since I haven’t trained it in 5-6 months and 35ish lbs of bodyweight.
Edit: I should mention though that the big thing pushing me away from the BB bench is that I train alone and therefore it would be a bitch trying to get someone to spot me throughout my entire triple RP session each week.
What about dumbbell bench instead of bb bench? [/quote]
Dumbbells only go to 100s at my gym…not heavy enough and definitely not room for progression.
[quote]josh86 wrote:
dre wrote:
josh86 wrote:
So guys today is chest after work and I STILL haven’t picked my third lift…lol
1 - ??
2 - Smith Low Incline
3 - Pec-deck
I’m still debating between BB bench or HS Incline. My HS Incline kinda stalled, but I was going to switch it and stop doing only the bottom 1/2-2/3 ROM and start doing the full ROM and work it up again.
But I also kind of want to do BB bench for a couple months just to see where its at since I haven’t trained it in 5-6 months and 35ish lbs of bodyweight.
Edit: I should mention though that the big thing pushing me away from the BB bench is that I train alone and therefore it would be a bitch trying to get someone to spot me throughout my entire triple RP session each week.
What about dumbbell bench instead of bb bench?
Dumbbells only go to 100s at my gym…not heavy enough and definitely not room for progression.[/quote]
Well, sorry I suggested it you big bastard! haha
[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
LiveFromThe781 wrote:
alright so im having a problem.
my DB flat bench is stalling.
for the 2nd week in a row i havent busted any new reps on any set.
heres how its looking
100 lbs
x7/x5/x3
85 pounds
x6
my DB incline has been slacking too
75 lbs
x7/x5/x5/x4
and my BB decline has been progressing slightly
today was
175x8/x8/x8 145x7
yea its light weight on a decline but its after 2 other chest workouts so im pretty beat.
AAAAAAAAnyway, i was thinking of dropping the DB flat bench and switching it out for HS horizontal bench press.
or maybe ill switch back down to the 95s til i can hit 8 reps on 3 sets.
any other suggestions?
Erm, maybe start doing less work-sets so that you don’t slow your strength gain down so much?
(seriously)
Or at least use a barbell for a while…
do you mean less work sets total or less work sets for DB press?
[/quote]
Less work sets total…the more work sets you are doing the harder it is to progress for strength. The BB thing was suggesting to maybe try doing BB bench instead of DB bench for a while then go back to DB’s when you stall on that and you will smash your previous PRs.
This of course just me pretending to be C_C. But I’m 99% sure this is what he was getting at.
Josh, you know your body better than I do obviously and you’ve been blowing up lately, obviously, but maybe try BB decline? I think I’ve seen you mention this before as a possibility and I would definitely recommend it. I don’t like flat BB bench either and I’ve been doing decline for a few months now and really enjoying it.
I don’t RP it since I work out chest by myself and usually have to resort to finding whatever spotter I can find that day so I’ve just been working on upping the poundages in the 6-12 rep range… so maybe if you work up to one heavy straight set, and then dominate the shit out of your chest with the RP’ed incline?
IDK man, if you catch your chest up with your back/shoulders/arms, your upper body will be a force to be reckoned with.
[quote]dre wrote:
josh86 wrote:
dre wrote:
josh86 wrote:
So guys today is chest after work and I STILL haven’t picked my third lift…lol
1 - ??
2 - Smith Low Incline
3 - Pec-deck
I’m still debating between BB bench or HS Incline. My HS Incline kinda stalled, but I was going to switch it and stop doing only the bottom 1/2-2/3 ROM and start doing the full ROM and work it up again.
But I also kind of want to do BB bench for a couple months just to see where its at since I haven’t trained it in 5-6 months and 35ish lbs of bodyweight.
Edit: I should mention though that the big thing pushing me away from the BB bench is that I train alone and therefore it would be a bitch trying to get someone to spot me throughout my entire triple RP session each week.
What about dumbbell bench instead of bb bench?
Dumbbells only go to 100s at my gym…not heavy enough and definitely not room for progression.
Well, sorry I suggested it you big bastard! haha[/quote]
Lol no worries, I should have mentioned that in my first post that DBs weren’t an option due to limited weight. I have a feeling I’ll probably end up just doing more HS Incline…damn I really need to find a new gym.
[quote]bugeishaAD wrote:
Josh, you know your body better than I do obviously and you’ve been blowing up lately, obviously, but maybe try BB decline? I think I’ve seen you mention this before as a possibility and I would definitely recommend it. I don’t like flat BB bench either and I’ve been doing decline for a few months now and really enjoying it.
I don’t RP it since I work out chest by myself and usually have to resort to finding whatever spotter I can find that day so I’ve just been working on upping the poundages in the 6-12 rep range… so maybe if you work up to one heavy straight set, and then dominate the shit out of your chest with the RP’ed incline?
IDK man, if you catch your chest up with your back/shoulders/arms, your upper body will be a force to be reckoned with.[/quote]
Yeah I have definitely thought about that as well…however I went away from it because my chest really just needs filling out in the upper part, the mid/lower chest is actually rather large but I lack upper chest development. Plus in lifting without a spotter, like yourself, I like that on flat BB if I get stuck I can just dig the heels in and drive hard with the legs to get the last rep up.
Maybe doing HS Incline and Smith low-inclines is a good idea to help the lagging upper chest…probably what I’ll end up going with and see if I can get decent progression going. If not I’ll change it.
Thanks for the input though Bug.
[quote]josh86 wrote:
Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
hungry4more wrote:
Josh, I say try BB bench,
One session ain’t gonna hurt you.
Ha!
Ya really, it only takes 1 session to tear a pec. But I don’t think I’m at a high risk for that. I bench elbows tucked and control the eccentric, touch the chest, then go. No bouncing or sloppiness. But who knows how good my form would be on the third miniset of the triple RP…haha[/quote]
If you have to RP it, then go with 15-30 or better: 20-30RP.