Thank you veggie. I am definitely pretty negative/cynical about them, but I agree I should view them in a more positive light. They are absolutely works in progress, and I know they will improve/have been, just such a slow process.
HM i hate you.
I think if your repping 3 plates on CGBP, your arms have to be at least DECENT lol. And thanks, I’ll definitely read that Meadows article
Bug:
When you do military press, do you pull your shoulders back and down, a la PL advice for benching?
I tried that for my last session and it made my shoulders just ache, so I’m pretty sure it’s not a good thing to do (instead of it meaning that I am just “tight” in that region).
I definitely press heavier if I’m not doing that.
Standing military? I just unrack it and press, lol. I dont consciously do anything besides general good pressing dynamics.
Big carbload yesterday, morning weight up 8-9lbs lollll. This is a pic from a few mornings ago that came out especially good.
Diet is coming along. Excited for back tonight.
Cool stuff man, you’re doing really well.
[quote]bugeishaAD wrote:
Standing military? I just unrack it and press, lol. I dont consciously do anything besides general good pressing dynamics.
Big carbload yesterday, morning weight up 8-9lbs lollll. This is a pic from a few mornings ago that came out especially good.
Diet is coming along. Excited for back tonight.[/quote]
Damn son, the wheels looked solid from the front, but the side shot is just wtf. No wonder you move so much friggin weight…
They really aren’t big, I’m just a halfway decent poser.
Solid back day. Tried some new things which is always fun. Was completely wiped at the end of the session.
Meadows rows (reps per side)
1plate x 12
2plates x 10
2p 2p in back x 8
2p 4p in back x 10 - awesome set. I could feel my lats all the way to the attachments for the rest of the workout.
Deadlifts
135 x 5
225 x 5
315 x 3
385 x 3
435 x 3
485 x 3 - up 20lbs from last week, and about the same level of difficulty. Reps aren’t too fast, but they are coming up solid. Will bump this up to 495 or 505 next week. Would be awesome to get my DL strength back during diet.
Stretchers (low rest)
100 x 12
112 x 12
125 x 12 - hurt so bad.
Cybex plate-loaded pulldown machine - neutral grip (did these partner resisted. i.e: complete the concentric on my own, then my training partner would pull on the plates while I squeezed and resisted. these were FUCKING. BRUTAL.)
2pps x 12, 10ish - wow owowowowowowowowowowoww. My lats were like balloons now.
Cybex chest-supported row
2pps x 8, 8 (squeezed at the top. was running out of gas at this point)
DB shrugs w/ 3sec hold
100’s x 15
115’s x 15
135’s x 12
Lat pulldown curls
4 ascending sets of 12-15, last one a drop set. Hard squeeze at the top.
One-armed DB preachers, 3sec neg (wowwwwie)
30 x 10, 10
that was it. i am exhausted and have a fairly tough school week. Diet results are starting to show which makes me happy. Wednesday marks the 5 week mark.
School sucks. Why cant it get out of the way of lifting?
Bug, when you do Meadows rows, you write 2 p 4 p in back, what does in back mean?
[quote]ebomb5522 wrote:
Bug, when you do Meadows rows, you write 2 p 4 p in back, what does in back mean? [/quote]
Something like this. I still need to try John’s meadow row but have really been enjoying his one arm barbell row.
^ this.
Except on my machine, the “thingy” can go all the way to the ground. It’s this one:
http://www.cybexintl.com/products/Data/MainImages/5580.jpg
If I put more than two plates up front, I dont have enough room to grip. By putting some in back, it allows more room for progression.
Solid deadlifting my man, those PRs when dieting are definitely motivating.
And looking sexi as shit in the side chest
AM: 35min elliptical cardio, avg. HR: 130~
Chest and tris today. As some of you may know, my bench has taken a big hit from a combination of 1) not working it and 2) dieting. So, now I’m at a point where I’m thinking I want to train it like a powerlift and try to maintain, or even gain some strength by improving technique and explosiveness and all that fun stuff. Today I decided to go for a single and see what I was good for. Went ok, but I was pretty disappointed with the results. I think working so long in the bodybuilding-type “3/4” reps (no lockout) has really hurt my full ROM benching and my lockout, or even halfway off the chest, fucking blows. I videoed my benching and after I post this, will edit the sets together and upload to youtube.
Bench
135 x 8
185 x 8
225 x 5
275 x 3
295 x 2
315 x 2
335 x 1
355 x 1 - 
<---- sad faces.
Pin lockouts (from about halfway up, roughly my sticking point)
135 x 4
225 x 4
275 x 4
315 x 3
335 x 3
Incline TwistPress
60’s x 10
75’s x 10
85’s x 8
Incline (tried to go a little heavier for a change)
135 x 8
225 x 5
275 x 4 1 (fml)
225 x 7 1 TUT style
1 set of high rep pec deck.
Rope pressdowns
2 pump sets.
V-bar pressdowns
2 heavy sets
Incline DB skulls
25’s x a lot x 3sets
Tris feel fried down to the bone. Haven’t felt that in awhile. LWI, right? I would love to hit a 385 single sometime during this diet, and am making that a goal. Any of you powerlifters have any advice for how I can incorporate some PL’style programming into my bench training? <3
Bug, how did you get your bench to 405 the first time? Didn’t seem to take you long back then… I’d just do that again.
Consider how you trained your chest, upper back, arms and front delts then.
You can just tack on some of the more exotic/light exercises you like to do now after whatever you used to do for strength work.
You could of course do some periodized PL stuff for your bench, but to be honest, I always got way more out of DC, 5/3/1 (original version with 10% jumps, no singles… Also my own assistance template, the ones in the book suck ass for upper body stuff imo) or regular ramps (not that different from 5/3/1 anyway).
Basically reps and low-ish volume per lift per session, focused on progressive overload.
Your lateral tricep heads are a major weak area, and you don’t seem to train your upper back or front delts heavy anymore all things considered?
Also consider exercise choices and how you split things up.
CC, thanks for the input. You’re just the man I need to hear from.
Lately I’ve been hitting stuff more Meadows-style, which definitely puts an emphasis on form and negatives, but I’m still training heavy movements.
When I first got my bench to 405, I just started training it heavier, triples, doubles, singles, not going to failure and not a crazy amount of volume and it got there pretty quickly. Only real difference was that I was gaining weight at that point. That’s essentially what I’ll do now though.
The major difference was that I was doing regular heavy seated military press. I’m back to training a press regularly, but I’m working on standing military, mostly because it’s fun. I’ll stick with it till I can nail 225 for some reps, then probably go back to seated. What other front delt training do you think I need besides heavy shoulder pressing?
For upper back, no, I guess doing 135’s for DB shrugs isn’t too heavy compared to 500 lb bb shrugs. I could probably go back to barbell now that I’ve been doing DB’s for awhile, start pushing the weight again.
Triceps… the bane of my existence. The lateral head by itself is pretty tough to target… and I’d say my tricep as a whole is what sucks, but that is definitely genetics because I hit them as hard if not harder than just about anyone and have “prioritized” them for years now.
THAT SAID, what exercises or variations do you think i should be doing to target the lateral head?
Here is a video of the benching. Technique is pretty bad. I will be working on that.
Dont sweat it man. Itll get back up there real quick!! Just keep up the incredible work and dedication brotha!!
C_C - can you elaborate on the 5/3/1 that you run? What are the 10% increases, etc?
LOVE the pic =)
Regarding triceps work: I am no expert, but I always feel like I get the best bang for my buck when I work overhead. You know, really stretch and contract those babies. The only caveat is to be careful not to compromise your shoulders.
Get a liftoff
[quote]Gaius Octavius wrote:
Get a liftoff[/quote]
x2