I’m wide with short arms and I have my pinkies on the knurling ring. Any narrower and I start having to flatten my shoulder blades and lose my arch just to touch the bar to my chest.
I’m just a beginner too so I might be wrong on this one. I hope the more experienced lifters call me out on this if I’m wrong.
You’re not engaging your lats as you push. This makes you less tight in the upper back, hence all the shaking and excessive elbow flare when you push. It becomes more obvious as you fatigue.
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Hill sprints - 20 min - x29 (properly timed this time)
I rest and pause the timer after 10 reps.
I weighed myself after going to the washroom a lot this morning (sorry for those details) and I was weighing in at close to that mid 135 lbs range. So, I feel like I’m not putting on any real weight here but lifts (except for bench) seem to be going up. Is it possible I’m losing fat and gaining muscle initially?
Whang is exactly correct on this one as well. I think it’s a result of a sub-optimal arch.
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There’s a small possibility you’re doing both, but that’s far from the most productive use of your time. You need to be adding 2 pounds a month. If you do that, it’s still conservative enough you won’t gain much fat. Maintaining your weight as a “beginner” to real lifting is failing to take advantage of any newbie gains you could be getting.
I think the arch just helps make the shoulders and upper back compact. No matter the degree of arch, if the bencher doesn’t actively engage the lats, then you won’t stay tight. Lots of flat benchers and minimal arch benchers can still can get tight by actively engaging the lats. My 2c fwiw
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Is it possible to put on 2 lbs a month of lean body mass? That seems pretty high unless you have amazing genetics or something.
Keep in mind lean mass isn’t muscle mass: just non fat mass. Water, glycogen, bone mass, etc, all contribute.
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Genetics play a role, but at your level just about anyone can do it with a lot of discipline and effort. Read PWN’s post above, too. 2 pounds a month for a relative beginner while minimizing fat gain is definitely possible. Take advantage of it while you can, because you won’t be able to do it 6-12 months from now.
Cycling - 30 KM
Moving my lifting days to Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday. Would have lifted today but had to bike to work to pickup stuff from office. Hence the cycling.
Your setup looks fine to me, you’re making a little arch it looks like you’re trying to stay tight, but something happens from the time you unrack the bar to the descent.
It looks like you relax, like you’re not staying really tight.
Then there’s the re breathing, get some more air in try to set up, it’s really hard to do. I know Pwn goes to almost failure before resetting, but you could play around with a rebreathe affter 3 or 5 reps. then do 1 or two reps, rebreathe and reset.
Anyway I like the way you’re killing the sessions, keep doing it and you will get results even with your bench.
Next cycle give the squat a bit more weight hitting 20 reps even on the 531 week is a bit high numbered.
Keep grinding
Okay, I added 10 lbs to my TM for squats. So instead of 110 lbs next cycle it’ll be 120 lbs. Do you think that’s good?
I would even say 15 lbs could do it, 20 reps is a high rep number
Your TM this cycle was 100 right (95% of 100 is 95 you weight on the last squat day)
Meaning your TM next cycle would have been 110 and you’ve added an extra 10 lbs if I understand you correctly.
5’s week would be 102 lbs (100 unless you have microplates)
3’s week 108 lbs (105 or 110 or microplates)
531 week 114 lbs (115 or microplates)
If you don’t think it looks to intimidating do it otherwise go with 115 lbs as TM
deadlift you could raise the TM by 15 lbs getting 18 reps on deadlift 95% day is a lot of reps,
Press and bench raise the TM by no more than 5 lbs.
Next cycle your bench focus is NOT the number of reps, next cycle focus on getting tight, control the bar on the descent and pressing really hard, Be careful not to overextend on the top, your shoulderblades should still be pinched.
But as I said I like how you just put the work in, trusting the program, starting on cycle 3 now many beginners would have ditched it by now, because they don’t understand the program.
You’re beginning to understand, you’re asking the right questions and as many before you bench is their main concern. Bench and press are bitches, for many they are hard to progress, eventually they will progress.
Keep up the good work. You’re doing great.
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Start of cycle 3
Front squat
65% 75 1 5
75% 87.5 1 5
85% 97.5 1 5+ (20 reps)
65% 75 5 5
Bench
65% 90 1 5
75% 105 1 5
85% 120 1 5+ (11 reps)
65% 90 5 5
Assistance work:
Dips (body weight): 15,15,10,10,10
EZ Curls: 55 lbs - 2x25
Notes:
- TM for squat is 115 instead of 110 for cycle 3.
- Haven’t slept well for three days. Not sure if I even fell asleep last night vs just laying in bed. Last time I was this sleep deprived my bench wasn’t great either and I did 115 x11 (Link: Clueless Lifter - #177 by Digity)
- I guess 120 x11 is still an improvement from workout above.
- I’ve noticed leg muscle improvement in daily life. There is a steep hill I use to bike up and couldn’t do it before without standup on bike and peddling hard. Now I can do it fully seated and doesn’t seem nearly as tough.
I will post a video of me benching later. I have my shirt off to see the arch. Im not sure I fully understand what you guys are asking me to do though. Like with the lats, etc.
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Looking forward to the video. Keeping your back tight while benching is one of the hardest things to teach without being there in person, but between all of us we can get you headed the right way.
I wish I’d pulled my pants up more…sorry about that.
What are your thoughts on this though?
Nothing wrong with that arch.
I’ll let the others respond to the form.
It hasn’t worked well for you in the past.
Regardless of whether one can build muscle on a deficit, you’ve tried enough to know that you, personally, can’t.
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So first off, the bench set looked really good. No real issues that I can see.
The video you posted is not something you should even be considering. You, specifically, cannot and will not gain muscle on a deficit. It’s why your bench is stalling right now. If you want to get stronger and gain muscle, you have to eat for it. If you try and stay in a deficit because you’re so married to being “lean”, you won’t make any real progress for another 10 years.
I’ll say it again. Eat to gain muscle. You need to be gaining 2 pounds a month, minimum. Anything other than that is sacrificing progress you can be making.