Conquering Bench Press Conundrum

Training Training Logs
261

[quote]fr0IVIan wrote:

[quote]Macmade wrote:

[quote]fr0IVIan wrote:
if you are stalling on that many exercises, IMO you aren’t eating enough.

also if you can’t feel cable pullovers, lighten the load, make sure you push your hips back/lean forward and down at the top of the movement to get a good stretch at the lats, then pull down and back with your lats and squeeze your armpits down at the bottom.

without the squeeze you aren’t getting the full benefit from that movement IMO. also just to put things in perspective, 120 lb is my working weight for that movement up to 15 reps, I can imagine that you would benefit far more from taking maybe 40 lb off the stack.[/quote]

Sunday was just one of those days for me, but nevertheless I will constantly remind myself of eating more at the slightest sign of hunger.

Do I move my upper body at all during the cable pullover? Should my upper body be close to parallel to the floor? In your opinion which one is better, standing cable pullover or decline/flat cable pullover?[/quote]

http://www.T-Nation.com/strength-training-topics/straight-arm-pulldown

sometimes i move my upper body closer to parallel to the floor to get a better stretch at the top. but usually i move like in the video.

IMO standing is better because you can load more weight and it’s more stable than laying on a bench or the floor.[/quote]

oh lol, this makes so much sense now. I was doing it like a vertical chest fly lol.

262

[quote]Macmade wrote:

[quote]fr0IVIan wrote:

[quote]Macmade wrote:

[quote]fr0IVIan wrote:
if you are stalling on that many exercises, IMO you aren’t eating enough.

also if you can’t feel cable pullovers, lighten the load, make sure you push your hips back/lean forward and down at the top of the movement to get a good stretch at the lats, then pull down and back with your lats and squeeze your armpits down at the bottom.

without the squeeze you aren’t getting the full benefit from that movement IMO. also just to put things in perspective, 120 lb is my working weight for that movement up to 15 reps, I can imagine that you would benefit far more from taking maybe 40 lb off the stack.[/quote]

Sunday was just one of those days for me, but nevertheless I will constantly remind myself of eating more at the slightest sign of hunger.

Do I move my upper body at all during the cable pullover? Should my upper body be close to parallel to the floor? In your opinion which one is better, standing cable pullover or decline/flat cable pullover?[/quote]

http://www.T-Nation.com/strength-training-topics/straight-arm-pulldown

sometimes i move my upper body closer to parallel to the floor to get a better stretch at the top. but usually i move like in the video.

IMO standing is better because you can load more weight and it’s more stable than laying on a bench or the floor.[/quote]

oh lol, this makes so much sense now. I was doing it like a vertical chest fly lol.
[/quote]

/facepalm

263

Deloaded, being pretty boring at gym nowadays.

Volume Squat Day:
Squat: 135x5, 155x5, 185x5, 205x4x5
Went down deep.

Bench Press: 115x3x5
A problem I’ve been noticing since the last time i benched is that I can’t hold the bar stationary, it’s shaky and weird, didn’t seem to have this problem before :S

Pullups: BW 45x4, 35x4, x4, x1, BWx5, x3
This has been pathetique for a while, I think bicep weakness. no?

Standing Cable Pullover: 90x8, 80x3x12
Did the “correct” way, felt the pump in my lats.

264

Okay session, congrats to XArena’s huge Squat PR, which makes me feel like shit

Recovery Squat Day:
Sqaut: 150x3x5
Easy.

Incline Bench Press: 45x5, 65x5, 85x5, 115x5, 135x1, 155x1, 165x0.5, 135x4
Nothing special. So weakkk…

Deadlift: 225x3, 295x1, 320x1
Felt like shit after bench so I decided to hit a max on deadlift.

Tricep Pulldown: 72.5x5, 77.5x5, 82.5x5, 80x5, 80x8
Pretty nice PR for tricep, this means that my tricep has gotten stronger. First 4 sets done with no rest in between, last set done after 3 minutes rest.

Low Bar Cable Row: 120x12
In a hurry, easy.

My tricep and back got stronger so the reason my bench isn’t improving are 1. Overtraining 2. Should Weakness 3. Chest Weakness God damn, so madd. Dreadful squat on Sunday -.-

265

Congrats on the deadlift PR. a PR is a PR, it doesn’t matter what lift it’s in man

266

Thanks man, if I can’t get my squat up, at least I will have a deadlift comparable to yours lol.

267

haha, and your bench is coming real close! But I did do 155x2x3 then 155x5 on incline bench (hands 1 inch inside rings) :wink: (this was the same day I hit the squat PR, I just couldn’t log it for some reason)

268

[quote]Macmade wrote:
Deloaded, being pretty boring at gym nowadays.

Volume Squat Day:
Squat: 135x5, 155x5, 185x5, 205x4x5
Went down deep.

Bench Press: 115x3x5
A problem I’ve been noticing since the last time i benched is that I can’t hold the bar stationary, it’s shaky and weird, didn’t seem to have this problem before :S

Pullups: BW 45x4, 35x4, x4, x1, BWx5, x3
This has been pathetique for a while, I think bicep weakness. no?

Standing Cable Pullover: 90x8, 80x3x12
Did the “correct” way, felt the pump in my lats.

[/quote]

are you pulling the bar apart (activating rear delts) and keeping your shoulder blades pinched and shoulders down (keeping upper back and lats tight)?

269

[quote]XArena wrote:
haha, and your bench is coming real close! But I did do 155x2x3 then 155x5 on incline bench (hands 1 inch inside rings) :wink: (this was the same day I hit the squat PR, I just couldn’t log it for some reason)[/quote]

no its not close… that’s like a 20lbs difference.

270

[quote]fr0IVIan wrote:

[quote]Macmade wrote:
Deloaded, being pretty boring at gym nowadays.

Volume Squat Day:
Squat: 135x5, 155x5, 185x5, 205x4x5
Went down deep.

Bench Press: 115x3x5
A problem I’ve been noticing since the last time i benched is that I can’t hold the bar stationary, it’s shaky and weird, didn’t seem to have this problem before :S

Pullups: BW 45x4, 35x4, x4, x1, BWx5, x3
This has been pathetique for a while, I think bicep weakness. no?

Standing Cable Pullover: 90x8, 80x3x12
Did the “correct” way, felt the pump in my lats.

[/quote]

are you pulling the bar apart (activating rear delts) and keeping your shoulder blades pinched and shoulders down (keeping upper back and lats tight)?
[/quote]

which exercise are you talking about?

271

20lbs is close, and hes talkn bout bench

272

[quote]XArena wrote:
20lbs is close, and hes talkn bout bench[/quote]

I bench like dat sometimes, like today I did cuz I felt good.

Was prompted to attempt 275 for squat again and i think I shouldn’t have.

Intensity Squat Day:
Squat: 135x5, 155x5, 185x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1, 275x3.5
So close the fourth rep was… Got out of the hole and stayed in the mid phase of the movement for like 5 seconds before finally giving up. Ughhghghghghg

CGBP: 85x5, 105x5, 135x1, 160x3.5, 145x7
No huge improvement here either. Felt much better than last time though, first and second rep of 160 went up so fast that I was sure i could get 5 reps.

Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 60x6, 70x7, 80x8
I swear my bench isn’t improving because i haven’t trained shoulder in like a month. This one doesn’t hurt my wrist.

Low Bar Cable Row: 140x8, x10, x9
Minimum rest. Pumping.

Squat and Bench press are SUCH A PAINNN IN THE ASSSS!!!
Funny story though, I was supposed to go with XArena and this other pretty strong dude today but I couldn’t, but instead I arrived at the gym just late enough to see XArena attempting 335 deadlift. Out of curiosity of my own strength, I conventional pulled it above my knees before dropping it after he failed it first time. Im sure had I warmed up and pulled sumo like usually,335 is no problem. Whew, at least I’m not completely humbled by XArena’s strength.

273

damn you… LOL. Just wait, I’ll catch up :wink:

274

Got stiff neck on the third rep of the the third set :S

Volume Squat:
Squat: 245x3x5
Injured. I usually recover from stiff necks in a day or two though. Upping my volume instead of deloading it.

Bench Press: 115x2x5, x10
Felt heavy for so reason.

Leg Curls: 40x10, 50x10, 50x4
They are hard, and the poundage i use at the school weightroom is less than at the gym.

As usual injury

275

Getting leaner. Didn’t go to gym yesterday due to piano rehearsal and shit. I swear, playing piano is a brutal forarm workout. At one point, I could feel every strand of my forarm muscle flexing in rhythm with my fingers playing the piano, as my hand was going numb.

Recovery Squat Day:
Squat: No Squat lol
Back just a little stiff. Didn’t want to risk it.

Incline Bench: 65x5, 95x5, 115x5, 145x3, 135x5
Spotter gave me an indefinite amount of help. Next week again, though I could probably do this without spot.

Dumbbell Bench: 60x6, 110x12, 120x2x6
Hardd. Ended with 7 reps of chest fly with 20s.

Deadlift: 225x3, 295x1
Not feeling it, tired too.

Finished with random stuff but upper body was generally exhausted after the DB Bench. Tried doing decline sit up with the bench around 70 degress to the ground, a very humbling experience, could only do 3 reps with 10lbs behind my head… Gonna incorporate this for core training now.

276

Blasted my chest and core yesterday, followed up with tris and back today. Powerlifting is so much more comfortable, doing anything over 5 reps is fucken cardio.

Tri&Back Bombardment Day:
Hammer Strength “Iso-Lateral Bench Press”: 50x6, 140x6, 120x10, 120x6, 110x9, 110x7, 100x7, 90x7
Alot of experimenting with weight and reps as you can see. Saw that crazy muvafucker Frank Yang doing this in one of his videos and I was like “Hey, I have access to this seemingly awsome Hammer Strength Product”. Don’t know if its actually useful, didn’t feel the pump but sure made my tris hard.

Machine Low Bar Row: 60x10, 120x10, 125x2x10
Easy, great form lol.

Tricep Pulldown: 120x3x10
k, this gym’s machine weights are soo different from the one I usually go to.

Kroc Row: 70x2x10
Tried to superset this with pulldowns… fucken CARDIO! oh man, after the first set I was like out of breath and panting like a bulldog. And as you can see, only did it for 2 sets.

Sore all over now, lol testing testing squat on Tuesday. God damn plz recover.

277

I did the machine row yer talking about for 210x3, coulda got like 10 if i didnt go from 30 to 210 in 2mins now rest, ramped lolol

278

Ate sooooooo much for the past two days. A total of 13 chicken breast, 3 pieces of salmon and 7 porkchops and 2 litres of milk plus various other things. If I don’t smash PRs tmrw, other things are getting smashed.

279

woke up today feeling sore still. wtf.

280

Soreness doesn’t mean you won’t hit a PR