I’m going to try something a little different with my bench pressing over the next few months, as progress is not coming along too well using the standard 5/3/1 template. Basically, on week 1 I will work up to a 5RM, rather than working up to a weight I’ll attempt to hit 5 reps with; on week 2 I will do the same with triples, but on the floor presses; on week 3 I will work up to some heavy singles on the reverse band bench press.
The idea is to increase my benching volume slightly, and also slowly scale up the intensity. The variations should allow me to progress a little longer, whilst working different aspects of the core lift each week.
Slept awfully this week, and was feeling tired and sluggish throughout the session, and had a bit of headache too. Not ideal, but 6 reps at 175kg was a solid effort, and I decided to go quite easy on assistance.
Much like my bench press, my deadlift has been a bit up and down recently. I’ll try a couple of different variations, whilst aiming to go for 5/3/1 rep maxes in a three week cycle. This was fun with the chains!
Great session, with some kind of PR on everything. Pressing twice a week seems to be finally getting my pressing strength going; really happy with this as I think it’s been lagging for a long time.
Very, very disappointing. I didn’t feel strong from the first rep today, but decided to work at it and see what happened. Unfortunately, I absolutely topped out at 220kg, and it was sheer stupidity/stubbornness that possessed me to attempt to equal my PR. Ah well, I’ll rest up, work hard, and give it another go in a few weeks.
Not overly delighted with this; I actually got a completed rep with 165kg (which would have matched my best from almost 2 years ago) but my arse was a long way off of the bench. I hope that throwing in the floor presses and a couple of other changes I’ve made recently will allow me to kick-start some progress on this exercise in the next few months.
Can’t remember where I read about press starts (might have been Glenn Pendlay or Dan John). It’s a reduced ROM press, where you drive off of the delts and press to roughly forehead height.
nice reverse band - I failed 160 myself yesterday, got 155 ok - I reckon my jumps need sorting, maybe 150 then 160 and I might have got it…still strong thought pal!
[quote]Adam-F wrote:
wait - was that 195 for 3 or 5??? IM CONFUSED
nice reverse band - I failed 160 myself yesterday, got 155 ok - I reckon my jumps need sorting, maybe 150 then 160 and I might have got it…still strong thought pal! [/quote]
Oops - it was 195x3, copied and pasted from last week’s session to avoid typing everything out again. Still, was delighted with the triple.
And thanks re the reverse band benching. I often find it helps me to take small jumps when I’m doing max singles, but you do definitely run the risk of tiring yourself out on a tough-but-not-quite-maximal weight.
