do you have a way to put those 2 bench videos together to be able to see the 2 bench styles at the same time? You know my preference…more leg drive on flat foot and ass stayed on the bench too. Moved faster but the weight was lighter.
how do you grab the bar when you’re benching? I don’t really think about tucking my elbows, but i do think about bending the bar into a “U” shape a lot on the way down
[quote]lil power wrote:
do you have a way to put those 2 bench videos together to be able to see the 2 bench styles at the same time?
[/quote]
Yea I think I’ll do something like that when I get home.
[quote]budreiser wrote:
how do you grab the bar when you’re benching? I don’t really think about tucking my elbows, but i do think about bending the bar into a “U” shape a lot on the way down[/quote]
That sounds like a useful cue; I’ll use that next time.
[quote]csulli wrote:
[quote]budreiser wrote:
how do you grab the bar when you’re benching? I don’t really think about tucking my elbows, but i do think about bending the bar into a “U” shape a lot on the way down[/quote]
That sounds like a useful cue; I’ll use that next time.[/quote]
I know I never bench, but I’ve had the most success finding a sweet spot with my elbows in regard to how close or far from the torso they are with the tuck. I know Mark Bell has touched the subject but it’s common for people to over do the tuck and they lose alot of power and give way for injury.
I do think aiming for a certain elbow position is just plain stupid in a heavy bench attempt but I do believe finding that powerful spot kind of in between changes the game.
7/2/2014
Squat (beltless):
55 10x
145 10x
195 5x
235 3x
285 3x
320 3x
320 3x
340 3x
340 3x
360 2x
360 2x I’m gonna need to lower my training max for squat. These were getting a bit too sloppy form wise. I just left my belted, no knee wraps max of 425 in out of laziness and I figured maybe the work would be light enough that it would be fine, but truth be told I get a lot out of a belt and this was a bit too heavy for my goals of ingraining improved form. So I lowered the TM by 20lbs and the weights look like they’ll work better.
Press:
45 10x
95 10x
135 5x
155 5x
155 5x
155 5x
155 5x
155 5x
155 5x
155 5x Pressing felt alright. Definitely the easiest 7x5 I’ve ever done with this weight.
How much rest do you generally take between sets out of curiosity. Mainly work sets like your 7x5 and such.
On bench,
First thing after laying back I arch up and force my shoulder blades together/ as tight as possible. I wriggle a bit back n forth while driving my elbows back to assist. Once tight as possible I try to hold that position and reach up a d grab the bar with minimal reach as possible- too much starts to undo the tightness u made.
Grab the bar w. Pinkie on the ring. Squeeze as hard as possible the bar in your hand. Now Ipush my self a bit into the bench and set my feet. Which is on my toes.as tight as possible. Mostly uncomfortable? Perfect. Now deep breathe. Push out w. My belly like squatting/deadlift and drive with my feet. Lift off. Let it naturally settle for a second. Lower bar and explode up.
My bench.
[quote]Ass Banana wrote:
How much rest do you generally take between sets out of curiosity. Mainly work sets like your 7x5 and such.[/quote]
I’ll take a few minutes between squat sets if they start getting heavy. Upper body I don’t need quite as long though.
It’s funny you mention that 7x5 on press, my press felt GREAT yesterday. I did all 7 of those sets with very minimal rest between.
[quote]csulli wrote:
155 5x Pressing felt alright. Definitely the easiest 7x5 I’ve ever done with this weight.[/quote]
Nice job on the pressing. Took me a bit before I saw the signs of Smolov in the rep/sets of your last two press days. Then I had to take a look at your excel plan and read back a few pages before it started to come together.
Do you know how long people usually run Smolov back to back before needing to change things up? I’m really not sure how sustainable it is. Like I genuinely don’t know, nothing rhetorical.
7/3/2014
Deadlift (beltless):
135 5x
225 3x
315 3x
405 3x
405 3x
405 3x
405 3x
Block Pulls (beltless):
425 3x
425 3x
425 3x
425 3x
Bench:
45 10x
95 10x
135 5x
185 5x
225 4x
275 4x
275 4x
275 4x
275 4x bench felt like garbage today
Set from today:
7/4/2014
Squat (beltless):
45 3x
135 3x
225 3x
275 3x
325 3x
325 3x
345 2x
345 2x
Bench:
45 5x
95 5x
135 5x
185 5x
225 4x
275 2x
275 2x
315 2x
275 3x
275 3x Bench today however felt great! The paused double at 315 was a piece of cake.
[quote]csulli wrote:
Set from today:
Hahaha every deadlift set is better when back that ass up is playing in the backround.
“youz a fine mothafucka, wont u back dat azz up?”
Any extra stiffness/soreness from goin unbelted?
[quote]barbedwired wrote:
Any extra stiffness/soreness from goin unbelted?[/quote]
Yea I can absolutely tell that my lower back is having a difficult time recovering fast enough.
[quote]LoRez wrote:
[quote]csulli wrote:
155 5x Pressing felt alright. Definitely the easiest 7x5 I’ve ever done with this weight.[/quote]
Nice job on the pressing. Took me a bit before I saw the signs of Smolov in the rep/sets of your last two press days. Then I had to take a look at your excel plan and read back a few pages before it started to come together.
Do you know how long people usually run Smolov back to back before needing to change things up? I’m really not sure how sustainable it is. Like I genuinely don’t know, nothing rhetorical.[/quote]
Sorry I think I missed this. I’m only doing the Smolov set/rep scheme for press twice a week as opposed to actual Smolov where you would do it 4x per week. Anyway though, I think the answer to your question depends entirely on your Smolov training max. You can use Smolov as more of a peaking cycle if you are aggressive with your weight calculations, but on the other hand if you use it as more of just a way to ingrain motor patterns using a lower training max I don’t see any reason you couldn’t just keep running it back to back. So basically as long as your intensity is conservative enough there is nothing magical about the level of volume or frequency that would make it bad to run consistently. That’s my thought at least; just have to make the weights appropriate for your objective.
Deadlift (beltless):
315 3x (there was already weight on the deadlift bar so I just went with it)
365 3x
405 3x
405 3x
405 3x
405 3x
Deadlifts w/ 1 second pause at the knee (beltless):
365 3x
365 3x
365 3x
365 3x
Press:
45 10x
95 10x
135 5x
145 3x
155 2x
165 3x
165 3x
165 3x
165 3x
165 3x
165 3x
165 3x
165 3x
165 3x
165 3x eeeeeee-zzzzzzzz
I would have stripped the bar down for you! Besides it was 395… lol
[quote]lil power wrote:
I would have stripped the bar down for you! Besides it was 395… lol[/quote]
Nice deadlift btw!