[quote]austin_bicep wrote:
I like doing daily cardio no matter the goal.[/quote]
Agreed.
To be clear though, I don’t think a trip to/from gym and 30-45min on some machine is required in order to call it “cardio”
Another way to put it: some days’ workouts/training will be more taxing than others but just do something, every single day.
[quote]Balklim wrote:
Do you really think my shoulders are so weak? its rly difficult to move here some serious weights… I think that on the seated barbell military press Id press much more, but maybe I really should put some additional shoulder exercise to my training… what exercise would you recommend?
My standard bench press grip is quite wide, but I realised that I can bench more with really very narrow grip - that is why I created the thread which was referred to in the 4th post of this thread…[/quote]
Well, if your bench has not gone up in so long, and your grip is as narrow as you say, then that can be the only conclusion outside of a technique problem. On the other hand you weren’t exactly clear, because now you say your hand spacing on standard bench press “grip is quite wide”. So which press has been stuck going nowhere? Narrow or regular?
The narrow grip ignores the pecs, and therefore the dominant muscles being used in a very narrow bench grip are shoulders and triceps. If the narrow grip bench is the one that is stuck, then it is obvious your shoulders are too weak and are holding your bench back.
If your regular grip bench is the one that is stuck and you can do more with a narrow grip, it means a) your technique is off or bad and b) your chest strength sucks, and likely your lats are sucking too or c) your grip is too wide. Almost always a person can do more in a regular bench than extremely narrow bench. The fact that this is not the case for you probably points to weak technique as well as weak lats and pecs.
The reason I asked if you were playing a sport competitively is because you are ignoring one of the greatest power exercises ever created for legs…the squat. Not to mention that the squat will help leg drive in the deadlift so you can deadlift more eventually.
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
Well, if your bench has not gone up in so long, and your grip is as narrow as you say, then that can be the only conclusion outside of a technique problem. On the other hand you weren’t exactly clear, because now you say your hand spacing on standard bench press “grip is quite wide”. So which press has been stuck going nowhere? Narrow or regular?
The narrow grip ignores the pecs, and therefore the dominant muscles being used in a very narrow bench grip are shoulders and triceps. If the narrow grip bench is the one that is stuck, then it is obvious your shoulders are too weak and are holding your bench back.
If your regular grip bench is the one that is stuck and you can do more with a narrow grip, it means a) your technique is off or bad and b) your chest strength sucks, and likely your lats are sucking too or c) your grip is too wide. Almost always a person can do more in a regular bench than extremely narrow bench. The fact that this is not the case for you probably points to weak technique as well as weak lats and pecs.
The reason I asked if you were playing a sport competitively is because you are ignoring one of the greatest power exercises ever created for legs…the squat. Not to mention that the squat will help leg drive in the deadlift so you can deadlift more eventually.[/quote]
[quote]Balklim wrote:
The least you could do would be to do lunges with your deadlifts if you don’t want to squat…
Yes, if that is the case the problem is generally bad technique, bad hand spacing, weak pectorals AND lats, or all of the above. Very narrow grip on the bench gives you a longer distance to press and worse leverage at the start, so the fact that you press more that way points to both technical problems and weakness in pecs and lats.
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
The least you could do would be to do lunges with your deadlifts if you don’t want to squat…
[/quote]
Im doing them! But I didnt know how it is called in english, so I didnt mention them 
[quote]Aragorn wrote:
Yes, if that is the case the problem is generally bad technique, bad hand spacing, weak pectorals AND lats, or all of the above. Very narrow grip on the bench gives you a longer distance to press and worse leverage at the start, so the fact that you press more that way points to both technical problems and weakness in pecs and lats.[/quote]
I wouldnt say I have weak pecks, but problem could be in lats.
But I have an idea:
Is it possible that the first movement is with the narrow grip so it develops a part of lats which is used during narrow grip bench press? And if I have it strong, it will help me on a narrow BP?
And visa versa is the second movement for a part of lats which is used more on the wide grip bench press?
Or is all of this nonsense?
And thank you all for you advices
You’re quite welcome, no problem.
Glad to see you are doing lunges then. That is a good substitute for your purposes to fill in the gaps in leg development between deadlift and power snatch. Still personally wish you would squat
Regarding the cable rows in your videos: Possible, although for me–and many many others–rowing in general is almost ALWAYS a mid back emphasis over lats. If you want to focus on lats, do chin-ups, pulldowns and pull-overs. Keep rowing in there on one day, but also do more lat work on another day. In general I do at least 6 back exercises a week that are either rows or chins/pull-downs. Currently I am not, but I am doing 2 back movements EVERY DAY.
It will not be enough to only do a couple exercises 1-2 times a week.
Another idea for you is to do the following:
The 3 exercises are done as an extended superset–don’t rest more than 15-20 seconds between them. Rest after you do all three exercises. 1st and 3rd exercises are done with a 3 second squeeze on EACH rep, for reps of 10, the middle exercise is done for heavy weight WITHOUT a squeeze, for reps of 6 or so. you can do a couple light sets of just the middle exercise as a warm-up before doing the whole thing. Go very heavy in the middle and conservative on the 1st and 3rd exercises.
You may also substitute lat pullovers on a machine for the 3rd exercise to emphasize the lats, but the band pull-aparts are very useful to mimic the exact feeling you should have in the bench press (trying to pull the bar apart).
With all due respect, you don’t get to say that “my pecs aren’t weak”. If you’re refusing to consider things that might need to change in order for you to bench press more, then you deserve to be stuck where you are.
I don’t know much, I’ve only benched 440 lbs. Dave Tate and Louie Simmons and Christian Thibaudeau and Jim Wendler and all of the coaches who’ve benched 600 lbs or taught others to bench crazy weight don’t know much either…but they all agree with me.
So get your head screwed on straight. I’ve had over a decade in the gym, I train others including a 64 year old that can out bench you, and most of the really strong coaches and lifters will agree. YOU do not get to decide what is actually a weak point or not. YOU might think your pecs are strong, or your lats are strong, or your technique is fine, or your shoulders are strong…but then YOU are stuck at a beginner’s bench press and have been for a year. So either learn to accept that perhaps your opinions on what is strong and weak are incorrect and need to be re-examined, or stay stuck. I don’t care. My 64 year old client will eventually bench double his bodyweight and you will be stuck here for another year.
I’m not as mad as I sound, but I am slightly offended that you keep making excuses that “my shoulders aren’t weak” “my pecs are not weak” “my technique is good” when faced with advice you don’t want to consider from a man who benches twice what you are stuck at and also teaches others to bench. You have a year long slump in a lift. You need to consider that your opinions on training may be wrong. Very very wrong.
What I currently do for back:
Monday:
Pull-downs, seated narrow grip row, face-pulls, one arm heavy dynamic dumbbell rows
Thursday:
Jump n Catch, Power Clean, Dead Lift
So I will probably add 1 exercise on Thursday and 1-2 on Monday, probably wide grip seated row and some different variation of pull-downs…
To your second post… I really think it is quite overreaction. Im not one of these guys who think that everything does well and dont listen to the others. If I wasnt self-criticism I wouldnt write here that I have poor bench and so. But I dont want to argue…
[quote]Balklim wrote:
What I currently do for back:
Monday:
Pull-downs, seated narrow grip row, face-pulls, one arm heavy dynamic dumbbell rows
Thursday:
Jump n Catch, Power Clean, Dead Lift
So I will probably add 1 exercise on Thursday and 1-2 on Monday, probably wide grip seated row and some different variation of pull-downs…
To your second post… I really think it is quite overreaction. Im not one of these guys who think that everything does well and dont listen to the others. If I wasnt self-criticism I wouldnt write here that I have poor bench and so. But I dont want to argue…[/quote]
As I said, I was not as angry as it seems reading that post. It probably did come off more overreacting than it did to me while writing it. But I did get more than a touch annoyed that everything people from Chris Colucci or others including myself was sort of met with “well that’s not a weak point for me”. Basic excuse. That said, you have been very civil and accepting and there are no worries for me.
Monday is a good back day, thursday no idea what a jump n catch is, if not a power snatch. However, for emphasizing lats Monday has a bit too much rowing in it. So you could either keep Thursday the same and change Monday, or you could add some lat work to Thursday (what I would prefer, since Monday is good). Thursday is a good overall posterior chain day, but lacks any upper back specific work. It seems all the movements you mentioned are whole body power movements or strength. If you have a weak point it needs specific attention not just overall involvement. So add one lat isolation movement (no rowing) to the end of the day.
The other point of note is it is very useful to hold and squeeze the contraction of each lat focusing movement. Helps mind muscle connection and helps you activate it. Also forces it to work harder even with lower weight. So mix those in from time to time.
Ok, thank you for advices, I will do some convenient changes in my training plan, hopefully it will bring results
One last question: should I do pull-downs in full range of motion - touch the chest? Ive read that people with long arms can stop pulling around the chin to activate lats completely and I can say that I feel it that way very well…
[quote]Balklim wrote:
Ok, thank you for advices, I will do some convenient changes in my training plan, hopefully it will bring results
One last question: should I do pull-downs in full range of motion - touch the chest? Ive read that people with long arms can stop pulling around the chin to activate lats completely and I can say that I feel it that way very well… [/quote]
No problem with that. The key is where you feel the lats the most, so if that’s at the chin, or chest, or nose, stop and squeeze there. I feel like you could honestly probably add 2 different lat isolation movements on the end of your deadlift day. You don’t really have a ton of back work in your week, even though your upper back day is overall very solid.
The back in general is one that thrives on lots of volume (provided you work up to it in gradual fashion, like a reasonable person)