ME Bench
Dumbbell Bench Press
I dont remember the warmup for it, so these are my work sets
6x6x75
Dips
5x5
Curls
3x8
ME Squat
1x10x135
1x5x225
1x3x275
1x1x315
1x1x335
1x0x365
Squats were epic fail. I can’t believe i couldnt even get a 10 lb PR. I started doing some pullthroughs after that, but i still had that empty feeling cuz i didnt hit any big weights. I was helping out another guy who was having problems with squats so that made me feel better. I decided to do some cleans cuz I always have fun kicking my ass with those.
Power Cleans
1x10x45
1x10x95
4x5x115
1x6x135(PR)
ME Bench
Barbell Benchpress
1x10x45
1x5x135
1x5x155
2x3x185
2x1x195
5x1x205
Cable Rows
4x10
Face-Pulls supersetted with Seated DB Cleans
5 rounds of 5 reps each
That was my first time doing the cleans, and WOW they are hard. I did a few sets to get a feel for them, then decided to spice it up and superset it with facepulls. Brutal on the shoulders, i reccomend it =P.
Also I’ve decided to take a little break from westside because i need something to shock my bench into increasing. So i’ll be doing the Smolov Jr. cycle for bench. That will be 4 days of benching, with some heavy squats and deads thrown in a couple times a week. I know this is my “westside” log, but i’ll track my workouts on here.
should be intresting to see how smolov jr effects your bench.i plan to try this in a few weeks so will be intresting to follow your experience with it
Yeah its going to be pretty crazy. Benching twice as much as I have been will take its toll on my body, but I plan on sleeping a ton, and my work schedule will allow it also.
I think the key will be plenty of sleep and boat loads of food as well as being mentaly prepared to be sore as hell for 3 weeks and still training when you dont feel like it at all.
best of luck cant wait to see what you make of it
Haha yeah I definitley know the whole “training when im sore and dont want to”, I had that when i was finishing Sheiko. The last couple weeks my hips were so beat up from all the squatting, hopefully the same wont happen with my shoulders.
Week 1 Day 1 Smolov Jr for bench
Bench Press
1x10x45
1x8x135
6x6x145(70%)
Face Pulls
4x10
Workout went well, got the pressing done quick so i did some face pulls. I’m hoping the face pulls help keep my rotator cuff balanced, the last thing i need is an injury.
Week 1 Day 2
Bench
1x10x45
1x8x135
7x5x155
Deadlift
1x10x135
1x5x225
2x5x275
Face-Pulls
3x15
Still doing pretty good, I was feeling a little sore earlier in the day, but by the time i got to the gym and warmed up i was fine.luckily i have friday and saturday off from work so i can really rest those days.
are you planning on including any lat, ab or squat work in with your bench sessions, i know you have deadlifts there and face pulls but im just curious
Yeah I will be doing some squatting on saturday, I probably should do some lat work after benching, same with abs. Im really trying to not push it too hard with other stuff.
Week 1 Day 3
1x10x45
1x8x135
8x4x165
Ate way too big of a meal before the gym, and was on the brink of puking. Didn’t want to make a mess, so i called it a day. My barspeed was better today than on the previous 2 days, which surprised me. No problems with my shoulders or elbows either, so i’m doing alright.
Week 1 Day 4
Bench
1x10x45
1x8x135
10x3x175
Rotator Cuff Strengthening
YTWL and some posterior flyes.
Squats
1x10x135
1x10x185
1x18x245
Tried breaking my record on 20 rep squats, but i collapsed after 18 reps. The last 3 were very, very ugly reps. The benching went really well. I wasn’t too sore from friday and after i was warmed up i felt fine.
Week 2 Day 1
Bench Press
1x10x45
1x8x135
6x6x155(70%+10lbs)
Barbell Rows
1x5x135
2x5x155
2x5x175
Face-Pulls
3x10
Also if anyones curious about the full program im doing, heres the link.
scroll near the bottom for the smolov jr template.
Week 2 Day 2
Bench Press
1x10x45
1x8x135
7x5x165
Power Cleans
1x10x45
2x5x95
2x5x135
1x3x155
Barbell Rows
1x5x135
3x5x155
1x5x175
Face-Pulls
3x15
how are you finding jr.smolov at this point?
So far its going really too well. Recovery hasn’t been an issue, which i’m really surprised by. When I was planning the routine i was thinking of increasing the lifts by 5lbs instead of 10. I was thinking this mainly since my bench is so slow itd be aroudn the same % increase than they assume you are doing. I have experienced very minimal shoulder pain(usually feel a lil tweak when im laying in bed, but no other time).
Week 2 Day 3
Bench Press
1x10x45
1x8x135
8x4x175
Lat Pulldown
3x10
Cable Curls
3x8
Week 2 Day 4
Bench Press
1x10x45
1x8x135
10x3x185
Squats
1x10x135
1x5x225
3x5x275
DB Shrugs
4x10x60
I wore my wrist wraps today and they worked really well, but they were getting too painful by set 7 or 8 so i just went without them for the last few sets. I had taken a long break from shrugs and all trap work cuz ive had a problem with my neck, but it was feeling good today.
Week 3 Day 1
Bench press
1x10x45
1x8x135
6x6x170
Dont remember the rest of this workout.