MarkKO's Training Log

Training Training Logs
41

Started off badly but got better towards the end today.

To start with, I need to change my bench training or change how I look at it. I got my first triple at 231 lbs happily, hit 242 for a single and it felt ok but for the second time running missed 253 lbs halfway. My triceps were on fire for a couple of hours after this.

So, I’m pretty sure my triceps are the issue. Now, I’m hitting the dummbbell incline and pushdowns hard and that should help the triceps along. What I’m also thinking about is closing my grip in a bit and working just in triples and fives for a while.

I think one thing with bench for me is getting a positive mindset and working in triples and fives will keep me in a range where I won’t keep missing and will build confidence.

Once I got to deadlifts, things got better (as usual), and assistance was fun as always.

Today’s training

231 lbs x 3 bench press
242 lbs x 1 bench press
253 lbs x 0

462 lbs x 1 deadlift
462 lbs x 1 deadlift
484 lbs x 1 deadlift
484 lbs x 1 deadlift

517 lbs x 2 which was what made my day. Grip on my right (overhand) started going on the second rep but I had enough control to bring it down. Close to touch and go but I’m still stoked.

Deadlift, 235 kg x 2: Deadlift, 235 kg x 2 - YouTube

Dumbbell incline press alternating with wide grip pull ups
3 sets of 8 and 5 each

Triceps pushdowns
3 sets of 6 at 65 lbs

42

Mulling over what to do about my bench because it is plain shitting me right now. Granted, I can reliably hit a 242 lb single now, which is a reasonable improvement on where I was at at the beginning of March but that still says a lot of uncomplimentary things about my bench.

I’m definitely going to move my grip in, although not to ‘close’ width - more like between widest legal and close. That’ll force my triceps to get stronger, and may even work better overall. I’ll try touching a shade higher too.

The main issue, though, as far as I can tell is that I’ve been barking up the wrong tree in terms of how I train bench. I’ve generally followed the same approach as I do for squats in terms of sets, reps and loading. Very obviously that isn’t working for me. Just as about six months ago when I realised I had to cange my deadlift approach from being similar to squats, now I have to do the same for bench.

This is my plan: every time I bench, I do exactly the same thing. I’ll work up to a heavy single and then finish with a high rep/medium load set. Nothing complicated, no faffing around with speed work and max effort work. I’m simply not good enough at bench to do that.

So, this is how it’ll work every bench/DL day (for bench, I’m not touching DL as that’s going well enough), increasing by 5 lb every mesocycle (which means three bench sessions):

5 work sets:

7 x 65%
5 x 75%
3 x 85%
1 x 95%
10 x 60%

Now, given the most I’ve managed for a single without a liftout is 247.5 lbs, I’m just going to go with 242 lb as my max to work from. This will mean the first mesocycle will see me benching

7 x 159.5 lb/72.5 kg
5 x 181.5 lb/82.5 kg
3 x 205.5 lb/93.5 kg
1 x 231 lb/105 kg
10 x 143 lb/65 kg

Hopefully that, with the slight reduction in grip width will get me to a point where my bench is no longer an embarassment.

43

Starting mesocycle three today so back to speed work. Squatting in flats really does feel better.

Today’s training

5x2 330 lbs squats against bands adding around 88 lbs

3x6/leg 176 lbs clean grip reverse lunges. I now have a knot in my left rectus femoris. I like these

3x8 60 lb/arm dumbbell incline press

3 sets 100 lbs Kroc rows l/r 16/12, 9/10, 10/10

3 sets 72.5 lb triceps pushdowns, 6, 4, 8

44

Well, those lunges gave me some of the worst DOMS I have ever had. Holy #$@! I could barely get up or sit down all of yesterday evening. Definitely keeping them though, as I figure if I’m getting that kind of response I have a lot of potential to gain strength from them - and some quad size too, hopefully. The nice thing was how my back was left alone.

Bought some Chuck Taylors too - a store was having a sale and I decided to try them to see how they compare to my Matflexes. Very favourably, as it turns out - I feel glued to the floor in a wide stance so I’m very pleased. I tested them out with sumo pulls today and it was awesome. Not a hint of slippage.

Tested out my new benching grip and set/rep scheme as well and it felt great. I took my grip in a hand’s width or so: my pinkies are now just on the outer ring; and I touched a little higher too. It felt so much stronger that way, even though the bar travels a longer distance. Best of all, not a single niggle in my shoulder or bicep on the left side which recently started complaining around the second set of bench. My top end 231 lb single felt so light it isn’t funny. For the first time in a while I actually feel positive about bench training.

Today’s training

7 x 160 lb bench press
5 x 182 lb bench press
3 x 206 lb bench press
1 x 231 lb bench press
10 x 143 lb bench press

Three times unrack and hold 275 lbs for a ten count staying tight as possible. This felt OK, but really hit my elbows - I think from breaking the bar. I was kind of surprised at how easy this was to unrack. Like I said, feel confident about bench training for the first time in a while.

2 sets 3 x 341 lb sumo DL - tried double overhand but my grip is still tired from Kroc rows yesterday
2 sets 3 x 363 lb sumo DL
3 x 396 lbs sumo DL
8 x 396 lbs sumo DL - with straps. Cheating-y I know, but I wanted to see how much my legs could handle without worrying about grip and by this stage my palms were pretty chewed up.

I don’t generally belt up for sumo - not sure why, it just feels like the belt gets in the way more than anything and I don’t really get that tight either. I noticed this was a tad wider than I’ve gone before too - I didn’t do it deliberately, I set my feet as I normally do but somehow ended up wider. It just felt right, and I’m putting a lot of that down to the Chucks giving me great grip.

3 sets alternating dumbbell incline press/wide grip pull-ups for 8, 8, 8 at 60 lbs per arm and 6, 5, 5. The last set of pull ups made my left bicep a bit angry, but it cheered up after some band pulldowns. I’ve been mucking around with using a finger tip only grip for pull-ups. Its kind of cool.

45

Dude, those Deadlifts are freaking awesome!
I was fortunate enough recently to win a Slingshot, and boy does it make overloading on Bench fun. Had I paid for it, it would definitely be worth the investment. I got the original slingshot, the red one. Multiple Sets of 5-8 at 100kg are a breeze where I would normally struggle, and coming back down the other day I managed 20 reps at 80kg with it on. Highly recommended as a benching tool my brother

46

Thanks! I’m getting more comfortable with sumo now I do it more. It’s helped my conventional so much, mainly the lockout.

I’ve considered a Slingshot but my bench is so weak I thought it might be counterproductive. What do you reckon?

47

I’ll take credit for any increase in your Squat next meet for the squatting in flats suggestion lol

I’m with you on Bench, I definitely feel triceps are holding me back a bit and I have to approach it differently. It doesn’t help I neglected doing it for years, thinking it was a ‘bro-lift’ lol. Hopefully both of our strategies to bring it up work!

48

Into the second mesocycle again, squat day which I didn’t complete last time. The Chucks helped, and so did getting my head right. Lunges were a no go. I tried then and it didn’t do anything nice for my left quad so I did hack squats instead.

Today’s training:

5x3 reps 412.5 lb squats

3x6 reps 380 lb hack squats

3x8 reps 60 lb per arm dumbbell incline press

3 sets bicep curls at 40 lb per arm for 6, 6 and 4/5 left/right. First time I’ve felt these actually getting a bit easier.

Remedial work on my left lat, three sets of 100 iso rows for 12, 10 and 8

49

Wasn’t feeling so hot going to the gym yesterday so this was all I ended up doing

7 x 160 lb bench press
5 x 182 lb bench press
3 x 206 lb bench press
1 x 231 lb bench press
10 x 143 lb bench press

Dizzy, slight headache, nausea: not conditions under which I didn’t really think pulling anything off the floor was a good idea so I left it at that.

Better today, but not training. Overall I’m just missing some snatch grip DL, lunges and pull ups. I can afford to miss those having benched.

Narrower grip bench and this set scheme still seems a good fit for me. Even feeling bad I got through it just fine.

50

Oh not at all dude! If your triceps are you’re weakest part the slingshot takes a lot of the pressure off your chest and shoulders at the bottom, and really overloads your tricep through the top half and lock out. I’ve been throwing it on after my raw work, and giving it a secondary day on its own and shit is heating up. Slingshot PR of 140kg today for a single…not paused but I was just stoked to move it haha! My normal Raw bench 1RM is 127.5 and that was a dodgy, grindy rep.
Direct tricep work is good, but I feel like the slingshot lets me really work them through the bench, which is where I want them working anyway, does that make sense? Pre-workout still has my thoughts all messed up haha

51

Good to know. When I next need to get a bunch of kit I’ll pick one up.

52

Nice work, and great strength in here. I only saw your comment about thinking a 315 bench is crazy strong and thought you were a newb giving out unsolicited advice, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Good luck with the lifting, and keep working hard.

Also partials, (floor presses/rack lockouts) close grip benching, and overloads (bands or slingshot) do wonders for your bench, you should try them out.

53

[quote]Destrength wrote:
Nice work, and great strength in here. I only saw your comment about thinking a 315 bench is crazy strong and thought you were a newb giving out unsolicited advice, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Good luck with the lifting, and keep working hard.

Also partials, (floor presses/rack lockouts) close grip benching, and overloads (bands or slingshot) do wonders for your bench, you should try them out.[/quote]

Wow, thanks! I appreciate you taking the time to check my log out first. Also thanks for the advice.

I’ve used bands before, and close grip too, but neither really seemed to push my bench where I wanted. Bands and close grip did seem to get me comfortable at 231 lbs for a single or double, but to get there I used them for a short three week cycle where I just benched heaps anyway so its debatable how big the part they played was.

Recently, bands and close grip didn’t seem to do so much to my heavier bench, which is why I went backwards to a much simpler template. I’m hoping that the increased volume of that 7/5/3/1/10 approach will help just in terms of benching more (along with the dumbbell incline pressing I’m doing), and using 90% of my actual max for calculations will let me slowly work up building confidence. That was another problem for me, getting under a heavier bench I’d have a negative monologue in my head that made fighting reps harder and I’m working on getting rid of that. For squat and DL once I’ve started moving the bar I never have a doubt I’ll lock out the lift, but for bench I don’t yet have that.

Once I’ve got a more positive mindset on the bench and my heavier loads are regularly at 250 lbs and over, then I’ll start using bands again because I do like how they overload my weak point.

I figure as long as I eventually improve my bench that’s what matters, even if it takes time. In the interim I’ll rely on squat and DL to drive my total.

54

Joy of joys I have a cold. What fun.

Meant to be my heavy mesocycle starting today with heavy squats - topping out with a planned single of 484 lb single which would be a PR, in fact.

Now, call me soft but I don’t figure getting under a heavy load when I’m nowhere near 100% is a good idea.

Having decided some kind of training is better than nothing, and knowing training could make me sicker I went for some bench. If there’s one lift I absolutely need to hit, it’s bench.

Today’s training:

7 x 160 lb bench press
5 x 182 lb bench press
3 x 206 lb bench press
1 x 231 lb bench press
12 x 143 lb bench press

Next week everything goes up 5 lbs

3x8 barbell rows at 198 lbs

AMRAP set of hack squats: 10x380 lb

Tomorrow I’ll try some heavy DL singles and if that doesn’t completely wreck me I’ll probably do some dumbbell incline presses, pull ups and some kind of squat.

I know that leaves heavy squats out but this mesocycle I’ve already squatted twice and one session was reasonably heavy; whereas I’ve only pulled once and missed last Saturday’s snatch grip work because I wasn’t feeling great.

Not to mention of all the lifts DL is the one I know I can go heavy even if I’m not feeling too good.

55

Well, this sucks. I’m properly crook so didn’t even try training.

Needless to say this shits me.

That is all.

56

[quote]MarkKO wrote:

[quote]Destrength wrote:
Nice work, and great strength in here. I only saw your comment about thinking a 315 bench is crazy strong and thought you were a newb giving out unsolicited advice, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Good luck with the lifting, and keep working hard.

Also partials, (floor presses/rack lockouts) close grip benching, and overloads (bands or slingshot) do wonders for your bench, you should try them out.[/quote]

Wow, thanks! I appreciate you taking the time to check my log out first. Also thanks for the advice.

I’ve used bands before, and close grip too, but neither really seemed to push my bench where I wanted. Bands and close grip did seem to get me comfortable at 231 lbs for a single or double, but to get there I used them for a short three week cycle where I just benched heaps anyway so its debatable how big the part they played was.

Recently, bands and close grip didn’t seem to do so much to my heavier bench, which is why I went backwards to a much simpler template. I’m hoping that the increased volume of that 7/5/3/1/10 approach will help just in terms of benching more (along with the dumbbell incline pressing I’m doing), and using 90% of my actual max for calculations will let me slowly work up building confidence. That was another problem for me, getting under a heavier bench I’d have a negative monologue in my head that made fighting reps harder and I’m working on getting rid of that. For squat and DL once I’ve started moving the bar I never have a doubt I’ll lock out the lift, but for bench I don’t yet have that.

Once I’ve got a more positive mindset on the bench and my heavier loads are regularly at 250 lbs and over, then I’ll start using bands again because I do like how they overload my weak point.

I figure as long as I eventually improve my bench that’s what matters, even if it takes time. In the interim I’ll rely on squat and DL to drive my total. [/quote]
Alright, good luck on that. You’d obviously know a lot more on how your bench reacts to stuff than some guy that checked out your log for a little bit. Also, yeah, building up confidence is very important, it is very hard to get a lift if you are already mentally defeated before you touch the bar or as soon as you unrack it.

57

[quote]Destrength wrote:

[quote]MarkKO wrote:

[quote]Destrength wrote:
Nice work, and great strength in here. I only saw your comment about thinking a 315 bench is crazy strong and thought you were a newb giving out unsolicited advice, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Good luck with the lifting, and keep working hard.

Also partials, (floor presses/rack lockouts) close grip benching, and overloads (bands or slingshot) do wonders for your bench, you should try them out.[/quote]

Wow, thanks! I appreciate you taking the time to check my log out first. Also thanks for the advice.

I’ve used bands before, and close grip too, but neither really seemed to push my bench where I wanted. Bands and close grip did seem to get me comfortable at 231 lbs for a single or double, but to get there I used them for a short three week cycle where I just benched heaps anyway so its debatable how big the part they played was.

Recently, bands and close grip didn’t seem to do so much to my heavier bench, which is why I went backwards to a much simpler template. I’m hoping that the increased volume of that 7/5/3/1/10 approach will help just in terms of benching more (along with the dumbbell incline pressing I’m doing), and using 90% of my actual max for calculations will let me slowly work up building confidence. That was another problem for me, getting under a heavier bench I’d have a negative monologue in my head that made fighting reps harder and I’m working on getting rid of that. For squat and DL once I’ve started moving the bar I never have a doubt I’ll lock out the lift, but for bench I don’t yet have that.

Once I’ve got a more positive mindset on the bench and my heavier loads are regularly at 250 lbs and over, then I’ll start using bands again because I do like how they overload my weak point.

I figure as long as I eventually improve my bench that’s what matters, even if it takes time. In the interim I’ll rely on squat and DL to drive my total. [/quote]
Alright, good luck on that. You’d obviously know a lot more on how your bench reacts to stuff than some guy that checked out your log for a little bit. Also, yeah, building up confidence is very important, it is very hard to get a lift if you are already mentally defeated before you touch the bar or as soon as you unrack it. [/quote]

Yes and no: if I knew exactly what my bench reacts well to I think I’d have a better bench. All I can say at the moment is I know what it DOESN’T react so well to, although of course that’ll be subject to change. I’m sure bands/slingshots/etc will be a help once I can reliably bench over 250 lbs for more than just a single.

So far, though, moving the grip in and going flat-footed have probably helped more than anything so far, along with keeping it simple. I haven’t missed a rep in two weeks or even come close to missing one, even when I was benching feeling like garbage. This coming fortnight will be interesting because I up the load 2.5 kg on each set.

58

Finally starting feel vaguely normal again.

Can’t wait for Monday so I can train. Still really shitty I missed my heavy squats and DLs, though - but since I’m not stupid I’ll just wait until they roll around again. I might swap snatch grip for conventional DL this coming week, though. I’ll see how I feel.

The most annoying thing is whenever I miss a couple of heavy sessions because I’m sick there’s always a really annoying little voice at the back of my mind whispering that I’ll have forgotten to how to lift heavy.

59

Very excited for training to start again tomorrow. I really, truly HATE missing training due to illness.

Having gone through six weeks of my current program, I’m going to make a couple of slight alterations in exercise selection and use them for the next six weeks:

Microcycle 1:

  • replace squats against bands with paused squats in the hole - set/rep scheme stays and load keeps increasing from last microcycle, although I might go AMRAP for the final set

Microcycle 2:

  • replace squats with front squats, but keep the 5x3 set/rep scheme at 85%. This takes me a little out of my comfort zone in terms of dropping the volume of a competition lift but I know my quad strength is still lagging behind my glutes/hams/hips. I’m estimating my max as 320 lbs so I’ll start out at 275 lbs, which is a load I know I can hit happily for a triple.

  • replace quad work after squats with box squats, keeping the 3x6 rep scheme. I figure I’ll use around 330 lb to start and go beltless. That way I don’t completely neglect my hams/glutes/hips that session.

  • replace snatch grip deadlifts with conventional deadlifts paused mid-shin which seems to be my sticking point. I’ve never done these before, so I’m going to have to feel out the loading and reps but I’m leaning towards five sets of two at 80% which would be 420 lbs

60

[quote]MarkKO wrote:

[quote]Destrength wrote:

[quote]MarkKO wrote:

[quote]Destrength wrote:
Nice work, and great strength in here. I only saw your comment about thinking a 315 bench is crazy strong and thought you were a newb giving out unsolicited advice, but I was very pleasantly surprised. Good luck with the lifting, and keep working hard.

Also partials, (floor presses/rack lockouts) close grip benching, and overloads (bands or slingshot) do wonders for your bench, you should try them out.[/quote]

Wow, thanks! I appreciate you taking the time to check my log out first. Also thanks for the advice.

I’ve used bands before, and close grip too, but neither really seemed to push my bench where I wanted. Bands and close grip did seem to get me comfortable at 231 lbs for a single or double, but to get there I used them for a short three week cycle where I just benched heaps anyway so its debatable how big the part they played was.

Recently, bands and close grip didn’t seem to do so much to my heavier bench, which is why I went backwards to a much simpler template. I’m hoping that the increased volume of that 7/5/3/1/10 approach will help just in terms of benching more (along with the dumbbell incline pressing I’m doing), and using 90% of my actual max for calculations will let me slowly work up building confidence. That was another problem for me, getting under a heavier bench I’d have a negative monologue in my head that made fighting reps harder and I’m working on getting rid of that. For squat and DL once I’ve started moving the bar I never have a doubt I’ll lock out the lift, but for bench I don’t yet have that.

Once I’ve got a more positive mindset on the bench and my heavier loads are regularly at 250 lbs and over, then I’ll start using bands again because I do like how they overload my weak point.

I figure as long as I eventually improve my bench that’s what matters, even if it takes time. In the interim I’ll rely on squat and DL to drive my total. [/quote]
Alright, good luck on that. You’d obviously know a lot more on how your bench reacts to stuff than some guy that checked out your log for a little bit. Also, yeah, building up confidence is very important, it is very hard to get a lift if you are already mentally defeated before you touch the bar or as soon as you unrack it. [/quote]

Yes and no: if I knew exactly what my bench reacts well to I think I’d have a better bench. All I can say at the moment is I know what it DOESN’T react so well to, although of course that’ll be subject to change. I’m sure bands/slingshots/etc will be a help once I can reliably bench over 250 lbs for more than just a single.
[/quote]
That is what I meant. In any case, I hope you figure out your bench problem, it might be form instead of strength. I’ve had some awful plateaus before on my squat, so I also kinda know the frustration of having a lift not progress at all/very little.

Have you tried changing up your bench style or set up a little bit? You bench with a really really strong J curve and pretty wide grip. I know it is kind of blasphemy, but maybe try forcing your triceps to do more work if throwing everything on your chest and shoulders is limiting you at a 255 bench when you weigh around 205, 210. I’ve always had success with a less dramatic version (since I bench raw) of a shirted bench and a pretty close grip (thumbs away from where the knurling starts).

Try checking the so you think you can bench series and just anything on Dave Tate and/or Mark bell on the bench. Just keep in mind when you are reading any of Dave Tate’s older articles that they are made in mind for someone who does shirted benching. At the very least checking out their stuff will give some nice information for general set up and technique cues for the bench. It’s really easy for pretty much all of us to ignore technique causing issues in favor of thinking something is weak, I know I’ve been guilty of first thinking “What is weak” instead of thinking “What did I do wrong?”.

Oh, by the way, do you feel like you are having tightness issues? You kind of seemed like you were trying to get an arch and drive your self into the bench but then you relaxed instead of getting tight, maybe because of a slippery bench (I hate when that happens), or because of mobility issues (if mobility issues, try pulling your legs back and keeping your heels up if your federation allows it).

Good luck on your bench, and try to check out the “So You think you can bench series”, it should be able to do a lot better of a job than someone can make in a reasonably sized post. The link should be at the bottom.