That’s great advice from a great person. I will follow the program you suggested in my training log, and will try to keep my weight in check and will give it a try.
1 Like
Is that weight per dumbbell, or total? If per dumbbell you’re a beast at them compared to your bench, if total then you just found what to work on to increase your bench. Hope your shoulder gets better, man. Safety bar squats, or bow bars (buffallo bars, depends on what you call them, they’re all just thicker barbells that look like they’ve been left on a rack with too much weight for too long) might help a bit too.
1 Like
Good job on the PRs, and congrats on getting into nationals. It’s really hard to get into nationals if you don’t have an easy way in like teen, or junior divisions. The hurting bit sounds like me, I bet you felt the pain the moment the adrenaline from your meet went away.
You definitely have 308 in six months, you just have to get your shoulders healthy again. If benching is kosher again for your shoulders maybe try RSR for the bench, it worked well for me, though I wouldn’t recommend being a retard and missing lifts because you put in an overly aggressive max (higher than your actual max probably is) like I did. Just make sure your shoulders can handle it if you do, I can bench all day everyday pain free, and even I started to feel achy from it at the end so I cut the peaking part short.
1 Like
Nice job @MarkKO! You killed it man thats a total to be proud of and a great performance. Awesome write-up, I felt like I was there
1 Like
I have been looking forward to hearing your results, and when I saw how much action there had been on this thread, I knew it was good news.
Congratulations on a very solid performance. Great work!
You will surprise yourself my friend.
1 Like
@Destrength thanks mate! It’s per DB. I mulled it over and I think I’ll just stay with DB bench for cycle eight to be safe and then maybe move my grip in on the bar in cycle nine. I figure close grip is closer to DB bench, and if I’m relatively decent at DB bench maybe close grip might work better for me in the long run.
I’m stoked to have qualified, plus Nats are in Victoria next year so we can drive which makes it much cheaper.
Thanks! I tried to write it exactly as I remembered it. It was a good day, definitely built my confidence in being able to put together a full meet.
3 Likes
Thanks brother! It’s great to have this little corner of the ether where we all support each other.
1 Like
Congrats on your meet!
1 Like
Cool. Close grip work will definitely help, especially if you actually suck at close grip. It has the weird ability of both helping the bottom of the bench because it lengthens the range of motion, while helping build strong triceps and therefore a strong lockout. Floor presses are also really good if you can’t get back to heavy benching directly, you honestly can’t go wrong with close grip benching and floor pressing until you’ve abused them for years. Though strangely, close grip floor press feels like the worst exercise ever, I actually received my only upper body injury ever warming up for close grip floor presses with 15 one time (it was when I was benching 275, it was weird).
1 Like
Back to training today. This week is kind of an extended deload, and also a tester for my bicep.
Today’s training
Agile 8 plus shoulders
Press
All sets under 6 RPE, 20 pull aparts between first three sets - incorporating a break the bar at the end to make my rotator cuff work more
5x77 lbs
5x100 lbs
5x115 lbs
5x8x77 lbs
30x100 lbs calf raises between FSL sets
Bicep held up fine, and pulling my elbows back when bringing the bar down really reduces the pain in my acromial area.
Supersetted 70 lbs DB bench/65 lbs DB chest supported rows
3x10/12
Was going to jump rope but my rope is buggered: the bearing keeps coming off the handle. Time for a new one.
1 Like
Great job increasing the total!
Your lifts look really Smooth. Especially deadlifts! You pretty much step up and pull. I remember a video from last year where you didn’t look anywhere near as composed standing over the bar, or as tight during the setup. The crowd whistled after you Executed that 3rd DL. That’s cool.
Wearing out your first jump rope is a hard-core moment too.
2 Likes
Thanks @FlatsFarmer
I’ve learned a lot about what I need to do mentally in meet. The calmer the better it seems, really, but it helps to be able to switch on and stay calm which is something that I’m just starting to learn to do.
I didn’t exactly wear out the rope. It’s got wooden handles with a screw in them holding in the bearing attached to the rope. The screw keeps coming loose because the bearing catches as it rotates. I’m sure I could fix it, but I’m also fairly sure buying a new rope will end up cheaper and less time consuming.
Good job man, next meet and I know for a fact you gon crush the 315 bench.
1 Like
It’s 90% mental. The other half is physical.
2 Likes
Are you related to Yogi Berra?
Add me to the list of people waiting on the edge of our seats!!!
BEAST MODE!!!
About your comp great awesome work!!! It’s funny you can do all the planning in the world but then there is the life of the comp. Very revealing of how much harder it is to do a meet then do a mock up meet in the gym.
1 Like
Squirrel beast, nothing heavy. Felt good to go in for just training. I forget how much having a meet so many weeks away changes how I feel about training until I’m back in that situation. Not bad, just different and less fun. I missed going in and gunning for rep PRs.
The biggest thing for me is working to a strict clock.
1 Like
That moment when I saw Jim Wendler posted my thank you to him from the 531 section on facebook. Made my night.
4 Likes