I hope you are still on. I’ve been having a hard time getting online when you are on Prime Time.
About a month ago I asked you about my weak bench press problem. You replied with a couple questions, but I never got back to you. Quick refresher…I’ve had the same max (low) for at least a year now. I’m wondering how to break through the plateau. In response to your previous questions, I get stuck at the bottom, at the just or just above. And I’ve not been performing any specific assistance exercises, although I train upper body fairly basically…bench, row, dips, pullups/chins, sometimes curls and some oly stuff. What do you think?
Looking at it from a purely muscular perspective, exercises for the lower end of the bench would include heavy DB benches of all varities, functional isometrics in the bottom, and possibly cambered bar benches. As well, it never hurts to really develop the upper back to improve stability.
EC and I are working on a piece that should help you out, and I know Dave Tate wrote a piece awhile back re: missing in the bottom. I can’t remember the name of Dave’s piece, but I would check it out.
The most important thing you can do is always take time out, each year, to address these kinds of issues in your training. If you ran the NNM program for 2 months out of 12, couple that with improvements in your posture at work and smarter programming in your weight training, then you’ll start to see some wholesale improvements. The thing we want to get across is it’s not something you can do once and then forget about, you need to constantly be striving for improved/optimal posture.
As far as other stuff, I would really focus on your posture while seated. As you said, you are in a chair for 9 hours per day, so I would focus on drawing the stomach in (this is one of the only times I recommend this), squeeze the glutes, pull the shoulder blades back and down, and make sure your head is in-line with your shoulders and chin tucked. Good luck!
Thanks Mike. Dumbbell benching should have been obvious to me. I’ll also try out isometrics. I’m afraid I don’t have access to a cambered bar. I will look for Tate’s article too. I’ll let you know how things go in the coming months.
in Waterbury’s 3x10 method is that say 3x10 of flat bench and ur chest is done for the day or is it 2-3 excercises with that format? sorry, u wanted questions this is the only one i got
What is your experience with “fatty cycts” that are medial to the SI joint when there are incidences of SI joint pain? Are the two related? (in your experience)
Better to ask Chad this one! But, I did ask for it…
I believe he uses 10x3 for a primary exercise (such as squats) and then other set/rep parameters for assistance work, but I could be wrong.
Stay strong
MR
[quote]Split wrote:
in Waterbury’s 3x10 method is that say 3x10 of flat bench and ur chest is done for the day or is it 2-3 excercises with that format? sorry, u wanted questions this is the only one i got :P[/quote]
To be honest, I don’t do a ton of manual work, so I can’t accurately comment. However, I would at some point like to get my LMT and ART certifications, but it could be a while
Have you run into this problem with yourself or someone you’re working with? Perhaps if you give me more info I could help.
Stay strong
MR
[quote]Jailbreak wrote:
What is your experience with “fatty cycts” that are medial to the SI joint when there are incidences of SI joint pain? Are the two related? (in your experience)[/quote]
I am a 400m runner by trade. I lift 2-3x times a week after my hard running sessions. I’m Mainly focused on the full olympic lifts followed by some sort of squats/pulls. I rarely bench. After the OL and squats, I usually just finish with a light circuit of push-up and row variation, pull-ups, dips, reverse hypers. ON my recovery/GPP days I do easy tempo runs of 60-70% with bodyweight strength /mobility/pre-hab exercises (many I got from your and EC articles) thrown in between. The only upperbody exercise I can think of are push-ups.
Will I run into problems with too much internal rotation? I’m not very intelligent about biomechanics, until recently I had been using pull-ups thinking they would balance horizontal pushing. I don’t feel any problems but want to be proactive, should I drop pull-ups and work on heavy rows for a while? I have always hated barbell rows but used to love t-bar rows in high school.
When on the computer I like to use “take a knee position” with pillow under my knee. I’m a real fidgety person and hate sitting in chairs. Is this better/worse than sitting. Also when I’m driving I have to place a towel against my lower back, otherwise I feel discomfort in my hip flexors. Are there any drawbacks to this posture?
Generally your posture will be a great indicator; if you are starting to internally rotate even in static posture, or if your shoulders are rounded forward, you are well on your way to a muscle imbalance.
I’m with EC in regards to the fact I just don’t think people can get enough rowing. Between the way most people train and our affinity to seated postures in front of computers, there’s just no reason not to row more.
In a roundabout way, I think I answered your question. If nothing else, it will keep future injuries at bay.
Stay strong
MR
[quote]elars21 wrote:
Mike,
I am a 400m runner by trade. I lift 2-3x times a week after my hard running sessions. I’m Mainly focused on the full olympic lifts followed by some sort of squats/pulls. I rarely bench. After the OL and squats, I usually just finish with a light circuit of push-up and row variation, pull-ups, dips, reverse hypers. ON my recovery/GPP days I do easy tempo runs of 60-70% with bodyweight strength /mobility/pre-hab exercises (many I got from your and EC articles) thrown in between. The only upperbody exercise I can think of are push-ups.
Will I run into problems with too much internal rotation? I’m not very intelligent about biomechanics, until recently I had been using pull-ups thinking they would balance horizontal pushing. I don’t feel any problems but want to be proactive, should I drop pull-ups and work on heavy rows for a while? I have always hated barbell rows but used to love t-bar rows in high school. [/quote]
