New(est) Training Questions

Training
441

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]agent9041 wrote:
Hi Christian,

I recently began bench pressing again after nearly a year off most pressing from a rotator injury. My strength is relatively low right now and not increasing quickly (205 currently x 3 reps). I bench press powerlifting style and alternate with barbell rows, 3 rep ramping sets (usually ~10 sets) focusing on the perfect rep.

My question is: if I want to improve my bench, should I do more sets in the lower percentages to work on my acceleration, or focus on more sets in the higher perecentages?

I haven’t progessed for the last few weeks and I’m starting to get frustrated.

Thanks for any help![/quote]

The thing is that with the info you provided I really can’t help you.

Lack of strength gains on a lift can come from …

  • A week muscle group that is holding you back. Simply doing the main exercise will not correct that problem

  • A lack of explosiveness at the beginning of the movement (can be solved by doing more sets in the earlier portion of a force spectrum)

  • Bad technique (often underestimated… heck I thought that I knew how to bench… and I did bench over 400. But when I went to see Tate I changed my bench technique completely, and benched 440)

  • Protective mechanisms… your body is still being overprotective because of the injury, preventing any strength gains. In that case you have to ‘convince’ your body that it is ready to push some big weights. Partial bench press from pins starting above the weak point is a possible solution if that is the problem

  • CNS fatigue

  • Or maybe you have run out of the early CNS adaptations and now you have to cause muscular adaptations to further strength gains, this generally means a higher volume of work with weights in the 75-80% range (more sets, not more reps).
    [/quote]

Thanks for the reply! You’ve given me some great ideas.

I’m thinking that lack of explosiveness and protective mechanisms are likely the main culprits. I was able to put up 100 lbs dumbbells flat bench for 3 reps around 6 months ago (although with pain in my shoulder) so I doubt that muscular stength is the issue. I’m thinking I need to explode more and continue my shoulder rehab to bring it’s strength up to where it should be.
Thanks again.

442

[quote]agent9041 wrote:

My question is: if I want to improve my bench, should I do more sets in the lower percentages to work on my acceleration, or focus on more sets in the higher perecentages?

I haven’t progessed for the last few weeks and I’m starting to get frustrated.

Thanks for any help![/quote]

[/quote]

Thanks for the reply! You’ve given me some great ideas.

I’m thinking that lack of explosiveness and protective mechanisms are likely the main culprits. I was able to put up 100 lbs dumbbells flat bench for 3 reps around 6 months ago (although with pain in my shoulder) so I doubt that muscular stength is the issue. I’m thinking I need to explode more and continue my shoulder rehab to bring it’s strength up to where it should be.
Thanks again.[/quote]

Agent 9041 - also, check the strength difference between your internal and external shoulder rotators.

443

Coach,
the perfect rep has led me to new gains! It’s just what I needed.
I am off supps for 3 more months. I will then purchase the AP. What eating program do you recommend?
I am 5’11, 180 lbs, lean and looking to gain.

444

CT,
I’m following the principles and structure from your ‘War Room Strategies for Maximising Fat Loss’ article and training hard, but I feel I could definitely train more than 5 times a week, despite the low cals.

Workout days approximate calories are 2000, with 200+ coming from fat, 70-120 from carbs (50 PWO) and 50-100 from fat. This is all coming from green veg, berries, bell peppers, lean red meat, chicken, eggs, fish oil and protein powder. (except for Para-workout)

This is my first strict cutting phase, and am unsure whether to give into my desire to train, or to stick to your guidelines assuming energy will drop in the next 3.5 weeks?

Thanks

445

I’m finding it very hard to have a good/quick turnaround in my romanian deadlift. Once the concentric starts I have no problem exploding, it’s just that I can’t get the same snappy feeling I can with upper body movements and even squats. Is this due to the depth I’m going to? My turnaround is maybe 4-6 in below the knee, maybe this is too low?

446

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]lavi wrote:
To CT or anyone else:

Could you explain the difference in how the weight feels at the Max Force Point (weight you can still dominate) vs. at the Max Load Point (no sticking points)?

I know CT has gone over this quite a bit, but after reading “The Three Important Loading Points” I still feel a bit fuzzy on how they are actually different.

Thanks.[/quote]

At the MFP the bar doesn’t begin to decelerate. Meaning that it’s one smooth powerful motion. At the MLP there might be a slight deceleration as you pass through where your sticking point would be; you’re not grinding, but bar speed does begin to slow down at one point during a repetition.[/quote]

This cleared it up for me perfectly. Thank you very much.

447

[quote]bloodnsweat wrote:
I’m finding it very hard to have a good/quick turnaround in my romanian deadlift. Once the concentric starts I have no problem exploding, it’s just that I can’t get the same snappy feeling I can with upper body movements and even squats. Is this due to the depth I’m going to? My turnaround is maybe 4-6 in below the knee, maybe this is too low? [/quote]

My theory, and I might be wrong since I’m not seeing you lift, is that you initiate the movement too much with the lower back. Execute the turnaround with a powerful hip movement (‘whipping the hips forward’) just like in a power clean.

448

Thib, my bench press max is around 100 kg at 65kg bw - do I have a decent CNS or it’s still beginner level ? (total training age is actually 3 years, but as you can judge by results most of it is stupid training - mostly too much intensity and maxing out, but I also started super weak and weighing 10 kg less)

I’m training to figure out whether I will benefit much from speed work at my level. (according to your latest chart about three loading points)

449

[quote]Thy. wrote:
Thib, my bench press max is around 100 kg at 65kg bw - do I have a decent CNS or it’s still beginner level ? (total training age is actually 3 years, but as you can judge by results most of it is stupid training - mostly too much intensity and maxing out, but I also started super weak and weighing 10 kg less)

I’m training to figure out whether I will benefit much from speed work at my level. (according to your latest chart about three loading points)[/quote]

I haven’t seen you lift, so it’s hard to establish where you are at. IMHO your body weight will limit your strength gains eventually (if not right now). Your relative strength (strength vs. bodyweight) is decent , you just do not have much mass.

I might recommend doing a few weeks at beginner level, but with sets of 5, plenty of them. And after a month maybe try the intermediate level (a bit heavier work).

450

CT, when training 4 times a week, do you think it’s unwise to squat, deadlift and bench twice a week (SQ and DL on tue and fri, bench on mon and thu)? Assuming all excercises are ramped to MFP, then stopped. Goals are strength and hypertrophy.

451

[quote]BHG wrote:
CT, when training 4 times a week, do you think it’s unwise to squat, deadlift and bench twice a week (SQ and DL on tue and fri, bench on mon and thu)? Assuming all excercises are ramped to MFP, then stopped. Goals are strength and hypertrophy.[/quote]

No problem at all. I don’t really like doing both in the same workout personally, but if you can perform well on both you will not have problems.

452

[quote]Mutsanah wrote:

[quote]agent9041 wrote:

My question is: if I want to improve my bench, should I do more sets in the lower percentages to work on my acceleration, or focus on more sets in the higher perecentages?

I haven’t progessed for the last few weeks and I’m starting to get frustrated.

Thanks for any help![/quote]

[/quote]

Thanks for the reply! You’ve given me some great ideas.

I’m thinking that lack of explosiveness and protective mechanisms are likely the main culprits. I was able to put up 100 lbs dumbbells flat bench for 3 reps around 6 months ago (although with pain in my shoulder) so I doubt that muscular stength is the issue. I’m thinking I need to explode more and continue my shoulder rehab to bring it’s strength up to where it should be.
Thanks again.[/quote]

Agent 9041 - also, check the strength difference between your internal and external shoulder rotators.
[/quote]

Thanks for the tip. In fact my internal rotation is very poor right now, and my PT has just had me introduce some extra band work to improve it. Hopefully that will help.

453

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]Thy. wrote:
Thib, my bench press max is around 100 kg at 65kg bw - do I have a decent CNS or it’s still beginner level ? (total training age is actually 3 years, but as you can judge by results most of it is stupid training - mostly too much intensity and maxing out, but I also started super weak and weighing 10 kg less)

I’m training to figure out whether I will benefit much from speed work at my level. (according to your latest chart about three loading points)[/quote]

I haven’t seen you lift, so it’s hard to establish where you are at. IMHO your body weight will limit your strength gains eventually (if not right now). Your relative strength (strength vs. bodyweight) is decent , you just do not have much mass.

I might recommend doing a few weeks at beginner level, but with sets of 5, plenty of them. And after a month maybe try the intermediate level (a bit heavier work).[/quote]

Interesting, I just saw your new table, and judging by the sets of 1, I can easily accelerate 92-97% (MLP), with only some slowness blasting through the sticking point (no grinding), which puts me in the C category, although I’m not strong or advanced at all. What does that tell you ? (or nothing because you can’t see me lift?)

454

[quote]Thy. wrote:

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]Thy. wrote:
Thib, my bench press max is around 100 kg at 65kg bw - do I have a decent CNS or it’s still beginner level ? (total training age is actually 3 years, but as you can judge by results most of it is stupid training - mostly too much intensity and maxing out, but I also started super weak and weighing 10 kg less)

I’m training to figure out whether I will benefit much from speed work at my level. (according to your latest chart about three loading points)[/quote]

I haven’t seen you lift, so it’s hard to establish where you are at. IMHO your body weight will limit your strength gains eventually (if not right now). Your relative strength (strength vs. bodyweight) is decent , you just do not have much mass.

I might recommend doing a few weeks at beginner level, but with sets of 5, plenty of them. And after a month maybe try the intermediate level (a bit heavier work).[/quote]

Interesting, I just saw your new table, and judging by the sets of 1, I can easily accelerate 92-97% (MLP), with only some slowness blasting through the sticking point (no grinding), which puts me in the C category, although I’m not strong or advanced at all. What does that tell you ? (or nothing because you can’t see me lift?)
[/quote]

It tells me that your protective mechanisms are overly active with heavy loads, preventing your from using all your potential strength. So basically your real max is way lower than it should be or could potentially be.

I would try supra-maximal supports and heavy lockouts (only the last few inches of the press, starting from pins) to remove the inhibitory effect of the protective mechanisms.

455

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]Thy. wrote:

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:

[quote]Thy. wrote:
Thib, my bench press max is around 100 kg at 65kg bw - do I have a decent CNS or it’s still beginner level ? (total training age is actually 3 years, but as you can judge by results most of it is stupid training - mostly too much intensity and maxing out, but I also started super weak and weighing 10 kg less)

I’m training to figure out whether I will benefit much from speed work at my level. (according to your latest chart about three loading points)[/quote]

I haven’t seen you lift, so it’s hard to establish where you are at. IMHO your body weight will limit your strength gains eventually (if not right now). Your relative strength (strength vs. bodyweight) is decent , you just do not have much mass.

I might recommend doing a few weeks at beginner level, but with sets of 5, plenty of them. And after a month maybe try the intermediate level (a bit heavier work).[/quote]

Interesting, I just saw your new table, and judging by the sets of 1, I can easily accelerate 92-97% (MLP), with only some slowness blasting through the sticking point (no grinding), which puts me in the C category, although I’m not strong or advanced at all. What does that tell you ? (or nothing because you can’t see me lift?)
[/quote]

It tells me that your protective mechanisms are overly active with heavy loads, preventing your from using all your potential strength. So basically your real max is way lower than it should be or could potentially be.

I would try supra-maximal supports and heavy lockouts (only the last few inches of the press, starting from pins) to remove the inhibitory effect of the protective mechanisms. [/quote]

Thanks, getting answers from you is like a kid getting ice-cream :slight_smile:

Theoretically, if I shot a video could I upload it here so you would comment on the execution, acceleration, form ?

456

CT

I’m looking to drive my squat up although I don’t want to ignore the deadlift, currently have a squat and deadlift + assistance on seperate days. I have noticed I lack any explosiveness at all during squatting (deadlifting feels easier) so do you think squatting and deadlifting on the first day and using the second day to work on being explosive would be optimal?

I have thought about doing more sets with my lighter weights when ramping but I’m extremely weak so don’t want to remove the max strength focus. If it makes any difference I have really bad leverages for the squat (long legs, short torso).

Thanks

457

Hey Christian, i’ve recently been using your perfect rep technique and i have been getting amazing results. Though i am needing to know if i should use the same 3 rep 6 to 10 sets on my squats, or is there a better way to get mass and strength on my legs. Thanks

458

Maybe I missed it, but why not explode deadlifts off the floor and wait the be beyond the knee?

459

[quote]CPerfringens wrote:
Maybe I missed it, but why not explode deadlifts off the floor and wait the be beyond the knee? [/quote]

I found out two problems with exploding off the floor:

  1. You lose your grip, you have more of a chance of the bar slipping out

  2. Your butt comes up and the rest of the lift becomes all lower back because your hips will be too high. Most people will still try to pull it up but it is way too dangerous, especially if your using heavy weight (+80% of your max)

460

Hey CT,

On floor presses, is it better to keep legs straight and make it an exclusive upper body push ? do you ever pause at the bottom or is it always touch and go?