[quote]irishlifting wrote:
Hanley wrote:
Bench 195kg/430lg x1 @ 101kg/222lb - Bench - 195kg x1 - YouTube
Nice work Hanley, there is a 200 bench coming up shortly I think[/quote]
Thanks man. Hopefully 200 and a bit more is there next Sunday.
Speeeeeeeeeeed pulls
Power Cleans:
60kg x3
70kg x2
80kg x2
90kg x2
100kg x1
105kg x3
Speed Pulls:
100kg x3
130kg x2
160kg x2
180kg 4x2
SLDL off a plate:
140kg x10
Roman Chair Sit Ups:
bodyweight x5
+10kg on forehead x5
+20kg on forehead 2x12
DC Shoulder Warm Up:
4kg 'bells - 3 reps
One Arm Face Pulls:
3x12
Inverted Rows:
3x12
Good workout today. Dropped the volume a lot but kept the intensity fairly high. Just tapering down gently for the comp on Sunday now.
The power cleans were pretty good today. I’m starting to extend a bit earlier and I think it’s helping me keep a straight bar path. Vid to come.
The speed pulls were nice and snappy today… would like them to be faster, but they’ll come on with training. I’ll start pushing my DL hard again once I come off the back off the bench comp.
The SLDLs off the plate were solid today. I actually reckon I can keep going with these for a few more weeks…
Time to move up to the 25’s on the sit ups I think. They hurt soooo good.
Lots of upper back/scap work again today… it’s worked well over the past week so hopefully I’ll come in near 100% in that regard on Sunday!
Easy bench workout tomorrow and that’ll be me ready to rest up… started my water load yesterday - drinking 5l of water per day and still thristy… looks like it’s working!!
Power Clean: 105kg x3 - Power Clean - 105kg x3 - YouTube
Speed Pull: 180kg x2 - Speed Pulls - 180kg x2 - YouTube
How’s speed look on em?
Taking it easy?
Power Snatch:
30kg x3
40kg x3
50kg x3
60kg x3uglyreps
DC Shoulder Warm Up:
4kg 'bells - 3 reps
Bench (all paused):
50kg x5
75kg x5
90kg x5
112.5kg x5
Incline Dumbbell Bench:
35kg 'bells x12
Hammer Strength Bench:
100kg x10
DC shoulder Warm Up:
2.5kg plates - 3 reps
Inverted Rows:
2x12
Face Pulls:
3x12
Starting the deload today… cut my volume pretty much to nothing. The snatches were fugly.
Benching was strong… let my shoulder slip out on the 5th rep and nearly lost the bar backwards… doh!
The incline dumbbell presses and hammer strength bench decided to take off this week… really had to work hard to stop myself going overboard on the reps. Coulda done 3-5 more on each exercise like.
More boring upper back work to round things off then…
[quote]Hanley wrote:
Taking it easy?
Power Snatch:
30kg x3
40kg x3
50kg x3
60kg x3uglyreps
DC Shoulder Warm Up:
4kg 'bells - 3 reps
Bench (all paused):
50kg x5
75kg x5
90kg x5
112.5kg x5
Incline Dumbbell Bench:
35kg 'bells x12
Hammer Strength Bench:
100kg x10
DC shoulder Warm Up:
2.5kg plates - 3 reps
Inverted Rows:
2x12
Face Pulls:
3x12
Starting the deload today… cut my volume pretty much to nothing. The snatches were fugly.
Benching was strong… let my shoulder slip out on the 5th rep and nearly lost the bar backwards… doh!
The incline dumbbell presses and hammer strength bench decided to take off this week… really had to work hard to stop myself going overboard on the reps. Coulda done 3-5 more on each exercise like.
More boring upper back work to round things off then…
__________________[/quote]
Hey mate,
Interesting problem you have with keeping your shoulders together and tight on the bench setp given how strong you are on your upper back exercises. I always laugh when I read your thread because my standing military press is a little stronger than yours but my upperback/lat strength is not even in the same ball park as yours and I believe my bench suffers massively as a result of this weakness.
Not surprisingly I have problems with my set up with the key problem being:
My upperback setup flattens out and right shoulder seems to slip out.
I think this is to with my ongoing issues with my right scap winging out. So apart from working on strengthening my Serratus Anterior what other exercises would you recommend to help strengthen the right upper back muscles for the best setup?
Thanks
[quote]dheeel wrote:
Hey mate,
Interesting problem you have with keeping your shoulders together and tight on the bench setp given how strong you are on your upper back exercises. I always laugh when I read your thread because my standing military press is a little stronger than yours but my upperback/lat strength is not even in the same ball park as yours and I believe my bench suffers massively as a result of this weakness.
Not surprisingly I have problems with my set up with the key problem being:
My upperback setup flattens out and right shoulder seems to slip out.
I think this is to with my ongoing issues with my right scap winging out. So apart from working on strengthening my Serratus Anterior what other exercises would you recommend to help strengthen the right upper back muscles for the best setup?
Thanks
[/quote]
So what does that tell ya…?? A strong upper back’s useless if you don’t have proper scapular function!! Totally different ball game like.
I’ve found the following to be really helpful (done frequently over the course of 7 days they seemed to correct the problem to a large extent);
-band pull aparts
-diesel crew shoulder warm up (search back thru my log for it)
-inverted rows
-one arm face pulls
And in all of those exercises making a serious effort to lock my scap in during the movements.
What’s your incline dumbbell press like? Bet that’s stronger than mine too. I’ve done like 35kg/80lb x12.
[quote]Hanley wrote:
dheeel wrote:
Hey mate,
Interesting problem you have with keeping your shoulders together and tight on the bench setp given how strong you are on your upper back exercises. I always laugh when I read your thread because my standing military press is a little stronger than yours but my upperback/lat strength is not even in the same ball park as yours and I believe my bench suffers massively as a result of this weakness.
Not surprisingly I have problems with my set up with the key problem being:
My upperback setup flattens out and right shoulder seems to slip out.
I think this is to with my ongoing issues with my right scap winging out. So apart from working on strengthening my Serratus Anterior what other exercises would you recommend to help strengthen the right upper back muscles for the best setup?
Thanks
So what does that tell ya…?? A strong upper back’s useless if you don’t have proper scapular function!! Totally different ball game like.
I’ve found the following to be really helpful (done frequently over the course of 7 days they seemed to correct the problem to a large extent);
-band pull aparts
-diesel crew shoulder warm up (search back thru my log for it)
-inverted rows
-one arm face pulls
And in all of those exercises making a serious effort to lock my scap in during the movements.
What’s your incline dumbbell press like? Bet that’s stronger than mine too. I’ve done like 35kg/80lb x12. [/quote]
Thanks dude. I’ll definitely be trying the one arm face pulls out because its definitely my right shoulder that loses tightness/scap control first and slides out.
I havent done incline dbells for a while but I just finished a cycle of 5-3-1 and was using free weight low incline barbell presses as my second exercise and got 105kg for 7reps on my top set. Considering I’d just just benched 120kg for 4reps (with possibly 1 one more in me but I racked it because the 4th was a grinder) they are not far off!
I standing military pressed 75kg for 9reps(touching the upper chest at the bottom of each rep) so he shoulder strength is getting better under 5-3-1. In fact the Military, Deadlift and Squat all got better under 5-3-1, everything except the damn bench! I am beginning to think that:
- Muscular strength in upperback/scapular retractors
- Lack of bench volume
- Technique issues as a result of a lack of the first two above
are all reasons its going nowhere. I need to re-program my bench days to remedy these issues.
I think it’s 2 and 3. That was my own conclusion anyway.
I don’t think I’ve ever done over 100kg x5 on an incline bench btw!!
dheeel,
- are you using the 5% jump table or the 10% one?
- how many reps are you usually getting on your last set of wave 3 on the bench?
- What’s your assistance template look like?
To Hanley:
With the scapulae, I’ve found that doing my regular rows (krocs, yates, BO, whatever) focusing on turning the movement into sort of what you’d do when you had to set up in the bottom position of a PL bench (not as big of an arch, of course) really helped.
I.e. make them actual backthickness exercises, not just lat-work.
So you’d start with shoulders somewhat rounded at the bottom, and then on the way up, most of the action is simply retracting your scapulae and bringing your shoulders back, and then the bar pretty much hits my stomach already. Elbows move back as well, of course, but you almost don’t notice, i.e. you don’t focus on the bar much at all, but on your bt musculature.
If you didn’t do it that way before, then you’ll need to start lighter than you usually do, but keep focusing on the scapular retraction part while progressing and that really helps a ton… I rarely do inverted rows or anything like that now and my (CG)bench max jumped 35 lbs in the last few months.
It’s not easy though, esp. with krocs. Somehow, it feels more natural to do that on both sides at once, i.e. with a barbell…
I also started doing my DB shrugs differently, rather than standing straight and shrugging right up towards my ears, I’m leaning forward a bit from the hip joints with knees a little bent, and shrug to a point behind my head (feels a lot like retracting your scapulae after locking out a rack pull, it’s basically the same thing, but with less weight and you’re leaning forward some). Also involves scapular retraction.
Those 2 things allow you to train the muscles acting on your scapulae to become much stronger than what you’d be able to achieve via inverted rows and such alone.
C_C… thanks for that!! I think I’ll try it out now that I’ve some time to work on that sorta stuff. Makes perfect sense… I know when Pendlay was talking about his rows he mentioned how the lats retract AND arch the back, so training both at once is brilliant for em. Seems to be what you’re hitting on.
Reckon it would work if I worked up to a heavy set as per usual and then did a couple of back off sets as you describe?
GPC Bench Comp 2009
So here’s my story…
Anyone’s that’s friends with me on FB will know I’ve been walking a tight line with my weight coming into this comp. I started dieting months ago with the intention of coming in at 100kg. I’ve been tracking my morning and evening weight for the last week trying to estimate what I’d need to be the day before to come in at 100kg.
I was 103.5kg on Thursday night, 100.9kg on Friday morning, 103kg that evening and 99.9kg yesterday morning. Might sound good, but that was a obvious sign I was going to come in too light. Was 100kg bang on around 6pm and t’s hard to force yourself to eat and drink knowing you’ve a weigh in the next day but thankfully I’d a good friend in my ear saying the right things. Got up to 101kg last night, 100kg on the button this morning before I left, and 99.81kg at weigh in.
Managed to get myself to 103.1kg by the time I started to warm up 2 hours later thanks to copious amounts of Diaorlyte, water, lucozade, chicken sandwiches, red bull and a cookie.
The bench, bar and plates were absolutely perfect so I knew I’d no excuse if I didn’t come out of it lifting well. Got my warm ups going well and settled into a nice groove early.
Took;
190kg for my first attempt, hit it easily.
200kg for my second attempt and a double bodyweight bench, hit it stronger than the 190.
205kg for my third, and it was the best of the lot.
Decided to put my balls on the line and go for 210kg @ 100kg as a juinor lifter on a 4th attempt. I won’t say I hit it strongly, but it was a clean press straight to lockout for a 30kg competition PR at 100kg, and 20kg absolute PR. I think it may be the highest ever competition bench done across any weight in the Republic by a junior lifter, but am not 100% sure.
Pretty stoked with my performance today. It was frickin awesome going 4 for 4 after bombing out badly on the bench at the IDFPA nationals last April. It leaves me set up for a really good total coming into next year now. The best part about today was how solid all my lifting was. Everything hit the groove perfectly and I just felt ultra comfortable on all the attempts.
Gotta say thanks to Dominic M for helping me out with my shoulder problems over the last couple of weeks, his advice really helped me out and allowed me to perform at my full potential today.
Major shout out goes to Ger, Mic and Trish for travelling down with me and helping out. The difference it makes having experienced guys like Ger and Mic around is unreal. It just makes everything so much easier, all ya have to worry about it lying on the bench and pressing.
I’ve videos uploading, and courtesy of Trish there’ll probably be photos rolling in over the next while too!!
190kg: Bench - 190kg @ 100kg junior - YouTube
200kg: Bench - 200kg @ 100kg junior - YouTube
205kg: Bench - 205kg @ 100kg junior - YouTube
210kg: Bench - 210kg @ 100kg junior - YouTube
[quote]Hanley wrote:
GPC Bench Comp 2009
So here’s my story…
Anyone’s that’s friends with me on FB will know I’ve been walking a tight line with my weight coming into this comp. I started dieting months ago with the intention of coming in at 100kg. I’ve been tracking my morning and evening weight for the last week trying to estimate what I’d need to be the day before to come in at 100kg.
I was 103.5kg on Thursday night, 100.9kg on Friday morning, 103kg that evening and 99.9kg yesterday morning. Might sound good, but that was a obvious sign I was going to come in too light. Was 100kg bang on around 6pm and t’s hard to force yourself to eat and drink knowing you’ve a weigh in the next day but thankfully I’d a good friend in my ear saying the right things. Got up to 101kg last night, 100kg on the button this morning before I left, and 99.81kg at weigh in.
Managed to get myself to 103.1kg by the time I started to warm up 2 hours later thanks to copious amounts of Diaorlyte, water, lucozade, chicken sandwiches, red bull and a cookie.
The bench, bar and plates were absolutely perfect so I knew I’d no excuse if I didn’t come out of it lifting well. Got my warm ups going well and settled into a nice groove early.
Took;
190kg for my first attempt, hit it easily.
200kg for my second attempt and a double bodyweight bench, hit it stronger than the 190.
205kg for my third, and it was the best of the lot.
Decided to put my balls on the line and go for 210kg @ 100kg as a juinor lifter on a 4th attempt. I won’t say I hit it strongly, but it was a clean press straight to lockout for a 30kg competition PR at 100kg, and 20kg absolute PR. I think it may be the highest ever competition bench done across any weight in the Republic by a junior lifter, but am not 100% sure.
Pretty stoked with my performance today. It was frickin awesome going 4 for 4 after bombing out badly on the bench at the IDFPA nationals last April. It leaves me set up for a really good total coming into next year now. The best part about today was how solid all my lifting was. Everything hit the groove perfectly and I just felt ultra comfortable on all the attempts.
Gotta say thanks to Dominic M for helping me out with my shoulder problems over the last couple of weeks, his advice really helped me out and allowed me to perform at my full potential today.
Major shout out goes to Ger, Mic and Trish for travelling down with me and helping out. The difference it makes having experienced guys like Ger and Mic around is unreal. It just makes everything so much easier, all ya have to worry about it lying on the bench and pressing.
I’ve videos uploading, and courtesy of Trish there’ll probably be photos rolling in over the next while too!!
190kg: Bench - 190kg @ 100kg junior - YouTube
200kg: Bench - 200kg @ 100kg junior - YouTube
205kg: Bench - 205kg @ 100kg junior - YouTube
210kg: Bench - 210kg @ 100kg junior - YouTube
Fantastic work mate - congrats!!
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
dheeel,
- are you using the 5% jump table or the 10% one?
- how many reps are you usually getting on your last set of wave 3 on the bench?
- What’s your assistance template look like?
Hey mate,
- I was using the 10% jumps
- This was my 14th wave/cycle and I’ve reset twice. On the 6th wave since the last reset I hit 3reps with 120kg with probably one left in the tank. In the first 2-3 waves I was getting 6-8 reps on my 5-3-1 day (ie. week 3 of the wave/cycle) and would deload on week four.
3).
I would usually follow the bench work with 3-5 sets of 5 reps on close grip 2board presses or incline bench presses, followed by 3 sets of 8-10 reps of either flat of floor dumbell presses.
I would then do 5 sets of 8-10 reps of tbar or chest supported rows with a focus on retracting the scaps before pulling the weight up. I would then do 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps of either face pulls, rear delt raises or halbert raises.
If you’ve got any tips or advice I would love to hear them mate. I personally think my setup needs work to be consistent and a lot of that is based on fixing my scap strength so I can hold my upperback tight throughout the entire bench set. I will definitely take on board your tips to Hanley too.
Thanks
[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
dheeel,
- are you using the 5% jump table or the 10% one?
- how many reps are you usually getting on your last set of wave 3 on the bench?
- What’s your assistance template look like?
To Hanley:
With the scapulae, I’ve found that doing my regular rows (krocs, yates, BO, whatever) focusing on turning the movement into sort of what you’d do when you had to set up in the bottom position of a PL bench (not as big of an arch, of course) really helped.
I.e. make them actual backthickness exercises, not just lat-work.
So you’d start with shoulders somewhat rounded at the bottom, and then on the way up, most of the action is simply retracting your scapulae and bringing your shoulders back, and then the bar pretty much hits my stomach already. Elbows move back as well, of course, but you almost don’t notice, i.e. you don’t focus on the bar much at all, but on your bt musculature.
If you didn’t do it that way before, then you’ll need to start lighter than you usually do, but keep focusing on the scapular retraction part while progressing and that really helps a ton… I rarely do inverted rows or anything like that now and my (CG)bench max jumped 35 lbs in the last few months.
It’s not easy though, esp. with krocs. Somehow, it feels more natural to do that on both sides at once, i.e. with a barbell…
I also started doing my DB shrugs differently, rather than standing straight and shrugging right up towards my ears, I’m leaning forward a bit from the hip joints with knees a little bent, and shrug to a point behind my head (feels a lot like retracting your scapulae after locking out a rack pull, it’s basically the same thing, but with less weight and you’re leaning forward some). Also involves scapular retraction.
Those 2 things allow you to train the muscles acting on your scapulae to become much stronger than what you’d be able to achieve via inverted rows and such alone.
[/quote]
Hey mate,
- I was using the 10% jumps
- This was my 14th wave/cycle and I’ve reset twice. On the 6th wave since the last reset I hit 3reps with 120kg with probably one left in the tank. In the first 2-3 waves I was getting 6-8 reps on my 5-3-1 day (ie. week 3 of the wave/cycle) and would deload on week four.
3).
I would usually follow the bench work with 3-5 sets of 5 reps on close grip 2board presses or incline bench presses, followed by 3 sets of 8-10 reps of either flat of floor dumbell presses.
I would then do 5 sets of 8-10 reps of tbar or chest supported rows with a focus on retracting the scaps before pulling the weight up. I would then do 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps of either face pulls, rear delt raises or halbert raises.
If you’ve got any tips or advice I would love to hear them mate. I personally think my setup needs work to be consistent and a lot of that is based on fixing my scap strength so I can hold my upperback tight throughout the entire bench set. I will definitely take on board your tips to Hanley too.
Thanks
Playing About…
Power Cleans:
60kg x3
70kg x3
80kg x2
90kg x2
100kg x2
110kg 3x2
One Arm Scap Rows (see below):
30kg 'bells 3x12
Crossfit September Invitational, WOD 1:
7 overhead squats /45kg
7 pull ups
7 wall balls
x7 rounds - 8 minutes flat.
Decided to play around in the gym today… the power cleans were outrageously solid. Finding a really nice groove with them.
The scap rows are something suggested to help my scap stability and back thickness. It’s basically a one arm dumbbell row but you concentrate on rolling your shoulder in and pinning your scap at the top. Obviously this means lighter weight… I could really feel it working today, so I’m a fan.
No humble pie for me on the CF workout either. I figured the OH squats were what killed everyone and knew I’d storm thru them without a problem. No target for the wall balls, but I tried to hit the same spot each time.
Feeling good.
Power Clean - 110kg x2 (3rd set) Power Cleans - 110kg x2 - YouTube
Baaaaaaaaaad Deadlifting
Rack Pulls (2 inches below knee):
60kg x5
100kg x3
140kg x3
180kg x3
200kg x3
220kg x3
240kg x1
260kg x0 - ggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
250kg x1
Stiff Leg Deads (bar not touching floor):
60kg x12
80kg x12
100kg x12
110kg 3x12
Pull thrus:
3x15
Pulldowns:
worked up to 80 x12
Reverse Hypers:
10kg 3x15
Ruuuuuuuubbish session!!
[quote]Hanley wrote:
C_C… thanks for that!! I think I’ll try it out now that I’ve some time to work on that sorta stuff. Makes perfect sense… I know when Pendlay was talking about his rows he mentioned how the lats retract AND arch the back, so training both at once is brilliant for em. Seems to be what you’re hitting on.
Reckon it would work if I worked up to a heavy set as per usual and then did a couple of back off sets as you describe?[/quote]
You could do it that way.
I’d just try it for a few non-failure sets with a moderate or even light load so you “learn” what it should feel like, and once you have the technique down you can do whatever set/rep scheme you want…
If you’ve never retracted your scapulae after locking out rack pulls (not maxes, obviously), then whatever muscles retract your scapulae are going to be weak in comparison to your lats etc. It helps to think of yates, bo and kroc rows as exercises that aren’t meant for the lats at all, that lat-involvement is more or less a side-effect. Just focus on the retraction “getting into bottom of PL bench position” motion and start light so that your scapular retractors or whatever they’re called get a chance to build themselves up to match the strength of the rest of your back.
One top-set, 2 top sets, 3 consecutively heavier with descending reps, some low-rep and small weight-jump ramping ala CT (once you have the technique down, and your stop once you can’t retract the scapulae anymore)… Rest-pause doesn’t work so well if it’s a standing row though, both safety and breath-wise.
[quote]Hanley wrote:
GPC Bench Comp 2009
So here’s my story…
Anyone’s that’s friends with me on FB will know I’ve been walking a tight line with my weight coming into this comp. I started dieting months ago with the intention of coming in at 100kg. I’ve been tracking my morning and evening weight for the last week trying to estimate what I’d need to be the day before to come in at 100kg.
I was 103.5kg on Thursday night, 100.9kg on Friday morning, 103kg that evening and 99.9kg yesterday morning. Might sound good, but that was a obvious sign I was going to come in too light. Was 100kg bang on around 6pm and t’s hard to force yourself to eat and drink knowing you’ve a weigh in the next day but thankfully I’d a good friend in my ear saying the right things. Got up to 101kg last night, 100kg on the button this morning before I left, and 99.81kg at weigh in.
Managed to get myself to 103.1kg by the time I started to warm up 2 hours later thanks to copious amounts of Diaorlyte, water, lucozade, chicken sandwiches, red bull and a cookie.
The bench, bar and plates were absolutely perfect so I knew I’d no excuse if I didn’t come out of it lifting well. Got my warm ups going well and settled into a nice groove early.
Took;
190kg for my first attempt, hit it easily.
200kg for my second attempt and a double bodyweight bench, hit it stronger than the 190.
205kg for my third, and it was the best of the lot.
Decided to put my balls on the line and go for 210kg @ 100kg as a juinor lifter on a 4th attempt. I won’t say I hit it strongly, but it was a clean press straight to lockout for a 30kg competition PR at 100kg, and 20kg absolute PR. I think it may be the highest ever competition bench done across any weight in the Republic by a junior lifter, but am not 100% sure.
Pretty stoked with my performance today. It was frickin awesome going 4 for 4 after bombing out badly on the bench at the IDFPA nationals last April. It leaves me set up for a really good total coming into next year now. The best part about today was how solid all my lifting was. Everything hit the groove perfectly and I just felt ultra comfortable on all the attempts.
Gotta say thanks to Dominic M for helping me out with my shoulder problems over the last couple of weeks, his advice really helped me out and allowed me to perform at my full potential today.
Major shout out goes to Ger, Mic and Trish for travelling down with me and helping out. The difference it makes having experienced guys like Ger and Mic around is unreal. It just makes everything so much easier, all ya have to worry about it lying on the bench and pressing.
I’ve videos uploading, and courtesy of Trish there’ll probably be photos rolling in over the next while too!!
190kg: Bench - 190kg @ 100kg junior - YouTube
200kg: Bench - 200kg @ 100kg junior - YouTube
205kg: Bench - 205kg @ 100kg junior - YouTube
210kg: Bench - 210kg @ 100kg junior - YouTube
Well done, brother!
[quote]dheeel wrote:
Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
dheeel,
- are you using the 5% jump table or the 10% one?
- how many reps are you usually getting on your last set of wave 3 on the bench?
- What’s your assistance template look like?
Hey mate,
- I was using the 10% jumps
- This was my 14th wave/cycle and I’ve reset twice. On the 6th wave since the last reset I hit 3reps with 120kg with probably one left in the tank. In the first 2-3 waves I was getting 6-8 reps on my 5-3-1 day (ie. week 3 of the wave/cycle) and would deload on week four.
3).
I would usually follow the bench work with 3-5 sets of 5 reps on close grip 2board presses or incline bench presses, followed by 3 sets of 8-10 reps of either flat of floor dumbell presses.
I would then do 5 sets of 8-10 reps of tbar or chest supported rows with a focus on retracting the scaps before pulling the weight up[/quote] I’d retract them while you pull the weight up, actually, rather than before… Otherwise it’s kind of like your scapular retractors are doing a static hold while the rear delts and lats lift the weight. While they’re doing a hold when benching, static holds as such aren’t a great way to improve strength (and size) imo… Otherwise your scapular musculature would get stronger from benching. Got to have repetitive movement under load there. You’re also doing quite a bit of volume that day… Are you doing all sets at the same weight on your assistance work? What’s the entire split like? Regular 5/3/1 3 times a week with 4 different workouts?[quote]. I would then do 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps of either face pulls, rear delt raises or halbert raises.
If you’ve got any tips or advice I would love to hear them mate. I personally think my setup needs work to be consistent and a lot of that is based on fixing my scap strength so I can hold my upperback tight throughout the entire bench set. I will definitely take on board your tips to Hanley too.
Thanks
[/quote]
I’ll see if I can give you any more advice once you’ve posted the rest of your routine and perhaps your numbers on back work vs. pressing (free-weight, I can’t compare the machine stuff).