db bench press 3 x
dips 3 x
tate press 3 x
press down 2 x
i started low, 35kg to reflect the low weight range, im now in week 3 pushing 45.
if im not pushing 70 by week 10 it wont be because i havent given it my all.
this program was given to me by someone who assesed my abilities and set me to go. perhaps you need to talk to a trainer at your gym.
the guys on here are a fantastic resource they have helped me with nutrition and inspiration and i have great ideas after i finish week 10 of my current program, but with the ammount of information you have provided its hard for anyone here to truly help you to get to where you want to go.
oh and to help you with the conversion i started at around 77lbs and i want to finish up at around 155lbs.
dont be discouraged that guys are syaing you should have improved more than you have, you have improved and thats the main aim, just keep your chin up ask the right people for help and your numbers will pick up in no time
[quote]tubbynewb wrote:
dont be discouraged that guys are syaing you should have improved more than you have, you have improved and thats the main aim, just keep your chin up ask the right people for help and your numbers will pick up in no time[/quote]
True enough. You don’t have anything to prove to us. Don’t get yourself killed under a bar that’s too heavy because some internet guys think you’re not progressing fast enough. Some progress is better than no progress. As long as you keep progressing. Keep at it!
As for whether or not you should change to a different program: it sounds like you’ve picked your current program because of the limitations of your gym equipment. Do what you can with what you’ve got. If you saved a little each month, you could find a nice squat rack on craigslist (now’s the time of year when the wives really start nagging their husbands to get rid of the rack they bought for themselves at christmas time) for next to nothing. If you have a little room in your garage or back yard, bam! You’ve got a gym. Of course, if you don’t have room, you’ll have to figure something else out. Part of the journey is finding the ways around other people / circumstances telling you “no”.
I don’t know if this has been asked, but do you have someone to workout with? someone to spot you? to push that extra rep when you want to quit? If not, I suggest you find someone a little stronger and more experienced and work out with them…
[quote]yasser wrote:
Post what your doing and that may help clarify the mystery.
Not interested in reading the article of the program your doing, nor do many people follow any program to the T.[/quote]
I started to record my lifts on January 14, 2008…so here are my earliest entries:
Max Effort Upper Body - January 14, 2008
A) Bench (Max effort)
…you know the story here
B) Inclined DB Press - 2x10x25, 2x10x20
C) Chest Rows - 4x10x115
D) Standing Face Pulls - 3x15x40
Max Effort Upper Body - March 24, 2008
A) Bench (Max effort)
…you know the story here
B) Inclined DB Press - 2x9x35, 7x35, 6x35
C) Chest Rows - 4x10x160
D) Standing Face Pulls - 2x15x80,12x80
Between January 14 and March 24, I rotated my Max Effort lift with close-grip bench press. The only chest workouts I do are on my max effort upper body day.
That’s an example of some of my other progress on upper body day.
I’ve been reading up more on WS4SB and I think I’ve been doing the Rep. Upper a bit wrong. Anyway, I think I’ll switch to WS4SB III. However, it requires that you superset and I’m worried about getting to machines since my gym is small and a lot of times someone’s using the equipment.
[quote]G-men27 wrote:
I don’t know if this has been asked, but do you have someone to workout with? someone to spot you? to push that extra rep when you want to quit? If not, I suggest you find someone a little stronger and more experienced and work out with them…[/quote]
Maybe you need to look at what your doing right on the above lifts. To me Incline DB Press makes the list even though it’s only 15lbs dumbbells don’t scale as fast as barbells.
Unless you low balled yourself when you first began.
Actually, I don’t. I know you went up 25lbs, but I don’t know your Sets/Reps/Weight/Rest time.
Next week I need to rotate my max effort upper body lift. I was thinking of doing Inclined Bench on the Smith Machine for that ME lift. Do you think that’s fine?
Learn your limits and stay away from the Smith Machine. Honestly, if you failed on an Incline Press, you could roll the weight down to your legs. When you get to truly heavy weights this would be less than ideal but for now…
[quote]Chaz23 wrote:
Y are these pple having negative opinions ab WS4SB? I thought it was a good program for beginners.[/quote]
You can’t take one person’s progress and draw a conclusion from that about an entire program. There’s other factors like diet, intensity, etc. that need to be taken into account. There’s certain things I need to improve and adjust.
i fiddled for about 6 months with terrible diet and not going to the gym. then i hit the gym and started eating decently so ill start at the first time i touched a barbell
[quote]schultzie wrote:
i fiddled for about 6 months with terrible diet and not going to the gym. then i hit the gym and started eating decently so ill start at the first time i touched a barbell
C) Chest Rows - 4x10x115
+45
C) Chest Rows - 4x10x160
B) Inclined DB Press - 2x10x25, 2x10x20
+15
B) Inclined DB Press - 2x9x35, 7x35, 6x35
D) Standing Face Pulls - 3x15x40
+40
D) Standing Face Pulls - 2x15x80,12x80
Maybe you need to look at what your doing right on the above lifts. To me Incline DB Press makes the list even though it’s only 15lbs dumbbells don’t scale as fast as barbells.
Unless you low balled yourself when you first began.[/quote]
Didn’t lowball…I could do 2 sets of 10 with 25 lbs and had to finish the remaining 2 sets of 10 with 20 lbs dumbbells…so maybe you could make the arguement that I could to 4x10x22.5 lbs which would result in a 12.5 lbs increase. However, I couldn’t do 4 sets of 10 with the 35 lbs…so it might be closer to 10-11 lbs increase. Does that sound about right?
I don’t want to major in the minors. Not too mention my point is actually moot when I look at it again. 25% gain in bench press, and about a 25% gain in your chest supported rows.
I have never done a chest supported row to my knowledge, but if it is anything like a BB Row then 160 seems like a solid number.
Digity, just keep pushing hard. I am not a personal trainer, nor am I qualified to give much in the way of advice. Was merely offering “what I have seen” over the years.
However, years back to push numbers we trained most sets to failure and did not worry about rep numbers but kept pushing the weight number envelope.
Alright here it is:
Freshman year college: 18yo
140lbs 5’7 1/2
Maxes (lbs)
The Very Beginning
Deadlift: 185 (never did em before)
Bench: 150lbs
Squat (below parallel): 200lbs (had attempted in junior year in high school track)
Sophomore year 19 years old.
Today: (about 15-16 months later)
183lbs (was 198lbs 3 months ago)
Deadlift: 405lbs for 3 raw/410 for 2 (this is done with previously exhausting sets) (425 max at college competition with a belt 3 months ago…405 singles was cake…I’m thinking singles I can do 440+ but never tried) by far my strongest lift due to my monkey arms
Bench: 235lbs, my weakest link by far due to leverages. going to try improve it a lot.
Squat (below parallel): 335lbs for 3…same situation…prefatigued. gonna try singles sometime. have done 220lbs for 20 a few weeks ago.
I’m aiming for 210lbs bw and I do consider myself a beginner still. I might “read” a lot at T-Nation but still have a lot to experience.
I started DC training. I have experienced 4day splits and TBT. I respond better to 4 day splits.
The smythe machine has its place especially in a DC training program. Don’t fret away from the smythe machine simply because people imply the barbell bench is much better.
[quote]RockmanX88 wrote:
The smythe machine has its place especially in a DC training program. Don’t fret away from the smythe machine simply because people imply the barbell bench is much better. [/quote]
Actually, that’s where I got the idea to do incline smith bench.
Not implying, it simply is. You negate your own body pattern by using a fixed movement, not to mention you take a lot of the supporting cast muscles out of the movement. However, when a spotter is not present and you really want to take it to the limit then sure. But I would take a look at doing Power Cage ones instead.
Not implying, it simply is. You negate your own body pattern by using a fixed movement, not to mention you take a lot of the supporting cast muscles out of the movement. However, when a spotter is not present and you really want to take it to the limit then sure. But I would take a look at doing Power Cage ones instead.
Learn your body, know when your going to fail.
[/quote]
I think incline smith would be bad if it was the ONLY bench I was planning to do, but I’d follow it up with dumbbell bench press. Anyway, I’ll see on Monday what I decide.