[quote]DeadKong wrote:
How much does your daughter weigh? [/quote]
75 lb.
[quote]lil power wrote:
Snap, you do need to add some muscle to that body, sorry, I didn’t mean for that to sound rude.[/quote]
You’re always incredibly tactful and knowledgeable.
[quote]lil power wrote:
That bench looks lower than a competition bench, so do you normally have an issue with booty leaving the bench in comps? You do have a nice wider stance, I like that.[/quote]
Comp bench is higher. And I usually do pretty well in that setting.
[quote]lil power wrote:
You seem to flare the elbows early on the way up, is your chest or triceps stronger?.[/quote]
I shouldn’t flare. Too hard on my repaired shoulder. My tris are pretty good.
[quote]lil power wrote:
Depending on your shoulder, where is your grip, could you take another fingertip wider?
[/quote]
I think I need to move out. Scared for the stress on the joint, though.
[quote]atypical1 wrote:
Just a thought and I’m not really qualified to comment but it would seem to me that if you want your bench to go up then that’s what you need to focus on. [/quote]
Another logical male! And you’re as qualified as anyone here to comment.
Checked my ego at the door today and had a very productive upper body training session in terms of information gathering. The goal is to figure out what I can/cannot do in an effort to bust through my very low flat bench plateau.
Started with tons of rotator cuff stuff:
Band pullaparts
DB lying Ls
DB chest-supported Ys in reverse incline
Standing DB cuff rolls
Still have a total disconnect on movements that isolate the supraspinatus tendon. It’s attached, but doesn’t really work. Hmm.
DB OHP
Problems with instability when I move to DB pressing movements of any kind
Then I moved to flat bench playing with my setup. Finally got a setup and foot position and arch that I like. Was able to lock in, keep neutral wrists, push chest up, keep butt down.
Played with my grip. My normal grip is pinky finger inside O ring. Very narrow for my arm length. Tried these:
10/45 ring finger on O ring
10/45 middle finger on O ring
10/45 index finger on O ring
No pain or instability at all with a wider grip. Actually, it felt better. So I’m going to work on dialing in my setup, widening my grip, and working the smaller accessory muscles that may get my supraspinatus to fire again. Been struggling with this ever since the anchors were put in my shoulder.
Oh, tried to do a dip. Can’t lower myself even with elbows tucked in tight. It might be mental. Not sure yet.
There is so much fight in you. I love that. No wimping out or giving up!
You can find out if the dip thing is mental by holding your nose (figuratively, not literally) and getting on the assisted dip/chinup machine thingy. If you set it to support alot of your body weight, maybe you can push through the mental block by testing out in a controlled way whether it really WILL hurt.
[quote]kpsnap wrote:
Checked my ego at the door today and had a very productive upper body training session in terms of information gathering. The goal is to figure out what I can/cannot do in an effort to bust through my very low flat bench plateau.
Problems with instability when I move to DB pressing movements of any kind
Played with my grip. My normal grip is pinky finger inside O ring. Very narrow for my arm length.
No pain or instability at all with a wider grip. Actually, it felt better. So I’m going to work on dialing in my setup, widening my grip, and working the smaller accessory muscles that may get my supraspinatus to fire again.
Oh, tried to do a dip. Can’t lower myself even with elbows tucked in tight. It might be mental. Not sure yet.[/quote]
YES! so glad you played around with grip, your inside the O rings is the same grip as I use and my arms are T-Rex size compared to yours!! So glad it didn’t bother your shoulder.
I’m also very scared / mentally to even try a dip, I’m actually just finding out I can do pushups again without any pain in the shoulder.
According to Louie, he has found that db pressing is very helpful for women and bench pressing…
O I looked for your log in PL, but didnt see it? Or was it just in some kind of
"dynamite DL type thread? I miss reading your log, you were tearing it up!
Snap, thanks for the nice compliment on my deadlift in powerlifting. I was really, really excited about it.
[/quote]
As well you should be.
[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
Will your daughter start coming to the gym more with you? Her dead lift was great to watch.
[/quote]
My daughter is averaging about two visits a week to the gym with me. I do my workouts at a different time and instead focus on her. I have her squat, DL, and bench. She does pretty well. She’s killer at pullups and HLRs. She also uses some striping on the floor to practice her beam moves. It’s a good time for us.
Woke up with cranky shoulders. Gave in and took some ibuprofin, which totally took the edge off. Ended up having a great training day. It’s not that my weights are impressive. But I really felt in the groove.
Squat
8/45
5/70
3/10/90 (character building!)
1/105
1/120 belt
1/135 just a walkout and 10-second static hold
I am one with the squat.
Seated GMs
3/10/65
Easy-peasy
Sumo DL
5/95
3/10/135
Modified sumo DL
1/155
1/175
Plank
3/85 seconds
Lying Hammie Curl
3/12/50
Gearing and wrapping my coach: 1.5 hours. Tiring. I’m getting to be a really good knee wrapper. My coach said today that he’s never been wrapped so tight.
Started a new upper body training program today. Fully handed over the programming responsibility to someone else. Which I don’t normally do. Lots of lifts that I don’t normally do, too. And my rests were timed. Boy, I’m really not used to that. It’s exciting to be doing something different. And if I get some carryover to my raw bench, it will be a double win.
Warmup
Band pullaparts
Lying L cuff rolls
Flat bench
New setup. Getting a better arch. Keeping ass down. Staying tighter. Grip out one finger width.
8/45
8/55
3/8/68
Flat bench with 8-second eccentric
Let’s just say I thought this would be easy. But it darn near killed me. Holding that tension, keeping a straight bar path. This really challenged me, even with next to no weight.
3/8/55 (.5 BW)
Low incline DB press
From the top, one arm at a time. Hard for me to stabilize.
3/8/ridiculously small weight. Actually had to drop my weight down for the second and third sets.
A) T-bar row
3/10
I don’t get T-bar rows. Didn’t feel like I was doing them right. Have maybe only done them once or twice in my life. Will watch video.
B) Lying EZ curl skulls
3/10
A) DB rows
3/8
Very limited by my one shoulder in terms of weight. I have heard two schools of thought when there’s a weight disparity. Set the weight according to your weakest side. Set the weight according to your strongest side. Any thoughts?
B) French press
3/10
C) Hammer curls
3/8
There’s something to be said for getting out of your training rut. I know I am guilty of doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different or more impressive result. But it doesn’t work that way.
timed rests? curls? sounds suspicious to me… still, sounds right that it might be time to mix things up a bit. i’ve actually never done curls… well… once in circuit class (i was handed 5kg) and then played a little when i thought i had elbow tendonitis…
The old phrase " The chain is only as strong as the weakest link" sure hits home here right?
I would embrace rebuilding up the weakside as much as possible. It could only lead to better things, it might be a little uncomfortable at first but hey what isn’t.
The slow eccentrics are to help build your stabilizers endurance if I am to conjecture as to why.
Also with shoulder weaknesses we do static holds on various lifts at the halfway point as well.
Just my .02, not trying to confuse or throw to many ladles in the pot.
Good for you Snap!