weight: 195.4
Squat: 135x5; 225x3; 315x1; 375x1
Bench: 115x5; 185x2; 220xF
Supinated Pullup: 35x2; 35x1.75
Close Grip Bench: 155x10
DB Curls: 40x10
Grrrr…
The 375 squat was hard and obviously, the 220 on the bench was more than I had in me.
Even though I haven’t failed on a squat yet, I’m going to back down the weight and wave back up again on both the squats and benches. I’m going to drop the deadlift day and go to squats 3x per week.
Oh, and I’d never noticed that there’s a little bump on one of my 40# db’s. I put my thumb on it and felt it digging in while I was curling but I ignored. I ended up with a deep gash on my right thumb.
I have enjoyed reading your log, Hows the thumb? keep up the good work
weight: 194.4
Squat: 135x5; 225x3; 315x1; 355x1
Bench: 115x5; 165x3; 185x1
Deadlift: 225x3; 335x1
Supinated Pullup: 40x0.5; 40x0.5
Close Grip Bench: 160x10
DB Curls: 42.5x10
Thanks, Book. I’m so glad I… amuse… you.
As I’d said, I rearranged my workout a little bit. I’m going to squat 3x per week but I also decided to DL 3x per week. I backed down on the weight of the squats, and I’ll go back to 10# increments every workout. I had planned on 325 for the DL but I misloaded and then when I realized I’d put too much weight on, I just said what the heck and lifted it.
I backed down the weight on the bench presses.
On my pullups, I only got about halfway up on the reps. I’ll try for a full reps next workout.
The curls are getting heavy, too.
I like it when the workouts get heavy.
[quote]The Pencil Neck wrote:
weight: 194.4
Squat: 135x5; 225x3; 315x1; 355x1
Bench: 115x5; 165x3; 185x1
Deadlift: 225x3; 335x1
Supinated Pullup: 40x0.5; 40x0.5
Close Grip Bench: 160x10
DB Curls: 42.5x10
Thanks, Book. I’m so glad I… amuse… you.
As I’d said, I rearranged my workout a little bit. I’m going to squat 3x per week but I also decided to DL 3x per week. I backed down on the weight of the squats, and I’ll go back to 10# increments every workout. I had planned on 325 for the DL but I misloaded and then when I realized I’d put too much weight on, I just said what the heck and lifted it.
I backed down the weight on the bench presses.
On my pullups, I only got about halfway up on the reps. I’ll try for a full reps next workout.
The curls are getting heavy, too.
I like it when the workouts get heavy.
[/quote]
Nice work!It’s all coming together.
weight: 193.4
Squat: 135x5; 225x3; 315x1; 365x1
Bench: 115x5; 165x3; 190x1
Deadlift: 225x3; 345x1
Supinated Pullups: 40x1; 40x1
Close Grip Bench: 165x9
DB Curls: 45x10
The squats are just sucking. 365 was just slow, slow, slow. I was actually in the hole struggling with it and I thought about ditching the weight. Then I realized… this is 365#! WTF! LIFT IT! So I did. I’m thinking of doing some light work just to work on technique. I’m thinking maybe I’m just not doing my usual stuff: foot position, sitting back, bar placement, pushing hips, etc.
Bench was easy.
In the deadlifts, I really felt my shoulder. I could feel a sharp pinching in my right shoulder on the 345.
I was able to get the 2 singles with the neutral grip pullups that I couldn’t get on Wednesday. And, since I’ve never done weighted singles on these before… I guess that’s a PR! So that’s good, right?
Even though I wanted 10 reps with the CGB, I think that’s a PR, too. Monday, I’m going to get that 10th rep. I really wussed out on that.
Walk away from the squats for a few days and do some alternate leg work. You’re psyching yourself out. The rest of your lifts are looking real strong so I don’t think it’s a strength problem. As my old football coach use to say “you got to get your mind right”.
Sorry, Hel, too late!
weight: 197.0
Squat: 135x5; 225x5; 225x5; 225x5; 315x1
All I did today was mindgames and technique. Sometimes you’re not aware of the things you’re doing technique-wise and you can start doing things you don’t know you’re doing. I think that was part of what was happening to me… that along with just being weak from the various illnesses.
I moved the bar down and then back up. I normally squat with the bar higher than most guys because it feels better for my shoulders. I moved my feet further out; I had been squatting with feet about shoulder width apart and I normally squat heavy with them further out than that. Concentrated on getting my feet in line with my knees and keeping my knees out. I worked on sitting back into the squat and then pushing forward with my hips on the way up.
Then after all that, I just wanted to try the 315 and see how it felt. It felt good; it came up quicker than it had been the previous few weeks. We’ll see if any of this really helped tomorrow.
Dialing it in - way to go Mr. Neck!
[quote]The Pencil Neck wrote:
Sorry, Hel, too late!
[/quote]
Well, coach’s advice was always preceeded by a spit of Red Man so it probably loses something on the internet.
Glad you’re finding the grove again.
weight: 198.2
Squats: 135x5; 225x3; 315x1; 375x1
Bench: 115x5; 165x3; 195x1
Deadlift: 225x3; 295x1; 355x1
Supinated Pullup: 10x1; 10x1
Close Grip Bench: 165x10
DB Curls: 47.5x10
The squats felt good. They felt so good that I’m afraid that I might have cut depth. There is no pleasing me.
The bench felt good. The deadlift was fine although my grip wasn’t quite as solid as I’d like. And I went light on the pullups because I’m starting a new wave on that.
I pretty easily got my 10th rep on 165 this week. I mean, it wasn’t light but it didn’t pin me, either.
The curls are heavy for me. It will be interesting to see if I can get 50x10. I think I’ve at most done 50x5 before.
This was a fun workout.
When you say CGB how close are your hands? I saw where you did a single at 215 on the Bench but you’re doing 10 reps Close grip with 165. I’ve seen where the close grips are near the regular on other logs, too. My close grip benchs don’t come anywhere near my regular bench.
When I set up for the CGB my hands are close enough for my extended thumbs to touch. Maybe 4 or 5 inches between them. I stop the desent about 6" inches from my chest and press again. Only trying to hit the Triceps. Are you, or anyone, doing them different?
I put my hands just outside of the smooth part at the center of the bar. Much closer than that ranks on my wrists, but I go all the way down. Never tried stopping above my chest 'cept on JM presses where it’s prescribed.
[quote]hel320 wrote:
When you say CGB how close are your hands? I saw where you did a single at 215 on the Bench but you’re doing 10 reps Close grip with 165. I’ve seen where the close grips are near the regular on other logs, too. My close grip benchs don’t come anywhere near my regular bench.
When I set up for the CGB my hands are close enough for my extended thumbs to touch. Maybe 4 or 5 inches between them. I stop the desent about 6" inches from my chest and press again. Only trying to hit the Triceps. Are you, or anyone, doing them different? [/quote]
My close grip bench is different. I used set my hands up like you do and then some guys told me that for a close grip bench, you place your hands roughly shoulder width apart. For me, from the center of one shoulder to the center of the other is about 17 inches and I place my hands about 16 inches apart. On my bar, that puts my middle fingers half on the knurling and half on the smooth part of the bar.
I bring the bar all the way down to my chest.
I think that’s the classic close grip bench.
The form on this one is a little narrower than I think it should be but it’s close:
I close grip with two fingers on the smooth,and touch my chest.
Good to see you catching your stride pencil neck.
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=459550
This is more of the way I do them (paragraph 3) The wider grip all the way to the chest hits mainly my inner pecs and delts. To each his own.
[quote]hel320 wrote:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=459550
This is more of the way I do them (paragraph 3) The wider grip all the way to the chest hits mainly my inner pecs and delts. To each his own.[/quote]
I’m going to try them that way. I was doing what the EFS guys call Close grip manpon presses, which kept the weight away from the chest, but haven’t practiced actively stopping the weight myself. Sounds effective. Especially with the no-lockout directive.
Great work Pencil Neck! Good read on the close grip hand position. My hands are mostly on the smooth, maybe small finger on the knurl.
[quote]hel320 wrote:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=459550
This is more of the way I do them (paragraph 3) The wider grip all the way to the chest hits mainly my inner pecs and delts. To each his own.[/quote]
I’m confused.
What I read there says to use about a 14-inch grip. I thought you said you were using about a 5-6 inch grip?
Also it says to bring the bar down to the sternum… which is down to the chest*. And then when you press up, stop just short of locking out. Isn’t that the opposite of what you were saying? You were saying that you lockout and then only bring the part of the way down, right? So you’re saying to do the upper portion of the lift and he’s saying to do the lower portion of it. At least, that’s what I’m reading.
[quote]The Pencil Neck wrote:
hel320 wrote:
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=459550
This is more of the way I do them (paragraph 3) The wider grip all the way to the chest hits mainly my inner pecs and delts. To each his own.
I’m confused.
What I read there says to use about a 14-inch grip. I thought you said you were using about a 5-6 inch grip?
Also it says to bring the bar down to the sternum… which is down to the chest*. And then when you press up, stop just short of locking out. Isn’t that the opposite of what you were saying? You were saying that you lockout and then only bring the part of the way down, right? So you’re saying to do the upper portion of the lift and he’s saying to do the lower portion of it. At least, that’s what I’m reading.
you have to read #2 to understand what’s said in #3.
“As soon as the bar is four to six inches above the chest, one should concentrate on pushing the bar back toward the uprights and move the elbows under the bar to have a more effective biomechanical advantage. Locking out the elbows will take the precious muscle-building tension away from your triceps, so just go to 95% of lockout.”
2 inches above the nipples is where the bar would land if you brought it all the way down…but you don’t.
Don’t look at the (erroneous) pictures. They just confused me and they don’t represent what CP is actually writing.