The Pencil Neck's Workout Log

Training Training Logs
101

[quote]skidmark wrote:

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.[/quote]

Take a look at the first paragraph:

“From a supine position (lying on a bench), the barbell is lifted off the rack and held at arm’s length. The bar is brought to the lower portion of the sternum, and the elbows extend just short of lockout during the pressing movement.”

To me, that means bring the bar all the way down to the chest.

I think that #2 is talking about what you’re supposed to do on the concentric portion of the lift, not the eccentric. To me, #2 says that you lift the bar and when you get 4-6 inches off your chest (the lower sternum from #1), then you make the bar drift toward the uprights keeping the elbows under the bar until you get to 95% of lockout. It’s not saying stop when you get 4-6 inches off your chest.

So, this is kinda like the old J lift stuff for the bench press except this is saying that you should lift the bar at an angle. You start and end with the bar at shoulder height but end at the lower sternum. You lift directly off the sternum, go up 4-6 inches and then angle toward lockout, stopping just short of lockout. Lather, rinse, repeat. :slight_smile:

BUT… it did take me several readings to get to this point with these paragraphs. So I could be really wrong in my interpretation. Re-read it my way and see what you think.

102

[quote]The Pencil Neck wrote:
skidmark wrote:

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.

Take a look at the first paragraph:

“From a supine position (lying on a bench), the barbell is lifted off the rack and held at arm’s length. The bar is brought to the lower portion of the sternum, and the elbows extend just short of lockout during the pressing movement.”

To me, that means bring the bar all the way down to the chest.

I think that #2 is talking about what you’re supposed to do on the concentric portion of the lift, not the eccentric. To me, #2 says that you lift the bar and when you get 4-6 inches off your chest (the lower sternum from #1), then you make the bar drift toward the uprights keeping the elbows under the bar until you get to 95% of lockout. It’s not saying stop when you get 4-6 inches off your chest.

So, this is kinda like the old J lift stuff for the bench press except this is saying that you should lift the bar at an angle. You start and end with the bar at shoulder height but end at the lower sternum. You lift directly off the sternum, go up 4-6 inches and then angle toward lockout, stopping just short of lockout. Lather, rinse, repeat. :slight_smile:

BUT… it did take me several readings to get to this point with these paragraphs. So I could be really wrong in my interpretation. Re-read it my way and see what you think.

[/quote]

I think Hel had it right: Different strokes for different folks. If it works for ya, do it - if it doesn’t, don’t.

103

[quote]skidmark wrote:
I think Hel had it right: Different strokes for different folks. If it works for ya, do it - if it doesn’t, don’t. [/quote]

I wasn’t saying he shouldn’t do it the way he does it. I was just saying I don’t think that’s what Poliquin was saying in that article. And Hel’s original question was why most people are using more weight relative to their regular bench press than he is and the answer is in the wider grip. But that’s not saying the closer grip is wrong, just saying that’s not how most people execute a close grip bench.

Ain’t no thang.

104

weight: 196.0

Squats: 135x5; 225x3; 315x1; 385x1
Bench: 115x5; 185x3; 200x1
Deadlift: 225x3; 295x1; 365x1
Supinated Pullups: 15x1; 15x1
Close Grip Bench: 170x9
Alternating DB Curls: 50x8

I worked out a little later than normal. I was supposed to take my wife to the airport this morning but her flight was canceled. Then her rescheduled flight was canceled. She’s now been switched to another airline and should be leaving at 7:00. So my schedule today shifted around a lot. I normally eat after working out; this time I ate several hours prior.

The squats felt good; I added the belt on the last set. I misloaded 185 instead of 165 on the bench and decided to go ahead and do it that way. DLs are coming along. Pullups were light.

I was surprised at the number of CGB reps I got with 170 after failing to get the last rep at 165 two workouts ago; I’ll try 170x10 one more time next workout but I’ll be surprised if I get it (bad attitude there.) And I switched to alternating arms on the curls and then got a cheat rep on the right side at 8 reps, the left side was clean. I’ll try that weight again next week.

Good workout. I was pouring sweat afterwards.

105

[quote]The Pencil Neck wrote:

Good workout. I was pouring sweat afterwards.[/quote]

No shit- that’s a good workout!

How long does the total workout take and what kind of rest periods are you using?

106

It’s about 45-50 minutes. I give myself about 2 minutes between sets after changing weights. I have a stopwatch and keep track of the time.

107

Nice to see you are feeling better…your workouts of late prove that!!!

108

weight: 194.8

Squats: 135x5; 225x3; 315x1; 395x1
Bench: 115x5; 185x3; 205x1
Deadlift: 225x3; 295x1; 375xF; 375x1
Supinated Grip Pullups: 20x1; 20x1
Close Grip Bench: 170x7+F
Alternating DB Curl: 50x10

Weird day.

The 315 squat came up kinda like I was favoring my left leg and I was considering not doing the 395. Then when I squatted 395, I was so worried about depth that I paused in the hole. That weight’s too close to my max to be pausing in the damn hole. It came up but it came up like the 315.

The bench was nice and light.

The deadlifts… pfah. The first time I tried 375, I broke the ground and my body just shut down. Very irritating but I rested for about a minute and tried it again. It came up fine but I was worried a little about my grip and it came back down a little quick. I ended up ripping callous off my left hand.

Pullups were light.

I guess it’s time to back the weight down on my CGB. I got one less rep than I got last workout and this time, it was a total and complete fail. It was weird, I was just short of locking out and my body just shut down. The bar just dropped and I couldn’t even slow it down. If I hadn’t been lifting in the cage, I’d have killed myself. Freaky.

Then I set a PR in the curls. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten 10 reps with 50, at least not without some massive cheating going on.

It’s very weird. Two exercises that my body just seemed to shut down on.

109

[quote]QuarterTonner wrote:
Nice to see you are feeling better…your workouts of late prove that!!![/quote]

Thanks, QT!

110

[quote]The Pencil Neck wrote:
weight: 194.8

Squats: 135x5; 225x3; 315x1; 395x1
Bench: 115x5; 185x3; 205x1
Deadlift: 225x3; 295x1; 375xF; 375x1
Supinated Grip Pullups: 20x1; 20x1
Close Grip Bench: 170x7+F
Alternating DB Curl: 50x10

Weird day.

The 315 squat came up kinda like I was favoring my left leg and I was considering not doing the 395. Then when I squatted 395, I was so worried about depth that I paused in the hole. That weight’s too close to my max to be pausing in the damn hole. It came up but it came up like the 315.

The bench was nice and light.

The deadlifts… pfah. The first time I tried 375, I broke the ground and my body just shut down. Very irritating but I rested for about a minute and tried it again. It came up fine but I was worried a little about my grip and it came back down a little quick. I ended up ripping callous off my left hand.

Pullups were light.

I guess it’s time to back the weight down on my CGB. I got one less rep than I got last workout and this time, it was a total and complete fail. It was weird, I was just short of locking out and my body just shut down. The bar just dropped and I couldn’t even slow it down. If I hadn’t been lifting in the cage, I’d have killed myself. Freaky.

Then I set a PR in the curls. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten 10 reps with 50, at least not without some massive cheating going on.

It’s very weird. Two exercises that my body just seemed to shut down on.[/quote]
Nice work!Good strong training.

111

Thanks, Jimmy T!

weight: 195.8

Squats: 135x5; 225x3; 315x1; 405x1
Bench: 115x5; 185x3; 210x1
Deadlift: 225x3; 295x1; 385xF
Supinated Pullups: 25x1; 25x1
Close Grip Bench: 135x10
Alternating Curls: 52.5x8

The squat was a gut buster but I paused in the damn hole again. I’m thinking about dropping the weight a bit and riding a wave back up.

The bench felt good.

I debated not DL’ing because my back was a little tired but I gave it a shot anyway. I got it about halfway up and it felt like my grip was going so I put it back down. Hard. And I didn’t fall through the floor. Which is a good thing. I’m going to lighten the weight on this and then go up in 5# increments instead of 10#.

The curls were hard. I’m going to try that weight one more time.

112

Your strength is returning…the numbers are up, even if you say the lifts are harder than you expected…the pause in the squat is only gonna make you stronger as long as you come up with the weight. Let’s see how the next couple of workouts go with the change in game plan. Lookin’ Good!!!
Art

113

Thanks, QT!

weight: 195.6

Squats: 135x5; 225x3; 315x1; 365x1; 385x1
Bench: 115x5; 185x3; 215x1
Deadlift: 225x3; 295x1; 345x1
Supinated Pullups: 30x1; 30x1
Close Grip Bench: 140x10
Curls: 40x10
Dead Hang: 43s

The squats felt pretty good. I’m going to keep the 365 in there as a warmup weight as the weights go up. The bench felt good, too.

On the deadlifts, I was tempted to try for a 395. :slight_smile: But I decided to stick to the plan. Also, with the 295 and the 345, the new skin where I ripped off my callous a couple of workouts ago was getting pinched and it was uncomfortable. So what the heck.

The pullups, CGB, and curls were easy. I forgot I was going to try 52.5 in the curls one more time and dropped the weight anyway.

I decided to add some dead hangs in for some grip work. 43 second on a dead hang? Jeez. That’s terrible. I was pretty ticked off about that considering that about 8 years ago I had about 90 seconds in the dead hang. Then I realized that I was about 20 pounds lighter and the bar I was hanging from was a lot thinner. I’d never really noticed that my pullup bar is really thick. So, I guess we’re working on improving from 43 seconds. :slight_smile:

114

weight: 194.6

Squats: 135x5; 225x3; 315x1; 365x1; 395x1
Bench: 115x5; 185x3; 220x1
Deadlift: 225x3; 295x1; 350x1
Supinated Pullups: 35x1; 35x1
Close Grip Bench: 145x10
Curls: 42.5x10
Dead Hange: 46s

The first couple of sets of squats felt creaky. But then the next couple of sets felt sweet. Then 395 was just damn heavy.

The bench was hard. It stopped dead about 6-7 inches off my chest. I shouted some obscenities at it and told it that its mother sucks cocks in hell, and it went the rest of the way up. Whew. I’m going to have to work on my cursing technique so I get 225 next time. :slight_smile:

Everything else was easy until the dead hangs. I was happy to get another 3 seconds.

115

Nice work! You are on track for june.

116

[quote]Jimmy T wrote:
Nice work! You are on track for june.[/quote]

June? What’s in June?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Brick by brick. I’ll be ready. :slight_smile:

117

weight: 196.0

Squat: 135x5; 225x3; 315x1; 365x1; 405x1
Bench: 115x5; 185x3; 225xF
Deadlift: 225x3; 295x1; 355x1
Supinated Pullups: 40x1; 40x1
Close Grip Bench: 150x10
DB Curls: 45x10
Dead Hang: 48s

The squat felt a little better. I realized another thing I’ve got to fix. I’m “lofting”, ie, starting up with my legs and not keeping upright so it turns into a semi-goodmorning. I’ve had problems with that in the past.

I’m going to try the bench one more time before I give up and decrease the weight again.

DL’s were light but I ripped some more flesh off where I had ripped off the callous. I was going to add the belt before the last rep but I intended on putting it on and not shutting the buckle. But it was too loose so I shut it.

PR’s on the supinated pullups. Last time, I didn’t get full ROM. This time, I did.

CGB and DB Curls were easy and the Dead Hang is getting better.

118

weight 195.6

Squat: 135x5; 225x3; 315x1; 365x1; 415x1
Bench: 115x5; 185x3; 225xF
Deadlift: 225x3; 295x1; 360x1
Supinated Pullups: 42.5x1; 42.5x1
Close Grip Bench: 155x10
DB Curls: 47.5x10
Dead Hangs: 34s

It was a weird day. This past week, I’ve had conference calls every night from 12 to 1am. I’ve been getting about an hour and a half less sleep per night than I’m used to and I’m feeling a bit run down. Today, I got stuck in a long conference call that lasted into my normal workout/lunch break time.

So I really considered just not working out today but I decided to go ahead.

I was worried about the squats. I didn’t feel strong. And 415 went up even though I didn’t expect it to. It was hard but it didn’t kill me.

Then I thought I was going to get the 225. It felt good on the way down but then I only got it about 4 inches off my chest. So… the weights are going to go down and I start the wave again.

Everything else felt good. Until I got to the dead hangs. I couldn’t get a comfy grip with my ripped off callous and I just couldn’t hold on.

WhatEVer.

119

Yeah - you just never know how it’s gonna go until you get in there…

Nice job on the squats and pullups.

120

Thanks, Skid!

weight: 197.0

Squats: 135x5; 225x3; 315x1; 365x1; 395x1
Bench: 115x5; 185x3; 210x1

Again, I went into this workout feeling pretty drained but I was expecting it to be fine. But the 365 felt heavy. I was supposed to load up with 425 this workout but I didn’t think I had it in me but I wanted a workset, so I did the 395 and it felt heavy.

Then in the benches, the 210 was a hard single.

And I was hongry.

So I decided that watching the draft was the better part of valor and cut my losses.