Thanks a Lot Claire and Sick Puppy 
Phill
I donāt think many (if any) of the guys at Westside do much overhead work for their ME movement. But depending on your goals, you might be able to incorporate it. If you are training strictly for the Big 3, then itās probably not as useful, but if you have other goals, then it might fit in nicely.
A lot of the guys (here and elsewhere) that are training for Strongman incorporate it because it is specific to their events.
I use overhead pressing as either a supplemental movement or more often than not, an accessory movement, and I usually train it with DBās because it is easier on my shoulders.
Offhand, I donāt know if itās incorporated in any of the templates. I donāt recall seeing it listed anywhere as a primary movement, but donāt quote me on that.
[/quote]
OHP is not typically used by westside because they compete with gear and thus their weaknesses are not usually helped by the OHP. however, in my experience many raw lifters can make substantial gains with the OHP. read some of jim wendlerās stuff. the OHP is one of his personal indicators and his OHP gains correlate well with flat bench PRs.
[quote]Gorichen wrote:
I donāt think many (if any) of the guys at Westside do much overhead work for their ME movement. But depending on your goals, you might be able to incorporate it. If you are training strictly for the Big 3, then itās probably not as useful, but if you have other goals, then it might fit in nicely.
A lot of the guys (here and elsewhere) that are training for Strongman incorporate it because it is specific to their events.
I use overhead pressing as either a supplemental movement or more often than not, an accessory movement, and I usually train it with DBās because it is easier on my shoulders.
Offhand, I donāt know if itās incorporated in any of the templates. I donāt recall seeing it listed anywhere as a primary movement, but donāt quote me on that.
OHP is not typically used by westside because they compete with gear and thus their weaknesses are not usually helped by the OHP. however, in my experience many raw lifters can make substantial gains with the OHP. read some of jim wendlerās stuff. the OHP is one of his personal indicators and his OHP gains correlate well with flat bench PRs.[/quote]
Thanks Gorichen.
Iāve found that if I go heavy (singles-triples) I get beat up pretty quickly, so thatās why Iāve been keeping them in the 4-6 or 6-8 range.
But Iād agree that strong shoulders certainly wonāt hurt a raw bench!
[quote]jthsiao wrote:
Modi wrote:
ā¦that would just be to whoreish.
As if youāve never been accused of that beforeā¦ ;-)[/quote]
Hey! What are you saying?
Iāll probably stick with reps on incline until I get up to 225x8, and then take a PR attempt. Then Iāll go back and use my top numbers over the previous weeks to set some baseline PRās.
I definitely want to get my incline up to 315 in the near future.
[quote]Modi wrote:
Thanks Gorichen.
Iāve found that if I go heavy (singles-triples) I get beat up pretty quickly, so thatās why Iāve been keeping them in the 4-6 or 6-8 range.
But Iād agree that strong shoulders certainly wonāt hurt a raw bench![/quote]
i agree with you Modi, OHP beats me up too. also, when i increase my OHP it never translates to my raw flat bench. strangely, neither does RE Db bench pressing? right now, i am trying to bring up lats/ back strength in the hope that that will increase my flat bench. since you are the PR-whore, any suggestions?
[quote]Gorichen wrote:
Modi wrote:
Thanks Gorichen.
Iāve found that if I go heavy (singles-triples) I get beat up pretty quickly, so thatās why Iāve been keeping them in the 4-6 or 6-8 range.
But Iād agree that strong shoulders certainly wonāt hurt a raw bench!
i agree with you Modi, OHP beats me up too. also, when i increase my OHP it never translates to my raw flat bench. strangely, neither does RE Db bench pressing? right now, i am trying to bring up lats/ back strength in the hope that that will increase my flat bench. since you are the PR-whore, any suggestions? [/quote]
Yes, first and foremost, donāt take a shit-ton of time off and travel every other week during the summer. I tried that, and it certainly didnāt seem to help. 
I actually got some good strength gains earlier in the year by rotating 3 weeks of flat bench (ME) with 5 weeks of flat bench (5x5).
Meat turned me on to supramaximal bar holds, just having someone unrack the weight with the pins set up to catch the weight. Try to hold the weight for as long as possible. When you get to 20sec, increase the weight. You will pretty much die trying to keep everything tight, and when you go back to your normal weights, they will feel much lighter.
Lockouts just below, at, and just above your sticking point. I do these as an ME exercise, and also as a supplemental exercise.
Always trying to hit a PR. If you donāt hit one for a single, then try to hit one for reps.
The other thing Iām doing right now, and weāll see in a couple of months how it works, is that Iāve dropped DE work in favor of RE work. Iām shooting for 18-25 reps on my first movement, so Iām looking at sets of 6x4,5x5,4x6, etc. Maybe the occasional 3x8 and 8x3 as well. I feel like I havenāt gotten a lot of of the DE work, and Iām not opposed to the hypertrophy, so thatās why Iām leaning towards RE work
Yesterdays session:
DE/RE Lower and random conditioning stuff
A. Power Cleans
95x5
2x115x3
2x135x3
B. Squats
135x8
170x8
195x8
215x8
195x20(PR)
C. Step ups
55 Dbs 2x8 each leg
D. Pull throughs
After this I took a 45 plate and pushed it on the ground for 40 yards about 4 times. Since I donāt have a prowler I figured this would work alright. Then I carried my girlfriend down and back.
First time Iāve done power cleans. Definitely have some work to do.
Overhead really beats everyones shoulders up that much ha?
Iāve been doing almost all my pressing as overhead since the start of the year. It hasnāt effected me? Maybe its becuase I am younger? Or that I am not using enough poundages to stress the shoulder.
Just found this interesting.
got my gym setup in my garage, havnāt moved all the weights in yet as I was just trying to arrange where everything goes. going to start doing that in a second here.
Power rack, Power blocks, log, hi/low pulley machine, calf raise machine (place to natural glute ham raises) packed it in pretty tight
ā¦
2007-10-7
Captains of Crush
#1 1x5
#1.5 10x1, 5x2
#2 2x7/8, 2x7/8x10sec hold
#1.5 1x10sec hold
#1 1x5
Dimestore gripper 2x50
Notes: Soooo close on the #2. I might have it next time. Iāve halved the distance to closing from the last time which is a big improvement. Hoping the #1.5 close and holds will help me finish off the #2.
Itās weird, but I get the same airy-headedness after doing max effort grip as I do going for a max squat or bench. Must be a CNS thang.
[quote]remixpaul wrote:
hi guys as of tomorrow i plan on doing ws4sb part III, i was lookin threw it and on ME upper body days out of all the excersizes listed i would be able to only perform flat bench press, incline press, and close grip bench press ā¦ now is only being able to perform 3 excercces would that effect my strenght gains? btw would it help if i switch the grips somtimes, like use narrow grip on incline press for 2 weeks and sometimes close grip for 2 weeks on the incline, same goes for flat bench ā¦ use narrow grip?[/quote]
Yes it helps keep your CNS from adapting and from stalling. Simple things like changing your grip width is just enough of a change to keep the gains coming. Varying rep ranges also keeps you from getting stale. For instance you can rotate through these exercises, making one your primary and the others secondary and assistance one week, then making your 2ndary your primary, your assitance your secondary and the former primary into an assisstance exercise. That can keep you going indefinitely.
Hey all,
Some of you may remember me from late spring when I first started trying to figure out how to use these methods. I found this thread very helpful and am also very grateful for all the answers to my newbie questions.
Training over the summer has been going really well. After the first 8 months of training all my lifts had stalled and over the last 4-5 months of using these methods they are finally back on track. I feel like Iām finally starting to do the right things in the weightroom.
Anyway, If theres room for one more Iād like to start posting my training logs on here to see if I canāt get more feedback, but mostly just because spending more time on this thread will give me one more powerlifting related thing to do with my time. And being that its become more than an obsession, the more time I can spend doing anything at all related to it the better.
-Mike
DE Upper
Bench 105+minis 9x3 - Felt fast today. I am glad I am moving up in weight a little.
Decline Close Grip
225x3
235x3
250x2.8 - Had a finger on the bar for the last one.
Vbar-pulldowns neural grip
140x4x8
Face-pulls
100x4x8
DONE! I took it a little easy today. I definitely need to deload next week.
ME bench- I had an awesome training session tonight. I was supposed to do ME deads but my hams are still torn up from the ME squat session on thursday.
4 board
315x10
405x6
495x4
585x2
610x1- this felt really strong, i was tempted to try something heavier but thereās always next week.
495x6
full ROM
315x28(paused)
225x42 touch and go
superset
dumbell extensions-elbows out-floor press
70ās x 10 - 70ās x 10 - 70ās x 14
70ās x 12 - 70ās x 12 - 70ās x 20
forearms
thatās it. Iām tempted to test the olā bench 1 RM but Iāll wait another two weeks.
meat
[quote]Modi wrote:
Gorichen wrote:
Modi wrote:
Thanks Gorichen.
Iāve found that if I go heavy (singles-triples) I get beat up pretty quickly, so thatās why Iāve been keeping them in the 4-6 or 6-8 range.
But Iād agree that strong shoulders certainly wonāt hurt a raw bench!
i agree with you Modi, OHP beats me up too. also, when i increase my OHP it never translates to my raw flat bench. strangely, neither does RE Db bench pressing? right now, i am trying to bring up lats/ back strength in the hope that that will increase my flat bench. since you are the PR-whore, any suggestions?
Yes, first and foremost, donāt take a shit-ton of time off and travel every other week during the summer. I tried that, and it certainly didnāt seem to help.
I actually got some good strength gains earlier in the year by rotating 3 weeks of flat bench (ME) with 5 weeks of flat bench (5x5).
Meat turned me on to supramaximal bar holds, just having someone unrack the weight with the pins set up to catch the weight. Try to hold the weight for as long as possible. When you get to 20sec, increase the weight. You will pretty much die trying to keep everything tight, and when you go back to your normal weights, they will feel much lighter.
Lockouts just below, at, and just above your sticking point. I do these as an ME exercise, and also as a supplemental exercise.
Always trying to hit a PR. If you donāt hit one for a single, then try to hit one for reps.
The other thing Iām doing right now, and weāll see in a couple of months how it works, is that Iāve dropped DE work in favor of RE work. Iām shooting for 18-25 reps on my first movement, so Iām looking at sets of 6x4,5x5,4x6, etc. Maybe the occasional 3x8 and 8x3 as well. I feel like I havenāt gotten a lot of of the DE work, and Iām not opposed to the hypertrophy, so thatās why Iām leaning towards RE work[/quote]
i think this sounds like a solid plan. you need to make yourself some boards though. I know youāve tried them a few times but i think they are my #1 strength builder on the bench. the 4 board is the best one for me. As my 4 board numbers go up, so do my full ROM ones. I made mine out of 2x6ās and i made them two feet long. I tie it to my chest using a knee wrap and then get a lift off from my training partner. I agree with everything you said though, I donāt get shit out of DE on the bench. it just tears my shoulders up. i find that just getting strong will keep that bar moving.
meat
10/7/07 RE Upper
12" log strict press
95x6
115x6
135x6
135x6
135x6 Pretty sure 136x6 is a PR
BB Floor press
135x8
155x6
185x2
185x1
I guess I really suck at theseā¦ I am going to start throwing some bench stuff in, canāt hurt and I am getting sick of people asking me how much I bench I want to be able to say 315+
3 way shoulder raise
10āsx2x10
Lat pulldown
70lbs
2x8
Good session, real happy with the log strict pressing. Floor presses are humbling, I was a little nervous without a spot, Iāll have a spot next time which should help.
What is everyones flat bench compared to their floor press?
When following a Westside template, are you supposed to be using gear like bench shirts and lifting suits? Does the plan need to be changed for a raw lifter?
Man, Iām sleeping so badly these daysā¦canāt seem to turn the brain off and maybe the heart is racing more these days when trying to sleep.
But the lifts are still progressing.
Time for a deload?
[quote]Pemdas wrote:
You donāt need the hex head to do DB hold. Just pick up some heavy DBs by the handles and try to hold them for as long as you can. The DBs over 85lbs at my gym have a thicker handles so I use these.
I like to sneak my grip work in. For example, I use and overhand grip for SLDS. Heavy DB rows. Hanging from the bar for weighted pull-ups. Heavy trap bar shrugs. Sometime I will just hold on the bar for while at the top of my deadlift instead of just dropping the weight when I am done.
Do you have metal plates with the center ring slightly elevated? If so, you can do plate pinches. We have a few thick bumper plates at my gym. The 45s are about 3-4 inch thick. Sometime I pick these up and try to hold them for a time. The possibilities are really endless. Just grab onto something and hold it for a while.
I have found the static holds work better than those griper things. I have some, but I donāt really use them anymore. [/quote]
Thanks for the reply.
I searched the gym today and they have a few of the plates you are talkig about. Most of the plates are covered in hard rubber-like stuff and canāt be gripped in that way.
I, too, try to sneak stuff in like you mentionā¦but Iāll give the plates a try.
AD