Benching and not a lot else [Archive]

Phil E

03-25-2006, 08:41 PM

My back's been knackered for five months now, and so I'm not able to squat or deadlift (I'm doing physio and really hope it'll get better soon!).

After sulking last month and hardly doing any training at all, I've decided to get my act together and at least improve my bench. My record of best lifts starting in Jan-05 is pretty depressing: I'm shite at training consistently and I've not come very far at all in over a year! I've got no excuses not to sort my bench out now, though.

My plan is to lift four times per week: one ME bench day, one DE bench day and two back days (in which I'll also do some lunges). I'm also going to start swimming several times a week to try and get some fitness back and hopefully help my back a bit.

I started doing ME and DE days on bench a fornight ago and I've already gone from maxing at 100 then to doing 3x3 at 100 earlier this week.

What do you think of my plan?

Mon:
*lunges: a bunch

*lat pulldowns: 3-5 sets of 6-8

*inverted rows/chest supported rows: 3-5 set of 6-8

*face pulls: 3-4 sets of 10-12

Wed:
*max bench: work up to max single and then do a few set of singles or doubles at slightly less than max weights

*dumbell work: 3 sets of 10-12 of incline dumbell bench/shoulder press

*lats: a few sets of inverted rows (I'll probably bin these now I'm introducing separate back days)

*floor presses: 3-5 set of 3-5

Thur:
*same as Monday

Sat:
*dynamic bench: 8 sets of 3

*close grip bench: 3-5 sets of 5-8

*pull ups (I'll probably bin these as well because of the separate back days)

*dumbell shoulder press: 3-5 sets of 8-10

And I might throw in a few bicep curls every now and then.

Today's benching:

Dynamic bench: 8*3@55kg+doubled mini
Close grip bench: 8@70 8@75 5@80
Chins: 6*2
DB shoulder press: 5*8 w/20kg dbs
Also, a few sumo deads at 50kg which encouragingly didn't result in any pain, as well as some hamstring stretching

Boar

03-25-2006, 09:10 PM

Best of luck Phil,
sometimes we godda do the best with what we have, and hope the rest follows, getting going again after 'dark times' is tough but rewarding.

:mrgreen:

Phil E

03-26-2006, 02:57 AM

Cheers :D

I reckon it's a good opportunity to bring up a weak area that I've always neglected (I found squats and deads far more fun!).

I'm going for a 1rm on Wednesday, and I aim to put 10kg on that in the next two months.

Bengdogg

03-26-2006, 10:18 AM

youd better not outbench me or im gonna be pissed

Tony Brown

03-26-2006, 11:09 AM

Hi Phil,

Feel for you and been there. Hurt my lower back a number of times over 12yrs with severe lock up in L4/L5 and now have so much scar tissue I cannot handle a lot of weight on my back.

Done physio, xrays etc and spine is fine, it's tissue damage. Last powerlifted fully in the Scottish Champs in 2000. Decided after more tears when getting up to easy 200kg Squat and Deadlifts (raw) to stop.

I work on the Westside for benching as you do using 3 days one week and one from the next and keep in rolling. Need this to fully recover. In between I do back and biceps one session and legs/calves the next. Of course lower back work is reverse back extensions/pullthroughs and leg work is mainly leg press. Annoying that I can press 500kg but can't squat.

Good luck with your rehab, lots of ice and stretching but take your time.

Phil E

03-26-2006, 02:34 PM

Bengdogg

03-26-2006, 03:25 PM

Bengdogg: what are you benching now? You'll give me a good target to beat! Look on the positive side: I'm not going to catch you on deadlifts any time soon! Did you overtake my squat (170) before you started losing weight?

Tony: thanks for that. Sorry to hear about your back. I'm definitely going to take it slowly; after I first injured myself, I kept lifting and this has probably made it worse.
i just did a 110 single that tbh felt like my max as it was super slow, i squatted a deep 150 the other day but cant match my 160 atm, hope fully soon enough i want 140 bench this year and 180 - 200 squat with a 260 deadlift

Phil E

03-26-2006, 04:43 PM

Cool. Good luck!

My max bench was 110 about a month ago. It dropped a bit last month, but hopefully, it'll start going up quickly soon. My bench has always been utterly shite so I really want to make some big gains on it now.

What was your max bench before you lost weight? I'd race you to 140, but you'd probably beat me!

Bengdogg

03-26-2006, 05:41 PM

best bench ever was 115

Phil E

03-26-2006, 06:18 PM

Hmmmm.. okay, only 5kg more than mine. Not a huge difference. When are you aiming to bench 140 by? Reckon we should have a mini competition to get there first (first step: 120!).

I think I could lift more than the 105 I did earlier in the week, but possibly not quite 110 yet.

Bengdogg

03-26-2006, 07:19 PM

well a freindly bit of competitino is always fun and my shoulders coped ok with the singles today, i want 140 this year, im looking for a 600 total raw if possso i need 260 dead and 200 squat with 140 bench, i will see what i can do

Phil E

03-28-2006, 06:42 PM

I was worse at repping 100 this week than last week. I also failed 107.5, which is a bit depressing. I reckon the reps could have been made worse by the fact that I'd failed a lift beforehand.

Bench: 10@40 6@60 3@80 1@90 1@100 1@100 1@105 F@107.5 2/2/2/1/1/1@100

Floor press: 5@80 4/4/5/4@90

Incline db press: 10/2*20 12/2*20 15/2*20 10/2*25

Bench rows: 10@50 6@60 6/6@70

Chins: 3/2/2

cuntos

03-29-2006, 10:22 AM

If you go for a max flat bench every week you will almost certainly burn out in no time at all (well, maybe three-four weeks tops). You need to be a bit more scientific about it I reckon. You could do a max effort exercise, but you should switch it around and only do two or three weeks at each. For example, maybe you could do 3-board press for a max single two weeks, then floor press for a max triple for a couple of weeks, then incline bench for a max single, then incline for a max set of five, etc, etc. These are just ideas (stolen from Louie Simmons I believe) that you might like to try and which might well work for you.

I'm not talking about overtraining either - you can still do lots of heavy training, just not max singles at the same exercise week after week.

I'm not having a pop; we've all tried to max out week after week and gone backwards within a month - LOL! ;)

Phil E

03-29-2006, 04:28 PM

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, I've not got any boards and for the next three weeks I won't have an incline bench or a power rack, which limits what I can do quite a bit!

However, I can still move my grip about and switch between max singles, doubles and triples. And when I return to uni I can try different stuff. I'll try doing triples with a narrower grip for the next few weeks as I've done max singles with wide grip for three weeks now. Cheers!

cuntos

03-29-2006, 05:41 PM

Well I didn't have any boards until I nicked a few old bits of 2x4 someone was throwing out. Improvise man! :p

Which uni are you at?

Phil E

03-29-2006, 07:26 PM

Yeah, I can get boards. The problem (at home at least) is finding someone to hold them! Mind you, I suppose I could come up with some kind of elabarate band contraption to hold them in place.

I'm at Cambridge. We have a powerlifting team, but I haven't trained with them since I injured my back. Now I've decided to pull my finger out I should really head back down there.

When people talk about, say a 3 board press, are the boards typically 2" thick each?

Phil E

03-31-2006, 07:25 PM

Bench: 10@40 5@60 3@70 8*3@50+doubled mini

Close grip bench: 8@70 6/6/8@80

Lat pulldowns: 6@80 6@90 5@95 5@100 4/4/4/4/3@105

Sumo deads: 10@40 10/10@50

1-leg squats with rear leg raised: 3*10 each leg w/2*20kg dbs

Felt good. My legs are fried as the 1-leg squats were the first leg work I've done in ages! Back feels okay now, hopefully it'll still feel good tomorrow. I may bin leg work altogether as I'm a bit leery about buggering my back up more. I'm avoiding conventional deadlifts at the moment as my back rounds a little bit at the bottom and as I've got a minor posterior prolapse any back flexion is bad!

Phil E

04-01-2006, 09:12 PM

My back's a mess today. No more deadlifts of any weight for me for a while!

Ben "tricky" Burgess

04-02-2006, 09:13 PM

have you had your back diagnosed?

Phil E

04-02-2006, 10:19 PM

Yep. Was told by a GP that is was "muscular", however when it didn't go away I went private and saw a specialist. Had an MRI done and was told that my back's generally okay but I have a minor prolapse. I'm seeing a sports physio atm. The main cause of the pain is apparently the inflammation rather than the prolapse, but I was really bad yesterday after about a month of just aching so I don't know what was going on then.

Phil E

04-04-2006, 07:45 PM

Today I remembered why I don't like the gym I train at when I'm at home... it's really hard to get someone to spot you!

Medium grip bench: 10@40 5@60 3@80/90/95/100 2@102.5 5@90

Rack presses: 5@90 3/5/4@110

Incline db press: 8/2*25 8/2*27.5 8/2*30

Didn't go that deep on the dumbell benches. Will go lighter and deeper in future as I reckon my main weakness is off my chest (as my medium grip bench press appears to be at least as good as my wide grip bench).

The gym doesn't have a power rack, so I set the bar up on benches and did rack presses from slightly higher than the bottom position of a floor press. Encouraging session. I'd have liked to do more actual benching but it was hard to get a spot, so I just moved onto the rack presses.

I may go at a busier time in future, but then I have to fight everyone for equipment and I get muppets spotting me who don't understand the concept of not touching the bar ("it's all you, it's all you" as they bent-over row the bar!). If only there was a power rack!

Phil E

04-05-2006, 06:06 PM

Just pissed about today doing lots of volume. I should probably work harder at these sessions in future!

Lat pulldowns: 10@20 10@40 6@60/70/80 4x6@90

Machine rows: 8/10@80

Face pulls: 12@30/40/50/60

Dumbell rows: 15@30 12@32.5 10@35 8@37.5 8/12@40

Funky_monkey

04-05-2006, 10:28 PM

I'm also on 115 (just got the bugger today after a few weeks of trying to get it)
Odd thing is i benched max in sunday (got 110, failed 115) and did quite a bit of volume too. Then on weds i got 115 felt kinda easy. I'm 20, 5"11 and weigh 79kg

Would love 3 plates a side before i turn 21 in september, but looks like i'll have to wait till new years at least

Phil E

04-06-2006, 11:35 AM

I'm not on 115 :(

That was just a prediction of where I'd be by the end of June!

Your lifts are looking good for your age and bodyweight :)

I'm currently only on 105 and I weigh 105. I'm 6'6" and 21. I don't think I will be doing the comp on the 13th as I'm not going to be able to bench 110 with a pause by then. I'm keen to compete fairly soon, but my finals are at the start of June, so I may wait until after then to compete.

Phil E

04-07-2006, 03:56 PM

Played with bands today doing all kinds of things. Tried paused reps with the bands and they're a lot harder!

Bench: 10@40 5@60 3@70 3/3/3/3/3/8@50+doubled mini. The last set was alternating paused and unpaused reps 3@60+doubled mini. Two paused reps and one unpaused. 15@60

Close grip bench: 3x6@80

Tricep extension stuff, db shoulder press and curls.

Phil E

04-10-2006, 06:21 PM

Medium grip bench: 10@40 5@60 3@80 3@90 3@95 3@100 3@102.5 3x3@100

Floor press: 5@90 4@100 3@100

Incline dumbell bench: 8 w/30kg dbs

Silly high rep stuff on a machine

Short session, and I think I may have been helped a bit on the last rep of a few sets, but very encouraging numbers nonetheless. I reckon I'll be on for a good pb when I next max on wide grips.

Phil E

04-11-2006, 04:10 PM

Wide grip lat pulldowns: 10@20 10@40 6@60/70/80 4x6@90

Close grip lat pulldowns with odd handle: 3x5@90

DB rows: 8@32.5/35/37.5 2x8@40

Curls

Leg press: 10@100/150/200/250 20@260

Worked harder in this back session than the last one. My physio said I should be fine doing leg presses, so I tried some today. The reps weren't fully compressed, but I don't want to risk rounding my back so I'll have to stick with half-arsed leg presses for the time being; at least it works my legs a bit.

Tony Zhang

04-13-2006, 02:22 AM

hey Phil are you the same person as PhillE on Powerandbulk?

Phil E

04-13-2006, 08:04 AM

If you remove the seond "L", then yes! I don't post much at all on there but I read it quite a lot.

Do you post there?

Tony Zhang

04-13-2006, 02:00 PM

If you remove the seond "L", then yes! I don't post much at all on there but I read it quite a lot.

Do you post there?

haha no I lurk there but its an excellent forum.

Phil E

04-13-2006, 05:35 PM

Yeah, it's a pretty good forum. Though they like arguing!

DE day has turned into "play with bands and sub-maximal weights day" for me, but my bench seems to be improving quickly, so I'm happy.

Bench: 10@40 5@50 3@70 5x5@50+doubled mini

Close grip bench: 6@80/85/87.5/90

DB shoulder press: 8@2x20 8@2x22.5 8/7@2x25

The close grips were a nice surprise; far more than I've been able to rep before.

Phil E

04-15-2006, 04:27 PM

Close grip lat pulldowns with silly handle: 8@20/40/60/70/80 6@90 5@95 4/3/3/3/5@100

DB rows: 6@30/32.5/35/37.5 6/8/8/6@40

Leg press: 20@100/150 20/20/20/60@200

Phil E

04-17-2006, 04:32 PM

Another really good session today.

Med grip bench: 10@40 5@60 3@80 2@90 2@100 2@105 1@107.5 3/3/2/2/2@100

Decline bench: 8@48 8@78 6@88 5@98 1@108 5@98

Indline db bench: 8/9/9@2*30

Went for 2@107.5 but just missed it. As I maxed at 105 for a wide grip single three weeks ago, I'm really pleased with this. Haven't done declines before. They were good fun. Reckon I'll do a few every now and then for a bit of a change.

Phil E

04-21-2006, 07:20 PM

Bench: 10@40 5@60 3@80

3 board press: 3@80 3@90 3@100 3@110 3@115 3@117.5 2@115

Incline bench: 10@60 6@70 5/5@75

Shoulder press: 10@40 10@40 12@45

Could have pushed the accessories a bit harder.

Went for 3 on the last set of 3 board presses but missed it.

I'm a lot stronger on 3 board presses than regular bench (3@117.5 vs 1@110). How do 3 board presses normally compare to regular bench?

Phil E

04-24-2006, 05:18 PM

Bench: 10@40 5@50 3@70 5x5@50+doubled mini (paused)

Close grip bench: 6@80 6@85 2x6@90 4@92.5 3x4@95

Bench: 25@60 35@40

Floor presses: 5@50 5@70 5@80

Was pleased with the close grips. Was too knackered for the floor presses after the silly high rep stuff!

chinster

04-25-2006, 09:06 PM

Thats good weight for the close grips Phil ur tricep strength must be progressin well !!
Wots the high rep stuff for? do u want to drop a few K's in bodyweight? Them floor presses are a killer !! they seem to tire me very quickly!!
Met up with Chris ratters last weekend he liftin some good weight!! but he gained a few K's an is back in the 82.5K's with me now!! he lookin good to bench 160K+ at worlds.
Ur trainin seems to be goin well mate keep it up !!:)

Phil E

04-25-2006, 10:47 PM

Cheers, I'm really pleased with how fast my close grip presses have improved. Hopefully my regular max will have improved a lot by the time I next test it.

The high rep stuff was just pissing about after I'd done all the proper work for the session! And the floor presses were a lost cause by that stage; I normally rep about the same amount on floor press as with normal bench.

I want to compete over the summer so hopefully I'll be lifting quite a bit more by then.

Good luck at the worlds, what are you aiming for?

chinster

04-26-2006, 09:30 AM

was hoping gor 130K - 135K , got the 132.5K up at commomwealth but failed it on pause ! trainin been a bit shite last couple a weeks but seems to be on the up now !
Think Chris will be aimin for 160K..

Phil E

04-26-2006, 10:05 AM

Nice. Hope your shoulder's sorted by then.

Chris reckoned he was going for 160 last I saw him. He got a 170 in training, but I'm not sure how long ago that was.

Tony Zhang

04-26-2006, 04:59 PM

hahah yesterday on my max set on floor press, I lowered the bar too quick and it bounced on the floor; the bar fell out of my hands and landed over my neck. Good thing I don't have a thick neck, because only 3 inches or so was required for it to touch and crush my neck.

Phil E

04-26-2006, 06:28 PM

Nasty! My floor presses are always lowered really slowly, so hopefully I won't have that problem.

Step ups, shrugs, curls.

High box squats: 4x10@50

Chins: 3/2/10x2

Fingers crossed that my back will be okay tomorrow. The box squats were above parallel and very light, the step-ups felt fine and hopefully the shrugs won't have irritated my lower back much.

Phil E

04-27-2006, 08:27 PM

The guy I was supposed to be training with didn't show up and I was feeling a bit rough anyway, so I just did a bunch of singles and went home. My shoulders are feeling a bit battered so I'll take it easy next week.

Bench: 10@b 10@40 5@60 4/3@80 1@90 20x1@100

Phil E

04-29-2006, 06:42 PM

Pissed about a bit. Felt really weak, so I'm not gonna do any more training until Wednesday.

Tony Zhang

04-29-2006, 06:44 PM

hows does your back feel now?

Phil E

04-29-2006, 08:53 PM

It's getting better, cheers.

I can now try (and fail!) to touch my toes with no lower back pain, and the step ups, lunges and high box squats seemed okay (although they were all light). I'm gonna try upping the weight a bit on the box squats and gradually lower the height. I've already been out of action for several months, so I'm gonna try and be sensible and get back into things carefully as another couple of months isn't going to make much difference!

Tony Zhang

04-29-2006, 09:05 PM

so I still have a couple months of squatting more then you LOL!

Phil E

04-29-2006, 09:31 PM

Lol, yeah. And I imagine it'll be ages while I work back into it, and then rebuild my strength. You're in no risk of me catching you any time soon!

Phil E

05-03-2006, 06:49 PM

Bench: 10@40 5@60 3@80

3 board press: 3@90 3@100 3@110 3@115 3@120 1@125

Bench: 3x5@95

Shoulder press: 8@40 8@45 3x6@50

High box squats: 10@50 10@60

Even higher box squats: 10@70 10@80 10@60

Went for 2@125 but didn't get it. My back feels a bit odd after the squats, but I'm not sure whether this is just because I've not squatted for ages! It's quite scary that 80kg now feels like quite a lot of weight on my back.

Phil E

05-05-2006, 06:02 PM

High box squats: 20@bar 2x10@40 2x10@50 2x10@60

Walkouts: 2@110

Inverted rows: 6/6/8/8/8/7

Curls

Back felt good for the high box squats. My mate was squatting with 110, so I thought I'd see what that felt like and walked it out a couple of times. It felt really heavy! Hopefully this is psychological rather than due to a huge loss in strength!

I'm hoping that I can start slowly upping the weights on the high box squats and gradually lower the height until I'm squatting normally. Fingers crossed!

Phil E

05-07-2006, 05:04 PM

My back's been giving me grief for the last couple of days, which is odd as I didn't have any problems after the last time I did high box squats.

I also had a really bad headache after Friday's session, and still felt a bit odd today, which possibly explains why today's session was so bad.

Bench: 10@40 5@50 3@70

Paused bench with doubled mini: 5@50 4x5@55

Close grips: 6@80 6@90 3@95 1@100 F@105 10@50

Phil E

05-10-2006, 07:32 PM

Bench: 10@40 5@60 3@80 1@90 1@100 1@105 1@110 F@112.5 1@112.5

3-board press: 1@115 1@120 F@125

Lockouts: 5@110 5@130 5@150 5@160 5@170

Chin ups: 6x3, 2x2

2.5kg pb on bench. Good to see it's finally going up. Pissed off that I missed the 125kg board press, but it was done on a very narrow bench which meant I couldn't pin my shoulders back properly.

Phil E

05-12-2006, 05:28 PM

Bodyweight lunges: 10 each leg, 4x20 each leg

Squats: 2x5@bar, 2@40 2@50 (back didn't like these, so I stopped)

Quarter squats: 10@50 10@90 10@100 10@110 10@120

Inverted rows: 7x6, 3x8

Band assisted GHR: a few reps a few times, but my calves kept cramping!

The GHRs were good, I'll do them in future (never done them before). Don't think my back liked the squats. It's ridiculous when you're having problems even squatting 50kg!

Phil E

05-14-2006, 05:21 PM

Bench: 10@b 10@40 6@50 5@70 5x5 paused @ 50+doubled minis

Close grip bench: 3@80 3@90 3@95 2@97.5 14@70

Chins: 8x2

Went for 3@97.5 and 15@70 but failed on the last rep of both. Not a great session. I'm going to failure too often at the moment, so I'll ease back a bit next week as well as doing higher reps on the close grips (as I'm neglecting any higher rep stuff at the moment). I'm also eating like crap, but this won't change until after my exams.

Phil E

05-15-2006, 06:32 PM

Went to the gym to take my mind off revision, and ended up doing lots reps at higher weights than I can handle (gym rat style benching; a workout for the bencher and their spotter!). Lots of high rep db rows as well. Good fun, but probably not very productive!

Phil E

05-18-2006, 05:18 PM

Bench: 10@bar 8@40 5@60 3@80 1@90 1@95 1@100 1@105 1@110 F@115 8@90 6@95 4@100

Floor presses: 5@80 5@90 6@95 1@100

Shoulder press: 3x8@2x20

Chins: 6x3

Good session, despite failing at 115.

Phil E

05-22-2006, 07:15 PM

My sessions are gonna be a bit irregular for the next fortnight, then non-existent for a week, and then I'll get keen after my exams have finished.

Bench: 10@40 5@60 3@80 1@90 1@95 1@100 3x1@105 3x1@107.5 12@80

Chins: 1/4/3/2/1/3/2/1/2/1/1

Phil E

05-26-2006, 06:56 PM

I wasn't going to go to the gym today, but I couldn't face going straight back to maths revision after dinner, so I did a quick bench session (12 mins between entering the gym and leaving).

Bench: 10@bar 10@40 6@70 6@80 6@90 4@95 2@100 3@90 5@80 6@70 10@40 10@bar

I was really struggling with the last set of 10@40; I've never done this kind of session before.

Phil E

05-30-2006, 04:41 PM

Bench: 10@bar 10@40 5@60 3@80 1@90 1@95 1@100 1@105 1@110 F@115 6@100 12@80

Chins: 1/2/2/2

Pissed off that I missed 115 again, but was pleased to get 6@100. 115's gonna be easy when I start eating, sleeping and training properly again.

Ben "tricky" Burgess

05-30-2006, 10:00 PM

Havnt checked here for a while Phil, how long have you been using accomodating resistance for now? How much has it put on your bench?

Phil E

05-30-2006, 10:23 PM

I've not used it for a couple of weeks. My bench went up very quickly when I started using it, but this was probably because I'd had a month and a bit of faffing about before I started it.

I'm training pretty erratically at the moment because I've got my finals starting next Monday. After they finish (next Friday), I'm going to start getting serious again, and I'm going to bump my food intake up and try to hit a130kg bench by the time the next academic year starts (start of October).

The bands did seem to give good gains, but this could just have been because I started training bench twice a week. At the moment, I'm just doing one or two sessions a week, all of which are pretty short and unplanned.

I hit a pb of 112.5 a couple of weeks ago, and my bench seems to be about the same now (up from 100 about 2 1/2 months ago, but I'd hit 110 a couple of months before this). I feel a bit guilty about being so crappy with my eating and training, but my finals are a priority at the moment! :(

Phil E

06-02-2006, 05:12 PM

Couldn't take any more maths, so went to the gym to relax. Good session; was stronger on the close grips than I thought I'd be. I seem to be about as strong on close grips as wide grips. I'm guessing that this means my chest is weak.

Close grip bench: 10@bar 10@40 5@60 5@80 5@90 5@95 5@100 3@105

Chins: 3/2

1 arm db rows: 20@20

Shoulder press: 10@40 10@45 8@50

Curls: a few

Deadlifts: 3x10@60

db snatches: a few with fairly light weights

Not sure how my back will respond to the deadlifts.

Phil E

06-05-2006, 03:47 PM

Felt shitty today so didn't go too heavy. However, still got a pretty decent session as I did a reasonable volume of pretty heavy work.

Medium grip bench: 10@bar 10@40 5@60 3@80 3@90 6x3@100 15@75

Inverted rows: 6/8/6/6/6

Curls

Phil E

06-10-2006, 06:39 PM

Exams are over! Time to start getting serious with the training.

AM: 30 mins incline treadmill

PM 1:

Bench: 10@bar 10@40 3@70 8x3@50+doubled minis

Close grip bench: 4x5@90 8@90

DB shoulder press: 8@2x20 7@2x25 10@2x20

Scap push ups: 3x12

Plate pinches

Was a bit too conservative on the close grips, and I should have done more warm up sets before playing with the bands. Decent session overall.

PM 2: 50 mins walking

Phil E

06-11-2006, 05:04 PM

I've been neglecting my back for ages, and it shows!

Lat pulldowns: 10@20 8@40 5@60

Chins: 3/2/1/3/2/1/3/2/1

Lat pulldowns: 10@80 9@85 8@90

Bench pulls: 5@60 3x8@55

Band pullaparts: 12/15/16 w/mini

Liberal backlean on the last set of pulldowns. I think I need to up the volume next time.

Phil E

06-13-2006, 06:50 PM

Lunges onto a box: 10@bw 10@2x11 10@2x13.5 10@2x21

Box squats: 3x10@bar 10@40 2x10@50

Shrugs: 10@65/75/85/95/100

Phil E

06-13-2006, 07:50 PM

Just had a look at my lift progressions. My squat and deadlift have obviously taken a dive (to nothing!), but my bench progession is pretty dire as well; I benched 110 in January, dropped back to 100 a couple of months ago and am only back up to 112.5 now. Need to sort this out!

Phil E

06-14-2006, 06:30 PM

Bench: 10@bar 10@40 5@60 3@80

3-board press: 3@90 3@100 3@110 3@115 3@120 F@125 1@125

Bench: 4@100

Standing OHP: 5@40 5@50 5@55 5@57.5 5@60 4@62.5

Bench: 6@60

As my arms were shaking for the last set of bench, I decided to call it a day!

Pretty rubbish session. 3@120 felt pretty easy, but I missed 125 the first time and the second time I only got 1 rep (was going for 3!). Also only managed 4 reps@100 on regular bench, although going to failure twice on 3-board press may have something to do with this!

First time doing standing OHP in months. Really need to bring up my shoulder strength.

90 mins later: 20 pushups

Phil E

06-15-2006, 10:17 PM

75 mins walking

Phil E

06-16-2006, 04:18 PM

Chins: 1/2/3/2/1/2/3/2/1/2/3/2/1

Inverted rows: 5x6 8/6/5

High rep face pulls with bands

Phil E

06-17-2006, 08:02 PM

PM1:

75 mins walking

PM2:

65 mins walking

Phil E

06-18-2006, 04:12 PM

Bench: 10@bar 10@40 3@70 8x3@50+doubled mini

Close grip bench: 5@90 5@95 5@97.5 5@95 4@97.5

DB shoulder press: 12@2x21 10@2x26 12@2x26

Plate pinches

Pleased with the close grip benching. I think I need to up the weight a bit for the DE bench.

Phil E

06-19-2006, 05:01 PM

Lat pulldowns: 10@20/40/60/75/80/85/90/90/90

Chins: 2/5/3/3/1

Band pull-aparts: 12 with mini, 2x10 with blue band

Really crappy form with the pulldowns; I'll have to be stricter next time.

chinster

06-19-2006, 07:31 PM

Phile I find if ya lean slighty back an try an keep shoulders down an arch chest outwards it hits the back better an stops ya usin ur shoulders an arms to pull with. Works for me :)
Drop weight an concentrate on form till ya get good form.

Phil E

06-20-2006, 02:41 PM

Cheers, I'll give that a try.

Phil E

06-20-2006, 02:42 PM

Static lunges onto box: 10+10: bw/2x11/2x13.5/2x21/2x26/2x31

Scapular push ups: 3x12

This is my second hard lot of lunges in 8 months (the first being last week!), and I have a 9 hour party tonight... I'm really hoping my legs last through the night!

trapmanjoe

06-20-2006, 08:49 PM

hi phil, i think you should stick to 1 leg day a week just basics. leg press,leg curls,leg extensions, calf raise, and pull a sled for some gpp. that should help you keep some leg strength and not hurt your back. hopefully you recover.

trapmanjoe

06-20-2006, 08:52 PM

also work your grip so when your back heals youll still have a decent pull. its amazing how strong some peeps are w/ straps but bare handed nothing. just something to think about.

Phil E

06-23-2006, 05:06 PM

Cheers, I'll start training grip more.

Phil E

06-23-2006, 05:07 PM

Floor presses: 10@bar 10@40 5@60 3@80 3@90 3@100 3@105 3@110 2@115 6@100

Incline bench: 10@40 10@50 10@60 8@70

Shoulder presses: 2x10@2x21

Pleased with the floor presses, but incline bench destroyed my shoulders. Don't think I'll do them in future.

trapmanjoe

06-23-2006, 07:56 PM

i have the same problem with incline, it doesnt hurt my shoulders as much w/ the dumbells though

Phil E

06-24-2006, 03:16 PM

Chins: 2/3/2/3/2/3/2/3/2/2/2

Inverted rows: 6x6

Static holds: 15 seconds at 100/130/150/160/170/180

Curls

Pretty crappy session today.

Phil E

06-26-2006, 07:16 PM

Bench: 10@bar 10@40 3@70 2x3@55+doubled mini 3@50+doubled mini

Close grips: 5@70 5@80 5@85 5@90 4@102.5 3@105 10@90

DB shoulder press: 10@2x21 10@2x26 6@2x31

No speed at all on the "speed" sets, so I gave up on those. I'm feeling pretty knackered in general at the moment, but I've not got access to a gym from Thursday to the following Sat/Sun, so I'm gonna train hard tomorrow and Wednesday anyway. My left elbow is a bit funny at the moment, so the time off will probably do me good.

The close grip sets were pretty reasonable. The 102.5 was an unbalanced bar; I loaded for 100kg, my mate loaded for 105kg! I was also pleased to get 10@90.

The last set of shoulder presses were prob too heavy; my bottom position was with my upper arms parallel to the floor.

Phil E

06-28-2006, 11:39 AM

BW static lunges: 20/30/40 each leg

1 arm db rows: 10@11 10@21 3x20@31 each arm

45 mins walking

Lat pulldowns: 10@70 2x10@77 3x8@77

Leg curls: 10@72 10@84 10/8/8/6@100

20 mins walking

Going straight to the gym immediately after waking (after not having had much sleep) was a stupid idea; I felt really really rough and had no energy for anything. After a leisurely walk I felt a lot better and returned to the gym to do a bit more. Very strict form on the pulldowns today, with pauses at the top and bottom and no lean.

I've not got access to a gym until the 9th of July now, so in the mean time I'll be doing plenty of walking and stretching, and probably bodyweight lunges and press ups.

Phil E

07-09-2006, 01:50 PM

Met up with Funky for a bench session. Wasn't too pleased with the weights, but the bench was narrower than I'm used to, so this probably knocked a couple of kilos off.

Bench: 10@bar 10@40 5@60 3@80 1@90 1@100 1@105 1@110 1@112.5

Paused bench: 3@60 3@80 1@100 5x1@105

DB shoulder press: 8@2x21 8@2x23 2x8@2x26 8/6@2x27.5

External rotations: 12@5 2x12@7.5

Did a few squats with just the bar and a couple with 40kg, which felt a bit weird but painless.

Boar

07-09-2006, 02:12 PM

aahhh,the old 'the banch was too narrow' excuse:D

where did you train phil:mrgreen:

Phil E

07-09-2006, 05:27 PM

It's my standard excuse! Actually, thinking about it, the bench wasn't that narrow it was just very hard and for some reason I bench slightly more on softer benches. I equalled my PB so it was still a fairly decent session. We trained in Tower Gym in Edmonton, but next week we're gonna head to Crystal Palace.

Funky_monkey

07-11-2006, 03:02 PM

the bar was a tad thicker than normal ones (maybe by 1/2 inch) and it had ball bearings so the plates may have moved around.

I will be doing a bench session today using a different bar, see what excuse he'll have today :)

bulldog

07-11-2006, 08:41 PM

wh.y dont u meet phil at mine and i will do some stuff with you .got some new ideas bring shirts if u want .me and ian bench mon 1630 or i can help u at a different time

Phil E

07-11-2006, 09:28 PM

The bar was the same width as I normally use, so that wasn't an excuse for me. No benching today, so no excuses needed :rolleyes:

My shoulders are really shitty at the moment, though (excuse in advance).

I'm planning on trainin at Crystal Palace on Saturday with Funky.

Today: lat pulldowns, hammer strength rows, dumbell rows, shrugs, curls, farmers walks

Phil E

07-13-2006, 08:42 PM

leg press, leg curls, lunges

Phil E

07-15-2006, 03:01 PM

Phil E

07-17-2006, 09:01 PM

Hammer strength rows: 10@25 (each side) 6@40 6@55 6@65 6@75 6@80 5@85

Lat pulldowns: 6@58 6@67 6@78 6@83 5@90 5@95 (ish.... can't remember the weights exactly!)

DB rows: 10@27.5 10@37.5 12@37.5

Shrugs: 3x10@something

Curls: 6/5/5@17.5

Ben "tricky" Burgess

07-17-2006, 10:47 PM

Bench: 10@bar 10@40 5@60 3@80 1@90 1@100 1@110 1@115

Paused bench: 6x1@100

2"-board press: 3x2@110

Close grip bench: 5/5/4@90

Incline db bench: 10@2x22.5 2x10@2x27.5 6@32.5

High rep stuff on a machine

External rotations: 2x12@7.5

2.5kg pb on bench, but I'm still a way behind where I'd hoped to be by now.
Dont sweat it too much Phil, gains are hard to come by on bench IME. No offense (cos i bench around the same!) but if you're only putting up 115, then 2.5kg is like 10% of your lift so if you look at it like that its a decent increase.
Where do you miss your lifts if you fail?

Phil E

07-17-2006, 11:18 PM

It's a 2% increase! It's nice getting any improvement, but I was hoping to improve far quicker than I have over the last month and a bit.

I fail about two inches off my chest. What do you reckon I should do to sort this out? I board press way more than I bench raw, so I'm guessing my triceps aren't the issue.

Funky_monkey

07-18-2006, 01:20 AM

Phil, I now have a job at a shitty govt. owned bodyweight lunge gym so i'm not sure if i can come down to train. will hopefully be able to make it this weekend and do some ME bench work. will also add another 2 bits of wood to the board, which should hopefully make it 3bd height.

a 2.5kg increase means that you are doing something right, so carry on doing what you're doing. You're now benching as much as i did at my peak, and i was doing 100 for easy triples off a 3bd. felt like 80kg.

bulldog

07-18-2006, 10:08 AM

phil try paused reps also floor press stop on floor and db flys also extra wide grip bp 4xpaused 4xnormal stabilise with shoulder press db also do plenty of bo and seated row also rear delt

Phil E

07-18-2006, 08:39 PM

Funky: I can probably make it to the gym at any time of day, so we could train whenever you're free.

Bulldog: cheers, I'll start doing floor presses again and see if this helps.

Ben "tricky" Burgess

07-18-2006, 10:41 PM

Phil:

Fail 1-2 board - weak lats/chest (think flyes, chins, rows, cambered bar bench)

Fail 3-4 board - weak shoulders

Fail 4-5 board - weak tris

My fav's for lats are wide, pronated chins with a pause on bottom of the hang. Westside definately favour BO Rows. As bulldog says flyes are good for chest, also maybe look at DB bench, cam bar bench and (if your shoulders can handle it...mine cant) exaggerated pause bench.