Feel free to chime in with any advice, especially given your prowess. I will get some vids asap

Im tempted to try a Smolov Jr bench cycle at the end of the month now

Post more bench form check vids?

There's no big secret to benching -- most of you guys squat 2-3x/wk and bench 1-1.5x/wk -- it's no wonder that your squat is leaps and bounds better. Bench + incline bench + CG bench + dips + other tri work in increasing frequency is what it takes. I went from maxing out at 95 to maxing out at 330 in 2.5 years -- all it takes is only benching lol.

If you started from the beginning of season one, this is perfectly understandable, that season sucked. Seasons 2-3 (and to a lesser extent, 4) are GOATish, so I would highly suggest reevaluating if that was the case

18th June 2012: Squat Volume

Squat: 350x5x5
Press: 125x5x5
Power clean: 155x3x3
Facepulls to round it off

Pretty tiring, but ok in the end. Got home and ate steak, bagels, cottage cheese, veggies and ice cream and feel pretty damn good.

do you play a sport? Just wondering as it related to power cleans vs. a rowing movement.

I used to play soccer. I havent really played much recently though, i should get back into it. Been busy i guess. But even then it is just pickup or intramurals

Yeah, that's pretty much it. Congrats on your accomplishment. 95 to 330 is huge.

But for me i've found that using chains and having a deload week really helped with my bench. Finally got the 115s DB up for 8 on incline today. Here is a routine i picked up from someone about a year ago. It really helped me on the bench. Maybe it will work for you, maybe it won't. Sometimes doing something different is worth a try.

TUESDAY: 60% of my current max + bands or chains for 9 sets of 3 with alternating grips. SET 1= competition grip, SET 2= slightly narrow, SET 3= close grip. Repeat through 9 sets. I will increase the % each week. I do 4 week waves and then deload on the 5th week.

SATURDAY: I will pick a variation of the bench and shoot for a new 1RM. I always end my 4 week wave with a raw bench for a new 1RM. 5th week is a deload. I will use bands, Slingshot, reverse bands, or boards as my variations for my max effort day. If I'm not feeling up to doing 95% or higher< I'll pick a weight and do a rep max with it. I always keep my volume with the heavy sets low. In other words I don't do a ton of sets of bench on my max effort days.

DELOADS: When I deload, I will drop the weight considerably and just get a pump going. This keeps my joints healthy and lets me recharge to start my next 4 week wave.

Also, congrats on your progress Aidan and good luck meeting your goals. Nice log you got going on.

Thanks for the input, definitely something to consider. For some reason I am still drawn to the masochism of Smolov, but we'll see.

In other news, I've managed an impressive streak of light conditioning on every non-gym day. Either walks, light jog or some tennis with the wife. Down to 168lbs this morning, waist is down 5.5cms from the start of the year.

I am sure Smolov would work for you and your upper body stuff.

How tall are you? Impressive work on the waist -- are you consciously cutting while putting up these squat numbers or is it just kind of happening?

5' 9" or a shade under. Been consciously cutting since beginning of April when I started this log. I'm down about 12 scale pounds in the morning. Not sure what my waist was when I started, I only have it recorded from the beginning of the year, so not sure how much is recent change. I certainly feel a bit leaner. I still have pretty high BF: i'd guess 15-17%, will get some pics up at the end of the month.

Pretty pleased to have made the progress I have on a bit of a diet, but IF is pretty sweet i think.

20th June: Recovery

Squat: 285x5x2
Bench: 165x5x3
Kroc Row: 70x10x2

Cable Row: 180x5x3
Ab Roller: BWx15x3
Farmers Walk: 50sx50ydsx4, 30s rest

Took some vids of my bench form. Two sets from slightly different angles. This is ~75% of 1RM, no handoff which is suboptimal but whatever. Forgot my workout shorts so had to do everything in my cargos

Looks good. Now all you have to do is figure out a way to become strong (at benching).

Or you could do what it seems to be en vogue on this board, and figure out a way to contort your body to minimize ROM, to give the illusion of progress.

Thanks mate! Just gotta bench more - plan is to max test next week which is bench week, and kick some smolov and eating into action moving into July.

I also took a video of my 285lbs squat to analyse from directly behind. It can be viewed here. I took some screen caps to illustrate just how bad the imbalance is. Man do i have some work to do

Heh, you named it bench press check in the vid. Although I can see the imbalance, it doesn't look THAT bad to me...

On your bench press form, it looked to me a little better back arch, tightness, and elbow tucking could all help.
ETA: elbows might be fine, hard to tell, dunno

You talking about back arching?

Apparently the secret to a big squat is doing it wrong?

Hmm, doing that by screencaps seems super useful. What is your plan for rebalancing your form? I've noticed my g/f's right elbow is lower on her squat and she ends up twisting the bar out of the hole. So her issue is the bar wants to angle horizontally - vertically she does a pretty good job keeping it level.

In the video it looks more subtle, but yeah it can be seen there too....

You doin smolov for squatz?

Nah, that'd be suicide. Bench only, lower volume on squats whilst doing it.

Doh, that'll teach me for copy-pasting in movie maker.

I find if i tuck my elbows further at that grip width, the bar touches too low to feel efficient. I think one can always be tighter, i constantly try and strive towards this. Back arch is just what is doable. I find the benches a bit slippery, so always lose a little bit of arch just because of that, but it doesnt feel like a large percentage. I bench in a cotton t-shirt as much as possible to minimize this, its a really ****ty vinyl on the benches and even chalk doesnt help much.

Yeah apparently

Not sure how i'll approach this, got some research to do. Lyle has an article that i'll read when i get time. http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/tra...alance-qa.html

The screencaps help a lot, especially for people for whom the incorrect movement feels natural. My wife has a bench issue, one elbow is tucked correctly and the other flares, but she didnt believe me until i showed caps, as she claimed they were in the exact same position.

Love your addidas lifting shoes. I was very close to getting them for leg day workouts. Plus they look awesome. But i got cheap and went another route.

Aidan, I think the arch and the elbows look pretty good to me, but then I don't arch or tuck my elbows a ton (I don't think) so take that for what it's worth. You just need to bench more, it'll come, but even so, it's not like you're super weak -- you're doing your work sets with significantly more weight than your body weight, right?

Yeah buddy, these are damn sweet kicks

I appreciate the kind words, mate! These were pretty comfy sets of five at just slightly less than BW. That's a great frame of reference, so thanks for pointing it out. I guess i get irrationally frustrated at the relative lack of progress to other lifts, yet there are many factors influencing that: programing, relative starting points, anthropometry etc. I'll keep on trucking!

Looks like your wrist position at the top of the bench is to bent. Try to get your wrist more vertical under the bar at the top of the lift?

Yes, I agree. Some flexion is probably ok, see some examples here (NSFW), though mine looks a bit too much. I normally bench with light wraps so i am not very conscious of my wrist position. Though I do feel as if the bar will roll out of the front of my hand at times if i push it too far the other way - this is probably perception rather than reality. Thanks for pointing it out