9/30

squat
150x5
260x5
350x3
440x2 - briefs
530x1 - suit, straps down
620x1 - straps up

Everything was good to that point

710xf
710xf

The first one, I got about a third of the way up and couldnt finish it. The second one didnt go that well. I think I probably had the suit on too tight and that affected my form.

box squats with chains
350 + 2 chains x 3
350 + 4 chains x 3
My back got scraped bad from the knurling on one of the heavy attempts before, so these hurt like crazy. I've had a little pain like this before, but nothing this bad. I stopped.

GHRs
25
raised foot plate to the top
20, 20

10/2

bench press
45x15
95x10
135x10
185x5
225x3
275x2
315x1
345x1

size 48 shirt
555 off 1 board x 1
565 off chest x f - I touched a little low. With this much weight, I need to be able to touch in the sweet spot of the shirt to press it. My shirt is not broken in enough for that to happen yet. Both arms felt kind of bad after this.

2 board press raw
315x3
345x3
365x3
385x2
405xf. bleh. Arms not good.

machine rows
200x15x3

face pulls
135x15x3

Understandable for sure.

I hope it breaks in good for you. Your lifts are coming in nicely.

2 things that comes to mind when looking at your shirt work.

1) In my experience anything more than once a week in the shirt will make your shoulders fall of.

2) You don't get enough quality work in the shirt. Some of the quoted is like 1 single and 1 failed single.

I think you should get somewhere like 3-7 quality sets AFTER 1-3 weight acclimation sets in the shirt.

Doing reps in the bench shirt is a thing you should try out. I don't like more than 3 reps in the same set.

Eccentric/negatives are very useful too. Getting a solid negative with 10-40 kg above what you can touch a 1 board with can help bring the shirt in faster. Negatives are done as the last part of the shirt work.

1 - yeah. I only have done extra work twice in this new shirt to help break it in quicker. I find that it doesnt bother my shoulders, but my triceps. The only time I have had issues with my shoulder benching in a shirt is when I made technique mistakes. Notice the last time I did extra shirt work on speed day, I stayed light (about 100 lbs under what I will probably be able to touch in this shirt soon.

2 - True. Yesterday, I would have done more work in the shirt, but after two attempts, my arms felt bad and I needed to get it off. Typically I would have tried that weight again.

Doing 2 - 4 sets in a shirt is typical for me. 7 seems crazy. There are lots of reasons why I do what I do. I'm generally following what my coach laid out for me to do, and in real time he is usually there to bounce ideas off of. He usually wants me to finish with a good press, but if he sees that my last one looked like my CNS is starting to get beat up, he will suggest that I shut it down.

The main reason I am usually doing singles is because I am trying to find weight that I can touch and press. Anything leading up to that is a warmup, and I dont want to waste energy warming up. This will change once I'm able to press something well off my chest in my new shirt and in my tight two ply shirt.

I am doing overload work with weight I probably cant press. It amounts to about the same as doing negatives. Notice last week on heavy day I attempted 585 in a single ply. That's probably the top end of what I might someday be able to press in that shirt. Same thing with my two ply. I have attempted 615 quite a few times and 635 once I think.

I think your suggestions do have some merit, but they mostly dont fit exactly what I am doing right now. In case you're wondering who my coach is, it is James "Priest" Burdette. He's been a top 20 geared lifter in the world for about the past 15 years, and is one of the sharpest minds in the sport. He lifts at 220 lbs and has pressed 771 in a meet and over 800 in the gym. Yesterday, he pressed 805 off a 1 board and it went up fast. He semi-regularly talks to Ed Coan and Louie Simmons and knows basically everyone who is anyone in the sport. He has given Andy Bolton bench press advice. So along with my own knowledge of what my body can handle, I'm in pretty good hands. By the way, I'm 51 years old and have a lot of nagging injuries I need to be careful with.

You mentioned Ed's name, now you are banned from IPF for 2 years :P

Yeah, listen to the coach. 771 bench is pretty sick. We got a lifter who did 325 at 140 kg in ipf. Also one who did 267,5 at 93 kg IPF.

It was more of an observation than a critique.

A couple of reason why I maybe can take a bit more volume in the shirt 1) I barely squat and deadlift. 2) Only 30 years old. 3) Only shirt once per week.

How long until next meet? Another one of my "triggers" are people jumping around too much between shirt instead of sticking to just one shirt, especially close to meets :-)

Come February after the current cycles of meets I really want to jump into a 44 and bench something whacky from medium to high boards, but I dont think I will risk touching anything in it.

lol IPF. I did a rant about USAPL/IPF a while back. I am pretty good friends with the head USAPL chair guy in MN (where I live), and he is a great guy, but I have nothing good to say about anyone else I know involved with making decisions for that organization.

I'm sure Priest can bench >325 single ply @100. He opens his meets in a Super Katana single ply at 320 and I've never seen him miss it. Another name drop: Priest used to train with Scott Mendelson when they lived near each other, and we consider Mendy part of our team still. We have a few other 700+ lb benchers on our team too. One is a 308, one is a 242 and another is a SHW.

yeah, we all do things differently. If I wasnt so confident in my support system that I have, I would be following some of your advice.

yeah, being younger and doing less other work certainly matters.

My next meet is November 12. Its in Dubuque, Iowa. Its a UPA meet, but is a qualifier for the Arnold XPC. I need a 1990 total to qualify. In order to do that, I will need 750+ squat (my PR is 720 in the gym and 700 in a meet), and probably a 672-683 DL depending on how my squat and bench go.

With that in mind, I will probably need a 551+ bench. The reason I got the new shirt is because I think I can probably touch and press something over 551 with it once it is broken in, and I have doubts about being ready to touch and press something more than that in my tight two ply shirt. If all goes according to plan, I will open in my loose single ply shirt at about 502, put on the new single ply shirt and press 551-573, maybe 584, then put on the two ply shirt and try something over 600. I'm not expecting to press anything in the two ply, but if all goes perfectly, it could happen.

Something like 750/562/683 will get me what I need to qualify for the Arnold. That will be very hard, but its possible.

IPF keeps IPF'ing. Now a singlet and a belt isn't just that, now only certain manufactures are allowed at meets. Atleast I will have some wishes for xmas this year I guess. I do like the fact that doping is not allowed in IPF though.

Mendelson I do remember from that powerlifting documentary a few years back, sick sick bench.

http://www.allthingsgym.com/power-un...g-documentary/

I got to ask, feel free to PM or not answer or whatever, since 325 in 105 is just shy of the IPF world record, what are the views on doping at your gym?

While you're both here: discussion at the gym this evening - several of our lifters were at a seminar on the weekend with a relatively well respected (international) coach. He was advocating when unracking for a bench bringing the bar closer to your belly button than straight above your shoulders in order to make a perfectly vertical descent bar path. The reasoning was that it reduces any horizontal momentum that would be in the direction of your feet almost to zero.

My take is that the extra fatigue on your stabilisers when waiting for the press call plus the moment arm created on the descent (bar in front of elbow) must be far more debilitating than any dubious benefit of this reduction in momentum. It also runs counter to the info Nuckolls collated from McLaughlin's in depth look at elite benchers.

Priest holds some national and world records. On powerliftingwatch.com, best of the best (since about 2007), 220 multiply lifters over 40 years old, his total is about 150 lbs more than 2nd place. He competes as an open lifter, not a master though. His total is 14th on the open "best of the best" list.

I assume you're referring to "doping" as anabolic steroid use? lolIPF again. I know they test. I also know they selectively test. A lot of people who lift in that federation are using illegal substances whether or not they get tested. Some people who are obviously using illegal stuff get favorable treatment about not getting tested. Without going into too much detail, there are ways to sidestep testing that some of these people use. I'm pretty sure the IPF decision makers know about this too. I'm not going to post examples here.

No one talks about personally using anything on my team. Use is not encouraged at all.

Personally, I am on HRT. I take about 5-10% of what a heavy user would take of testosterone cypionate (0.35 ml twice a week).

I dont know anything about the powerful, fast acting oral drugs, aside from the fact that they can **** you up. I know of some people who take that stuff, but they are not on my team. Some people on my team joke about some drug users as having purple heads, lol.

The "well respected, international" coach is wrong. I'm interested to know who this is.

You are correct.

If you want to maximize what you can bench press, using a slightly curved bar path is the best way to do it. Its not just fatigue on your stabilizers, but that is part of it. Its also fatigue on your primary pushing muscles, and its about recruiting the strongest muscles throughout the ascent.

If you are holding the bar out over your chest, your triceps are holding it. If you hold it over your shoulders with your elbows turned out, its much easier to hold and it takes little out of your pushing muscles. When you bring the bar up in straight line, its going to get a lot harder about halfway up. If I do that in a shirt, I miss the lift every time. Sometimes with a smaller raw weight I can muscle it straight up, but it limits my top end.

The strongest way to bench is to begin the ascent by pushing the weight towards your head, then about a third of the way up, turn your elbows out while keeping your shoulders pulled down and back. This works best for both raw and shirted.

Ripped from a T-Nation article

I think we're on the same page, but just checking we're both talking about the same thing. The coach still agrees that a bar path in a curve back towards your face is optimal for the push up, he was talking about the bar path down being vertical. But I believe the same optimising restraints are in place on the descent as they are on the ascent, with the difference being you just have to control the bar down, youre not actively fighting gravity.

Yeah, Nuckolls has a full breakdown of the bar path in the bench press based on the research article that that diagram originates from.

The A on that chart is a bad path imo. I didnt read the whole article, but going through his 4 talking points at the beginning:

1 - It depends. Assuming everyone needs to do one thing or another is wrong. Some people need one thing and some might need something else. I personally need more board work and stronger triceps. Most people need stronger triceps.

2 - meh, your whole upper back is super important, and your lats are a huge part of that. Ask any huge bencher and he will tell you lats are super important. I've seen Mendy (the first person to bench > 700 raw, who also has benched >1000 in a shirt) quoted as saying lats are the most important muscles for a big bench.

3 - I agree.

4 - I agree.

I missed that point originally. I think generally though, anyone should be aiming to finish about where they started.

Yeah, "A" is a novice who's not doing it optimally.

Since Cha's log is now the bench theory class room

I clearly need more strength or speed off the chest with 140/235 raw/equipped numbers.

Any suggestions?

In my experience if my raw bench goes up, my shirted shoots up with the same or more every time, and at my weight I should be benching 170 raw and crying about having a bad bench still.

I dont know what you do well enough yet. Do you do speed work after heavy shirted work? Do you do speed work as primary benching once a week in addition to a heavy day? Do you bench exactly two days a week?

I'll have suggestions after you answer those questions.

I bench exactly 5 days a week.

1. shirt
2. volume + bands + CG
3. Paused slingshot + extra wide extra long pause
4. 1 repout set of 60-70 %
5. heavy bench + speed (8-12 sets x 3 reps x 50-60 %) + CG

I'm only casually following the last dozen posts or so... but just wanted to say I saw the 805 off one board video and it was nuts.

That's a lot of benching with not much recovery. I think that might be part of the problem.

Aside from that, timing your speed sets while making sure form is solid and everything stays tight is a good idea. If you have a few guys there with you, you could have someone time your speed sets from the time the first rep touches your chest until the third rep is locked out. It should take under 4.0 seconds. If it takes less than 3.5 seconds, add more weight until its between 3.5 - 4.0 seconds with good form. If its a little over 4.0, but form was a little loose, try the same weight until you get it under 4.0, and if you cant and you start to wear out, lighten the weight up a bit so you can get between 3.5 - 4.0 with good form.

yeah, priest is so fast with mind blowing weight. I'm getting used to seeing that. He failed 850 off two boards shortly after that. I've seen him do 845 before. Spotting that much weight used to scare me. Now I'm used to it. You should see this guy bench raw too. Sometimes when he's warming up with 4 plates he will talk and laugh while repping it. I think his raw PR is about 575 and he weighs under 220.

10/5

DL
225x5x2
315x3x2
405x2

suit
495x1. Actually I attempted this double overhand and lost my grip a little above the knees, so then I pulled a good rep with mixed grip.
585x1
650x1
650x1

speed DL with briefs only
455x3
495x3
545x3 - The first rep was slow - I'm not sure why, maybe I was forward? The second and third were good.

GHRs
footplate at the top
20

+ 25 lbs
12x2

I might be too much, I'm testing out more intensity in raw bench. I got speed day tomorrow, will try to make videos and time them.

Spotter went to school after the heavy sets, so couldn't get live feedback. Timed them from the videos now to 8 3 sec sets and 2 2 sec sets, but that is far from exact.

So based on those times I should add more weight?

Videos here to so you can check tightness and form :-)

Heavy sets
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...1iJlrE5qZ01B9R

Speed sets
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...atpp03rK_iDS5H

Speed work: That is way too light for you. As a reference, my sweet spot is around 275 - 295 for speed triples in the 3.5 - 4.0 second range.

Heavy sets: Yeah, I dont like the setup. When you set up with your butt off the bench and drop it down as you accept the weight, you're losing tightness. Notice your shoulders roll up a little as soon as you accept the weight. You're also losing a lot of potential leg drive by doing that.

Here's something that should be helpful. Stick with it, because he ties the heels up setup into a setup with heels on the floor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXNJHrLy0Lw

I will add some weight on speed day, and preferable have a guy with a stop watch.

I watched the video, I will try that setup out.