Lacking the flexibility right now to arch more so will need to work on both that and getting my feet back. Thanks for the pointers Renton!


Edit: March 16 Curls were 11x67.5, 10x67.5
Must not have miscounted curls!

It's possible you're not flexible enough, but IMO it's more likely that you just aren't setting up tightly enough.

Set yourself up as tight as you can, only do so about 3-4" farther back on the bench. Then, use the uprights to push yourself the 3-4" forward so you're appropriately lined up with the bar. When you're pushing yourself forward, make sure your feet are planted and don't move. If you do this, it should result in your knees being lower than your hips and a tighter arch.

I will have to see what I can do to get closer to that, thanks again.

March 17 – 154.7 lbs

90min massage

20 mins core, mobility and dynamic stretching stuff
2x12 hanging leg raises
60 chin-ups
105 push-ups

1824 cal/179 carb/61 fat/152 protein/45 fibre

Been dreaming of a massage but couldn't get an appointment with my RMT until the end of the month so found an alternative which turned out to be a very pleasant surprise - awesome massage.

March 18 – 154.4 lbs

20 mins core, mobility and dynamic stretching stuff

OHP – 5x45lbs, 2x5x72.5lbs, 8x72.5
Chin-ups – 8x, 7x +5lbs
Squats – 15xbw, 2x10x45lbs, 2x5x65, 5x85, 5x115, 2x5x140, 10x140
2x12 hanging leg raises

60 chinups
105 pushups

2385 cal/189 carb/110 fat/166 protein/39 fibre

I got my lifts out of the way first thing today. I love being able to free up time the evening but dang don’t I find a morning workout to be tough.

March 19 – 155.0 lbs

10 mobility and dynamic stretching stuff

Bench – 10x45lbs, 2x5x65, 5x85, 3x105, 2x5x120, 10x120
RDLs – 10x45lbs, 10x95
DL – 2x5x95lbs, 5x125, 5x145

2124 cal/198 carb/75 fat/167 protein/35 fibre

Bonus workout in the morning just to work on bench and DL. Bench set up felt a hell of a lot closer to Renton’s advice than it actually looked when I saw the vid where it appears that I made zero changes. Not quite sure I locked out the 10th rep. It looked like I was trying to rack after the 9th rep but that was just the bar swaying in a strong gust of wind or something. DL felt okay and descent is starting to feel better as well. Probably going to have to scrap the bonus workouts and the frequency stuff soon as work is heating up. Full seven days a week for the foreseeable future. Skipped my core stuff today and didn’t do quite all of it yesterday either.

Looks better, IMO. You still need to get your knees further out and feet further back. Bench on your toes if necessary to achieve this position. Your bar path looks pretty good, though you do appear to be locking the reps out too far. Try not to protract your shoulder blades at the top of the rep. Keep the shoulder blades down and the chest up. Don't rush the set, take a big (bigger) breath between each rep, and 11-12 reps is there, IMO.

Thanks again Renton. I will keep chipping away at this.

March 20 – 154.4 lbs

Rest day.

1841 cal/137 carb/72 fat/170 protein/40 fibre

Left work early to pick up my wife and kids at the airport and took the night off. Back to stepping on lego pieces and mushy cheerios now. Taking another rest day today and then back to my Wed/Fri/Sun schedule unless I decide I like Tue/Thu/Sat better. It's close.

Anyone who follows my log knows I'm far from a bench expert. That said, imho, first prio should be getting your shoulders in a good safe position, they kinda look all over the place. Retract and depress your scaps hard throughout the whole set. Also indeed work on not protracting when you lockout a rep.

Thanks Rav. I have styled my shoulder movement after your leg movement.

Looks like it is going to be a long long journey in figuring out this lifting stuff. I thought one just lied on a bench and pushed stuff into the air. Watching you and others set up with what I think is serious crazy arch makes me think you are all contortionists. Bench expert or not you are light years ahead of me and you actually move real weight with serious WIM!

Don't worry so much about this. You don't need to have a huge arch, but you do need to have one. Always think "chest up, shoulders back." From the angle of your last vid the only thing off is that you are touching a little too low. Touch right at the mid-sternum - that will give you a more effective ROM for this exercise. Also stop doing so many reps. Nice work so far. I just skimmed this log but seems you have progressed from bodyweight stuff to a home gym. Excellent.

Thanks.

March 21 – 155.2 lbs

Rest day.

2012 cal/190 carb/72 fat/159 protein/42 fibre

In the midst of a high stress low sleep period at work so might back off very slightly on cals to trim a bit of fat off over the next 6 weeks or so. My scale claims I have been hovering between 21% and 22% body fat which I think may be a bit on the high side. I may well be wrong though as I do tuck away a lot of old man midsection fat. The magic-ish 15% for packing on gains is nowhere in site in any case. All of my lifts are getting close to PR’s from last August before me and my back decided to flake out for a while.

Where the bar touches your chest is dependent upon elbow flare, degree of arch and to a small degree probably meaningless length of upper arm.

Bottom of sternum / below nipple implies higher arch and/or more tuck. Mid-sternum nipple suggests less arch and/or more flare. Essentially Powerlifter vs Bodybuilding form if you want to super simplify it.

Powerlifters use excessive arch and touch lower in order to shorten the ROM so they can bench more in competition. Bodybuilders use elbows at 90 degrees and touch higher on the chest than mid sternum in order to engage the pecs more at the expense of the health of their shoulders. Everyone else is just interested in getting stronger safely. The best way to do that is to arch as much as you can while keeping your butt on the bench and touching the bar to mid sternum/nipple level at the bottom and lockout out over the shoulder joint at the top. This produces about a 75 degree elbow angle at the bottom and a bar path that is slightly non-vertical

March 22 – 155.2 lbs

25 mins mobility and dynamic stretching stuff

Bench – 10x45lbs, 2x5x65, 5x85, 5x105, 2x5x125, 7x125
Curls – 5x45lbs, 11x67.5, 10x67.5
Squats – 15xbw, 2x10x45lbs, 2x5x65, 5x85, 5x105, 2x5x145, 9x145
2x12 hanging leg raises

65 chin-ups
120 push-ups

2150 cal/184 carb/64 fat/217 protein/49 fibre

Rough day for the working out. Push-ups and chin-ups felt super tough this morning. I didn’t get home from work until after 9pm and wasn’t done working out until 11pm and not eating supper until after 11:30pm. Could not get the 8th bench rep up but was able to confirm that the safety pipes were set to a good height. Legs started bouncing around and shaking on last couple reps. Was not able to add any reps to curls. Bailed on 10th rep on squats with some back discomfort after 3 pretty bad reps in a row. It cleared up pretty quick afterwards so possibly just a little tiny bit of pump. Pretty meh workout overall. Tired.

The bar is touching down about 1 inch below my nipple line I think with very little arch and somewhat tucked elbows. Should I be aiming to touch down a bit higher?

Yep

Alrighty, thanks. I will aim for something closer to a nipple tweak touch down.

March 23 – 156.1 lbs

20 mins mobility and dynamic stretching stuff

2x12 hanging leg raises
65 chin-ups
120 push-ups

2001 cal/164 carb/76 fat/172 protein/45 fibre

This topic is really helpfull. I found alot of usefull tips. Thanks. Keep it alive!

March 24 – 154.9 lbs

20+ mins core, mobility and dynamic stretching stuff

OHP – 5x45lbs, 2x5x75lbs, 7x75
Chin-ups – 8x, 7x +7.5lbs
RDLs – 10x45lbs, 10x95, 5x115
DL – 1x115lbs 2x5x95, 5x125, 7x145

2x12 hanging leg raises
65 chinups
120 pushups

2048 cal/180 carb/74 fat/179 protein/51 fibre

Was in bed before 10pm last night which is a rare treat for me but quality of sleep was not great. On track for shortly after 11pm tonight. Workout was okay. OHP/DL takes so much less time than Bench/Squats. The benefits of lifting so little that warm-ups are almost not required.

March 25 – 155.3 lbs

25 mins core, mobility and dynamic stretching stuff

2x12 hanging leg raises
65 chin-ups
120 push-ups

1949 cal/175 carb/70 fat/167 protein/47 fibre

65 chin-ups Nice work there.

March 26 – 154.4 lbs

AM:

13 mins mobility and dynamic stretching stuff

Bench – 10x45lbs, 2x5x65, 5x85, 3x105, 2x5x127.5, 7x127.5
Curls – 5x45lbs, 11x67.5, 11x67.5
Squats – 15xbw, 2x10x45lbs, 5x65, 6x65, 6x95, 3x125, 2x5x150, 8x150
2x12 hanging leg raises

PM:

13 mins core, mobility and dynamic stretching stuff

RDLs – 2x8x45lbs, 8x95, 7x115
DL – 2x5x95lbs, 5x125, 6x155

AM/PM:
65 chin-ups
120 push-ups

2384 cal/225 carb/75 fat/207 protein/46 fibre

Bench set up felt a little bit better this morning. Squats were kind of ugly. My knees are sliding back on the descent and then shoot forward as soon as I start to stand up. Makes for a nice rocking motion that is way more interesting than boring ole straight up and down. I was a bit tentative on squats as 150lbs is the weight that sent me packing for a 4 month break last fall. In all fairness to squats it was probably my uber crap form on rows that did the damage but I’ll never really know for sure.

Are you doing high bar or low bar? In any case, it looks like you're doing what I was doing -- breaking at the hips first and shooting them way back while not getting your knees tracking forward early in the lift. Alan Thrall has a few good starting strength symposium videos on his channel that touch on this, which I think it probably going to be a useful watch even if you're a highbar bro. It was the only thing that actually got me to grasp the knees forward cue.

Thanks BPA. They are pretty spread out though in ladders to 5 or sets of 5. I try to do at least 30 before work and finish up the rest at night.