Tried narrowing my grip a little on bench. I've always kept my middle fingers on the rings, but today I moved my ring fingers just inside/touching the rings. I think it felt more solid, but I'll continue trying it and see how it goes.
Gf came to the gym for the first time in at least a month and did some bench, squats, DLs, and a circuit of cable rows, kb swings and push-ups. Hopefully she gets inspired to keep coming back...we'll see.
First video is my 4th rep of 295, next three vids are at the end of my session when I went back and did 225x1x6. Apologies for the angles/height/distance of the videos, they prolly suck
Look pretty good man, but you take an age in the ready position. It just expends unnecessary energy. Work on speeding up the setup process, whether it is the mental or physical stuff you are going over.
Totally agree. I'm usually down there thinking: do this, don't **** that up, ok ready? oh wait, don't forget about this thing too, check the mirror to make sure you look like you're in a good position...**** it, pull!
I definitely need to do all the thinking and mental checks before I grab the bar, will work on that next time.
Ohp felt pretty good, but that first set took a lot out of me so couldn't get more than 3 the last two sets. The narrower grip on bench still feeling good so gonna stick with it.
First set of squats was meh, took too long in between reps which led to being out of breath for all but the first. 2nd set was great, did 4 reps w/o pausing more than a second at the top, last set was decent. Weight is starting to get a little heavy, but I shouldn't be failing any reps for at least another 15lbs, imo.
Got a spot for bench today. He wasn't very good and kept his hands either on or within an inch of the bar the entire time. First set I got them all, 2nd set was close, he may have helped a little bit on the last rep, the last set I got it up about 25% and then would have failed the last rep so he helped, however I was still able to push some myself vs it being all him. Not sure if I'll move up next week or try it again, we'll see how I feel I guess. The rest times are killing me on everything else.
Followed Aidan's advice on DLs and just got set and pulled w/o any extra time spent at the bottom. Everything felt better, still a little slower/tougher off the ground than I think it should be at 295, but better than they have been. Squats were great.
Ohp was solid, only thing I think I need to focus on is my bar path on the way down. I think I'm letting it come down too far out in front of me and that's possibly wasting energy. Everything else was standard.
Went to the gym late and it was pretty much empty so no spot for bench today. First set I probably had 4 in me...maaaaybe 5, third rep in the second set was a struggle, third in the third set was kinda easy but my brain wouldn't allow me to go for 4 after only getting 3 on the second set lol.
Been adhering to all the rest times and doing the arm stuff slowly and that **** is tiring. I get a big pump but moving up weight is going to be extremely slow (pretty sure DFii wrote that in the programming, but it takes a while for me to process).
From a getting swole perspective, using lighter weights to drive growth is a good thing. Lighter weights = more reps = more metabolic waste. Lighter weights = less CNS fatigue = can train more consistently without deloads.
The whole program was conceived to alternate between this sort of training methodology and a more strength focused approach every 4-8 weeks. Basically:
Week 1 - Start super set portion of program. Endurance is ****ty. You're crapping out by like the 4th superset.
Week 2 - Endurance improves.
Week 3 - Endurance improves.
Week 4 - Endurance improves. Struggling towards end, but completing most/all sets.
Week 5 - Endurance improves.
Week 6 - Endurance improves. Original weight is now easy. Need to add weight to main supersets.
Week 7 - Endurance improves.
Week 8 - Endurance improves. You are pretty swole now.
Week 9 - Switch to strength phase. Remove all supersets in favor of 3x5xMax work with core lifts. Keep all direct arm work.
Week 10 - Increasing weight, increasing volume, reducing reps. Keep 50% of direct arm work.
Week 11 - Increasing weight, reducing volume, reducing weights. No direct arm work.
Week 12 - Finding new maxes.
Week 13 - Start over. Weight selection for main supersets may be the same as before, or it may be the weight that you increased to around week 6.
There's no real reason that you need to do the 4 week strength portion, but it could be a nice way to breakup the monotony of doing pure bodybuilding work and set some new PRs. But if you're really itching to test your bench max you could run a SmolovJr cycle or something and smash 2 wheels by Christmas.
DLs felt better than last week. Guy DLing close to 4 plates next to me with decent form said my form looked fine and I had plenty more weight in me if I wanted, so that's promising. I'm still gonna move up slowly so I don't develop any more bad habits. Squats were fine, everything else standard.
Last few warmup reps of ohp felt weird, like I would get it up but feel sorta shaky under it. Whatever, work sets were fine. Bench felt great. I was reading in someone's log about breathing for bench (I think busto said it), where you should get as many reps as you can in the first breath. Pretty sure DFII told me this years ago but I didn't really push it that hard until today. I got 3 reps up on my first breath on my first 5 sets and the last two reps of each weren't too bad.
Saw this guy doing walkouts for squats the other day which reminded me of them and since 250 felt heavy last week, I decided to do one today before my work set. I don't know if it's placebo or something was off last week or if it actually worked but 255 felt a lot lighter than 250. The last rep on each of the last two sets took a while for me to catch my breath, but once I did they weren't much of a grind.
**** waking up super early (10am) to get to the gym before it closes, I'm the absolute worst morning person ever. Everything felt really weak, definitely the worst workout in a long time.
Back when I lived in Eastern America I usually woke up around 1pm and went to the gym at like 5-6pm so it all works out according to time zones and earth rotations and whatnot.
I felt good before and during lifting today but for whatever reason everything felt either heavy or just off. Gonna really try to get a lot of sleep and eat well before squatting tomorrow.
Bench felt much better than Tuesday, might have had an extra rep on all sets. Anyone have thoughts on doing a few extra sets at lower weight when I don't complete my 3x5 workset? I feel like I'm not doing enough when I only get 185x3x3, but maybe my thought process is off.
You're already doing 20-30 reps at ~80% of your max on your 6x5 bench days and 8-15 reps at ~90% on your heavy bench days. Adding more volume isn't the answer. You also started taking shots at 180 around 9/15 and were basically there on 10/10 when you went 5, 5, 4, but for whatever reason you regressed a bit and didn't get the full 3x5 until 11/15. At your training age I don't think you can expect to progress more than 5 lbs a month on a lift like bench, and even 5 lbs in 2 months is still measurable progress so nothing to be concerned about.
Any idea why performance slacked from 10/10 until 11/15?
Instead of adding backoff sets I think the following could be more beneficial:
1. Microloading
2. Paying closer attention to technique, especially back tightness, leg drive, and bar path on the 6x5 days.
3. Replacing some of the direct arm work with some direct chest work. Like paused DB flyes.
4. Cycling through your heavy bench work. Do 3x3x180-190 in week 1, 4x2x190-195 in week 2, 6x1x200-210 in week 3, and then back to 3x3.
5. Replace heavy OHP (currently 3x5) with 5 heavy singles. You're probably capable of OHPing 150, but have no experience with heavy weights. Heavy OHP has a good carryover to heavy bench.
6. Eat/sleep more.
7. Adding a slight preworkout stimulant like 100mgs caffeine.
I'm anti microloading. weights at the gym fluctuate by a significant % of the microload (ie in excess of 100%). I think most are better off expanding the rep/set range to slowly increase tonnage over time.
Total weekly tonnage is the number one driver. That has to increase in the long run.
