Yea I used to watch him a lot when I was younger and I used to watch a lot of educational stuff. I remember a lot of the stuff but I think it's been really good for me to revisit a lot of the material.

I'm mostly interested in improving my bench press and any mobility stuff you are willing to teach me. As I have gotten older and more mature I realized the importance of stretching and mobility work so now I spend a lot of time on it. However, I have neglected my arms/forearms/wrists specifically and that's why I'm so bad at the bench press.

I tested that theory yesterday when I did the seated press yesterday and when I have no strain or pain in the right wrist, I was able to push the weight like it's nothing.

I also really observed my hands and when I put my left hand flat, the fingers are all straight. The right hand is very hard not notice but if I really pay attention it's slightly less straight from years of playing online poker and holding a mouse. Also I think many years of putting my hands on a keyboard screwed me up a bit.

I already feel a lot better from the stretches I'm going but I'm open to any advice for getting my bench press up to like 315+. I feel really pleased with the squat and deadlift but of course I'm willing to learn anything new there as well. Basically im always willing to learn from people better than me.

The best basic info on getting better at the bench is Dave Tate's So You Think You Can Bench series. Watch the whole series, try to apply the stuff you learned for a few weeks, then go back and watch it again. Later on, I can probably dig up some of my coach's setup videos - he is a lot better at benching and teaching bench press than Tate, but he doesnt have the nice video series on youtube like Tate does. For reference about my coach (James "Priest" Burdette), I helped hand off 875 for him last week. He touched it to a two board and pressed it without much difficulty. I have seen him press 800+ off his chest in the gym several times. His meet PR is 771. He only weighs about 210. I think Tate's best bench is something in the 600s at about 275 - 300 body weight.

In the mean time, post some bench videos. Most people suck badly at bench press form. I can probably help.

Start here and search youtube or google for all seven parts of the series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHx1gYTA-Rw

Yeah I'm sure you will pick it quickly. Just climb a bunch and ask people better than you for tips/technique on problems you're struggling on. It's kinda hard to watch videos and then translate it because lots of the movements feel so foreign. Eventually the movements and body positions start to click. I would say it takes a couple months to get in the groove and also build up skin toughness to where you're not getting flappers and blisters every session.

It's a good fit for poker players imo because there's a huge problem solving aspect and it's a game. Also why I gravitated towards powerlifting and stuck with it instead of just pounding bodybuilding reps.

Also +1 to Dave Tate's bench series. Not that I know much now or am a good bencher, but I do think implementing some of his techniques quickly shot my bench up 25lbs.

I will check out your log. I dont open/read a lot of new logs, but if you like powerlifting, I will probably be interested.

4/24/2018
Deadlifts 1x4x315
3x5 x275
2x10-12x185

Wide grip lat pulls down 4x8-10x135
Last set I did a drop set

Medium grip seated row 4x8-10 dont remember the weight haha. All I know is my lats were exhausted.

Tricep extensions
4x10 @8-9

Sauna 20 minutes.

I could tell today I was less rested and didn't have enough food before going to the gym. Also I went in like 2 hours earlier than normal and I think I'm really a creature of habit. My body weight has gone up to 158-161 now. Think all of my crazy volume and eating is slowly starting to pay off.

I have watched that series before and recently I rewatched one of his videos but I will watch everything over again.
I would love to watch your coach's videos as well if you dont mind finding them. Yea I have been wanting to start recording myself on the bench as well but for a while I was just training by myself and didn't have a good spot to set my phone but now I have been training with my buddy and teaching him so I can get him to record some of my sets. I really need to improve my technique for sure. And I think I need to do mobility work for my arms.

How do you try to implement it with your weight training, on your days off or lighter days?

I have started doing cardio and conditioning stuff besides just lifting heavy. I'm just trying to figure out how to program it all together.

Thanks for taking the time to edumucate me more. I really appreciate it. Ever since I started in like high school I personally have always loved powerlifting and training for strength. In college I was kind of small imo even though I got up to 165-168lbs and was at roughly like 950ish total but my muscles never looked big and I always got bored with hypertrophy work. I didn't think it was hard, I just found it boring. Now I'm kind of trying to get best of both worlds and also care a little bit about the looks haha.

I just spent like an hour watching bench press stuff, unfortunately, tomorrow is a day off from the gym and just cardio and conditioning for me so I'm going to try to implement some stuff on Thursday and take some videos.

Find a meet and lift in it. It is a lot of fun. Most people who lift in a meet get hooked on it.

I have actually been really considering it a lot lately but my competitve nature prevents me from wanting to enter. I don't even think I would be in top 10 right now and I don't want a participation ribbon. For example the guy that is trained by my old coach, his name is Taylor Atwood, probably doesnt weigh much more than me has like a 1725lb total. My total is 925-950lbs so I think I need to lift and train at least two more years before I even should consider competing against people who have been training more consistently longer than me. And I honestly don't know if I will ever get my bench up that high, I will try my best to work on stretching and mobilizing it and strengthening it.

You're comparing yourself to a multiple time national champion. It probably took many years for him to get his total that high. Most people never will. Its very likely that you would see others in local meets near your level.

I squatted 385 @ 242 in my first meet. I made improvements in every meet I did for the first couple years.

You have to start sometime if you're ever going to start.

Taylor Atwood is a sicko, I follow him on instagram.


Tbh I'm still trying to work it out. I do feel I've had recovery issues and that climbing contributes to the fatigue. It's a tough balance. Currently I'm a fan of having pure off days during the week, instead of running 5 days in a row and taking weekends off.

A guy posted a question on FB in one of the powerlifting forums I am on there today asking if he should enter a contest. He's wondering because his totals are not very good. As of when I saw it, there were about 30 replies. All of them said something along the lines of he should enter a contest asap.

Of course, I'm aware he is a national champion and has been lifting consistently for many years. He is better than me in every aspect of powerlifting and I have no shame admitting that. I have only been seriously lifting again for idk 8 months now, and I do realize that it takes a really long time to build muscle and develop high skill. With that being said I think I need to train at least one more year and then get a coach and at least try to get top 10 and not last place. I appreciate the encouragement though.

4/25/2018
It was supposed to be a day off but my gf did something that really tilted me. It was silly and resolved now so I don't want to go into details but I went in and worked out with my buddy who was doing my work out from 4/24 and gf getting you pissed is better than any pre-workout I have ever tried. I actually did 315 on deadlifts for 4x5 and got all of the reps. So the whole work out was:

Deadlifts 4x5x315
Lat pulls down 4x8 @9
Pull ups (no idea how many or how many sets, I just kept pushing myself.)
Tricep extensions 4x8 @9

My buddy wanted to do standing tricep extensions and I tried a 60lb weight and I tried to do it but immediately started feeling pain after like 4 reps in my elbow like right below the tricep and I could hear like a popping sound. It was actually today that I was able to figure out that it's actually from having my elbow slightly elevated too much for long periods of time and neglecting to stretch it for too long. And I can tell my right tricep is way too ****ng tight compared to my left. Because then when I switched to doing cable extensions where my elbows where down in a comfortable position, I was able to actually do a decent amount of weight.

4/26/2018
Squats 4x5x245
Bench Press 5x5x155
Lying legs 4x8 @9
Leg raises 3x12

I spent a lot of time warming up today, really had to spend a decent amount of time getting the right lat loose so I can properly get tight underneath the bar for the squat. My legs actually felt great and the weight was moving pretty solid despite training for the 4th day in a row.

On the bench I really spent a long time warming up as well, doing a lot of sets with like just 45, 95, and just really trying to focus on my form. Here is a video of 155, I got different angles. I don't remember if one of the videos was 135 or not. I kept recording a bunch of sets, I think some are on my buddies phone because my phone died.





There form to me looks really ****ing terrible. On some of the sets, I noticed I had like no leg drive because I was so damn focused on the upper body. Also from what I felt I think I have a really hard time stabilizing the weight rather than pushing it. The pushing part feels fairly easy and the weight doesn't feel hard but I think my stabilizer muscles suck so I probably need to do more volume at light weights. Also, my arch looks really terrible and I think my set up sucks.

Anyone watching feel free to rip into me, I really hate my bench press so any tips or ways to improve are highly appreciated because right now I ****ing suck at it.

You need to work on your setup. You're setting up loose. That's why you're getting no leg drive. You are doing well at keeping your elbows under the bar and you're keeping your upper back fairly tight.

elbow pain - Massage your triceps. You probably have adhesions in them. Dig in hard if necessary.

Any chance you could give more tips on the set up please? I was pretty sure that was the problem too. I was trying to imitate stuff from Tate's videos but it just feels off. Also would it be a good idea to do a bench specialization program next?

Yea I'm pretty sure the biggest tightness is in the tricep, maybe some tightness in the right pec minor. I think the lat feels fairly good. Oh and one more question, what do you recommend doing for creating more stability?

Here's an old bench setup video by my coach. I cant find the newer ones right now. This is still pretty good.

Thank you, appreciate it. I think I already picked up on a few things I was doing wrong potentially. I'm going to watch it a few times more and keep trying to improve.

More stability in what? The bench? Get tight everywhere from head to toe and stay tight while the bar is in your hands. If you feel unstable side to side (do not do this if you dont feel unstable side to side) move your feet out about an inch on each side before you get tight.

I was talking about the stability of the bar, keep it in a good path and not letting it get too far behind my elbow, hand, wrist. I have watched a few videos of your coach bench and he is benching insane amount of weights and the bar seems really stable and he is in control of it.

Like I have said in a previous post, when I just try seated press where I don't have to worry about keep the bar stable and setting up properly, then same weight or more weight feels significantly easier.

Of course I think I need to increase my pushing strength but right now I think my flexibility and technique are really the big limiting factors so I really just got to focus on improving that. And my stabilizer muscles are probably terrible from not benching very much lately.

Build your lats with different kinds of rows. Build your rear delts and upper back with stuff like face pulls. Also, just set up a lot tighter. Move the bar faster both up and down while maintaining tightness. Add more weight. All that stuff feeds off each other.

If youre thinking about a bench program, here's something simple:

figure out your 1 RM. Set your goal weight at something reasonable above that, like 5 - 20 lbs.

bench twice a week - one heavy day and one speed day

on speed day, do about a dozen sets of 3 reps with about half your goal weight.

on heavy day, do about 85% of your goal weight for two doubles. Increase by 2.5% per week. After the two doubles, do the same thing you did on speed day, but only do 5 sets.

After that on both days, hit your lats hard - like 8 to 10 sets of something challenging over a couple different types of rows. Also work your delts (all 3 heads) and triceps (pushups and loaded pushups are great for triceps and core).

Take at least two days off from upper body after either heavy or light day. eg., benching sunday & wed. and doing DLs and squats on days in between.

Make sense?

Yea I used to have Taylor Atwood's coach Jason coach me and I would ask him questions about programming. And that's roughly he would program it for me too. That's kind of how I have been able to get my squat and deadlift up a decent amount, through just a lot of volume and a variation of speed work and heavy sets.

I think my lats and my glutes are one of my biggest strengths. I do a lot of face pulls but I think my shoulder strength is where I'm really lacking. I have been neglecting it because of pain but I don't think that's an optimal approach.

Triceps feel somewhat okay, i wouldnt say super strong or super weak. Doing push ups with my hands flat feels really painful. I either have to do them on my knuckles, use those push ups handles or dumbells to keep my wrist straight and neutral. I can flatten my left wrist and put my weight on it but when I try to do the same exact motion on my right wrist, it feels really painful.

I have been spending a lot of time stretching and massaging my tricep, my forearms and trying to create more ROM but I think it's going to take a decent amount of time for me not to be completely ****ed up.

Also as of right now this is how my work outs are set up:
day 1
back squat 3x7 @70%
bench press 3x7 @70%

day 2
deadlift 4x5 @72%
back option 4x6 @8-9
back option 4x8 @8-9
tricep 3x10 @8-9
(for back option I have been doing a lot of pull ups, lat pulls downs, 1arm dumbbell row.)

day 3
back squat 3x5 @75%
bench press 3x5 @75%
legs option 4x6 @8-9 (i have been doing lying leg curls to try and increase my hamstring strength)
core option
core option 3x12 (i have been doing leg raises )

day 4
back squat 3x3 @80%
deadlift 4x3 @77%
back option (pull ups) 4x8 @8-9
arms option 3x10 @8-9

So this is a squat specialization program by Jason and Ben Esgro, I got it from their site. And it gradually goes up in volume and weight %. Each day I also spend 20-23 minutes in the sauna. On the first two heavy compound exercises I typically spend 3-5 minute resting between sets. On accessory 1-2 minutes. A lot of days I do a little extra work and squeeze in face pulls and some extra ****. I have also started doing running and conditioning outside the gym, running stairs, jumping, jump rope, push ups with "perfect push ups handle twisty things".

And I feel really great and have been recovering really well for the most part. Today I took a day off from working out so I could recover. I feel really in tune with my body and my endurance/recovery time seems better than ever before. I really just don't like the lack of pushing power and how skinny I am. So I'm really trying to work hard to add more thickness. Of course it will come with time. And I also cant ****ing stand how tiny my arms look.

https://www.amazon.com/Airisland-Str...70_&dpSrc=srch

Thinking about getting one of these finger stretcher things specficially for my right hand to reverse what I have ****ed up.