Maybe for a single....as long as I can get my bench to start moving imo. I think at some point with it and OHP I'm gonna get a bit of momentum....but maybe I'll have to do some smolov volume work at some point if I'm ever gonna get up there reasonably soon.

I considered not posting this because of how brotastic it was and how embarrassing it is, but here's the bench program I used (I did it at least 4 times) to add weight to my bench. At least the rep schemes might be useful for someone; it's good for a laugh at least.

Yugo --

If you want to improve your bench, it's got to be the priority around which you build your workout. Obviously still squat and DL, but whatever program you use is going to need a lot more volume and heavy rep work for bench.

Montecore - Yeah, what I really should probably do though if I'm going to build around an upper body lift, is build around my OHP. It's significantly weaker than my bench and from what I understand, there is maybe more correlation from OHP -> Bench than the other way around.

But we'll see, I'm definitely not going to change anything too much for this cycle, but maybe next cycle I'll rethinking assistance and add in press/bench assistance stuff on leg days or something.

6/11

Squat
wu+3x5x250

Was a bit of a grind, one or two might have been partial GMs, but onward and upward still.

Bench

wu+3x5x255

Easier than I expected, I started pushing "out" off my chest (really I'm sure I'm actually pushing more straight up as opposed to up and back) and that's helped a fair bit. 265 seems well within reach by the end of the month.

Pendlays
3x5x170

Considering maybe switching things up and going to weighted chins, or alternating Pendlays and weighted chins, as I don't really have anyplace I can GTG chins anymore.

6/13

Squats

wu + 3x5x255

The first set was really hard, but I tightened up my upper and lower back and made sure to concentrate on staying back on the way down and sets 2 and 3 were easier (but still hard). I am so stoked that my squat is finally improving (even though 140 pound guys squat twice as much as I do lol).

Press
wu + 3x5x142.5

This was the opposite, the first set was really smooth and then the last two sets were grinds. I still feel really good with how it's progressing, though, hopefully I have a few more jumps in me.

DL
wu + 1x5x255

Not sure who posted it (cha maybe?) but I tried treating each rep of my workset as a separate rep (i.e. stand up and reset in between each rep) and boy did it help. I feel pretty confident I can hit 3 plates relatively soon now.

Also, this is a big milestone for me, because my squat and DL are now equal to my bench. Hopefully I can keep going and get my ratios in good shape, but I'm really stoked to have reached this point -- I had my doubts that it would ever happen. Thanks for the support!

You also were able to diagnose and make slight tweaks on the fly to your squat - which means you know how it *should* feel and developing good kinesthetic feel for it.

I think Cha has been posting recently about doing single sets with DL. Someone else maybe mentioned what you're talking about and reset each rep but I think the scheme Cha's doing involves actual rest (not just a reset) after a rep. So you do like 12, 1 rep sets. Whereas you're doing a really long set.

When I was retooling my DL I found resetting was helpful to a point but I also think it's good to be able to just pause long enough to take a deep breath, set your lower back, tighten the **** out of everything and then pull. B/c I think that's the way DLs are "normally" supposed to be done (vs. touch-n-go or completely resets). Although on high rep sets I seem to do a reset when I take my belt off (stupid belt lol).

Also, congrats on getting your DL to your Squat! I'd assume you should be able to DL well b/c of long arms....I'm not sure if this is true but I'm trying to talk myself into this to keep moving my DL and become a DL monster.

Videos man! Videos!!

I don't think it takes too much kinesthetic feel to realize you are good morninging your last few reps too much, but thanks.

WRT the DLs, I think I am going to try to work back up to doing doubles or triples and then resetting, but because of how tall I am it's hard for me to get the bar down in exactly the right spot every time -- that's definitely something to work on though, you're right.

I think my DL has a while still to go before I plateau, but I can tell I'm not going to be able to make a ton of progress on the squat before I have to do a reset (i.e. I don't think I'll make it to 315 without a reset or two). That being said, I'm making solid progress there and I'm looking forward to breaking the two plates and a quarter mini squat milestone. That's my semi-long term goal for my bench workset too, so we'll see how that goes.

I dno, I often will suggest something to my g/f about her squat and she'll say the next couple reps felt better. She is very good at following directions though....so if she's a bit off the back of her heels all I have to do is mention it just a bit. OTOH, she can tell me my spine is bursting into a fire of blood and I'll possibly not hear her and keep attempting to GM a barbell with my forehead touching the ground. But, if I hear her mention how bad my GM was after the set, I can usually correct it for the next one - in the past though, who knows what I'd do on the next set lol.

I remember the goal: 315 on everything including press!

I can obviously tell when I'm doing something not so great during a set, but it's touch and go as to whether or not I fix it that set or the one after. My workout partner still won't get his knees out far enough, though, and it's been a year, so I guess it just doesn't happen for some people after a certain point lol.

It was actually 265 by the end of the month for everything, but yeah -- I seem to be pretty on course with that (except for press ). I expect whether or not I get there will depend largely on how long the buns stay in the oven, I'd imagine -- I am on schedule for 265 on the squat and DL on Monday, so hopefully that ends up happening.

Man, congrats on the twins. Tell your wife as much as breastfeeding is hard in the beginning, it is totally worth it about a month in. Healthier kids makes everything easier IMO.

Lifts are looking good, I'd trade my 20lbs on my squat to be able to press anything heavier than my son.

Thanks! She's definitely going to give it a try; her mother and sister never really did it so she's naturally a bit apprehensive. We've got the giant wrap around pillow thingy so we'll see how it goes.

I hear you on the bench -- it'll come for sure. GTG those pushups and add in some heavy singles and negatives if you can find the time. Also, watch this series of videos if you haven't already.

6/15

Squat
wu+ 3x5x260

My first sets are always grinds; I think I go down too far and lose extension a bit and get stuck. My second and third sets were better, as I stayed tighter and went down as far as I good while staying tight and not having to GM the weight up. One of these days I'll do it the easy way.

Bench
wu+2x5x260, 1x4x260

So I got a little cocky after Monday and added 5 lbs instead of 2.5 and I failed the last rep of set 3 -- I was really close to getting it but it just wouldn't go past the sticking point. I'm pretty confident about getting it next time, though.

Pendlays
3x5x170

I think I'm going to mix in weighted chins starting next bench day and alternate pendlays and chins from now on.

On SS this is what happened with my g/f. I was kind of the opposite, getting worse as I did more sets. But if she struggled a bit on the first, I knew by the 3rd it would look easy, lol.

Do you focus on your warmup reps much? Do you try to do them explosively to help activate your muscles and really get your body ready for the work sets?

You are going to be such a bench monster, it's still going up linearly!

I have been getting better at that, but I probably do need to be more explosive when I warm up (especially with my last two warmup sets, where the weight gets moderately heavy). I still need to groove in exactly the right depth to go to (and probably need to get a video up too, my workout partner has been away for most of the last month) so it's an ongoing process for sure.

Going to be??

Oh, lol, oops. I actually wrote that as "you are a huge bench monster" and then thought (jesus, at this rate think of what he will be benching in a year?!" so then changed it but didn't read it again.....should have gone with the first "slight" rather than the second imo.

As for explosiveness, I got that advice for months but probably follow it better now than I ever did, mainly from just having a better "feel" for whether a warmup actually prepared me mentally for a work set or if I was just doing an easy warmup and not paying attention.

WaHHAHAHAHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Fair enough, we'll have an interesting case study on the effect of lack of sleep on benching soon enough I expect.

I see how you are.

Yeah I need to start actually thinking about my warmups a bit more instead of making them happen. I usually have one or two things I cue, like weight on heels or keep lower back extension, but I rarely think about exploding up -- I should definitely start.

It definitely helps on a heavy work set when I'm already basically up before I start thinking "I'm being crushed by this weight, I'm a failure, why can't I lift this?" lol. Of course, doing a higher rep routine is helping avoid that mental hangup I seem to have with squats too. Once I've gotten 5 reps in with no chance of failure, it's easier to think I can grind 5 more out (or whatever). But that exploding up and essentially having a good tempo to a rep even would help me on a set of doubles since that second one is gonna be so much more grindy than the first if I'm going close to all out.

6/20

Squat
wu+ 3x5x265

Tried to concentrate on activating myself with my warmups instead of going through the motions and it seemed to help. My only bad rep was the first one of the second set; came down way on my toes and had to fight it; everything else was pretty smooth.

Press
wu + 3x5x145

Getting pretty hard; supersetted with 3x15x17.5 facepulls as suggested by someone in some log on here I was browsing through recently.

DL
wu+ 3x5x265

These are getting easier; I managed to do them in sets of 3 and 2 with a form reset in between. It's hard for me to do any more consecutively because I scrape the top of my knees so much when I'm lowering the bar down; I'm not sure there's really a solution for that other than knee pads but whatever.

When you lower the bar on DLs you need to hinge more at the hips before bending your knees so that the bar is just below them when you bend more than just a bit. Then you can let it down the rest of the way to avoid hitting your knees. Or you can just drop it if you're using a platform or something I guess.

Thanks Yugo, I'll give that a try -- I really try to shove my hips and butt back on the downward part of the motion, but there's only so much I can do because I've got pretty long legs. I'll see how it goes on Monday.

Well, I could give you real advice and not imaginary advice if you would post real videos instead of imaginary ones, .

They're coming, I don't have any way to shoot them when I'm working out solo and my workout partner has been AWOL for like a month.

6/22

Squat
wu+3x5x270 -- Grinding

Bench
wu+ 3x5x260 -- Grinding

Chins
6/5/4 x bw + 0

Good lord have I deteriorated on these, this was embarrassing. Need to find a chinning bar that will fit the molding in the new place, because this isn't cutting it.

Face pulls
3x15x17.5

I remember in another thread someone was talking about "when the weight got hard" being what caused a lot of people to quit, and what separates the men from the boys. Squat, bench, and press are hard; I will not be quitting. I will earn my resets through failure.

^^^^^ push through it! Make sure you're getting enough sleep and recovering enough between workouts. Also get enough rest in between really heavy sets. Obv eat enough brotein and cals, too.

Light weight, baby!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMy3uuZResw