Bench Press Training

29 March 2012

Absolutely weak today, I went to the gym merely to put in an appearance as I'll be missing the next three days (out of town again).

Bench press:

Warmup x a few sets
245 lbs. x 2 (even this felt way too heavy)
265 lbs. x 1
295 lbs. x 1
320 lbs. x 1 (tonight this was a legit one-rep max)
280 lbs. x 3, x 2
265 lbs. x 2

Pullups 5x5

Dips bodyweight x 10, weighted (with fat chain) x 5 x 4 sets

Smith machine rows x 2 sets, light

Bicep blitz: DB preacher curls supersetted with straight-bar preacher curls x 3 super-sets

Press Training

8 November 2011

Shity session, tired and unfocused for some reason.

Overhead press from rack:

Warmup x a bunch of sets
195 lbs. x 2
205 lbs. x 2
215 lbs. x 1
230 lbs. x 2 x fail
205 lbs. x 1
155 lbs. x 2

Two-DB overhead press 65 lbs. x 5

Pullups on bar / rings 5x5

Close-grip bench press with chains - worked up to 255 lbs. + big chains x 1

Seated HammerStrength row 4-5 sets

Bodyweight dips 2 sets x 15

Overhead Press Training

8 September 2011

I did not recover properly from the heavy bench press and squat sessions on Monday and Tuesday, so the pressing session today was lackluster. My triceps and shoulders were too tired to push big weights and the same goes for the hips and lower back, which play a huge role in a successful standing overhead press.

Overhead press from rack:

Warmup - from 115 to 175 lbs., triples, doubles and singles
185 lbs. x 1
195 lbs. x 1
205 lbs. x 1 (barely)
215 lbs. x fail

Pullups / chinups 5x5
Dips 3 sets x 10
Weighted hyperextensions 2 sets x 10

Standing double DB clean and press 60 lbs. x 3, 65 lbs.x 3, 70 lbs. x 3, 75 lbs. x 3

Incline bench DB curls 3 sets
Tricep pushdowns 2 sets

Incline ab board situps 2 sets x 12

New 5/3/1 Program - Week 6, Day 1

14 February 2011

Bench press:

Warmup 2 sets
230 lbs x 5
260 lbs x 3
290 lbs x 4 reps

Bottoms-up bench:

225 lbs x 3
245 lbs x 2
275 lbs x 1
290 lbs x fail
285 lbs x fail (should have tried this first, I almost got it)

Bent-over row:

135 lbs x 6
185 lbs x 5
235 lbs x 3 sets x 5

Pullups 5x5

Dips w/ 45 lbs. 6 sets x 5

EZ bar bicep curls 3 sets

Preacher curl machine 4 sets

Tricep pushdown 4 sets

Incline board ab work 2 sets

One torn callus feels okay, the other one will still take some time.

New 5/3/1 Program - Week 5, Day 1

7 February 2011

Decided to make some changes to my weekly schedule:

Pressing was lacklustre - probably due to excessive pressing volume in the past week; combined with the bottoms-up work I've started doing it will probably take some adaptation. However, I don't want my main lifts to suffer, so I'm reducing the number of reps and adding weight to my dips. Pullups I can still handle.

Abdominal work - I have been doing it almost daily, both in the gym after lifting and at home. This is too much. I will do one heavy day (incline board situps with weights behind head) and one regular day (incline board situps at different angles of elevation and/or hanging leg raises), then perhaps just a single set on the other days. I think the volume is doing my lower back in.

Lower back is sore by the time I get to deadlifting, which equals shitty deadlift performance; for some reason grip is weak too - I don't know how to deal with this one, it's probably due to the high (for me) volume of kettlebell work I've added in on Saturdays. I will keep at it and just hope it goes away. Alternatively there is a good deadlift program that I'd like to try - keep doing 5/3/1 for the other 3 lifts but switch to this one for the deadlift.

Anyway, today's toils:

Bench press:

Warmup 2 sets
215 lbs x 3
245 lbs x 3
275 lbs x 7 (felt a good 10 lbs. heavier)

Bottom-position bench press:

225 lbs x 2
235 lbs x 2
245 lbs x 1
255 lbs x 1
275 lbs x 1
285 lbs x fail

So now I have set a goal of bottom-up benching 285 lbs.

Pullups 5x5

Dips unweighted 1 set x 10, +45 lbs. x 4 sets x 5

EZ bar bicep curls 3 sets

Barbell skullcrushers 3 sets

Preacher curl machine 3 sets

Tricep pushdown 3 sets

Incline board situps 3 sets

New 5/3/1 Program - Week 4, Day 1

31 January 2011

Bench press:

Warmup 1 set
200 lbs x 5
230 lbs x 5
260 lbs x 10 reps (felt light)

Moved on to the power rack and did some bench press lockouts up to 365 lbs. (partial movement where I just move the bar a couple of inches from lockout), then did three sets of bottom-position bench presses. These are done by placing the bar on safety pins at chest level, then pressing from this position. Brooks Kubik swears by those in his book Dinosaur Training. I found 225 lbs. to be quite a challenge, did two doubles and a triple to really blast the chest and shoulders.

Pullups 6 sets x 5 reps, 1 set x 3 reps

Bent-over rows 135 lbs. x 5, 185 lbs. x 5, 235 lbs. x 5, 255 lbs. x 5, x 3 reps

Dips 5 sets x 10

EZ bar bicep curls 4 sets

Tricep pushdowns 3 sets

Dumbbell hammer curls 4 sets

Seated tricep press machine 3 sets

Preacher curl machine 3 sets

Abdominal work on inclined board 3 sets

5/3/1 Program - Week 20, Day 1

28 December 2009

Decided to skip deloading week as I only have time for the main exercises anyway (i.e. not a lot of assistance work going on).

Today I strugged through the day on only 3 hours of sleep. Haven't had a proper session since the beginning of this month. Hopefully I'll manage some real training in January.

Bench press:

Warmup
190 lbs x 5
220 lbs x 5
245 lbs x 10 reps (down from 11)

Dips: BW x 5 sets x 10 reps

Pullups: BW x 5 sets x 6 reps

That was it.