Stewart14

i don't know. i've decided to shut it down for a while in terms of competing. I have lots of little nagging injuries that I want to get rid of first before going super heavy again. I am going to try to build up my base of strength better this time around, as opposed to just slamming away with singles. Sure, I got most of my singles, but I never felt really good about them. I also want to back off of traditional deadlifts for a while because my back is basically telling me to, plus, since I've broken out the trap bar again, I am loving it again right now.

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Stewart14

Jan 19

Wide Stance Squats (RI=2 min)
135 x 8
225 x 5
315 x 3
315 x 3
315 x 3
315 x 3
315 x 3
315 x 3
315 x 3

Low Incline Bench Press (RI=90 sec)
135 x 8
225 x 5
265 x 3
265 x 3
265 x 3
265 x 3
265 x 3
265 x 3
265 x 3
265 x 3

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Stewart14

Jan 20

Chest Supported Rows
90 x 8
140 x 5
160 x 3
160 x 3
160 x 3
160 x 3

Chinups
BW+25 x 3
BW+25 x 3
BW+25 x 3
BW+25 x 3
BW+25 x 3
BW+25 x 3

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Triple Threat

I would have thought given your recent success that you'd be anxious to get back on the platform.

Stewart14

Jan 21

Trap Bar Deadlifts (RI=3 min)
140 x 8
230 x 5
320 x 1
Add belt
430 x 1
430 x 1
430 x 1
430 x 1
430 x 1
430 x 1

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Stewart14

trust me. I AM. But I need to play things a bit safer than I was. For instance, I need to stay away from things that aggravate the injuries, which is why I am using an incline bench for now, it seems to not bother my pec tendon, and trap bar deads instead of regular deads for now to help heal my back a bit.

The federation I just competed in has a meet scheduled in March, I will skip that one, and hopefully they will have another one over the summer which I will more than likely do if things go right between now and then

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Stewart14

jan 22

Bench Press
135 x 8
225 x 5
275 x 1
Add wrist wraps and loose inzer blast
325 x 1
325 x 1
325 x 1
325 x 1
Raw
245 x 5

Seated OH Press
175 x 3
175 x 3
175 x 3
175 x 3

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Stewart14

Jan 23

Box Squats
225 x 2 (10 sets)

Wide Stance SLDL
275 x 8
275 x 8
275 x 8

GHR
3 sets of various reps

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Stewart14

Jan 24

Lats and Biceps

Chest Supported Rows
90 x 8
140 x 5
160 x 3
160 x 3
160 x 3
160 x 3
160 x 3

Pullups
BW+15 x 3
BW+15 x 3
BW+15 x 3
BW+15 x 3
BW+15 x 3

Hammer Curls
55 x 3
55 x 3
55 x 3
55 x 3

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Stewart14

Jan 25

ME Bench

Bench Press
135 x 8
225 x 5
Wrist wraps on
275 x 2
Add loose inzer HD Blast
315 x 2
335 x 1
365 x 1

Raw
1 board
255 x 8
2 board
275 x 8
3 board
295 x 5
4 board
315 x 5
5 board
335 x 4

*the 365 bench was a grinder. Got past my sticking point from the meet, I really think the only difference was this wasn't a paused bench like in the meet. Didn't feel any pop from the shirt any more than I got by myself at the meet, only difference was my tendons and joints feel a lot better after the fact due to the shirt. So the shirt did what I wanted it to do, make me feel more confident and offer protection without much of an advantage.

*the board press thing was kind of fun actually

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AKIRA

Board presses are when you just place a board on your chest right? Does it hurt? Its suppose to increase strength through certain portions of the lift, right?

6' 209lbs (8/16)
Bench 365 (12/3)
Weighted Pullups 80lbs 3x3 (3/19)
Squat 370
Deadlift after herniation 385lbs 3x3 (3/17)
NASM certified 2/06

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Stewart14

yes

no

yes.

usually when you have partners, they will hold the board on your chest for you, but when you do it alone, you have to improvise, so I use one of my knee wraps to wrap the boards around my body.

Generally speaking, if you continue to do your bench presses all raw, you theoretically wouldn't need to do much in the way of board presses, maybe the highest you would go would be a 3 board, but when you go raw, as long as you can get the weight off your chest, you should complete the lift (that is of course unless you are me who gets stuck halfway up). My bench shirt doesn't do much at all at the bottom, but the real deal shirts cover the lower third of the lift, so you need to use more of the upper range boards like 3-5 for your tricep strength.

It was a refreshing change of pace to do these today though, I really enjoyed that part of my day. hitting 365 finally wasn't too shabby either.

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Double D

I see your starting to use the bench shirts huh? I hate trying to get em on and off, but they sure are a must when competing!

Triple Threat

So now that you're an expert on bench shirts, let me ask you a question. Is there any carry-over to benching raw? That is, suppose your max is 300 raw. You use a shirt for several weeks/months. When you go back to raw, will your max be higher than 300?

Stewart14

yeah, but like I mentioned, the one I have right now is just the standard inzer HD blast shirt that is 2 sizes too big. Not exactly a hard core bench shirt, and since this one is 2 sizes too big and with an open back, I can basically put this thing on and off at will between sets, and it literally doesn't even bruise my arms when I use it, so if you are at all familiar with shirts, you would know that this is basically just a super tight t-shirt for all intents and purposes.

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Stewart14

TT...hardly an expert, but I am guessing that was a bit of sarcasm??

anyway, in my opinion, I think the answer could be yes or no depending on how you go about your whole training program. Like you already know, you need lots of low end strength to get the bar off your chest when benching raw, and with the shirt you need lots of middle to upper range strength to get the bar to lockout.

so if you decide that all of your heavy benching will be in a shirt, it doesn't pay to concentrate on the low end because this will be taken care of by the shirt, so you focus on the top end and really strengthen your triceps up. then you go back to raw and while you might have the triceps strength, you might not have the strength anymore at the bottom to get the bar off your chest.

now obviously if you work up to a 600 bench press in a shirt, I am sure you can handle quite a bit of weight raw, but at that point you might not want to do the raw press for fear of an injury since you haven't been training it.

my best advice for guys like us who are older and whose prospects for competition might stop with local or maybe smaller regional powerlifting meets would be to use a shirt to bench press heavy and if you want to do raw work, do various board presses or floor presses so as not to utilize the entire range of motion. Or, do moderate weight, lots of sets/reps for bench press and use a shirt for max attempts. It's nice to say you can bench 405 raw, but really, what is there to gain by doing that? and you run the risk of getting an injury that sets you back.

I would definitely get a shirt if I were you, but do like I did, get one 1 or 2 sizes too big and with an open back so you can put it on and off by yourself, and start with one of the cheaper ones, like an inzer blast shirt to get used to it. My shirt is perfect for injury prevention and it isn't crazy like the real deal ones. I can touch with 135 on the bar in my shirt for example, some of the real deal ones you can't touch with over 400 pounds on the bar....that is absolutely sick.

So get the shirt, it costs maybe $50. Do your heavy benching in the shirt, and then do some raw work for reps either with the floor press, various board presses or moderate weight bench press, and then enter a competition, because you really should and it's really a lot of fun!

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AKIRA

Id think so. If for nothing else, its a psychological boost.

6' 209lbs (8/16)
Bench 365 (12/3)
Weighted Pullups 80lbs 3x3 (3/19)
Squat 370
Deadlift after herniation 385lbs 3x3 (3/17)
NASM certified 2/06

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AKIRA

Did you see gains from Floor Presses?

I am just thinking about when the elbows touch the ground, your triceps should flatten ON the floor. Not something Id want to do...

But what is your take on it?

6' 209lbs (8/16)
Bench 365 (12/3)
Weighted Pullups 80lbs 3x3 (3/19)
Squat 370
Deadlift after herniation 385lbs 3x3 (3/17)
NASM certified 2/06

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Triple Threat

Check out Heavy Bomber's journal. There are some links to his videos. Watch the one where he does floor presses. It's an interesting way to avoid having your triceps crushed into the floor. Of course, with the amount of weight he's tossing around, that's a good thing.

Triple Threat

Not intended to be sarcastic. It seems that you've been doing quite a bit of research on the topic, so I thought I'd see what you think.

Stewart14

I do too much research to actually put what I research into practice....does that make sense?

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Stewart14

I love them, but have stopped doing them since I have hurt my pec tendon, this exercise really seems to aggravate that area on me.

however, that being said, I had gotten up to probably 305 I think for sets of 5 when I did them and I had no triceps discomfort really, and that was with my arms resting on the floor for probably a second on each rep.

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RasPlasch

Never felt any tricep discomfort from floor presses either.

Stewart14

Jan 27

Squats
135 x 8
225 x 5
Add belt
315 x 2
Add Inzer Z-suit straps down
375 x 1
375 x 1
375 x 1
375 x 1
Raw
275 x 5

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Rubes11

nice squats.

5'7 179lbs 36in vert,4.55 40yrd dash
goal by fall 185-190lbs
bench 255x2 4/20
squat 405x1 4/20

Stewart14

Jan 29

Chest Supported Rows
90 x 8
140 x 5
160 x 3
160 x 3
160 x 3
160 x 3
160 x 3
160 x 3

Chinups
BW+30 x 3
BW+30 x 3
BW+30 x 3
BW+30 x 3
BW+30 x 3
BW+30 x 3

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Stewart14

thanks, they are getting there, slowly but surely. My goal is to squat 450 by the end of this year, so I think that's pretty attainable if I work slowly up to it and not get greedy.

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AKIRA

How much do you weigh?

6' 209lbs (8/16)
Bench 365 (12/3)
Weighted Pullups 80lbs 3x3 (3/19)
Squat 370
Deadlift after herniation 385lbs 3x3 (3/17)
NASM certified 2/06

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Stewart14

down to around 212-215 depending on the day now. Last summer I was at my all time high of around 223ish.

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AKIRA

Me too! Gonna try to get under 200lbs. See how strong I am vs. how look vs. how I feel vs. difficulty to maintain there vs. whatever the fuck else.

After wobbling on some squats, I started wondering how much longer I need to lift heavy weight with this beer belly.

6' 209lbs (8/16)
Bench 365 (12/3)
Weighted Pullups 80lbs 3x3 (3/19)
Squat 370
Deadlift after herniation 385lbs 3x3 (3/17)
NASM certified 2/06

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.