A Bench Log, Yes it's Come to This

After re-tweaking my back 2 weeks ago, I have finally come to terms with the fact that I am simply going to have to take an extended period of time off from squats/deads/oly stuff. My bench and press strength have been a weak point for me, so I am going to take this time and opportunity to try and improve this lift.

I have not taken a max to the chest in a long time, I am going to guess that it’s 275 and base all percentages from it.

To start, I’m following a very simple 9 week Westside style program. All will be done raw, no bands or chains. I’ll see how this goes and then come up with a new program depending on the results. I am going to run 200 of both test and deca respectively. Diet is going to be high calorie and mostly clean, however I’m going to eat whatever I want when I want it.

I will also be focusing on recovery/rehab of my back, shoulder and knee. I had my first consult yesterday with a new Doc who works in a field called “Matrix Repatterning”. Do a google search on it, it’s fascinating. Anyways, on to the training.

11/8/08
D/E bench
flat barbell bench; 8 sets of 3 at 60% of 1rm
165x3x8 - all sets were very fast and easy, as they should have been

dumbbell tricep extensions; 4 sets of 8
30x8, 50x8, 40x8, 45x8-right weight

dumbbell side raises; 3 sets of 10
25x10, 30x10, 30x10

bent over dumbbell raise/laterals; 3 sets of 10
20x10x3

Felt like an easy first day, workout went fast and I left feeling like I should have done more.

11/9 off day

11/10/08
M/E bench
flat barbell 2 board press; warm up with triples until they become difficult, then switch to singles and work up to 1 rep max
barx20
100x3
145x3
185x3
225x3-add 2 board
275x3-pretty easy but switched
315x1-very fast and easy
335x1-harder than it should have been
350x1-better than the 335
355xmiss-this is dumb, I think I got tired?

lying bb tricep extensions; 6 sets of 10
65x10, 95x10, 95x10, 95x10, 95x10, 95x10

pushdowns; 3 sets of 10
90x10, 60x10, 60x10 - triceps are shot

1 arm dumbbell press; 3 sets of 15
35x15, 35x15, 35x12-had to push press last 3 each arm to get 15 reps

Very tough workout, triceps felt like they had been worked very hard. Shoulders feel good, chest feels neglected.

11/11 Off day

Monopoly

[quote]Monopoly19 wrote:
After re-tweaking my back 2 weeks ago, I have finally come to terms with the fact that I am simply going to have to take an extended period of time off from squats/deads/oly stuff. My bench and press strength have been a weak point for me, so I am going to take this time and opportunity to try and improve this lift.

I have not taken a max to the chest in a long time, I am going to guess that it’s 275 and base all percentages from it.

To start, I’m following a very simple 9 week Westside style program. All will be done raw, no bands or chains. I’ll see how this goes and then come up with a new program depending on the results. I am going to run 200 of both test and deca respectively. Diet is going to be high calorie and mostly clean, however I’m going to eat whatever I want when I want it.

I will also be focusing on recovery/rehab of my back, shoulder and knee. I had my first consult yesterday with a new Doc who works in a field called “Matrix Repatterning”. Do a google search on it, it’s fascinating. Anyways, on to the training.

11/8/08
D/E bench
flat barbell bench; 8 sets of 3 at 60% of 1rm
165x3x8 - all sets were very fast and easy, as they should have been

dumbbell tricep extensions; 4 sets of 8
30x8, 50x8, 40x8, 45x8-right weight

dumbbell side raises; 3 sets of 10
25x10, 30x10, 30x10

bent over dumbbell raise/laterals; 3 sets of 10
20x10x3

Felt like an easy first day, workout went fast and I left feeling like I should have done more.

11/9 off day

11/10/08
M/E bench
flat barbell 2 board press; warm up with triples until they become difficult, then switch to singles and work up to 1 rep max
barx20
100x3
145x3
185x3
225x3-add 2 board
275x3-pretty easy but switched
315x1-very fast and easy
335x1-harder than it should have been
350x1-better than the 335
355xmiss-this is dumb, I think I got tired?

lying bb tricep extensions; 6 sets of 10
65x10, 95x10, 95x10, 95x10, 95x10, 95x10

pushdowns; 3 sets of 10
90x10, 60x10, 60x10 - triceps are shot

1 arm dumbbell press; 3 sets of 15
35x15, 35x15, 35x12-had to push press last 3 each arm to get 15 reps

Very tough workout, triceps felt like they had been worked very hard. Shoulders feel good, chest feels neglected.

11/11 Off day

Monopoly
[/quote]

Dude…350 off a 2-board and your bench is 275. I bet its closer to 315 if not more. I have lot of trouble believing you have that kind of disparity between the two.

[quote]Pemdas wrote:

Dude…350 off a 2-board and your bench is 275. I bet its closer to 315 if not more. I have lot of trouble believing you have that kind of disparity between the two. [/quote]

Ya, that’s what my partners said as well. I would guess that it’s higher than 275 rather than lower. I have been chronically overtrained, so if anything working off a lower estimate shouldn’t hurt me, it just may not get me as strong. We’ll see how things progress, I may up the weight on d/e days if the bar speed stays fast. Thanks for the vote of confidence!

Monopoly

dont u hate when u mess up ur back and cant squat/dead, ive done this bout 3 times :frowning: good luck and get better fellow

[quote]Monopoly19 wrote:
After re-tweaking my back 2 weeks ago, I have finally come to terms with the fact that I am simply going to have to take an extended period of time off from squats/deads/oly stuff. My bench and press strength have been a weak point for me, so I am going to take this time and opportunity to try and improve this lift.

I have not taken a max to the chest in a long time, I am going to guess that it’s 275 and base all percentages from it.

To start, I’m following a very simple 9 week Westside style program. All will be done raw, no bands or chains. I’ll see how this goes and then come up with a new program depending on the results. I am going to run 200 of both test and deca respectively. Diet is going to be high calorie and mostly clean, however I’m going to eat whatever I want when I want it.

I will also be focusing on recovery/rehab of my back, shoulder and knee. I had my first consult yesterday with a new Doc who works in a field called “Matrix Repatterning”. Do a google search on it, it’s fascinating. Anyways, on to the training.

11/8/08
D/E bench
flat barbell bench; 8 sets of 3 at 60% of 1rm
165x3x8 - all sets were very fast and easy, as they should have been

dumbbell tricep extensions; 4 sets of 8
30x8, 50x8, 40x8, 45x8-right weight

dumbbell side raises; 3 sets of 10
25x10, 30x10, 30x10

bent over dumbbell raise/laterals; 3 sets of 10
20x10x3

Felt like an easy first day, workout went fast and I left feeling like I should have done more.

11/9 off day

11/10/08
M/E bench
flat barbell 2 board press; warm up with triples until they become difficult, then switch to singles and work up to 1 rep max
barx20
100x3
145x3
185x3
225x3-add 2 board
275x3-pretty easy but switched
315x1-very fast and easy
335x1-harder than it should have been
350x1-better than the 335
355xmiss-this is dumb, I think I got tired?

lying bb tricep extensions; 6 sets of 10
65x10, 95x10, 95x10, 95x10, 95x10, 95x10

pushdowns; 3 sets of 10
90x10, 60x10, 60x10 - triceps are shot

1 arm dumbbell press; 3 sets of 15
35x15, 35x15, 35x12-had to push press last 3 each arm to get 15 reps

Very tough workout, triceps felt like they had been worked very hard. Shoulders feel good, chest feels neglected.

11/11 Off day

Monopoly
[/quote]

Your benching 2 days in a row?

[quote]BlackLabel wrote:

Your benching 2 days in a row?[/quote]

It was Saturday am to Monday pm. Probably a little to close together this week but that’s just how it worked out.

Monopoly

11/12/08; Lower body

shitty day

reverse hypers; 25lbsx8, 25lbsx8, 50lbsx8

belt squats;
3 plates x 20, 5 plates x 15, 8 plates x 10, 10 plates x 0 belt broke, that was fun…

unilateral leg press;
bunch of sets of reps here

rolling thunder; some low weight with holds for time

good mornings; 65lbsx10, 65x10, 65x10

Done. Everyone else was doing axel cleans, I cannot express how unhappy I was to watch, it was tough.

Monopoly

11/13/08; back/bi’s

seated row
100x20, 150x10, 200x10, 270x10, 200x10

superset with

atlantis pulldown (good machine)
plate(per side)x10, 2 platesx10, 2 platesx10, 1 platex10

chest supported tbar row

2 plates x 10 x 4 sets

superset with

chin ups
x4,x4,x4,x3

reverse grip curls
45x10, 65x10, 85x10, 85x9

preacher curl machine
4 sets, drop sets, forced reps, etc

db hammer curls
45x10, 55x10, 65x12

Spent.

Monopoly

11/15; DE bench

band work, shoulder distraction, foam roller (warmups)

flat bb bench; barx20, 100x5,
175x3x10 upped bar weight by 10lbs today, still moved pretty fast

lying db tricep extensions;
45x8x4

standing laterals;
30x10x3

bent over laterals;
20x10, 35x10, 25x12

Good workout, I was tired at the end. Shoulders still feeling good so far!

Monopoly

[quote]bignate wrote:
dont u hate when u mess up ur back and cant squat/dead, ive done this bout 3 times :frowning: good luck and get better fellow [/quote]

Hate would be stating it lightly :slight_smile: Some of it is my own fault I’m sure, oh well. Enjoying the benching so far, just missing everything else. Thanks Nate, stay strong.

Monopoly

11/17/08 m/e bench

band warmup stuff, piston pushdowns, shoulder distraction, face pulls, etc. this is a good quick warmup that really seems to help me.

flat barbell (2 board)
barx20, 100x5, 135x3, 185x3, 225x3, 275x3, 315x1, 335x1, 355x1-got it this week, crushed it! Felt like 90-95% of my max today but called it here. Was a very good lift for me technique wise. This may be a pr, I looked back in my old log and found a 350x1 4 board, and a 385x1 off the foam roller. Maybe a pr in that specific lift?

lying bb tricep ext
75x10, 95x10x5

tricep pushdowns
95x10, 95x10, 75x10

standing 1 arm db overhead press
45x15x3

Overall stronger than last week. One thing I am enjoying is working on improving my form benching. Arched back, leg drive, breathing into stomach, etc. Lots of little things that many times when I trained I did not do. Shoulders and elbows were sore during workout and this AM, probably what I get for 60 hours inbetween d/e and m/e workouts. I am going to switch the d/e work to Friday afternoons which should provide enough time between the two. Weird night with the “team” last night, everyone pretty much did their own thing. I guess it’s just hard to get 4 people on the same page time wise.

Monopoly

11/19 lower body

reverse hyper, 50x10x3

squats, barx10, 100x10, 135x10, 135x10, 135x10

leg ext leg curl superset, 4 sets

light snatch, switch to 1 arm snatch

worked up to 115 per hand. Right arm had some more but no need to push right now.

hang snatch with light weight

Nothing too exciting. Doc gave me go ahead to do some of this stuff with light weights so I’ll take it.

Monopoly

11/20; accessory

seated row supersetted with atlantis pulldowns. Think we did 5 supersets here, lighter on the rows and heavy on the pulldowns, much better than the previous week

pullups/chinups; 5 sets of 5 or something

pullovers; 4 or 5 sets of variying reps and weight

seated preacher curl; up to 105 for 5

standing bb curls; we did this in “i go you go” fashion with 55lbs. have not a clue how many sets we did, but it was a ton, over 15 sets. my partner finally said if I could pound out 15 reps he’d quit, so I did 15. We were pouring sweat and my arms are numb today, very good workout.

Supposed to do D/E bench tonight but I’m feeling pretty beat up. I’ll probably just slather up with some blue heat and get it done…

Monopoly

11/21 d/e bench

I knew I felt shitty and should have missed today, but for some reasone still went it. Combination of tired/wrong time of day and too much food too soon before a workout I think.

flat barbell bench; warmups, 175x3x3, 155x3x7. Had to drop bar weight, was moving slow.

lying db tricep ext; 45x8x4

standing db laterals; 30x10x3

Ditched the rear delt work, just tired and not into it.

Came down with a very bad cold Friday night, it hit all of a sudden. I did not train over the weekend at all. Supposed to have m/e bench tonight, I am up in the air over what to do. Will just play by ear at the moment.

Monopoly

11/24 m/e bench

Funny how your head works. Felt pretty shitty all day, then decided I was going to train and felt better :slight_smile: Had some coffee and felt pretty good by the time I started lifting.

Did my normal band warmup routine

floor press; 135x10, 135x10, 225x3, 275x3, 295x3-slow, 315x1, 335x1-ass came off the ground, 345x1-grinder, 355xmiss, not a chance.

I feel much weaker on this lift than the 2 board.

jm press; 135x8, 135x8, 185x3, 185x3, 135x10. These are fucking hard when done right.

incline db press; 80x10, 100x8-fuck that got hard. Was supposed to be 2 sets of 10

seated db cleans; 45x8, 60x8, 50x8, 50x8

hanging leg raise; 15, 13, 10, 10

Pretty good workout overall. I think I will blame the low number on being sick. I was really excited for that lift, thought I’d have 375 for sure.

Monopoly

Edit: just went back and checked old log, looks like 315 was my previous PR on the floor press so I guess this is good?

Also, my food intake has been shitty. Here is yesterday, it’s pretty close to how most days have gone.

4 fried eggs
4 slice bacon
4 slice toast with butter
2 glasses whole milk

3 scoop muscle milk with 16oz whole milk

3 slices of pizza with big salad

3 scoop mm shake with 16oz whole milk

3 big bowls of homemade stew
4 dinner rolls
1 glass whole milk

1 large slice coconut cream pie and you guessed it

1 glass of whole milk :open_mouth:

Monopoly

11/26? accessory/back biceps

Pretty much the same as my last two.

Seated row superset with atlantis pulldown, something like 6 or 7 sets? It was a lot

pullups/chinups, 5 sets of 5

pullover machine

reverse grip preacher curls

seated db curls

Major pump in my back, bi’s were shot by the time I got to them

11/28 d/e bench

band warmup, foam roller, ab work

flat barbell
barx20, 135x3, 175x3x10. Bar moved well today. My partner used the same bar weight but added doubled mini bands. I tried them on set 8 and liked it. Looking forward to using them in the next cycle

close grip bp
185x5, 225x5 slow, 225x3, 255x3, 245x3 very tired at this point

1 arm overhead db extensions
25x10, 30x10, 30x10

plate raises
45x10x3

Man, front delts and triceps are shot! Time for more turkey and some ice I think.

Monopoly

11/29 lower body

snatch
worked up to 3 sets of doubles with 80kg. very light, but did not want to push my back

box squat
4 or 5 sets of 135 for 10 and one set of 225. no pain which was good, hard not to go heavier

step ups
4 sets of 10 at 135

face pulls
4 sets of 12 with lighter weight

some foam roller and stretch work. never really got into it, kinda hard to with rehab stuff I guess.

Monopoly

12/1 m/e bench

What a bad day. Had been looking forward to the workout. Gave powerdrive my first run, thought a pr was going to fall for sure.

band warmups, shoulder distractions

floor press; barx12, 135x8, 225x3, 275x3, 315x1-slow, 335xmiss, 335xmiss, 315xmiss, 275x4

Wow. 335 just felt like a load. I have some videos that helped some I think. My first rep sucks on this lift, the second and third always seem to be much better. I think I am starting the decent with the bar too high on the chest? If anyone has any ideas after looking at the videos, I’m all ears! Just never really felt like I had any power today. I am already looking forward to Friday. On top of the dynamic work I am supposed to hit a heavy single and NOT MISS. I have no clue what I will attempt, maybe the 275 I used as my projected max?

jm press: 135x8x4

incline db press: 80x10x2

seated db cleans: 50x8x4

hanging leg raise: 5x12

Edit: Yes I am aware my ass is coming wayyy of the ground and this is a big issue. One thing hurting me on this lift is the lack of leg drive I have recently found on flat bench. I may go to a legs flat on the floor next week to avoid this?

Monopoly

315 miss

275x4