A Girl, it still could be your lats, because chins aren’t really a big bench helper. Rows work the back in the same plane as the bench and should be part of a bench specialization. Are you trying to just improve your bench, or just want to pass a plateau for bodybuilding?
BTW: The Westside site has no articles. The WSB articles are kept at Deepsquatter’s site.
John K, good idea I haven’t tried partial reps before and I usually set myself up in a power rack when I don’t have a spotter. Ulisses, I’ll try the “pressing” also, although as soon as I do, whatdaya bet Hanz and Franz will come over to “help”. Jay and all, I’m doing low reps, high sets with heavy weights and following WSB somewhat- I do more ME than explosive, since I workout 4x per week and try to do legs and back ala WSB also. Yep, front delts need more work.
Bought DD's are legal at a meet aren't they? You think DDs would put me in the next weight class and I would lose all the advantage though?...Ha! I can't believe I wrote that!
Jay, we have 2 1/2lb plates at the gym how low do platemates go?
Krakerz, yes I was thinking I need to do more bent over BB rows as suggested. They make me more sore than 1 arm rows, I lose my form beyond 125lbs and I don’t like them much ( a dead giveaway that I need to do more!)What grip would you guys suggest? Been there done that with the bodybuilding, did pretty well, 2nd in the state, but its too political. My goal is strength now, much more objective.
You can get them in 5/8ths of a pound. I haven’t used them in a while because they vanished from my gym. I’d love to make a suggestion or relay what worked for me but I can almost smell the flames already. Since I don’t care, my bench soared 15% in 7 weeks following a Pavel-like workout approach. I wish I could convince you to try the reduced volume, increased frequency, increased intensity approach for just two weeks. No one that I have challanged to try this approach has failed to gain. True it only is about 10 people, but 100% is 100% nonetheless. One guy has changed his entire training paradigm because of his results. He’ll change again because the evangelical like mentality is more prevalent in weight training/nutrition circles than any other arena that I know of.
Although the size gains are not a result of this approach, if absolute power is your desire, it beats most, especially considering the time invested.
By the way, should you consider double D’s, you may want to start working lockouts only as this will be your new range of motion anyway.
For grip on the rows, use the same grip as your bench. Row in the same plane as the bench, so that your elbows are in the same position at the top of the row as the bottom of the bench.
I’ve also taken to setting up a bench in the rack and hooking 2 bands over the top and around a bar so as i can row in the same bench position as for competition