Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Meet Training / Week 2 - Bench

Paused Close Grip Bench - all reps paused
bar x 40
135x15
135x5
185x4
225x3
275x2
315x1
335x1
355x3

Incline Press -
225x8
315x8
275x9

Db Curls/Db Upright Rows - 4 sets of 20 each

Notes - REALLY nice session.  The close grips are still moving like speed bench.  355x3 all paused was a complete joke.  So much so that I wondered after the set if I programmed too low.  Then I realized that me asking myself that means I programmed perfectly.

10 comments:

  1. How much more do you think you could bench if you went regular or wide grip? I understand why you only train close grip, but have you thought about maybe just busting out the wider grip for competition only?

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  2. Nope. Not worth it to me at all.

    I could probably get close to 500 but I hit 400+ at a young age, then struggled with shoulder and pec problems for years trying to continue benching that way. It wasn't until I gave it up and moved to a close grip all the time, that the problems went away. When that happened my bench climbed again.

    I still have some pec issues that limit my volume on it, so my guess is I'd never reach 500 benching wider because I would blow something out before that actually happened.

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  3. Paul, in a few months I'll be coming up on my 1 year anniversary of lifting. I've been thinking about this a lot: Up to this point I've used a really wide grip (middle fingers on the rings) simply because that's where I gripped it when I started, and so I've just stayed with it. I am concerned as an older novice (I think we're around the same age) that I could run into the shoulder problems guys like you talk about sooner rather than later. The deal I made with myself was that when I finally hit a 225 bench (actual lift, not projected), I would drop back down and start working back up with close-grip. This week is the end of a strength phase (ultimate beastdom), and then I have a week off before I go into conditioning. In all honesty, do you think I would be better served starting to work close-grip after this week even though it probably means pushing 225 a lot farther down the road, or am I likely working with such light weights that I can safely make my push to 225 before switching?

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  4. I don't think it would mean pushing 225 THAT much further down the road really, and you'd be eliminating as many shoulder and pec problems as possible NOW.

    Again, big picture man.

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  5. How should I adjust my numbers, do you think? Knock 10% off my wide-grip max, and base my %'s off that new number?

    Or go in during my rest week next week and max on close-grip before starting my conditioning cycle?

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  6. A 10% knock off seems about right. Start there with your next bench session and see how that feels.

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  7. Great first bench session looks like you are off to a kick ass start with all of your training for this meet. Stay healthy and good luck at your meet.

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  8. Paul, how close is your grip on the bench? I moved mine in to little fingers on the rings after my shoulder started to ache. Wondering if I should move them in closer?

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