2013-09-16 training log

/ hsoi

That was different.

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 23, week 3

  • Work Set – Bench Press (working max: 220#)
    • 45 x 5 x 2 sets (warmup)
    • 95 x 5
    • 110 x 5
    • 135 x 3
    • 165 x 5 (work)
    • 190 x 3
    • 210 x 6
  • Assistance – BB Incline Press
    • 135 x 10
    • 135 x 9
    • 135 x 7
    • 135 x 6
    • 135 x 6
  • Assistance – Pull-ups (superset between each pressing set)
    • BW (band-assisted) x 4 x 11 sets
  • Assistance – DB Rows
    • 55 x 10 x 2 sets
    • 55 x 15
  • Foam Rolling

Pressing was generally fine. I realized my legs were wiggly and all over the place. I still find myself frustrated with the ability to plant my legs and get tight. If I push towards my head, my butt comes off the bench. If I work to keep my butt on the bench, there’s no tightness nor drive in my legs. I have found it helps to really get arched… to push myself with my legs, get into that hard arch, and that seems to help, but not enough. Ugh.

Oh well. I’ll keep at it.

Meantime, I called an audible and opted to do barbell inclines instead of dumbbell. Why? Just felt like it. I’ll say, it’s the first time I’ve done BB inclines in…. I have no idea but many many years. I figure if I’m doing 55# DB’s I could throw 135 on the bar and see what I could do. What was horrible? It was… weird. I was not used to that plane of motion. The uprights/rack are really close to your head, so I don’t just unrack the bar but unrack and have to do a half-press to get it out just to start. But I pulled it out the first time and almost overshot and may have landed the bar in my lap! It was just not something I was ready for… that feeling. Then as I worked it, the bar path, the balance… all very different and strange feeling. To come all the way down touching the bar to the base of my throat (essentially) was different. And I apparently had the seat adjusted a little too high because when I went to rack it I almost missed the top of the uprights and could have lost the bar over the back! That would have been ugly. So uh… I probably should have started with an empty bar, got the feel, then went. But I didn’t. Still, by the end of things I felt where I should be and it didn’t feel so strange any more. I may stick with the BB for a while on inclines… it felt a lot more working than the DB’s did, and the range of motion didn’t feel all that different (tho of course it is).

2 thoughts on “2013-09-16 training log”

  1. bench set up is difficult but so so important to not hurting oneself. I used to really struggle with it because I couldnt keep my feet flat on the ground but since I have started stretching that has really improved. In fact I arch a bit less now and fell better about it. So much of it comes to figuring out what fits you best. Some people arch a bunch and then others like Dan Green doesnt arch much at all. trial and error really but no movement is key. I plant my feet almost in the middle of the bench and then set my hands and then my shoulders and last my butt by driving my heals down to the ground.

    • Yeah, that’s the thing. I’ve been constantly playing with it. Out in front, curled in behind, in close, out wider. And every time I think I’ve got it, I still wobble, my butt still comes up, I think I’m close, but then I see I’m not.

      It’s been frustrating.

      One thing I’m trying that seems to have potential — lifting my toes. So keep my feet on the ground, but curl my toes off it. I picked that up as a deadlift cue to help keep your weight back on your heels so…. maybe it’ll help me drive more with my heels and less with the balls of my feet. Worth a try.

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