Back from travel. And back in the gym.

I spent 10 weeks on a mass-building cycle, and prior to that 6 weeks doing a 5/3/1 Prep program. Not much break, and my body was pretty tired and beat up. I took all last week off, aside from doing a lot of walking. My body feels good, and I was itching to get back at things today.

I am changing my programming slightly, keeping the basic mass-building structure, removing the perceived intensity techniques (e.g. drop sets), and adopting some basebuilding. The other big change is going back to flat bench pressing.

I haven’t flat bench pressed in 6 months – the arm pain issues. The pain issues seem better, so it’s worth seeing what I can do. I’ve been flat DB pressing and close-grip benching for a little while, and it’s been going well. So, let’s see.

I am starting light, with a focus on technique. I usually put my ring finger on the bar rings, but I’m coming in slightly with my pinkies now on the ring. I’m working to crush-grip the bar and NOT lose that grip. Then the first rep is paused, the rest touch-and-go (I believe that’s a tip from Boris Sheiko). It’s also a time to get used to the new equipment, especially that I slide around more on these benches.

That all said, the session went pretty well! I may modify the work-up slightly to be a bit more over-work. The thing about the over-work-up is things are just turned on more so when you come back down to the work weight, the system is primed better and the weights feel much lighter and move better. But this wasn’t that much over-work vs. the working weight. Again, I was starting light, with a light working-max and then using the percentages from the Basebuilding manual. I may adjust slightly, but overall I feel I’m in a fair spot and it’s worth staying here for a bit. Today was mostly about trying to get through and see how it went, so I’ll probably keep these weights and focus more on things like C.A.T. next week.

The other big change I did? I’m adding farmers walks!

I used the handles, which are about 20# each. I put a 45# plate on each side (so 110# in each hand), then did fast-walks up the turf strip — about 35-40 yards I’d say given I couldn’t go all the way to the ends (other people). I did 8 trips, resting only enough to lightly catch my breath, or maybe a little longer if I had to wait for someone else to finish with the turf. it was pretty easy and a good start to it all. I’ll work up to 10 trips (and try to pace off the distance so I have a known). Then I’ll start upping the weight. I reckon I could add a 25# plate to each without problem.

The one problem? The diameter of the handles where the plates go? It’s just a hair smaller than a proper olympic bar. So the collars are not staying totally secure and the plates wander. In fact, on one of my trips, a plate fell off. Grr… I’ll have to see what I can do about that, because that will get mighty old.

But I dig it, and it’s much more fun than the elliptical. Plus it should be great for my grip strength.

• Bench Press
  • bar x 5
  • 105 x 5
  • 135 x 4
  • 155 x 3
  • 195 x 2
  • 225 x 1
  • 195 x 8
  • 195 x 8
  • 195 x 8
  • 195 x 8
  • 195 x 8
• DB Incline Bench Press (350 Method)
  • 50e x 23
  • 50e x 13
  • 50e x 11
• Press
  • 125 x 8
  • 115 x 8
  • 115 x 7
• DB Lateral Raise
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 12
  • 15e x 12