Bench

2/4/09

Bench

this formula must have been magic because I hit a big PR

warmups: 45 x 8; 95 x 7; 135 x 6; 165 x 3

185 x 3

185 x 3

195 x 4 (PR!!)

Off Chest Band Resisted Bench

blue bands

135 x 5

165 x 5

165 x 5

155 x 5

Close Grip Pin Presses

205 x 8

225 x 6

225 x 3

215 x 6

Incline Barbell Deltoid Raise

20 x 8

25 x 8 x 3

Bench

Bench:
(all reps paused)
275 x 3
285 x 3
295 x 2 + 1 fail

Off-Chest Band Bench:
not sure what to call this still. We did it last week and everyone thought it was good. I am curious to see how I respond the second time doing it.

225 x 5
245 x 5 (too hard)
205 x 5
225 x 5

Close Grip Pin Press:
315 x 8
325 x 8
335 x 8
345 x 8

Incline Barbell Deltoid Raise
50 x 8
50 x 8
40 x 10
40 x 10

RE Bench

Still trying to recover from the meet by benching my way to happiness.

Bench:
All reps paused

275 x 5, 2 sets
285 x 2 + 1 fail
285 x 3

I need to go up in weight on these.

Off-the-Chest Work:
Not sure what to call these exactly. Nathans suggested doing some limited range of motion of work off the chest. To make things complicated, I decided to incorporate bands. Normally, I've done these where you fire off the chest and hit pins, which stop your ascent. This wouldn't work with the racks at Wooden, so I decided to use bands.

Once a person descended with the weight to start, we added bands parallel to the safety bars. Then when they pressed up, they would run into the pins. We used green bands about 2" above the chest. If you were lucky, you might be able to lock out the first, but by exhausting yourself, a lot of people (including myself) could barely make it off the chest more than an inch at the end.

225 x 5, 2 sets
245 x 5, 2 sets
225 x 5

These felt really good overall. I like having some off-chest work, given all the board work we've been doing. Once we got the hang of it, the exercised moved pretty quickly. Surprisingly, several guys figured out how to start using their lats doing these; once their pecs got tired, the lats took over for the initial explosion. I think that alone made these useful.

Seated Military Press:
155 x 8
165 x 7
145 x 6 (ughhh, died so quickly)
135 x 7

My endourance on shoulder press is teh suck.

Parallel-grip Skullcrusherzzzz
bar weights 20lbs?

110 x 10, 12, 12, 10


Also, the phenom bruises/scars are still hanging out pretty noticeably. They hurt like a bastard still too. I am not sure if I even want to put that shirt on again ever. I don't mind pain, but ritual scarring is not my thing...