Strength Weight Training: Anything and Everything II

[EasternTiger]

Have stayed off barbell bench and any chest machines for well over a decade.

How are you training the pectorals mate? Dumbbells and cables?

 

[demondavey]

How are you training the pectorals mate? Dumbbells and cables?

Push ups these days. Don’t need to overcook the chest. I spend a lot more time on my back. Lots of rows. Pulls etc. Band pull aparts. My chest is naturally pretty solid. For many years I benched with a barbell and dumbbells. These days the chest just isn’t that critical for me. Posture, back, stability etc is much more important than being big. I also can’t fit into my clothes when my chest gets big.

 

[EasternTiger]

I also can’t fit into my clothes when my chest gets big.

I too have this problem.

 

[Purple7x08_24]

Last few days stewing over lacklustre db bench after a break and been lagging.
32.5 x 4 fail last week.

Focused on driving scap on bench. Ripped through 5 easy. Couldn't find the 3ts so went 37.5. Got one rep. Finished with 32.5 by 5 and 4. Solid day.

 

[demondavey]

Last few days stewing over lacklustre db bench after a break and been lagging.
32.5 x 4 fail last week.

Focused on driving scap on bench. Ripped through 5 easy. Couldn't find the 3ts so went 37.5. Got one rep. Finished with 32.5 by 5 and 4. Solid day.

Strong work.

Today I did;

Suitcase carry’s
Trap bar deadlifts
Push ups - got a routine with end of year goal being 50 chest to floor.
Glute thrusts with bands
Barbell roll up with kettlebell.

I highly recommend this, highly. Absolutely demolishes your forearms. I’ve been working hard on grip strength / forearm development and this is seriously good.

 

[Purple7x08_24]

Strong work.

Today I did;

Suitcase carry’s
Trap bar deadlifts
Push ups - got a routine with end of year goal being 50 chest to floor.
Glute thrusts with bands
Barbell roll up with kettlebell.

I highly recommend this, highly. Absolutely demolishes your forearms. I’ve been working hard on grip strength / forearm development and this is seriously good.

Yes, I've done those before. They burn if done right.

 

[demondavey]

Benched 152.5kg today to comp standards.

Squatting again, only 120kg for 7’s this week but pain free.

Will deadlift again this week coming for the first time in a month.

Have an MRI scan to get, back pain is gone but getting sharp shooting pain in my right hamstring from glute/hamstring join down to just above my knee ditch whenever I load that leg in a hinge position, assuming some nerve/sciatic pain, see what the MRI shows.

152.5?

That’s a serious press. Well done.

 

[demondavey]

Just looking for some ideas on a cycle and wondering if this is the right amount/not enough/too much

I'm going to start with much lighter weights than I'd like to because previously after breaks it's ****ed me up badly with soreness.

It's going to be Legs and back tomorrow.

45 on 15 off [reasonable intensity]

ONE

Back Squats
Core
Ball slams from the ground
Core
Box Squats
Core

TWO
Front Squats
Core
Timed Wall squat/ball squat
Core
Box Squats
Core

THREE
BB/DB Rows
Core
Rowing Machine
Core
Lat Pulldown
Core

13.5 Minutes exercise at moderate intensity over 18 minutes doesn't seem enough.

Should I throw another cycle in there?

This is all going to depend on how busy the gym is but midday shouldn't be too bad otherwise I go at 5AM

When you say core, is it all abdominal?

 

[RU_]

152.5?

That’s a serious press. Well done.

Thanks mate.

Benched 157.5kg a couple weeks later and am aiming to bench 160kg this Saturday.

Hit a 147.5kg double yesterday. Very fatigued though so will pull my Thursday back to allow some rest!

 

[demondavey]

Thanks mate.

Benched 157.5kg a couple weeks later and am aiming to bench 160kg this Saturday.

Hit a 147.5kg double yesterday. Very fatigued though so will pull my Thursday back to allow some rest!

Yeah that’s huge. Massive in fact. What do you weigh? I used to hit DB press hard. Incline dumbbells were my favourite. I might have hit 40kg once but I was more of a moderate weight higher rep range lifter.

Farmers walks were my thing pre COVID. Trained hard for about 3 years getting my farmers up. 96.25kg per handle was my PB. Not a huge distance though.

 

[demondavey]

I too have this problem.

I hate it

 

[RU_]

Yeah that’s huge. Massive in fact. What do you weigh? I used to hit DB press hard. Incline dumbbells were my favourite. I might have hit 40kg once but I was more of a moderate weight higher rep range lifter.

Farmers walks were my thing pre COVID. Trained hard for about 3 years getting my farmers up. 96.25kg per handle was my PB. Not a huge distance though.

Bigger fella, around 109kg at the moment. 6’0 tall roughly.

See dumbbells don’t move for me. I might do 37.5kg for 8’s but I get shoulder pain from DB’s so I always sandbag them.

My bench exploded about 12 months ago though. I was around 115kg bench for a long time.

 

[demondavey]

Bigger fella, around 109kg at the moment. 6’0 tall roughly.

See dumbbells don’t move for me. I might do 37.5kg for 8’s but I get shoulder pain from DB’s so I always sandbag them.

My bench exploded about 12 months ago though. I was around 115kg bench for a long time.

Interesting.

How’d you make progress from 115kg? Sounds like a story plenty would be keen to hear.

 

[Kram]

Not going to give up the bar but recently realised that for benching with dumbells works waay better for me.

 

[Coolangatta]

Yeah that’s huge. Massive in fact. What do you weigh? I used to hit DB press hard. Incline dumbbells were my favourite. I might have hit 40kg once but I was more of a moderate weight higher rep range lifter.

Farmers walks were my thing pre COVID. Trained hard for about 3 years getting my farmers up. 96.25kg per handle was my PB. Not a huge distance though.

Interesting.

How’d you make progress from 115kg? Sounds like a story plenty would be keen to hear.

I've been doing my tweaked version of jacked and tan to progress on the barbell floor press and barbell overhead press. First working set is AMRAP, then I take 15% off and do a second set for set amount of reps, third set, then fourth set is AMRAP again.

It's going pretty well but DB progression is trickier, if there's a better way of progressing, I'm all ears.

I must have moved too soon from 25's to 27.5's, because when I got to 27.5's and did hit 10 reps on my first set one time, I don't recall ever hitting more than 6 reps in my second or third sets.

So I reset and will probably just go up when I hit 3x10 and that last set last rep still has me feeling like I've got one or two in the tank. Then I'm more confident that I could get more volume out of the 27.5's.

My upper body lifts are s**t compared to lower body, but that doesn't come as a surprise as when I first started taking "strength" training more seriously I was doing that 5x5 squat 3x a week program, but Zercher's instead, and then I moved on to some 3x a week 531 templates that were pretty squat centric.

I trained without a bench for years, but I've had a bench for a while now and just haven't quite found what's worked for me yet. Probably wasn't doing enough volume before but I think I've corrected that now.

 

[demondavey]

Not going to give up the bar but recently realised that for benching with dumbells works waay better for me.

For people with susceptible shoulders the dumbbell floor press is great.

 

[demondavey]

I've been doing my tweaked version of jacked and tan to progress on the barbell floor press and barbell overhead press. First working set is AMRAP, then I take 15% off and do a second set for set amount of reps, third set, then fourth set is AMRAP again.

It's going pretty well but DB progression is trickier, if there's a better way of progressing, I'm all ears.

I must have moved too soon from 25's to 27.5's, because when I got to 27.5's and did hit 10 reps on my first set one time, I don't recall ever hitting more than 6 reps in my second or third sets.

So I reset and will probably just go up when I hit 3x10 and that last set last rep still has me feeling like I've got one or two in the tank. Then I'm more confident that I could get more volume out of the 27.5's.

My upper body lifts are s**t compared to lower body, but that doesn't come as a surprise as when I first started taking "strength" training more seriously I was doing that 5x5 squat 3x a week program, but Zercher's instead, and then I moved on to some 3x a week 531 templates that were pretty squat centric.

I trained without a bench for years, but I've had a bench for a while now and just haven't quite found what's worked for me yet. Probably wasn't doing enough volume before but I think I've corrected that now.

I remember I used to do always do 2x warm up sets then into 3x10 working set. I’d do that for 4-6 weeks and get good volume in then add weight. I’d then do 3x max with a heavier weight but always have the goal of 10. It’s very simple and probably the typical weight training template but I’d find if you started doing lower reps with higher weight you’d not get the volume to grow and get more conditioned.

10 reps was the number. With the second and third sets just keep pushing until you’re hitting 10. I think also it’s patience. This could literally take a year to get from 25kg to 35kg with 3x10. As I older now I am much more patient. Burnout is real but I think it impacts younger people more due to just wanting to progress far too quickly.

 

[Coolangatta]

I remember I used to do always do 2x warm up sets then into 3x10 working set. I’d do that for 4-6 weeks and get good volume in then add weight. I’d then do 3x max with a heavier weight but always have the goal of 10. It’s very simple and probably the typical weight training template but I’d find if you started doing lower reps with higher weight you’d not get the volume to grow and get more conditioned.

10 reps was the number. With the second and third sets just keep pushing until you’re hitting 10. I think also it’s patience. This could literally take a year to get from 25kg to 35kg with 3x10. As I older now I am much more patient. Burnout is real but I think it impacts younger people more due to just wanting to progress far too quickly.

Hahaha yep that would be my problem, impatience, it's something I've got to work on. Some people on this thread could attest to that when I was eager to ditch one template for another after just a few weeks thinking it was better, but then I realised that I need to do what I can, what I enjoy, and as long as I get better it's not a big deal if every single exercise, set and rep scheme isn't programmed to a t. Sometimes I just know one or two main lifts I want to do and then improvise from there, especially if I sleep in 10-15 minutes too late, which sometimes happens.

 

[RU_]

Interesting.

How’d you make progress from 115kg? Sounds like a story plenty would be keen to hear.

Honestly, moved to 4 bench days a week.

2 heavy days, single and double respectively.

2 hypertrophy/technique (3 count pause, 3 count tempo down, etc) days.

Just got more comfortable with heavy loads. I remember unracking 130kg for the first time and it sort of clicked that it was going to be heavy but that’s okay and it just flew. Since then it’s been an upwards trend!

I’ll unrack 160kg this Saturday and think ‘geez it’s heavy’ but I know when I pause on my chest I’m gonna unleash as much upwards trajectory as I can through my legs, back and arms and hopefully it’ll get past my sticking point.

 

[demondavey]

Honestly, moved to 4 bench days a week.

2 heavy days, single and double respectively.

2 hypertrophy/technique (3 count pause, 3 count tempo down, etc) days.

Just got more comfortable with heavy loads. I remember unracking 130kg for the first time and it sort of clicked that it was going to be heavy but that’s okay and it just flew. Since then it’s been an upwards trend!

I’ll unrack 160kg this Saturday and think ‘geez it’s heavy’ but I know when I pause on my chest I’m gonna unleash as much upwards trajectory as I can through my legs, back and arms and hopefully it’ll get past my sticking point.

Love it. Legend.

 

[RU_]

Love it. Legend.

If anyone wants to see.

Spoiler: Bench Lifts

157.5kg 4 weeks ago.

No deload, benched 152.5kg for a PB a few mins earlier.

155kg last Saturday.


150kg 2 weeks ago.


147.5kg double last night.


Very fatigued, cruisy sessions till Saturday but I know I can grind a rep!

 

[The Golden Glenferrie]

What's your stack bro

 

[RU_]

What's your stack bro

IPF affiliated, nothin but protein powders .

 

[The Golden Glenferrie]

IPF affiliated, nothin but protein powders .

 

[RU_]

Also highly recommend going and watching the last 10 minutes of the APA 105kg Nationals class from Saturday just gone.

Podium finished on the same weight, separated by bodyweight and ended with a Hail Mary pull for the win. The guy who came second definitely had more but didn’t even consider the winner as a threat. 20kg jump from his planned third and nailed it.