For many people the bench press comes easy. It's the primary movement on which most of their effort is focused. When someone wants to know how strong a guy is, they'll ask how much they can bench. The bench press is easily the most overrated weight lifting movement. Far too much emphasis is placed on it.
And it doesn't come easy to me. It seems I've always struggled with it. From time to time I've made good strides, but very seldom have I ever felt confident that I could beat personal records.
Today was another of those days it just didn't come easy. You would think that the OHP and bench press would go hand-in-hand, at least to some extent. Doing 8 reps at 115 on the OHP was easy the other day. Today, doing five at 195 on the bench was not. I might've been able to do six or seven reps, but I was expecting to be able to do 8 or even 10. I was really thinking 8. It was the number I had in mind from the start of the workout.
The bar just seemed to have my number today. But I'm only in my second cycle of 5/3/1, so the PRs may yet come. Did I lift the weight at or above the rep total the plan calls for? Yes, but it was just more difficult than I expected. I did an extra set of dumbbell bench press and Kroc rows to try to make up for the disappointing bench press numbers. As with the squats, I often feel I'm just not doing enough on the bench press sometimes.
In the next cycle of 5/3/1 I expect I will be seriously pushing the envelope on my limits. I'll have to wait and see how it works out. The PRs on the bench press are still several months down the road. On the deadlift, squat and overhead press, they're just around the corner.
Yes, it's logged on Fitocracy.
Showing posts with label Kroc rows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kroc rows. Show all posts
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Bench press Thursday
Thursday is bench press day. This is the one day I'm not going to meddle with much in terms of assistance work. I like the Kroc rows, so I'm going to stick with them for a while longer. I did add a few sets of chin-ups because Wendler recommends doing them between pressing movements. I didn't want to do much, though, because it should not interfere with the main exercises.
The bench felt pretty good, and I was able to complete 8 reps at 185. I don't know if I've ever done that many reps at 185, so it's an encouraging sign. On the dumbbell press, however, I could only do 12 reps with the 65s when I'd completed 15 across 5 sets before. After a few sets at 65, I dropped down to 50 and finished a total of 10 sets.
The Kroc rows were great today. I recently purchased some dumbbell bars and more plates, so I did my first two sets of rows at 105 lbs. I wanted to get in some good rep work, though, so I dropped back down to 95 where I was able to do 10 reps. Previously, I was doing 8 reps at 95, so, again, another small step forward. I intend to keep going heavier and heavier on the Kroc rows. I supersetted the last five sets of dumbbell press with the Kroc rows.
One could make the argument that I'm not doing true Kroc rows and that I'm not really following it as Wendler prescribes. Kroc rows are supposed to be performed at a very heavy weight and in such a way that you have to cheat a bit to squeeze out every last rep. As with some other movements, Wendler says do 20 reps in a set on this one. My plan at the current time is to work into that. I want to go heavier, but I also want to get the rep work in, so I may drop down to 75 in the next workout after a few heavy sets and go crazy with them.
I'm considering one minor adjustment to the assistance work on bench press days. I experimented with some workouts from Tom Venuto's web site a couple of years ago. One of them involved doing supersets with incline dumbbell press in which you perform several sets back to back, lowering the incline between each set until the last set is almost on a flat bench. This might be something to try on bench press days after the barbell bench press and Kroc rows are out of the way. One thing I remember from doing this is that I really felt it in my triceps.
So another bench press day in the books and on to squats tomorrow. I keep feeling like I'm not doing nearly enough for my legs, so after the standard Wendler barbell squat routine, I'm going to throw in 3-4 sets of higher rep squats before moving on to the leg press. I'm adding a few sets of lunges as new assistance work tomorrow, shaking things up just a bit without overcomplicating the workout. Fridays are always the toughest days of the week to get motivated. There's a part of me that just wants to brush it off and play games instead. Tomorrow I have to stick to the plan.
The bench felt pretty good, and I was able to complete 8 reps at 185. I don't know if I've ever done that many reps at 185, so it's an encouraging sign. On the dumbbell press, however, I could only do 12 reps with the 65s when I'd completed 15 across 5 sets before. After a few sets at 65, I dropped down to 50 and finished a total of 10 sets.
The Kroc rows were great today. I recently purchased some dumbbell bars and more plates, so I did my first two sets of rows at 105 lbs. I wanted to get in some good rep work, though, so I dropped back down to 95 where I was able to do 10 reps. Previously, I was doing 8 reps at 95, so, again, another small step forward. I intend to keep going heavier and heavier on the Kroc rows. I supersetted the last five sets of dumbbell press with the Kroc rows.
One could make the argument that I'm not doing true Kroc rows and that I'm not really following it as Wendler prescribes. Kroc rows are supposed to be performed at a very heavy weight and in such a way that you have to cheat a bit to squeeze out every last rep. As with some other movements, Wendler says do 20 reps in a set on this one. My plan at the current time is to work into that. I want to go heavier, but I also want to get the rep work in, so I may drop down to 75 in the next workout after a few heavy sets and go crazy with them.
I'm considering one minor adjustment to the assistance work on bench press days. I experimented with some workouts from Tom Venuto's web site a couple of years ago. One of them involved doing supersets with incline dumbbell press in which you perform several sets back to back, lowering the incline between each set until the last set is almost on a flat bench. This might be something to try on bench press days after the barbell bench press and Kroc rows are out of the way. One thing I remember from doing this is that I really felt it in my triceps.
So another bench press day in the books and on to squats tomorrow. I keep feeling like I'm not doing nearly enough for my legs, so after the standard Wendler barbell squat routine, I'm going to throw in 3-4 sets of higher rep squats before moving on to the leg press. I'm adding a few sets of lunges as new assistance work tomorrow, shaking things up just a bit without overcomplicating the workout. Fridays are always the toughest days of the week to get motivated. There's a part of me that just wants to brush it off and play games instead. Tomorrow I have to stick to the plan.
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