I live for posterior chain days. I have 2: alternate deadlift and squat week to week. And I alternate cleans and snatches week to week.
I do three workouts a week:
(A) Posterior chain (DL/Squat)
(B) Upper push
(C) Upper pull
(D) Posterior chain (Clean/Snatch)
Week 1: A, B, C
Week 2: D, A, B
Week 3: C, D, A
etc…
Couple days ago I benched a massive 60 lb. Week 3 on my 12 week journey back to 135 lb done…
Euraggghhhh
To pass the time I have been experimenting with a wider grip.
how is this possible?
the bar is 45 lb, which leaves 15. you can’t evenly divide that on two ends.
one 5 and one 2.5 on each side 45 + 15 = 60
My gym only has a handful of 2.5 lb weights though. I bring these cool fractional weights with me just in case:
My gym, at one point, was keeping the 2.5 weight plates behind the counter, and making people leave their Driver’s License to use them. because they were being stolen. It was hard to find them before that, so I bought my own and brought them with me, and my wife used her Cricut to put our name on them.
My routine has me increasing the weight load 5 pounds per session, so 2.5’s are needed.
Also, when I write down my weight amounts, I don’t bother adding the 45lb of the bar. 'cause, I’m off the clock, and I don’t need to impress anyone by showing them my progress.
I took this to mean how can adult man can only bench 60 lbs…
I did 65 yesterday I am so strongmngn
actually I forgot there are 2.5lb plates…
nah. I was questioning the math. I would never judge how much someone can bench.
No need to be a jackass.
I just finished week 6 out of my 12 week journey back to 135, adding 5 lb per day.
Shoulder and bench press are at 85 lb, I would expect the shoulders to start plateauing soon and the bench to overtake it. Bench still feels like a piece of cake. I used to be able to shoulder press 135 but I always struggled getting that far.
Squats are at 215 lb, making good progress on my march back to 315. I anticipate plateauing around 275 lb or so.
Deadlift at 125 lb. So my exercises are all pretty lopsided right now. I might slow down with the squats soon to let my DL catch up and overtake it.
I started incorporating some clean and jerk exercises too, with just the bar though.
On another note, I had started running some 3 months ago at 5 minutes and I had been adding 10% per week. I am now up to 21 minute runs. I hope to be able to run the length of a half marathon by October.
I just finished week 8 of my 12 week journey back to feeling “normal” again.
Squat: 235
Shoulder press: 100
Deadlift: 155
Weighted pull ups: 17.5
Bench: 100
Weighted dips: 22.5
Row: 100
I also started doing some clean & jerk stuff on the weekends too. I have yet to plateau but the shoulder presses are starting to get a little heavy. I’m only 35 lb away from my max on that though. Bench pressing still feels very light to me. I slowed down on my squat progression to increasing every other workout instead of every workout to let the DL catch up.
If the bench is too easy, add weight.
amp it up. I can’t imagine that you can shoulder press 100 but not bench for more than that, unless your chest/arms are severely underdeveloped.
I started at 45 and was adding 5 lb per day on both exercises so they were going up at the same rate and I did expect bench to overtake shoulder at one point.
In theory I could do more but I didn’t want to risk getting injured after taking so much time off. So I am strictly not adding more than 5 lb per day on those exercises.
your chest is a way bigger muscle. do you feel like you’re losing control when you bench? if not, add more weight. No need to bench till exhaustion without a spotter. Just do it till you’re sore.
Not really but I have a history of connective tissue problems so I’m very conservative with the loading.
then I say superset it.
Immediately after bench pressing, flip yourself over and do pushups until exhaustion.
Yeah my last set is a superset but I’m slowly building it up. I’m at 6 reps for that now and I’m adding 1 rep per session.
I was kind of frustrated in waiting to “catch up” but in the meantime I’m working more on form than strength to pass the time.