Pushin' and Pullin' and Cleanin' and Jerkin'

CosmicOsmo

CosmicOsmo

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Alright, as some of you might recall, I've kinda decided on a whim to enter a Bench/Dead competition...I've got about 9 weeks to prepare. I've never really competed in anything like this and I don't plan on making a profession out of it or anything, but it should be fun. Anyway, I've decided to start this log to document my preparation leading up to the competition. My main goal is to increase my bench press to something remotely respectable while maintaining or slightly improving my deadlift.

Current stats:

Bench: 230
Deadlift: 455
Squat: 305 ATG oly style
Clean: 235

@5'10", 166lbs, fully clothed

Goals for competition (July 12th)

Bench: 260
Deadlift: 465

@BW 170lbs (in just shorts). I'm planning on competing in the 165lbs division so this should give me an easy 5lbs cut (I'm not too experienced with cutting weight so I don't want to go crazy with it).

I'm planning on following a bench program recommended in a Ryan Kennelly interview, which basically consists of lots of triples, starting at about 45% of your max and increasing until you hit a new 3 rep max with your old 1 rep max, plus lots of pin presses, skull crushers etc. as assistance work. I'm going to try to keep working with my olympic lifting so I don't get rusty during this brief powerlifting stint.

Anyway, today was the first day of my preparation.

All exercises are listed Lbs, SetsxReps

Bench--105lbs 8x3 (45% of 1rm)

A few sets of split jerks, light weight focusing on form and speed

Pin Press--215lbs 5x5 (about 4-5" off chest)

Skull Crushers--100lbs 3x5

Incline DB press (wide)--60lbs 3x8

Lateral raises--45lbs 3x8

Everything felt good, this is my first time doing pin presses (or any partial bench work) and it felt like it will really help me through my sticking points...I've seriously neglected bench for a long time and hopefully I'll make some progress with it.
 
Ascendant said:
Get these the fuck outta here.
Click to expand...

Haha...I'll take your advice 'cause frankly you're a heck of a lot stronger than me, but could I ask why you have no love for the dumbbell press? I'm surprised you let the lateral raises stay but shit on the dumbell press!
 
Day two:

started off with light snatches + overhead squats to warm up

Working sets

snatch:
115lbs 3x3

Hang clean:
135lbsx5
155lbsx5

Power clean:
175lbsx5

Full clean:
185lbx3
205lbsx2
225x1

On that last clean I got so psyched up on it I somehow managed to clock myself in the chin with the bar...it really demonstrates how much I need to work on my front squat, 'cause I can pull the bar up that high but when I drop into the front squat it's pretty heavy...I think any progress I made on my front squat would immediately translate to my full clean because my clean is limited by my front squat right now :(

next,
Chinups:
bw+60lbs 3x5

pullups:
BW 2x12

Teh DB Curlzorz

50lbs 2x6

I supersetted the last two sets of pullups and the curls with some core work to save time.

Kroc Rows:
85lbsx22 right hand, x18 left hand (first time doing these, might try to go a bit heavier next time)

Weighted hypers:
+45lbs 2x10

For shits and giggles:
One-armed barbell snatch
65lbs 3x3 each arm
 
For some reason the implication in this thread-title is arousing.
 
It's impossible. Nice quote, Jack Handy was spot-on with that. I actually used it on a dancer here in Vegas, and it's a good pick-up line for a Fighter to a dancer (and not a stripper, an actual showgirl).

Anyhow, carry-on. I'll go back to my Boxing.
 
King Kabuki said:
It's impossible. Nice quote, Jack Handy was spot-on with that. I actually used it on a dancer here in Vegas, and it's a good pick-up line for a Fighter to a dancer (and not a stripper, an actual showgirl).

Anyhow, carry-on. I'll go back to my Boxing.
Click to expand...

Man, I've got to give you props if you've successfully used Jack Handey as a pickup line. Usually whenever I let a Deep Thought slip out in the presence of the fairer sex, it's met with confused stares. Although, if you find one that laughs, she's a keeper for sure :)
 
CosmicOsmo said:
Haha...I'll take your advice 'cause frankly you're a heck of a lot stronger than me, but could I ask why you have no love for the dumbbell press? I'm surprised you let the lateral raises stay but shit on the dumbell press!
Click to expand...

Sorry I haven't responded in a bit; wide incline db presses have one of the highest injury rates of any exercise. And in my opinion, one of the worst carryovers for strength.

I'm not a super big fan of lateral raises, but they at least would have a tough time injuring you. I will say that when I've done them (say I want to focus on appearance for a month or two) I've noticed my bench go up a bit, but I've also noticed distinctly that they didn't help my ohp/jerk AT ALL, which I thought was weird.

Keep in mind this is all anecdotal. But I also don't give opinions unless I think of them as facts. (A HYPER-annoying character trait, according to the opposite sex... haha)
 
Ascendant said:
Sorry I haven't responded in a bit; wide incline db presses have one of the highest injury rates of any exercise. And in my opinion, one of the worst carryovers for strength.

I'm not a super big fan of lateral raises, but they at least would have a tough time injuring you. I will say that when I've done them (say I want to focus on appearance for a month or two) I've noticed my bench go up a bit, but I've also noticed distinctly that they didn't help my ohp/jerk AT ALL, which I thought was weird.

Keep in mind this is all anecdotal. But I also don't give opinions unless I think of them as facts. (A HYPER-annoying character trait, according to the opposite sex... haha)
Click to expand...

Interesting...I'd honestly never really considered the possibility of injury...I don't have any pain when I do them so I didn't really think about it. What type of injury do you usually see? Some kind of shoulder issue?

The only real reason i will throw in some lateral raises or rear delt flyes is because I've heard from good sources that a common culprit for shoulder injury is strength imbalance throughout the shoulder's entire range of motion. I see Westside in particular do them a lot with the injury prevention in mind.

Anyway, today I did:

Bench:

115lbs 8x3 (50% of max, focusing on speed and form)

Parallel Box Squat/depth jump complexes:

255lbs 4x5 squat

Complexed with 3 depth jumps (drop from 12" box, jump to 45"-ish box)

20 rep box squat:

185lbs

Goodmornings:

185lbs 3x8

supersetted with calf work

My squats suck something fierce, I might have to try something drastic like Smolov once this thing is over.
 
AC joint inflammation, labral wear and tear, training hypertonicity in the upper trap fibers, etc.
 
Ascendant said:
AC joint inflammation, labral wear and tear, training hypertonicity in the upper trap fibers, etc.
Click to expand...

That sounded like chinese to me, so I'm just gonna take your advice and stop doing them :)

What would you recommend instead as an assistance exercise? I'm strong on the lockout and I don't stick right off the chest, I tend to get stuck kind of in that middle area a few inches off the chest right where the triceps start taking over, but if I can get passed that inch or so the lockout is easy.
 
Bottom position presses always help to build bottom end power, and more importantly to STAY IN THE GROOVE. So I'd throw those in.
 
Ascendant said:
Bottom position presses always help to build bottom end power, and more importantly to STAY IN THE GROOVE. So I'd throw those in.
Click to expand...

Well I'm already doing pin presses with the bar starting right at my sticking point, so is it kosher if I do something else instead? Seems redundant to me, idk.

First day of Week Two:

Bench

125lbs 8x3 (55% of 1rm, speed/explosive)

Oly lifting:

Started out with hang clean + 3 jerks, did a few sets of that working up to 155, light and fast, focusing on speed and form. Felt good.

Then did a few clean + jerks with 175

Then went back down to 135 and did 5 reps of hang clean + jerk complexes, fast-style

Pin Press (4-5" from chest)

225x5
225x4*
215x5
215x5
215x5

*Got overzealous and tried to jump up too much weight, so I went back down. The 215s went up easy though, I should have broke out the fractional plates and done 220 5x5.

Dumbell Bench Press

80lbs 3x6

Focused on going real deep and doing them with a pause on the bottom to help bottom position strength

Skullcrushers/lateral raise supersets

100lbs 3x6/45lbs 3x8

Overall, feeling pretty good so far. I feel all this lightweight bench work has really allowed me to fine-tune my form. Hopefully that will translate into bigger numbers when the big day comes.

The oly lifting was feeling pretty good, considering I'm not working much on oly lifting right now. The 175 cleans were easy power cleans, and the jerks are getting better. I feel much quicker under the bar now on the jerks and I think I'm able to get into a more stable, deeper split now. I feel like if I were to max out I'd be getting real close to that 200lbs number I've been eyeing...which is still lagging well behind my clean numbers, though...and my clean is still limited by my front squat, which makes me think that maybe it isn't that my presses, jerks and squat are weak, so much as my pull is just freakishly strong. I must be built for it.
 
your welcome - you're a hard worker.

theres a school of thought that says you shouldn't train just your sticking point necessarily, but train right UNDER it, so that the bar is moving so fast by the time it gets to the sticking point it has the power to keep going. thats why im suggesting bottom presses. its also more critical that you're in the right groove at the bottom of the lift, bc ifyoure not you'll fail right away. you can't recover from a bad groove at the bottom. but to each his own.
 
your welcome - you're a hard worker.

theres a school of thought that says you shouldn't train just your sticking point necessarily, but train right UNDER it, so that the bar is moving so fast by the time it gets to the sticking point it has the power to keep going. thats why im suggesting bottom presses. its also more critical that you're in the right groove at the bottom of the lift, bc ifyoure not you'll fail right away. you can't recover from a bad groove at the bottom. but to each his own.
 
Week two pull day

Deadlifts:

135x10
135x10
225x5
315x3
365x3
405x3

Rack pulls (just below knee)

385x5
385x5
395x5

Chinups:

BW+60 3x5

Pullups:

BW 2x10

DB curlzzz:

50lbs 2x6

Pullups and curls were supersetted with core work

Kroc Rows:

90lbs 18 reps right arm, 16 reps left arm

Hypers:

BW+45 2x10

Weighed in at 167.8 at the gym right after the workout. I've put on about a pound in a week, which should put me right about where I want to be come weigh-ins, assuming a constant rate of weight gain till then.
 
CosmicOsmo said:
Week two pull day

Deadlifts:

135x10
135x10
225x5
315x3
365x3
405x3

Rack pulls (just below knee)

385x5
385x5
395x5

Weighed in at 167.8 at the gym right after the workout. I've put on about a pound in a week, which should put me right about where I want to be come weigh-ins, assuming a constant rate of weight gain till then.
Click to expand...

DL 405@167lbs- very nice Cosmic
 
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