*** The 2015 Gym Rats Thread ***

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Freefaller said:
Bench has a lot of leg and lat work involved in it. If you're not able to engage those 2 muscle groups then you're definitely not setting up correctly.
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I think that's my failing - weak upper back muscles from not using them since forever. I assume there's been a studied a correlation between pull-up reps and BP?
 
for benching a stable base is crucial, and what better stable base then a strong back.

Rows are awesome here, db rows, bent over rows, pull ups are all great.
Don't neglect your triceps either, CGBP is a really good exercise.

Chest gains are the hardest to have and you just need to be hitting it with crazy volume if you want to add mass.
 
Spend some time (read: the next 6 months) setting up with your feet in different positions.

Basically you want your feet somewhere between your knees and glutes. Close to the knees = easier to leg drive but a looser arch, close to the glutes = tighter/bigger arch but harder to drive.

Wide vs narrow legs is preference and usually guided by ankle mobility and the requirement of keeping the ass on the bench.

Hands, I think, could do with being a tad wider and it's difficult to gauge your groove at this low weight...lets see how 85-90% looks.
 
mrthingyx said:
Well, I don't bench anymore but the bar path looks scarily diagonal from here... :eek:

Your grip also looks unsuitably wide, too. This might be causing the curious bar path. Narrow your grip significatly as it looks like you're putting an enormous strain on your shoulders (not just delts but rotator cuff, too).
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There's a shorter rom when pushing the bar "backwards" than there is straight down. I am surprised from looking at the video at how wide the grip looks but my pinky finger is not even close to the rings. I intend on narrowing the grip though.

Freefaller said:
You need to feel as though you're also "bending" the bar, it gives you a sense of lat activation, then also lock your scapulas in place (Imagine you are trying to tuck them into your rear trouser pockets).

I would also suggest you probably have tight pecs too.

That bar needs to come down to around the bottom of your sternum - a mild arching path is fine. I seems that your elbows are too flared out too, but that is as MrThingy said to do with your grip being a bit wide.

Of course there is nothing wrong with wide grip, it's just a different exercise which has its own idiosyncrasies.
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Bending the bar - check
"Tucking lats into back pocket" - check
Pecs are loose, I make sure they're stretched every session.
I always aim for the sternum. It may not look like it because I'm small but it is happening.
I didn't think my elbows were too flared but as everyone has pointed out, I think that's due to my grip width rather than not being able to control them.

Delvis said:
Narrow your grip then, my understanding is your forearm should essentially be vertical at the bottom of the movement, then again I'm not competing so having the shortest ROM is your gold mine...
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I'm shall narrow my grip to the point where my wrists and elbows are inline.

iamtheoneneo said:
Hard to see the bar grips but your grip width looks ok to me - maybe a little wide but nothing crazy. Totally depends how big your arms are though to be honest.

You seem very loose though and that your arch in the back is actually faked. (ie your arching deliberately not naturally)
I personally don't adopt a wide leg stance for bench after watching a lot of strength trainers explaining their bench. If you squeeze your legs into the bench together with your bum, it will naturally lift the chest and you can get a better push from it.

Also with your shoulders squeeze in and down into the bench , its a weird thing to explain but if you do it right your notice the difference in lifting.
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Back arch is exaggerated on purpose to reduce the rom. There's nothing wrong with exaggerating the arch as long as it's not to the point of physical pain.
Regarding feet positioning, I think maybe they were a tad wide and tad too far forward.

reiyushin said:
Spend some time (read: the next 6 months) setting up with your feet in different positions.

Basically you want your feet somewhere between your knees and glutes. Close to the knees = easier to leg drive but a looser arch, close to the glutes = tighter/bigger arch but harder to drive.

Wide vs narrow legs is preference and usually guided by ankle mobility and the requirement of keeping the ass on the bench.

Hands, I think, could do with being a tad wider and it's difficult to gauge your groove at this low weight...lets see how 85-90% looks.
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I sometimes have issues regarding leg positioning as it depends on how tight my hip is after squatting, it shouldn't cause an issue but it does for some silly reason.
It's interesting to see that you mention widening my grip rather than narrowing it. My concern was the position of my wrist in regard to my elbow. But I'm happy to take all the advice given and give it a try. I'll also give it a shot with a higher weight to see how the groove changes.
 
Did my first full run of pullups since my break started a month ago. Good news: No pain. Bad news: Where the hell has all my strength gone? I did 6*8 pull/chin and even without extra weight I really really struggled :(
 
Freefaller said:
BBB is not a good idea - there are better things to be doing.
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You don't like the volume wasn't it?

Going from stronglifts/madcow to this seems alright theres more volume than the beginner programs.

Heres week one:

Day1:

MiltaryPress:3x5

MilitaryPress: 5x10

Chin-ups: 5x10

Day2:

Deadlift: 3x5

Deadlift: 5x10

Hanging Leg Raise: 5x15


Day3:

Bench: 3x5

Bench Press: 5x10

Dumbell row: 5x10

ill be doing it over 3 days rather than 4. I find for me personally that I recover better on training 3 days a week. I will be doing about 5-10 mins of core work at the end of each session. What needs changing?
 
The daft thing about BBB is it is low intensity volume work on a strength routine.

In other words, it doesn't help build central drive and neuromuscular interaction as high intensity stuff and is out of place on a strength routine. Want to get big? Do AGVT or GVT: that is where the volume is at.

Or Steedie's training routines. Those are gross.
 
MikeTheNative said:
What is everyone's thoughts on BCAA? A guy in work swears by it so I thought I would give it a go for a month.
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Been having 5g with breakfast and 5g intra-workout for the past month and honestly placebo or not i swear by it too, just makes me physically feel more energised and focused in the gym. I do train fasted though and currently on a cut which BCAAS are really recommended for.
 
bakes0310 said:
You don't like the volume wasn't it?

Going from stronglifts/madcow to this seems alright theres more volume than the beginner programs.

Heres week one:

Day1:

MiltaryPress:3x5

MilitaryPress: 5x10

Chin-ups: 5x10

Day2:

Deadlift: 3x5

Deadlift: 5x10

Hanging Leg Raise: 5x15


Day3:

Bench: 3x5

Bench Press: 5x10

Dumbell row: 5x10

ill be doing it over 3 days rather than 4. I find for me personally that I recover better on training 3 days a week. I will be doing about 5-10 mins of core work at the end of each session. What needs changing?
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Au contraire, I'm the volume king - I love it. But it isn't right for the programme.

I'll quote myself which is just on the previous page:

Freefaller said:
BBB doesn't really help do anything other than perhaps let you do lots of volume for the sake of it. If you have bad form, poor motor patterns all it will do is reinforce them, thus amplifying the chance of injury or accentuating poor form.

It's 50% of your 90% of your 1RM. All it does fatigue you and give you a "pump" and takes up a lot of time. You're following a powerlifting programme so why do 10 reps with low weight as part of the main lifts?

If you have the energy after your 5/3/1 progression to do 50 reps - you'd be better pushed to do some decent assistance work which will offer you much more benefit to your motor patterns / enhancing core strength and balancing out weaknesses. Training shouldn't just be about tiring yourself out but actually achieving a benefit.
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I also spot that you are not doing any squats? I think you've copied and pasted you routine wrong.
 
Me again regarding bench technique. I took on all the advice given last time and I made sure I did lots and lots of sets prior to this to make sure I was actually altering the technique rather than just thinking I was. I have the other sets filmed to see the changes but I thought it was only necessary to show the last working set.

Main thing I noticed that altered the elbow and wrist positioning was actually how far I was bringing the bar down the abdomen rather than the grip. I nonetheless used a narrower grip to what I have been and is now the same as my competition width in November.


How's it looking? Better? Worse?
 
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