westside training

[Beelzebub]

RDL = romanian deadlift

[ivydude]

RDL = romanian deadlift

ah..good call

[Enigma76]

I had the nicest post written in response to this and the page closed on me so I’ll try and give an abridged version:

1. Add in more variation on ME Bench days. Use incline sparingly. Depending on the weakpoint on your bench do the following-floor press if it’s the lower range, rack lockouts if it’s at the top, or 2, 3, or 4 board press in the middle.

2. If you want to improve your bench, don’t do pull-ups. Do another horizontal row exercise ( BB, DB, chest-supported, lying on a bench, cables, etc.)

3. I think 4 sets per assistance exercise might be too much (3 is better), but if you only respond to that kind of volume go for it.


4. Rotate the assistance exercises every 3-4 sessions.

5. On ME LB days, incorporate good mornings. Definitely do power arched and conventional and if you can do them out of chains or with different types of bars, add this in. 2/3 of ME LB days should be a variation of this.

6. If you can do glute ham raises or reverse hypers, do them. They are huge. You can do an improvised GHR on a seated calve machine. Think about it for a sec… You can also do them on the floor if you have someone to hold your legs. If you’ve got any ideas to improvise a reverse hyper please let me know.

7. You want deadlift variation in your program. On DE LB days, immediately after your DE squat do some DL variation, i.e. speed pulls at 65%, SLDLs, SLDLs from a deficit. Do each for 3-4 sessions and rotate.

8. What’s a RDL? Regular dead lift?

9. Why are you doing flat bench with a slow negative on dynamic bench day?

10. Zerchers are better for strongman than PLing. That said if you can get enough weight to hit your legs where your arms aren’t about to fall off, go for it.

11. If you need more exercises on LB days look to 1 legged squats, set-ups and BB lunges.

12. Consider buying bands from jump stretch for dynamic bench day.

I hope this helps.

Sweet, this is exactly what I was hoping someone would do.

To address some points.

1. Will do...I'm actually trying to stay away from incline as I've got some shoulder problems, but I didnt really know what else to throw in. My weak point is definately getting the bar out of the hole so to speak, so the bottom.

2. Ill put in BB Row/Chest assisted Row for the 2 lat days. Could someone maybe explain alitle farther why doing pullups is bad for bench?

6. I can definately do weighted reverse hypers.

8. RDL = romanian deadlift like beelz said. Kind of like a SLDL but with knees slightly bent. Lots of emphasis on the hamstrings/glutes.

9. I have no idea. I just feel like I'm not getting enough chest work on DE day, and I feel that when I do flat bench with slow negative and rest paused, I can target my pecs better without having them overshadowed. If I wasnt to do this, what should I throw in?

10. I kind of figured this...my arms will be the weak point. Since I started them a couple days ago, I noticed that they targeted my quads/glutes and really really my abs much more than I thought they would. I also am more easily able to get ATG. I dunno, just threw them in for some variation.

11. Thanks for the extra leg exercises, for some reason they hadnt even crossed my mind when I was trying to lay this out.

Thanks again Ivy!

[ivydude]

[quote=Enigma76]

2. Ill put in BB Row/Chest assisted Row for the 2 lat days. Could someone maybe explain alitle farther why doing pullups is bad for bench?

quote]

Horizontal rowing is encouraged because it works the lats in the same plane of motion as the bench press. The lats are one of the most important and often overlooked muscles on bench. When you pinch your shoulderblades together and squeeze your lats on the bench they form the base of the press. The stronger your lats are the better bar placement/control/drive you will have on your bench.

[Enigma76]

[quote=ivydude]

2. Ill put in BB Row/Chest assisted Row for the 2 lat days. Could someone maybe explain alitle farther why doing pullups is bad for bench?

quote]

Horizontal rowing is encouraged because it works the lats in the same plane of motion as the bench press. The lats are one of the most important and often overlooked muscles on bench. When you pinch your shoulderblades together and squeeze your lats on the bench they form the base of the press. The stronger your lats are the better bar placement/control/drive you will have on your bench.

Aha, thanks for clearing that up! I kind of figured it was something along those lines.

Did ME Chest today...really liked the workout, but missed my max of last week...very pissed off, but should be ready to go again next week.

[glenihan]

dynamic workouts don't suck as much .. but they still kinda suck and i ****ing hate lunges

[ivydude]

Had one of my best recoveries ever after a ME LB day on our very high volume week. We did 7 sets of box squats (3 and 1 rep), 3 sets of 1 legged squats (8-10 reps leg), 4 sets of GHRs (6-8 reps), and abs. I thought I would be sore as hell the next day, but I had minimal soreness and I would attribute most of it to the GPP work I did. After my workout I ran home from the gym (took about 8 minutes). Later on at night, about 12 hours later, I went for about a 17 minute run. The next day (yesterday) I woke up with minimal soreness. I thought it might get worse today, but it's even better. I really believe it's all about the increased blood flow that expedited my recovery. To anyone suffering from severe DOMS they may want to consider some variation of this.

[glenihan]

my soreness hasn't been nearly as bad since we started .. i think i'm just getting used to the routine though .. because my GPP isn't all that good at this point haha .. and we all know my rule about cardio while bulking .. (its a huge no no )

[ivydude]

It's not really for cardio purposes....just to get the blood to the muscle to recover quicker.

Get your ass better.