going for flat bench PR on Monday

Bean

Bean

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Everyone wish me luck :)

Gonna try for 3 reps of 170lbs :D May go for 1 rep of 175 afterwards...

this is a buildup from 4 reps or so of 135 after having 2 weeks off, 6 weeks ago
 

Andy2k

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Make sure you do a bit of a warm up first. It's a bloody long way for me to come and treat a pec injury!
 
Bean

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oh yeah definitely gonna do good warmups

the 165 i did last week for 3 didn't bother me a bit; in fact i wasn't even winded... my body just couldn't lift anymore :)
 
wojo

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good liuck man..even if u dont get it..have a good spotter and just try negatives for awhile with the weight guarantee u will get it after a couple days of doing that(not in a row of course)
 

Biggs

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Ow Ow mofo, you got this! Make sure to post the news of your victory.
 
Bean

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Oh gosh :eek:

I'm kinda embarresed :) Before my try for 170, I had talked to another guy that I met in the mall Sunday... we were discussing weightlifting; and he was obviously a powerlifter; said he did some stuff in college and was still pursuing it a little on the amateur side...

we discussed my try for 170 and he told me i had made impressive gains from what i was doing before... he asked me about my form, etc...

and come to find out; my grip was too wide... i was gripping with my ring fingers on the markers on the barbell; and he told me that for a person of my smaller frame i should be gripping closer in; told me to go check it out on the net...

so i went and read up some; and come to find out; i'm supposed to bench with my wrists slightly outside of shoulder width... i've been gripping WAY too wide...

So came today (couldn't do it last night)... and i warmed up and everything with the new grip; and it felt better, more powerful...

i load up 170lbs and get myself pumped up...

i do 3 reps... and i wasn't fatigued much... i was flabbergasted...

so i load on 180lbs! and i did 2 full reps with no assistance!

Well i finished up the rest of my exercises, stoked that i hit that number... this is a 1rm of 190lbs it says... i'm only 10lbs off of my 200lb goal!!!!

the rest of the night on my other two sets i worked out with 135lbs going to 10 reps...

i can't believe it; i'm just so stoked :D :D :D :saw: :saw:
 

TMack40

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A little form goes a long way. Congrats bro, you were stronger than you thought. Keep it up...
 

Inzah Dude

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Good job bean. What did you use on the net to figure out what your grip should be?
 

DarCSA

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Congragulations Bean. Glad to hear that you surpassed your expectations. I hope you hit 200 soon enough. Best of luck to you on your next try.
 
Bean

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just read some articles; couple over at bb.com, etc... just saying that a typical bench grip is a little more than shoulder width apart; i was about 5 inches off on each hand :)
 
sage

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just read some articles; couple over at bb.com, etc... just saying that a typical bench grip is a little more than shoulder width apart; i was about 5 inches off on each hand :)
your best lifts will come with approx and 1/2-1 inch in from the outer barbell rings (approx where you forearms are perpendicular with the floor), and keeping your triceps in. this will incorporate more assitance from the tris....a muscle group which provides a great deal of strength in a bench lift. you can mess around with wider and narrower grip to hit different spots, but for PR, no doubt the grip above is the most ideal.
 

pjorstad

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Hmm for me i have to use a VERY wide girp. Like what bean is talking about and im only 5 '9. I got very weak triceps so i need more support from the chest and lats.
 
Bean

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Hmm for me i have to use a VERY wide girp. Like what bean is talking about and im only 5 '9. I got very weak triceps so i need more support from the chest and lats.
i'm tellin you man, the dips just don't hit the tri's like they should ;) do 8 focused compound exercises on them things and i guarentee they will sprout up ;) i've completely pulled dips because they don't even work on my tris; skullcrushers and triceps extensions work em MUCH harder
 

pjorstad

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On this upcoming cycle bean im not doing bar dips. Im gonna be doing tricep kickbacks and close grip benches for my triceps. Skull crushers ive heard can be hard on the elbows long term so im not gonna do them. Not sure about tricep extensions maybe ill do those instead of extensions. Is those the ones where you can stand up with one dumbell for both hands and you lift it up and down behind your head?
 

pjorstad

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because im gonna do a 4 day split i can incorporate tricep extensions, kickbacks, and close grip benches for my fina cycle. Hows that for hitting the triceps???? I wont be doing any bar dips or bench dips.
 

Biggs

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because im gonna do a 4 day split i can incorporate tricep extensions, kickbacks, and close grip benches for my fina cycle. Hows that for hitting the triceps???? I wont be doing any bar dips or bench dips.
I dunno bro, I'd use skull crushers. As long as it's a cambered bar (ez bar, preacher bar) and not a straight bar your elbows/wrists will be fine IMO. The best way for me to do them is to go from much farther back (so the bar is beyond my head, just below the bench level) and keep the humerus (upper arm) at more of an angle so when you bring the bar up, it comes across your eye level, rather than bring the bar from forehead level to elbows perp with the floor and the bar ending up somewhere above your chest. Elbows in too. This obviously creates more tension throughout the movement because you don't come perpendicular with the weight. If you always lock out with your arms at 90 deg I could see where the elbows would be stressed more. Just some thoughts, I've never had elbow problems with this movement and consider it a staple... plus they just feel good.
 
sage

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On this upcoming cycle bean im not doing bar dips. Im gonna be doing tricep kickbacks and close grip benches for my triceps. Skull crushers ive heard can be hard on the elbows long term so im not gonna do them. Not sure about tricep extensions maybe ill do those instead of extensions. Is those the ones where you can stand up with one dumbell for both hands and you lift it up and down behind your head?
of course, the close grip bench is fine choice for a tri exercise. I too (with biggin) dont feel skulls are more stressful on the elbow joint with a ez-bar, than any other extending tri movement. But if you're set on the two tricep exercises in the close and kickbacks, i will suggest that you replace the db kickbacks with a low cable one. Use no attachments, and with your upper body/torso literally parallel to the floor, use the same kickback motion. The use of cable/no attachments, grabbing onto the string wire instead, does two things....(1) takes away almost all the momentum one might use in swaying the weight back and forth (also, your body position from the waist up being parallel also contributes). (2) you have to think of your elbow or any joints (knees, rotators, ankles) being a hinge connection to two seperate parts, and using a cable pulley which keeps full attention on the working muscle group (tris), will avoid any concern of extra stress thats put onto the elbows.
 

pjorstad

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Thanks guys. My triceps are very lagging my rest of my body so ive decided for my upcoming fina cycle im gonna incorporate 4 sets of skullcrushers. Ill do them how you said biggin as to be easier on the elbows.

Im working chest/shouldres/tris 2 times a week for my upcoming cycle so what im gonna do is on the 2nd chest workout im gonna do 2 sets of tricep dumbell extensions standing overhead. I guess thats what its called. THe one where you stand and use both hands and bring the dumbell behind your head and then back to the top. Would that be hard on the elbows???
 

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