April 7 - Bench Workout

Today's workout was interesting...I ended up bagging a good chunk of it, I had nothing!

It was supposed to be chest/back/abs and short cardio. I started off STRONG and focused, totally engaged in my workout. PR'd right off on Bench (100 x 11! former was x 9!). About mid-way through chest/back I just crashed. Everything got hard, I was really struggling. I pushed through the rest of that, and decided to bag Abs for tomorrow (originally a cardio only day), and I hit the elliptical for a VERY easy 20 mins. Now that I'm looking at it though, that w/o was waaay too long anyway, and abs will better fit on Thursdays. So depending on how tomorrow feels I think I'll make that more of a regular occurrence. I'm sure lack of sleep played a role in that crash, slightly reduced calories (can't be here, 141 after coming home from NYC/VA - and down next to nothing still today - no no no!).

Here's the vid of the Bench, I will say that I'm 100% convinced that the BB Floor Presses I've been doing for the past several weeks, in combination with this "revised" grip really facilitated this! The Floor Presses get me to practice that sticking spot that has been problematic on every single missed Bench I think from Day 1, and even in this vid you can see on those last two reps where I reeaaally start to slow down on the top half of the press!

100 x 11 :)


This felt like a huge win today...huge! I'm so looking forward to June (and really need to remember to get my $%#!$@ entry form in!)

The rest of the workout:

Pull-Ups Day 16 - 3 (blah! too much after Bench but I didn't want to zap any strength ahead of Bench either...)

BB Rows
65 x 15
75 x 12
85 x 10
95 x 8 (not planned, but felt strong - zoned in! probably did me in ;)

BB Floor Press
90 x 10, 9, 7

Machine High Rows
3 x 10 @ 120
(3rd set - crash!)

DB Incline Flys
3 x 10 @ 25

Cable Standing 1-Arm Rows
10/Arm @ 70, 80, 90

Hammer Incline Press
8, 7 x 90

Back Extensions
15 @ 25
15 @ 10
15 @ BW

Pushups
3 x 12

20 mins Elliptical

Bench Day - No Clever Title, Deal ;)

Last night when i finally slowed down and sat down, I started to crash pretty hard. Just a big wave of *the tired* hit. Slept pretty well and woke up feeling good, so I hit the gym for Chest/Back/Abs day...which felt great! I had a fantastic workout...but on my way home ... the tired wave crashed over me again. Ate, felt a little better..and then there was work. Not really gonna go there, here, but...will leave it at "a trying day" - it just sort of pulled anything/everything I had left, ugh :P

Right about now I'm FREEZING, and plonked out on the sofa with a big fuzzy warm cuddly blanket (thanks Bran :) and watching bad American Idol. Tomorrow is planned as cardio only, plus Softball tomorrow night after work. Can't bail on softball, so a really long day ahead, need to listen to me *carefully* in the morning...

On THAT note...tomorrow is a NEW day and I can look forward to starting it out that way and feeling rested and GOOD. That's how we roll 'round these here parts ;)

Here's how we were rollin' through the workout this morning...

Bench warmups then Week 3 of 5-3-1...
5 x 75
3 x 85
1+ x 95 ... 11 :)



I tried the sort of 'compromise grip,' identified as a possible winner last week :) Mid-palm on rings. I think this is a pretty good spot...a little wobbly at first but I settled into it and felt stable and strong as I worked through the set. Happy with the results, and absolutely a PR with that weight...former PR was for 9.

Also tried the new Rogues with Bench...I wore them for the first 2 short little sets but was NOT digging it, so changed back to sneakers for the long set. I'll try them out a few more times, may just be a matter of getting used to it, but today I wasn't feeling it there at all.

Anyway...next!

BB Rows: 15 x 65, 12 x 75, 10 x 85, 8 x 95

BB Incline Press: 65 x 12, 12, 10, 10

Supine Pullups: 3 x 6

Freemotion Standing Cable Flys: 15 x 15, 9 x 20

DB Pullovers: 35 x 12, 11 30 x 12, 12

Push-ups SS w/ Back Extensions x 3
12 / 15 @ 25
9 / 15 @ 10
- / 15 @ BW

Hanging Knee Raises (w/4lb ball) SS w/ Cable Crunches (110lbs) x 2
12 / 12
12 / 12

V-Sit Med Ball Twists (w/10lb ball) SS w/ Wtd Crunches (25lb plate) x 2
30 / 30
30 / 30

FB Roll-ins 2 x 12

Bicycle Maneuver 1 x 60 (30/side)

Plank 1 x 75 secs

20 mins SS Cardio (no HIIT today)

February 24 - Bench Recap!

So things got a little hectic this past week and I got way behind on things here. That's here online though, s'gonna take a lot more to derail my training :) So that all went on as planned, and the week following Squats on Tuesday looked like this:

Weds - chest/back (Bench) + Abs + 20 HIIT
Thurs - 30cardio
Fri - legs (deads) + 20cardio
Saturday - UB + mini abs + 20cardio

On Wednesday I experimented with grip width on the Bench Press. RC and Myles have both noted that my grip seems too narrow and widening it slightly might really help. I tried 3 wider widths and I still feel like some additional experimenting might yield me better results. I went slightly wider (about 1/2 inch per side) than my regular grip, then out to pinkies on rings, then out to thumb/pointer finger on rings.

RC mentioned he thought I looked most stable at the widest grip, and I think I agree based on how the videos look, but at the same time that is VERY wide and it felt pretty uncomfortable, and given my apparent ridiculous WING SPAN (wtf? where did that come from?) it doesn't significantly shorten my ROM anyway. Good way to jack up my shoulders too. So, I think the answer lies somewhere between the last two.

Here's how Wednesday broke down:
Bench Warmups then worksets:
3 x 80
3 x 85
3+ x 90 (got 13 reps, but filmed from a ridiculous angle so went back and did a 4th set for the grip shot...)
6 x 90

BB Rows
10 x 65
10 x 85
8 x 95

One Arm DB Chest Press
2 x 10/arm @ 35
1 x 10/arm @ 30

Supine Pullups - 8, 8, 6

BB Decline Press - 10, 8 x 85

Cable High Rows - 10, 12 x 120

Hanging Knee Raises superset w/ Rope Crunches (110lbs)
Set 1 - 15 / 15
Set 2 - 12 / 12

V-Sit w/Med Ball (8lbs) Twists ss w/ Weighted Crunches (25lb plate)
Set 1 - 30 / 30
Set 2 - 30 / 30

Plank 1 x 75secs

Ab Crunch Machine 15, 20 x 20lbs
(note: DONE with this machine, not using again)

FB Knee Roll-ins - 12 (into full pike) / 15 (onto knees)

20 mins HIIT