sking's log

[sking1001]

What's your "normal" bench grip width. I normally have pinkies on the rings. Two weeks ago I experimented with ring fingers on the rings and it was glorious. I did that again last week and I didn't notice anything. Max width for competition is index fingers on the rings?

Yes, in competition you just have to have the rings covered, so index on rings is the maximum width, unless you do something with false grip and use your thumbs. I actually benched with my index finger on the rings at the October meet, and Matt had me move it in after that.

My normal grip has been middle finger on rings for the past couple cycles though. After the meet, I was reluctant to move my grip in, but Matt said to give it some time and it would feel strong. I did a cycle with pinkies on rings and made some good progress with increased frequency, but I also did some ultra-wide 3ct pause bench as supplemental work. I felt a lot of carry over there. The ultra wide was actually harder at first, but eventually I started to feel a little stronger with the wider grip and moved it out some on the next cycle, per Matt's prompting as well. I pretty much settled on middle finger on rings. That's where all the 315+ has been. With that grip, my forearms are not perpendicular, but angled out just a little. With my pinkies on the rings they are more in line.

Now that confidence is a lot higher on the bench, I might play around with my grip some, but I'm beginning to see that if you're strong, it really doesn't matter that much.

[caveman]

Thanks for all that info! I'm going to start playing around with the width some more I think. Though I don't think I'll go much wider than I am currently without getting some wrist wraps. I'm currently pain free and would like to keep it that way.

I'm impressed with how much your bench has progressed recently. Strong work man.

[sking1001]

Thanks, caveman : )

[sking1001]

10 rounds on the damn elliptical. TEN

5 min warmup, 10 minute cool down, 35 minutes of my life.

Kill me.

[Leah Lutz]

Haha, I can extend sympathy for 10 rounds. Welcome to the 7th circle of hell, aka too many of Jordan's spirit intervals.

[sking1001]

Haha, I can extend sympathy for 10 rounds. Welcome to the 7th circle of hell, aka too many of Jordan's spirit intervals.

Well I appreciate any sympathy I can get. That's what I was going for. My wife did the recumbent bike beside me, so at least I had company. I'm appreciative, because I know it was a sacrifice for her to listen to me complain instead of listening to music. Also it's hard to resist wiping my sweat on her afterwards.

[sking1001]

Hungover at 7 this morning. Took ibuprofen, drank water, went back to sleep. Didn't get out of bed until 10:30, felt fine.

Squat
135x5
225x5
275x3
315x3
335x3x2
Didn't go over RPE 7

GPP Circuit x4, 20 total sets
Air Squat x 10
Ab Wheel (from knees) x 8
GHR x 8
GHD Situps x 10
Lunges (no weight) x 10

Drenched.

[sking1001]

Press
135x5x2
155x4
165x3x3
This took hardly any time at all. I think I spent more time trying to get my phone connected to a speaker.

GPP Circuit x5, 20 total sets
Inverted Rows x 10
Pushups x 10
DB Curls x 10
Rolling DB x 10

My boys were home and mowed the yard for me : )))

[sking1001]

Matt Reynolds, or Last-Minute-Matt as I like to call him, is having internet woes in Korea, so I'm doing some FeigengainzZz for a couple weeks.

Threw me off at the last minute being a little different than what I'm used to, but it worked out very nicely. I was not mentally prepared to do competition squat today, as Tuesdays are deadlift days, so I'm rearranging a little this week. I'll probably do it in the intended order next week....which is something I haven't changed in a looong time.

Deadlift
135x5
225x5
315x2
405x1
425x5 RPE 8.5
435x5 RPE 9
Yeah, 435x5 should not have been a 9, but lower body is still coming around. You guys think this looks like a 9?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6ioXgaTV6w

Touch and Go Bench
135x5
185x4
225x3
255x5 RPE 8
275x5x2 - PR, RPE 9, 9.5

Paused Squat
135x5
225x3
315x5 RPE 8.5
335x5 RPE 9
I know this is light, but the RPE's are really due to being tired and winded. I could have done a lot heavier for fewer reps, or more if fresh.

So I was really booking it here, and I feel amazing now. This is a nice change and probably better for an old guy like me. Instead of pushing deadlift so hard with 4x5, I stopped after 2 sets and moved on. I think there's more frequency here with 3 barbell lifts per day instead. That's pretty cool. I don't have 2-3 hours to spend, but it's nice to not feel like I skipped anything doing all barbell lifts on my 4 main days. I'll be doing GPP, etc on my off days.

[Dwayne_KONG_Wint]

Close enough to a 9 to call it a 9. So yes....that's a 9...but it could be an 8.5. You have to make the call.