Routine for bench and press

[Dissociation]

I'll try to keep this short: I have hurt both my knees (likely patellar tendinitis/tendinopathy) and basically can't train my lower body for several weeks until I see my physio. In this time I'd like to increase my bench and press as much as possible, as they were a bit behind my deadlift and squat anyway. Here's the routine I'm going with atm, I just want to know how shit it is really, and if there are any changes that should be made..

AxBxAxx BxAxBxx

A
Press 3x5
Bench 5x10
BB row 3x5
Tricep pushdown 5x10
Bicep curl 5x10
abs

B
Bench 3x5
Press 5x10
Chin up 3x8
Dip 5x10
Face pull 5x10
abs

Is this too much tricep work? Am I neglecting something (e.g. low back, traps)?


Thanks
Dissociation

[Les Hahn]

I don't think it is too much tricep work. I was going to recommend something a little different, since you can just bench/press, but I am wondering where you are in your progression. Are you still looking to do LP on these lifts? How long have you been training, and what are your best bench/press lifts (and current BW)?

Thanks!

[crc]

Maybe do dips on the days where you're coming up on 2 days of rest, I don't know about you but bench + press + dips on one day tends to fry my shoulders enough for them to not be fully recovered after one day of rest.

[Dissociation]

I don't think it is too much tricep work. I was going to recommend something a little different, since you can just bench/press, but I am wondering where you are in your progression. Are you still looking to do LP on these lifts? How long have you been training, and what are your best bench/press lifts (and current BW)?

Thanks!

What would you recommend? About 2-3 months of SS (a lot of time wasted fucking around in the gym before this), but I was stalling a lot until about a month ago as I was only eating around 3000kcal. As soon as I started eating big I got my LP back, here are my stats as of my last SS workouts:

Squat 95kg 3x5
Bench 60kg 3x5
Deadlift 120kg 1x5
Press 42.5kg 3x5
Clean 65kg 5x3
5'11", ~75kg bw

My plan was to try and keep up the LP, yes - but that leads me to the question of how much I should be eating. I'm guessing I shouldn't be eating quite as much as Rip advises people to when they're on SS at my point in their training, but at the same time I don't want to stall from eating too little.

Maybe do dips on the days where you're coming up on 2 days of rest, I don't know about you but bench + press + dips on one day tends to fry my shoulders enough for them to not be fully recovered after one day of rest.

Yeah that's a fair point actually, for some reason I thought about my triceps but not the thrashing my shoulders would be taking! I'll leave it as it is for now and see how I'm feeling after the day with bench, press and dips - if it's not good I'll probably take your advice. Would you suggest just forgetting the dips on that workout unless it's before the 2 day rest or actually changing the routine around a bit?


Cheers for your help and speedy responses guys

[Les Hahn]

Thanks for the info. Staying on LP sounds like an option, and for that I think your reps/set scheme will work pretty well. I would just do it 2x per week (Like M/F) and try to still have something of a lower body day. I know you have knee issues, but how are lifts like RDL or SLDL? You could also throw abs on that "lower body" day too.

[Dissociation]

Thanks for the info. Staying on LP sounds like an option, and for that I think your reps/set scheme will work pretty well. I would just do it 2x per week (Like M/F) and try to still have something of a lower body day. I know you have knee issues, but how are lifts like RDL or SLDL? You could also throw abs on that "lower body" day too.

Well I was initially diagnosed with patellofemoral knee pain (runner's knee), and my doc advised me to continue squatting but just to make sure my thighs were always in line with my toes (not caving in). I don't think he realised I was squatting 3 times a week and would put 20kg on my squat in three weeks though.. he also gave me a document describing the symptoms, diagnosis, treatment etc., including a list of exercises to do for rehab- most of which were already included in my daily stretching.

Anyhow, after a bit of fiddling around with my knee whilst performing the exercises I was supposed to, I realised the pain was actually between my kneecap and LOWER leg rather than above the kneecap as with patellofemoral pain syndrome. So I've been advised not to do anything that puts strain, stress etc. on the knee or that strengthens the quads too much - apparently, disproportionately strong quads could be a cause of the pain. But, equally, depending on what precisely is wrong with me, strengthening the quads more could be a solution. Somewhat ironically, though, squatting actually makes my knees feel significantly better for a few hours after the workout (even if it does hurt while I'm performing them); it's daily activities like walking up and down the stairs and sitting with my knees lower than my hips that really set the pain off.

I'm not sure how I feel about training things like RDL but neglecting my quads.. I'm pretty sure they'd be fine to do but, as I say, if I'm not supposed to be training my quads, I don't know if it's wise to be training my hammies, glutes etc. If comparatively WEAK quads are my problem, I don't want to be making it worse! Are you advising lower frequency for my bench/press days because you think I should try to include a leg day of sorts, or because you think I wouldn't have enough recovery time otherwise?

[Les Hahn]

It was just for the the added leg day. I have never tried upper body 3x per week either (just 2x on an upper/lower split). I think it would work though.

[Eiji]

do you knees hurt when dead lifting? If not, I would leave that in for lower body.

As for upper body 3x per week I would think overtraining would set in unless you undulated intensity and volume. one day high intensity low volume (3x5), one medium both and then low intensity higher volume(5x10). 2x per week bench is probably better.

A workout: vertical push, vertical pulls, triceps, lower back/hams
B workout: horizontal push, horizontal pull, biceps, abs