Reply With QuoteFrom where I'm sitting it looks like they're going up pretty easy.Originally Posted by Chris Oliver
✓ Member
Good plan! It's not just about slowing down your press though. You have tons of room to be benching heavier, now that you're comfortable with the lift. I'd say you should take a workout to find a starting weight, which will definitely be significantly higher than what you're benching now, and continue LPing on up from there.
On the press, it looks like you're letting your elbows drop behind the bar at the bottom of each rep. Remember, the bar doesn't have to start off resting on your chest. You want to unrack it with your elbows slightly in front of the bar, and if that means the bar starts off up by your chin, that's just fine. I'd also narrow your grip by a finger. For most guys, right where the knurl meets the smooth works well.
On the deadlift, I think you're setting up just a bit close to the bar. I'd back up just a little bit so you don't have to bump it forwards with your shins and can get a bit more quads involved in breaking it off the floor.
Member
From where I'm sitting it looks like they're going up pretty easy.
✓ Member
Haha thanks David. I'm glad I made it look easy. It was pretty tough but I'll continue to progress each workout as long as possible using 2.5lb jumps and then 1lb jumps if necessary. I'm going to narrow my grip some as Dillon suggested and try to keep my elbows in front of the bar also.
4/20/19
Squat: 150x5x3 YouTube
Bench: 90x5x3 YouTube
Chins: BWx7,6,5 YouTube
The outsides of my hips were giving me some pain during the warm-up sets using a wider stance so I narrowed it a bit for the worksets and the pain subsided. I'm going to stick with 5lb increments for the bench for now. It still feels somewhat light but not too far away from where I would be struggling.
Last edited by Chris Oliver; 04-20-2019 at 11:33 AM.
✓ Member
This is not a good decision for your LP. I'm not saying you need to go slap the big plates on next workout or anything, but you can handle some 10 lbs jumps before these even start to slow down by the last rep, let alone become an actual struggle. Those just aren't what heavy bench reps look like. In fact, they're so light that you're barely even controlling the descent, because you don't have to. You're completely losing tightness at the bottom, relaxing with the bar on your chest, because you can get away with it. Despite that, they're flying back up. Remember, as a rank novice, your idea of subjective interpretation of "heavy" isn't reliable, let alone your own prediction of where you would actually start to struggle. Again, as the heavier exercise (in most cases) the bench drives the press far more than the press drives the bench. Right now, your bench is doing squat (pun very much intended!) to drive a strength adaptation. It's your LP, so you're entitled to do whatever you want, but you'll wish you'd been more aggressive a month from now, when you'll be four months into LP with a stuck press and a sub-135 bench.
✓ Member
I'm not worried about slow progression. I can go to 1lb jumps if necessary.
4/22/19
Squat: 155x5x3 YouTube
Press: 90x5x3 YouTube
Deadlift: 210x5 YouTube
Narrowing the grip on the press helped significantly as everything felt more secure. It also made it easier to keep my elbows in front of the bar at the bottom of the reps. Another cue from the book that helped was making sure the bar ends up behind the neck at the top. Driving the bar upward and making sure I'm fully under it seemed to help remind me of keeping elbows forward.
I'm glad to have the deadlift back where I left off before going on nightshift. I started with the bar a little further away this time, evident by my hips starting lower, and it felt about the same as normal.
✓ Member
I guess my only question would be, what's the harm in slightly faster progress? Your "LP" has already gone as long as most people's, except you've just recently gotten to weights you probably could have started at. Milking LP for as long as possible is great, but it's supposed to be at the heavy end, not by starting artificially light, or making unnecessarily small jumps because you've held a lift back. But hey, do you man!
Grip on the press looks better! Still not quite sure if you're getting your elbows in front of the bar. It's just hard to tell from this angle. If a side view is possible we could see for sure. It just looks like you're kind of relaxing with the bar resting on your chest at the bottom of each rep, and most people are built in such a way that for the bar to rest on the chest, their elbows get behind it. It has to do with forearm length.
Deadlift looks better! Your shins look like they're at a better angle. Remember, the objective isn't to have your hips as high as possible, it's just to keep them wherever they are after step 3. As high as possible basically turns them into stiff legged deadlifts.
✓ Member
I'm no exception, my forearms are too long to allow the bar to rest on my chest without my elbows going back. I'm keeping the bar off my chest at the bottom to maintain elbows in front of the bar.
4/24/19 Week 10
Squat: 160x5x3 YouTube
Bench: 95x5x3 YouTube
Chins: BWx7,7,4 YouTube
✓ Member
✓ Member
Those presses are still moving real nice! Thanks for the side view, I can definitely see what's going on here. See how extended your wrists are? You want to get them neutral and keep them that way throughout the entire rep. If you do that, and really focus on keeping your elbows in front of the bar, it will be a little further above your chest at the bottom of each rep than it is now.
Squats and deads look great!
✓ Member
Posting Permissions
