I Benched 107.5 kg in Competition 3-16-08

[ripitupbaby]

I made it back into the gym tonight...I am moving towards a Friday/Monday schedule for my chest workouts, with shirt work on Fridays (workout #1) starting next week hopefully.

This week, I jumped back into a "moderate" week, Workout #1 tonight.

-4 sets bench - 2 sets 145 x 5, 2 sets 150 x 5 (the 150 sets may have been a little heavy for a moderate week, but I got them np)
- 3 sets dumbell inclines 55 x 5 (no spot, these were a bitch)
- 3 sets dumbell laterals 20 lbs x 12
- 3 sets rotator cuff cables very light weight x 15

 

[tu_holmes]

I made it back into the gym tonight...I am moving towards a Friday/Monday schedule for my chest workouts, with shirt work on Fridays (workout #1) starting next week hopefully.

This week, I jumped back into a "moderate" week, Workout #1 tonight.

-4 sets bench - 2 sets 145 x 5, 2 sets 150 x 5 (the 150 sets may have been a little heavy for a moderate week, but I got them np)
- 3 sets dumbell inclines 55 x 5 (no spot, these were a bitch)
- 3 sets dumbell laterals 20 lbs x 12
- 3 sets rotator cuff cables very light weight x 15

 
 

Damn Lori... You're putting up more weight than half the guys I see trolling around the gym... Nice work.

 

[ripitupbaby]

Damn Lori... You're putting up more weight than half the guys I see trolling around the gym... Nice work.

 

From one troll to another...thanks.   

I love lifting big weight. 

[ripitupbaby]

One day late, but I did workout #2 tonight.  I am planning on training with the shirt for the first time on Friday.

I used boards tonight for the first time.  My husband made me a sweet set of boards, from 1-4.  Check 'em out...fully upholstered and with ez-grip handles.   

I used the 2-boards tonight.  I brought the 1 board, but it seemed so small that I went with the 2's.

BOARD PRESSES
155 x 5
160 x 5
165 x 5
165 x 5

CLOSE GRIPS
135 x 5
140 x 5
140 x 5
I hit the wall and ran out of gas on the last set.  I was used to doing these as my first exercise, and doing the board presses first made a big difference.

I also did three sets x 6 of tricep rope pulldowns.


I assume that I'll be using the 4-board and 3-board to start breaking the shirt in.  The 4-board is pretty tall for me, so I will probably only use it once or twice, at least I hope.  Not sure what I will use the 1-board for yet.

[tu_holmes]

Are you sure JR didn't just make these as paddles, and you just HAPPEN to use them as boards.

Looks... Um... Yeah... like that.

 

 

[ripitupbaby]

Are you sure JR didn't just make these as paddles, and you just HAPPEN to use them as boards.

Looks... Um... Yeah... like that.

 

 

Funny you should say that...I kept accidentally calling them paddles all night.   

[tu_holmes]

Funny you should say that...I kept accidentally calling them paddles all night.   

Haha... Accidentally... RIIIIIIGHT.

[Hedgehog]

Best looking boards I've seen.

Good workout too.

[trab]

Rip, those are nice. He put some time and care in. Lucky you 

Hey guys - "Paddles" should have Leather covers, Right?
Prolly just velcro the Leather on 

The tall ones are great for tricep strength/ lockout. You can discard a lot of triceps work for the higher board. Its fast and efficient.

[ripitupbaby]

Hey guys - "Paddles" should have Leather covers, Right?
Prolly just velcro the Leather on 

hahaha   

[ripitupbaby]

Last Friday, I took the shirt to the gym for the first time.  Workout #1 for the week.  I can't say it was terribly successful.  It was more painful and frustrating than successful.

We put the shirt on, and I tried 155.  LOL it pretty much didn't move. 
We put 225 on and tried again.  I tried three times with 225 and the 4 board, and I could not get it to touch the 4 board.   
I gave up on the shirt and then proceeded to do two terrible sets of bench press.  I threw 160 on and barely got it for 4, and then I went down to 135 x 5, which felt heavy as shit.  I think I made myself tired from struggling with the shirt.

When I lay on the bench and move my arms up to the bar, the whole shirt pulls up, no matter how tight down it is, the shirt lifts up, and the seam across the top ends up like on my chin.  Then, the crinkle forms like right across the top of my boobs, which is where it seems the seam should be sitting.  (It's the same crinkle as in the pics, but I start with the shirt flat and pulled down)
And then when I try to move the weight, the crinkle totally pulls super tight across my chest and cuts into the top of my boobs.  It's painful lol....like too painful to move the shirt more than I did.


Last night, I did workout #2.
-board presses 2-board... 160 x 5, 165 x 5, 165 x 5, 170 x 4.
-close grips 3 sets 135 x 5
-tricep rope 3 sets x 6

Close grips are tough, I can't keep my arch very well and get all sort of out of whack with heavier weight, esp when I do them after the board presses.  I managed to get the sets of 135 but it was a struggle.

I'm not giving up on the shirt, obviously, but I am fairly certain I am going to order the next size up and work with both of them.

[The Squadfather]

ALWAYS get a lift off on close grips Rip, and make sure it's by someone who knows what they're doing, bar position over the chest is very important on these, you see people in the gym all the time lowering the bar way too high up on these, that bar should hit around the top of the abs.

[Overload]

The shirt is WAY too tight.

Good luck.

[ripitupbaby]

ALWAYS get a lift off on close grips Rip, and make sure it's by someone who knows what they're doing, bar position over the chest is very important on these, you see people in the gym all the time lowering the bar way too high up on these, that bar should hit around the top of the abs.

With the heavier weight, I am learning that I have a certain groove where I can do these, and I totally fck them up if I am either too high or too low.  I totally blew it last night when I came down too high up and caught my husband off guard on the first rep b/c I usually do all of the reps by myself, and I couldn't get the bar up on the first one. 

The shirt is WAY too tight.

Good luck.

 

[ripitupbaby]

I managed to get a shirt workout in on Friday.  It was slightly better than the first one.  I will admit that the shirt is definitely stretching, but it's a rough go. 

I was out of town and didn't have boards with me, just the shirt and a spotter. 
I did four attempts at 185 in the shirt, and I probably got it down to the height of a 3-board by the last two attempts. 

I also did 3 sets of DB laterals and 3 sets of rotator cuffs with a band.

The shirt left large purple marks and broken blood vessels pretty much all the way across my upper pecs and under my arms, all the way back to the tricep.  But it's stretching a little.   

I am still leaning towards ordering one size up and breaking both of them in. 

 

[Luv2Hurt]

Last Friday, I took the shirt to the gym for the first time.  Workout #1 for the week.  I can't say it was terribly successful.  It was more painful and frustrating than successful.

We put the shirt on, and I tried 155.  LOL it pretty much didn't move. 
We put 225 on and tried again.  I tried three times with 225 and the 4 board, and I could not get it to touch the 4 board.   
I gave up on the shirt and then proceeded to do two terrible sets of bench press.  I threw 160 on and barely got it for 4, and then I went down to 135 x 5, which felt heavy as shit.  I think I made myself tired from struggling with the shirt.

When I lay on the bench and move my arms up to the bar, the whole shirt pulls up, no matter how tight down it is, the shirt lifts up, and the seam across the top ends up like on my chin.  Then, the crinkle forms like right across the top of my boobs, which is where it seems the seam should be sitting.  (It's the same crinkle as in the pics, but I start with the shirt flat and pulled down)
And then when I try to move the weight, the crinkle totally pulls super tight across my chest and cuts into the top of my boobs.  It's painful lol....like too painful to move the shirt more than I did.


Last night, I did workout #2.
-board presses 2-board... 160 x 5, 165 x 5, 165 x 5, 170 x 4.
-close grips 3 sets 135 x 5
-tricep rope 3 sets x 6

Close grips are tough, I can't keep my arch very well and get all sort of out of whack with heavier weight, esp when I do them after the board presses.  I managed to get the sets of 135 but it was a struggle.

I'm not giving up on the shirt, obviously, but I am fairly certain I am going to order the next size up and work with both of them.

Pardon my ignorance guys but what do you use the boards for?  Do you put it on your chest and bring the bar down to them?  See this is just a guess cause there was this one guy who was into PL who did that at my gym but his was just a block of wood,  

Oh second question  why do that?  What does it do?

[trab]

Luv, you need try the boards, trust me they work.
The pause cause some strange reaction that makes for more strength.
Screw all the science explanation, just do it.


Rip - That shirt is TOO Tight! Get another, you'll diet down sometime anyway.
Cant lift like that. Your arch and form is giving about as much ROM as you can ask for.
If you still can only get that much depth, (and the bruises/ marks) its way too tight.

[ripitupbaby]

My basic understanding of the boards is that they allow you to focus on building strength in the triceps by limiting your range of motion to that which uses primarily the tris, which is critical for lifting big weight with the shirt. 
Obviously, they are also used to help break the bench shirt in. 

trab, I think I am getting a bigger shirt, but I am holding out hope for this one when it comes time for competition.  I'm gonna try to break both of them in if I can handle it.

[Overload]

the boards build lockout strength and allow you to handle a higher load in efforts to increase your max bench. you should be able to press much more off a 3 board than you do raw. once your body is used to these heavier loads it can lead to a much more powerful lockout strength which will make you stronger...something like that.

board presses and chains made the biggest improvements in my benching, RAW and in a shirt.

Rip - two shirts is not a bad idea, i have 3 depending on how far out from the meet i am i use a tighter shirt.

[The Squadfather]

the idea with using the boards for partials as Louie Simmons stated is that your muscles absorb the brunt of the added weight as opposed to resting the bar on the pins of the power rack for partials.

[Overload]

the idea with using the boards for partials as Louie Simmons stated is that your muscles absorb the brunt of the added weight as opposed to resting the bar on the pins of the power rack for partials.

Exactly.

The boards are suppose to simulate the bar touching your actual body.

when resting on pins the balance issue goes out the window because the resting point is on the outside of the bar.

[Vet]

the boards build lockout strength and allow you to handle a higher load in efforts to increase your max bench. you should be able to press much more off a 3 board than you do raw. once your body is used to these heavier loads it can lead to a much more powerful lockout strength which will make you stronger...something like that.

board presses and chains made the biggest improvements in my benching, RAW and in a shirt.

Rip - two shirts is not a bad idea, i have 3 depending on how far out from the meet i am i use a tighter shirt.

There also the mental aspect....  boards allow you to overload what you'd do for a normal full range rep.   You will indirectly train yourself to handle more weight by using boards, thus eliminating that "oh shit" feeling when you take a liftoff in the contest.  I know I used to miss lifts because of the mental games I played.  It was doing 3 and 4 board presses with 50-100 lbs more than my max that got me over that feeling--sort of like walkouts or yoke training for squats.   

The other thing boards do is they help train you to stay tight in your form with maximal weights.  I had problems with loosing my arch when I took the handoff when I worked over 95%.  I think heavy board presses helped me get over that and taught me to stay tighter. 
 

[ripitupbaby]

There also the mental aspect....  boards allow you to overload what you'd do for a normal full range rep.   You will indirectly train yourself to handle more weight by using boards, thus eliminating that "oh shit" feeling when you take a liftoff in the contest.  I know I used to miss lifts because of the mental games I played.  It was doing 3 and 4 board presses with 50-100 lbs more than my max that got me over that feeling--sort of like walkouts or yoke training for squats.   

The other thing boards do is they help train you to stay tight in your form with maximal weights.  I had problems with loosing my arch when I took the handoff when I worked over 95%.  I think heavy board presses helped me get over that and taught me to stay tighter. 
 

So true...I thought about both of these points last night after I did the BPs.  I'm not pressing over my max yet, but doing the heavier weight for more reps on these is getting me more comfortable with heavier weight.

Last night was workout #2 on whatever week I am on...at this point, my workout #1s basically consist of a few attempts with the bench shirt (which will hopefully turn into reps!) and some shoulder work, and then #2s are board presses and close grips. 

Board presses w/the 2-board 4 sets 175 x 5.
Close grips 1 set 135 x 5, 3 sets 140 x 5.

I was pretty happy with these numbers.

There's a ton of great info in this thread, so thanks again guys.   

[Luv2Hurt]

So true...I thought about both of these points last night after I did the BPs.  I'm not pressing over my max yet, but doing the heavier weight for more reps on these is getting me more comfortable with heavier weight.

Last night was workout #2 on whatever week I am on...at this point, my workout #1s basically consist of a few attempts with the bench shirt (which will hopefully turn into reps!) and some shoulder work, and then #2s are board presses and close grips. 

Board presses w/the 2-board 4 sets 175 x 5.
Close grips 1 set 135 x 5, 3 sets 140 x 5.

I was pretty happy with these numbers.

There's a ton of great info in this thread, so thanks again guys.   

Nice Rip, looks like you were feeling pretty strong last night!

[ripitupbaby]

Nice Rip, looks like you were feeling pretty strong last night!

Some things are getting better.   
I also widened my grip on the close grips last night to shoulder width.  I was going a little narrow before which was screwing me up.