Burly Decides to Bench Again...

[burlyman30]

I don't want to regurgitate all the same stuff, so if you haven't already read all my backstory, you can find it in the first post of this thread: Burly Decides to Pull Again...

So... benching... It's not something I've done much of over the last several years, though I do dabble from time to time. I have heaps of scar tissue in my shoulders from years of injuries, so bench press has been an on/off thing for me. I really haven't cared too much about strength in the bench press, unlike some guys at the gym who seem to live by that number. Of course, I'm not immune to feeling great when numbers increase. That just hasn't been my focus since around 1990. I don't think I have performed a barbell bench press at all since July or August, so you might say it has been a while.

It has been a crazy crazy busy last couple of weeks for me, getting 4-5 hours of sleep each night and working 100+ hours a week on a coffee shop we are building. With all that craziness, I snuck in 2 workouts last week and only 1 so far this week, which was tonight. I walked (or dragged myself) into an Anytime Fitness location after a 16 hour day. It was nearby the jobsite, so I was unfamiliar with it. Most Anytime Fitness locations will not have a bench for bench pressing. However, they do have benches that are moveable into a power rack.

I walked into the gym tonight and the bench called me over to it. I have no idea why. Maybe I wanted to gauge where I am right now. Maybe I needed a change from dumbells.

Because of the shoulder issues I take a very long time warming up. You'll see a very slow progression in weight increases. I'll comment below as it warrants.

Bar 40 reps
65 lbs 25 reps
85 lbs 15 reps
95 lbs 12 reps

135 lbs 5 reps
185 lbs 5 reps I am so NOT used to the bar/style, that my arms/elbows began shaking a bit on the way down.

All the sets below were done with a 3 count down, short pause on chest, and up again.

195 lbs 3 reps Arm shaking again, but I felt more under control this time
205 lbs 1 rep Feeling a bit better control than the previous set
225 lbs 1 rep Shoulder had a short twinge, but I think I got off balance when I pulled the bar off the rack.
245 lbs 1 rep Shoulder felt much better on this set than the previous. My form now is critical as the weight begins to require everything just so.
265 lbs 1 rep. Went up well. Feeling heavy, and considered stopping the weight increases here. However, it ends up with me deciding to push it a bit more.
275 lbs 1 rep. Went up smooth and without issue. I let out a small grunt to heave up the weight, but the bar never stopped moving upward.

I called that "good enough" for a first day back. My shoulder is just a little tender after the workout, but no worse off than from any other chest workout. I finished out the chest workout with a few sets of flat dumbell flyes with reps of 12-15 and some sets of bodyweight dips in the 15-25 rep range. I finished out the night with some bi and tri work and called it good.

I don't know how frequently I will incorporate barbell bench into my training, but seeing as I am running out of the dumbells as I grow stronger, it may become more and more frequent as long as the shoulder holds up. Overall, the night went well and it helped me assess my current strength levels so I can move forward in increasing them.

I'll keep adding to this thread as I do more. In the meantime, feel free to use this thread as a discussion place for all things bench press related.

[weekend]

damn how can you hit 275 after not benching for a year...

[Coolazice]

damn how can you hit 275 after not benching for a year...

And only weighing 182ish....
And 43 years of age....
And working those ungodly hours....
And....
And....
And....

The guy is a freakin' machine!!!

You never cease to amaze me, Burly!!!

[burlyman30]

damn how can you hit 275 after not benching for a year...

And only weighing 182ish....
And 43 years of age....
And working those ungodly hours....
And....
And....
And....

The guy is a freakin' machine!!!

You never cease to amaze me, Burly!!!

Aww shucks, guys... yer gonna make me blush.

Weight is all relative. I've been stronger, and I've been weaker. I've said it before: it doesn't matter where you or I start-- it's where you go from there and what you learn on the way that really matters.

[O_RYAN_007]

Aww shucks, guys... yer gonna make me blush.

Weight is all relative. I've been stronger, and I've been weaker. I've said it before: it doesn't matter where you or I start-- it's where you go from there and what you learn on the way that really matters.

Nicely put Major Applegate!

[O_RYAN_007]

Shoulder Pain - Page 2

page 2 post 16 by Northcutt.

He brings up a great point in checking out some vids on shoulder mobility using a lacrosse ball. I started checking it out yesterday and found tons of great techniques to use to. Trigger point releases are also amazing in breaking up the muscles.

[burlyman30]

Shoulder Pain - Page 2

page 2 post 16 by Northcutt.

He brings up a great point in checking out some vids on shoulder mobility using a lacrosse ball. I started checking it out yesterday and found tons of great techniques to use to. Trigger point releases are also amazing in breaking up the muscles.

I'll check it out! Thanks!

[O_RYAN_007]

I'll check it out! Thanks!

I think this is a great vid!

Myofascial release and Biomechanics for the forearm, tricep and shoulder - YouTube

[burlyman30]

Just wanted to report back that I am a bit sore. lol. I know my form was spot on, because my spinal erectors are sore, my lats are sore, my hips and glutes are sore, my quads are sore, as well as shoulders, tris, and chest. So many muscles are involved in a properly executed bench press. I'm also happy to report that my shoulder seems no worse for the heavy impromptu workout, either. That is a great thing!

[burlyman30]

Well, after a long day of work, I headed off to the gym. When I got there, I was a bit hungry. This led me to think about what I had consumed for the day. In the morning, I had a protein shake with milk and yogurt in it. I went to the grand opening of the coffeeshop we just built and I had a cookie and a coffee drink.... umm... turns out that was all I had. I'm guessing all of about 600 calories for the day before I stepped in the gym. No wonder I was hungry.

Luckily I had some Peptopro and a canister of Tang in the car. I generally mix those together and consume pre/intra/post workout and I love the effect. The small amount of carbs helped keep my blood sugar sufficient for the workout.

That being said, I decided to just build on what I had done a week ago and see where it went. I was a bit more familiar with my abilities this time around (second bench workout) so my workout went as such:

Bar x 25 reps
135 x 5 reps
185 x 3 reps Oddly, my elbows were shaky at this weight this week, yet again.
225 x 1 rep
275 x 1 rep Felt smooth
295 x 1 rep Hard, but got it up. No spotters.

All the sets done for 5 reps and below are 2.5-3 seconds down, light touch on the chest, then drive up hard and fast.

In the course of the 295 going up, I arched really hard and my spinal erectors cramped up really badly. I laid on the bench for a while and then slowly sat up and remained seated several minutes while I got the cramping to dissipate with a little light stretching. Pretty sure my low back will be sore tomorrow after that ordeal.

If you are following my DL thread, then I am doing something similar here... I decided to drop the weight and just get used to the feel and up my reps a bit. I dropped to 225 (after I got the cramping to go away) and intended to do 3 sets of 5. First set went pretty easy and could have done 6. Second set, I may have gotten the 5th rep, but with no spotter, I shut it down at 4. By the 3rd set, I shut it down after 3 reps for the same reason and called the bench session over.

I proceeded to the dumbell rack and just went light with some flat bench flyes.

25s x 15
35s x 12
35 x 8, 25 x 6, 15 x 10 (drop set) Did 3 sets like this.

Doing drop sets for chest is something that I have never done prior to this year. I've done it for arms and delts... but never chest, back, or legs. I have to say that I really enjoy it at the end of a workout to gorge the chest with blood. My chest doesn't pump up all that well normally, but these work, even with very light weight.

I followed this by 3 sets of bodyweight dips for 15-25 reps each.

Followed all the above with an arm workout (bis and tris), but I won't detail that, since it has no bearing on the thread's subject matter.

Shoulder felt really quite good throughout the workout. Now (3 hours later), it seems a bit tender, but not injured. Just well worked and maybe "injury-prone" if I were to try to lift something again in the next 24-48 hours. But I have no intention of doing anything but allowing it to rest up. The sets at 225 really did exhaust my left shoulder, and it was easy to know when to shut it down.

Overall, I think my shoulder felt better during this workout than the last one. It felt more stable than last week. I'm really quite pleased about my shoulder. But I'm not out of the woods. Not by a long shot. For me, it's likely just a matter of time. However, I'll enjoy the good stuff while I can.