The PR Thread V

Front squat 170x8. Felt good to hit a rep PR and leave some reps on the table.
 
137.5kg / 302.5lb close grip bench. 7.5kg close grip PR and 2.5kg overall bench PR. On track to bench 140kg soon.

 
Big volume PR today, especially for no belt or wraps. I hit 5 sets of 10 with 405 on low bar back squats.

 
200kg / 440lbs deadlift. Lifetime PR by 2.5kg.
 
Not only a great milestone, but your gym has atmosphere to spare. Nice!

Thanks brah, this is the deadlifting "shed" on the bottom floor, the gym itself is the 4th floor of a Victorian cotton mill and is grimy with old equipment from the 80's, it's not a "pleasant" place to train but it's a place to get work done for sure.
 
140kg / 308lb bench PR, lifetime best. Never, ever thought I would do this but I suppose we can surprise ourselves.

 
140 kg bench. This was a "lifetime goal" of mine.



This is the write-up from my log:
Bench pressing 140 kg was my "lifetime goal", since starting lifting 7 years ago. Since my teens I've had shoulder issues and, until very recently, never in my life was I able to bench pain-free. I've had countless impingement issues, rotator cuff tears, SLAP tears, AC joint injuries and chronic bicipital tendonitis on both shoulders across a span of close to two decades. I've had X-Rays, MRIs and injections done, seriously considered surgery, and I've done literally hundreds of physiotherapy sessions for my shoulders in my life. Specifically when it comes to bicipital tendonitis, which is the main pathology that flared up whenever I tried to bench heavy, I've had persistent pain for a good 15 years; for most of those years I couldn't even do push-ups pain-free. A couple of years ago I really thought I would never bench 140 because my shoulders would just never be able to structurally cope with that load. Well, it wasn't a good looking rep, but today I benched 140 and I had zero shoulder pain despite it being the longest bench grind I've ever done. I am happy with this.
 
Great work miaou, not to piss on your parade but there is more there if you invest some time into your setup brah. I know bench isn't a super high priority for you but a few tweaks and you will have 150kg on there in no time.
 
Great work miaou, not to piss on your parade but there is more there if you invest some time into your setup brah. I know bench isn't a super high priority for you but a few tweaks and you will have 150kg on there in no time.
Thanks, OT. What do you have in mind?
 
Thanks, OT. What do you have in mind?

Nothing major, I would just like to see you get your feet more underneath you, get an arch going in the low back and really retract those shoulder blades. You are probably mobile enough to have a huge arch but I am not sure if working on that is productive. Basically, only your butt and shoulders should be in the bench and you should be trying to grip a credit card between your rear delts.

Final tweak for me is a more controlled descent, but this is personal opinion, some people store a lot of tension with a divebomb style so YMMV in that.

3 count pause benches with the new setup and test again in 6 weeks, see where you are 1RM wise then.
 
@Obscure Terror Thanks for those pointers. I actually like keeping my feet flat on the ground and I wouldn't like to use a very big lower-back arch (I definitely don't want to arch more than I did on that 140 rep). And, since I don't care about competing, the weight I put up is secondary to having a form I like.

I'm with you on the shoulder retraction. Maybe I'm not going a great job at it but I'm definitely doing my best to maintain a good retraction throughout the rep.

As for spending a few weeks working with lighter weight and long pauses, that might actually be a good idea for me right now.

Thanks for the suggestions.
 
@Obscure Terror Thanks for those pointers. I actually like keeping my feet flat on the ground and I wouldn't like to use a very big lower-back arch (I definitely don't want to arch more than I did on that 140 rep). And, since I don't care about competing, the weight I put up is secondary to having a form I like.

I'm with you on the shoulder retraction. Maybe I'm not going a great job at it but I'm definitely doing my best to maintain a good retraction throughout the rep.

As for spending a few weeks working with lighter weight and long pauses, that might actually be a good idea for me right now.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Your choice brah but I find that if I "try" for an arch I can get better shoulder retraction. I can get up on my traps then stuff my shoulder blades under me and lower my arse on to the bench and lock the shoulders together. They creep apart during rep work sometimes and I can feel the stability bleeding away. A holistic approach on seems to work best.

Foot wise it's whatever feels most stable. I feel more locked in benching on my toes with stretched hip flexors so I can't bridge off the bench.

However a caveat is that my bench setup feels miserable; I can't wait to get off the bench after the rep lol.
 
142.5kg / 313.5lb lifetime bench PB. Should have put an ankle weight on for 315lbs but fuck it.

 
185kg / 407lbs Squat PR, & 122.5kg / 270lb x5 Bench PR.
 
125kg / 275lb x 3 Bench PR.
100kg / 220lb x 12 Bench PR.
205kg / 451lb Deadlift PR.

 
Do you feel extra safe knowing that if you fail on bench, Tom could easily pull the bar off you with one hand?
 
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