ExRx.net

Nice job on the bench, that firmly puts me way behind in the race. Unsolicited advice coming up now, with regard to your decision to jump forward a few cycles an old saying comes to mind - 'If it ain't broke don't fix it!!'.

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What if the Hokey Cokey really IS what it's all about?

Cheers Phil, I hear what you're saying about the cycles thing. I'm still undecided; on the one hand it's been working, but on the other hand, hitting 10 reps on my 3+ sets seems kinda silly.

I dunno, I'm going to deload next week and have a think about it.

What you see as silly, i see as good progress with plenty of reps left in the tank to carry over into the next cycles. Eventually you are going to stall, that is an inevitability, either that or you're going to break the bench press world record, and no offence but i doubt that. By cutting a few cycles you just bring the point of stalling further forward, and for no other reason than satisfying you're ego. I know because i've done it in the past and wished that i hadn't. Wendler's quite clear also that even if you set a new big 1RM don't cut any cycles and stick to the prescribed formula.

If you want to lift some heavier weights there's nothing wrong, in fact Wendler recommends it, shooting for a few heavier singles after the max rep sets. For instance if 95kgs is your final set weight, stop a few reps short and then go for a single at 105kgs, if that shoots up then try for 110kgs, if that feels heavy do the same weight again or drop back down to 105kgs. Go by feel.

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What if the Hokey Cokey really IS what it's all about?

you know what Phil? You've totally convinced me. I never really thought about how it would just bring the stalling point forward, but it makes perfect sense.

Great progress Bob!!

btw i'd agree with sticking to formula.

Another way to look at it is, work out what your "3" cycle weight will be in 3 months. If you're still hitting 10+ reps then you're be doing unbelievable in my book!

Would also agree with just adding in heavy singles. Save it for the 5-3-1 week, hit your prescribed weight for 1 rep then work up to a heavy single for the day.

As Phil said you WILL stall on 5-3-1. Right now you're gaining so don't use up all your gains too quickly.

Also, I feel I have made the mistake before of hitting PB's then getting over excited and adding all sorts of new and wonderful things to my training instead of just doing what's clearly working. I've hit PB's then failed with less weight weeks afterwards, especially on bench, loads of times, and I think it's largely to do with that. I think staying on course will "cement" new gains where as, if you wonder off, the gains can potentially be short lived - that's a personal opinion/observation.

Lastly, there's a lot to be said for hitting PB's with some left in the tank. Actually I think this is the best way and paves the way for future PB's vs stalling. I've been meaning to summarise my thoughts on this because I think it's really important and i've seen it time and time again with clients, too. For example, a girl I train hit a 57.5 KG bench and looked like she had atleast 60. The previous week she got a PB of 52.5KG and looked like she had at least 55 (when I started training her, 15 weeks ago, her best was 30KG). I now enforce hitting a PB with some left over (bare in mind these aren't PL comps). I'm certain that she hit an easy 57.5 kg because we held her back the previous week. I'm also certain she'll hit 60 this week and it'll be clean as a whistle. This is a girl that hated benching. I actually have several examples of this (and the opposite).

That brings me to this video by Louis Simmons - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u10SeIhQ ... re=related

I had seen this before and heard the advice before but never REALLY realised the significance. If you don't want to watch the whole thing go to about 7:40 in the video. Basically, "once you get a new record, get out! Don't bite off everything at one time".

The relevance here is you could argue that this is what 5-3-1 is forcing you to do. To steal louies analogy - it's forcing you to not come out of your corner all guns blazing and not making it to the 4th round. It's forcing you to pace yourself.

Anyway, again, well done!!!

KPj

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Thanks TimD

You mean I just wrote that whole post for nothing lol

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Thanks TimD

Kenny! Where you been? Are you still free on Saturdays? We'll need to get a training session in soon.

haha I take on board every comment anyone leaves in my journal discussion, nothing gets wasted. I'll check out that Louie Simmons video later.

I actually very rarely test my maxes, only reason I did it was because my mate Steve's been busting my chops for months so it felt good to assert my dominance (although once his shoulder's healed he'll grind me into dust).

I was doing something similar to what PK mentioned, but I was going up with singles before doing the 3 and 5 sets. I did this for the last couple of months that I was on 5/3/1. I'd work up to a single at 75, one at 85, one at 95 then maybe one a bit higher, then I'd drop back to 85 for 3 then 75 for 5 or more. I liked doing that, cause I'd still be pretty fresh for the heaviest weight, then get the volume in after.

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

I think I just have to resist the urge to change things. It's been working, so it doesn't really make sense to change it.

Just getting too eager

Absolutely.

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

indubitably

after tonight's farce with my shoulder I've decided I need to pretty much re-think my entire upper body programming. I'm sick to hell of having a sore shoulder constantly. My mate Steve I train with has actually done so much damage to his shoulder he needs an MRI and possibly surgery to fix his impingement. I ain't going out like that.

So the new routine is:

Weighted Chins 5/3/1 style
Dumbell Bench/Row superset (I train twice a week so flat one day, incline the other)
Cable fly/Rear Delt fly superset (incline cable flyes on the day I do flat bench, flat on the day I do incline)
Scott Extensions/Zottman Curls with sets of different shoulder health stuff in between

Done. I'll do that twice a week. I'm pretty sure I can dumbell press without pain, and I'm reasonably sure I'll get away with doing the flyes too (if the cable flyes are no good I'll add another lat exercise). I'm going to miss the barbell bench as I had a good run of it there and made some good progress, but so it goes. Last time I took a few months off benching I hadn't lost any strength when I returned to it so hopefully that'll happen again.

If after a month of this my shoulder feels better, I'll put lateral raises back in. After two months, if I'm pain free, I'll get back on the barbell benching.

Andy if you read this, could you please change the name of my log to "Bob's Shoulder Rehab Log" please? Thanks.

If you haven't already get your hockey ball working on your upper back, wedge yourself onto a wall and grind yourself into excruciating pain. Then lie on the floor and work round your lats and into your armpit, won't be a lot of fun but it will definitely help.

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What if the Hokey Cokey really IS what it's all about?

yeah I've been doing that, even had some ART done. It provides some temporary relief but doesn't seem to be addressing the root of the problem.

A couple of months of upper back specialisation should be just what the doctor ordered. You can use this time to get your bench to catch up to mine!

Start a new thread with that title. I'll merge this one into it.

There may be an easier way to change the name, but I don't see it.

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan