Green2Blue TB Log

[Green2Blue]

After J-Madd watched the video of my lifts he sent me a private message about my BP technique. I've often mentioned it on here but in relative terms BP is by far my weakest lift, and always has been (if you don't include my recent SQ adjustment).

I've always lifted alone, because I find partners to be fickle. So I've never had the opportunity for a good outside critique.

I'm pretty sure J-Madd sent this to me privately so as to spare my ego lol, so hopefully he doesn't mind me sharing it publicly. If you can't accept your faults you'll have a much more difficult time improving.

I had a second look at your videos, and a couple things occurred to me about your bench press. You are an experienced guy and you are killing it on all your lifts (you're strong as Hell!). I don't presume to have anything to teach you. Please take or leave all of this. I also remember you mentioning once that you struggle a bit on the BP, so maybe another perspective might help.

Anyway, three things stick out to me. First, though it's a little hard to tell from the angle, it looks to me as though you are touching the bar far too high on your chest. For a raw bencher, I would prefer to see you touch much lower, closer to the sternum (at or even below the nipple), and then push the bar back up toward you head on the way up. Second, your elbows "fare out" through the entire ROM; your arms are almost perpendicular to you torso. Third, you have a very wide grip on bar. You look pretty tall/long-armed, so that makes sense, but it also has its downside.

In my experience, all three of these factors put most of the load on the delts, and prevent proper recruitment of the tris and lats. Given how much you can pull, I think you are giving a lot up on your BP, if you don't maximally recruit your upper back.

My recommendation would be to touch lower, keep your elbows closer to your torso (maybe flaring them a bit on the way up), and even narrow your grip a bit. I have also found that some taller guys actually do better with a more moderate (not narrow!) grip. I know there is a temptation to shorten the stroke by going with a very wide grip, but if you go too far, you take the tris and back out of the mix. You might experiment with brining your hands closer.

So that's my unsolicited two-cents.

So there you have it. Great advice. I'll be applying it immediately and will report back. Maybe someone else can learn from this too.

Thanks J-Madd!

[Moz69]

Definitely learnt something, Thanks for sharing

[J-Madd]

So there you have it. Great advice. I'll be applying it immediately and will report back. Maybe someone else can learn from this too.

Thanks J-Madd!

Thanks to you Green2Black, and I don't mind you posting this publicly at all. You are a class act. I'm glad to help anyway I can. I don't doubt that implementing these changes will have a "one step backward, two steps forward" effect on your BP (just like what you are seeing on your SQ), but in the long run you will move more weight.

[Barkadion]

I have also found that some taller guys actually do better with a more moderate (not narrow!) grip. I know there is a temptation to shorten the stroke by going with a very wide grip, but if you go too far, you take the tris and back out of the mix. You might experiment with brining your hands closer.

That nails it. I am 6'2". I did run into shoulder issues with wide grip in the past. Getting into moderate grip (more on narrow side) fixed both shoulder issue and elbows being too far out issue. It takes few trials and errors to find your personal grip, but it does help a lot.

Thanks for sharing PM, mate!

[Green2Blue]

11/19/16
Conditioning (Black)
Block 5
4.7

HIC: Beat Your Face

3 mins burpees: 23
3 mins rest
2 mins burpees: 17
2 mins rest
1 min burpees: 11
1 min rest

3 mins burpees: 23
3 mins rest
2 mins burpees: 18
2 mins rest
1 min burpees: 10
1 min rest

Total: 102 burpees in 24 minutes

Notes
-Was supposed to do an E but this time change and weather is kicking my ass.

[Green2Blue]

11/20/16
Strength (Operator I/A)
Block 5
5.1

Primary Lifts (85% Training Max)

SQ 5x5@285 lbs
BP 5x5@210 lbs
WPU 5x5@90 lbs

2 min rest

Accessory Lifts

Power Cleans 5+
Toes to Bar 8-12
3x

1 min rest

Notes
-Squats felt appropriately difficult.

-Tried the closer grip, elbows tucked, lower positioning on my bench as recommended by J-Madd. It was tough. I've been crushing my bench lately, but doing it this way I barely finished my last rep. I have a feeling that's why I always reverted to my old way of benching in the past, because I have tried to change it. But I'm sticking with it this time. One step back, two steps forward. I'll still probably be able to progress my bench 5 lbs next block, but not the 10-15 I was planning.

-WPU were TOUGH. Probably because of my new bench technique. I'll take that as a good sign, that I was using my back more. But I certainly had to use a lot of "english" to get out of the half way point and get my chin over the bar on those last reps. This is also ok because I'm going to change how I do WPU next block. Right now I do supinated grip and just get my chin over the bar. Some people call these chin-ups, but in the Corps we just always called everything pull-ups, no matter the grip. Next block I'm going to do pronated grip and I'm going to touch my chest to the bar. Like my change in squat ROM, I'm anticipating a huge drop in weight. I'm not worried about it though.

-My knees were in a lot of pain yesterday. I feel like it might be the weighted lunges. I feel like I remember something about them causing me pain in the past. I think I'll swap them for front squats as an assistant exercise. Now that I can do front squats I want to practice them a bit.

-did jerks on a few of my last reps on my cleans. Pretty light weight, 135, but it's another one of those things I've never done and want to learn and lightly implement. Felt pretty good overall.

[J-Madd]

-Tried the closer grip, elbows tucked, lower positioning on my bench as recommended by J-Madd. It was tough. I've been crushing my bench lately, but doing it this way I barely finished my last rep. I have a feeling that's why I always reverted to my old way of benching in the past, because I have tried to change it. But I'm sticking with it this time. One step back, two steps forward. I'll still probably be able to progress my bench 5 lbs next block, but not the 10-15 I was planning.

Here's a video with two examples of me benching. My technique is far from perfect (I have bad habits of picking my head off the bench and a slight double pump at the start of the movement), but these are pretty good examples of the low-touch-push-back-to-the-face technique and arm tucking. Notice that (though it's maybe hard to see because of the low quality video) I don't tuck my elbows all the way into my torso. They are at about a 45 degree angle with respect to the torso, and that's just where I want them. You only need to tuck enough to create tension between your arms and lats. You will get a feel for that, and anything more is overkill. You might see some big-time benchers with their elbows nearly at their torso, but that is usually because they are ultimately training to use a supportive shirt, which turns the bench into a tricep lockout. Split the difference between that and where you were. Anyway, I hope these help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VYjiMENhXI

By the way, I tried to get rid of the music in the first example, but YouTube and I didn't get along well today. You might keep the volume down, if you have kids around. The second example is an example of what happens when my wife leaves me in charge of our boys.

[Barkadion]

-Tried the closer grip, elbows tucked, lower positioning on my bench as recommended by J-Madd. It was tough. I've been crushing my bench lately, but doing it this way I barely finished my last rep. I have a feeling that's why I always reverted to my old way of benching in the past, because I have tried to change it. But I'm sticking with it this time. One step back, two steps forward. I'll still probably be able to progress my bench 5 lbs next block, but not the 10-15 I was planning.

Here's a video with two examples of me benching. My technique is far from perfect (I have bad habits of picking my head off the bench and a slight double pump at the start of the movement), but these are pretty good examples of the low-touch-push-back-to-the-face technique and arm tucking. Notice that (though it's maybe hard to see because of the low quality video) I don't tuck my elbows all the way into my torso. They are at about a 45 degree angle with respect to the torso, and that's just where I want them. You only need to tuck enough to create tension between your arms and lats. You will get a feel for that, and anything more is overkill. You might see some big-time benchers with their elbows nearly at their torso, but that is usually because they are ultimately training to use a supportive shirt, which turns the bench into a tricep lockout. Split the difference between that and where you were. Anyway, I hope these help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VYjiMENhXI

By the way, I tried to get rid of the music in the first example, but YouTube and I didn't get along well today. You might keep the volume down, if you have kids around. The second example is an example of what happens when my wife leaves me in charge of our boys.

I just want to add that I needed to re-learn the whole body position once I got to proper arm/elbows/grip thing. The whole feet support/lats engaging/chest up trick gave me completely different feel. Everything clicked once I got whole body mechanics down.

Good luck!

[Green2Blue]

-Tried the closer grip, elbows tucked, lower positioning on my bench as recommended by J-Madd. It was tough. I've been crushing my bench lately, but doing it this way I barely finished my last rep. I have a feeling that's why I always reverted to my old way of benching in the past, because I have tried to change it. But I'm sticking with it this time. One step back, two steps forward. I'll still probably be able to progress my bench 5 lbs next block, but not the 10-15 I was planning.

Here's a video with two examples of me benching. My technique is far from perfect (I have bad habits of picking my head off the bench and a slight double pump at the start of the movement), but these are pretty good examples of the low-touch-push-back-to-the-face technique and arm tucking. Notice that (though it's maybe hard to see because of the low quality video) I don't tuck my elbows all the way into my torso. They are at about a 45 degree angle with respect to the torso, and that's just where I want them. You only need to tuck enough to create tension between your arms and lats. You will get a feel for that, and anything more is overkill. You might see some big-time benchers with their elbows nearly at their torso, but that is usually because they are ultimately training to use a supportive shirt, which turns the bench into a tricep lockout. Split the difference between that and where you were. Anyway, I hope these help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VYjiMENhXI

By the way, I tried to get rid of the music in the first example, but YouTube and I didn't get along well today. You might keep the volume down, if you have kids around. The second example is an example of what happens when my wife leaves me in charge of our boys.

Thanks for the vid. I think that's about how I've got it now.

[Green2Blue]

11/21/16
Conditioning (Black)
Block 5
5.2

HIC: Hill Sprints

Timed the first sprint. It takes me about 1 minute to get up and 3 to get down.

x5

Notes
-It was dark out by the time I get of work and it was pouring a freezing November rain. But I was sick and tired of the weather controlling what I could and couldn't do for my conditioning. So I strapped on my shoes and hit the hill. I was completely soaked by the time I was done and couldn't feel my arms I was so cold. But I loved every second of it. There's really something to be said for physical challenges in adverse conditions. It's good for the soul. Best workout I've had all year.