Kerpal's Training Log

[Kerpal]

09/24/09

Squat:

2 x 5 x 260 lbs

Recovery day. Legs felt a little less sore after this.

I am supposed to power clean and chin/pull up today but I'm too tired. Pulled an all nighter last night to study and I just wanted to get in and out of there.

I actually went to my school's gym for this. I almost never go there because my other gym is so much better, but since I was only going to squat and I was on campus for class this morning anyway I just went there.

I was changing into my workout clothes in the locker room and there's a big mirror in there directly facing the lockers. I never really pay attention to what I look like but I saw myself in that mirror, and I look completely different from a couple years ago. I honestly don't think people I knew in high school would recognize me these days.

 

[Kerpal]

09/27/09

DE squat:

10 x 2 x 220 lbs

Squats felt very fast.

Bench press:

3 x 170 lbs
3 x 180 lbs
2 x 190 lbs

This is getting ridiculous

Deadlift:

3 x 370 lbs
3 x 390 lbs
5 x 415 lbs (static hold)

Deadlifts felt great. Held the last rep as long as possible.

 

[kbear0101]

Kerpal,

Would you mind posting your diet for one of the days when you get some time? Curious

Good job with the deadlifts man

I am not even close to benching what you are doing yet, but do not get discouraged...put on some good music that will get you amped and push it...push it real good!

keep at it

 

[Kerpal]

My diet sucks. It's not planned at all. I just eat whatever I feel like eating whenever I get hungry.

I am giving 100% effort on the bench press, I just suck at upper body pressing movements. I'm convinced that there is just something weird going on with my body or central nervous system that is preventing me from making any progress in them. It's not overtraining because my squat, deadlift and power clean are still increasing quickly.

 

[Quagmire911]

I've posted this before, don't know if you ever tried any of it:

http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_...ning_performance/achieving_structural_balance

Remember also IA's post, maybe the bench just isn't for you. Maybe heavy weighted dips are the way to go. Perhaps you could progress using a 2 board. Regardless, I am willing to bet there is plenty you haven't tried.

Einstein's definition of insanity; doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. No point in all this benching if it doesn't do **** for you.

Quagmire

 

[Kerpal]

I've tried: 3x5, 5x5, 5/3/1, Sheiko, and Smolov Jr. I'm not going to just start doing 2 board presses only though. I mean if my squat was stuck, I wouldn't start doing half squats. If I can't do it properly I'll just find something else to do.

I'm not sure how much that article applies to me. He talks about people who close grip bench 280 lbs being stuck, not people who can barely regular bench 200.

 

[Quagmire911]

I've tried: 3x5, 5x5, 5/3/1, Sheiko, and Smolov Jr. I'm not going to just start doing 2 board presses only though. I mean if my squat was stuck, I wouldn't start doing half squats. If I can't do it properly I'll just find something else to do.

I'm not sure how much that article applies to me. He talks about people who close grip bench 280 lbs being stuck, not people who can barely regular bench 200.

It is the percentages that matter.

 

[Kerpal]

10/02/09

Squat:

5 x 5 x 320 lbs

My stomach was bothering me on this day. I just wanted to get the squats over with and get out of there. Didn't bother with overhead pressing today. I have to decide what I'm going to do there.

 

[Kerpal]

10/05/09

Overhead press:

2 x 5 x 125 lbs
4 x 125 lbs

So my overhead press hasn't moved in a year.

Thinking about going to a doctor and having my right/left arm imbalance looked at, not sure anything can be done about it though. It could be some kind of genetic problem. Might just drop all pressing movements and focus on chin/pull ups only.

 

[Quiksilver]

Try higher reps perhaps?

People respond differently to higher/lower reps, perhaps your upper body reponds better to the 8-15 range than 4-8.

After a certain amount of time plowing forward with basic routines, you should know what's working for your body and what isn't. If your OHP hasn't budged in 52+ weeks then you know what DOESN'T work for that muscle group.

Try 2 sets of 10-12 reps, lower the weight accordingly.

----

There's a bunch of parameters you can tweak:
# of reps
rep tempo
rest times
# of sets
etc.

----

Consider the possibility that it's time for you to branch out on your own and adapt a routine to your body, rather than do what other people's programs tell you.

Remember this is only for your pressing work. You seem to have issues with bench/ohp, so throw away the rulebook as far as how you approach training those bodyparts and find something that works.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” - Albert Einstein

 

[Kerpal]

I tried 5/3/1. That is not strictly higher reps, but it does include them. My overhead press didn't move and it may have regressed slightly.

Another thing with the overhead press is that my shoulders always start to get sore immediately after I begin warming up with just the bar. After 1 warm up set of 5 with the bar, my shoulders feel the way my quads do after squatting my 4th set of 5 with 320 lbs. They fatigue immediately.

I'm convinced that there is something wrong with my upper body as far as pushing movements are concerned. If that's the case, no amount of variation will help. Something is wrong with my upper body/central nervous system and the way I push against things. My body just doesn't seem to "understand" how to do it properly. In middle school I couldn't bench 100 lbs, but I could punt a football farther than almost anyone in my class. I also threw a shot put a decent distance my first time ever touching one. But I absolutely suck at things that involve only pushing with the upper body.

It's not overtraining. Taking time off doesn't help, in fact it causes my ohp to plummet. My squat, deadlift and power clean are still progressing relatively easily. My deadlift seems to go up almost no matter what I do. I power clean once in a blue moon and still progress. At one point I was able to do 18 consecutive bodyweight chin ups without training chin ups for very long. But every time I bench or ohp I plateau immediately.

I'm pretty sure I'm just going to drop pressing movements and focus on the squat, deadlift, power clean, and chin/pull ups. I hate benching too, so there's no reason to do something I hate doing.

 

[Tenzen]

Kerpal, have you tried using DB's instead of the bar for overhead presses and bench press? The weight will be lower but it will hit different smaller stabilizers that the bar motion will never give you. Also try doing some smaller non-compound exercises that focus on smaller muscles in your arm to help out the overhead press because synergies can only go so far.

Another thing is ditch the idea that something is wrong with your upper body. Look how far you came, you have to really work hard to get past plateau's but keep at it and try different variations as your muscles get used to certain exercises after awhile.

See if this helps any
-Cheers
Tenzen

 

[Quagmire911]

Haha Quik, I beat you to that quote above!

Kerpal, if you have left/right side imbalances, doing barbells moves and going for PR's will only exacerbate that.

The first exercise in this article:

http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_...performance/the_lost_art_of_overhead_pressing

Did more for my oh press than barbell oh press ever did. When I first started my left side was noticeably weaker than my right. All I did was follow what Poliquin said and match the number of reps with the right, that I got with my left- the weaker side. After a couple of weeks my numbers went through the roof.

This is only one possibility. You could have some nerve compression or other f***ed up shi* like you say, if you think that is the case go to an A.R.T therapist. Poliquin actually gives a list of structures in the above article that are a good start to get some work done on.

I know you have tried various routines with different set/rep schemes, but different moves may be the key. You seem to only ever do barbell bench/oh press, correct me if I'm wrong.

And I don't know how good you are at dipping, canning bench and going for some weighted dips might be the answer. Unless you are planning on a powerlifting comp, who cares?

I know you like Rippetoe and what he preaches, but he is quite dogmatic in his approach. I'm not saying this is an issue, I don't know how much you follow what he says. It might not be ths best thing for you though.

An example of this, Quik says above to maybe try higher reps. This is something I suggested in the past but you said you weren't going to train like a bodybuilder. Who the f*** cares what you do if it works for YOU. If you train higher reps and go from 180x5 to 230x5 pretty quickly, who gives a s***.

Anyway there's my two cents.

Quagmire

 

[Kerpal]

^ I'll try that routine starting next week. I'm willing to try almost anything at this point.

10/10/09

DE squat:

10 x 2 x 200 lbs

Squats felt good.

Incline dumbbell bench press:

10 x 50 lbs
8 x 60 lbs
3 x 70 lbs

Meh.

Deadlift:

5 x 345 lbs
3 x 390 lbs
3 x 435 lbs

Got 3 clean reps and went for 1 more. Got the bar just above my knees and my back was pretty rounded. I tried to grind thru it but I just couldn’t straighten my back out so I dropped it. Kind of disappointing, I was going for 4 reps. Still a good session.

 

[Kerpal]

10/13/09

1-arm standing dumbbell overhead press:

5 x 6 x 50 lbs (each side)

These felt fine. I did the left arm first and matched reps with my right arm.

Squat:

3 x 5 x 325 lbs
2 x 325 lbs

Failed on 3rd rep of 4th set. Decided to call it a day.

 

[Kerpal]

10/22/09

I have been a little sick the past week. Missed a couple of workouts because of it, but I feel fine now. Here’s today:

Standing 1 arm dumbbell overhead press:

5 x 6 x 55 lbs

This was very hard with the left arm and very easy with the right.

Squat:

3 x 5 x 325 lbs
4 x 325 lbs
1 x 325 lbs

 

[Kerpal]

10/28/09

1 arm dumbbell overhead press:

2 x 7 x 55 lbs (each arm)
3 x 6 x 55 lbs (each arm)

Couldn’t get more than 6 reps with the left arm on the last 3 sets. Right arm feels like it could do 10+ reps easily.

I was going to squat today but my legs are still sore from last time. I’m going to wait until Monday and probably deload because I’ve been stuck at 325 lbs for a few workouts now.

 

[Quagmire911]

Are you using Polquin's 5% solution for the press work?

Theres a good chance if that imbalance gets sorted, you could get a nice boost in your pressing numbers.

 

[Kerpal]

No, the dumbbells I'm using go up in 5 lb increments so I can't use the 5% solution.

I could definitely press more if my left arm was stronger. It's the weak point.

 

[Kerpal]

10/30/09

Deadlift:

5 x 355 lbs
5 x 375 lbs
6 x 400 lbs

I didn’t feel too well today and wasn’t in the mood to train. Have had a headache the last couple of days.