Kerpal's Training Log

[Kerpal]

wow your back and lower body is so much more developed than your chest/shoulders. Maybe you should concentrate on them.......

Why? I'm interested in getting strong. To me, strength is primarily how much weight you can lift off the floor, not how much you can lie on your back and push with just your arms (a movement you will never do outside of a gym) or how pretty you look at the beach.

Also, it's normal for your back and legs to be much bigger/stronger than your chest/shoulders. Bodybuilding has warped everyone's perceptions of what the human body is functionally supposed to look like and how it should perform.

 

[Fuglydude]

You're over 200 lbs ... okay, now I don't feel as inadequate about my numbers! I totally agree that the bench is an over-rated exercise especially for most functional movements, and even for most sports. We used to get tested for it, but no one really care about the numbers.

 

[Kerpal]

You're over 200 lbs ... okay, now I don't feel as inadequate about my numbers! I totally agree that the bench is an over-rated exercise especially for most functional movements, and even for most sports. We used to get tested for it, but no one really care about the numbers.

True, but if we're really going to split hairs, I'm not nearly as lean as you. It's not like all this extra fat is helping me lift more weight :crackup: So if you're trying to do a really precise power-to-weight comparison between lifters, I think you have to consider lean body mass and not just total bodyweight. I'll worry about taking some fat off later, maybe once I've hit 405 squat/500 deadlift. I'm not taking my shirt off in front of anyone anytime soon so for now I don't care what I look like.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think the bench is a bad exercise, it just irritates me how obsessed everyone is with it and how everyone inflates their numbers on it so much (half ROM, bouncing, bridging, spotter rowing half the weight, etc.). If it is to be done at all, it should be considered a secondary, minor movement, to assist with other pressing movements (which should also be considered secondary), not a main movement like squats and deadlifts.

 

[Kerpal]

03/03/10

Squat:

3 x 5 x 340 lbs

Bench press:

2 x 5 x 140 lbs

Pretty easy… shoulders were burning afterwards though.

Deadlift:

5 x 410 lbs

 

[Jitterbug]

Great work coming back from the surgery, mate!

As for bench press and guys who are one-dimensional lifters that do all their lifts lying down or sitting down, I have this to say about them. When it comes to demonstrating strength outside of the gym to other people, do they call for a bench to lie down first? Or do they do the manly thing and pick some heavy sh!t off the floor and pull it up?

One thing I do regularly is lift women up and press them above my head or throw them in the air. Now if I were a bench press bro, I'd have to ask my lady to rack herself across some shelf, while getting myself a bench to lie down first before I could lift her up.

 

[Kerpal]

Great work coming back from the surgery, mate!

As for bench press and guys who are one-dimensional lifters that do all their lifts lying down or sitting down, I have this to say about them. When it comes to demonstrating strength outside of the gym to other people, do they call for a bench to lie down first? Or do they do the manly thing and pick some heavy sh!t off the floor and pull it up?

One thing I do regularly is lift women up and press them above my head or throw them in the air. Now if I were a bench press bro, I'd have to ask my lady to rack herself across some shelf, while getting myself a bench to lie down first before I could lift her up.

:crackup:

 

[Kerpal]

03/06/10

Squat:

4 x 345 lbs*
5 x 345 lbs
3 x 345 lbs

First set, I accidentally crashed into the side of the rack on rep 4 and dumped the bar. I’ve never squatted in this rack and it’s half as deep as the one I usually use. I took a plate off each side, front-squatted the weight up, put the plates back on and did 1 more rep.

Failed on 4th rep of last set.

Overhead press:

3 x 130 lbs
4 x 130 lbs
3 x 130 lbs

^ WTF?

Weird workout today. I missed my workout on Friday because I had a test and then I drove 5 hours out of town to see my mom. I wasn’t really in the mood today and I was at a different gym than usual. Also, this kid that works there kept coming over and asking me questions, I referred him to Starting Strength :crackup:

5 x 345 lbs is still a squat PR though

 

[picard]

what the heck is kerpal exercise ?

 

[Fuglydude]

Great numbers once again... I'll attempt a triple w/ 345 on Monday. Your 1 RM must be around the 370-380 range? Do you do standing overhead press?

 

[Kerpal]

I haven't done a 1RM in a while. I'm doing strict standing overhead presses, knees locked, each rep from a dead stop.

 

[Kerpal]

03/08/10

Squat:

3 x 5 x 345 lbs

Bench press:

11 x 145 lbs*

I had to do this in the rack, and the rack at this gym sucks. It only has 5 holes for the safety bars, and I couldn’t get the bench at the right height, so I was trying to stack weight plates under the bench to raise it. Finally got everything set up and on rep 12 the bench slid off the plates :crackup: It just wasn’t working out. I’ll bench again on Wednesday and just get someone to spot me this time, there was no one else there today except this old guy who works there and he’s a **** so I didn’t want to ask him.

 

[Kerpal]

^ Also did a couple hours of BJJ training tonight, wore me out, haven't done it in a while. Rolled with a brown belt and got owned, but actually managed to survive pretty long and even pass his guard once :crackup:

 

[Kerpal]

03/10/10

Squat:

3 x 5 x 350 lbs

This was tough. The last reps of the last 2 sets were grinders.

Bench press:

2 x 15 x 145 lbs

This was surprisingly easy.

Deadlift:

6 singles x 415 lbs

This gym doesn’t allow chalk, so I had to stop and wipe my hands off with a towel between reps. I had a hell of a time holding onto the bar with my gimp hand without chalk.

Last time I deadlifted here this old guy who works there yelled at me that I was making too much noise, so I stacked yoga mats under the plates and then stood on this wood block thing to equalize the ROM. The weight bounced when it hit the mats, so every rep I had to roll the bar back onto them. It was more like 6 singles than a straight set (did an extra one for the hell of it). Felt relatively easy though, I’m confident I could have done a straight set of 5 with this weight if I had chalk.

Also, everyone in the place was staring at me like I was crazy while I was doing this. I’ve never seen anyone else do squats or deadlifts in this gym

I also did a couple hours of BJJ training again tonight.

 

[Kerpal]

03/15/10

Squat:

5 x 355 lbs
3 x 355 lbs

Failed on rep 4. Went home after this. I’ve been in a bad mood the last couple of days and didn’t feel like training today.

 

[Kerpal]

03/17/10

Squat:

5 x 355 lbs
4 x 355 lbs
3 x 355 lbs

Will attempt 355 again on Friday. My lower back felt very fatigued today for some reason.

Overhead press:

4 x 130 lbs
2 x 5 x 125 lbs

Bah.

Deadlift:

5 x 420 lbs

I probably shouldn’t have attempted this but I was frustrated and wanted to get something right this workout. This was tough because my lower back was already very tired.

 

[Kerpal]

...

 

[Kerpal]

03/20/10

Squat:

2 x 5 x 355 lbs
4 x 355 lbs

God damn. I don’t know what’s going on here, 350 didn’t feel that hard, but I’ve hit a plateau here. I didn’t even think I was going to get a 4th rep on the last set, and it was a serious grinder, I didn’t even attempt a 5th one.

Bench press:

15 x 150 lbs
14 x 150 lbs

Thought I was going to get that last one, but my gimp arm crapped out about halfway up.

Incline dumbbell bench press:

2 x 10 x 50 lbs (each hand)

It felt like my triceps were going to explode after this.

I trained today instead of Friday because my lower back still isn't 100%. It's not injured or anything, it's just very fatigued for some reason. I have 4 tests next week so it's definitely going to throw my schedule off even more

 

[Kerpal]

03/24/10

Squat:

3 x 5 x 355 lbs

Finally got all the reps. I slapped myself in the face and got psyched up for the last set because I didn’t want to fail and have to repeat this weight again. 360 lbs next time.

1 arm dumbbell overhead press:

3/4 x 8 (per arm) x 50 lbs

I lost track of sets, can’t remember if I did 3 or 4 sets.

Deadlift

5 x 425 lbs

Wore a belt for this. First time wearing a belt deadlifting, it felt pretty good. I didn’t feel like it made it any easier to lift the weight, but I did feel a little more “stable”, if that makes any sense.

 

[Kerpal]

PS - It's not letting me edit that post, but I should have used more weight on the OHPs, it was too easy.

 

[Jitterbug]

I alway slap myself in the face with both hands before attempting a challenging squat set.