3-17-14 – Working Towards a Strong Bench
Today’s bench session was heavy three’s and they all felt fast and explosive. I maintained tightness with every set, which helped me keep the weight steady and also drive it up. I went up to 195 for 3, which weren’t extremely heavy, but it was a weight that I could handle. Keeping my technique and pushing back on my heels has helped me tremendously with my bench press. The one thing that I am focusing on now is keeping my elbow straight as I come up. I keep my elbow tucked in going down but as soon as I push the weight up my elbows flare almost instantly. I have incorporated more tricep work to help me keep my elbows straight as I push the weight up. One movement that I feel has helped me is the Dave Tate press. I feel that this movement has helped strengthen my triceps and also by core strength as well, because I do these sitting straight up. One thing that I took out was doing too many accessories for chest, which in reality only made me sore and caused my shoulders to be in a lot of pain.
Bench Press |
Warm Ups 2 x 10 - 45 2 x 5 - 95, 135 155 x 3 |
Working Sets 3 x 3 - 160, 175, 195 |
Band Tricep Pushdowns 4 x 12 - orange band |
Dumbbell Bench Press 2 x 20 - 50 |
Reverse Grip Lat Pulldowns (close grip) |
Tate Press 4 x 10 - 25 |
Skull Crushers 4 x 10 |
Barbell Shrugs 2 x 20 |
Hanging Abs with Oblique Twist |
Reverse Hypers 2 x 10 - 45 |