Mark Brown
September 1, 2022
It’s been awhile since I’ve made a post about what’s been going on in the gym lately. Quite a bit of time has passed since I put the last one up so here goes. Some of these might not be full thoughts and be disjointed as a result. As such, these are as much for my future self as well as those reading this.
The most progress has been made in the 3 rep max range on bench press. I was able to get 305 down to the chest and back up about a month or so ago with my standard grip, which is my ring finger on the mark on the bar. Since then I haven’t tried that weight with that grip. The 3 week waves of some variant of the press has both instructive and productive for overall raw strength. So, so many reps have been done between 275 pounds and 295 in that time. If I had been more focused on the 1RM, I suspect it would be higher than 305. The trade off has been that I have greater endurance during lifting sessions than before. I have repeatedly hit 225 for 12-15 as an opening real set either to see how much I had or because I could. The latter reason isn’t a good reason to do a set like that often. I’ve been more disciplined in the last few weeks. It just shows me I am ready to make a move if I want to focus on single reps instead of sets of 2 or 3.
I have noticed that increased strength on the bench press is more across the board. The inner grip on the American Cambered Bar has become easier over the last few months. I remember that lift killing me at 158 pounds in 2020-21. Now I’m able to get a set of 3 at 218 as part of the giant set. I suspect the emphasis on tricep strength has played a significant role in overall pressing strength. It has more visible while using the ACB than anything else. The bar is pretty much designed to do that. It’s only now I am fully able to take advantage of everything it has to offer. The addition of the Rogue Cambered Bar to the pressing program has helped with overall strength by showing me the importance of lat work. It’s nothing I didn’t know before, but hadn’t really focused on. I see how I can push my 1RM up when I do eventually focus on it.
Overhead press has gotten better in all of its variations in both lift quality and strength development. I have removed the lighter sets of shoulder on Wednesday’s pressing session in exchange for working on triceps and lats. The result has been the shoulder pressing I do on Sundays has improved overall. I still do waves of seated overhead press with the American Cambered Bar, log press and the Viking Press. I have done a push press on Saturday sessions after cleans for some extra work on the shoulders. The tricep work that I referenced above on bench press has definitely helped overhead press. Perhaps the lack of volume is helping the shoulders recover better than before when I was doing those lifts on Sunday and dumbbell shoulder press on Wednesday. It might be a lesson for my legs.
The straight bar squat got a week cut from it during the summer because of the lingering issue I have with the positioning under it. It’s still super uncomfortable for my left shoulder and bicep to do any volume with the lift. I have leaned on the SS Yoke Bar and cambered bar for squats in any kind of volume. The box squat helps the volume work tremendously. I have found the last couple weeks (weeks 32-34) that my legs haven’t recovered in enough time for a Saturday session, which is where non-squat volume gets done, so I will have to address that in the future. I suspect it has to do with my lack of foot intake during the day right now due to work conditions. The straight bar squat will likely end up being a heavy single type of training session. I’m confident my shoulder and bicep would do fine with 1 rep.
I have a better grasp of session planning now thanks to the constant 3 week waves. It’s helped me think through what lifts would help the lift I just did better, including accessories. The switch to opening up to all variations of lifts I do has helped level up just about every press and bring my squat with even the Yoke bar within eyesight of the cambered or straight bar. That’s not something I’d ever think I’d say because that bar is so challenging. This summer has been very instructive in how to train for raw strength . The next step is to take all of that and build higher 1RM from it. That may happen sooner rather than later. There will be a powerlifting phase here where I lift in more singles. I’m not sure when it will go down. By winter for sure.
Life Through Lifting 