and then...

No 'and then'. Still taking it easy. Slow flat bench press reps at 185 lbs for sets of 10-12. No close-grip. No incline. I'm doing dips though. I did three sets of 25 - kind of a lot for me. The focus now is to lose weight for climbing, rest my chest and shoulders, and keep hitting triceps.

backing off

This Wednesday I went back to easy weight on the bench, about 60%. The session was really short, just light bech press with my feet up, going slow for two sets of 12, three sets of 20 dips and some cable push-downs. And my shoulder feels good.

damn it

Shoulder felt a little tight yesterday. I did the same workout as last week but this time my friggin right shoulder was getting a little uncomfortable after two flat-bench press sets. Whatever - I finished the workout and I'll probably go extra light for a couple weeks to be safe.

In other news, I tried Controlled Lab's White Flood, a pre-workout N.O. supplement, for the first time yesterday. RIPPED MY FACE OFF. The stuff was making me all shaky and generally cracked-out. I'm definitely integrating it into my permanent routine.

back in the game

My shoulder finally feels strong enough to get back in to heavy benching. I went through a full routine yesterday, one typical of the first session of a 12-week cycle, to feel how everything holds up. And stuff feels good. As usual, lifts on this first day are done with a manageable weight (~70% max.), with the focus on developing an explosive concentric movement.

9/14/2007 - chest routine at GVAC
flat bench press 2 x 10-12 @ 205 lbs
close-grip bench press 2 x 10 @ 180 lbs
incline bench press 2 x 10 @ 160 lbs

My bench press still sucks but that's not new. All this time off has swung my focus back to climbing though. I'm not sure now if I will persue big numbers on the bench this season. Climbing comes to me much more easily so, although I've found an effective method for developing strength in my lifts, the argument can be made that I'm wasting my time in the weight room. But wasting time is my specialty...

feeling better every day

Last night I went through a complete chest routine, typical of my in-cycle sessions: gradual warm up (12 reps at 135 lbs, 12 reps at 155 lbs, 10 reps at 185 lbs), 2 sets of 12 at 195 lbs on the flat bench, 2 sets of 12 at 175 lbs close-grip, then 2 sets of 12 at 145 lbs incline bench. My idea was to lift in the 60% intensity range for sets of 12 and give my right shoulder a feel the next day. Feels good. However, both shoulders, particularly my left, felt unstable yesterday evening, like my chest and front deltoids were contracted and pulling my shoulders forward unnaturally. So, before bed I did my rotator cuff excercises with more weight than usual, 10 lbs, for sets of 10 - 15. Both shoulders felt better immediately. Things feel a little loose today, some extra popping, but no pain.

Another thing I would like to work on is the pace at which I lift. For sets of 12, like what I was doing yesterday, I usually try to go real slow. And usually I end up almost flailing on the last few reps. Lately I've found that if I pick up the pace a bit I can sometimes find a momentum. I feel unstoppable when this happens, like this set has just become a foregone conclusion. A couple slow reps in the beginning, with pauses at the bottom, then gradually increasing the pace could be good for high rep sets.

good bench experience

I benched for the first time in four weeks on Wednesday. After three real easy warm-up sets, I did two slow sets at 185 lbs. My problem shoulder had no problems and felt fine the next day. For this first day back I was lowering and pressing in a very slow, controlled way, concentrating on pulling my shoulders back and isolating my chest the whole time. I can't say I felt very strong but that wasn't really the point of this training session. My shoulder went through a mellow bench routine without issue and I feel it could be ready for explosive lifts at 70% in a few weeks.

shoulder's feeling a little frisky

This Wednesday will be four weeks since I last did flat bench. And my shoulder feels good. It could be time to let it loose on the bench press again. My last session on the bench did not go so well but in the month since I have worked my close-grip bench in to feeling pretty strong. The focus lately has been on strengthening triceps, staying off the shoulder and chest exercises and stretching lots.

shoulder feels tight

While close-grip benching yesterday I could feel tightness in my right shoulder. Just noticeable enough to make me think it is not yet time to start heavy benching again. During dips there was the same tightness near the bottom of the movement. Feels OK today though. Stretching has helped. For the past few weeks I've been diligent about stretching out my back and shoulder before work outs and throughout the day. After lifting arms yesterday I did some bent-over dumbell laterals to pull back my shoulders. Felt good. This is maybe an exercise I should integrate into my routine permanently.

shoulder feeling better, or at least not worse

Yesterday I climbed at GVAC for about an hour then lifted arms. Felt good then and now, the next day. No shoulder issues. All the stretching I've done seems to have made me generally more flexible. A friend even mentioned to me last week that I'm "pretty flexible for a big guy". Which was surprising because I don't feel flexible or big. Anyways, I increased weight on the close grip yesterday - 2 sets of 12 at 135 lbs then 2 sets of 12 at 155 lbs. Well, maybe my last set was more like 10. I went through this exercise fairly quickly, with about 2 minutes rest between sets. Again I concentrated on pulling my shoulder blades together, making a stable, flat base for my shoulders on the bench. And my repititions were slow, with pauses at the top and bottom, really paying attention to how my shoulder felt. Then I did 3 sets of 20 dips, triceps cable push-downs with the bar, and standing barbell curls where I gradually increased weight, for sets of 8, up to 95 lbs. Actually the set at 95 lbs, my fourth and final set, was 7 reps. Lastly I did some overhead squats with no weight on the Smith Machine. This is an exercise Kevin Brown recommended to me as part of my shoulder rehabilitation. I use the Smith Machine because my hamstrings, back, and shoulders do not yet have the flexibility to get into a proper squat. The fixed track lets me push myself into a correct path. I guess the point of this exercise is to force me to pull my shoulder blades together. If so, it seems to work.

arm workouts are good

So, I can't bench. But I can lift arms. Last night I did close-grip bench, lying barbell triceps extensions to my head, triceps cable push-downs and biceps barbell curls. I was particularly interested in how close-grip bench would affect my newly acquired shoulder injury. According to what I understand about my shoulder, that anterior and medial deltoid and pectoral exercises caused the damage, I thought maybe I could get away with benching with a shoulder-width grip (or slightly wider), bringing most of the work to my triceps. And after 2 sets of 12 at 135 lbs, going real slow and pausing at the top and bottom, my shoulder feels fine. There was a moment during my first warm-up set at 135 lbs that I felt a discomfort at the area of my infury but I kept stretching and warming up and later sets felt fine. I concentrated on retracting my scapulas, pulling my shoulder blades together, during all exercises yesterday, especially on close-grip bench - so much that my upper back feels worked today. I believe protecting my shoulder in this way is a technique I will need to integrate into my chest and shoulder lifts permanently. This injury tends to be painful only the day after work-outs that aggrevate it. It is now 2:00 PM the day following this workout and my shoulder still feels fine.

Wednesday, week 3

So, I thought I would get in to GVAC (Goleta Valley Athletic Club) last Wednesday, do some light bench then go climbing. Bad idea. I stretched my shoulder for about 20 minutes, did some overhead squats on the Smith Machine with no weight then got on the flat bench. At this point my shoulder felt great - no pain and all mobility was there. Even after some light bench, 2 sets at 175 lbs, things felt great. But the next day was a different story. My shoulder felt worse than it ever has. Since this day I have bouldered fairly hard and done my stretches and overhead squats without incident. I am convinced my delayed pain is caused solely by the bench press. No more bench for a while.

Wednesday, week 2

I rested Wednesday and lifted the following day. This was due to a problem I noticed in my right shoulder when I woke up Wednesday. There is a sharp pain between and below my anterior and medial deltoid when I raise my arm above shoulder level. So, I went to see Kevin Brown at Elite Performance & Rehabilitation Center. As usual, Kevin worked his magic. He described my condition as impingement due to a disproportianately strong chest and deltoids. I am to start a pain management regimine, involving rest, ice and stretching. Before leaving his office, Kevin had me go through some stretches, pulled my shoulders back with McConnel tape and iced my shoulder.

Today I took things real easy - 2x10 at 60% max on the flat bench, and that's it. My shoulder felt OK during my lifts and about the same the following morning. I'm not supposed to lift at all according to Kevin but if I can go through the motions at a light weight such as this, without aggravating my shoulder worse, I believe I will save myself volumes of work later on. The key here being "withouth aggravating my shoulder worse", and I feel my injury is mild enough that I can do this.

Saturday's arm routine

This should have been Saturday but actually happened Monday. Felt OK. Benched real easy - 2x10 at 175 lbs. As usual, my second bench day of the week is a lightweight "muscle flushing" routine at about 60% maximum. During these light sets I put my feet up on the bench to protect my back. Next was a couple light sets of dumbbell flys, then on to arms. I did skull-crushers, starting light for 2 sets and finishing with a third set of 8 with 35 lbs on each side of the EZ curl bar (whatever that weights). Then I did 2 sets of 20 dips and went climbing for 45 minutes.

This whole 12 week bench cycle is borrowed from Ed Coan, here: http://www.impulseadventure.com/weights/bench-coan.html
A lot of dudes have a lot of bench press advice. Since my bench isn't shattering any world records most could probably teach me something. But I believe this cycle from Ed Coan is unique. The 3 times I've gone through this cycle I've increased my maximum lift nearly 10%. There is no doubt in my mind - if I concentrate on being explosive early in the cycle, take care of my shoulders and motivate for big, clean lifts toward the end, I can add 20 to 30 lbs to my bench. My last big lift was about 3 months ago with 295 lbs., but I feel my best day was 5 weeks ago with a set of 3 at 275.

Thursday's shoulder routine

I should have done this on Thursday but actually lifted shoulders on Friday. My behind-the-neck press work sets were 2x10 at 120lbs - felt good. The rest of my routine I switched things up a bit, trying 2 new execercies - front raises with the EZ curl bar and standing shoulder rows. The raises I will probably keep doing, the rows I will probably not. My last 2 excercises I did fairly easy sets of 10 or 12. This entire workout took about 45 minutes, then I went out to the climbing wall for about an hour.

During the last half of my shoulder routine, while doing front raises I believe, the middle of my back cramped up. It was one of those huge cramps right in the meat of my lats and I knew right away it would be with me for some time. That was Friday. Today is Monday and my back is still cramped.

My shoulders feel great lately. Most likely this is due to the 3 weeks I took off. But I need to keep up with my rotator cuff excercises, which I have done only once this past week. I believe concentrating on pulling my shoulder blades together during the bench also helps protect the front of my shoulders.

Wednesday, day one

This is the first day of my 12 week cycle following 3 weeks off. Today I concentrated on going real slow and exploding up. I was pausing at the top and bottom and it completely tired me out, so much that I could not be explosive toward the end of sets. Next week I want to concentrate on finding a more comfortable pace, probably faster. A rate similar to the pace at which I comfortably breathe seems more appropriate.

And, there's links to my 12 week bench press routine on the right.