ME BENCH: Another stong day.

Floor Press:

225 x 8
275 x 5
315 x 2
345 x 1
375 x 1
275 x 10 DROP
275 x 8 DROP

- Felt strong with the floor press. I tied my old PR easily. I didn't have a spotter so I opted out of doing another set. Went up strong though. For the drop sets, I figured that since I'm doing a heavy 5x5 on Thursday, it isn't in my pecs best interest to do 5 reps twice a week. Matter of fact, my pec was a little sore, and that's the last thing I need. So I figure if I have DE BENCH days, then I'll do the heavy 2x5 drop sets. If it's an RE BENCH day coming up, then I'll drop the weight down a little more and focus on higher reps.

3 Board CGB:

315 x 5
345 x 5

- Love this exercise with a close grip. Fucking smoked my triceps.

Pendlay Rows: 295 x 3 x 8

Seated DB Press: 80 x 3 x 10

Seated Rear Laterals: 50 x 2 x 10

Barbell Curls [115 x 3 x 10] ss w/ Banded Pressdowns [2 x 20]

- Great day. I'm happy my strength has continued climbing even with the diet in place. Hopefully next time I'll have a spotter standing by to give me peace of mind so I can attempt a new PR.

ME SQUAT/DEADLIFT: Felt energized today!

Wide Parallel Squats:

225 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 3
365 x 1
405 x 1
450 x 1 (+10 PR)
365 x 5 DROP

- Got it up fairly quickly. Felt great all the way through. The drop set of 365 I could've done more IMO. BTW, the drop set was after a few minutes of rest.

Rack Deadlifts: 2nd pin

315 x 3
405 x 1
495 x 1
545 x 1

- Good to go with these. Wore my belt on the last set. Kept a mixed grip w/ a fair amount of chalk. It helps a lot! I DID get a new set of mean lookin' wrist straps from APT, but I don't need them IMO unless I'm doing sets of 8-10 bodybuilder style or something.

Pullthroughs [190 x 3 x 12] ss w/ Weighted Hypers [30 x 2 x 10]

Banded Abs Pulldowns: 3 x 20 (light bands)

After the abs, I still had a lot of time left so I did some leg presses for a few sets of 15 reps. Mainly to give my knee some full ROM which it likes.

RE BENCH: One more week of these and it's back to speed days...

Flat Bench: 315 x [5 x 5]

- New PR for these. Last time I did these, I needed a light spot on the last rep of the final two sets. This time I didn't have a spotter at all..

Strict Standing OHP: 215 x [3 x 5]

- This is the heaviest I've done after a 5 x 5 bench. After something like banded speed bench, I can usually lift 20 lbs MORE than on an RE day. Really fatigues the muscle fibers on these days.

Weighted Pullups: 35 x [2 x 6] Also did two sets with bodyweight as a warmup.

Chest-Supported Rows: 340 x [3 x 10]

Rolling DB Triceps Extensions 50 x [2 x 10]

Seated DB Curls: 50 x [2 x 10]

Did some shoulder prehab bull[*#$&*#!] and I was done for the day..

DE SQUAT/DEADLIFT: Good day.

Banded Speed Squats: 265 x [8 x 2]

- Used light bands. Really fast reps.

Banded Speed Deadlifts: 365 x [6 x 1]

- Doubled light bands around bottom of cage. Tons of tension on the top end. Very fast.

DB Swings [100 x 3 x 12] ss w/ Weighted Hypers [40 x 2 x 10]

Banded Abs Pulldowns: 3 x 20

- Leg Curls: 3 sets of 12

why do you do so much band work ?

I've never done it, so I'm just asking that's all.:biglaugh:

Because it overloads the top end of the lift. Deadlifts, for example.. I begin to pull the 365 lbs, then after a few inches off the floor all the way to the top, it gets heavier and heavier, topping off at 450 at least. Theory is, when I take off the bands, guess what happens? I literally blow past any sticking points.

ME BENCH: Zero motivation today! Very tired..

Wide Grip Pause Press: (2 second pause on chest)

225 x 5
275 x 3
315 x 2
345 x 1
365 x 1
375 x 1
275 x 10 drop

- Considering how weak I felt, I surprised myself with how easy the 375 went up. This ties my old PR with these, so I'm happy. I had a spotter standing by, but I made it very clear he was not to touch the [*#$&*#!] bar, or else it doesn't count. I only did one drop set because I wanted to rest my pecs since I'll be going for a new 5x5 PR on Thursday (320-325). Once I get back to speed bench, then I'll follow my max effort lift with two drops of 3-5 reps heavy as [*#$&*#!].

4 Board Press:

315 x 5
345 x 3
365 x 5

- Most I've done with 4 boards following an ME lift. The second set was more of an acclimation set because I could rep 345 all day long. Felt strong as hell with these. Next time I'll go for either more reps or more weight.

Pendlay Rows: 295 x [3 x 8]

Seated DB Press: 85 x [3 x 10]

Face Pulls: 3 x 10 with the stack (however much that is)

Barbell Curls [115 x 3 x 10] ss w/ Banded Pressdowns [2 x 20]

- I felt like [*#$&*#!] from the moment I woke up. I'm very proud of myself that I stuck with the routine and didn't puss out of anything.

No dought it would help:biglaugh: kinda like chains with the bench.

But how do you figure out the weight....or are you just estimating?

Band Tension (Light Bands)

We are always asked about the tension the bands provide. This is a very hard question to answer because it depends on how you hook them up. If you choke the bands around a 4x4 base of a Monolift or power rack than you will be looking at 90-120 pounds of tension at the top of a squat with the light bands. This will also depend on the height of the individual.

If you double the bands up for the bench press and run them under a heavy dumbbell you will be looking at close to 180 pounds of band tension at the top and 90 pounds at the bottom with the light bands. Once again this will depend on arm length, torso thickness and bench height.

----

For the deadlifts, I wrap the bands around the bottom of the cage which doubles them around the bar. Tons of tension from the get-go. So it's actually MORE than I thought! :weights:

Now that got me thinking about buying some average bands to do some reverse banded GM's and deadlifts! Hmmmm....