John Phung

Reverse Grip Bench Press Progress, Eating Bigger, Bench Press Experiment, And OHP 2.0

October 21, 2012 — Leave a comment

Some updates:

  • Training has been pretty good this past week. On Monday (volume day) I high bar squatted 410lbs, 10 sets of 3 (video).
  • To deal with the forearm pain I was getting from bench presses, I've decided to try the reverse grip bench press. It takes some getting used to, but I think I'm getting the hang of it! Managed to reverse grip bench press 330lbs (video), but missed at 340lbs (which is my bench press PR). I believe 330lbs is a paused bench press PR however. I usually get forearm pain at heavier loads, but so far, I'm not feeling any pain at all. Let's hope it stays that way.
  • Rearranged my home gym, cleaned up and took some pictures. Pics here.
  • Lastly, after about 6 months of high bar squatting on volume days, I'm finally going to reintroduce the low bar back squat on Monday. Should be fun.

Anyways, check these out:

  1. Eating Bigger On A Budget by Brandon Morrison
    A slow cooker and rice cooker are 2 key tools that got me from 183lbs to 200lbs+.
  2. Successful Bench Press Experiment by Craig Hirota
    This I have to try!
  3. Platform: Learning to Press 2.0 by Mark Rippetoe
    A new way to OHP as explained in Starting Strength 3rd edition. I'll try this on Wednesday.
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Training Log: Friday October 19, 2012

October 19, 2012 — Leave a comment

Foam Rolling

  • 10 minutes

High Bar Squat

  • 45lbs: 20
  • 140lbs: 10
  • 230lbs: 5
  • 320lbs: 3
  • 410bs: 2
  • 460lbs: X,2,1
    • Missed on the 1st attempt at 460lbs. Weird. Probably leaned forward too much.
    • Missed on 2nd rep at 460lbs.

Reverse Grip Bench Press (Paused)

Getting the hang of the reverse grip bench press. Less pain in my forearms at >300lbs compared to a regular bench press. I like it!

  • 45lbs: 10
  • 140lbs: 5
  • 190lbs: 3
  • 230lbs: 2
  • 300lbs: 1
    • Felt easy. Let's try 3PLATE
  • 320lbs: 1
    • Not bad. Challenging, but the bar seemed to move up quickly.
  • 330lbs: 1
    • Still feels challenging-but-not-too-bad. Add another 10lbs.
    • I think this is a paused bench press PR.
  • 340lbs: MISSED
  • 280lbs: 4

Rack Pulls

About 6 1/4" off the ground. (at the #3 hole in my power rack and standing on a 3/4" piece of wood).

  • 140lbs: 10
  • 230lbs: 5
  • 320lbs: 3
  • 410lbs: 2
  • 500lbs: 1
  • 550lbs: 1
  • 600lbs: 1,X
  • 550lbs: 2,1
  • 500lbs: 3

 

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John Phung

Training Log: Wednesday October 17, 2012

October 17, 2012 — Leave a comment

Foam Rolling

  • 10 minutes

Heavy Bag

  • Jab + cross combo X 25. Repeat 3 times.

Paused Low Bar Back Squat (Wide)

  • 45lbs: 12
  • 140lbs: 5
  • 230lbs: 5
  • 320lbs: 3
  • 410lbs: 2
  • 370lbs: 5
    • Glutes on fire on reps 4 & 5

Overhead Press

  • 45lbs: 10
  • 75lbs: 8
  • 100lbs:5
  • 140lbs:3
  • 165lbs: 3
  • 190lbs: 1
  • 210lbs: 1
  • 230lbs: 1
    • A bit of a struggle, but locked it out.
  • 200lbs: 3
  • 190lbs: 5
  • 140lbs: 11
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John Phung

Q&A: Combining Smolov Jr For Bench Press & Texas Method

October 17, 2012 — 1 Comment

Here's a question from Ryan from SAPT about combining Smolov Jr for Bench Press and Texas Method:

Hey John,

This is Ryan from SAPT in Virginia.  How has training been going?  Judging from the website you are smashing PR's daily.  I had a question for you.  I saw for a time you were combining the Smolov bench program and the Texas Method.  How did that work for you and how did you go about setting that up?

Thanks,
Ryan

My Answer:

Hey Ryan,

Thanks! Actually the PR train has come to a grinding halt (been missing a lot of 1RM attempts) so I'm going back and working on 5,3 and 2RM.

Smolov Jr for bench press worked OK for me. It was really grueling, but fun. I got a 10lbs PR @340lbs, which is a bit lower than expected however.

I remember having a constant chest pump, and usually sore chest/shoulders/triceps all the time. The frequency of benching made the movement feel easier.

Basically I combined Smolov Jr for bench and Texas Method like this:

  • Bench Press on Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday
  • Squat on Monday, Wednesday & Friday

I don't think I did any deadlifting back then because I was recovering from a strained muscle in my lower back.

I started doing some overhead press at first to warm up, but I found that my anterior delts were getting too much stimulation for benching 4x a week that I ended up removing it. I stopped doing OHP for a few weeks, but when I went back to it I didn't lose any strength. I did warm up with face pulls before bench presses though.

Here are my training logs and any posts involving Smolov:

http://www.johnphung.com/?s=smolov

Hope that helps!

###

Got a question? Just ask on my contact page and I'll answer it!

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John Phung

Training Log: Tuesday October 16, 2012

October 16, 2012 — Leave a comment

Foam Rolling

  • 10 minutes

Heavy Bag

  • 15 minutes
  • 20 right kicks, 20 left kicks repeat 5x each (total 100 kicks/side)
  • about 50% power

Front Squat

Paused.

  • 45lbs: 10
  • 140lbs: 5
  • 190lbs: 3
  • 230lbs: 3
  • 300lbs: 1
  • 260lbs: 3,2,3
    • Bar rolled forward off my right shoulder at the bottom of the 2nd set, 3rd rep @260lbs.

Neck Extension (Harness)

  • 30lbs: 20
  • 50lbs: 20
  • 80lbs: 20
  • 95lbs: 7

Neck Flexion (Harness)

  • 30lbs: 20
  • 50lbs: 20
  • 80lbs: 20
  • 95lbs: 7

Neck Side Flexion (Harness)

  • 30lbs: 20
  • 50lbs: 20
  • 55lbs: 20
  • 60lbs: 8

Barbell Curl

  • 45lbs: 20
  • 75lbs: 8
  • 100lbs: 6

 

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