Some highlights of my training this past week, along with a new squat PR!
Dragon Flags
Started doing these at the suggestion of Greg Nuckols. He told me it would help me get a bigger deadlift, and I'm inclined to listen to people who have more experience and/or stronger than I am, so I started adding dragon flags to the beginning of my workout. I remember when I first started doing dragon flags a couple of weeks or so ago, my abs cramped up after 1 rep!
The form isn't as good as some of the people on Youtube who probably have a lower BMI than I do, but they're coming along.
Front Squat (to Zercher Squat?): 395 lb
Missed the front squat because it rolled off my shoulders, but I did stand up with it. Did a negative rep zercher squat after.
Sometimes I want to get one of those front squat harnesses, especially after the bar rolls off my shoulders.
Low Bar Squat: 530 lb (1RM)
I did this after doing a 550 lb reverse band squat. It was roughly 470 lb in the hole. The set felt easy, and the 525 lb squat that I done last week wasn't too bad, so I decided to try 530 lb.
It was a bit difficult, and it looked like the right side of the bar came up before the left side. But aside from that, it didn't turn into a grind or a squat-morning, so I'm happy.
Reverse Band, Reverse Grip Bench Press: 410 lb
The bands provided about 55 lb of assistance at the bottom, so the the weight ranges from ~360 lb at the bottom to 410 lb at the top.
I tried 395 lb right after, and just missed the rep. Dammit.
High Bar Paused Squat: 410 lb x 1, 460 lb x 1
Beltless at 410 lb, and belted at 460 lb.
These felt really explosive.
I like how the bar oscillates up and down on my traps after the 460 lb paused squat. Feels nice!
Had some interesting responses on Fitocracy's Facebook page and Reddit to this article, ranging from how other lifters deal with calluses, to the typical internet tough guy response to "man up", "embrace them", "don't be a pussy", viewing them as a "badge of honor", etc.
I suspect that the internet tough guys (who probably didn't even read the article before commenting!) don't lift as much as those who actually deal with their calluses, but I could be wrong.
Some before-and-after pictures are real (in other words, they're a result of training, dietary change done over some period of time), and some are not, like the one shown in the link above.
Bar rolled forward a little, making it harder than it should have been.
Low Bar Squat - Reverse Bands
550 lb: 1
Black bands. About 80 lb of assistance at the bottom, so the weight throughout the entire range of motion is roughly 470-550 lb.
Felt very explosive. Decided to go for a 1RM.
Low Bar Squat
530 lb: 1 * PR!
+5 lb 1RM from last week!
Felt easy to unrack after doing those reverse band squats. Coming up was a different story. It was a bit of a grind, and a little lopsided, but I got it.
430 lb: 5
+5 lb from last week.
Face Pulls
70 lb: 12
90 lb: 10
Reverse Grip Bench Press
Paused until work sets.
45 lb: 10
140 lb: 5
230 lb: 3
280 lb: 1
330 lb: 1
370 lb: 1
Reverse Band Reverse Grip Bench Press
410 lb: 1
Black bands
About 55 lb of resistance (assistance?) at the bottom. So the the weight ranges from ~360 lb at the bottom to 410 lb at the top.
Reverse Grip Bench Press
395 lb: MISSED
Nope. Blah.
325 lb: 3,3,3,3,3
Usually I do 3x3, but decided to do 5 sets because I felt strong, and I skipped my work sets last week.
I get this question asked a lot, so instead of re-typing my answer every time someone asks, I'm just going to answer it here and copy-and-paste my answer (or send them the link to this post) the next time I'm asked.
Man, should have done this earlier! Would have saved me a lot of time!
Question:
Why do you do reverse grip bench presses instead of regular bench presses like a normal person?
Answer:
I started doing reverse grip bench presses because a regular grip was causing me pain.
First it was shoulder pain that radiated down both of my arms from regular bench presses.
Even this magical bright light couldn't cure my shoulder pain
It was probably shoulder impingement. As for grip width, my pinkies were on the bar markings so it wasn't very wide.
I narrowed my grip, tucked in my elbows and tried "bending the bar". This more or less fixed the shoulder pain problem, but it ended up giving me pain in my forearms (forearm splints maybe?). I felt the forearm pain in what seems to be in between the bones of the forearms, the ulna and radius.
I think the forearm pain from bench presses was from tucking the elbows in while gripping the bar hard on the descent. Gripping the bar with an overhand grip naturally makes the elbows flare out a bit. Forcing the elbows in to the sides of the body naturally makes the hand want to rotate (ie. supination). So trying to do both at the same time (tuck in elbows while keeping a tight grip with hands aligned with the bar), the strain is going to go somewhere, and that went to my forearms.
At lighter loads, there wasn't much pain, but as soon as the weight went up, the pain in both my shoulders and/or forearms would shut everything down and I would instantly lose my strength. I frequently missed reps because of pain.
With a regular grip (both pinkies on the bar and a more narrower hand placement), the best I could do was 340 lb. That was like an obstacle that I couldn't overcome because the pain held me back.
I have seen Jamie Lewis from ChAoS & PAIN use the reverse grip bench press (here's an article he wrote on the RGBP btw), and recall reading that he did this because of shoulder issues he had himself (or something like that).
Well, figured I might as well give it a shot because a regular bench press was going nowhere.
I switched over to the reverse grip bench press on October 1, 2012.
At first benching with a backward grip was awkward. Unracking was strange, and I wasn't accustomed to the pressure of the bar on my palms while holding the bar backwards. The first time doing it, I only got up to LMAO2PLATE (230 lb) for 2 reps. And I still experienced a bit of pain.
Differences Between A Regular Bench Press And The Reverse Grip Bench Press
Here's a few bullet points describing some of the things that are different with the reverse grip bench press:
Bar touches lower on body. For me, it's below the sternum.
Cannot flare out the elbows (at least not much). So if the bar drifts towards the head, it's difficult to maintain/regain control because you can't flare the elbows out and get the elbows under the bar.
Elbows naturally tuck in (ie move towards the side of the body), so I didn't need to force myself to tuck in the elbows. I do find that if I try to force my elbows to touch the side of my body, I can feel the contraction in my lats.
Need to focus on pushing "down" or "out" towards my abdomen or feet.
Bar cannot be allowed to drift backwards (towards the head) or else you'll lose control of the bar.
Grip on the bar can range from 100% supinated (so that the palms are inline with the bar) to something that's almost a parallel grip (actually more like a V-grip). I find that if I'm struggling with a weight during the reverse grip (either 1RM or the last few reps of a multi-rep set), my palms will start to rotate towards each other, probably as a result of trying to flare my elbows out.
It's a little more difficult to control the bar, so this should be done inside of a power rack with safeties to save your life in case the bar decides to move above your neck.
MRW When I See Someone Else Do The Reverse Grip Bench Press
Every so often I see a video of someone doing the reverse grip bench press. I like to think that I had some part in inspiring them to bench press with a backwards grip, but I'm not really sure.
In any case, here's my reaction(s):
Conclusion
So if you're experiencing shoulder pain and/or forearm pain from regular grip bench presses, try out the reverse grip. It allowed me to bench heavy twice a week without going through the pain I had with a conventional grip, and allowed me to break through a plateau once limited by pain.
The reverse grip bench press works for me, works for other people I've come across online, and it could work for you too.
I narrowed my grip, tucked in my elbows and tried "bending the bar". This more or less fixed the shoulder pain problem, but it ended up giving me pain in my forearms (forearm splints maybe?). I felt the forearm pain in what seems to be in between the bones of the forearms, the ulna and radius.
