Quest for 3 plate bench and beyond

[hongover666]

so I just hit 250 on bench a few days ago. gonna be tracking my progress here and hoping to be able to get that 3 plate bench in about 3 months? or so. also aiming for 315 squat (currently 275) and 365 deadlift (currently 315). neglected squat and deadlift a lot when i started lifting about a year ago, so bench is really OP compared to the other two. starting off with a "add 50" bench program (see attachment), and for the other 2 lifts working on getting my strength back, as i had a lower back injury for the past month.

running a 5 day split starting on monday (10 nov 2014)
monday - bench
tuesday - deadlift
wednesday - off
thursday - bench
friday - squats
saturday - back work
sunday - off

any advice/comments would be greatly appreciated.

[hongover666]

monday 10 november 2014
week 1, day 1

doing the "add50" thing with a starting max of 235, 15 pound less than my actual max, because this is the first time i'm doing it and i don't want to fail midway through.
note: when i'm using dumbbells, i'll list the weight as the total weight. so for example, if it says incline dumbbell at 150, that means 75 pound dumbbells.
all of these reps are strict reps with full range of motion. no pussy **** here.

Flat Barbell Bench Press:
175x6
190x5
190x5
190x4
190x4

Paused Bench Press:
185x5
185x5
185x5
185x4
185x4

Incline Dumbbell Press:
160x4
150x5
150x5
150x5
150x4

Overhead Press:
100x8
110x8
110x5
110x5
110x5

Low Cable Flies:
100x10
100x10
dropset: 100x10; 80x10; 60x10; 40x10

Superset:
Side Deltoid Raises; Overhead Dumbbell Press:
60x10
60x10
dropset: 60x10; 40x10; 20x10

Tricep Pulldown w. Rope Attachment:
50x10
50x10
dropset: 50x10; 40x10; 30x10

Bench Press:
45x100

one of the better work days that i've had recently... wrist has been bothering me recently so need to get wrist wraps soon.
not really counting calories; i'm just eating all that i can. but no junk food or any of that ****.

any comments would be appreciated.

[hongover666]

monday 10 november 2014
week 1, day 2

lower back really has still been feeling like **** so didn't take it too heavy on deadlifts. just did a 5x5 at 245. probably was not my best work, but i'll live with it. also hit some back work.

Traditional Deadlift:
245x5
245x5
245x5
245x5
245x5

Wide Grip Pulldown:
120x12
140x8
140x8
140x8
140x7

Seated Row
130x8
130x8
130x8
130x12

Wide Grip Pullups
BWx12
BWx10
BWx8

Narrow Grip Pullups
BWx12
BWx10
BWx8

Hammer Curls
90x10
90x10
100x8
100x8

was a pretty good work day today, hoping that my lower back feels better on friday to hit some good squats.

[hongover666]

friday 14 november 2014
week 1, day 3

oops posted the wrong date in my last post. should say wednesday 12 november 2014.
uh this week has been ****ed up cuz i missed my work on tuesday and pushed deadlift to wednesday. then i missed yesterday so i pushed days 3,4,5 to today/tomorrow/sunday. but got some good work in today so i'm pretty happy. hit an easy 235 today with thumbless grip. i've been doing thumbless these days because my right wrist has been really messed up. getting some wrist wraps soon so it should be fine.

Flat Barbell Bench Press:
200x3
200x3
210x2
210x2
235x1

Paused Bench Press:
185x5
185x5
185x5
185x5
185x5

Incline Barbell Bench Press:
135x10
155x5
155x5
155x5
155x4

Overhead Press:
115x5
115x5
115x5
115x5
115x5

Low Cable Flies:
100x10
100x10
100x10

Tricep Pulldown w. Rope Attachment:
55x10
60x10
60x8

Superset:
Side Deltoid Raises; Overhead Dumbbell Press:
50x10
50x10
50x10

Hammer Close Grip Press w/ Swiss Bar
115x8
115x6
95x9

Bench Press:
45x100

felt pretty good actually. i feel like i could push 265 right now. been getting some good food in and keeping fat levels down. should be a good weekend, hitting squats and back. favorite days of the week. i'm quite tempted to do a 4 hour long workout and hit all 3 sections (back, chest, legs) to see what happens.

[hongover666]

monday 17 november 2014
week 2 day 1

didnt have a very good weekend. got caught with an overload of work so didnt get to hit the gym. college apps and such. but got to the gym today and hit chest.
so it occurred to me that basically the monday workout starts with 23 sets that continuously destroy my front delts. like during bench press today i could feel the death in my front delts. I COULD FEEL THE MOTHER****ING DEATH

Flat Barbell Bench Press:
175x6
190x5
190x5
200x4
200x4

Paused Bench Press:
185x5
185x5
185x4
185x4
185x4

Incline Dumbbell Press:
150x7
150x6
150x6
150x5
150x5

Overhead Press:
115x5
115x5
115x5
115x5
115x5

Low Cable Flies:
100x10
100x10
100x10

Superset:
Side Deltoid Raises; Overhead Dumbbell Press:
60x10
60x10
60x10

pretty typical chest workout. bench felt really sluggish cuz of front delts' unfortunate deaths atm. lol i'm so high but not really. hitting deads and back tomorrow

[hongover666]

tuesday 18 november 2014
week 2 day 2

not a lot of time today but got my work done. tried out sumo deadlift for the first time and it felt much better on my back than traditional.

Sumo Deadlift
275x5
275x5
275x4
275x4
275x3

Seated Rows
140x8
140x8
140x8
140x8

Wide Grip Pulldown
140x8
140x7
140x7
140x7

Wide Grip Pullup
BWx12
BWx10
BWx8

Hammer Curls
60x10
80x10
100x10
110x8
90x8
70x8
50x8

i actually liked the sumo deadlift today. gonna stick with it for the near future.
wrist straps came today. bench will be great on thursday.

[hongover666]

thursday 20 november 2014
week 2 day 3

kinda sluggish today. worked on power rather than volume.

Flat Barbell Bench Press
210x3
210x3
225x2
225x2
245x1

Incline Barbell Bench Press
185x2
185x2
185x2
185x1
185x1

Overhead Press
135x3
135x3
135x3
135x3
135x2

Superset:
Low Cable Flies; Tricep Pulldown w. Rope Attachment; Chest Dips
120x10 60x10 BWx10
120x10 60x10 BWx10
120x10 60x10 BWx10

Flat Barbell Bench Press
45x100

meh. at least i hit all my sets on my bench work. today just felt pretty ****ty. weather was bad, work was bad. hope tomorrow's back work will be better.

[hongover666]

monday 24 november 2014
week 3 day 1

hmm didn't do much work over the weekend... what is with me and missing weekends recently. this usually isn't a problem but idunno whats going on these past 2 weeks. well did some like pullups and went for some long bike rides. been pretty stressed so 50+ mile bike ride was a nice way to just de-stress.
alright bench test day today for the program. <2 reps = decrease input by 5lbs, 2-4 reps = keep input the same, >4 reps = increase input by 5lbs. and hit 5 reps. so setting the input up to 240. which means according to the program i have to hit 2x2x240 on thursday? what the actual? ****ing russians
cut back on the presses today to try and save my front delts a bit.

Flat Barbell Bench Press:
190x6
200x5
200x5
210x5

Incline Dumbbell Press:
160x5
160x5
160x5
160x4
160x4

Low Cable Flies:
120x10
120x10
120x10

Skullcrushers
70x17
80x12
80x10

Superset:
Side Deltoid Raises; Overhead Dumbbell Press:
60x10
60x10
60x10

Tricep Pulldown w. Rope Attachment:
60x10
60x10
dropset: 60x10; 50x10; 40x10; 30x10

Chest Dips:
BWx10
BWx10
BWx10

should i go to failure on the chest dips or should i just do 3 sets of 10 and increase the weight from week to week?

[hongover666]

wednesday 26 november 2014
week 3 day 2

really ****ing ****ty work day today.

Squats
225x5
225x5
225x5
225x5
225x3

Sumo Deadlift
225x10
275x5
315x1
225x12

Leg Press
450x20
360x20
270x20 + Calves 270x20

mm bad work lol. legs arent conditioned for high volume work like this. finished the almost 5x5 on the squats and then tried to work up to the 5x5 at 275 on the deadlift but i just couldn't get any more rep work done. does that make sense. lol but did a 315x1 i guess. interesting. hit 315 on just my second deadlift session since like last year... need to squat/pull more. trying to get like 2 leg destruction days in every week but often it doesn't work out because of either timing or excessive soreness. having a bit of DOMS i think. esp in legs. but really just trying to get some leg/back work in as supplements to my main chest work. need to hit those heavy benches then come back and work heavy squats. right now i think i'm gonna back off on the squat and deadlift volume and just stick to some low rep work. kinda like the stuff that i did for my presses last thursday. probably gonna do a similar thing for my presses tomorrow. although i have to go to the YMCA instead of my school gym tomorrow so incline barbell will be a pain in the ass to set up. i'll figure it out tomorrow. and tf i have to hit a freakin 2x2x240 on bench tomorrow fml

[hongover666]

friday 28 november 2014
week 3 day 3

what the **** even was today. lol uh didnt get incline work in cuz too lazy to wait for the incline bench rack so i missed 5 sets. then my forearms were being pieces of trash so i missed my lateral raise sets missing another 3 sets. missed 8 sets total and only got 19 sets in. not enough volume to satisfy me. must pull hard tomorrow?¿ surprisingly grinded out my 2x2x240 on bench. lol russians

Flat Barbell Bench Press:
215x3
215x3
240x2
240x2
265xNEG
265xNEG

Overhead Press:
135x6
135x4
135x5
135x4
135x4

Superset:
Skullcrushers; Tricep Pulldown w. Rope Attachment:
90x10 60x10
90x8 55x10
90x9 50x10

Chest Dips:
BWx20
BWx16
BWx15

good stuff on bench. would have liked to have gotten some more work in but unfortunately ran out of time. tight schedule with college apps and stuff. even if this russian program does seem a bit crazy it seems to be working well? so yeah. 4 more weeks until i should hit 290. as long as i dont die or fall out of the program

[hongover666]

monday 1 december 2014

i s2g if i miss more weekend workouts i will shank someone.
slowly reducing the amount of supplementary work i do because my shoulders are dying esp. my front delts. i need some rotator cuff work. only did like 22 sets today i think. short workouts. but high intensity. 22 sets took like 45-55 minutes. small rest periods to keep the muscle stress high and promote strength and growth?¿ pretty nice though. hit 3x3x230. was a bit of a grind though. didn't eat enough and didn't sleep enough. gotta make up for it on thursday/friday though. got a 2x3x230 and then 2x1x250. next monday is gonna be ****ty i've got a 2x3x240. oh well we'll worry about that when i get there.

Flat Barbell Bench Press:
205x5
205x5
230x3
230x3
230x3

Incline Barbell Bench Press:
155x5
155x5
155x5
155x5
155x7

Superset:
Low Cable Flies; Tricep Pulldown w. Rope Attachment:
120x10 60x15
120x10 60x15
120x10 60x14

Superset:
Side Deltoid Raises; Overhead Dumbbell Press:
60x11
60x11
60x11

Chest Dips:
BWx20
BWx16
BWx18

noice.

[hongover666]

wednesday 3 december 2014
week 4 day 2

couldn't make it to the gym but back was feeling alright so i pulled out my pullup bar and did a quick pullup set.

3 rounds:
Wide Grip BWx10
Wide Parallel Grip BWx10
Narrow Grip BWx10
Narrow Parallel Grip BWx10

felt good to get some decent back work in. hoping to hit some volume squats tomorrow followed by death by bench press on friday. like 2x1x250 r u srs

[hongover666]

thursday 4 december 2014
week 4 day 3

wow i'm on my 2nd non-chest workout and its only thursday! that hasn't happened in a long time. i need to stop slacking off lol.
but good high intensity squat work today. finished with some leg extension quad burnout and some calves.

Squats:
225x5
225x5
225x5
225x5
225x5
225x5
225x5
225x5
225x5
225x4

Leg Extension:
dropset: 50x20; 40x20; 30x20; 20x20

Calves on Hacksquat Machine:
135x40
135x35
135x30

dammit. trash. missing the last ****ing rep of the squat workout. should try for same thing at 235 next week. really just experimenting alot with my lower body workouts right now while focusing on bench. speaking of which, fml 2x3x230 and 2x1x250 tomorrow

[hongover666]

friday 5 december 2014
week 4 day 4

did some good work today. worked on power. usually i'll do slightly higher reps on my first bench day of the week and low reps on the other. shoulders are still hella burned... need to give them some rest at the end of this cycle. probably spend some time to focus on lower body exercises after december ends and i max out my bench. matched my 250 pr today for two singles.

Flat Barbell Bench Press:
230x3
230x3
250x1
250x1
275xNEG

Incline Barbell Bench Press:
185x4
185x4
185x4
185x4
185x4

Superset:
Low Cable Flies; Tricep Pulldown w. Rope Attachment:
120x10 65x10
120x10 65x10
120x10 65x10

Superset:
Side Deltoid Raises; Overhead Dumbbell Press:
70x10
60x10
60x10

Chest Dips:
BWx20
BWx20
BWx16

the only thing i didn't like about today's work was that the non-bench exercises were the exact same as monday. no variation = no gains! not really. but i do like to mix up my workouts from day to day so it irks me that i'd do the same workout twice in one week. gonna get some good carbs and good sleep over the weekend to prep for 3x3x240 qq

[vol8615]

Awesome work in here! Putting up a lot of weight!

[hongover666]

Awesome work in here! Putting up a lot of weight!

thanks man.

[hongover666]

monday 8 december 2014
week 5 day 1

got a few strains last week. dunno how but i strained my calves and couldn't really walk so i took the weekend easy. just did a few pullups at home but thats it. not really worth posting about.
anyways... chest work today ggggggggggggggggg ****ing bad russian program is bad. took my anger out in the rest of my work i guess. um as a result of not making the test reps the 1rm input is dropping by 5 pounds. really didn't get enough sleep this weekend because finals and final projects soon... so hoping to get better work the rest of this week. first time doing dumbbell overhead in a while so just tried it out for a bit

Flat Barbell Bench Press:
215x5
230x5
240x3
240x2
240x1

Incline Dumbbell Press:
160x7
160x6
160x6
160x5
160x5

Overhead Dumbbell Press
100x8
110x5
110x5
110x3
100x7

Incline Dumbbell Flies
70x8
70x8
70x8

so i did this kind of compound exercise which is a combination of close grip barbell and skullcrushers
90x2
70x8
50x14

Superset:
Side Deltoid Raises; Overhead Dumbbell Press:
70x10
60x10
60x10

Chest Dips:
BWx20
BWx16
BWx12

stretching shoulders hella man. shoulders are ****ing dead as hell need to get like massages and do foam rolling for dayssssssssssssss. hopefully gonna get some better work in on friday but doesn't seem likely given the 2x3x235 and then 2x2x260 and 1x1x260. ****ing russian bench program holy ****ing ****. getting some more advice from a PT at the gym to intensify workouts even more or make them more interesting?¿ felt good about a new 5rm at 215 today though. also even though i didn't get the entire 3x3 on the 240 just one 240x3 is also a 3rm. overall i feel good even though i'm also angry about not hitting my reps. also just purely for aesthetics i'm going to add in some lower chest work as well, trying out some decline reverse grip bench that i've heard is good for hitting your entire chest.

[hongover666]

tuesday 9 december 2014
week 5 day 2

still angry about not hitting bench sets yesterday... uh working on squat volume i suppose. one of my workout partners and i are trying to see who can get 10x10 with 225 first for squat. steadily adding reps to my squat volume. 50 reps last week was supposed to be 60 this week but only got 57. still some good squat work. taking tomorrow off then hoping to come back strong with a 260 double for my top set on thursday's bench session.

Squats:
225x8
225x7
225x7
225x6
225x6
225x6
225x5
225x4
225x4
225x4

Leg Extension:
80x20
80x20
dropset: 80x20; 60x20; 40x20

seemed like a pretty good work day. burning legs pretty hard with that volume. a bit of a problem that i have with my squats, especially when i get to the later sets with fatigue is that i end up losing my concentration on some of the later reps and getting stuck in the hole really deep. thats why i didn't hit the last rep on the last 3 sets. gonna try to hit at least 65 reps next week.

[hongover666]

friday 12 december 2014
week 5 day 3

short and ****ty workout today whatever. not getting enough sleep for this program because of finals next week.. also this program just has a retardedly quick progression so i need my sleep in order to hit my reps. surprised about the 235x3, hit both of them with ease after having some struggles with 240 triples on monday. but the 260 doubles were just not possible. so overall bench session was bad. gonna still stick with this program through to the end though. pretty short workout today so i just screwed the accessory and tried out some things i've been meaning to try like decline reverse grip. imig i should be happy because i hit 2 singles at 260 which is a pr...

Flat Barbell Bench Press:
235x3
235x3
260x1
260x1
260FAIL

Incline Barbell Bench Press:
195x3
195x3
195x3
195x3
195x2

tested out flat and decline reverse grip bench press but didn't record the reps and sets.

Superset:
High Cable Flies; Cable Tricep Kickback:
80x20 40x20
80x20 40x20
80x20 40x20

wow i did abs today.
Hanging Leg Twist:
3 sets of 20 on each side legs bent
3 sets of 20 on each side legs straight

Seated Leg Crunch:
3 sets of 50

damn i haven't done abs in a while LOL. uh new wrist wraps came today. picked up the Titan THP's. hopefully my heavy bench sets will improve. i've been struggling with some problems with my wrists so the wraps should help. um this weekend probably just going to hit some squat strength in the 1-3 rep range tomorrow. take about ~45-55 minutes. and perhaps some back work on sunday. but short workouts for both because finals next week and 3 projects due on monday... also college applications so ****.

[hongover666]

sunday 14 december 2014
week 5 day 4

didn't even work out this weekend. probably good judgement to stay home and study rather than going out to the gym. also not really getting that much sleep so the workouts probably would have been ****ty anyways. so i've been thinking about this bench program i'm on and it seems kind of retarded because i'm doing like easy stuff like 2x1x250 on workout #8 but then on workout #10 i'm supposed to do 2x2x260... so that's pretty stupid right... anyways i just modified the program to make it a bit more sensible. essentially just set a "goal 1rm" for each week, increase by 5 pounds from each week to the next. and match the inputted 1rm in week 4. then just use the formula (1rm = weight + weight*reps*0.0333) to get the appropriate weight given a number of reps. the new version seems much more reasonable and doable. so i'm probably gonna start the program over starting tomorrow.

as for lower body exercises, i haven't really been that good about hitting my leg workouts, as my schedules are crammed and i'll often only have time for a few workouts a week. thus i choose my bench focus over my squat focus, because the eventual goal is to break the USPA american record for 16-17 years 75 kg class at 140kg, or 308 lbs. probably going to go for a competition in february or march. but now that first semester of senior year + college apps are all done, i'll have much more freedom do go to the gym. thus i will be hitting 2 squat workouts and 2 back workouts each week in addition to my bench press work. i will work on volume for one squat day (i.e. 10x10) and power for the other (i.e. timed singles - do as many singles at 85% as possible in 5-10 minutes). for back work it will mostly be half power, half bodybuilding. because who doesn't love a broad back?

so probably will get into the 6 day split the week after next week; next week is finals week so i'll probably only be getting in 3 workouts, 2 bench and 1 squat.

attached is the modified bench program.

[hongover666]

link to USPA american records for junior men: docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0AkkWwEghoQLidHBVTEppR2xNYUJXamo5R2ZsSVRja 0E&output=html