Kaleida's Powerlifting Journal

[kaleida]

reppd for same height beating my stats impressive as hell!

If your signature is accurate then I guarantee your 1-rep maxes are more than mine

[kaleida]

other people's bench press arches - for my reference

Just for my own reference, some bench press arch setup videos that I want to watch again before I test maxes on Saturday.

methods that look like they might work well for me

This video is the one that I was trying to emulate a few days ago on volume day and it worked out pretty well for me... belly button below the bar, then a crablike back-bend to move forward... really helped me feel like I was "tucked in" tightly, with all the weight on my feet and my traps ... almost none of the weight on my butt... butt just happened to be touching the bench. My flexibility is very similar to this girl's flexibility so I think she's a good example for me.


Maryana does something very similar, but she sits behind the bar to start out, and she ends up on her toes ... USAPL requires heels on the floor so I need to make some adjustments if I try to copy her setup...


Here's one where Maryana is on her heels...


two methods that might not work for me, but...

These two methods might not work so well for me but they're worth a try anyway.

This is setting the shoulders first and then the feet and hips ... which is actually really similar to what I was doing in the past, minus the feet up on the bench part. I just don't feel solidly "tucked in" when I set my shoulders first and then my feet. Butt doesn't want to land anywhere close to my shoulders. I think it's worth another try with the feet up on the bench just in case that step makes a huge difference.


And this guy is doing some sort of crabwalk to back into the arch ...I'm not sure if this would work for me either, because my back doesn't contract itself strongly on its own ... I seem to get a bigger arch if my back is being arched by external forces...instead of arching itself... if that makes any sense. But I might as well try it once

[schnauzers]

Whoa those are some cray cray arches!!!

I try to arch my back but you know what sometimes happens? What I spend a lot of effort to get the bar back up, I sometimes get a charlie horse in the arched muscles. Ouch!

[kaleida]

Whoa those are some cray cray arches!!!

I try to arch my back but you know what sometimes happens? What I spend a lot of effort to get the bar back up, I sometimes get a charlie horse in the arched muscles. Ouch!

I'm curious to see one of your bench press videos...do you have any? You must be doing something right, you do reps with my max Do you get a lot of leg drive even though you don't have a big arch? So far I've only felt any leg drive when I'm arching....it's strange. I guess I'm lucky that the arch doesn't feel painful to me...it makes me want to tuck my knees to my chest after and stretch a little but it isn't painful. Mine isn't as pronounced as Maryana's though.

[kaleida]

light day

Cliffs
- 110x5 front squat PR - yay! Borderline acceptable form though - I'm leaning forward a bit. I'll do the same weight next week... clearly 110 is challenging for my quads and the point is to challenge my quads and practice staying upright in the torso, not to push the limits of how much I can front squat while leaning over.
- Solid overhead press - I'm 5 pounds away from my previous PR
- Solid pull-ups
- Practiced some arching and unracking afterwards for bench press, still having trouble with heel contact on the floor, will practice more on Saturday. Maybe in different shoes.






Form check videos


^^ I think the same song was playing last week when I did front squats. Deja vu.

[BrotherWolf]

light day

Cliffs
- 110x5 front squat PR - yay! Borderline acceptable form though - I'm leaning forward a bit. I'll do the same weight next week... clearly 110 is challenging for my quads and the point is to challenge my quads and practice staying upright in the torso, not to push the limits of how much I can front squat while leaning over.
- Solid overhead press - I'm 5 pounds away from my previous PR
- Solid pull-ups
- Practiced some arching and unracking afterwards for bench press, still having trouble with heel contact on the floor, will practice more on Saturday. Maybe in different shoes.






Form check videos


^^ I think the same song was playing last week when I did front squats. Deja vu.

need to work on keeping the back locked on that front squat
but the OHP looks good , use more back though
you used to do it really well, any reasons why you stopped ?

[kaleida]

need to work on keeping the back locked on that front squat
but the OHP looks good , use more back though
you used to do it really well, any reasons why you stopped ?

I'll fix the 110lb front squats next week

That "using back on the OHP" video you just showed me looked like a new idea to me... I think I wasn't ready to digest that the first time I saw it, but it makes more sense now. If I did use my back like that in the past, it was probably a lucky accident... or maybe something my body did unconsciously on a really difficult rep.

And I think OHP was the lift that suffered the most when I ran into all those appetite issues in the past few months. Squat PRs in the past few months are deceptive ... it looked like I was getting stronger but actually I was just learning some new tricks.

OHP seems to only go up when I'm eating enough ...at least I'm eating enough and it's going back up now.

[-Lucifer]

Oh, so you're a powerlifter? That's nice. I'm in.

[Marshall28]

I find you comments on leg drive interesting. I have yet to really get any leg drive on my bench. Are you flat footed or on your toes?

[ilovethe80s]

I think I am just as excited as you about your upcoming bench day Jen Thompson admits that leg drive the bulk of her bench, and she is long armed with similar leverages to us and benching over 300 raw. Next bench session is gonna be good!!

[kaleida]

Oh, so you're a powerlifter? That's nice. I'm in.

Welcome!

I find you comments on leg drive interesting. I have yet to really get any leg drive on my bench. Are you flat footed or on your toes?

I'm trying to be flat-footed (USAPL requires it and that's my federation for the December 7 meet)

Right now I have about 1/4" - 1/2" of space between my heel and the floor which I'm trying to eliminate - it's visible in my last video from volume day (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...TZ0TOWK8E#t=54).

BTW, If anyone has any tips on getting my heels on the floor without resetting my feet after I arch, I'm all ears! I seem to get the best leg drive if I set my feet first, and then arch with all the weight on my feet, and then I don't move my feet at all. I was going to try my thin-sole wrestling shoes and see if that helps ... my squat shoes don't allow me to feel the floor very well at all ... or maybe a slightly different foot angle before I arch.

I think I am just as excited as you about your upcoming bench day Jen Thompson admits that leg drive the bulk of her bench, and she is long armed with similar leverages to us and benching over 300 raw. Next bench session is gonna be good!!

I'm excited too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol. Last volume day it really felt like all the weight was carried by my legs ... my butt just happened to be touching the bench ... and my arms were just kind of floating up and down ... it felt so eassssssy
I love finding little things I can optimize.

[-Lucifer]

This is one of my favourite bookmarks:

http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2012/06...press.html?m=1

[Marshall28]

This is one of my favourite bookmarks:

http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2012/06...press.html?m=1

I love me some Paul Carter.

[gobbles23]

Woop woop! Bench day tomorrow!

Have a great weekend

[kaleida]

This is one of my favourite bookmarks:

http://www.lift-run-bang.com/2012/06...press.html?m=1

Interesting overhead press tips! I was already doing the glute contraction and bicep contraction without realizing that was a "thing"...just noticed one day that it helped, so I kept doing on it. I haven't tried the thumbless grip though - didn't even think to try that. I'll try it next week and see what happens.

[kaleida]

intensity day

BW is visiting me today this weekend - and I almost never have company in the gym so I asked him to help me practice squat and bench commands (with sub-max weight otherwise I wouldn't have been able to do as many singles as I wanted to practice the commands repetitively).

That was extremely useful - I jumped the gun so many times on the "Rack" command! So I will find a way to work more on that before the meet. I'm seriously thinking about making a recording of the commands and listening to it for every single on every max day. Maybe just the audio part of actual meet videos where other people are getting the same commands.

Bench - I know a few of you were curious to see my new PR with all the leg drive added ...wait just one week longer for that because I really wanted to practice the commands
I did ten singles with my previous PR (105lb) - all paused!!!!! A few with an extremely long pause too...lol And all of them were super easy too ... did not feel like a max at all. I felt like I could have done more too. I am really excited to test bench max next week.

Also practice squat commands and some light deadlifts that felt way too heavy ... oh man, my deadlifts are depressing right now, but I feel them in my hips with the same muscles that get sore from the medium stance squat, so I think the new stance will help

[-Lucifer]

I did ten singles with my previous PR (105lb) - all paused!!!!!

Feels good, doesn't it? Nothing boosts your ego more, imo.

[kaleida]

Feels good, doesn't it? Nothing boosts your ego more, imo.

I was happy about it! It means the new arch and leg drive technique is going to help a lot ... I know the difference was just from that because I kept all of the other variables the same ... warmup sequence, lift-off etc.

[kaleida]

my bench press arch setup

Here's what I was doing yesterday to set up my bench press arch - it seemed to work well for me, at least for this bench height.

1. sit behind the bar with my butt under the bar
2. with legs angled slightly out, I plant my feet as far forward as they can go
- important: feet should not move after step 2
3. hook my elbows on the bar
4. arch forward until my butt lightly touches the bench, keeping all my weight on my feet
5. then my head touches the bench too and I put my shoulders down
6. with arms out to the side, squeeze my shoulder blades together
7. unrack / do bench press / rack



Putting my feet a little bit farther forward in step 2 seems to help if my heels came off the floor in step 4.

Caveat: some of the benches in my gym are about 1.5 inches lower than this one. This setup doesn't work yet on the lower benches because in step 4 I need to relax my legs slightly to get my butt to touch the bench. With the bench in this video, I can get my butt to touch the bench without releasing any tension my legs or taking my weight off my legs. Need to measure these benches and see which one is closer to competition height - maybe I need a different foot placement so it'll work on the lower bench.

[kaleida]

rest day

I have so much energy today ... it's frustrating to wait, but much better than feeling dragged down.
I want to go do volume day nowwwww and see if I can do 5 sets of 5 bench press with 85lb. I think I can, and if I can, that would match my previous 5-rep max ... all new PR territory after that. I have so much bench press excitement that I didn't release yet... I feel like a spring ready to let go.

I also forgot to record the weights I used for squats and deadlift on Saturday... nothing impressive here... just trying to rebuild what I lost during the past few months.

Squats: back to medium stance, which is weaker for me compared to the narrow stance, but it allows me to work more of the hip muscles that I need in the deadlift, so I'm sticking to it whether I like it or not. I did most of my singles with 185 or 190 to practice the commands with a weight that's really challenging for me, but not a max. I think I went up to 205 in the medium stance, but the depth on that one wasn't good so I don't really count it. Narrow stance PR was 210, so I have a little bit of rebuilding to do, but not much.

Deadlifts: I am deeply ashamed to report that I only went up to 225 on Saturday... attempted and failed 245. Even with 135 it was difficult like "oh my poor hip muscles" ... all of the hip muscles which weren't in use for months during my narrow stance squat experiment, now suddenly in use, still a little bit sore from last volume day, and pretty much exhausted after all of the heavy medium stance squat singles. I think I need to do a lot of rebuilding on my squat before my deadlift will start going up again. Next week I think I'll stick to deficit deadlifts on intensity day...those hit the same hip muscles, and my hamstrings too.

[kaleida]

shopping haul

This is completely off-topic but I saw some outfit of the day pics on other journals and I'm excited about what I got today, so hopefully no one minds

This tragedy happened last week... my favorite jeans


So I went back to the consignment store where I originally found those jeans, and came back with 4 new-to-me things...

rock and republic jeans - never heard of this brand before, and they feel a little bit thin, so I'm not sure how long they'll last, but they are really comfortable and they fit me and I like the color.


seven for all mankind jeans - these are lighter in color and a little more distressed - they feel more sturdy but they still fit really well - couldn't decide which jeans I liked better, so I got both.


cole haan shoes with a 1" kitten heel - these are really comfortable and almost flat, but they look a little bit dressier than flats because of the heel. I'm picturing wearing them to work with black tights and a skirt. They looked pretty good with the jeans too.


and finally a necklace of undetermined origin, with greenish/bluish stones. I love greenish-blue or bluish-green jewelry so I couldn't help it

[-Lucifer]

Nice butt.

[schnauzers]

Nice video and back arch step by step description! Do you think that people who don't powerlift should try that sort of thing? Or with not such an exaggerated arch? For your competitions...I guess you butt HAS to stay on the bench?

Nice shopping haul! I've never tried R&R jeans before because they don't fit me just right but I LOVE 7s. My favourite pair are Sevens and I just about don't fit into them any more with this bulk I've had them since maybe 2003/2004. Also, kitten heels are my favourite type of heel

[kaleida]

Nice video and back arch step by step description! Do you think that people who don't powerlift should try that sort of thing? Or with not such an exaggerated arch? For your competitions...I guess you butt HAS to stay on the bench?

That is an interesting question, I think it's worth a try at least once to see if you can get more leg drive. But it depends what you want to get out of the bench press. The new setup makes this feel like less of an arm exercise to me, and more of a full-body arm + chest + back + glute + quad + inner thigh exercise. If you want to isolate just a few muscles, then turning it into a full-body exercise might not be desireable. If you want to try for a PR then it would be good because the legs can carry some of the weight (I still have no idea HOW though ... legs are way over there and the bar is way over here and my shoulders are in between...it confuses me but somehow it works)

I know a lot of non-powerlifters look down on the arch because it looks like a reduced range of motion. I think my arch is modest though...pretty much the same height it would be if I were just lying there with a little bit of lower back extension. I just have a lot more leg drive when I plant my feet first and keep my weight on my feet while I set up.

Butt does need to touch the bench for competition...I'm bringing measuring tape with me to my next gym day so I can measure the benches and see if I should be using the lower one

Nice shopping haul! I've never tried R&R jeans before because they don't fit me just right but I LOVE 7s. My favourite pair are Sevens and I just about don't fit into them any more with this bulk I've had them since maybe 2003/2004. Also, kitten heels are my favourite type of heel

Thanks! Wow that's a long time for jeans to last! I usually get mine used ... I'm hoping they last a while anyway, but if they don't, they were only $25 each ... not too bad I love a good pair of jeans that I don't have to pay very much for

Nice butt.

haha, then I know the jeans were a good purchase, because I can make my butt look pretty bad with the wrong pants

[-Lucifer]

Bodybuilders need not worry about the arch. Larger RoM means better pec activation. Also, I'm pretty sure they prefer a wider grip and bring the bar down to their nipples instead of their sternum.

[schnauzers]

Ah ok...I see what the arch might not desireable outside of PLing. I do try to use some leg drive...but I plant my feet into the ground hard, try as if I'm gonna push my body up along the bench towards my head, give a little back arch and away I go.

Oh, you go those jeans used for just $25???!!!!? Holy crap that's a steal! Where can you even buy nice jeans like that used near you. I love well worn in jeans so it's nice to be able to buy them with a few years' experience

[schnauzers]

Bodybuilders need not worry about the arch. Larger RoM means better pec activation. Also, I'm pretty sure they prefer a wider grip and bring the bar down to their nipples instead of their sternum.

Thank ya. I guess I'll just do what works since I'm not getting into body building nor power lifting I guess I use more of a BBing style since I lift the bar above the nipple line. Is over the sternum better for the shoulders at all? My right shoulder hurts when I BP a bit because of an old injury so I wonder if moving the bar down a bit would feel better.

[kaleida]

Bodybuilders need not worry about the arch. Larger RoM means better pec activation. Also, I'm pretty sure they prefer a wider grip and bring the bar down to their nipples instead of their sternum.

Weirdly, I got better pec activation with the new setup than I did before. That was a pleasant surprise ... I also thought that more arch would mean less pec activation but for me it wasn't the case.

[-Lucifer]

Your BP form might need work. Post a vid shot from the side. You could also ditch it and do the floor press instead. Much better movement, imo.

[kaleida]

Ah ok...I see what the arch might not desireable outside of PLing. I do try to use some leg drive...but I plant my feet into the ground hard, try as if I'm gonna push my body up along the bench towards my head, give a little back arch and away I go.

Oh, you go those jeans used for just $25???!!!!? Holy crap that's a steal! Where can you even buy nice jeans like that used near you. I love well worn in jeans so it's nice to be able to buy them with a few years' experience

I am lucky I have a consignment shop near me that has lots of good used stuff that's not too expensive. Some of my favorite shoes are from there too.