July 4, 2013 Upper Body / Patriotism

• Incline Bench: 225*2 245*1 260*1
• Pullups: 85*3 85*2.5 85*2
• Standing Press: 135*6 140*5 145*4
• Unilateral T-Bar Rows: 165*5 175*3
• DB Flat bench: 120*3
• DB Unilateral Flat Bench: 105*3

41 minutes

Incline bench went well.  Added a rep at 85 on pullups, and almost another rep on the 2nd set too.  Standing press I kept the reps up.  Unilateral t-bars I threw some extra weight on the bar. I'm learning how to clamp down my midsection when doing them.  Threw in unilateral flat benching....forgot how much these force you to balance and it is almost as hard on my abs as my chest.  Crazy!

August 2, 2012 Upper Body

• Pullups: 80*3 80*3 80*2 75*3 75*3
• BB Incline: 245*1 260*3 250*3 240*3
• Standing Press: 135*5 135*5 135*5
• DB Unilateral Flat Bench: 95*6 95*6

Good session!! Got 80 for more than I expected.  Incline bench went well too, nice and explosive.  Did some unilateral bench at the end of this. I really think that's one of my 5 favorite exercises; I love how you have to clamp down on your core while doing them.  

March 23, 2012 Upper

• Incline Bench:245*1 265*1 285*1 NEW PR!!
• Pullups:55*1 75*1 90*1 NEW PR!! 100*1 NEW PR!!
• Standing Press: 155*1 175*1 190*1 195*1 NEW PR!!
• DB Unilateral Bench: 60*3 80*3 90*3 NEW PR!! 100*3  NEW PR!!   110*3  NEW PR!!   120*1  NEW PR!! 

Well that was a good session...I decided to start my max-out week today, instead of Monday. I figured this way I could bag a few records, then rest the weekend, before picking up fresh on Monday. Otherwise I'd have been going for the records from today at the end of this coming week after 3 days of record attempts.  Not sure I've ever set this many PRs in one session.  Although the unilateral bench thing Ijust don't think I've ever really tried. The pullups were surprisingly easy, thought I may have trouble breaking 85, but nope.  Standing Press was a bit shaky, I got it, but I think literally any other day I would've missed.  Good sesh. though.

August 29, 2011 Upper Body

• BB Flat: 250*8 250*7 240*8
• Pullups: 70*2 65*3 65*3
• Push Press: 135*4 175*4 195*4
• BB One Armed Rows: 120*6 120*6
• DB Unilateral Flat Bench: 105*3

Good stuff, still climbing on pullups.  One armed barbell rows are pretty intense...got the idea from John Meadows.   See video below:

 

August 15, 2011 Upper Body

• BB Flat Bench: 245*10 250*6?7? 240*8
• Pullups: 55*3 55*3 45*4 BW*10
• Unilateral DB Bench: 100*6 105*5
• Push Press: 135*3 185*4 205*2 215*X 185*4
• Face Pulls: 50*13 60*12 70*10

Good times.  Might've had 7 @ 250, but I lost count.  Pullups went great, whole workout I was pumped up.  That BW*10 set I just did for fun, felt easy after doing them weighted.  Missed 215, but had good velocity on my other push press attempts.  All around good session. 

August 8, 2011 Upper

• BB Flat Bench: 240*11 245*10 250*5
• Pullups: 45*4 45*4 45*3
• Pullup Iso Hold: 25 seconds
• Unilateral DB Flat Bench: 105*2 100*4
• Push Press: 135*6 185*3 205*1 205*1
• Face Pulls: 40*12 50*12 70*8

Continuing to add on to my 10 rep max on benching. That 250 set I was just totally exhausted for.  I'm going to keep adding weight on for pullups...I realize I keep trying to get stronger at them, but never consistently add weight.  Iso Hold went well too, used chalk and really squeezed mid-back.  Push Press went great, I need to focus more on dipping back instead of putting stress on my knees and pushing them forward when I dip down on Push Pressing.  Added face-pulls, I want to make sure I don't end up with a kyphosis  going on my spine. Wasn't sure if they were working my rhomboids properly then I tried flexing them between sets....yeah....the face pulls are working just fine.

August 1, 2011 Upper Body

• BB Flat Bench: 235*11 240*10 245*8
• Pullups: 10, 7, 7
• DB Unilateral Flat Bench: 100*4 105*2
• Banded Push Press: 135*8 155*4 165*2
• P.U.P.P.: 1:30 1:00

 I'm really dialing it in on carb timing pre-workout.  As long as I'm done about 25 minutes before leaving, by the time I get on to the gym floor it'll be about 40 minutes since finishing and I'm starting to peak.  Still adding weight onto my 10 rep max here for benching.  Experimenting with pullups here, T-Nation had a great article on some techniques to try.  Today before doing pullups I tried the no-hands pullup, need better straps for it though.  I like the move of unilateral bench to here, going to dial back the weights though since the flat bench before taxes me pretty bad.  The new thing of the day was mini-banded Push Press.  I REALLY liked this, I had to fight all the way with it, should help my over-head press as well.  Finished off with some PUPP.  Here are some videos of the Push Pressing; the last video the safety bars came off.  

July 28, 2011

• BB Incline Bench / Pullup Superset: 235*4/ 10 245*3/ 9 245*2/ 8
• Unilateral DB Flat Bench: 90*6 100*5
• Cable Rows: 140*10 160*7
• BB Standing Press: 145*4 150*4 155*2
• Doubled-Up Banded Bench Press: 135*6 185*5 205*4

Good session, felt a bit long though.  The pullups went very well, I was pretty jacked up all workout.  I think I have the timing of the rice pre workout down.  I did it about a half hour earlier than usual and it worked MUCH Better than eating it right before going.  I think I may move the unilateral DB bench to my other upper day, it would fit in better there.  Progressing on standing press, really getting the hang of exploding off the bottom.  On banded bench I need to use a heavier db like last week to anchor the bands. I used the 90s this week and they rolled a bit.  Here's a video of the unilateral bench set, for my left arm, with the 100 lbs. db:

 A couple of pointers if you try these:

1. These will tax your core and stabilizer muscles to a ridiculous extent, do not let your body slide off the bench or 'slump' to one side, stay nice and straight on the bench
2. Keep your legs on the ground.  If the leg on the opposite side of your body that is moving the weight comes off the ground it's time to end the set, or use less weight.
3. The narrower you place your feet the more challenging it is to keep balanced, and the more intense the contraction of your core muscles. 
4. Do not grab onto the bench with your free hand, leave it in the air or off to the side.
5. Don't hold a DB in the other hand as this offsets the load and makes it much easier on your core and stabilizing muscles, which get absolutely torched doing these.