Bench 350 in 4 Weeks Log

[hauss man]

and if you cant do a negative you cant properly lift so... give me your information on how a negative does nothing for strength

i trained for a while at westside babell and never once saw someone perform negatives. strength is all about speed, so why would you want to practice slowly lowering the barbell on your eccentric phase? not to mention that most injuries occur during the eccentric phase.

here is a small exert from louie simmons,

We all know that one can produce more
muscle activation when lowering weight, up to 50% more. This is a good thing if you want added
muscle soreness. But who wants that? Most hypertrophy occurs when lowering weights. One can
lower more weight than one can raise. This is where the problem arises. Most tend to lower the
barbell too slowly, destroying the stretch reflex.

[binder]

no. negatives are good for building muscle but not strength.

wow....i'm glad i'm not your muscles then.

negatives are great for building stabilizer muscles and shocking the muscle fibers therefore allowing a stronger lift.

negatives and isometric holds will increase tendon strength. that is the number 1 use for them. If your tendons don't hold, guess what doesn't hold?

so yes, they build all kinds of strength.

[pay tribute]

Negatives have never done shit for me

[hauss man]

wow....i'm glad i'm not your muscles then.

negatives are great for building stabilizer muscles and shocking the muscle fibers therefore allowing a stronger lift.

negatives and isometric holds will increase tendon strength. that is the number 1 use for them. If your tendons don't hold, guess what doesn't hold?

so yes, they build all kinds of strength.

they're are way better and less dangerous ways to build stabilizer muscles. do you know what westside barbell is? or who louie simmons is?

[binder]

nope, can't say that i do. i do'nt have a masters in exercise science and i don't claim to know every method that some tom, dick, and harry created. My lack of knowledge of the westside barbell has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not negatives increase strength.

You proved your statement false by saying that "they're way better and less dangerous ways" meaning that you do believe it does increase strength.

and how are negatives dangerous? I've never heard of a person getting injured doing negatives. that's like saying doing a max bench is too dangerous.....so i guess nobody should do that anymore, right?

[hauss man]

negatives are very taxing on the cns and are reduce the stretch reflex. you should really look into some of the articles louie simmons writes. westside barbell has produced some of the best lifters in the world and there template is the most widely used in powerlifting. they have helped me greatly in all of my lifts.

if you want to use negatives, thats fine.

[hauss man]

most injuries occur during the eccentric phase. so if overloading the eccentric phase with a weight the body is not used to and performing the negative very slowly, the tendons and ligaments time under tension is greatly increased, which increases the chances for an injury.

[hauss man]

nope, can't say that i do. i do'nt have a masters in exercise science and i don't claim to know every method that some tom, dick, and harry created. My lack of knowledge of the westside barbell has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not negatives increase strength.

what do you have to back up your claims of negatives increasing strength?

do you compete?

are you a trainer or do you work with strength athletes?

or are you going off what you read in some bodybuilder magazine or what some joe schmo told you at the gym?

[binder]

don't get all huffy now, i never said your methods are wrong in any way. If you're a power lifter you're obviously doing something correct.

I'm not a trainer, but i'm a medical student and I put a lot of effort into studying human growth and muscle response.

I am a competitive bodybuilder and my coach is an NPC bantam weight champion. Gary Passmore. Between my anatomical knowledge and his competition knowledge along with all my friends that have Masters degrees in exercise science, i think i do a pretty good job at figuring out proper training.

also, I never said to overload the negatives. Isometric holds with overloaded weight is good. I always do my negatives with weight I am able to handle. I'm not a powerlifter therefore I train to prevent injury. I can't compete if i'm hurt and torn tendons is something that will put a lifter out for a long time. I don't have fitness magazines. I read research papers on subjects that interest me. I like scientific evidence, not just theory.

[beefjerky]

I was under the impression that in the negative phase of the rep, when the muscle is under load, the cells take the most damage. More damage = more repair.

[pay tribute]

I don't see how training the negative phase of a rep could help someone lift heavier weight during the positive phase of the rep

[hauss man]

I don't see how training the negative phase of a rep could help someone lift heavier weight during the positive phase of the rep

the eccentric phase is very important. but you must train it correctly. you want to be as fast as possible while controled.

negatives are when you take a weight(usually heavier than your max) and lower it very slowly and let spotters take the weight back up. they are very taxing on the cns, tendons and ligaments. negatives are great for hypertrophy but are not a good means to build strength.

[pay tribute]

negatives are great for hypertrophy but are not a good means to build strength.

yeah I didn't think so.

[hauss man]

these are just my opinions. i am no expert, but my opinions are based of research and myself and my training partners trial and error

[binder]

these are just my opinions. i am no expert, but my opinions are based of research and myself and my training partners trial and error

and you are very right about taxing the ligaments and tendons and also stressing out the CNS. All important things when getting big. This does strengthen the tendons of the muscles, which in turn will strengthen the person. a person is only as strong as their weakest link.

i have a very small bone structure and i'm definately not built to lift heavy weight, i have to use the negatives to help my body adjust to lifting heavier so i don't tear anything. i don't go crazy on negatives by loading up 125% of my max or anything. Just slightly over is all that needs to be done.

Hauss, you are a very smart man in your experience. From everything i've studied strength gains are helped by doing negatives. i'm not about to go to war over it. to each his own. if it doesn't work for you then it doesn't work.

[duggadoo]

ok hauss so thats why i see powerlifter, me included lowering the bar slowly to tap the chest wait for the judge then explode out of the whole hmmmmm....I have never seen someone unrack a bar pretty much drop it on themself and then press it up as a goos lift speed is the key on the way up and a controlled motion is not dangerous if done correctly... I think for some who just likes to strenght trainand competed for awhile and was 5'7 at 180 puttin up 415 on bench Training with negatives and never having an injury while doin a negative nor being "overly" sore after a work out with negatives i cant see the truth on you theory but each his own and now its time to stop high jacking this thread

[pay tribute]

ok hauss so thats why i see powerlifter, me included lowering the bar slowly to tap the chest wait for the judge then explode out of the whole hmmmmm....I have never seen someone unrack a bar pretty much drop it on themself and then press it up as a goos lift speed is the key on the way up and a controlled motion is not dangerous if done correctly... I think for some who just likes to strenght trainand competed for awhile and was 5'7 at 180 puttin up 415 on bench Training with negatives and never having an injury while doin a negative nor being "overly" sore after a work out with negatives i cant see the truth on you theory but each his own and now its time to stop high jacking this thread

That is one looooooooooooooonnnnnnngggg sentence

[duggadoo]

Hey and good luck i think youll blow through it

[duggadoo]

That is one looooooooooooooonnnnnnngggg sentence

haha sorry im tired and am gettin ready for bed grammar is not my biggest concern as of now haha oh yea smart arse haha

[hauss man]

ok, show me one powerlifting program that incorperates negatives.

[duggadoo]

as i said each his own Im done arguing pple workout how they want to.. Ive never hurt myself doing negatives nor anyone i work out so each his own... you have your opinions an facts i have mine Im done arguing in some elses thread so you can let it go now because i am

[boondockSAINT]

Hey guys. If you're wondering where I've been, no I did not miss my attempt and jump in front of a moving vehicle. I mentioned I was sick last thursday. Well, it must have been food poisoning because I was throwing up and shitting my pants through wednesday of this week. I didn't touch any weights. I'm going to work out next week as normal, because I doubt I have much strength now, and I'll take 350 a week from tomorrow.

[binder]

what, you don't like to shit yourself mid workout? i'm telling you it's the best. clears the freeweight area so you get all the benches for yourself! lol


that sucks man. i hate being sick when training.

[boondockSAINT]

what, you don't like to shit yourself mid workout? i'm telling you it's the best. clears the freeweight area so you get all the benches for yourself! lol


that sucks man. i hate being sick when training.

Don't get me wrong, I like shitting my pants as much as the next guy. It was more of the puking in a bucket while shitting in the toilet that was really starting to get to me.

[welshmaster]

Don't get me wrong, I like shitting my pants as much as the next guy. It was more of the puking in a bucket while shitting in the toilet that was really starting to get to me.

Niice, i was eating

I'm sure you will still do it

[duggadoo]

get better i want to see what your throwing around these days haha

[boondockSAINT]

Well, I can't catch a break. My elbow was throbbing on monday after a game of hardball. I tried resting it until yesterday to bench, and it felt fine on tuesday and wednesday, but the pain came right back as soon as I started warming up. I'm not going to be able to lift this week either. I'm taking a lot of glucosamine and icing the elbow regularly until next week. I will keep this thread going until I bench 350, but the 4 weeks aspect of it went out the window. I hope this doesn't set me back and push it another 4 weeks away.

[boondockSAINT]

Don't want to rush the elbow, but I will probably bench wednesday and sunday this week. I'll keep you posted.

[boondockSAINT]

Wanted to get back into lifting, but I kept it very short today. Don't want to stress the elbow too much. Plus I wore a sleeve. Didn't have much endurance.

Decline Bench - 275x8,7,6
Close Grip Bench - 225x8,8,7

Like I said, real short. Elbow wasn't painful, but I could feel it.

[boondockSAINT]

I haven't been posting workouts because they have been so unorthodex because my elbow has been bothering me. However, today was the first day that it felt 100% while benching. I was able to triple 350 off of a 2 board. Next week I will triple something heavy to my chest, and then the following week I will take 350 to my chest. This certainly isn't the pace that I set earlier in the summer, nor is it where I want to be right now, but either way I have to persevere. Shit happens. I will keep you updated.

[boondockSAINT]

Oh, and I tripled 350 off a 2 board for 2 sets. I'm hoping that equals at least a single off my chest. I also followed it with a PR using the bands, 270 w/ double minis for a single.

[duggadoo]

glad to hear you didnt lose much from your time off keep it up when are goin to attempt it?

[boondockSAINT]

Well actually I did lose some strength, but I didn't post those unorthodox workouts that I mentioned. This week I am tripling something off of my chest, and I am taking 350 to the chest next week.

[boondockSAINT]

7/2/08

Flat Bench 245x10, 250x9,8 (Haven't repped flat bench in about 2 months)
JM/Overhead Presses 105x10,10,10
DB Lateral Raises 30x10,10,10

[boondockSAINT]

7/5/08

Elbow pain is back, but whatever.

Flat Bench 300x3, 305x3, 310x3, 315x3 (305 and up are PR's)
Closegrip Bench 250x5, 260x5, 270x5 (PR), 275x4
Rear Delts 30x10,10,10,10

350 is 1 week away.

[duggadoo]

hit em hard youll get it

[boondockSAINT]

Today

Flat Bench - 250x10 (PR), 10, 8, 185x15 (Yikes, no stamina)
JM/Overheads - 110x10,10,10
Lateral Raises - 35x10,10,10

[200byjune]

your hitting pr all day.. good job man. 315 for 3 sounds like a 345 to me. monday is your attempt correct?

[boondockSAINT]

I'm taking it sunday. 300x3 gave me 340. I am so much stronger in single reps than charts place me at. I did 350x3 off a 2 board, so I am really hoping to hit it.

[200byjune]

deff. give it hell