Empty bar (20 kg) - 5 reps
Minimal rest
30 kg - 5 reps
1 min rest
40 kg - 3 reps
90 sec - filler - 90 sec
50 kg - 3 reps
90 sec - filler - 90 sec
60 kg - 3 reps
90 sec - filler - 90 sec
70 kg - 3 sets of 1 (with 90 sec - filler - 90 sec rest in between)
This was followed by DB bench presses, kept to the same weight as last week (I'm comfortable with slow progressions for presses). Fillers were side plank holds, 20 sec for each side:
20 kg - 3 sets of 5
90 sec - filler - 90 sec
Last was farmer's walks, for about 10 m for 2 rounds, holding a 30 kg DB in each hand.
Notes:
1) I find that all that Dave Tate and Eric Cressey said regarding bench technique is true: retract and depress your scapulae, and use the leg drive to make an arc, keeping all of your pressure on the upper back. This keeps the scapulae in place. As it makes your stomach come up pretty high, it keeps the ROM safe by preventing excessive shoulder extension. It looks funny, but it keeps the exercise safe.
2) Single leg squats are a killer exercise, especially the pistol type. Your ankle mobility and hamstring flexibility have to be just top notch, and the balance required is very high. I missed 1 early rep for each leg by just falling over to the side from not getting used to balancing myself. And that's with shoes off. And they work great for building those quads and glutes, for those interested in building them.
Before entering the gym, I used modified single leg squats (with just bodyweight), DB lunges and single leg Romaninan deadlifts (high volume to keep the program from becoming quad dominant) to work my lower limbs. You can't be disappointed with this if size is what you're after (pardon the high fat %, so definition isn't that great)*:
1) Viewed from front.
2) Viewed from side
(These are taken in full knee extension, upright standing)
So if you're after size, ditch your leg extensions/curls and start squatting and deadlifting (or it's so many variations). And if you want athletic/sports or rehabilitative value, perform those 1 legged exercises like 1 legged squats/lunges, and single leg deadlifts (with DB's on the opposite hand to fire up your glute medius).
3) Training has taught me so much about functional anatomy. When you perform various exercises, and know the diagnoses when something goes wrong in technique, you read up and fine that you have to know your functional anatomy. You don't just read about the iliopsoas, you understand it to the point of how it affects posture. You understand the implications of performing leg exercises in shoes, women wearing high heels, too much sitting, etc; everything you do, and how you do it, is related to functional anatomy. You don't appreciate that in med school, as students rightly so, need to understand the pathological issues more than "tight hip flexors, lumbar shear stress, overactive upper trapezius, etc" (sorry Dr's if you read this). It's affected me to the point of analyzing other people's and my** movement patterns (sometimes overzealously), and I think that's a good thing.
I hope that I can push to respectable levels of strength in lifting (what I'm doing currently is beginner's weight admittedly); until then all I've to do is keep training and keep learning.
* I doubt that Malaysian girls read my training log, so hopefully no "OMG you're showing your sweaty thighs". My hamstrings are best felt (in resisted hip extension/knee flexion) rather than seen to be appreciated. But yes that groove is caused by my biceps femoris tendon. I don't bother much to learn those bodybuilding isometric holds (used when posing).
** I sometimes video tape myself performing exercises, and analyze them to make sure my technique is sound.
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