My rule of thumb has always been 3,4,5 club. Goal is to join the 4,5,6 club.

Show off

3,4,5 is a good goal.

Longer range for me. But reachable

Weird week, felt off my game and took some days off. Got back on track today and beat my February deadlift max by 2.5 pounds and felt like I had some in the tank. That was a needed win.

Got a family vacation this week but it'll be back to the normal grind and routine a week from today.

Anyone got some preferred advanced hypertrophy programs? Open to all ideas while I'm taking a couple months off of strength focus (except deadlift).

Beau Holder said:

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Anyone got some preferred advanced hypertrophy programs? Open to all ideas while I'm taking a couple months off of strength focus (except deadlift).

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The RP Hypertrophy app is great, and has preprogrammed mesocycles. It's quite good at helping with auto regulation. But it's expensive

Another free option is Boostcamp, which has several strength and hypertrophy programs. Although I've never run his programs, I would definitely check out Geoffrey Verity Schofield's two programs as he is quite advanced as a natural hypertrophy lifter
Other great hypertrophy-based lifters with programs on Boostcamp: Bald Omni-Man, Natural Hypertrophy, Menno Henselmans

Beau Holder said:

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My total is 1,410 with a bench that's stuck permanently at 270. That, to me, is a skill.

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That's wild man, with what you deadlift. I never came close to your DL, topping out at 565. Best comp total though was 1450.

I just assume that his arms dangle all the way down to the ground

Long arms definitely help my DL and hurt my bench. My squat is average, maybe even below average (465) for someone my size who works at it as hard as I do.

Yall some strong MF'ers in here.

Tikka, 1000 pounds total is a fine total for all around fitness and strength. It shows you took weightlifting seriously and can outlift 90% of anyone in "globo gym." It wont impress a powerlifter or full on strength trainee. But don't let any meathead tell you that this isn't a solid goal that shows dedication for a good stretch of time. Especially if you are an adult with a full time job and other commitments.

For me personally, I would be thrilled with 5,4,3,2.

Man I have no idea if my arms are short/long but given bench is my best list, I assume I'm on the shorter side.

One of these days I need to attempt a deadlift after about 6-8 years hiatus (maybe longer). I have no idea what to expect though… if I hit low to mid 4s I should have a total at or very close to 1,500.

But part of me is also terrified I jack up my back chasing something purely for ego, that I'm not already doing with squats

What are yalls thought on only doing pause sets on bench (3-5 rep range) for strength? I normally do a touch and go, try not to bounce except maybe the last rep, but wondering what happens of you lighten up and only do pause reps. Will it stunt or accelerate the 1 rep max? I do like them since I believe it reduces the risk of injury.

Big fan of tempo pause but it's not going to directly lead to an increased bench (unless competing with tempo + pause). What it will do is highlight any weaknesses you may have and help you adjust your form. You're activating a lot of muscle fibers controlling and pausing the weight. When you then explode from deep stretch pause, it will help mind muscle connection for heavier weight.

So indirectly, it is beneficial. Fix your form, control the weight, and carry that over into your reps when you go back to heavier weight for 1RM.

After posting, I saw some programs which suggest a pause on the first rep of all sets, then touch and go after. Maybe I'll give it a try.

I'm looking for a new 2x per week bench program for strength gain. Any program that's once a week doesn't work as well as twice. I do have a day dedicated for OHP, so I like twice bench and then upper with OHP.

My bench has always stalled on 300, and my goal is a 315 pause rep, 325 touch and go.

You can also do them on a pyramid down. 2-3 drop sets of just tempo pause. If you did 8 reps on way up, try to hit 3-4 of tempo pause and so on.

Regarding benching 2x a week, I have always found myself stronger and healthier when only "benching" once a week. I can hit chest twice but usually it's 1-2 exercises and no barbell bench on second day. Now my normal chest day is about 2-2.5 hrs and a lot of sets on bench and dumbbells and more.

Looking at some of these programs, it seems like lifting for Hypertrophy is way easier in a commercial gym than a garage gym, which I kind of expected. Cutting back on the systemic fatigue from only doing the big barbell lifts seems to be the name of the game.

I need to find a good option for leg extensions and hamstring curls. Bells of Steel has a leg press/hack squat machine I really want.

Not sure if you have tried these...I often do these when I go into the gym...just socks on the concrete floor.

I haven't - been trying to do Nordic curls but I'm so far away from being able to do one without bands that it feels like a pipe dream. I may try to work these in, I'm looking for some body weight stuff to supplement my main lifts.

I have been telling myself to start nordics, but haven't quite found an "easy" setup yet.

For quads, have you ever tried hack squats with a barbell? It's like a dead lift, but you start with the bar behind your heels. It is pure quads.

Sea Speed said:

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Hit 3 plates on squat today for the first time in a long time.

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Yeeeeaaaahhhh buuuuudddy! (Good work man!)

I have not - I may have to play around with that. I've tried rigging up leg extensions with some of the stuff I have and haven't felt like I've been able to sufficiently load it to fry my quads. Maybe this will help me scratch that itch.

They feel a bit awkward but they hit the quads hard.

If you have a landmine attachment, it wouldn't be that hard to make a small platform and rig up a belt squat attachment. Don't overlook Bulgarians for targeting quads either in a garage gym

Great thread. First time visiting it. A little about my setup. I lift five nights per week focusing on biceps and triceps and abs on Monday, bb squats, standing or seated calf raises, stiff leg DL on Tuesday, back and chest on Wednesday, shoulders on Thursday, and Bulgarian split squats, calves and glute/ham developer machine, abs on Fridays.

Aesthetically I think I look very good. I'm very muscular at 6'1 188 lbs. My goals are aesthetics and Type 1 diabetes control. A1Cs run in the 4.5-4.7 range which I primarily attribute to a high protein/ low carb diet and lifting.

My strength is okay for a 51 year old man, I guess. I maxed out a while ago on bench at 275, I squatted 290 on Tuesday in a set of two. This was a record for me as my legs are muscular but not very powerful. I have had a lot of success using Wendlers 5/3/1 program taking my squat max from 275 to something over 300 (290 twice tells me I should reasonably get something over 300). Lastly I do dead lifts in sets of five of 340 lbs.

I have my own gym here at my house and I just replaced my old cage and bought new equipment. I am a big fan of Rep equipment and most of my stuff is from them. I just purchased the 500 rack and Athena attachment from them which I absolutely love. My gym expenditure approaches $10,000 but I use it diligently so feel like I'm getting good value out of it.

Right now I struggle with a loss of grip strength and numbness in both arms from carpal and cubital tunnel syndrome which I attribute to weight lifting. I've had bone spur surgery in my right shoulder; I've had my ulnar nerve transposed in my right arm as well as my nerves rerouted in my right wrist. I need the same surgeries on my left arm, which sucks.

I bench these days using dumbbells as the barbell bench really bothers my wrists and shoulders. My Athena attachment has a functional trainer capability which has really caused some growth in my chest area. Due to my arm issues and horrible golfers elbow in my left arm, I stopped curling. Now my only exercise for biceps are chin ups with full extension (rack is 94 inches tall). This has caused my arms to blow up.

Goal now is to continue doing what I love while managing all the body issues (aches/pains/etc.) that come with it. Glad to join you guys and hope to learn from you.

Welcome! Have you looked at some of the bar options from places like Bells of Steel for benching?

https://bellsofsteel.us/collections/bars/products/arch-nemesis-swiss-bar

They allow you to get your wrists in a more neutral position and get a deeper stretch. May be something to look into. I want to incorporate dumbbells more but it's a pain getting into position once the weight gets heavy so I always end up going away from it.

Welcome!

Bunch of good advice gets passed around in here and as 10andbounce mentioned, on the side chat of us degenerate meatheads

And cardio is allowed it just not to be mentioned on this thread…

Have you used one of these? I've always wanted to use a duffalo or similar style bar for deep stretch but have never had the chance. Bunch of data out there to validate the importance of the deep stretch.

I have not. It's on my short list of equipment I want to add. Seems like a nice compromise between the benefits of traditional bench and using dumbbells.

CC09LawAg said:

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I have not. It's on my short list of equipment I want to add. Seems like a nice compromise between the benefits of traditional bench and using dumbbells.

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Agreed- if I had my own home gym, I would love to have this as my main benching bar