12/27/08

More experiments, and another day of split training sessions.

24kg TGU:
15 minutes continuous
Mixed it up between TGU+ a press at the kneeling position, TGU+ windmill and TGU+ OHS. This was a solid way to get moving with sore hamstrings from my first day of back squats in quite some time.

275lbs DL:
5,4,3,2,1

Plate curls:
2x3 at 20lbs, 3x3 at 15lbs

2 hands pinch:
5x5 at 90lbs

16kg BU C&P:
4x3

135lbs bench press:
5x5

This is the other experiment. I stopped doing bench a long time ago essesntially because I thought it was silly and nonfunctional. Since then I have come to the more balanced view that the move is a good one, while the people who view it as the be all and end all of weight training are silly and nonfunctional. I still think a bodyweight press is a better measure of a man than a heavy bench, but I also know that benching is one of the best assistance exercises for my press, and that it makes push-ups easier as well. Others may disagree on both points, but I am as certain about both of these as I can be with regards to knowing my own body and how it repsonds to training. Assuming the total training volume is within the bounds of what I can reasonably handle, look for my C&P to go to bwt+ for reps in the near future. I have been a bit obstinate about not benching, but recently I have been realizing just how silly it is for someone with no compelling reason not to bench to avoid the upper body exercise that lets one use the most weight. (In college I built my bench up to over 300lbs, and I will be interested to see how high it climbs this time.) With certain exceptions like the leg press, moving a lot of weight is nearly always "functional." I like the Mark Rippetoe quote where he says something like "I don't know of any better indicator of functional strength than a 600 pound deadlift, except a 700 pound deadlift." Really, any strength is functional, although it will never replace skill training, which is what I think people are missing when they make fun of the bench by asking when you would ever be lying on your back and pushing something off of you. Well, likely never. But when would you need to deadlift a barbell outside of a weightroom or a competition? The strength from weight training is neither completely functional nor completely specific to the barbell. Rant off.