pullinbig's gymnast routine worked!

[weasel0803]

HI!

Just wanted to post a huge shoutout to pullinbig as he set me on a light/heavy routine approach based on a 3day split. As my focus has been increasing my strength while remaining lean and flexible for gymnastics his routine really did the trick. One week heavy 4-6 reps and one light 15 reps (occasionally I do 13 or 12 on my last set).

However, with all the other sports and cardio I do during the week (bike about 1h day, swimm intervalls, gymnastics 2 week) I took some occasional 5 days off every 4 weeks as I sterted to feel burnt out, which hasn't hindered my strength progress.

However here are my stats on the major lifts right now (all last working set, of 2 sometimes 3 if I feel like it):

Incline bb bench (flat hurts my shoulders too much): 140lbsx6
Squat: 200lbsx6
DL: 240 lbsx4 (just broke that PB yday with superstrict form!)
Dips (important for me): bw+40lbsx6

Currently I'm only 145lbs but lean as hell (8% BF), which is mainly due to all the cardio I do in summer.

That's it...feelin' really good and just enjoy the looks of the other disco pumpers when me skinny ass is DLing!

Greetz

 

[Mudge]

Proper form should get rid of any flat bench pain.

 

[blackbeard]

Proper form should get rid of any flat bench pain.

I agree..However there is nothing wrong with inclines as main chest movement..

 

[pullinbig]

proper form does not always alleviate shouder pain on the the bench. i am living proof of that. once i get over 315 (last warm up) the pain sets in. sooo..... what dio i do? a lot of board presses, rack work and shirt work. no shoulder pain and still gettin a tremendous workout. benching is rough on the shoulder joint esp at the bottom of the movemnt. thats why rack work, and board presses work so well. IMO dips is prolly the best chest exercise for building mass. bench is second. however i dont train for mass i train for strength. but you know what? getting stronger puts mass on most folks. would I flat bench if i could? yup. but since my shoulders wonmt let me i work around it. i can still bench in my shirt with a full range of motion as the shirt totally suports the shoulders. hope this help.

weasle, PM and we'll change you chest routine up a bit to help with the pain. with you gymnastics you prolly overtrained the delt gruop.