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Back to Black (where Black = the Gym)

Finally, after weeks of frustrating and injury, I got back to the gym and managed to give it some juice.  Not only didI make it through unscathed, I shattered my bench press 1-rep max by slightly altering my technique!

I was still wearing my elbow support (because I was doing chest and back work), but I left my ankle support off and felt fine.  Despite it being 07:30 on the day after an elongated and very, very busy weekend, I was finally back on form!

My morning routine involved:

Brief 1000m rowing warmup.
Bent barbell rows at 60kg.
Bench presses at 80kg.
Chin ups (non-weighted, to protect my elbow).
Incline dumbell presses at 2 x 30kg.
Standing cable flyes at 2 x 10, 12.5 and 15kgs.
Crunches
Situps
Various leg raises
Stretches

I made some alterations to my benching technique as well:

  • I increased the flex through my back, to plant my feet more firmly on the ground.
  • I focused on staying strong through my core the whole time.
  • I kept everything except my upper back and shoulders off the bench.
  • I took a slightly narrower grip and reduced the flare of my elbows, to reduce the pressure on my elbows.
This combination of technical alternations worked like a miracle.  Although I was only pressing 80kg, I found myself significantly stronger throughout the entire exercise.  In fact, according to this 1-rep max calculator, my 1-rep max should be approximately 10kg higher than it was  with my previous technique!  That around about a 10% increase in strength through technique alone!

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