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Chest Progress Vid Log (Journey to 315 PR)

Injuries, Long work night shifts, Marriage, Kids, I will start working out tomorrow, there is always an excuse to not go to the gym, So i decided to make a Vlog to help me keep on track, so far has been going pretty good.

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6PackFitX
6PackFitX g Nick Tish
17 Post(s)
17 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: January 1, 2017
Posted

I have been off and on in the gym in the past 5-7 years, with injuries, night shifts and laziness it was hard to be on a regular schedule. My life time goal was to bench 315, which i have never accomplished, when i was 20 i achieved a 295 PR and that was that and thats when i was in college and weight lifting was one of my classes. Now being 35 i felt like my chances are low of hitting 315 ever, so the motivation was gone and i would just go to the gym when i felt like it. Being married with 2 small kids, working night shift and being on call as a truck driver, always having things to do at home, there was always and excuse to not to go the gym. To top things off i got a herniated lower back disc and every time i wanted to lift the weights that i know i could i would reinjure my lower back and would be out for a month or 2. Excuses after excuses. Well, right by my work there happened to be a gym that is open 24 hours and with my weird schedule i felt like it was perfect. So in June of 2016 it was time to change my mind set, and start all over again with all of my past gains gone. It was no longer about can i lift what i used to lift a few months ago?, its was more about cant i lift today and not reinjure my lower back again?

First thing first, was to test my Chest with lighter weight of 135lbs and see how many reps i can push out. This was i can see where im at and how im moving up.

An example of My Routine is:

 

Most are 3 or 4 sets 10-15 reps

Day 1: Legs (legs press, lunges, toe raisers, sometimes deadlifts)
Day 2: Chest (incline, bench press, inner pec machine or similar)
Day 3: Back (lats machine or cable, deadlifts, T-bar rows)
Day 4: Arms (scull crushers, tri cables, Curls machine, curls DBs)
Day 5: Shoulders (front raises, side raises, back rows, shrugs, Military P)

 

Sometimes i go to machines and sometimes to dumbbells, sometimes heavier weight or lighter weight, i try to change things up as i go. I listen to my body and sometimes skip a certain day and go to a routine that i feel more comfortable that day. I dont assign my days to days of the week, because if i skip a week day i try not to skip a workout day, so if monday is Day 1 legs and i dont go to the gym, i try to do day 1 on tuesday and then day 2 etc..

 

JUNE-8-2016

 

 

JUNE-20-2016

 

 

JUNE-23-2016

 

 

JULY-11-2016

 

6PackFitX
6PackFitX g Nick Tish
17 Post(s)
17 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: January 1, 2017
Posted

On chest LV-3 i felt good bumping up the weight to 155lbs for Incline and Bench

JULY-13-2016

 

 

JULY-18-2016

 

6PackFitX
6PackFitX g Nick Tish
17 Post(s)
17 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: January 1, 2017
Posted

It was time for a bench test #3 i have decided to move up the test to 185lbs and see it how it feels and see how i progress with that weight.

SEP-15-2016

 

 

SEP-22-2016

 

 

SEP-24-2016

 

6PackFitX
6PackFitX g Nick Tish
17 Post(s)
17 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: January 1, 2017
Posted

Bench Test #4 with 185lbs felt pretty good and i was able to push out a few more reps from previous test, 12 reps before and at 15 reps now.

SEP-26-2016

 

 

 

it was time to change things up a bit because i felt like i hit a wall with my current routine, si i decided to change it to slower negatives instead and see how it helps me

SEP-30-2016

 

 

 

6PackFitX
6PackFitX g Nick Tish
17 Post(s)
17 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: January 1, 2017
Posted

I now felt more confident and decided to see how many times i can lift 225, back in the day my best was 10 reps, but this is not back in the day so i wasnt expecting to get much at all, but i was excited to see how 225 feels again and what i can do with it

OCT-22-2016

 

Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: 6PackFitX

I now felt more confident and decided to see how many times i can lift 225, back in the day my best was 10 reps, but this is not back in the day so i wasnt expecting to get much at all, but i was excited to see how 225 feels again and what i can do with it

OCT-22-2016

 

Looks like that strength from your high school days is coming back quick @6PackFitX! That's the beauty of muscle memory :-)

 

I can understand how things got tougher as you got older, but you obviously never lost that itch to get back in the gym. That's why I think you'll get your 315lb PR :-)

 

Maybe stick to working on building your strength with the flat bench, and remember the mind is a powerful tool :-D

 

So it has been another 4 months almost.. how is your bench progress going now? Tested your 1RM lately?

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6PackFitX
6PackFitX g Nick Tish
17 Post(s)
17 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: January 1, 2017
Posted

Decided to change a few things up and go on a smith machine. Since a spotter is not needed and you dont have to worry about balancing the weight it would help a bit more with strength building and would give me a little more confidence doing reps with 225 since its a fairly new weight for my body.

NOV-2-2016

 

 

Rested another week and decided to give 225 another test, i felt a bit stronger with it and was able to push 1 extra rep out, will stick with a smith machine for another 2-3 weeks and keep trying to push out more reps with the 225.

NOV-17-2016

 

 

 

 

Back on the smith machine at LV-9 i was able to do more reps, Incline 4x8 and Bench 3x8 with the 225, compared to LV-8 when i was doing 5 reps on incline and bench. So was things are going well and the progress continues

NOV-19-2016

 

6PackFitX
6PackFitX g Nick Tish
17 Post(s)
17 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: January 1, 2017
Posted

Its been a while since i did 135 for max reps, 2 months ago did about 30 reps, so i figured ill try it again with 135 and got 35 reps this time, i might be able to reach 40 reps, but at this point it comes down to muscle endurance. Regardless, i think about half a year ago i could barely get to 20 reps lol

NOV-24-2016

 

 

 

Back on the smith machine, maybe one more week ill work on it and then go back to free weights and see how it helped me out. My goal Is to reach 10 reps with 225 on bench free weight not on smith machine before 2017!! maybe even bench 315 before 315?? but thats a long shot, but ill try to push it, wish me luck

NOV-30-2016

 

 

 

 

 

Attempted the 225lbs for reps, it was my goal by 2017, reached it a bit earlier, time to get that 315 under the belt!!

 

DEC-15-2016

 

 

Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: 6PackFitX

Its been a while since i did 135 for max reps, 2 months ago did about 30 reps, so i figured ill try it again with 135 and got 35 reps this time, i might be able to reach 40 reps, but at this point it comes down to muscle endurance. Regardless, i think about half a year ago i could barely get to 20 reps lol

NOV-24-2016

 

 

 

Back on the smith machine, maybe one more week ill work on it and then go back to free weights and see how it helped me out. My goal Is to reach 10 reps with 225 on bench free weight not on smith machine before 2017!! maybe even bench 315 before 315?? but thats a long shot, but ill try to push it, wish me luck

NOV-30-2016

 

 

 

 

 

Attempted the 225lbs for reps, it was my goal by 2017, reached it a bit earlier, time to get that 315 under the belt!!

 

DEC-15-2016

 

 

Man you got those 10 reps EASY bro!! You should get a spotter so that you can push yourself and go to failure on them, might be able to get 12-15 reps!

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6PackFitX
6PackFitX g Nick Tish
17 Post(s)
17 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: January 1, 2017
Posted
Posted By: Scott_Herman

Looks like that strength from your high school days is coming back quick @6PackFitX! That's the beauty of muscle memory :-)

 

I can understand how things got tougher as you got older, but you obviously never lost that itch to get back in the gym. That's why I think you'll get your 315lb PR :-)

 

Maybe stick to working on building your strength with the flat bench, and remember the mind is a powerful tool :-D

 

So it has been another 4 months almost.. how is your bench progress going now? Tested your 1RM lately?

Hey Scott, I did test it on 12/31/16 wanted to get 315 for my new year present, but i failed it. I did try my max in October 2016 and i got the 295lb up, but i think jumping from 295 to 315 is the mistake i made, my next max will be attempted this month in February, i still have one more heavy week to finish off and then ill go for 300 or 305 and see how that feels instead of jumping to the 3 plates just because i want it bad haha.

 

 

Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: 6PackFitX

Hey Scott, I did test it on 12/31/16 wanted to get 315 for my new year present, but i failed it. I did try my max in October 2016 and i got the 295lb up, but i think jumping from 295 to 315 is the mistake i made, my next max will be attempted this month in February, i still have one more heavy week to finish off and then ill go for 300 or 305 and see how that feels instead of jumping to the 3 plates just because i want it bad haha.

 

 

That's smart. Even a 10lb jump in weight is still better than nothing. You'll hit that 315lb bench soon enough though man, I know it!!

 

Have you been using some pause bench too to try and increase your max? Or a strength-styled rep scheme like we use in the Push, Pull, Legs program?

Need 1 on 1 coaching? Send me a direct message to learn more!
6PackFitX
6PackFitX g Nick Tish
17 Post(s)
17 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: January 1, 2017
Posted
Posted By: Scott_Herman

That's smart. Even a 10lb jump in weight is still better than nothing. You'll hit that 315lb bench soon enough though man, I know it!!

 

Have you been using some pause bench too to try and increase your max? Or a strength-styled rep scheme like we use in the Push, Pull, Legs program?

Tried the 315 on a smith machine, barely got 315 up, i dont think i can do it on free weight just yet, smith prob takes off about 15lbs or so. I still got a little time before 2017 hits, that 315 PR 1RM is coming tho, i just hope i dont hurt myself like before by pushing myself to hard to fast lol

 

 

 

After i tried the 315 I decided to get a last good workout in on the smith machine, The reason i went to the smith machine int he first place is to see if it will help with my shoulder pain and to continue pushing heavy weight during workouts, i tried the dumbbells but that actually put more strain on my shoulder. Now after about 3-4 weeks on the smith i dont have the shoulder pain anymore so i suppose it helped. Will be going back to free bench for now and see how it goes.

 

 

 

Decided to do another Bench test with a 225lbs to see if i can get more than 10 reps from the previous bench test. I was able to get 11 this time and i think i could have gotten 12 reps if i had a spotter or was in a cage just in case.

 

 

6PackFitX
6PackFitX g Nick Tish
17 Post(s)
17 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: January 1, 2017
Posted
Posted By: Scott_Herman

That's smart. Even a 10lb jump in weight is still better than nothing. You'll hit that 315lb bench soon enough though man, I know it!!

 

Have you been using some pause bench too to try and increase your max? Or a strength-styled rep scheme like we use in the Push, Pull, Legs program?

Tried the 315 on a smith machine, barely got 315 up, i dont think i can do it on free weight just yet, smith prob takes off about 15lbs or so. I still got a little time before 2017 hits, that 315 PR 1RM is coming tho, i just hope i dont hurt myself like before by pushing myself to hard to fast lol

 

 

 

After i tried the 315 I decided to get a last good workout in on the smith machine, The reason i went to the smith machine int he first place is to see if it will help with my shoulder pain and to continue pushing heavy weight during workouts, i tried the dumbbells but that actually put more strain on my shoulder. Now after about 3-4 weeks on the smith i dont have the shoulder pain anymore so i suppose it helped. Will be going back to free bench for now and see how it goes.

 

 

 

Decided to do another Bench test with a 225lbs to see if i can get more than 10 reps from the previous bench test. I was able to get 11 this time and i think i could have gotten 12 reps if i had a spotter or was in a cage just in case.

 

 

6PackFitX
6PackFitX g Nick Tish
17 Post(s)
17 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: January 1, 2017
Posted

Ordered the sling shot last week, tried it out on incline and bench, dumbbells as well, i like it, i see it helping get the weight up a little from the bottom and then less so on the lock out. I will likely do it mostly on flat bench for the 3-5 reps heavy weight overload, but was just curious if in fact it would work on incline and dumbbells.

 

 

 

 

 

6PackFitX
6PackFitX g Nick Tish
17 Post(s)
17 Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Gain Muscle Date Joined: January 1, 2017
Posted
Posted By: Scott_Herman

That's smart. Even a 10lb jump in weight is still better than nothing. You'll hit that 315lb bench soon enough though man, I know it!!

 

Have you been using some pause bench too to try and increase your max? Or a strength-styled rep scheme like we use in the Push, Pull, Legs program?

I just recently have gotten into some pause reps, its mental, because at first yea i feel like i can pause rep a few and then it gets heavier and i know i cant pause reps the rest, but in my mind i have a reps goal and dont want to go down in weight even tho i know i need to in order to do the pause reps properly haha. Ill be making some changes soon tho :)

Scott_Herman
Scott_Herman a Scott Herman
7.1K Post(s)
7.1K Post(s) Gender: Male Goal: Bodybuilding Date Joined: August 8, 2008
Posted
Posted By: 6PackFitX

I just recently have gotten into some pause reps, its mental, because at first yea i feel like i can pause rep a few and then it gets heavier and i know i cant pause reps the rest, but in my mind i have a reps goal and dont want to go down in weight even tho i know i need to in order to do the pause reps properly haha. Ill be making some changes soon tho :)

Got to leave your ego at the door sometimes when you go lifting @6PackFitX :-)

Need 1 on 1 coaching? Send me a direct message to learn more!
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