Shoulder / Military Press proportion to Bench Press

On Feb 13, 4:15 am, Jason Carlton wrote:
>
>
>
> I DEFINITELY have a power rack! It looks almost identical to the
> picture you gave, except that mine has a lat bar attachment on the
> back.
>
> I bought it second-hand, but I would have never paid money for a Smith
> machine like you described, and like what is pictured. Call me old
> fashioned, but I'll never understand the point of buying equipment
> that makes the exercise easier... if it was easy, it wouldn't be
> called WORKing out!

Good news indeed! Yes, nothing like a power rack for lifting weights,
even if you do have a spotter! I'm not too sure myself what the point
of a Smith Machine is, either...seems like a power rack would still be
much safer to use in a case of catastrophic muscle failure! Yeah,
congrats on a power rack, then. That's the only way to make any real
progress in safety!

> It probably was that flimsy Walmart POS, honestly. But, it's what I
> could afford, and so far it's OK. I did replace the bar almost
> immediately, but the safeties were all that I was interested in. I've
> dropped 355lbs on it without a problem, so so far, so good.

Glad to hear it. I think one could probably judge the seriousness of
a gym by how many power racks it's got. Heck, insurers should give
discounts on liability premiums for each one installed!

> Wow, at least mine wasn't that bad! Mine just didn't understand the
> concept of overworking, and he encouraged us to do cycles twice a day,
> every day. He did teach me about pyramids and proper form, though, so
> I give him that much credit.

Well, according to "Lore of Running," the concept of overtraining
didn't really hit the mainstream until like the nineties, though there
were pioneers as early as the late '70s who realized that the harder
they trained the worse they performed.

> My entire senior year, my bench press went up by 20lbs, and I never
> could figure out why. I thought that I had just hit a genetic peak,
> and it was several years later when I learned to exercise muscle
> groups together, once a week.

Yeah, ye olde growth spurt! I never did a bench press until like age
22 or so, but I took to it immediately because it was just like a push-
up in reverse! Tickled me pink, actually...I didn't understand the
concept of "progressive overloading" and at first wondered why people
didn't just do more push-ups! Yes, as you can tell, I didn't go to an
"athletic school"....

> I meant "blowing back in MY face"! Exactly what you said; as I would
> take a deep breath and blow out, she would blow back in my face hard,
> as if to say "if you're going to blow on me then I'll blow back".
> Then, of course, she would laugh as if it were the cutest thing, and
> while it WAS cute, it's very distracting. I would have to start over,
> but my concentration would be shot.

Good grief, talk about your good old-fashioned passive-aggressive
female! She probably doesn't want to have anything to do with your
weights, but instead of telling you so, she does some passive-
aggressive thing like how females always do so that you will just not
ask her to help anymore -- sheesh!

> I've grown to appreciate not having a spotter. Balance and keeping the
> bar straight are completely on me, and I trust the safety bars enough
> that I'm not afraid to push myself to the limit.

Yeah, but man, nothing like forced reps for faster progress! Some
friendly guy, one of them sociable types in the gym who are always
chatting people up like he's running for public office, offered to
spot me Saturday or Sunday and man, I was stronger today on the bench
by myself than I had been in about two or three weeks! I really
believe in forced reps, not all the time, but most of the time, to
really get the muscle used to working beyond failure...same principle,
really, as that behind cheat reps on certain exercises -- every last
bit counts!

> I think that when I
> was younger, I used to rely on the spotter keeping the bar straight
> and even, so I never really had a good workout until this last year.

Ah, I was lucky, then: my spotters always made me lift the weight,
helping for only two or three seconds with a sticking point. That's
what you really need a spotter for -- forced reps! I'm even thinking
of hiring one of the bigger gymrats to spot me, that's how badly I
want one again now...I actually had a good case of DOMS thanks to that
Good Samaritan, something I never really get anymore at this
intermediate stage of fitness!

> - J
 >> Stay informed about: Shoulder / Military Press proportion to Bench Press