Pressing

[clevermanka]

I am contemplating participating in the Kansas City Corporate Challenge with mckitterick and madmatmax for KU's weightlifting team. My decision depends on two things:

1. The deadline for registering is midnight tonight and not 5:00pm

because

2. I want to see what I can bench press now, pre-training, before I sign up to make an idiot of myself

I hate that they have bench press as the test for weightlifting, but I suppose that's safer than dead lifts or squats since there's less chance of people doin' it rong.

Their point system is (fortunately) based on the weight of the participant, so this is good motivation to get my arms back in shape and lose this last bit of extra fat hanging around my bottom half. To place in the lower third of last year's competitors*, I need to be able to press at least 80 pounds at my current weight (currently 63kg). The last time I did any sort of bench press was when I was using the Nautilus machines at Robinson back in the 90s. I have no clue what weight I was lifting then, so I can't even hazard a guess about what I could lift now.

At miischelle's salon this weekend, I discovered my arms and abs were even more atrophied than I'd thought. Not cool, since arms (obviously) and core (perhaps not so obviously) are crucial to benching a respectable weight. So. Yeah.

Pressure! Shame is a powerful motivator.

* I am fine being in the lower third. I just don't want to be in the bottom three overall.

Comments

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

I think you can do it!
I used to heft 75 lb boxes at the Bookstore on occasion, until I realized I had young, strong college men working for me.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I know I can lift eighty pounds. But can I bench eighty pounds? We'll find out tonight!

some pushing up thoughts, as they relate to benching.

[femfataleatron.livejournal.com]

As a female type human, if you do a strict push-up you are lifting approx. 71% of your weight (for the other type it's 77%). From the knees its about 55%(56% for Doods). You can confirm this on a scale, by weighing yourself in the appropriate position (hands on scale).
e.g. if you weigh 130 you're pushing 92ish pounds.
Tho there are a ton of small mitigating factors involved,
You can use the number of strict pushups you do to determine your one rep max(1RM) bench.
http://www.timinvermont.com/fitness/orm.htm
Here is a calculator to make it easy...

As a sort of check, this formula applied to me (based on the 9 push ups I just did) figures my 1RM bench as 318# which is about right.

However you will not really get better at benching by doing pushups. If you really want to bench well, you must... well, bench.
this can give an approxomation of your 1RM, for those of you playing at home.

[miischelle.livejournal.com]

Oh Hey!
The next Salon is April 16th. Might be the last one for a bit too.

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

True dat... I didn't think about the difference there.
I still think you can!

Re: some pushing up thoughts, as they relate to benching.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I was hoping you'd pipe up with information and pointers. Thank you!

I just tried a strict, on-the-toes push-up (thank goodness for private offices), and I can do four. The last two were shaky, yes, and my hips dragged a wee bit on the last one, but I got up to a locked position without letting my knees drop.

By that calculator, that puts my one rep max at 107 pounds (I weigh about 140 right now). That's pretty encouraging!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

It's in my planner! Thank you for letting me know.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

You're right! I can! (see below)

[redheadfae.livejournal.com]

YAY!! Now you know I'm gonna have to try that myself as soon as my relief gets in today.

(How dafuck did I miss the Salon this time round? Sheesh.
Oh well, I got lotsa Home & Garden stuff done.)

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

you know I'm gonna have to try that myself

Ha! Check back in after you test yourself. =D

some other things to think about

[femfataleatron.livejournal.com]

It looks like you've got about 8 weeks to train...
depending on what equipment you have access to this is enough time to make a good showing. In this time you will get a good base neurological adaption, and some increase in muscle, depending on how you eat. Since you are essentially untrained on this exercise you can expect to to see an early progress spike that will start to plateau around 8 weeks. hmmmm. how do your shoulders feel?

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

My shoulders are great. That stupid joint injury from last October finally cleared up. I haven't had even a twinge in a couple weeks. \m/ >_< \m/

As far as equipment, I have minimal dumb bells, the TRX, and mckitterick is probably going to break out his old Bowflex-esque machine.

[gamera-spinning.livejournal.com]

Luckily, for you, very little is impossible. As a sign of encouragement, I include my icon of Charmion (http://www.tampabay.com/multimedia/archive/00122/lat_strong0523_122385c.jpg), Victorian Strongwoman and general font of strength.

You can't fail by trying, because it shows you've got more guts than anyone else who wouldn't even try.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I'm not worried about failing. I'm worried about looking wimpy. I might not be competitive, but I am very, very vain.

[femfataleatron.livejournal.com]

bench pressing is a skill. as weird as it sounds to say that... It requires neuro-patterning just like any other skill. So, while you can develop the appropriate muscles, with other exercises, you cant really develop the patterning with out actually doing some bench presses.
Also, max effort lifts, or even close to max effort, also require practice. This sort of lifting is really about recruiting the most muscle in the shortest period of time. This takes specialized training... if by specialized you mean doing just that.
That said, you are not trying to out lift Poland, you just want to make a good showing.
I guess what i'm saying , longwindedly, is that you need to find a way to actually get on a bench for at least part of your workout. If for no other reason than to not be surprised by what it feels like to do a close to max effort lift.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Good point about any type of particular lift/movement being a skill.

you are not trying to out lift Poland, you just want to make a good showing.

Exactly.

I'm hoping the Bowflex-esque machine will help with that, and I'll also be playing around with doing chest presses with dumb bells. I'm also going to swing by Robinson Gym this week to see what are the open hours for the faculty/staff weight rooms. I could do that once a week, if they have evening times.

[normalcyispasse.livejournal.com]

Man, those bench rules are INCREDIBLY lax!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Dude, it's the Kansas City Corporate Challenge. What did you expect?

I'm just happy I can wear gloves so I don't risk getting a blister on my soft, soft hands.

[normalcyispasse.livejournal.com]

What's really crazy is that they allow bench shirts in the name of safety. That's just. . . well, misinformed at the very best. It's kind of like putting a teenager behind the wheel of a Ferrari, saying, "This will be safer because you can get out of the way if a homicidal semi driver tries to run you off the road."

AND elbow wraps? Good grief!

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

By "safety," I think they mean "whatever the hell people want to wear so we'll get more participants."

I'm actually going to try this. Starting today.

[femfataleatron.livejournal.com]

Ok here's my suggestion. Somewhat radical, but there is a method...
Do two pushups on 3 separate occasions every day, for the first week. (6 total/day) Rest Sunday.
Second week: Start adding one more pushup per day to one of your mini workouts, starting with the first. So, in three days you will have added three pushups to your daily total. (at the end of this week you will be doing 5x3=15 total pushups per day) Rest sunday.
Third week: Same as week two. (By the end you will be doing 7x3=21 total) rest sunday.
Fourth week: Add one pushup to every session every other day. (Mon=8x3, Wed=9x3 etc.) Rest sunday.
Week five: Add one pushup to every session every day.
week six: same as five...
Once a day do a set of hanging rows on the TRX. Hold at the top of each pull for a full second. Go to failure.
Once a week do a real bench workout with ramping sets of three to a 3RM and dumbell rows as heavy as you can squeezing at the top for 1sec.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Cool, and much appreciated! I'll incorporate this into the program I'm restarting this week, which is Weeks 1-3 of Trainer Chris D's program.

Day One (http://chernobylred.livejournal.com/649283.html#cutid1)

Day Two (http://chernobylred.livejournal.com/650516.html#cutid1)

Day Three (http://chernobylred.livejournal.com/651717.html#cutid1)

Your suggestions can sub for the push-ups and rows on Day One, are easily added into Day Two (which doesn't have any upper body stuff going on to speak of), and I'll eliminate the triceps extensions and curls (which I hate anyway) for Day Three. The once a week bench workout can be done on one of the "off" days. I'll check Robinson for Saturday hours instead of evenings.

[femfataleatron.livejournal.com]

I'm sure [info]normalcyispasse will bear me out on this: Machines are not at all like real benching, there are a host of details about the lift that are just not the same. when you do a bar lift it is really about how used your body is used to the physical details of the lift, like supporting a heavy bar that could drop on your chest, that machines don't come close to simulating. Tension based workout things are even worse, they have a completely different force curve, etc.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

Interesting. So you wouldn't get on the tension machine at all? I'm fine with that. I pretty much hate all sorts of exercise machines. I just thought it would be better than nothing. However, you've supplied all sorts of things that are miles and away better than nothing, and I'd much rather do that stuff than get on a *blech* machine.

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

So... are you saying we should take advantage of everything they allow, or that those could cause problems? To make a good individual showing, it looks like I'd have to bench around 300 pounds. Hm. I have no idea what I can do, as I haven't strictly benched since the 1980s! Need to test it out....