But it somehow seems wrong to reduce the ROM of a bench press to 7". So I looked into more conventional trainers, and ended up with Mark Rippetoe recommendation of a slight arch and forearms that are perfectly vertical when in the descended position. So during my workout I brought my hands back out to the rack posts, which is where they had felt good before. I had brought them in closer because I read somewhere it helps tuck in the elbows, which helps the shoulders, but I think I can still do that with a slightly wider grip, and, like you said, lift more weight. Te stuff I read said that pulling the shoulder blades together should increase load capacity, because now the whole platform is on the bench, so the force transfer is more efficient.
I also read to try to keep the bar as close to the heel of the hand as possible, to minimize the moment arm between the bar and the forearm. I did it a little, but I didn't have the confidence to bring it out as much as I could. I'll try to practice a bit more with littler weights when I have more time. It feels a little unsafe when the bar's not snug in the middle of the palm. I also made an effort to retract the shoulder blades, as we've discussed, and make sure everything is tight, and arch my back a bit, but not in an exaggerated powerlifter manner like this:
Seemed to help. I don't think I'll increase weight or test my 1RM until I'm done experimenting with these parameters. I had always taken the bench press as a given, but I guess it behooves me to work on form details there too.
http://www.t-nation.com/training/from-beginner-to-badass-5-strategies
Here's an interesting article from Charles Staley about building strength in other ways than a 1rm. I think its an interesting article because as you noted when you watch some of the PL videos there is such an emphasis on shortening the travel of the bar its hard to really equate this to layman's strength training. Overall I feel like a narrow grip is safer from an injury standpoint than a wide grip, but this is just an experience observation. My shoulders hurt less the narrower I go, which is also true with a pull down motion.
Something about the bench press too, the straight bar might not be the best bar to bench with. I think a 45 degree bar might be best with a closer grip press. I wonder if you can rotate your palms so the bar sits on the heel buthave it closer to a 45 vs. 90? You could do a thumbless grip but I think this is pretty unsafe. I'll give it a try next time. I'm curiosu how you like your neutral grip bar.
It's definitely a full workout doing everything 2 x 5 @ 5RM, especially now that I'm able to bring my Squat and Deadlift back up to close where they need to be. 5RM varies a bit though. I guess only on the OH Press and Pulldowns do I come close to absolutely not being able to do another rep. More like technical failure than absolute failure on the other lifts, and I'm still holding back on the bench a bit.
I'm almost wondering if I should move the Deadlifts back closer to the start of the workout, when I have the most concentration and energy, but I like the idea of spacing the Squat and Deadlift out maximally, and doing the four upper body lifts in between, alternating push with pull.
I also seem to get in at least one workout per week where I reduce the weight for at least some of the lifts, so I haven't ever done three workouts in a week at a true 5RM intensity. I would like to do that consistently though, that's the goal. Having two 48-hour periods and one 72-hour period for recovery seems to be enough.
Also, my 5RM is set at 80% of my true 1RM, but a lot of people would say it should be around 85%, so maybe my 5RM is a little easier than it should be, but I'm also doing 2-3 sets.
I think in general, this is a very good progressive overload scheme for me. A good example is the OH Press. Yesterday I did 5 x 120/115/115, but I probably should start doing each set at 120 with diminishing reps per sets, until I can consistently do 3 x 5 x 120 sets across, at which point I bump it up to 125. Yesterday, however, it seemed more important to get the total sets/reps in, at the expense of load.
This break in running, and the footwear-necessitating cold, has me thinking about fartleks again, as a way of running with a little more intensity too. If I can eventually manage it, I wonder if just three 5K runs per week at tempo pace might be the way to go for someone like me.
I think doing a max lift on everything might be a little too much, actually I think maybe 7 lifts a day might even be borderline too much. Some options might be to rotate the DL and squat, so only one of those a day. Or to rotate 2 backs to 1 front and 1 back to 2 fronts? Maybe I could build some intensity up a little more then?
That's good self regulation, if you feel ok hitting that same weight every week. I'm all about running less! Funny that we are on a running website...