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Better Know a Lift – The Bench Press

March 5, 2018 by Karen Leave a Comment

Bench Press For Women

Last fall I competed in a charity powerlifting meet held at my gym. Coming out of retirement was the best thing I could do to challenge myself. Powerlifting consists of three lifts, the deadlift, the squat and the bench press.

Amongst women, squats are universally beloved, deadlifts are enjoying a CrossFit resurgence, but the bench press’ popularity is about the same as Congress. I’m here to say it’s time to take back the bench. Push-ups are not enough, you need variety to challenge the muscles including the chest.  Ignoring muscles groups is not a good idea if you want to fire up your metabolism.

Get the form down first.  Go super light, by using just the bar or even just a broomstick.  There are a variety of angles you can use by adjusting the bench from decline (hitting the lower portion of the chest) to flat to incline (hitting the upper chest) and with each, your form needs to be on point. Avoid relying too much on your secondary muscle groups – shoulders and triceps.

StrongLifts has a terrific definitive guide to the bench press. Read it here.

Again, start with light weights. Don’t add more weight until you can hit 12 reps with good form. Hitting PRs (personal records) on the bench is an incredible confidence boost because it takes a more mental focus and the numbers don’t go up as fast as the other big lifts. Keep notes on your phone to track your numbers.  PRs are motivational and it’s fun to see how far you’ve come.

It looks like I’ll be competing in July at my home gym – LiftVT. This time I come armed with experience and better resources, who said age matters?  I’ve been relying on tips from the fail-proof Charles Poliquin. Focusing on my bench, I turned to Charles and found this ditty to move past my plateau on the bench. I’ll also be working out with trainers to

As usual, we’re focusing fast productive 30-40 minutes workouts to get this done before the workday, so it’s a piece of CP’s recommended workout, not the entire routine.

5 sets, Heavy 4-6 reps Supine Reverse Grip Incline Dumbbell Press– rest 10 seconds  Decrease weight 30% for 10-12 reps
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Dumbbell Press-rest 90 seconds

Supine Grip Chin-Ups 6-8 reps
Image result for Supine Grip Chin

5 sets,  Dips
Image result for chest dips
Kneeling Cross Cable FLYS 8-10 reps
Image result for Kneeling Cross Cable FLYS

 

Instagram is an amazing resource. Lots of folks are sharing

The Strength Sensei Himself.

If there is one area where advice in strength training is more often than enough moronic, it is for warm-ups. You know the type that recommends this to warm up: cariocas to warm up for squats, having intercourse with foam rollers for hours on end, twenty minutes on the cardio bike at 70% of max heart rate, cluster sets on the dance pole… Here 3 simple rules to warm-up properly and make sure your warm-up doesn’t take twice as long as the actual workout #strengthsensei #warmup #workout #training #simplerulesforsuccess #playtowin #gaincity #strength

A post shared by Charles R. Poliquin (@strengthsensei1) on Feb 26, 2018 at 7:43am PST

Also, Powerlifting Stefi Cohen who can deadlift 500lbs worth of Owen Wilson heads!

Owen Wilson PR @snatchinsnacks

A post shared by Stefanie Cohen (@steficohen) on Jan 19, 2018 at 2:46pm PST

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Better Know a Lift : The Deadlift

August 21, 2015 by Karen 2 Comments

Chelsea’s back.  This time she’s analyzing one of our favorite lifts in the gym – The Deadlift.  It’s a must for any complete workout and if you’ve never done it, this is the information you need try it out.

If you’re a weightlifter to any degree, you may have done deadlifts in the past as part of your workout routine. No matter which of the several variations of deadlifts you do, they’re a great compound exercise, meaning they recruit mostly every muscle in the body during execution. In addition to the compound nature of this exercise, deadlifts also work two of the most aesthetic muscles- the core (abs/obliques) and the glutes. Whether you’re a seasoned deadlift veteran or have never done a deadlift in your life, there are techniques you need to deploy when doing this lift. Let’s look at what it takes to do a conventional deadlift.

First, set up a free bar on the floor. If this is your first time deadlifting, do not add weight until you get the form right. Otherwise, start by adding a light weight to each side. Next, stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart. You can grip the bar wide or narrow, depending on what feels most comfortable. Reverse grip the bar, with one palm up and the other down. In a crouched position (think of how the bottom of a squat looks), with the bar against your shins, pull the bar up using explosiveness from your legs and with your back tight, chest lifted and head up (it’s important to keep your lower back in a neutral position and not round your spine). Lock your hips and knees, then return the bar to the floor by bending your knees and slowly letting the weight down.

Deadlifting is a great core, back, and leg workout. It will improve your other, smaller lifts overall, as you will gain strength through repetitiveness of the deadlift motion and become more confident in your lifts. It will help you with explosiveness in your other lifts, especially your squat. You can get a total body workout from deadlifts in only a short period of time. Unlike isolated lifts, such as bicep curls or tricep extensions, you are able to work the entire body with just one lift.

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Finding the Answer to Life’s Challenges with Powerlifting

July 11, 2015 by Karen 5 Comments

Here at the GoodFitFam Headquarters, we’ve been as busy as an elf at Christmas.  So while we are hard at work collecting blog experiences for our next post, here’s a transformative and inspiring story from our guest posterChelsea who writes on how powerlifting has helped her fight depression and reshape her body.

Over ten years ago I stepped foot into a gym for the very first time. Growing up in the country, I benchwas never exposed much to sports or even the traditional “working out.” Instead, my days consisted of yard work and playing outside. When I found myself parading through the gym doors for the first time, I had no idea what to expect. My aunt offered to take me through a workout with her, and seeing as how I had nothing to lose, I joined along. Some may say it was love at first sight (or first sore). From there on out, I convinced my mom to buy me a gym membership and I didn’t take a break once that entire first year.

Fast forward a decade and my love for the gym hasn’t changed much. During my earlier years of lifting, I was fortunate enough to have two wonderful mentors, one of whom was a Strongman competitor. I was in awe of his ability to bend wrenches and tear phone books as if they were made of nothing. While most of my fellow high schoolers were all working out for appearance, I had a huge desire to get as strong as I possibly could. I spent the first few years trying to really perfect my form and understand what exercises worked what muscle groups. After years of reading, learning, making mistakes and fixing them and “perfecting” the art of weight lifting (as much as possible), I decide to take my first venture in the world of Powerlifting.

Despite all my years of lifting behind me, I had never done a deadlift in my life, and had attempted squats maybe a few times a year. When I started to learn more about Powerlifting, I soon realized I had a lot of work to do. About a year (and thousands of repetitions) later, I registered for my very first Powerlift meet. Because I had never even so much as been to a meet, I wanted to play it safe and enter a single lift only. I chose deadlift- my strongest of the three. I spent a very long day at Florida Atlantic University waiting around just to get my three pulls in. A long day, indeed, but I walked away with a PR of 336 and my very first Powerlifting trophy.

Back in Pennsylvania, I completed my first full powerlift meet in March of 2014 at none other than the York Barbell Hall of Fame. A powerful experience indeed, my body endured for the first time a day full of thousands of collective pounds of lifts, as I found myself setting several state records for my weight class. Working sporadically with a mentor out of Pittsburgh, I tweaked my gym training a bit to try and focus more on exercises that would improve my main lifts. Even to this day, the world of Powerlifting still certainly holds many mysteries for me, but I learn and adjust as I go.

TransformationPeople lift weights for all sorts of different reasons. For me, the gym started out as an outlet during a very tough year battling depression. It was in the gym that I could release my frustrations, shape my body, and be fully responsible for my physique- a pretty cool thing, in my eyes. Even now, 10+ years later, walking into a gym gives me the most happiness of all things in my day. Lifting heavy weights means many different things to me- a breakdown of stereotypes of weak, frail women, empowerment, control, achievement.

Despite the time spent being active outdoors, growing up I was not exactly what you would call “fit” or “lean.” I spent years listening to my guy friends tell me how beautiful my sister was, while I hid in the background, just an afterthought. I knew I was overweight, and doing nothing about it wasn’t exactly the best approach. Consequently, I found myself trying to hide in the shadows of everyday life, hoping that the confidence I desired would just show up at my door some morning. Little did I know it was just waiting for me at the gym.

 The past few years of my life, especially, have been cluttered with curve balls, cross country Transformationsmoves and job situations that could’ve never been foreseen. My constant amongst all the chaos and change has been my weights, the iron, the feeling when I step into the gym. It has been my therapy when I needed an outlet, the very thing that puts a smile on my face when I need it the most. Heavy lifting is my anti-depressant, my psychologist, my crutch. For some, working out is an obligation. For me, it’s a part of who I am. When you find that thing in life that serves as that sort of panacea for you, that’s when you stick to it.

The weights are humbling. They remind you that you are such a small piece of the puzzle on Earth. They make you remember back to when you couldn’t conquer them. On days where you feel defeated, stressed, broken, the weights remind you that you are capable, persistent, focused. There are things in life that we can’t control, and then there are those things that we can. When all else fails, succeeds, is going horribly, is going well- I turn to the weights. Heavy lifting has changed me far beyond what happens inside those four walls of the gym. For me, Powerlifting isn’t about those shiny trophies or the medals hanging in my living room. It’s about the PR’s that took so long to hit, driving through that squat that I’ve been missing for months.

I embrace the idea that I can be feminine yet strong, wear dresses but lift heavy. The world is your stage. Mine just happens to specifically be a Powerlifting platform.

Chelsea White is a PA IPA #148 State Powerlifting Champion, BS in Wellness/Fitness, Wellness Coordinator, NASM Fitness Nutrition Specialist, Fitness Enthusiast, Figure Competitor, Background in American Sign Language, Former Editor-in-Chief, Creative Writer.

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About Us

All our Boys

Karen Rodgers is a mother of twin boys, wife, and speech language pathologist for the Champlain Valley School District in Vermont and New England Speech & Feeding. She knows her way around a weight room and here on the GoodFitFam blog Karen and her husband Chris will share their wisdom, experience and contagious passion for kids, fun and fitness.

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