First of all, didn't feel too great from the get-go. form was a little off, I was a little achey in my shoulder and my left elbow, and I just didn't feel as strong as I have been lately on bench. Which has been very strong haha, so I guess it's not too big of a deal. Warmed up, then started working up in a lot of sets. Hit the bar, 75, and 105 for a slew, then 135 x 8 or so, 165 x 5, 185 x 5, 205 x 5 with a nice pause on the last rep, then jumped straight to 225 and hit it for a solid but tough 3 - hard enough that I racked it. I was a little bummed. Based on how I have been feeling, I was hoping to nail 225 x 5 today - that would be a pretty cool milestone. However, as I said I was just a little off today, both in strength and technique. I decided to take the weight again, and again I got a triple, only this one was more tough, less solid haha. First rep was nice, but the second I bounced off my chest more than I intended, and then the third hit a NASTY sticking point. I finally pushed through, but I wasn't sure I was gonna make it for a moment there haha, and my butt came off the bench just a tiny bit, so it was a pretty ugly rep. However, although I didn't get the heavy 5 I wanted, some things to think about: 1), I wasn;t feeling great today. 2) while 3 reps isn't a pr, I have only gotten 3 reps at 225 + maybe 5 times in the history of my lifting, most of which have been in the last two weeks, and I hit two triples at 225 today. And 3) based on yesterday/today, I feel like doing all these warmup sets is effectively "handicapping" me when I get to the heavier sets. Which is kind of a good thing! the point of thursday and friday isn't really to PR, it's to get in a ton of reps, reps with great form, great speed, and reps that will build muscle. On both yesterday and today, I didn't hit my goal - but I DID go pretty damn heavy (right around 90% both days), got in some quality reps, and all AFTER hitting 30+ warmup reps with beautiful technique and speed. Obviously, I will try and push myself towards PR's on this day, but I think that falling short isn;t necessarily a bad thing, because the point of this day is simply volume. The heavier the volume, the better, but even the light sets are productive. Then, come monday and tuesday I cut out all that extra energy wasting, and REALLY focus on hitting those PR's.
Interestingly enough, hit a PR after those two sets. I decided to drop back to 135 for a rep out, something I like to do every so often as a test of my rep strength. I remember a time when 14 reps was my max, then 17 was it for quite a while. Recently - maybe 2-3 weeks ago - I did a few sets with 135 and managed 20, so today I decided to try and beat that, seeing as how I have been feeling so great benching lately. But I didn't just beat it, I SMASHED it. I may have had some trouble with the heavier weights today, but I had no problem at all with 135. It stayed in the groove beautifully, and it was just a matter of repping as fast as I could to get through maximum reps before fatigue set in. I ended up hitting it for 31 reps, an 11 rep pr. I'm not only happy with that performance, I am really happy with the way the reps look - so fast and clean, technique looks great.
Next up, did some pec flies. These were alright today. I went a little heavier, but my left side shoulder-elbow really started acting up with these. Maybe I need to stick to lighter weight, or maybe it was just a bad day. Either way, I did 4 x 10, but they just didn't feel as good as the last few times I have done them. Less chest pump, more pain. So next week, I'll probably keep them lighter.
Finally, finished off with a huge back and biceps "chipper." It went like this - 50 cable rows with 50 lbs, 50 straight arm pulldowns with 30lbs, 50 rear delt flyes with like 10 b dumbells, 50 curls with the easy curl bar + 10's, and finally 5 sets with the wrist roller. This felt great. Blew up my back and was a lot of fun. I need to really focus on keeping back work fun, and working in as much volume as I can as often as I can. I get so easily bored with back work, and I really need to be FOCUSING on it, not slacking.
So, overall good day. Not as great as I hoped, but still some quality bench work, really cool PR on that 135 rep out, and then some cool bodybuilding stuff to finish off my summer! Back to school tomorrow. Lets hope the move is smooth, I settle in nicely, and come next monday/tuesday I can fucking DESTROY my first couple sessions in the new gym. I want to show that gym, the people in it, and myself who is running it this year. Lets keep at it.
No comments:
Post a Comment