Getting Stronger

Had a great day today. I was nervous to do the 9 x 3 bench again,. as last time it was really difficult and i failed on my final rep, but I also knew I was stronger this time around and that there was no point worrying, so I did my best to stay out of my head and just go at it hard this morning.

Fuckin CHEST

SO, I warmed up, and got started on 170 x 9 x 3, on the minute, and it went really smoothly. It felt significantly easier than last month at 165, AND I only hit the hooks on one rep. The final rep (number 27, which I missed last month) was INCREDIBLY hard, one of the hardest bench reps I've ever done, but I got it. Overall, I was really happy about the chaos and pain part of my workout. I think this style of lifting is really helping me get stronger.

Next was 5/3/1 strict press, which is really fucking hard on the first week because of all the volume in the C&P benching, BUT, I worked my way up to 135 for a set of 6 without too much trouble, and I'm perfectly fine with that. Then was Pendelay rows, 5 x 5 @ 165, which i did a little faster than every 90 seconds. These weren't particularly hard, but I liked them better than the bent over rows I did last week. I think I'll keep playing with the weight and maybe the rep scheme over the next few weeks till I find what I like.

Next was dumbell bench - I stuck with the 55's this week considering the pressing I had already done, and did a set of I think 14 or so? then 2 more sets to failure. And finally, lat pulldowns were moved to 160 this week. Significantly harder than 150, but I did a really good job of keeping them stricter in the beginning and using more body language as the sets went on, so that I made it through the 5 x 10 and my lats were done by the end. I'll stick with 160 for a few more workouts until I can do it better, then hopefully push to 170 for a few workouts before I go home and have to switch to pullups.

Over all, it was an awesome day. I think the 9 x 3 / 5 week is the hardest, so hopefully the next two weeks will go even smoother than this workout. I'm having fun, getting stronger, and have no elbow pain, so lets hope this goodness keeps up.