Bench 205 x 5, Strict Press 135 x 3 x 10

Today was a good day. I'm feeling antsy and full of lifting though, which is why I will follow this up with another post.

This guy is built like a brick shithouse

Started with 5/3/1 bench. Form felt pretty good, but the weight just felt kind of heavy today. Hit the bar for a few sets, then 95 and 135. After yesterday, I was working really hard to try and stay relaxed and keep my setup precise but calm and "athletically loose," as I have been playing with for the last few weeks. In hindsight, perhaps I could have been a little TOO relaxed, but honestly I think I was just having a bit of a weak day. 135 felt heavier than normal. I focused up and moved 165 x 3 and 185 x 3 with no problems. Then hit 205. The first three reps were nice, but then I clipped the j-hook at the top of the third rep (not a big deal, but always throws you off a little). Hit a 4th and a 5th rep - 5 was pretty tough. Maybe I had 1 more in me, but it would have been a real struggle. All in all, I'm not too bummed about 5 reps at 205, that ties my PR and I think that PR was with touch and go reps. But I wasn't thrilled either.

After, dropped back to 185 and hit it for 3 sets, and this is what really told me I may have just been having a weak day. These just didn't feel good. They weren't crazy hard, but they were just a little heavier, slower, tougher than they should have been. So oh well, got some quality work in and I will hopefully have a better time in the next few bench workouts.

For rows, did something a little different today, doing 5 x 10 dumbell rows with 80's, resting only as much as I needed to to switch hands pretty much. This was interesting. I don't know how well it hit my back, but it certainly got me breathing hard and sweating. We will see how sore I am tomorrow. As I said, I'm just going to keep playing with the format of these rows from week to week, have some fun with it.

Strict press was the real highlight of my workout. My original plan was to just aim for a 3 x 9 at 135 again, but instead I went for a 3 x 10, and I nailed it. First set was very solid, rested a ton. Second set was just as solid, rested a bunch again (5-7 mins), and then on the third set I hit 11 very nice reps. Really happy with this, my strict press seems to really be improving with this style of training. I'll try to hit 3 x 10 again next week, and if that goes well I'll move up to 155 for the next cycle. Or maybe 150. I haven't decided. Probably 155 though.

Finally, hit a set of 20 and 5 kipped pullups. The breathing is the hardest part with these.

So, overall, not a bad day, especially with strict press. I am just feeling a little angsty about lifting these past few days. I REALLY want to lift all the time, and these "meh" workouts are making it all the worse. However, I just need to chill and try and be a little more focused and precise the rest of the week, and hopefully that will help. Lets keep at it.