Bench Press 195 x 8

Cool little upper body workout. A lot of little issues that led to a lot of little revelations. 

Didn't squat today, but this picture is awesome

Started with 5/3/1 bench. Felt pretty good, a little creaky. I had trouble getting as tight as I'd like because I was just a bit stiff and whatnot, but overall weight was moving no problem. Hit 95 and 135 for warmups, then hit 155 x 5, 175 x 5, and finally 195 x 8, which is a little PR. It wasn't a bad 8 either - If I had been able to get tighter and whatnot, I think it would have been fairly easy. And, I threw in long pauses on rep 5 and 8. I need a better system for the long-paused reps, because what I did today made very little sense. I think I am going to try and consistently long-pause the first rep of any set with substantial weight, then give a short pause on every other rep in the set. This way, I'm getting practice with a competition-length pause, but also getting in more reps, etc. 

Next, hit 175 for 3 sets of 4 reps, all with a long pause. Again, while these felt good I think it would be more prudent to long-pause the first rep, then just bang out the rest with a short pause, focusing on tightness and speed. 

Finally, hit 155 for a set that sucked. I'm tired of this final back off set. Honestly, my form is always shit, I don't think it's making me better at anything, and it just takes energy from the rest of my workout, so I think I am going to cut this out. 

Next, Kroc rows. Did 2 sets of 30 with the 100 for the first time in a long time. It hurt haha, but wasn't too bad. I think I am going to keep waving the intensity on these, for both my sanity and just the sake of mixing it up. I'm not going to be able to consistently keep adding reps every week, so I think I'm just going to mix it up from week to week. Go light with lots of reps sometimes, heavy with lots of reps, heavy with only one max set, etc. Don't slack, but don't feel like I have something to prove either. 

Strict press went really well. Hit 135 for 3 sets of 9. Had some nasty form on the last rep, lots of back bend and I lost my balance, but still locked it out. Really happy with that. Next week I think I'll just shoot for the 3 x 9 again, and try to keep the form a little better. Then I'll push for the first 3 x 10. 

Finally pullups. Did a set of 10 and a set of 15. Didn't feel great, but I was just beat up from the workout. 

Overall, cool day. Hit some great numbers, and figured out some small changes I'm gonna implement. Lets keep at it.