Great workout: bench 215 x 10 singles, strict press 165 x 5

Great upper body workout today. I had a lot of fun and kicked some ass.

Started with C&P bench. Warmed up pretty fast, hitting the bar, 95, 135, and 185 for 1 set each, doing a long pause on the first and last rep of each set. Then went to 215. On the first single, I had josh give me a "press" command once the bar was motionless, and a rack command (just to practice). I tried to keep all my pauses long enough to be competition legal. Overall, these ten singles were cake. Some of the ones in the middle were a little tougher than they should have been - I could have been tighter, I think I was just a little loose because I wasn't resting much at all. But even the bad reps were pretty much cake. I'm feeling pretty confident that I could hit 215, and probably even 225 pretty much anytime, anyplace now. Really happy with how bench is feeling.

Strict press went even better. Hit the bar and 95 for warmups, then hit 135 x 5 and 150 for an easy 3. Again, I'm trying to focus a lot on tightness in the right places - keeping my core and legs tight, but being relaxed and very speedy in my upper body. The weight was moving really nice - I loaded up 165 and hit it for a REALLY solid set of 5. That's a PR, and it was a very nice set. Really happy with that. Dropped back to 150 and hit that for a nice 5, then dropped to 135 and nailed that for 8, with a LONGG pause before the 8th rep. I think my strict press is getting ready to take off again. I need to just keep working the reps, and I'm looking forward to testing in a few weeks.

Next, did some yates rows. 135 for 3 sets of 15 - nowhere close to failure, but I really like the way these feel. Lots of quality volume and real squeezing of my back, but without having to push to the limit.

Next, played with benching with my feet up. Worked up in sets of 5, hitting 135, 155, 165, 175, and then 185 for 4. I like doing this. It is tough, because it is so much less stable and less tight. But I feel like it's a good exercise for me, because it FORCES me to focus on tightness on every rep. If I can get stronger benching like this, I think it will carry over really well to my regular bench press. Maybe I'll keep doing these on fridays.

Finally, did pullups, hitting a set of 15 and a set of 10, no problem. These feel good, I'm going to keep working at these - I'm excited to hit 25 straight soon, and then 30 + at semesters end.

Paul Carter is overjoyed for me

Overall, awesome workout. I'm definitely getting stronger and bigger, and progress is awesome. LEts stay healthy, keep having fun, and let's keep at it.