Pretty Good Day: Bench 225 x 3

Had a pretty good day today. My back was totally crampy and shit from deadlifting like a maniac yesterday, and I was feeling a little wonky as I warmed up, but overall it ended up being a pretty solid day.

Started with 5/3/1 bench. Warmed up fairly well, and tried to just be calm and have fun hitting warmup weights. Unfortunately, as I said my back was crampy and my warmup sets were just a little weird and sloppy. Not bad, but not great. hit the bar, then 95, then 135. Loaded up 175 and tried to focus up - hit it for a very nice set of 5, and felt toward the end that I could be a little bit tighter in my back as I lowered the weight. So, loaded up 200 and this time focused on squeezing the weight down better. the triple felt really good, so I loaded up 225. It went very well. First and second rep were fairly smooth and easy. On the third, I hit a sticking point but only took about a second to get through it, and it was such a solid rep that I decided to go for a 4th. Which I promptly missed horribly. I REALLY tried to pull that weight down and keep tight under it, but it just didn't move off my chest - maybe I just didn't have the strength, maybe my timing was off, maybe it was mental, but I'm thinking it was some combination of the three. Probably wouldn't have made it anyways, but definitely would have had a better shot at it if it had been a better rep. Anyways, I HATE missing reps so that didn't sit well with me, but I can't really blame myself for going for it because it WAS a really solid triple, and I had a spotter who I normally don't have. Regardless of missing the 4th, that is a) a pr, as I have never repped 225 at all, and b) a marked improvement from last month, where I hit 220 for a hard three, while I would say this 225 was a medium 3. Pretty cool.

After, dropped back to 200 and hit it for a set of 3, 2, and 1. All smooth and easy, with a really long pause on that last rep.

Next, did some rear delt flyes - 3 x 12 with 12.5 dumbells. These definitely feel like a lazy man's back work, but hey they are NOT easy, I can do them fast, and I'm enjoying them.

Next, strict press went really well. Hit the bar, then 115 for a set of 8 to warm up, then loaded up 155. It actually went really well. I was feeling a little slow today, despite really trying to focus on speed. However, even though the first rep was never quite as fast and explosive as I wanted, I managed to hit all 3 sets of 8! The 8th reps on the second and especially the third set were TOUGH, but I got them. Pretty crazy that I have gone from 3 x 6 to 3 x 7 to 3 x 8 the past 3 weeks, all at around the same difficulty. Gonna just go for 3 x 9 next week.

Finally, did a rushed but solid 2 x 15 kipping pullups to finish up.

So, overall pretty awesome day. Bench was solid, despite missing a rep, and strict press was very good as well. This volume seems to be doing me good. I'm gonna keep at it, keep focusing on rep speed and tightness even when doing all these sets of 8-10, have fun, and keep growing. Lets keep at it.