Today I worked on changing my bench form. As I mentioned before, with both my squat and my bench I feel that I have incredibly EFFICIENT technique - however, in the end I think this is hurting me, because expending less energy isn't always best. I feel that, by exerting more control over the weight, I will be able to 1) grow my muscles more, 2) fight through reps that I might otherwise fail, and 3) simply feel stronger and more in control under heavy lifts.
So, today I began benching up, focusing on controlling the weight down and up, and instead of just moving the weight, really PULLING it down and PUSHING it up. I hit the bar for a set, then 95 x 15, 135 x 12, and 185 x 9. At first, I was feeling dismayed because these sets all felt harder than they should have. Then.... I realized that is EXACTLY the point. They should feel harder, because I am purposely benching in a style where I have to use more energy and exert more force. However, just because each rep feels harder, that doesn't mean I necessarily will fail any sooner. And even if I do for now, that time under tension and real focus on muscular contraction is going to make me grow, and increase my ability to CREATE force, rather than simply manipulating force. Anyways, went to 225 and benched it for a very solid and controlled but difficult 4. Then, dropped back to 95 and worked up, but with less reps - 6, 6, 3, then a triple at 225 that was pretty hard but again, very controlled. Overall, not as strong as I would LIKE to be (it is really a bitch to take a step back on the lift that I am already worst at), but at least this new form is coming really naturally to me. Now, the only thing left to do is simply work my ass off and get to growing.
Next, dropped the weight back to 135 and did a max effort set of spoto presses - paused bench without ever touching the weight to my chest. Hit 16 or so. I think these will help me a bit, they will help to improve the exact things I am changing - squeezing the weight down, maintaining muscular tension, and then driving it up. After this, I gave up my bench, but wanted to press a little more so I took some 40lb dumbells and did a set of 24 presses, again focusing on maintaining control and tension, and trying to let the dumbells flare a little bit to try and really work my chest and front delt.
Next, did 2 sets of 25 lat pulldowns and 2 sets of 25 cable rows.
Finally, Bar starz.
So overall, productive day. I wish I had gotten a little more volume in, but I was trying to figure some things out. And who knows, maybe I'll still be sore as all hell tomorrow. Either way, friday I will stick with higher volume on bench, then really go crazy with the bodyweight stuff to try and get this bench press moving. I am determined to break 300 ASAP, I'm sick of being below that mark. Lets keep at it.
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