Bodybuilding Bench Press

Good day today. Did things a little differently but I was feeling strong and huge, which is cool.

Started with bench. Lately, I haven't been sure exactly how I want to be benching this day - do I go lighter for high rep sets (3 x 15 or something like that?) Or, do I keep the weight heavier and do lots of volume there (5 sets of 6 or 7 sets of 5, stuff like that). What I did today was simply do rep-outs bouncing between moderate weights (185 and 135 today). This was good for a few reasons. 1) Don't go too heavy, which will tax my recovery and make my joints achey. 2) Don't go too light, where it is easy to get lazy with technique, which doesn't have great carryover to heavy bench. 3) Push right to failure on 6+ sets, which not only will force growth/adaptation, but also improves my ability to grind (something I need to be working on). So, I warmed up, hit the bar, 95, 135, then repped out (with a pause) 185 x 11, dropped to 135, rested 2 mins or so and hit it for 11 or so. Rested a little longer, then back to 185, for maybe 8, then 135 for max reps, then again, 185 x 5 and 135 for maybe 9 or 10. All in all, 6 sets to almost failure, most of which were in the 8-12 rep range. Form felt great, grind felt great, pause felt great, and I was BLOWN UP.

Next, did my bodyweight pressing. This was tough cause I was tired out after bench. But I hit two sets of dips, getting 5 or 6 each set. Then I hit a set of 15 or so regular pushups, a set of 10 wide pushups and then a set of 10 close grip pushups, then I set up a smith machine to do incline pushups and just did a ton of reps, moving my hands in and out until I was almost failing. Chest got pumped, triceps got pumped. Felt good.

Next, 4 x 25 dumbell rows facing a bench. Used 15 lb dumbells. I don't know why, but these hurt like hell and blow up my back.

Finally, did some curls and wrist curls... more of an arms pump than a grip workout, but no biggie. I was enjoying looking huge today.

So, overall good day. I think my bench is going to be moving up very soon. I think this new technique is the technique that is going to take me places, and I think the way I am training is going to get me stronger very soon. I just have to keep working my ass off, and PR's will be in the future. Lets rest a lot this weekend, and get ready for another PR squat and bench session next monday and tuesday. Lets keep at it.