Training: DE Bench

Saw a different crowd (ok, 3 people) in the gym this afternoon. I like midday training. A couple of college kids in squatting and benching. When I was in college, I was smoking and drinking.

Phase 1, Cycle 3, Day 4

Bench press
2x20 @ 45
95x10
2x3 @ 135
8 sets of 3 @ 185, 3 grips All very fast
225x3
245x2
265x2
275x1
All easy

Close grips
135x10
2x8 @ 185

pulldowns
100x12
150 x 10,10,10,8

Reverse incline rear delt
3x8 @ 25

Hammer curl
2x20 @ 20

Pressdown
2x20 @ 150

Workout time: 1:15p - 2:05p

So, the end of another cycle. How'd I do? Not so good on the conditioning, but I'm giving myself a pass, as I helped someone move over the weekend, and I did a lot of walking last week.

Improve Conditioning
As I said, not so good. However, I am cranking through workouts when I'm tired, and they are getting a little easier, so it is improving. I do need to get back on the treadmill. 1:10 in Cycle 4. Diet has still been iffy.

Improve Mobility
Stretching is still helping, but 'm still not doing my mobility work. Starting with Cycle 4, I'm going to do a mobility warmup before each session.

Build base strength by focusing on the basics
This is going well. No skipped workouts this cycle, and I'm sticking to focusing on big lifts. I'm also incorporating a little more structure with my ME work, doing 3 lifts over 90% (work up using triples, then hit a lift around 90%, try for a PR, then drop down to 95% or so for a third lift, or go for another PR if I'm feeling good.) This may go up as we go along and I test my tolerance of volume. Setting PRs on ME work is now also going to be an indicator, as I'm getting back into things and will start having lifts repeat. Cycle 4 will continue with the same basic protocol. For DE work, I'm trying to keep doing about 10% of my reps over 80% (and generally under 90%), which has been going OK so far.

Normally, phases will be 3-4 cycles, however with this phase, I still really need to continue working on the same things, so I'll continue with this phase. I may change how I structure things as different lifts get into different phases (I may do phases with DE work that don't match up with ME phases, etc), but for now, I'll keep it simple. Simple is good.

Must remember: Strong people lift heavy. Don't complicate that.