Bench Press Program, Workout #13 of 14
Well, after the great deadlift workout I had 48 hours before, last night’s bench workout sure brought me back down to earth. I had the poorest results of the 13 workouts so far. Although I felt good going in, I just didn’t have near the level of strength I’ve had on previous workouts. I had to use the power rack since there was no one to spot me. I much prefer the regular bench setup with a spotter, but I can’t use this as any excuse. There was no soreness or fatigue that I noticed carried over from my deadlift workout either.
I did my first working set, 205×5, no trouble at all. Next two sets called for 225×3 and I expected those to be fine since I’d done 230×2 before, but it wasn’t happening for me last night. First set I barely got up the second rep. Second set I failed on the second rep. At this point I was a little shell-shocked, I hadn’t felt so weak on bench ever. Last set called for 240×2. By this time I had no confidence, but I made the attempt anyway. It went nowhere, and I had to leave the bar on the safety rods. I’m stubborn though, I couldn’t leave it at that. To ease my mind I set up the bar at 135 and did a set of ten with good form so I could end the bench workout with something positive.
I’m a realist about these things, I know that to increase your lifts you’ve got to be doing a lot of things right, and I thought I’d been learning how to do that over the last 7 weeks. I was hoping all the pieces would fall into place so I could finish the program strong, but there was obviously some aspect (or two) that wasn’t right last night. I’m finishing the program Wednesday night, so I have over 48 hours to figure out what adjustments I have to make. One thing I’m going to make sure of is that I’m well rested, I’m staying away from the gym until then. I’ll also have a really good protein/carb meal before the workout. Wish me luck! (although I know luck has nothing to do with it!)
September 8, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Good luck Tony! You`ll do well!