My BodyBlog

I wasn’t able to achieve my bench press goal last night…5×5 @205 lbs…I felt weak compared to other recent bench pressing workouts.  I’m not surprised since I was tired after a long and stressful day, getting to the gym an hour later than usual.  Yesterday was so crazy I didn’t even know for sure I was going to make it to the gym until the last minute!  Plus I started my workout 4 hours after my last meal….no carbs in the system for that much needed energy.  It’s amazing how critical the timing and content of the pre-workout meal is.  Most times when I don’t feel strong or energetic for a workout I can trace the cause back to when and what I last ate. 

Not so long ago I would have been very frustrated by my lack of strength and that would have affected my state of mind for the entire workout.  Thankfully I have learned to just shrug off minor disappointments and refocus on getting the most out of the workout.  I can do it because I know that every workout contributes to my muscle growth and fat loss, and especially to my better health.  Every opportunity I have to feel the weight of the iron, feel the contraction of my muscles, and strain to do that last rep, is a gift that I cherish more and more all the time.  Profound?  Corny?  Whatever it is, that’s my attitude now and I know it’s serving me well.

I stayed with the bench press and did 8 sets in total, plus I did incline dumbell presses, dumbbell pullovers, cable crossovers, push-ups, and rotator cuff exercises.  If you can’t blast the muscles with weight, shock ‘em with reps and variety!  A good chest exercise, I’m starting to feel it today.

Soon after I started benching a couple of teens arrived, I’d seen them before but don’t really know them.  One of them obviously wanted to bench, and after asking how many more sets I had left I offered to let him work in with me.  He did a warm-up with low weight, but I saw some flaws in his form.  I did my next set, and I noticed him watching me intently.  Then, as I was taking off the plates he started to pepper me with all kinds of questions, such as where to hold the bar, how far down his chest the bar should be lowered to, how many sets I usually do.  I answered him the best I could.  When I was finished benching he kept at it, getting his friend to spot.  He kept adding more weight and was doing sets of 6 to 10, and I have to give him credit he was working his butt off, repping to failure every time!  I noticed he was taking deep breaths and exhaling on the eccentric portion of the lift instead of the concentric.  I suggested he change his breathing, and on the next set he did it well and said he could see the difference.  I also suggested he practice his form and breathing with some low weight and higher reps, and after a few workouts he would feel a lot more comfortable and get better results gradually increasing back to heavier weights.

I’m happy I could give a little help to someone so eager to learn and improve.  Not so long ago I had the same questions and flaws in my form as him.  Patience, commitment and determination have been instrumental to my progress on the bench press, hope that kid can find those qualities too! 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 at 8:15 am and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.