Closer to my dumbbell bench press goal
I was able to bench press the 95 pound dumbbells for the first time today, for a total of 1.5 reps. After I can complete 5 reps at that weight I’ll make my first attempt to meet my goal of bench pressing the 100 pound dumbbells 5 times. I remember when I first started lifting weights those 100 pound dumbbells were very intimidating. Back then I had to use both hands to get just one of them off the rack. The only exercise I could do with them was shrugs, and I had to use straps to keep them in my hands. Just standing up with those things lashed to my wrists was a feat in and of itself. But now I can actually pick up each dumbbell fairly comfortably with one hand, and I don’t need straps to maintain control. I’m very proud of myself for the progress I’ve made. Once I can bench press the 100 pound dumbbells 5 times, I’ll record video and post it on my BodySpace page. I’ll also put up some videos of my other lifts.
Another milestone I reached (on Wednesday) was pulling down the whole 250 pound stack on the lat pulldown machine. I used a close underhand grip, and I completed 4 reps in a row, so I could probably actually do more weight than that. Now I need to get serious about buying a dip belt.
My squats went very well today. I have been staying at 245 pounds for the past few weeks because I didn’t feel like I was in full control of the weight. But today I really focused, and I felt like I had much better control. Previously, it was like there was a "hole" in my mental execution of the lift. At the bottom of the motion just after going below parallel, I would lose a good deal of conscious awareness of just which muscles were doing the work. I think it was fear of all that weight, and uncertainty in my own ability to handle it. After entering that zone with the weight, I’d "wish" it back up more than lift it back up. Each successful rep was either a miracle or an accident. But that’s not the way I want to lift, so I’m working on consciously maintaining tension and control through every aspect of the exercise.
My back is 100% pain-free (except for the good pain of muscle soreness) after Wednesday’s deadlifts. Without me even noticing, my deadlift form had slowly drifted from excellent to poor over the months. So I’ve lowered the weight, I’ve corrected my form, and I’ve added some exercises to keep that from happening again.
