The experimentation continues, and I need to make some changes.

“Week 1”

• 5 reps – Bench Press (working max: 215#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x85
  • 1x5x110
  • 1x3x130
  • 1x5x140 (work)
  • 1x5x165
  • 1x10x185
• Asst. #1 – Bench Press
  • 5 x 10 x 125
• Asst. #2 – 1-Arm Dumbbell Rows
  • 5 x 10 x 55
• Grip/Forearms – Reverse EZ Bar Curls
  • 2 x 5 x 40
  • 1 x 12/7/6 x 50 (rest-pause)
• GPP – Stationary Bike
  • Tabata style – 20 sec. fast (100-120 RPM), 10 sec. slow (60-80 RPM)
  • 2 minutes, slow (warmup)
  • 1 Tabata “set”
  • 2 minutes, slow (cooldown)
• DeFranco Agile 8

Bench went alright. I looked at past performance, figured 10 reps with 185 would make me happy. Cranked out 10. Happy.

I’m still having some stability issues with my legs and heavier weights (you just don’t notice it when the weight is light). But during the 165 set I hit a sweet spot. The legs were rock solid, pushing, I was up on my traps, good back arch — it seemed to be everything that I was supposed to do! I need to find that sweet spot again. Next bench session I may focus on trying to find the spot and be systematic about it. Plus, I may even do things like unrack the bar, if it feels wrong, re-rack it and reposition and try again. I need to find that sweet spot again.

On the curls. The bar is apparently 18#, so I’ll use 20 for easy of math. I had no idea how many I could do so I just put a dime on each side and went with it. One key factor here is that I’m not trying to move weight, I’m trying to focus on the brachioradialis. I’m trying to only move the weight through flexing the brachioradialis, nothing else. I do think I can go to 45 total next time, and/or do 3×10 with the last rest-pause. But on the same token, I just didn’t feel like today was the right day to do it. The day I get the most forearm work is deadlift day, between deadlifts, the hanging hip-leg raise, and then I add in the grippers. So I think I’m going to move these to that day as well. It may wind up being too much work, but this is all part of the experimentation. At least, I think I’ll get more benefit if I do it then than trying to do it today.

I gave the bike another shot too. This time I put the resistance on “5” (settings 1-10, 10 the hardest; did 3 last time). I think that will be a good setting to stick with for a little while, until my body adapts. When I got to “rep 4” I started to think that I wouldn’t want to finish. Rep 6 and I had to convince myself to finish. Rep 7 and I knew I’d hate myself if I stopped now with only 1 more to go. After 8 and then the cooldown? Geez… had a hard time getting off the bike. I think this is a good place for me to start. I didn’t want to puke afterwards, but I sure felt worked. But I know I’ve got a long way to go to really make the intensity what it needs to be. Still, this is a good start, and my knees are happier.