I need to focus on Press

Wendler 5/3/1 program, cycle 16 (mark 2), week 3

• Work Set – Press (working max: 145#)
  • 2x5x45 (warmup)
  • 1x5x60
  • 1x5x75
  • 1x3x90
  • 1x5x110 (work)
  • 1x3x125
  • 1x5x140
• Assistance – Press
  • 5 x 10 x 75/75/75/65/65
• Assistance – Pull-ups (band assisted)
  • 5 x 7/7/7/7/5 x BW
• Assistance – Stuff
  • Upright rows
  • Dips
  • Preacher Curls
  • 3 sets, 8-15 reps, enough weight to make it hard; on 3rd set immediately drop weight and keep going to failure; tho on dips, bodyweight and push out all I can

There’s no question… Press needs to be the next place I focus on technique. I’ve always flip-flopped on things like where to breathe, if there should be a bounce at the bottom (the “stretch reflex”), hold and squeeze at the top with an ensured lock-out, or… just what. Lots of things, really. My recent drop in weight no question is due in part to technique change, trying to stress more at the bottom: breathe at the bottom, no stretch/bounce — bring it down, rest and reset a moment, breathe, then press again from a “dead stop”. It was brought on because I just don’t feel it in lighter sets, but in heavier sets it really comes out. When I was doing my heaviest set today I just felt myself all over the place, expending a lot of energy and costing myself a rep or two because of all this vacillation.

So Press I must focus on. And again, I used my assistance sets with lighter weights to ensure I focused hard on technique.

Happy that my pull-ups are going to 7 reps, almost 7 across; cool. 3x7xbw on dips too… doing more, doing more, very happy. Getting stronger is good.

I’ll have more thoughts on things later. Gotta run.