Always nice to end the week with a great PR!

Today’s PR was cool on many fronts. Press has always been my toughest lift to progress. Back at the end of 2016 I worked up to 185 for 1, which was an all-time best. Today? 180 for 3. A nice PR in and of itself, but obviously I’m a good bit stronger than before.

What’s also cool is that the PR was solid all around. Technique rolled well. It’s good for reps and weight. I’m certainly stronger than before. The work-up for the 185 was trying to set a 1RM so volume was quite low, with just a warm-up then singles to the new max. Whereas today was normal workload, almost double the volume on the work-up, and still repping things.

So again, given it’s been my toughest lift to progress, seeing this sort of progress makes me quite happy.

Even the down-sets went well.

As one note, I continue to have weirdness about my breathing. I WANT to hold breath at the bottom, a slight exhale as I lock out, breathe at the top. But that’s actually been bad because at the top I need to be really tight, so breathing doesn’t work well there and has been cause for some problems lately. So I’m working to breathe at the bottom, but that’s really awkward. What I found was working alright for me today was allowing myself a slight exhale at lock-out but no inhale –– basically I’d get 2-3 reps “holding my breath”, but then in the bottom position I could get a slight inhale. That seemed to actually work quite well, tho the rhythm felt quite odd. I’ll work on it.

Pulldowns were pulldowns. While I’m still not supersetting because arm issues, the 1-minute rest and quickly moving through it has been quite a welcome change. But get this. I had my elbow sleeves on and while there was no issue while pressing, I had issue after pulldowns. I am starting to think that the added thickness, the added “bulk” then in my elbow crease as the elbow angle becomes more acute, that is attributing to things. I’m still not 100% sure, but data is leaning that direction. A few more tests…

Plate raises are actually more interesting now. To lean the torso slightly forward makes all the difference. These are just ass-kickers.

Skullcrushers are what they are. And curls are what they are.

All in all, a good day.

No deload next week. Starting next cycle.

• Press
  • bar x whatever
  • 75 x 5
  • 95 x 5
  • 115 x 3
  • 140 x 5
  • 160 x 3
  • 180 x 3 (3 rep PR)
  • 160 x 6
  • 140 x 9
• Lat Pulldowns (pronated grip, to chest)
  • 110 x 12
  • 120 x 12
  • 130 x 12
  • 130 x 12
  • 130 x 9
• Front Plate Raises (all the way above head)
  • 25 x 27
  • 25 x 16
  • 25 x 16
• Skullcrushers
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 10
  • 80 x 7
• Hammer Curl
  • 45e x 10
  • 45e x 10
  • 45e x 10
  • 45e x 7