It’s been a long time since I could say I set a PR. 🙂

It was a rep PR: incline bench, 7 reps at 215#. Nothing huge, but given all things to date, it’s a big deal for me. And it’s an all-time rep PR too, which is cool. I had some more in the tank too, but that’s fine — it’s the heaviest week of the cycle, but we’re still not supposed to go to failure. So I’m very happy about this.

For the record, I did have my elbow sleeves and also wrapped my wrists – not sure if they made any difference. And I continue to work on benching with my pinkies on the rings (slightly narrower than I have been).

Still, all of this did cause enough irritation of things in my arms/shoulders, so I played it conservative. Even more so when it came to the DB benching, because I was scheduled to use the 100’s — which would have been another all-time personal best. Never benched the 100’s, it’s 100, it’s 3-digits, all sorts of things because we like round neat numbers. But I opted against it because I was just too unsure. No reason to make things worse for me. So instead I dropped the weight down and tried doing what I’m planning for next cycle: paused. Keep the DB’s 45º to the body, let the weight sink down as far as I can, pause, really sink into it, then press out really emphasizing it by contraction of the pecs & anterior delts. That worked well. Part of me thinks I should have just gone through with the 100’s, but I can’t let ego talk right now.

Everything else was what it was, no big deal, just assistance work.

Still, I’m very happy with how this past week went. I feel that while I’ve lost some strength in the short term, overall I am stronger — I just have to remember how to be strong. 😉 To get comfortable again under heavier weights, to improve my technique under heavier weights — especially setup. I’m really looking forward to this next cycle.

Next week I’ll take the deload, then into cycle #2, which will will mostly the same structure as this past cycle.

RP Powerlifting, Strength Cycle, week 4

• Incline Bench Press
  • bar x 10
  • 135 x 5
  • 185 x 3
  • 215 x 7 (rep PR)
  • 215 x 6
  • 215 x 5
• DB Bench Press (paused, sunk)
  • 70e x 10
  • 80e x 10
  • 80e x 9
  • 80e x 8
• Neutral-grip Pulldowns
  • 105 x 10
  • 165 x 10
  • 165 x 10
  • 165 x 8
• DB Lateral Raises
  • 35e x 8
  • 35e x 8
  • 35e x 8
• DB Hammer Curls
  • 25e x 10
  • 45e x 10
  • 45e x 9
  • 45e x 8