Bench Press 255×6 – rep PR. I’ll take it.

Pretty good day, really. Benching is going well. I am finding some improvement in my setup, in part because of the grippier bench pad — you can really get AND STAY in position.

Things moved well. And hitting 255 for 6 for a top set is a rep PR and demonstration that strength continues to go up and progress is good. I had 1 in the tank for sure, but that’s fine to leave it. 6 was my goal.

Then just lots more benching. Even that went well – more reps. But it obviously sapped me since stuff afterwards went down a bit. Could also be the supplemental creatine starting to work out of my system.

Which reminds me: as I start the next cycle, I will slightly reduce supplemental and assistance work. So instead of 5×10 benching I’ll go to 4×10. As the intensities ramp up, I want to bring the volume down a bit to try to balance recovery.

It’s weird. I generally hate DB rows, but I’m actually kinda enjoying them this time around for whatever reason. Don’t know why, but here I am.

The narrow grip pulldowns are nice too – they become more about the upper arm being pulled back, which is a good lat activator.

All in all, a good day.

5/3/1 (4th cycle, leader-1, 5/3/1+PR sets)

• Bench Press
  • bar x 10
  • 110 x 5
  • 135 x 5
  • 165 x 3
  • 200 x 5
  • 230 x 3
  • 255 x 6 (rep PR)
  • 155 x 10
  • 155 x 10
  • 155 x 10
  • 155 x 9
  • 155 x 8
• Bent-over Lateral Raises (superset with bench warm-up sets)
  • 20e x 15
  • 20e x 15
  • 20e x 15
  • 20e x 15
• DB Rows (superset with bench work sets)
  • 90 x 12e
  • 90 x 12e
  • 90 x 12e
• Narrow-Grip Pulldowns
  • 90 x 10
  • 120 x 15
  • 120 x 13
  • 120 x 10
  • 120 x 8
• Rope-Handle Pushdowns (superset with curls)
  • 100 x 20
  • 100 x 20
  • 100 x 20
  • 100 x 13
• Cross-Body Alternating DB Curls
  • 35e x 12e
  • 35e x 12e
  • 35e x 10e
  • 35e x 10e