Bench Press Training

Okay so my training this week was all screwed up due to various factors. I ended up doing my heavy bench press day that is normally done on Wednesday, today on Saturday. I have been sick going on two weeks now. It started the Monday before this past Monday and is still going on. Right now it is a lingering intense cough. Really driving me crazy. I know I am still not 100%, not even close. But I am nearing the end of this current training cycle and no way I am letting it get in my way.

So this week is the week to drop the 2 working sets done to one working set, but just on the regular bench press. Close grip and incline bench presses are still done 2 sets of 2 reps.

So today on the regular bench press I performed 1 working set of 3 reps. This makes it basically a 3 rep max. I set a 3 rep pr meaning today I did the most weight I have ever done while performing three reps. This is of course being done while sick and not 100% so I was quite happy with it. The last rep I barely got. The bar went up to within about 5 inches of locking it out and was completely stuck. it did not move for what seemed like an eternity but in reality was probably 5 seconds (which is an enormous amount of time when lifting very heavy weights for the bar to not be moving at all). Somehow, some way, I was able to deep down deep into some hidden reserve and next thing you know the bar started moving again and locked out. This was a huge deal. I have rarely if ever seen a bar come to a complete stop and sit there unmoving for several agonizing seconds and then moving and locking out again. Most of the time the bar will start to sink back down after several seconds. Especially with 5 or so inches left to lockout.

After this we went to close grip bench presses. I did 10 more pounds than last week and did the same 2 sets of 2 reps.

Then I went to inclines and did 1 set of 2 reps with 10 more pounds than last week. This set was very rough though I ended up having to lift my ass off the bench which took the stress of the target muscles. In a competition bench press (obviously not done on an incline) your butt has to remain in contact with the bench. Since this was so tough I decided on the next set to drop 20 pounds off the bar and do the 2nd set of 2 reps. This was obviously substantially easier than the 1st set but still felt heavy.

I finished up with 3 sets of 15 reps with dumbell bench presses. Nothing specially here. Had a lot more in me but so many damn things were swirling in my head I decided to call it a day. I try to not let personal things get in the way of my training but this was not bad things so I don't see it as a hindrance. This training session was already later than I normally have them and combine that with being sick and coughing up a lung you have a recipe for mediocrity. All the same I set a new personal best which is normally a huge deal. Haven't had a chance to even savor it yet. More interesting things on my mind I think. Wednesday I start in on going for max singles. That will be fun and when I really get a chance to see where I am at. Since I have smashed a few rep records lately I have no doubt I will beat my previous bench press max, the only question right now is by how much. Should be interesting. Maybe I can get a video of some of the lifts.