January 26th - Heavy-light Bench singles, 160 for 6 sets of 1

 26.01.2025

Kind of a mess, discipline-wise, otherwise I feel good and decent, coming back - whatever that means. So, I'm gonna do a light version of heavy singles today in my Bench press. It's gonna be late but it'll be good. Today's one of those super rare times when I combined having my coffee with somewhat of a meal - just some gristly meat and an egg and some scraps of carbs (i.e. not very much) and then I had my first coffee and I feel decent.

Tissues in my lower body feel stiff and woody like dry plasticine (play-doh), especially the outside of my right knee. It's the most peculiar thing - I somehow feel like I cannot remember on which side of my leg I had my sumo wrestling injury, a meniscus tear back in 2013 and then surgery in 2016. I think it's gotta be the right side. Otherwise it's all good - those injuries are not fricking horror and they don't make you crippled, they're more like losing baby feathers, you know? That kind of injuries. Little pec pops, little elbow tears on armwrestling - you just gotta know your own body. Boxing can do stuff to your elbows - not great, if you do too much heavy bag work. But it's all, like, really miniscule stuff, just little scratches that you gotta rest and heal or get a surgery eventually and just get over them.

Workout

Warmup - some minor stretches, 3 sets of wall pushups. Also warming up my abs and obliques for some reason - probably cause they got activated on wall pushups. But also I have been thinking about OHP and how to make it "right" without it overcrampign every muscle, keep it strict but not static. Learn how to vary strictness and such. Knee pushups - 1 set, distracted by doing all sorts of other leg and hip stretches, learning more about my own body. That's gotta be it, it's starting to feel like too much warmup. I wonder how cold it'll be downstairs tonight.

Bench press - singles

20 - 70 - 100 - 120 - 130

150 for 1 - okay

155 for 1

160 for 1 - moved nicely, but was unbalanced due to setup and right wrist

160 for 1 - better, even, short pause

160 for 1 - very nice, no music

160 for 1 - not bad, well controlled albeit not as much as I wished, managing to focus on pushing arms aside - that's one interesting cue when you're doing wide grip bench. I've been doing a middle finger on the outer markings. That was so impossible for me just a few years ago! But I trained my pecs and now they're strong and flexible.

160 for 1 - better, I managed to achieve a really nice degree of control over the bar and its speed, however there was no noticeable pause. What there was is a super sharp reverse of direction - I sped off my chest so much faster than I was lowering it. It's not a bounce, it's like my chest is hot coals for the bar, that's the good level of mental and impulse control. Hallelujah! But I have actually planned one more set. And also I was not focusing on "hands aside" cue, but it was sort of happening automatically.

Gotta never forget about God in your metal training. He's here for you, help you lift well. It's up for you to glorify Him with your pious lifting.

160 for 1 nice

100 - 3 sets of 5 narrow grip, max control and speed reverse. Third set was messy!

Tricep presses with 20 kg bar - feeling it. It makes a lot of sense to do tricep presses - just standing presses with narrow grip, elbows out, partial range - if you don't wanna load tissues vs. tricep extension etc.

17 kg ez bar - 3 sets, again mostly just feeling, experiment. Not too much space in my elbows! Mostly flexing my traps and back here, which is also a benefit.