February 24th - Nice Bench, interesting varying ranges

 24.02.2026

Man, yesterday was quite the day. I had a lot of fun. Fell exhausted and woke up very early from complete stomach emptiness. Ate with appetite for the first time in a while.

So, it's noon, I've had one cup of thick instant coffee and 35/450 conventional (overpoured accidentally but it's okay). I'm doing Bench. I wanna keep it all my mind, my focus and my failures, what's I'm putting effort on and how much and what I'm saving energy for and how much. The tissues I need to stay limber and muscle I can allow to grow harder. I'm gonna be doing 3 sets of 6 and then 3 sets of 4. Should be very good. Focus on perfecting my ability to lift powerfully. And then I'd like to dedicate some attention to overhead conditioning - so my OHP/PP workout after tomorrow is more likely to be successful.

I've been having a great time with intuitive training.

Workout

Warmup - variations of wall pushups 4 sets of 50, a set of floor pushups - they feel surprisingly good! Left pec just a little fragile, otherwise kinda amazing.

Bench press

20 for 20

50 for 10

70 for 10

100 for 6

120 for 6 nice

140 for 6 not bad, but I don't feel warmed up. Which might actually be a good sign, depending on how things go.

140 for 6 a little better, good speed and movement but still kinda heavy. I'd like to imagine my body knows exactly what I'm doing and it's allowing just a bit of energy to slip out lol.

Small BENCH GRIP cue I discovered - you wanna HANG on your fingers as you're setting up, and only once you've set up you press your palm and finger skin into the bar. Some added support, naturally comfortable angle.

140 for 6 - not bad, I'm starting to feel in control, no pain or discomfort so far 😀

150 for 4 - okay

155 for 4 nice, had to wait for Black Wind, Fire and Steel to come on 😁

160 for 4 - very nice, although I did my typical screwup in the end and pushed close to the rack too early 😁 But what's important is that I did all the four reps and locked them out too.

120 for 4 - I love how it's way easier after a heavy weight

130 for 4 not bad

140 for 4 nice, so well controlled

145 for 8 - I gotta admit some of those reps were a little short 😁 But what's important is that I pushed myself decently well.

This wasn't enough.

100 for 10 superspeed reps, pushing it up with my ass

Overhead press and front rack conditioning

50 kgs - a few different sets of me forcing a full-grip "front rack" on myself. It was nowhere near a proper front rack cause I was way too pumped and 50 is too light to push the bar down. Still, I enjoyed doing it. Then I held the bar overhead and wobbled around in various directions, tried to hold it really well like a proper 180 degree overhead fix. That felt so good. I lot of near, screaming, grunting, kinda like a weird bodybuilding set.

20 kg - a set of full-range presses, each with a complete 180 degree fix. I felt at that point like I could do them nonstop, a perpetual machine but of course I had to stop. That made me wonder -

what if I do some of that "overhead shaker" drill before OHP/PP? What if that's help relax and stretch all the muscles so that I'm not fighting my own tightness as I press? Food for thought! I'll try it after tomorrow.

I dread tomorrow, a rest day. I don't like boring rest days. I think I should be able to figure out something fun. In all likelihood my body will notice that I'm not planning to lift and force myself to sleep in all my free time.

RPotD - Hootenanny overalls outfit from FO76. You know, this *is* random. And I think I've never even seen it in the game (store).