May 27th - Bench 6 sets of 4 volume and rep PRs, front rack stretches, reflections on the past

 27.05.2026

I actually feel better today than I have in a while. Yesterday was a mess, yes, it was a miscalculation. But I feel good now. I've been eating well, even past my appetite a little bit. I've slept a lot; the quality of my sleep wasn't the highest but it was at least okay. I was a little nervous, a little tender for no reason but I am not right now. It usually happens under certain physical conditions, it's tied into my training.

So, I ate well, and now I'm having a fake arabica 35/426 - rather thick, strong taste,  but I didn't brew it for too long.

I'm optimistic about finishing chapter 7 and the first storyarc as a whole.

And I'm optimistic about my Bench press today. I'm gonna do something I haven't done before.

***

When I think of posting stuff on rdr I always start to write a "presentation essay" in my mind. I always pad it, manage expectations. Like, when you get promised a canoe down the river but instead you're lead to a picnic on the rooftop you're not gonna like it, eh? It's just... it's kinda hard to balance it all - my psyche, my own expectations, try and point out WHAT the reader is supposed to be paying attention to...

Workout

Warmup - wall pushups 3 sets of 50 (the usual), floor pushup planks

Bench press

20 - 40 - 60 - 70

From here - only sets of 4

90 - 110

130 - feels good. It was all Spoto press, done rather quickly.

150 for 4 - lovely, feels great, God bless!

Wearing my polyester shirt since it's cool enough. I wonder if it's better for some other reason beside being anti-slide (primary reason I wore it) - what if it's good for me to be a bit warmer on the bench?

I'm planning to do a blitz-stretch on my front rack later tonight, like I did with my knee, but maybe not as severe, or perhaps not severe at all.

150 for 4 - lovely, even better.

On my warmup sets I was intentionally pushing the center of the bar to the left to see what's gonna happen. It was moderately straining on 130 - I felt it in my left side. On 150 I went back to the even grip. I did it because I'm obsessed with stretching out my right arm, but that wasn't the use case. Thankfully, it did not take almost anything away from me. Brave men experiment foolishly, heh.

150 - 2 sets of 4 - nice, just went downstairs with the phone, left my tea upstairs 😆 Enjoying some forgotten music.

150 for 4 - did a touch-and-go on rep 4 here impulsively - not sure if I needed it or just wanted to see what it's like, but it was very easy, the whole set tbh.

150 for 7 - I was really close to pushing through the sticking point here 😁 If I did, it would have been a 10 kg PR! But no, it's just a 7 rep PR heh. And today's volume has been a small PR too - 6 sets of 4, with the 6th set actually done for 7 reps! I admit, this wasn't Spoto press, this was a full on bounce press - but it felt very good and fast, and lockouts were okay.

I am going to do Squat today, but I need to figure out how and how much. I'm afraid it's not going to be a lot.

110 for 8 - I wanted to do JM press, but I settled for doing open-palmed narrow grip bench, which was still rather unusual!

70 for 8 - this one I took with a thumb-ful grip and an even narrower one; this one looked slightly more similar to JM press in terms of where I put the bar but it was still mostly normal narrow grip bench.

Squat

Did not bother to wear my weightlifting shoes today - did not even go upstairs. Not even belt! Also I'm accomplishing double goals by doing breathing squats - three big breaths, holding the breath on third and doing the rep.

Sets of 5

70 - 90 - 110

110 for 10 - feels really nice! AND I'm really glad about the state of my legs - nothing is particularly uneven, no significantly noticeable pain, AND I didn't need too much warmup! 😀 Hallelujah, truly thank God now and forever! 😀☦

Bar in rack - front rack stretching

Very basic stuff, going from "neck pushups" to the front rack. MOSTLY it's my forearm that is hurting - because it is the weaker link. I need to give it more time to recover before I try the kinds of stretches that might load it.

I WAS going through my blog recently and found this video once again - trying some of the stuff from it. It's a shame I abandoned it for a while. I am getting my front rack back, and then my overhead ability! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B2LWHlhqNA

Stretching - a lot more. Elbow with rubber on the tall desk, pushing chest to wall in "one armed wall pushup" - easy with the left, not possible with the right lol. Makes you wonder how I can bench at all!

Another VERY INTERESTING issue I am discovering - a lot of my inflexibility does comes from the muscle in my back on the right side being very DENSELY packed! I need to stretch it INWARDS, the actual FLEX-ibility!

I am discovering so much. I think the secret might be simpler than I thought and it won't take THAT much time to get where I'm aiming! BUT please pray for me so I don't get too cocky.

L-fly stretches with a stick; I came up with an idea to use CoC№1 as a handle and it works very well - so I can keep my hand and wrist in the position that's similar to when I grip the bar. Went ahead and did some closes with it, why not - 30 right, 30 left, slightly wider than parallel. "Grip" tag added lol. And "Physical culture" for all the stretching discussion. Well, it's one of my most used tags tbh, overused lowkey.

Doing the rubber stretch and I experienced something completely novel as I was able to touch my left trap with my (left) hand... How peculiar!

CoC№2 - 20 parallel or a little wider closes right, 17 left - agh, kinda worn out.

I THINK I should do more NARROW GRIP BENCH to improve my back flex-ibility.

Like I said way earlier - this night is the blitz-stretch night. It's 4 AM and I think I'm a couple steps away from doing "too much". Mostly rubber elbow stretches and reverse L-fly with the stick.

CoC№2 parallel or narrower, reverse spring (smooth side of the spring in hand) - 20 right, 15 left (although left had wider reps on this set)

***

I went back in time and looked at my old HDD and man, it hurts to know how much progress I could have had if I was smarter. Well, that's what progress is - growing to be smarter. I had a perfect front rack, then it was gone. I was pushpressing with such extreme ease - given how weak I was.

I had so much speed in my every movement.

But... I can tell - I was dumb. I didn't have great control over myself. I learned so much - because I made so many mistakes. That's me coping lol. But I am seeing it. I did not know myself, I did not have the methods to figure out what's going on. I was just a young, rather solipsistic, aimless animal. And I'm not that different now lol.

IMPORTANT - I realized I was wrong about WHEN I lost my front rack. I HAD GOOD front rack AFTER 2016!!

It wasn't my conscript service when I lost it, no no.

I assume it was, however, related to my pre-2020 overhead press era, when I developed a really bad OHP technique. Well, I developed it into 2020 and 2021. And I forgot about PP. Lame!

Absolutely no videos from 2019 saved... I can guess why. I really don't want to think I lost my front rack in 2019.

I'm glad I got so much stronger in DL. Plainly glad. I was so friggin weak. It did take a lot of failures to learn.

I'm really pissed with that OHP technique I had. I regret it. I regret being a dumbass and now having anyone tell me it looks like ass. Oh well! the time wasn't *completely* wasted - I learned not to do it this way. Given, I did do exactly that kind of cheese OHP yesterday lol, just pressing "in front of me".

Alright, that's it. I found my old video. It's not a certain someone's fault I lost my front rack - cause I had it in 2019. I truly do release my breath. Hallelujah - I don't have to feel like a victim again 😀 And I do mean it, it does make me happy. I only have myself to blame for bad OHP technique - that's when I must have lost it.

This is that old video - I know I'm doing OHP in it, but I have good front rack.

RPotD - only partially random, I admit

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lake_Michigan,_Frankfort_(21226386359).jpg