Sometimes things don’t go as planned. I traveled back to my home state of Vermont for my girlfriend’s brother’s wedding last weekend, and my work schedule the previous week hadn’t allowed me to get out to Xceleration. I always do my dynamic upper sessions there because they’re the only place with chains for speed benching.
So in lieu of dynamic effort work, I used this session as a “repetition day,” focusing on my overhead press, heavy chin ups and high rep bench presses. I trained at the YMCA in Burlington, the site of my first two powerlifting meets. Very cool place to train with all the memories and PRs that were made there.
Saturday – 8.18.12 – Rep Effort Upper
1A. Overhead Press
45×8
95×5
115×5
135×5
155×3
170×5
150×8
1B. Weighted Chin Ups
BWx8
25×5
45×5
70×3
90×3
100×3
45×10
2A. Bench Press
135×8
225×8
225×12
225×8 (foam press)
2B. T-Bar Rows
115×8
135×8
135×8
3A. Ring Dips
BWx10
BWx10
BWx9
3B. FatGripz Preacher Curls
3 sets
4A. Band Pushdown Madness
Average Band x10, Light Band x10, Mini Band x15
3 sets
4B. FatGripz Incline Dumbbell Curls
3 sets
Over the next few weeks, I’ll come back around to using the regular bench press as my main movement (rather than the incline press) and evaluate how effective dynamic benching has been for building my competition bench.
I’m inclined to think that focusing on getting stronger in the overhead press and doing higher rep work on accessory pressing may do more to build my bench than dynamic benching alone. We shall see.
