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01
03
2011

A 350lb bench is not bad!

 

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I got my first set of weights for my 12th birthday. If you had told me then, that at the age of 37 I would be benching 350lbs, I would have been mighty happy!

So a bit of perspective here on the quest for even greater gains: Be grateful for what you have.

It’s not having what you want; it’s wanting what you got

Sheryl Crow

There could be an injury; a change of interest; a series of life events that take you away from your pursuit. Love what you can do now. Honour your body, for the miracles it gives you. Do it now!

It has been so long since I’ve posted. Forgive me but I was off getting married! In addition to being a blessed and sacred time, it is not conducive to diet and exercise! In fact, I was surprised at how fast I lost some strength.

The wedding was in Mexico.  The resort we were at had a gym. Quite a good gym. I thought, “this will be a good place to continue my quest for the 405lb bench”. Turns out it wasn’t… I still worked out every day, however, please hear this:

“YOU CAN’T GET STRONGER ON A DIET OF TEQUILA!”

So, lesson learned.

The first heavy chest day in Mexico was an eye opener. I was not going to be able to lift as much at all. So I had to adjust the program.

EXPLANATION:  You know how there are skills competitions in football. The combine. Last weekend some Samoan(?) guy bench pressed 225lbs 49 times…

A couple years ago I had heard that Brock Lesnar could bench press 225lbs, 37 times.

So this is a thing! the 225lb bench!

Back to Mexico:

I decided that It might be a good idea to try to increase the reps while keeping the time under tension relatively low. I decided to see how many times I could bench press 225lbs. This would be the approach for the next 4 weeks. and it resulted in some pretty fun results.

Basically, I’d do  three sets of bench with some kind of reciprocal innervation, trying to just get as many reps as I could. I didn’t worry about time. I didn’t worry about speed. It was quite freeing! and in the end, I surprised myself.

My final workout looked like this:

bench press: 225 x 20; 225 x 25; 225 x 22

standing incline row:(dumbbells) 45 x 20; 45 x 20; 45 x 20

dumbbell bench adduction: 60 x 20; 65 x 20; 60 x 20

posterior dumbbell abduction: 25 x 20; 25 x 20; 25 x 20

running intervals: 6 x 1 minute @7.5 mph followed by 2 minute recovery.

Achieving a maximum of twenty five reps at 225 lbs made me happy:)

NEW GOAL!!(in addition to the old one)

I think that I will now include the goal of achieving 30 reps at 225lbs.

As I said before, it is never too long into a program before I double back and change the weight schemes, and time under tension. This new goal will offer a new ‘change up’ and keep me interested, as I attempt to achieve the seemingly impossible goal of bench pressing 405lbs!

And the wedding was the most amazing experience of my life! It was the best wedding I have ever been to. It went off without a hitch. The bride was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. The weather was magical; There were fireworks(literally).

I mention this because I have learned that: Your ambition to achieve can drive you in a certain direction, but succeed or fail, there should always be the perspective of what is truly important. My wife probably doesn’t read this blog. May not even know that this is a goal. She thinks I am perfect just the way I am. She thinks the same when I think I am fat.  And she understands what is truely important: Love unconditionally. What you give reflects back to you.

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author: ryanbooth

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1
Adriana

thanks for share!

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