Bench (Heavy Day) 6-19-13

Heavy is relative of course.  Felt pretty good going in.  Hamstrings were a little tight from the deadlifts.  And my calves are still sore. I was going to try some floor presses today, but I thought I might be better served doing full range of motion.  I'm still so very weak I don't know what I would gain from floor presses yet.

Bench:

Bar x 17 reps
95 x 15 reps
135 x 10 reps
135 x 10 reps
155 x 3 reps
165 x 3 reps
165 x 3 reps
165 x 3 reps

Incline DB Bench:

45lb DB x 12 reps
55lb DB x 10 reps
55lb DB x 8 reps
55lb DB x 6 reps

Machine Flys:

40lbs x 10 reps
60lbs x 10 reps
80lbs x 8 reps
80lbs x 8 reps

Rope Push-Downs:

40lbs x 25 reps
40lbs x 17 reps
40lbs x 9 reps

Not a ton of work, but I worked the muscles hard.  I actually went up in weight from what I should have been.  I was supposed to do 80% of my max for 3 sets of 2.  But 80% felt really light, too light to be 80%.  So I moved up to 165.  And I could hit triples with it, so I did. And the first set of triples was really easy.  I could have done more.  But I like hitting weights like that.  I'd rather leave thinking I could have lifted more, than to head out defeated.

There is something about the bench, no matter what day you go in there is always someone on a bench.  I go in to the gym on leg day and I'm the only one in that area.  Same as when I'm doing deadlifts.  But bench is like the holy grail of lifting to some people.  I think I need to make it that way for me to so that my bench can catch up.  I love deadlifting and squatting though.  When you have a hard deadlift or squat day you feel drained.  From head to toe you know you couldn't hardly move.  But bench has never felt that way to me.  I've had squat workouts where I could barely walk to my car.  Yesterday I had trouble lifting my phone to ear, so I guess thats good. Anyway I'm rambling.  Need to just keep pushing for strength and building the mountain.