zues, the zone exceeds even my wildest expectations.
thursday is my day to do one set of the weight i'm trying to rep out 8/6/4 on saturday. i was talking to my friend, who benches over 400 lbs, and said i hoped to get 165 lbs at least 6 times while thinking i might only hit 5 times. he smiled and said, give me 7. in my mind, 6 was good because i could hit work up to 8/6/4 in time to hit my expected three week progression.
i went to the gym thursday not knowing what to expect. i was kind of worn out. i did 5 minutes on the bike, 10 minutes on the treadmill, i did some light chest warm ups and sat down to bench 165 lbs. i had done 160 lbs 8/6/5 last week and wanted a jump for my first week of 165.
i ripped out 8 reps. i checked to make sure the weights were right. yep, a 45, 10 and 5 on each side, plus a 45 lb bar. i decided to go for a 5 day progression and try two more sets. i waited my 90 seconds and ripped out 6 more reps. i waited my 90 seconds and ripped out 4 more reps. i could've done 5, but my life didn't depend on it, so i didn't.
i checked the weights again - yup, 165 lbs.
i went from 160 to 165 lbs, 8/6/4 in a mere 5 days. i will begin lifting 170 lbs today and try and keep to my 3 week progression (actually, 16 days b/c i'm focused on 3 saturdays.
even i did not see this coming until i had already done it. i was going to be pumped when if i hit a 2 week progression. 5 days. i have to knock out 200 lbs on tuesday. it isn't much to folks who lift weights, but it sure will be music to the ears of a guy who asked a 69 year old man to help loosen a screw just last year. ;-) 205 will be nice from the standpoint of having two decent sized plates on the bar, but one step at a time.
my ulnar nerve is causing some wrist discomfort, so i'm definitely stressing it. i've upping my epa / dha supplementation to just about 4g per day and i've recently started supplementing polyphenols. hopefully, this reigns in the inflammation on the nerve. i want personal records before i go under the knife again. |
