#repchest

[myliftingjournal]

Rep chest, 4/4/17 I was busy working on something all day, so I couldn't get to the gym during the day before peak hours. But afterwards, I didn't care if I made any lifting goals, I just wanted to lift, so I got there at 9:30 pm. Go figure though, the guy I worked in with, a guy literally half my age and who had trouble lifting much more than my warmup set, was the best-darn spotter that I've had at the Schaumburg location in the past month! 1) bench press: -135/15 (slow, controlled, hold for 3 seconds, etc.) -185/15 (smooth, no problems) -205/11 (9:30 pm, new spotter, didn't rest as long, I may have lost some weight, but it's the same as last week, so I'm fine with it) 2) Hammer incline -70/20 -90/13 (not as much rest, tired, just wanted a pump). Good workout. I was pleased.

[myliftingjournal]

Rep chest So I went down by 1 rep with the 205 on bench. This may be due to a few things though: 1) new spotter - again, not doing what I expected him to do - stood too far away, hands not under bar like Id asked, etc. 2) I may have lost a pound or 2 - my body weight fluctuates a lot, and it's tough to keep ot on sometimes. 3) I wrote down that I had a minimum goal of 11 just before my set, so I may have sub-consciously decided on only doing 11, even though my verbal goal was 12-13. 4) My mindset may not have been made before doing my set - on my heavy days, Ill focus my Mind for the set before lifting. I might have needed to do this, but didn't. Either way, I chalk it up and move on. For the Hammer inclines, I went for 20 reps with the 70 lbs, versus the precious 15: 1) because the previous week, I got 15 on both. 2) because my buddy in Chicago suggested doing more for this lift, versus stopping at 15. It resulted with me getting less with the 90, but it's another goal to work towards.

[myliftingjournal]

Rep chest If you'll look at the previous week's journal, I got the same today, which is good, considering that I've got this sore throat-thing going for me lately. So even while slightly sick, I haven't gone down any in strength. Also, since I got 12 reps a couple weeks back, when trying for 11, my minimum is still 11 for the next week. After that, my minimum is 12 for the next 4 weeks. This means I have 4 weeks to get 1 more rep and keep it there for the end of that 4 week section. My goal is 15 for all 3 sets. Once I do that, I can move up in weight for the 2 last sets, and try for 15s again. I set the minimum by what I get the first time I do them. So anyway, I did go up today with the hammer incline press, but that may also be due to the fact that I mixed in the shoulder routine (see previously-uploaded video) also, and so got to the hammer inclines later in the workout. Not sure. Will have to try them right after benching next week and see where I'm at.

[myliftingjournal]

Rep chest day Great workout today! 1) flat bench press: -135/15 reps (warmup set) -185/15 (no spotter needed today) -205/12 reps. My goal was 11, which was 1 more than last week. So I passed my goal. Next, I decided to incorporate my new shoulder workout into rep chest day, since otherwise, I'd only have flat bench and hammer incline. Shoulders = alternating sets between cables and DBs, only rest in between is the time it takes to go from one to the other. 2 & 3 = rear delts: 2) rev flies (machine) -40/20 reps -50/10 reps -60/10 reps 40/15 reps 3) Rev flies on forward incline, DBs -5/20 reps -10/10 reps -15/10 reps (keep at 10 lbs. next time. - can't keep good form for all 10 reps with more weight). -5/15 reps 4&5 = Side delts 4) cable lateral raises (bit instead of just lifting up, I'm lifting up and outwards) -1/20 reps -2/10 reps -3/10 reps -1/15 reps 5) same, but with DBs: -5/20 reps -10/10 reps -15/8 reps (by this time, my shoulders were burning! I even went to the front counter to get a towel because of the sweat I was building up from this. Ill work for 9 reps next week) -5/15 reps 6&7 6) normally this would be DB Military presses, but instead, I mixed in my hammer incline press, and instead of doing the current routine, I just did what I did last week, when I wasn't working shoulders: -70/15 -90/11 (1 more than last week, trying for 15) 7) Rev. shrugs on smith The weight mentioned is what I had on both sides together without counting the bar. -70/20 reps (25+10 on each side) -80/10 reps -90/10 reps -70/15 reps 8) upright rows with plates The movement of these is to keep the plates at my side, but slightly also in the front at shoulders' width. When I come up, I engage my back, and also move my shoulders at the top, back some to engage the back more: -10/20 reps -10/10 reps (supposed to increase weight, but can't with plates) -25/10 reps (barely) 10/15 reps. 9) though not listed, I finished it off with cable raises (like crossovers in upward motion, without crossing them. -3/20 reps (stopped there. Afterwards, I did some stretching of my chest & shoulders.

[myliftingjournal]

Rep chest day Here's a comparison of the 2 weeks. It may look like I did less yesterday, but I actually kind of did more because, for one, because I asked to work in on the only bench with only 1 person, I didn't get to rest as long between sets; and two, the 205 last week was just barely, whereas yesterday, I know I got it. Also, since my goal's only 15 reps for each, I stopped there on the 1st 2 sets this time. Also, with the incline press, a guy was on the hammer incline for a bit. So to keep from cooling off too much, I just jumped onto the incline bench press - something I haven't done in a long time, so the movement was a little off.

[myliftingjournal]

Rep chest and legs day: Today was a really good workout - it took longer than usual, but it was still pretty good. It took longer because people were on the things I needed to use, so I needed to move them around in different orders. This prevented the ability for a circuit-style and gave me more rest between lifts. I also included legs today, which also had something to do with it. 1) flat bench press: -135 for 20 reps (regular warm up) -185 for 20 reps (goal) -205 for 10 reps (last time I got 12, goal is still 20). 2) legs: freemotion sitting hammer leg press: -180 for 30 reps (middle placement on foot platform) -180 for 20 reps (foot position = top) -180 for 20 reps (bottom position - I didn't like these) -270 for 15 reps (middle) -270 for 12 reps (top) 3) hammer incline press: 90 (per arm) for 20 reps 4) cable chest raises: 4th weight, 30 reps 5) cable wolverines: 3rd weight, 30 reps (I should do the 4th weight next time - I don't know why I lowered it to 3) 6) hammer wide grip pull downs: 70 for 30 reps. Stretched chest & back. Like I said, it took longer than usual, so I'll have to work on that. But I got 20 eps with 185 on flat bench again, so that's awesome. Now I just have to do that every time and increase my reps with the 205. :)

[myliftingjournal]

Rep chest day I weighed myself today and somehow got back up to 167, which is a good thing, really. My goal is to get 20 reps with everything. I once got 20 with 185, but then caught the flu and some other stuff, which knocked my weight down to 162, so I've been working my way back up. Today, I reached my return goal with the 185. So, I asked my buddy if I should go back up to 195, or do what we used to do when increasing weight, which was add a 2.5 to each side (190)? He explained to me, basically what I discovered the during my time with the 195, which is that by going up with my middle set, I had trouble going up in reps with the heavy set. But since I got 20 with the middle weight now, that shows that I'm getting stronger again. So this time, I won't increase any weight until I reach 20 reps with the heavy set. THEN, I'll increase both the middle and heavy sets (by what, wells see hen I get there). My only concern is getting 20 reps with the 185 again. Was this a freak-set (good lunch, more rest time between sets, etc.), or will I do this every time now? We'll have to see.

[myliftingjournal]

Disappointing Return Workout

Today was my first day back to the gym, in terms of working on anything other than my legs - it was "Rep-Chest Day". Doctor's orders were to feel free to return to the gym, just lift 25% of what I normally lift, so I was clueless going in as to how much weight I was going to lift today. We decided to start with the 135 for 20 reps warmup to see where I was. Of course it was easy, but embarrassingly not AS easy as it always is. My left arm also hurt like I'd never even been to Physical Therapy before, ya know? The forearm hurt again, my bicep hurt when I lowered the bar to my chest, my shoulder hurt some...it just sucked. We figured that instead of going lower in weight, I'd try with my regular weight (this was rep-day - we use lighter weight on this day anyway), but just less reps - like less than 10. Here was what I did (legend: weight/reps) 135/20 185/8 185/5 I stopped at 8 because I couldn't get 10 (embarrassing right? I know. I got 15 easily with that 28 days previous). The last set, though I stopped at 5 (which was the goal), I felt like I could've gotten another 8. But again, there was definitely pain in the arm. The only places where I didn't get (much) pain was when I was on the hammer presses: Hammer Incline = 70/30 (goal was 20) Hammer flat = 70/20 Hammer dips = 140/30 (that's 70 Lbs on each side). So, I'm a little upset at the lack of weight that I did today, as well as the fact that it actually felt heavy, or hard to do! A real confidence & ego buster, I'll tell you. On top of that, though the stretches and arm-massages do seem to help some, I'm beginning to wonder if it's too early to say if the Physical Therapy's really helping (I've only had 4 out of 8 sessions so far), or if I'm wasting my money going there, since even a short chest workout with light weight caused my arm to hurt like it did before I started with them...