Upper Body Thursday - Bench Press Regression

Funny thing… when setting my workout schedule I made Tuesday a Kettlebell day instead of a football field/track day since Tuesday was supposed to rain. The football field/track day was set for Thursday because there was less chance of rain. Turns out that Tuesday was great weather wise but I did kettlebells due to habit and this morning it was raining. So, I did the upper body workout that I planned to do tomorrow. Since Friday is supposed to be another crappy weather day I will do another leg day this week. This makes Saturday a rest day with Sunday my trail / hill running day.

I think that I have plateuaed with my bench press or am actually regressing. I make progress with everything else that I am doing but am going backwards with this one exercise. The remedy is going to be to change my reps and weights. Next time I will start at a lower weight with reps per set at 15 for set 1, 12 for set 2, 10 for set 3, 8 for set 4, and 6 for set 5. Every set I will increase weight. Hopefully this new approach will allow my weakest muscles to catch up and allow me to progress over the long term.

Thank you for reading.

Warm Up:

• 50 Jumping Jacks (http://youtu.be/dmYwZH_BNd0)
• 40 Squats w/12 kg bar (http://youtu.be/QKKZ9AGYTi4)
• 30 Sit Ups
• 20 Judo Pushups (http://youtu.be/sqiV1mbqbtA)
• 10 Burpees (http://youtu.be/O7_TBHno0Os)

Chest/Back Routine - 1st set is ½ weight and 10 reps to warm up and focus on form. Then 5 sets with 5 reps each at max weight.

• Bench Press (http://youtu.be/gRVjAtPip0Y)
• Barbell Row (http://youtu.be/Xglwz5hwRYs) ** I start from the floor every rep and bring barbell to my chest. Purpose is to exactly replicate the bench press in reverse.
• Barbell Shoulder Press (http://youtu.be/8gVEdhS5AEs)
• Pull Ups / Dips / Chin Ups

Notes / Results:

• Time: 60 minutes
• Weight: 193
• Barbell Row
• Previous High: 4@165
• 135, 145, 155, 165, 4@170
• Press
• Previous High: 3@100 or 1@105
• Sets: 75, 85, 95, 3@100, 3@100
• Bench Press
• Previous high: 3@155
• Sets: 135, 4@145/2@145, 3@145/2@145, 135, 3@145/2@145
• Pull Ups/Dips/Chin Ups - Done in succession with no rest as one set
• Sets: 5/5/4, 2@2&½ /2& ½ /3@2&½, 3/ 5#/3, 2/7.5#/3, 2/10#/2
• # indicates use of weight belt so 5# means 5 reps done with 5 pound weight belt
• Finisher - 10 Burpees. My shoulder is really feeling it so I didn’t want to push it on a finisher exercise.