Benching at Victory Baptist Church

Today I had the opportunity to lift at Victory Baptist Church, located in Rochester, NY.  A lot of my friends have had nothing but great things to say about the guys who trained there.  I met the assistant Pastor when I arrived, and he gave me a tour of the facility.  I never would have thought that a community center located at a church would have a powerlifting team and MMA team training at the same time.  The lead pastor helps coach the MMA team.  Not something you hear on a regular basis.  

Half of the guys that benched last night are lifting in the WNPF meet I am on August 2nd.  The other half of the guys are lifting in the RPS meet on August, 9th.  Two separate federations on back-to-back weekends lifting in the community center of a church in Rochester, NY.  It is great news for the sport of powerlifting for the same facility to have two separate meets by two very different federations on consecutive weekends.  From what I hear about the RPS meet, one of the sessions has already sold out!

My training last night went as follows:

Bench:  45/10, 95/10, 135/10, 185/5, 225/5, 275/3, 315/1, 335/1 (PR), 350/1 (PR)  The last two reps with the press commands similar to the WNPF.  Huge post surgery bench PR by 25lbs., from what I lifted about a month ago with my brother Frank

Lat Pulldowns:  10/10/10/10/10 at the 10th pin
Orange Band Assisted Pull-Ups:  3/3/3

Push-Ups on DB:  10/10/10

DB Curls:  40/5, 45/5/5, 50/5/5, 55/5/5

It was one of the best bench training sessions i have had in years.  Definitely the best since my surgery.  I felt accepted right from the very moment I stepped foot into their gym.  It is not everyday I get to train with guys in the 132, 181, 198, 220, 242, 275, and heavyweight classes at the same time.  Jeremy, one of the lifters training for the RPS meet, hit bench numbers of 405/3, 455/1, 475/1, 500/1.  Not a bad training session at all.

Below is the video of my 350lb. bench.

Charles