So Much For a Deload...

My thoughts going into last night's training session were to take a deload in the bench and to attempt some ring dips.  That was basically it.  Well, as I have mentioned before, even the best laid plans do not work out as well as we would like.

I started warming up, and felt pretty good.  I warm-up with a lax ball, and try to smash any kinks I may have in my pecs/back/lats.  Then I rumble roll for about ten minutes trying to isolate whatever the lax ball did not get.

My workout went like this:

Bench:  45/15/15, 95/10, 135/10, 185/5, 225/3, 275/3, 315/3/3/3 (Huge Post Surgery PR)

Orange Band Assisted Pull-Ups:  5/4/4/4/4

Ring Dips:  1/2/3/3/2/1- I did not attempt a ladder workout on purpose.  That is just the way it worked out.

Ring Rows:  5/5/5/5/5

After my tricep surgery in June, 2012, any major lifting accomplishments are tagged with a post surgery PR.  Before my surgery, what I consider my best bench workout took place in 2008.  Taken from my training journal back then; 315/5, 365/5, 405/5, 425/3/3/3.  That really isn't that great in the big scheme of things, but I thought and still think that is pretty good.  I am not sure I will ever get to those weights again, but time will tell.  When I was throwing back in 2007 and 2008, I was convinced that if I had a good bench session the week of a meet, I would have a PR.  I completed this training session on a Tuesday night, after school.  That Saturday I competed in a meet at Baldwin Wallace College.  It was a type of last chance qualifier for hammer throwers in the OH, NY, & PA area.  I PR'd in the hammer by about 3m (10') that meet, and still finished about 50' behind the top guys.  That was my trend back then.  Whether by coincidence or not, every training session I benched over 405lbs. in I had a PR that meet week.  As you can imagine, it did not happen very often.  I went two years, from 2005-2007 without a hammer PR.  I was still able to manage great performances and finishes, but without the PR.

As a side note, my training partner and I are entered in a Powerlifting/Olympic Lifting type competition on August 16, 2014 at Crossfit Boomtown in Rochester, NY.  The meet consists of 6 events; squat, bench, deadlift, front squat, snatch, and clean & jerk.  Each person on the team will complete 3 of the events.  The total amount of weight lifted in all 6 events will be added together, then divided by their combined bodyweight.  The team with the best weight lifted to body weight ratio will be declared the winner.  It will take a little bit of strategy in figuring out which events each of us will participate in.  I am not and have never been a very good Olympic weight lifter.  My best gym lifts are 260# in the snatch and 335# in the clean & jerk, at a bodyweight of about 290#.  This was back in the summer of 2008.  I say gym lifts because I have never competed in an official Olympic weight lifting meet.  I will probably complete the squat/bench portions of the meet.  My partner will complete the snatch and clean