I will be doing all my ME bench work paused for a while to build strength off my chest (instead of bouncing it), so my bench workouts will be even more lame for some time. Tonight I tried benching with my elbows flared, just to experiment. I was not really able to tell if I am better with my elbows flared or not. Being so used to tucking my elbows I felt very weird flaring. Overall, this was the heaviest I’ve gone pausing reps, and I’ve never done paused reps since switching to full rom on bench. Speed work was faster than usual - I did those flared, so maybe that’s a sign.
My bodyweight, despite running 3x/week for the last month has actually gone up about four pounds. I’ve been weighing a steady 232, while looking quite a bit leaner. Go figure.
Warmups:
Bench Press
CG Bench
OH Press
OH Extensions
External Rotations
Paused Bench Press (elbows flared):
135×10x2
185×3x1
220×3x1
250×3x1
285×3x1 (PR)
250×3x1
DE Bench Press:
205×3x10
Decline CG Bench:
245×5x1
265×5x1
285×4x1 (PR)
245×5x1
255×5x1
Paused, Exaggerated Flat DB Bench:
100×5x3 (PR)
CG Pushdowns (’hard tower’):
108×6x1
113×6x1
108×8x1
+ stretching + power yoga (30min)
Duration: 90 minutes