Upping the Weights

I'm psyched. My weightlifting is in the stage where you make tremendous gains every week. I think my body's finally starting to remember how to lift, plus I'm just plain getting stronger.

On November 11, I was happy because I got 135 pounds for a single in the bench press. 135 is significant because it's the weight of the bar plus a 45 pound plate on each side. It's nice because there's no bigger plates to put on (unless you're a monster putting on 100 pound plates). It's just nice to have the big plates on each side instead of a bunch of little ones that don't add up to 135.

Well, last night, I did 135 pounds on the bench press for a set of 5! Then I went beyond and did a set of 145 for a triple. Next week, I'll get it for 5.

My squat's coming along nicely too, but I saw a huge improvement in my deadlift last night. My previous max was 275 for a single on the deadlift. Last night, I did 255 for a set of 5. Obviously, that 275 is no longer my max, but I'll have to wait until we switch training programs to find out what my max is again. Right now, I'm content to just build strength.

It's funny how your favorite lift can change. I used to hate squats. So much so, that I'd almost make myself sick before squat nights. However, in the program we're doing now, we squat every single workout. On Monday it's sets of 5, on Wednesday, it's front squats, and on Friday it's sets of 3. Now I'm actually starting to enjoy squats, and even bench.