A pretty strong month of lifting overall. Isometrics are continuing to yield decent results, even in lifts I no longer train dynamically. A miracle for aging lifters who need to baby their joints a little.
Squat: 490 lbs. x 3, 505 lbs. x 1, 525 lbs. x 1, 545 lbs. x 1 (tied all-time PR)
Front squat: 275 lbs. x 3, 315 lbs. x 1, 335 lbs. x 1, 355 lbs. x 1 (PR)
Also had a close front squat fail with 365 lbs.
Seated overhead press: 190 lbs. x 2 sets x 5
Bench press: 320 lbs. x 3 sets x 6, 385 lbs. x 1
Of course I gave 395 a shot. Of course I didn't make it.
Incline bench press: 265 lbs. x 5, 310 lbs. x 1 (PR)
Deadlift: 520 lbs. x 2, 535 lbs. x 1, 570 lbs. x 1 (PR)
I made some adjustments to this 12-week bench press cycle. Substituted seated for standing overhead presses, and will be using these exclusively as my bench press assistance exercise. So instead of:
Day 1: standing OHP + close-grip BP
Day 2: regular BP + incline BP
I'll be doing:
Day 1: seated OHP (heavy) + CGBP
Day 2: regular BP + seated OHP (light)
Not 100% sure, but back when I did both seated and standing presses regularly I recall them being about the same. E.g. my all-time best standing press in 245 lbs. for a single, and I may have gotten 255x1 on the seated press. So I'm curious to see how it goes this time round.
I can't tell if the close-grip bench presses are doing anything for me. I use them as a light second BP day, but lately I've been wondering if they're just useless volume and if I wouldn't be better off dumping them altogether, focusing on going heavier on my regular BPs. Adding volume in general has been pretty much of a crapshoot for me when it comes to strength gains - sometimes it works, mostly it doesn't. I'll probably stick with CGBP for another training cycle at least.
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