General Well Being and Training Progress:

The groin pull I experienced back in late December is gone. Consequently my squats are headed back up in weight and down in depth. I really don’t like to squat but it is probably the penultimate exercise for core strength. I felt very strong last week and finished with five deep reps at 325 lbs. I am not sure but I think that is a PR. I went on to dead lift two sets of three at 455 lbs. which I know is a PR. My hamstrings have been reminding me of that fact all of this week so far.

My bench press has gone ballistic. Cutting out the speed bench day and putting the heavy decline bench day back in has worked better than I ever dreamed. I had some micro tears in one of my pecs last month and the bruise looked terrible. However it did not hurt at all and I kept pushing the following weeks. I am mixing up the weight and reps and the body shock is really producing results. Adding in heavy lockouts at 2 to 3 inches will boost my shirted bench for sure. I hit 495 lbs. solid last week with just a 46 fury. I will put the 44 on next shirt day and take a shot at 525 and possibly 550, depending on the quality of spotters I can recruit from the gym rats.

Spotters are an unknown at the new gym. I can explain what I want them to do, but not in Spanish. The majority of the guys who look like they can handle the weight are Hispanic and have limited English. They are all willing to help, but having some one grab one side and shift the weight on you is very dangerous.

I have to decide what to do at the Richmond open in April. I am leaning towards equipped bench press only. This will give me the extra time to coach Sid. However, if I do that then Sid might balk at the raw full meet I want him to do as a qualifier for raw nationals. I have a big responsibility to do no harm in my role as mentor to Sid.