#rep chest

Rep chest day Basically, I got the same at last week, but considering that I was partially sick this week, that was good. Last week, I learned that if I needed a good spot, I could ask one of the trainers. However, this day, all the guys were busy training people, and 2 scratch girl trainers were left behind the desk, so I went to ask one of the sales guys. Now, 2 out of the 3 guys looked like they lifted, but when I asked, they all looked confused that I'd asked, and tried to push it onto the others. Finally, the middle guy (2nd largest) guy said he would. Now, one thing I really hate is when I try to explain to the guy that's about to spot me just exactly how I want him to do it, and he blows off everything I'm saying by trying to explain how over-qualified he is, only to later show me that he didn't have a clue as to how to spot correctly; and this was another one of those guys. For, instead of doing what I'd instructed, I can see him looking at the TV monitors, looking around - by my 5th rep, I'd decided in my mind that I couldn't rely on him. Granted, I got the same this week as I did the previous, and he didn't grab the bar on my last rep, but a good spotter who'd just listened to me and done what I'd told him may have been able to push me for 1 more rep. And the other thing that sucks is that a good spotter will set the stage for a great rest of the workout, but a bad spotter will destroy your mood - just totally threw off my game and motivation. So I finished up with some hammer inclines and left (the original plan was to hot my shoulders, aa I'd dine last week. Bit then, things came up the next day and I never got to hit shoulders this week. So yeah, if I don't want to drive to Chicago every time I work chest (because my buddy who trains out there does know how to spot, as do all the trainers I know there), but want to stay out in Schaumburg, IL on rep-chest day, then I REALLY need to find a good spotter, because all these poser-spotters suck, and they're messing up my lifting goals.

Last Saturday was my first week back to the gym after being sick for 2 weeks and losing some weight. I'd also been working every other Saturday, so my lifts have been backing down. So my first day back is heavy chest day. 1) bench press: -warm up set of 10 185, 205, and 225 are all the same that I got 3 weeks prior, so that was nice, but since my heavy lifting spotter wasn't present this day, I didn't want to go heavier. So I did what we used to do: end the lift with a rep-set of 185. The only thing that bothered me though was that I'm basically starting all over. I mean, one time I repped out 10 with 225, and now I can only get 3. So it's a humbling experience, but maybe I can get back up there, but without all the injuries, since I have a better idea of how to do it right this time. 2) hammer incline press: since we do heavy weight/less reps on Saturdays, and I didn't know where I was anymore with my lifts, I just started with 90 Lbs on each arm. We went up in weight for each set and tried for 5 reps. 3) "cow milking" is a new name I heard one of our new lifting buddies call it, which makes some sense, since because of the motion. You're sitting down (weights on the side), feet kicked back and elbows on the preacher in front. They handles are the at your hands. You push the handles forward for a rep. Technically speaking, in terms of sitting position, I sort of feel like it's more of a sport bike or something, but I can also see the cow milking idea. So I did this for 3 sets: 30/20/10, raising the weight for each set. 4) immediately after these, I jumped onto the hammer dips. Yeah, there was only 140 Lbs total on it, but I only weigh about 163, and we're doing them slowly. So though I was trying for 30, my arms literally gave out at 25. So tomorrow we do heavy chest again. I've been to the gym twice this week so far, one day being rep-chest day, so I'm interested in seeing what I can do this week.

Today was my first day back to the gym, in terms of working on anything other than my legs - it was "Rep-Chest Day". Doctor's orders were to feel free to return to the gym, just lift 25% of what I normally lift, so I was clueless going in as to how much weight I was going to lift today. We decided to start with the 135 for 20 reps warmup to see where I was. Of course it was easy, but embarrassingly not AS easy as it always is. My left arm also hurt like I'd never even been to Physical Therapy before, ya know? The forearm hurt again, my bicep hurt when I lowered the bar to my chest, my shoulder hurt some...it just sucked. We figured that instead of going lower in weight, I'd try with my regular weight (this was rep-day - we use lighter weight on this day anyway), but just less reps - like less than 10. Here was what I did (legend: weight/reps) 135/20 185/8 185/5 I stopped at 8 because I couldn't get 10 (embarrassing right? I know. I got 15 easily with that 28 days previous). The last set, though I stopped at 5 (which was the goal), I felt like I could've gotten another 8. But again, there was definitely pain in the arm. The only places where I didn't get (much) pain was when I was on the hammer presses: Hammer Incline = 70/30 (goal was 20) Hammer flat = 70/20 Hammer dips = 140/30 (that's 70 Lbs on each side). So, I'm a little upset at the lack of weight that I did today, as well as the fact that it actually felt heavy, or hard to do! A real confidence & ego buster, I'll tell you. On top of that, though the stretches and arm-massages do seem to help some, I'm beginning to wonder if it's too early to say if the Physical Therapy's really helping (I've only had 4 out of 8 sessions so far), or if I'm wasting my money going there, since even a short chest workout with light weight caused my arm to hurt like it did before I started with them...