What’s your Max Bench Press? Here’s mine, beat that!

Today’s Workout Log

“Prep Week” – Beginning Maximum Strength program with light prep week to make sure I have the proper form and feel for each new exercise.

Today was also “Packing Day” which I’ll explain below, so I only did one set of each exercise in today’s workout just to get familiar with the last of the new moves.

Warm-up

30 minutes of dynamic stretching and soft-tissue work

Workout

SuperSet

One-Arm Dumbbell Presses – 5-pound Dumbbell – Sets: 6/-/-/-
Close-Grip Chin-ups – Bodyweight – Sets: 6/-/-/-

SuperSet

Push-ups – Bodyweight – Sets: 10/-/-
One-Arm Dumbbell Rows – 5-pound Dumbbell – Sets: 8/-/-

SuperSet

Standing External Rotations – 5-pound Dumbbells – Sets: 12/-/-
Side Bridge – Bodyweight – Sets: 30 seconds/-/-

Packing Day

“Packing Day” is a series of 5 tests to be performed at the beginning of the “Maximum Strength” program to determine your one-rep max for each lift. At the end of the 4-month program, you perform the same tests again on “Moving Day” and compare your results.

Box Squat = 165 pounds
Bench Press = 195 pounds
Trap Bar Deadlift = 235 pounds
3-Rep Weighted Chin-ups = Bodyweight + 35 pounds
Broad Jump = 8 feet and 1 inch

Workout Journal Notes

Let the games begin!

Yes, the Olympics are already well under way, but my own personal gold-medal quest started today.

I’ve finished my “prep week” and am now familiar with all the new exercises in the “Maximum Strength” program.

That means I’ll be officially beginning Phase 1, week 1, and day 1 on Monday!

That also means that today was “Packing Day,” in which I measured all my one-rep max’s in the 5 suggested exercises.

The point is to compare today’s numbers with the one-rep max’s I can throw up at the end of the program, and, hopefully, marvel at the amazing progress I’ve made in just a few months.

One things for sure: I definitely have some serious room for improvement.

My focus on “Packing Day,” and throughout the rest of my exercise days, was to maintain perfect form at all times.

In the past, I’ve gotten caught up in the hype of simply trying to pack on more weight plates, while sacrificing form in the process.

Luckily, I’ve avoided major injury, but performing lifts correctly, even with less weight, is much safer and more beneficial in the long run.

All that said, it was still a little disappointing to see my puny one-rep maxes, but, from now on, form trumps weight all day every day!

One thing that was glaringly obvious right off the bat is how much I’ve been neglecting my hamstrings and glutes.

I must have been using much more quads than I thought on squats up until now, because box squats force you to activate and push from your hams and glutes, and my one-rep max was significantly lower than my less-than-perfect-form regular squat would have been.

Like I said though, at least my max’s leave much to be desired, and I plan on increasing those numbers big time, while building a much more stable and balanced foundation.

Here we go!