Lighter Chest Session at Immortals
In an attempt to get marginally stronger again, I have considered following this Guildsman’s Strength routine.
The problem, however, is that is starts out quite easy. Three sets of eight reps at 60% of my one-rep maximum doesn’t feel like it is doing anything. I know it is, I know that I will work hard for the rest of the session and I know that in a few weeks I’ll be struggling to keep up with the routine…but I’m finding it impossible to start out so low.
The upshot of this is that I’m sort of…half-doing the routine. I do some of it, put the weight wherever feels right and exchange some exercises for others. Overall, this makes it basically pointless because the whole key here is practise and gradual progression.
Anyway, having learned from last time not to start too heavy, I set the bench at 70kg this time instead of 80kg. I also did some research into how close my hands should be during a close-grip bench press and, as a result, set them twice as wide as I had been. Whether this helped or not, I don’t know. The routine was as follows:
Bench Press: 70kg x 10 x 3
Close Grip Bench Press: 60kg X 10 x 3 (+ a set of 8 reps)
Incline Bench Press: 60kg x 7 x 3
Skull Crushers: 25kg x 6 x 2 (+ 15kg x 15)
One Arm Pull-Overs: 6 plates x 8, 6, 6
Pec Dec: 12 plates x 10 (+ partials), 7, 10
Various ab work
My muscles felt quite tired at the end, but didn’t feel too bad the next day. My triceps hurt more than anything, probably from the heavier-than-normal sets of skull crushers. My chest, however, felt fine. A little too fine.