Back from the Abyss

So I haven't posted in about a month...tssk tssk, but I have been lifting.

I won't post all those workouts as I don't have them written down and I do not remember all of them. So I will just write some bullet point notes on how its been going.

- First couple weeks of bench was a bit off. Since I took 3 weeks off from benching that is to be expected. I just recently had a workout where I did doubles and did 1 set at 275 and 3 more at 265 all with pauses. The 275 was @~9.5 and the 265s were @~9, so that's a PR. Since I have been home and going to Gold's I didn't have a way to overload with bands or chains or anything, so I just bought a pair of average (green) bands. The power rack at Gold's is the same as at UCLA, so I set up for band-lightened bench and the increase of weight was definitely a shock to the CNS. I was only able to work up to triples at 365 which were pretty hard, and my PR is 405. So I need to re-acclimate my CNS to heavy weight. I have also been hammering the incline press and triceps. I definitely think my bench has improved due to my strength increase in incline (did 6 sets of 2 with 225 @9 - huge PR) and increased tricep size/hypertrophy.

- Squat is getting better by leaps and bounds. I just did a double with 385 @9 which is a PR. Nothing too noteworthy as far as the training methods.

- I dedicated myself to improve my deadlift lockout after what happened at Nationals. So I did a few weeks worth of heavy rack pulls (was able to hit 600 @10 from just above the knee). Yesterday I switched to band-lightened deadlifts, so I could get some form work from off the ground and still overload the lockout.

I will start posting daily again this coming Monday.