I Prefer Your Feet To Most People's Butts

Workout date: 5/3/17

Bench press for the second time in 15 days?  How could that be?  Well, I did have advance notice that it would be showing up some time in May.  The 3RM bench press is on one of our benchmark workouts this year.  I missed it when it was programmed in February, but I knew it would show up again in May, August, and November.  I was a little surprised that it came up so early in May since we had a bench press WOD in mid-April, but I was definitely interested in seeing how much I could bench.  Unlike the workout in April where we were using a moderate weight with a lot of volume, we'd be benching heavy today.  That was the focal point of the workout.  Once that was complete, we'd have a cash-out of 50 GHD sit-ups and 25 calories on the ski erg.

Coach Jenna was back for the Wednesday 7:30 and she had a Brady Bunch-esque class of 3 girls and 3 boys.  (Spoiler: I believe that makes me Peter based on the results of this WOD.)  The female contingent consisted of Kristen, Christa, and Crystal.  (Fine, there was no Crystal.  Julie Foucher was the third member of that group.  I'm just an alliteration addict.)  The three guys were myself, Cline, and Javi.  Jenna originally wanted us to split into three pairs for the bench press, but we were going to have a lot of time for the strength portion of this workout and it made more sense to all of us to just use one bench for the ladies and one bench for the fellas.  Kristen and Christa ended up having their own bench anyways when Julie decided that it would be safer for her to use DBs on the incline bench.  The last thing anyone wanted was a barbell coming down on her baby bump.

Jenna asked me to demo the bench press as she showed us the proper way to spot your partner as they lifted.  She demonstrated how to give a proper assist off of the rack.  The barbell we were using was still empty at this stage, so I decided to have a little fun with Jenna.  She assisted me in taking the barbell off of the rack and kept her hands on it for a few seconds.  As soon as she let go of the barbell, I pretended that it weighed a thousand pounds and let it come crashing to my chest.  Her eyes got big when it happened, but then she realized that her demo volunteer was being a jerk.  After performing a couple of reps, I was done with my demo duties.  As Jenna was finishing up her speech on the bench press, she placed one of her feet where our head would rest during the workout.  And that led to this wonderful exchange:

Jenna: I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put my foot where your heads are going to be.
Cline: I'm sure people's butts have been there recently.  And I prefer your feet to most people's butts.

It was a fair point.  Those benches are used for sitting more than anything else.  Can't imagine 10 seconds of Jenna's sneaker on one required an apology.

Javi, Cline, and I began our journey to a 3RM with sets at 95 pounds.  Javi went first and I could tell he was going to be really good at the bench press.  He had a very intense setup before he performed the lift.  It was a giveaway that he had done a lot of bench press before.  (If you watched me prepare to squat, you would probably get the impression that I'm an experienced lifter simply based on the very specific way I set up.  And I have done my fair share of squatting the last 4 years.)  I wasn't sure how much he would end up lifting, but it was likely going to be more than me and Cline.  Cline told me before we began that his 1RM was 150, a number that seemed outdated to me.  Cline has definitely gotten a lot stronger over the last year or so and I felt confident that his 3RM by the end of the day would be 150 or higher, putting that old 1RM to shame. As for me, my 3RM was 175 pounds, so the goal was to get 180 pounds before I touched the ski erg and the GHD machine.

I'm often the pokey guy when it comes to strength WODs like this one, but Javi and Cline were good about keeping things moving.  In fact, we may have been moving too fast.  All three of us got through 95, 115, and 135 pounds.  Cline wanted to slow down after the set at 135, both in how fast we were adding weight to the barbell and how quickly we were racing through our sets.  He was thinking that 145 might be his last three-rep set and we still had 15 minutes left to lift.  So he took a break while Javi and I moved on to 155.  Neither of us had too much trouble at that weight, although I did a horrible job as Javi's spotter.  I thought both sides of the barbell were over the rack as he prepared to let go of the weight, but the right side was slightly in front of the rack.  I was guiding the barbell but not really holding on to it, so when Javi went to drop it into the rack, the right side missed.  I was there to grab it before fell on Javi, but it was a scare that could have been easily avoided if I had been doing my job as a spotter correctly.  (This is why Jenna gave all of those instructions at the beginning!)

Cline came back into the rotation to attempt 145 and he got all three reps.  I was off to the side as Javi spotted him.  It looked like Javi had assisted him on the last rep, but I couldn't tell for sure.  I thought Cline would definitely know, but he wasn't sure whether Javi helped him.  Jenna asked Javi straight up and Javi admitted to giving Cline some assistance at the end.  That meant Cline's set wouldn't count and he'd have to do it over again.

Javi was going to continue adding 20 pounds to the barbell for his next set, but I only added 15 because I didn't want to tie my PR.  Javi got through 175 with no problems and I made it through 170 without getting stuck.  I knew it had been awhile since I had tested out my 3RM, so it was possible that my score of 175 was outdated as much as Cline's figures were.  Speaking of Cline, he came back and did 145 over again and was successful without any help from Javi.  Three reps at 145?  There was no way that 150 was his 1RM.

The jump from 155 to 175 was the last 20 pound increase that Javi would make.  He only jumped 10 pounds for his next set at 185.  I kept a close eye on him and the barbell as the weight got heavier, but Javi was still looking strong as he completed three reps at 185.  I was up next for a PR attempt at 180.    I fully expected this to be the set where I'd get stuck (or at the very least, wobbly) on rep 2 or 3.  Instead I had another solid set.  The barbell was definitely getting heavy, but I hadn't hit my sticking point yet.

I had told Cline earlier on that 150 pounds might be his 3RM, but it certainly wasn't his 1RM.  I thought he was about to prove me right as he got ready for his set at 150.  He got the first rep, but then he got stuck on his second rep and needed Javi to help him put the barbell back on the rack.  So maybe 150 isn't his 3RM.  But I still contend that if we put 155 or 160 on the barbell, he would have completed one rep, so I'm sticking with my story that his 1RM is not 150.

Javi added 10 more pounds to the barbell for his next set.  His first two reps looked good, but then I thought I might have to relieve him of the third rep.  He had to really fight that one, but he managed to keep pushing it up as I got ready to take hold of the barbell.  As soon as he locked out his arms, I took the barbell from him.  It was a successful set at 195.  I wasn't going to be as daring as Javi.  I only added 5 pounds to what I used in my last set, making the total 185.  I had already managed a PR, so I wasn't expecting to go much higher from there.  Having only added 5 pounds, you would think that the barbell wouldn't feel much different from the last set, but it did.  Like Javi, I was strong on the first two reps.  Like Javi, I had to battle a bit for the last rep.  I got it though.  My new 3RM of 180 pounds lasted less than five minutes.  The new mark was 185 pounds.

I think both Javi and I thought our time was up and that we needed to move on to the cash-out, but Jenna told us we could do one more set if we wanted to.  For Javi, that was a no-brainer.  He had just gotten 195, but wouldn't 200 sound a hell of a lot sexier?  We loaded up 200 for him and he moved through three reps at that weight much better than he had during the set at 195.  He had a slight hiccup at 195, but Javi looked really strong throughout this workout.

I added another five pounds so that I could try my luck at 190.  Knowing that I was starting to get tired, I probably should have moved with a little more urgency during this set.  Instead, I slowly got the first rep.  On rep two, I had to fight very hard to get my arms extended at the top.  I tried to convince myself that I could handle one more rep, but after a tapped my chest a third time, the barbell went close to nowhere.  Javi had to pull the barbell off of me and up into the rack.  190 would be a new 2RM for me, but I'd fall a rep short on the 3RM.

With only 2 ski ergs in the gym, I thought that we would be staggering our starting times for the cash-out, but that turned out not to be the case.  Two people would start on the ski erg, while the other four would either be working on the GHD machine or doing ab-mat sit-ups.  Julie and Kristen led things off on the ski erg, Christa started with an ab-mat, and the three guys took up residence on the GHD machines.  I thought I would be able to break these up 20-15-15 and maintain decent form, but I have to admit my form was pretty awful during this cash out.  We had time to set up our respective GHD machines before we began, but each one I sat on wasn't exactly right and no matter how I adjusted the seat, it just felt off.  Early on my form was good, but soon I was flailing and not using my legs as much as I should.  Once I reached that stage, I just wanted to be done.  When I wrapped up my 50 sit-ups, I turned to see that Christa and Javi were on the ski ergs, meaning I would have to wait (Cline would also end up waiting).  Jenna had told us in advance that we could trim the wait time off of our final time, but it felt weird having a break in the middle of such a short cash-out.  Julie was holding a plank now that she was done with the ski erg, so I followed her lead and got into a low plank.  I held it for 42 seconds before Javi gave way on the ski erg.

I don't know exactly how fast I completed my 25 calories on the ski erg, but I think I went pretty fast.  Christa was on the erg while I was holding my plank and I finished up my 25 calories just before she did.  I got out of the way and let Cline take my erg so that he didn't have to hold his plank any longer. Final time for the cash-out: 4:52 (includes 42 seconds in a low plank).

That would mark the end of another abbreviated week at KOP for me.  I would be in New York City on Thursday and Friday.  When I returned home, the urge to workout on the weekend just wasn't there.  I'd have plenty to work on come Monday.

Monday preview: Another benchmark lifting WOD.  A suspiciously familiar cash-out.  And Bryan tries to convince me that bar muscle-ups are not a thing of my past.