Phase 3 Day 51

Bench
275x3; 275x3; 275x3; 275x3; 275x3; 275x3; 275x3; 275x3; 275x3; 275x5

Push Press
135x3; 155x3; 185x3; 185x1; 135x1

Cable Row
135x15; 135x15; 135x15

Farmers Walk
125 per hand for "around the world."  Maybe 150 yards total.

Poundstone Curls
30 reps... stopped because my forearms were falling apart after the farmers walks.

Notes
Excellent bench session.  This might be the best I've ever felt benching.  I felt like I could have done endless triples at 275.  The last set of 5 wasn't really a "rep out" as much as testing my fatigue level after 27 reps.  That one set told me a lot.  Basically, those triples are the type of sets I think most people should do if they choose to work with lower reps.  None were even close to a max or failure.  But they were still heavy.

I think this approach is great for managing fatigue while still getting in very respectable volume with heavy weight.  I have 5 weeks left in St. Louis.  I intend to break my all time bench PR of 340 before I leave.  For me, the key is going to be transitioning from this new mini-phase into true strength work.

Over the years I've developed a pretty good instinct as to how to shape my training approach week to week.  With the 50/20 I was conditioning, getting in a lot of rep work to groove the lifts, and also building some size.  I'm now in the middle part of the progression.  For this phase I want to maintain decent volume while getting re-accustomed to heavy weight.  The final, and shortest phase will be hitting heavy max weights.

I won't be doing push press again for a while.  Felt huge lumber extension.  No bueno.  The other guys wanted to do it though, so I'm not going to argue since I get my way a lot.