First off, thank you all for giving enough of a shit to read my blog, you people rock!  I know I promised an update after I completed my new bench max on Sunday but life got in the way and I’m not getting to this until now.  My new max is 315!  This represents a 64lb increase from my starting max of 251lbs!  As my buddy Dickens told me, “You’re back in the 300 club brother!”.   This works out to a 25.50% improvement in my 1RM in just 6 weeks!  I’ve been concentrating on form so please note that this was a clean paused rep.  I got a little shaky in the middle of the push so I may accessorize some board work but given the volume I’m facing in the intense cycle I think the issue will likely resolve itself.

Now I have 2 weeks called “switching phase” where I’m going to do 3 days a week: Pull/Push/Squat in the 6 – 8 set range using the Push Band to test velocity.  This is kind of like a de-load before I enter the intense cycle which I’ll update you on at the end of week 8, sufficed to say it’s going to be brutal.

Side note: I started my running yesterday and am doing 1 mile a day for week 1 and 2 and then working my way up to 5 miles a day over the next 8 weeks followed by dropping down to a 3 day a week running schedule at 3 – 5 miles a day.