Birthday Blog

As a birthday present I finally managed 3*5 for the incline bench press at 50kg this morning. Woot! 

This was the fourth time of asking at 50kg for 3*5 and actually was really quite easy given my three previous attempts at this weight.  Under the starting strength (SS) protocol, I actually should have deloaded the weight by 10% for today as I had failed at 5 reps three workouts in a row.  However:

• it was my birthday;
• I had increased reps at each previous attempt; and,
• I really wanted it.

So I ignored the book and achieved.  Actual workout this morning was as follows:

Warm Up

Bench Press
1*10*20kg
1*5*30kg
1*3*40kg
1*1*45kg
3*5*50kg

Bent Over Row 
1*5*20kg

Power Clean
1*5*20kg
1*5*25kg
1*5*25kg
 
I am still avoiding lower body movements due to a torn quad muscle but still worked a few power cleans in for some technique and just to see how the quad responded. 

I also tried a bent over row for the first time since my previous and first go on SS. However,, my hamstrings are simply too tight to perform this movement strictly and my back was certainly not parallel to the floor.  I find this dissapointing but not unexpected.  It is something I would like to work on but think I should first prioritise fixing my quad and reaching my strength goals. 

I will comment on both my goals and intention for increasing hamstring flexibility in future posts.