A personal training & food journal. Read about our weight loss progress at Train With Ron in Chicago, our nutritional habits and the life changes we're making to get in shape and stay healthy!

Took me 8 months to accomplish this goal!

I did it!

After my third – and abbreviated – Pure Steel cycle, I bench pressed 250 pounds last night and got myself on the board at TWR!  This was a major victory and big time progress for me.  After my first full twelve week cycle, I was able to get 195 pounds up.  After the second full twelve week cycle, I got 237.5 pounds, which would have been 240 except I screwed up and left a 2.5 plate off the bar.  That’s a 22% jump, which I was really excited about. Well, that odd number is no longer my personal best… although I now check the bar before every lift since that incident.  This cycle was 8 weeks long, but I went up another 5% in maximum weight.  The total jump was about 28% over the last 6 months of the year.  That’s a lot!

When Matt first approached me about joining Pure Steel, I was excited, but apprehensive, too.  I had seen those guys over there, the “real” workout guys who were building muscle and lifting what looked, to me, like extraordinary amounts of weight.  I’d seen guys at the gym doing it before, and I’d even lifted some weights earlier in life, but never in an organized, well run, documented, and planned program.  I didn’t think I could compete and after all, there’s a certain amount of competitiveness among males that occurs naturally – toss in the idea of weightlifting, and the prospect of not being able to hang with the big boys can seem a little intimidating.  What I found, however, was not competition – it was teamwork.  Everyone wanted to see everyone else doing well, we cheered each other on, held each other accountable, and pushed each other’s limits – and everyone benefited.  That part of the program really got me hooked – everyone working towards the same goal of competing successfully with ourselves rather than each other.

Last night, on my one mile jog/walk to the gym, I got mentally prepared.  I told myself I was definitely going to get the full 240 this time, and I was going to take a shot at 250.  During the warm up sets I felt pretty good although I did struggle a little bit with 225 on the 3rd reps of each of the two sets, but I didn’t allow that to change my mentality… that weight was going up.  I got 240 relatively easily and I believed – KNEW that I could get 250.  I brought the 250 down all the way, got it through the first zone easily… got stuck for a second at the top of the second zone, then thought “TRICEPS” (it didn’t hurt Matt yelled “TRICEPS” at me when I hit that blockage) and slowly pushed through the end of the rep.  SUCCESS!!!

One part of the weekly workouts I think has had a huge impact on my success is the part where we do plyometric push-ups and push-up holds.  The plyometric push ups  (do a regular push up, but push up with as much force as possible to try to lift your upper body and hands OFF the ground) help a lot with the very top end of the bench press move, and the push-up holds have really gotten my core stronger as well as helped with Zone One – the very first part of the bench press motion that gets the weight off your chest and past the 2-3 inch line above it, where your arms/triceps start to take the move over (from your shoulders and chest).  I struggled the most in that area when we first started.

Aside from the weight, I’ve noticed a tremendous difference in my arms, shoulders, and chest not only strength-wise, but also looks-wise.  I’ve definitely bulked up a lot and am starting to get that “V” shape.  It feels good!  I can’t wait for next year.  I’m thinking 275 by the end of 2011 – that’d be amazing!

I should add that Matt threw 425 up like it was a toaster oven he was lifting.  He did one rep and it didn’t really seem like he was anywhere near the end of the line.  He followed that up with 31 reps at 225 pounds.  My jaw hit the floor.  I must say, if you’re going to have a guy helping you reach your maximum strength potential, Matt is definitely a guy who can get you there… he knows exactly what he’s doing and it shows when he’s teaching – but it’s even more impressive when you know he is teaching you exactly what he does to get stronger and you see him pushing 425 and making it look easy.

What a year 2010 was for me physically, mentally, and spiritually.  I am a new man with a new life and a new lifestyle, and IT IS GOOD!!!