The Epic Fail

I blame the Rip Crushers I did on Friday and still haven't quite recovered from because my triceps are uncharacteristically sore. Still, I never let a little soreness get in the way of a good workout. Rip Crushers are so much harder than the standard skull crusher because it's a two-part movement. I use less weight and grit my teeth through three sets at 40 lbs but I wasn't expecting this to really impact my Benching today. Maybe I'm laying blame in the wrong place?

I had no intentions of doing HIIT cardio today but 5 minutes into a leisurely lope on the Precor and I suddenly remember that HIIT is best done two or three times a week, and well it's Monday so really I should be doing HIIT today. I'd planned to do 20 minutes on the elliptical anyway, so I break into a run as fast as you can stride for 45 seconds, and then drop down to a pleasant jog for 75 seconds. Until it's been nearly 21 minutes.

I really dislike the new benches, because even with yoga blocks under my feet, I don't feel as secure as with my feet flat on the ground. I don't ever feel properly grounded, with my back in a slight bridge. I work my way up to 125 lbs like last week. I feel pretty good. I actually get 6 reps for the first set. Yay! And then I get 5 reps for the 2nd set and wonder if I can get one more. And I don't. EPIC FAIL! My right elbow crumples and the bar winds up resting on the right side of my jaw only because I've had the sense to tuck my chin into my neck. I can't move the bar. And I can barely squeak out Help Help Help. No one hears me although there are people all around. I try to squeak out louder. It's hard to yell when the bar is resting on your jaw, keeping you from fully opening your mouth. Finally, a woman on the adjacent bench hears me and rushes over. Then all the guys rush over. M pulls the bar up and racks it on the low stay.

I've seen the woman before but I always confuse her with her identical twin sister. She tells me that she'll spot me cuz she understands not wanting a guy's crotch in your face while you're benching. I decide I need to "get back on the horse" so I strip the bar and reset it back on the top stay, and replace all the weights. The woman comes over and I tell her "It's my third set so I'll be happy if I just get 3 reps," and that's all I get. "I could've pushed you for one more," she says but I'm good and she goes back to doing her yoga moves in the DB area. I drop the weight down to 95 lbs and only get 19 reps. I really wanted 20, but M steps in and grabs the bar as I just finish the 19th rep. Because I don't want him constantly stepping in, I don't even bother to try and get 5 more reps like I normally would.

Instead I move to the Inclined Bench and do a few sets there. I'm a bit leery of having another fail because I don't want to need another rescue, but at least the bar will wind up in my lap if I fail. There's a guy doing maintenance on the Decline Bench and the other Inclined Bench. I grab some DBs and do Inclined Flyes, Then DB Lateral Raises, and finally Bent-Over DB Reverse Flyes. I've got a good pump in my shoulders but my chin is a bit sore. The woman comes over and asks how I am. "Oh, I'm fine," I tell her, "but do you think this is going to leave a mark?" "Did you hit your chin?" she asks. "No, but when the bar came down, I tucked my chin so it was resting on my jaw." "Naw, should be okay," she says. I completely forget to ask her name, but I will next time.

The Step Mill is busy so I drop onto the Mat and knock out a few crunches, then dance off to the LifeFitness ellipticals by the front door. I was planning to do LISS but I have too much energy and I've just put Billy Idol on my iPod, so my LISS is more like a 20 minutes jog. Then a quick Cage Stretch and a Mat Stretch before hitting the shower. The gym scale reads 112.4 lbs and I'm good with that considering my son and I ate rainbow marzipan cookies for dessert last night and salted caramel gelato the night before. He's quite disappointed that Winter Storm Titan completely missed us, but I'm sure it's because I have three bags of rock salt in my garage.

Monday Workout
20 min Precor elliptical: 5 min @ 160 SPM; 15 min @ 45 sec run / 75 sec jog = 1.73 miles

Flat Bench Press:
12x45 (bar)
10x95 lbs
10x115 lbs
6, 5, 3 x 125 lbs Epic Fail on 2nd set as I was going for rep 6
19x95 lbs

Incline Bench Press
12x45
12x65 lbs
8x75 lbs
8x85 lbs
4, 3 x 95 lbs

Incline DB Flyes
12x20 lbs
3x12x25 lbs
12x20 lbs

DB Lateral Raises
12x20 lbs
12x25 lbs
3x12x30 lbs

Bent Over DB Reverse Flyes
6x12x30 lbs (just because I said I was going to do this last week)

Torso Twist Machine
2x25x50 lbs
Crunches: 2 x 50

20 min LifeFitness elliptical = 1.9 miles
Cage Stretch
Mat Stretch 2x12 DBPUs and 60-sec plank, upper and lower back stretches; splits