380 : here and gone

today was 380 day, and in the interest of avoiding suspense, i'll reveal now that I made it. right next to the "PR" in my notebook I wrote "kinda hard". it was indeed kinda hard, unlike last week's 375.

still, encouraged by last Friday's bench press PR, I went ahead and added a fiver on top of that and bench pressed 260 for a PR. this is the first time i've bench pressed on a monday since i began this rush to 400, and only the second time i've bench pressed in the last month or so.

i can't say that this was the hardest workout i've ever done, but it was certainly the most record-shaking -- a DL PR and a BP PR and two DL sets of five at my current recorded max. but that's nothing compared to next week, when i'll have to do 385 plus a BP PR (why not?) plus two PR sets of five. and then, rest.

speaking of which, this resting stuff is really great. true, my size 36 pants are all getting a very long rest, but in the meantime, i'm kinda jazzed that i picked up a bar and BPed a record just out of the blue, more or less.

the last time I tried a powerlifting routine, two or three or four years ago, i can't recall exactly, i did a round of sheiko's beginner program, which translates to high volume workouts three times a week. at the end of it i tried for 260 in the BP and failed, then tried 250 and was too tired from the 260 to make it. i did manage a 325DL at that time, but the point is this: by focusing on one lift and getting enough rest (and, clearly, food) i've managed to progress automagically in another lift.

i plan, on the day that i make my 400, to go for 1000+ combined. that means DL, BP, and squat. since my 400 is (supposedly) only 4 weeks away now, sometime in the next week or two i'm going to have to try my hand (er... legs and back) at the squat again so that 400 day isn't the first time in a year i've done one.