Friday 31.1: Dead singles, 20-rep benchmark, bench

Friday. Deadlifts singles (max PR 205kg). 20-rep benchmark @ 130kg deadlift. Bench singles (didn't quite make the PR lift of 105kg).

I continued the easy week on this Friday by doing just some strength work and maxing out on the weights. Just a couple of lifts to keep my body awake and not stress too much about it. This week has been kind of lame, it feels like I haven't been doing much work but I decided to do it so anyway. Next week is gonna be tougher so I'm getting prepared. Tomorrow I'm gonna hit the road to see Finland's own Crossfit Games, called "Winter War" at Tampere, it's gonna be awesome!

205kg and happy

Strength. Deads and bench

• Deadlifts 5x100, 5x130, 3x150, 3x170, 1x190, PR 1x205kg
• 20-rep benchmark @ 130kg deadlift
• Bench 5x60, 3x70, 3x80, 1x90, 1x97.5, 1x105kg up with just a little assistance

The only thing I had in mind was to do the 20-rep benchmark when I opened the gym's door. However, I thought taking couple of heavier lifts would make the 130kg bar much lighter. And it certainly did. When you're doing multiple reps with a certain weight, at least I've found it wise to go a bit heavier before jumping in to it. I put some plates on the bar and started pulling. It felt good so I decided to keep adding stuff and complete the lifts.

190kg

Took triples @ 150kg and 170kg. Then I started to think what to put on the barbell. It was a decision of whether to go for the max lift or concentrate on the 20-rep benchmark. Decided to max out and see whether that 200kg some time ago was a lucky lift or deserved one. I put 190kg and took it up pretty nicely.

PR 205kg

I jumped to 205kg right away. They are heavy lifts anyway so I didn't wanna take any reps in between. You'll see the PR lift below as well. I remember having done some PR lifts at much lighter weights in the history. The problem then was that my hips shot the air first and I couldn't keep my chest up. Now as I've gotten stronger on my legs and hammies I'm able to keep a better form.

20-rep benchmark @ 130kg

After having celebrated the lift with Pauliina for a while I took 75kg off the barbell and prepared myself for the competitorswod benchmark workout. The aim is to do 20 unbroken reps of a barbell movement. Had no idea what weight would be suitable for me. I've done 12 reps @ 140kg couple of months ago so that might have been close. This 130kg was something I was able to handle well, naturally in the end it started to get heavier. But I'm sure heavier bar would have been doable, 135-140kg maybe.

I felt like I wasn't done so I took couple of bench reps too. Aimed for a single 105kg lift, had it clear in my mind in the start. It was easy up to 90kg. The 97.5kg was also a confident lift and as I aimed for a max lift I decided to jump it right away to 105kg. It was so close. Pauliina was spotting me and it took an eternity to bring the bar back up. She touched the bar a little bit and helped me bring it up so we reckoned it wasn't a good rep. She helped a bit for a reason.