Improving

After nearly two weeks of lifting, it was time to check our progress by maxing out on our bench press. I got on the bench, sweat dripping from my brow, and easily lifted my previous max weight (145). Then, I added 2.5 pounds on each side, bringing my total to 150. I seemed to struggle a little but managed to get up the bar. Next I tried something a little bit ambitious, lifting 155. I almost completed this lift, only to stall only three inches from locking out my elbows. I was devastated, but I should have been looking at the possitive side; I had improved my max by 5 pounds in just two weeks. At that rate, I would improve my max by nearly 40 pounds at the end of the semester. But I went to coach Hurley and asked for some advice, which I hoped would prove beneficial. He told me to modify my workouts from pyramids (which is benching by increasing weight doing sets 0f 7,5,3,2,2,1) to heavy weights doing seven sets of five with a heavy weight. This strategy made me very sore the next day, which was a good sign because it meant my muscles were tearing more, therefore, rebuilding getting stronger. Your muscles get stronger by tearing and rebuilding. When they rebuild, they are stronger than they were before. However, if you do the same workout every time, your muscles adapt and don't tear as easy, so you have to change it up and almost "keep you muscles guessing." I hoped this new technique would greatly improve my strength, and next time we max I was striving for 160 pounds.