ALL PERSONAL RECORDS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL

My preparation actually started before Friday. I made sure to get in bed early Thursday night. When I woke Friday morning I felt refreshed. When I got to the scale I saw that I was exactly four lbs lighter than I was when I had the same training numbers a month ago. This all needs to be taken in context. I have been training in a calorie deficit and have increased the amount of conditioning I have been doing. So hitting a pr is a tall order.

When I got home from work Friday I took a half an hour nap. I got up and ate my first meal of the day (I don't eat until late afternoon usually). My pre workout meal consisted of egg whites and potatoes. Then a half an hour before training I take my leucine, creatine, whey protein, and a banana. Next I prepare a greek yogurt, veggie, and fruit smoothie as an intra training shake. Nutrition, check.

One thing I have noticed the last couple of weeks is that I have not felt my best on Friday night's sessions. Thinking back I realized I have not been taking a long enough warm up. In the past I'd be down in the gym half an hour before the first of the crew, Drew, would even show up. Lately, I haven't been walking down until he's arrived. Friday I made sure to be down there a good 30 minutes prior.

Before I began my warm up I made sure I was slathered up with heat and had a sweatshirt on. Away I went starting with rolling the problem areas of my back and biceps tendons using a small medicine ball. After that I completed my usual warmup of dynamic stretching and light band work. To my surprise Karsten beat Drew for training for the second week in a row. When Karsten started warming up, I was already on the bench taking just the bar. This gave me a lot of time to settle on the bench and let my tight hips and back stretch out before taking any weight.

By the time we started taking weight I probably had a good ten sets of just the bar. For the first time in weeks I felt great. There have been times when 135 hasn't felt heavy, but I felt achy while lifting it. That definitely does not set you up for success psychologically for later. Everything felt great working up to my heaviest bench set of 385. Last month I hit 10 reps with it, so I was really hoping for 11. While repping the 385 out, the tenth rep was a grind. I stopped there as I feel the detriment of missing a rep far outweighs the benefit of hitting it.

Usually I really beat myself up when I don't reach a goal. Not this time though. I took the lift in context. Like I said earlier, I am training in a calorie deficit and have increased conditioning to drop weight. Last month when I hit 385 for 10 I was 251 lbs and this time around I was 247. In my book that's a pr. I hit the same same reps at a lighter body weight.

So not all personal records are created equal. There are lots of factors that go into a pr. This does not mean you are looking for excuses. You just have to put things in perspective. A month from now I'm planning on being at least 4-6 lbs lighter. I will totally be shooting for that 10 rep set again and will definitely consider that a pr. I know in the back of my head I'll still be shooting for 11, but at least this way I have a little wiggle room. If I hit 11 great, but 10 is still progress all things considered.