Mon, 12 Feb 18

Speed Upper

Last block of training I added in speed squats to the speed deads I was already doing on my lower body speed day.  This block I am adding in speed work for overhead pressing to my existing speed bench on upper body speed day.  I learned my lesson from trying to start out benching with accommodating resistance at the end of last year so I am just using straight weight for this block, no matter how fast and easy it feels.

For those who don't know/don't remember, I started my speed work for bench press using bands and I was slow and awful and my "speed work" looked and felt more like max effort work.  I slogged through that for a few weeks then called a halt and restarted bench using just straight weight with no bands or chains.  After doing that for a block I added chains back in and things have been going much better ever since.  So in an effort to avoid repeating the same mistake I am just using the a bar and weights for this training block for my overhead pressing speed work.

Banded Bench Press (doubled minis)

10x45

6x95

3x135

10x3x160

I slowed down on the 4th set and again on the 8th set, but both times I was able to come back on the next set and move fast again.  No working up today due to this and also it's my first week with the bands so I want to gauge my status after using them first.  I much prefer chains to bands on bench press.  Reverse bands are good too, but I'm not programmed to start those for another couple months.

Speed Axle Strict Press

10x20

6x70

10x3x95

I probably need to add in a 3rd warmup set since I actually got faster from 1st set to 10th set as you can see in the video comparison (1st on right, 10th on left).  This is the same thing that happened to me last week with chain squats.  Everything felt good with adding this in though, so all systems are go with moving up ahead next time.

A post shared by Andy Deck (@andydeck) on

Meadows Rows/Dips

10ea x 50/10xBW

15ea x 60/15x25

2x{15ea x 65/15x25}

I lowered the weight on dips today since I added in another compound pressing movement at the beginning on training.  And meadows rows felt much better today than last week, which is my expected response to adding in a new exercise to my training.

This was all I had time for today since I am doing my Monday training on a break between classes.  I expect I'll get faster since I added in some new stuff today, but if not then at least I know I'll always have time to hit the major stuff.