APF Nationals - Michigan June 12
Training
I freaking hate incline press, lol. I really do not know why, from the position to how easy it is for me to screw this up and lack of "grinding" ability, which I have in general but way more on incline, I just do not like it. The last cycle we did incline for a max single, didn't care for it, was too difficult to find a good straining point without failing so from now on I am going to keep inclines, if done for max effort, to triples.
Perspective
To further add to my above point I totally goofed up and thought I could go up 10 lbs for a max triple, I was sadly mistaken. I got way out of position on the first rep and realized there was no way I was going to get three so I bailed. Did I ruin the program for the day? Was it a waste? Not even a little bit, the goal of the day was to strain so whether I did that on three reps or one the main goal was accomplished. Four years ago the old athlete in me would have had a fit and it would have taken a toll on the rest of the training day, not here, I was very pleased with how things played out.
Coaching
Going to revert back to my perspective on the day. In the early powerlifting days when conjugate was being run and implemented by the times strongest, there were days no one knew what they were doing until after they walked in the door. Hell, I heard stories of people deciding on what to do while warming up. This means that although having a plan is good, the main movement is to strain, so regardless of, "how many reps were on paper" or, "my coach said I needed to do this" as long as the training stimulus was acquired and you were not testing there is nothing wrong with bailing on a set requesting a specific amount of reps. If your coach knows what they are doing, one completed rep compared to 3 reps and one is failed is a better scenario for max effort work.
Heavy DB Carries, A lot of times I see people doing this and holding/resting the DB on their thigh. This is cheating the desired effect of this exercise, we want to keep the DB OFF of us to force the lateral abdominal muscles to work.
Training
Day 2
Incline Bench Max Triple: 300
Floor Press 3x8: 275
A1) Chain Lateral Flys 3x15: big chains
A2) Rope Tricep Push-downs 3x20: 9,10,10
Pull-ups 5x10: BW
SlingShot Push-ups 100: BW
HEAVY SINGLE ARM DB CARRIES 3 trips: 80