19 October 2023

We started going to the YMCA as a way to give the baby more socialization, plus I’ll be able to exercise at the same time. I stopped seriously working out shortly before I stopped writing my blog. In terms of weight lifting strength I have to get readjusted to the movements and repetitions. My raw strength feels as though it’s increased from farm life, I’ve watched my hands get thicker the past couple years and labor that used to take all day can now be done during a lunch break. Yesterday I had my first chance to test my strength in bench press. For the past couple weeks I’ve basically been warming up on the bench press and finally decided to see how some more weight felt. I only did one rep, as intended, but I benched 185 lbs. That’s nothing big in the weight lifting world, but for me it’s close to if not the most weight I’ve ever benched and I could have done multiple reps. Until recently I’ve been doing chest exercises wrong my entire life. I wanted to slim down before the wedding, so 100 days before the wedding I made a goal of doing 100 push ups in a day. I succeeded with 100 push ups in a day and now would like to be able to do 100 push ups continuous. Through that process I learned I’ve always had my hand and elbow positions wrong, being too high and basically turning it into a shoulder exercise. The new positioning was a game changer and obviously helped my bench press. Hopefully I’m already close to lifting 200 lbs which I’ve never done and might need a spotter in case I can’t lift that much. If things go well maybe someday I can get up to 225, which is two 45 lbs plates on each side and a 45 lbs bar.