So I had kind of a cool moment this afternoon. While getting warmed up for a workout, I felt better than usual, stronger. So I did a pretty heavy set on the bench, about 200 pounds, to see how it made my chest feel.
Without a complaint in sight I thumped out a good full set without even really working too hard.
So I added the two 30's and pushed the weight up to 260. I played some music and sat down to quickly rep out at 260. I had started with sets of 12 at 160 and 200 and then a set of 8 at 260.
And I could barely even feel it when I got back up. So I thought I'd just go about as far as I could. My machine tops out at 310 pounds. I put on 300, got amped up and sat down to push out four good reps. The last, and only other, time I broke 300 pounds was about 12 years ago.
Maybe it was partly from watching the Olympics and seeing those little people doubling their weights. Maybe it was just the confluence of body and mind. Who knows but I felt like I could have kept on going up. It would have been cool to finally double my body weight but I'll have to go to a gym for that. What changed was how I approached the weight, instead of thinking how heavy it was, I just never really considered it at all. I just sat, got set and pushed the weight out. I did grunt when I pushed the 300 out though. It is a damned lot of weight.
Now, I know some people will question the accuracy of weights as represented by bent carbon fiber rods. But, having worked out with regular weights for years both personally and professionally, I can say that the Bowflex is harder, i.e. heavier, than regular iron weights. I don't know by how much and I don't know about it at the top end. I do know that 200 pounds pushes alot more like 225 in real iron. I don't think that means I pressed 340 by any means. If anything, I'd say it was right on at about 300.
Ought to be interesting to see how sore I am tomorrow. And Tuesday.
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