It has been awhile since I’ve felt compelled to write about my fitness journey, but it seems the time has come. I have been really focused in the last year and a half on developing better bench press technique. I have had the good fortune to train virtually with JM Blakley, who was a titan in the sport of powerlifting. What I learned in the process of training with him is that nearly every detail of my bench press technique was wrong. I also learned that my training frequency was flawed as well. I have been persistent with refining both my technique, and exercise selection. The only triceps exercise I have done in the last year and a half is the chain floor press. The following link is a great tutorial from JM Blakley on how to perform this exercise correctly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkqpHotgcQQ&t=199s
This exercise alone has changed my bench press drastically. At age 52, I was pushing about 325 pounds for a single and with about 6 months of this type of training I made it up to 390 pounds for a single for 3 consecutive sets, which was a very exciting result.
The other thing I’ve added in the last 3 years is rucking. I went to goruck.com and purchased some ruck plates and a 25L Rucker 3.0 with a padded hip belt. I can’t say I’ve ever been a huge fan of hiking, but I LOVE rucking for some reason. I use Strava to record my rucks, and this gives me some good data to measure progress. I start with a set distance and weight, and I shoot for a specific pace. Then the next time I go, the only thing I change is the weight by adding 5 pounds. I do this until I can’t quite keep the pace, then I drop back to the baseline weight (which for me is 20 pounds) and I add a mile to my distance and repeat the weight increase progression. Sometimes I will change the route, and keep all other variables the same to compare my performance on different terrain. Rucking has been a great addition to my training, as it is a high cardiovascular value with less knee impact than other forms of cardio training. Most importantly, I enjoy it, and that is probably the best reason to continue!