DE Upper: Speed Bench, Close Grip [PR], Back Work; NEW EXCITING NEWS (w/VIDEO)

After finally getting an off season training cycle in, I am now in meet prep for WPC World's where I will be competing raw with knee wraps in the 132 pound weight class in Baton Rouge, LA on November 7th, 2016. My goal is to earn my first world championship.

For programming and coaching inquires, please email SmitleyPerformanceSystems@gmail.com or visit brandonsmitley.com

Thursday's benching session was great. I felt really good, and pushed my pace on most of my work rather quickly. Accessory work is beginning to fall off, and I'm okay with this. Hitting the weights and PR's I am at this point is all good, so things are lining up nicely.

Now for the exciting news...

After WPC World's, I have decided that I will be stepping away from the platform for about 9 months or so. I will be competing in a few bodybuilding shows in the spring, under the guidance of Cliff Wilson. My body has just taken a bit of a toll lately, and I'm deciding to listen to it and step away from the heavier weights week in and week out. I'll still be training much like a powerlifter (I'm doing my own training/programming still), but I just won't be pushing myself near to the extent on the heavier work. I'm going to train more by insticnt and feel, and just try to put together and awesome package on the stage. Looking forward, it looks like my next powerlifting meet will likely be to qualify for AWPC World's in September of 2017. So I might have to do some minor qualifying in the time, but it should be no issue if I need to do so. So after WPC World's, definitely check back on my logs to see how I end up doing. I know I'm excited to see how ripped Cliff can get me, it's what he does well.

I also talk about this much more in depth in the YouTube video. But for now, the focus is still on World's!

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mwr5WM5lHM]

Items Used in this Training Session Sabertooth Bench Bar EZ Loaders Chains T-Bar Handle Core Blaster Blast Straps

Warm Up Cats & Camels - 10 Quadraped T-Spine Ext - 10 each Band Dislocations - 10 Alternating Band Dislocations - 10 each Band Pressdowns - 15 Band Straight Arm Lat Pulldowns - 15 Band Face Pulls - 15 Single Arm Band Fly - 15 each Band Rows - 15 Band Curls - 15

A1) Speed Bench Press vs 2 Chains Per Side 55x10 55x5 - add chains 75x3 95x3 115x3 130x10x3

B1) Close Grip Bench Press vs 2 Chains Per Side 175x5 210x10 - PR

C1) Slight Incline DB Bench Press 55's x 3 sets, max reps (20, 18, 15)

D1) Wtd Pull Ups 3x10 (+50 pounds)

E1) T-Bar Rows 3x12

F1) Blast Strap Inverted Rows w/ Iso Hold 3 sets, max reps

G1) Face Pulls 4x25 G2) Suitcase Holds 3x30 sec per side