After an abysmal showing at APF Equipped Nationals, I'm now in an off season mode of training. Currently, I am in a strength block building up strength and weaknesses to prepare me for a meet prep cycle for WPC World's in November.

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


Thursday's training day was awesome. It was just one of those days where I felt incredibly good and had no real issues on my plate. I was done with all my clients in the afternoon, was able to squeeze in a nap, and was just excited to train. I even managed to get my grip work in. My finger that I smashed last week is actually doing very well with no issues. It hurt pretty bad the first few days, but now a week later it's not giving me any problems. Still a bit purple/blue, but that will probably be gone even by next week.

As for benching, I did a much better job this go around of keeping my feet planted, using my leg drive, and just staying tighter on the chest (which resulted in the close grip PR). I also discovered that my bench bar weighs 55 pounds, not 50, so I've been hitting some pretty good PR's lately and didn't even know it (now I wish I wouldn't have known). I'm usually not picky on that stuff, but I think for meet preps, it's pretty important to know how much your competition bars weighs.

Definitely ready for week 3, as I've got some good training planned ahead.


[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpKBt9y0A6M]


Items Used in this Training Session Sabertooth Bench Bar EZ Loaders Chains MAG Grip

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 bands 85x3 105x3 120x3 130x8x3

B1) Close Grip Bench Press vs 2 Chains Per Side 205x8 - PR

C1) Cambered Bar Push Ups 3x20

D1) Pull Ups 3 sets, max reps

E1) DB Rows 3x15 per arm

F1) MAG Grip Lat Pulldowns 3x15

G1) Straight Arm Lat Pulldowns 3x15 G2) Face Pulls 3x20

H1) Deadbug Holds 3x30 sec per side


Brandon Smitley
Tagged: Training Log
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