03 Jul Dan Dalenberg- 7/2/14 Benching and an important lesson

Plan for the night was to take my opener and then add a reverse band and work through 2nd and 3rd attempts. Not exactly how it went down..

Training

Benching

I worked through my warmups and nothing really felt right. Still felt strong but something was off. Decided to add the band early. Ended up taking my opener for two doubles with a reverse monster mini  and mini band. So 455 x 2 x 2. On video, it actually looks decent. But felt off and at this point I knew I needed to shut it down.

My right side felt generally awful afterward. Right pec and elbow are beat up. Finished the night with a ton of hammer curls and band pressdowns while helping my training partner who is learning his new double ply bench shirt.

Thankfully, Ezra Salmon comes through for me once again. His gym (Performance Edge, Kentwood, MI) is in a place called The Facility which is owned by a chiropractor. This chiro is supposed to be one of the best. Ezra got me in for an assessment and ART on the pec on short notice, headed up there today to get looked at.

The Lesson

This injury is a very minor setback. I’ve had this kind of thing happen in the past and I know it is the sort of thing that I could push through if I was stupid enough to try. I know that 2-4 weeks of laying off pressing would fix it. With a bench meet on July 19th, I don’t exactly have time for that. Usually I wouldn’t bother with massage or ART but I need this fixed quickly. Again, it’s a very minor pain and I know if I play it smart all will be fine.

The lesson is that over the course of a couple of weeks, you aren’t going to get any stronger. I know I need to get this ART and massage work done and then lay low until the meet. I will have to scrap one last session of moderately heavy bench, but who cares? That session wasn’t going to make me stronger. But it certainly could have messed me up. Same with this training. I know I could have pushed through and made the heavier work happen, but for what? All I would have done was possibly really hurt myself and only for my ego.

You won’t get stronger in two weeks. What you can do in that time frame is potentially really hurt yourself, maybe permanently. I know that as long as I take the right steps and lay low I will still have a decent bench in two weeks. Again, very minor setback the kind that just needs a little time to resolve. The alternative if I had tried to push through might have been a torn pec or real injury. No thanks.

Don’t be afraid to shut a session down early and adjust your game plan when little injuries pop up. The very best lifters are the ones that are able to stay in the game the longest. Checking your ego and playing smart will keep you in the gym and on the platform. [share title=”Share this Article” facebook=”true” twitter=”true” google_plus=”true” linkedin=”true” pinterest=”true” reddit=”true” email=”true”][author title=”About the Author”]

The following two tabs change content below.

• Bio
• Latest Posts

Daniel Dalenberg

Dan Dalenberg is a pro level raw and equipped powerlifter with elite totals in the 220, 242 and 275 class. Best official raw meet lifts include an 804 squat, 507 bench press, 715 dead lift and 2006 total. Best equipped lifts include an 950 squat, 715 bench, 735 deadlift and 2400 total at 242. Dan has been training under Brian's guidance using the 10/20/Life methodology since late 2010.

Latest posts by Daniel Dalenberg (see all)

• A Binge for the Record Books - August 20, 2018
• Training on the Go - July 6, 2018
• Dan Dalenberg | Deload and 5k week! - June 18, 2018