19 Nov Dan Dalenberg | Offseason | Bench

Coming off a very poor performance in Atlantic City. Despite an excellent training cycle, I did not execute to my ability. This failure has left a very sour taste. Currently in the offseason; building momentum towards preparing for the XPC Arnold Classic.

While my squat and deadlift training has been pretty hit or miss, bench has been going quite well. Good session Wednesday night, getting some good work in.

Bench- Triples to 8RPE

Working against doubled minis: 275, 315 x 2, 335. Some really positive progress here:

• No pec pain at all. I don’t know what the tension is at the top (nor do I really care. I just set it up exactly the same way each time.) but this is the heaviest that I have benched in months without feeling a strain in either pec. Huge win. Doing my offseason this way has been productive.
• Good forward progress. The idea was to beat what I had done a few weeks ago, which I did by 20 pounds and it felt easier.
• Feet out front stance is feeling great. Leg drive is powerful, with light weights it feels like all I have to do is drive and hold on to the bar for the ride. No back cramps while benching which is another big struggle for me- another big win. I feel like I am bringing the bar down much stronger. I don’t feel like I am lowering the bar with just my upper body anymore, feels much more supported.

Incline Dumbbell Press- 4 x 15

At this point, the night got interesting. Dain put on a brand new SDP for the first time tonight. He is breaking in an entirely new set of gear before pre-contest XPC training. After he took 3 triples with an extremely close grip, I decided I would put it on and get a few sets in it too. Couldn’t hurt I thought, a few more reps will speed up the break in process for him.

It was just the two of us, so I stayed very, very light. It has been a hot minute since I have worn a bench shirt, no need to dump something and end up hurt because we were short on people. Took 315 and 365 x 2 x 3. AWFUL. Basically unlocked my elbows and then relocked them. However, I was able to move my hands out a finger width each set and bring the bar a bit lower by the time I finished. Hopefully that helps get it broken in a bit. He wears a size 60, which is at least a size or two bigger than what would fit me. Kind of mind blowing to me that I would have to be in something smaller than this.

Pressdowns- 4 x 15

Face pulls- 100

Little short on help as mentioned earlier. Kind of a perfect storm of people sick, working and family obligations (Will’s wife is 2-3 days out from her due date.). Should be back to a more normal state after Thanksgiving!

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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.

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