16 Feb Dan Dalenberg| XPC 3 out| Bench

I’m currently in contest prep for the 2017 Arnold Classic XPC Finals. I will be lifting multi-ply at 242. My training is being written and guided by Brian Carroll.

625 opener to 1/2 board. Arms are trashy, haggard and beat. Called it here, saving it for the meet. #inzer #1020life #powerrackstrength #benchpress

A post shared by Daniel Dalenberg (@ddalenberg) on Feb 15, 2017 at 4:53pm PST

I knew my squatting this cycle would eventually catch up to me. Since I wasted a session and had to repeat it, I was under a straight squat bar 5 weeks in a row. Straight bar squatting beats up my arms more than anything else. I knew I would eventually pay for it and last night I did.

1. Bench- 1/2 board opener, 1-2 board 2nd

I started in my 54 SDP but my arms were totally lit up. In this tighter shirt, I have to work harder to stay in position. With my arms hanging on by a thread, I just couldn’t do it. So I switched back to my 56 and was able to hit my 625 opener pretty easy. We loaded up 675 but as soon as I took it out I knew my arms couldn’t handle it so we put it back.

Ultimately, I’m 100% fine with how this went. I have already hit some bigger numbers, 660 of a 1 board and 700 off of 2. I feel confident that I can bench in the high 600s to low 700s regardless of which shirt I am wearing.

Based on how my training has went, I needed the squat to go really well this week (it did) and just needed to not screw up massively on the bench (also successful). I’m in a good spot for the meet now.

Finished up with some arm work, nothing worth logging.