Broad Shoulders Carry All the Burden

Adam and I discussed form today, rather extensively. Particularly my benching form. I did Incline Bench Press today, 95 lbs, 4 sets...12, 12, 10, 10 were the reps. Those reps are the same that I Flat Benched on Monday, but I only Inclined 10 lbs less than I Flat Benched (105 lbs). Adam says that tells him that I am using my shoulders too much...in both my Flat Bench and my Incline Bench. He explained to me how that's happening, but it's going to take some getting used to for me to widen my grip, since I'm so used to doing it the way that I am now. He says it will help my Bench weight go up, if I use my chest more...I just have to learn how to do that.

I also used my shoulders too much on my bicep curls today (20 lbs.). So, he had to guide my arm how far to go up and how far to go down, so that I could feel how to isolate my bicep being used, instead of my shoulder. He said that my shoulders take up pretty much every exercise I try to do. He says I've probably used them all my life for everything, before I came to the gym, without knowing it...so now, when I need to push weight up, my body automatically tells my shoulders to do it.

Ya know, they did think when I was being born that I was going to be a boy, because of my broad shoulders...but I need to learn how to take the load off, in more ways than one. It's incredible the spiritual correlations that I see, in amongst my days in the weight room.

But, it was a great workout. Lots of learning...learning is always good. I'm improving a little more all the time. I also did 40 lb. Cable Incline Curls, and 90 lbs on the Pec Dec with Adam. On my own, I benched ***on the machine***, 170 lbs...that's not actually 170 lbs. The machine is very controlled and I'm not lifting near as much as free weight, but it's still good. I did Chin-ups, and was VERY happy with them...I got 5, 5, 5, 6, and I came up high on almost all of them. Then 4 wrist curls, and 3 sets of 20 twist crunches with a 25 lb plate.

This week has been awesome. I've really enjoyed how my routines have been put together and I love that Adam has found so many things I can do on my own, without hurting my progress. I've always thought that on my own I couldn't do enough to improve at a decent pace. He also adjusted my routines so that I do Chest/Tricep on Monday, Back/Shoulder on Wednesday, and Chest/Bicep on Friday. He wants to keep with this for the next 5 weeks, then reevaluate where I'm at. Sounds great to me!!! I miss going 4 days a week, but with the donations coming in, at least I can get up there to do my extra cardio days again. That will get me doing something.