A gal benching more than bodyweight for five is impressive.
Kudos!
What did you make of the pec deck?
I always liked Dante's recommendation for them: rather than keep your elbows on the pads, adjust the seat such that you can comfortably grip the bottom portion of the pads with your hands, turning it into what he called a "pec deck push press." The idea was to stretch at the bottom portion for a few seconds, explode up, hold the contraction at the top, then repeat.
He had some of his people use that as a "widowmaker." Per his parlance, that means different things for upper and lower body movements...but without going into the particulars, the pec deck push press was something you did for one all-out straight set in every pec session, starting with a weight you could do upwards of 30x; then, week by week, you'd add weight until you were at your 8-10 RM.
It's effective. Dante's stuff isn't as wildly popular as it was 15-20 years ago, but the man knew what he was doing.
Honestly it was really fun, but I really didn’t get the hang of it until my 4th set. On my first set I didn’t have it adjusted correctly and I looked like a spider doing the breast stroke. I was trying to move the pads with my elbows and then with my palms and neither seems to work my chest.
I am getting better at the flat bench and I think doing dips has helped me. I also feel like I’m pushing part of the weight up and back like you guys mentioned. I was happy to get the reps and was thinking of trying a single with 165 lbs, but decided not to. The fart knocker I was benching with did 315 x 22 reps…so I have a ways to go. 😁
Today I did hill sprinting and I’m exhausted. Tonight I am definitely ordering dessert with my supper.
