Nearly 300 LBS Starting At The Bottom

 Yesterday, something in me had the bright idea to see what I can do at the gym by doing the Bench Press but starting at the bottom and using the Fat Gripz. Wanted to see how I do since I rarely if ever trained in that specific position. There is no momentum so when you're going, you're pressing with a different level of strength. 

I started with 135, got 10 reps which was pretty damn easy and could've done more but that wasn't the goal. Next set, 205 for 10 reps as well. Not too bad, it wasn't easier and had at least 1 more in me but again, not what I was shooting for. Third set, 225 for 5 Reps. It was starting to really hit me that this lift was incredible to try and managed to hit multiple reps but it was a struggle to hit 4 and 5. Fourth set, 245 for 3 Reps. This was getting into Territory I have never been in before and those three were fucking hard.

I had to think long and hard what I wanted to hit up. I felt strong but I had no clue since I'm in uncharted waters here and having strength I didn't even know was there. Should I go for 255? It was a possibility and I had it in me to try but a voice in my head said go higher. How about 275-280, this was getting ambitious and most likely out of my league. With a regular Bench Press getting it off the rack straight arm, come down and push back up, I could've done that but this was going for something entirely different, I wanted to find a weight that made me question my sanity. I don't go for max lifts much anymore and the worst could happen is losing form and dropping the weight back onto the rack without hurting myself (much). I decided, you know what, I'm going for 295. Even I was thinking how nuts this is and it's nearly 300 lbs pushing for pure power and again, no momentum. I had to summon the surge of strength from CoreForce Energy and have myself believe I was like Goku gearing up to being a higher level of a Super Saiyan. 

I filmed this to show if I could do it or not with no fluff, no made up number and show that it was real whether I missed it or not. I wasn't going to fake this and if I missed it, at least I gave everything I had. I loaded up the 35 lb plate each side, sat there on the bench for a brief period, get my focus and fire myself up. I got under the bar, find my grip on the thick intimidating handles, tensed up my breathing and my muscles and went for it. I was fighting with every fiber of my being. The struggle, the weight telling you you can't do it. I pressed hard, pushing & pushing until finally for a second, I locked out my arms as best as I possibly can muster. I did it, I fucking did it, I moved weight that was less than a couple inches from my chest and it was nearly 300 freaking pounds man. 

I don't know where it ranks me among guys who have done this, quite frankly I don't think I want to know. There are guys who can do far more than me and even done it on a 3 inch thick bar but what separates me from them is that they've done this for years, building levels of strength I can't even fathom and they're trained for this especially for Powerlifting. I'm no where near having the strength of a Powerlifter and it's not my dream to be one. To tell you the truth, I hardly ever trained any form of Benching since I was 19-20 years old when I maxed out doing a normal bench for 305. In the last month, I've only done maybe 3 Bench Press workouts and in the last 21 years, I've only done a bottom starting bench only one time prior to this on a damn smith machine and that was back in 2022 or so. Never in my life before this day have attempted this style of lift with Fat Gripz. So, to pull this off with no consistent training at all really, this was a proud moment for me and I got to do it in my 40's. 

This was awesome to have done and I get to keep this for moment for the rest of my life. I love being this strong and knowing that when you're so passionate about what you do, things will happen in the most unexpected places in the most unexpected ways. I'm grateful for this and if Bud is up in Valhalla somewhere looking down, I hope I made him proud. Thank you for taking the time to read this and hope you enjoyed it. Keep killing it in your journey and be amazingly awesome.