When I first started bodybuilding, I experimented with the bench press for a little while. Ya know, the king of all workouts… the barbell flat bench that all the guys in the gym seem to do. I started doing bench pressing for a little while and then I gave it up for a long while ’cause I quickly lost interest in the barbell bench and then I’ve been doing dumbbell chest presses as a substitute.

Well today, I just got back into benching. Why? It’s because I have a dead lifting/bench press power lifting meet at Albany Strength this Friday in Albany, N.Y. I wanted to see how heavy I can lift a barbell on a bench. So at the gym today, I started off pretty light on the bench. For the first set, I started off with 60 lbs. which I am able to lift for 10 reps each. Then I moved it up to 70 lbs. in the second set which I am only able to do 3 reps each. Then I moved it up to 90 lbs. on the 3rd set which I am able to do 1 rep. Then on the 4th set, I moved it up to a 100 lbs. in which I failed the rep and couldn’t do it.

Don’t worry, guys, I asked a guy to spot me on the last two sets which were the heavier sets which was a good thing that I did that. If I didn’t have a spotter trying to lift a 100 lbs. rep, I would have been stuck under the bar trying to scream for “HELP” like a moron. I would have been badly hurt and probably would have been put in an ambulance, lol. The gym was kind of slow when I went in today and not many people so good thing there was a guy in the gym available to spot me.

You see, I don’t have a workout partner and it’s always good to get a spotter when you’re not sure of something. It’s not ego-lifting if you can get a spotter, ya know? If you don’t have a workout partner, just ask any random person in the gym and I’m sure he/she will be willing to spot ya real quick. A lot of people in the gym won’t mind spotting you in between their workouts. Just don’t be afraid to ask someone. If this person says “no” and refuses just move on to the next person. Most people will be nice enough to spot you. The one guy who spotted me earlier today did a great job spotting me and he definitely knew what he was doing. I just wanted to be safe so I don’t kill myself in the gym…

… but I won’t a fail a rep like that again doing bench. I just wanted to find the right weight and looks like the heaviest I can lift on a bench is 90 lbs. so that’s my personal record on that?

The guy who spotted me gave me a few pointers on how to lift the heavier reps which was cool of him.

At the weight lifting meet this Friday, there’s an experienced weight lifter I know who I’m doing this event with and he’ll probably teach me how to lift heavier. I’m not sure if I’m benching correctly anyways. I have a pretty good idea how to bench by watching youtube videos but I want to learn from experienced lifters to get the form right. If I’m going to get into Power Lifting, I’m going to have learn good technique too. The judges at Power Lifting meets are pretty strict on form and technique so they’ll teach me how to do things better too if I mess a few things up.

I’m pretty sure I can do dead lift well and I’m about to go there and show them what I got. I’ll show them what I got in benching too. Like I repeatedly said before, I’m not a super duper heavy lifter yet. I can’t lift like all those big guys can but I hope to get there someday, though.

Can’t wait for my first power lifting meet. Getting stoked. I just wanna do something fun and challenging, ya know? I never got to experience any of this when I was young and might as well get into it now.

Will I do Power Lifting full time? Not sure. I’m just gonna give it a try and see what it’s like first. Just do it for fun and that’s all.

I’m sure people are thinking right now: “Kev, you’re so full of it. You’re going to kill yourself and get hurt at your age especially when you have scoliosis and a Harrington Rod in your back.”

I’m sure many of you are thinking that right now and I’m about to prove all the doubters wrong. This is the time where I can finally silence all the doubters. Just watch.

Kev