My One Rep Bench Press Max.

On Saturday Ellie and I woke up for our 7am and 7:45am training sessions. She always gets the earlier time slot, because it is well established that I am a lazy bum in the morning. Ellie had an awesome session while I sat in the car nursing my sore hip flexors. After a while, and being called out for improperly using heat on my hips, I joined her inside the gym, and set in on my workout. Saturday was all about finding my one rep max on bench press.

I've never lifted weights before in my life. My parents bought me a really nice set of weights when I was just getting into high school, but to say I used them with any frequency would be a drastic over-representation of my effort. Occasionally I would do a few bicep curls and go back to playing computer games. That was pretty much the extent of my weight training before three weeks ago.

Getting after it now with Carley at Mustache Fitness is a completely different fitness experience then anything I've ever done. Running at my own pace and schedule was easy. If I wasn't feeling a workout, I would bail out and come back at it the next day. Now, I have someone put weights on a bar and tell me to lift more than I ever thought possible is another. I can't really protest, because I am paying for him to push me. I have to accept the program and go with it.

On Saturday, he asked me what I thought my one rep max was, to which I responded, "I don't even know what that means." It was an honest answer, which I think both amused him and probably made him cringe a little on the inside. Despite my inexperience, we set in on finding out what I could do on the bench press. Starting with some lighter reps to get warmed up, and then increasing the weight, we quickly moved into "personal best" territory. Finally, at 105 lbs, I maxed out. This was more than I've ever attempted, but also significantly lower than his estimate of 150-160 that he thought I could do. I guess I look a lot stronger than I am... which was a very humbling experience, but it was also very satisfying knowing my number.

Now knowing what my limit is, I find myself incredibly motivated to make that number go up. I don't have a particular goal in mind, I just desperately want it higher than it is. I know I have an addictive personality, and this is yet another way that is has manifested itself, but I suppose this is at least constructive!