Whelp I benched at the APF Fl State Met in Orlando Saturday Feb. 27th, 2010.

I cut weight to weigh in at 241 pounds.

The day of the meet I was back up to around 248 pounds.

My opener was 600 pounds and felt pretty good.

2nd attempt was 630 pounds.  I got it! This was an 8 lb PR for me.  The lockout was a struggle as you can see from the video below.

My 3rd attempt I missed 650.  Just couldn’t lock it out.

It was fun hanging out with lots of good people as well as support the rest of the Tampa Barbell team.  CriticalBench.com sponsored lifters Clint Smith and Brian Carroll had tremendous days putting on a clinic!

I felt my strongest during my training cycle when I got up to 255 pounds.  Lockout was the problem for me this cycle.  I’ll make some adjustments and come back stronger next time.

It was a little frustrating to go an entire year and only come out with an 8 pound personal record, but like they always say, a PR is a PR is a PR.

Want to give a special thanks to Rhino for all his help during practice.  Great hand offs from Trent Nelson.  I enjoyed training with Richard McKeefer and Decatur, those dudes are really strong and pushed me past my comfort level which is where I need to be.  And of course to Tommy Fannon for providing the gym and coaching.

If you’re wondering why I just benched like a little bitch, it’s because I tweaked my lower back a month before the meet.  I don’t have it figured out exactly why, but I do throw out my back from time to time.  I always have.

Oh I almost forgot, the Tuesday after the meet I did a 405 raw rep test.  I hit 5 reps which was a PR for me by 3 reps. This video kinda sucks, I forgot my flipcam and had to use my phone to record it.

What’s next?  Well I’m out of gear for a little bit to get some of my conditioning back, drop some unneeded pounds and get my lower back rehabbed and stronger.

I’m looking into the Bullet Proof Back program right now and plan on incorporating a lot of the helpful stretches, exercises, and tips recommend by Eric Wong.  Eric’s an MMA fighter and has made a full recovery from a major back surgery he had.  I love hearing success stories like that.

If you have back pain you’re trying to get rid of you might want to check this out as well.  Click Here to Go to the BulletProof Back site.

Later, Mike