As with nearly everyone else who read the Charles Poliquin article ‘Achieving Structural Balance‘ that Alberto linked to recently, I was forced to find out my own current stats. And as I rarely do the exercises listed (apart from the weighted chin-ups and the occasional close-grip bench) I decided to devote tonight’s workout to finding out a few near-maxes.

The results :

Bench press (close grip) 10@20/44, 5@30/66, 5@40/88, 5@50/110, 3@60/132, 3@65/143, 3@70/154, 2@75/165
My usual grip is a little over 15″, so I moved it in a bit for this workout. Felt pretty good – might keep the narrower grip.

Bench press (incline – 45deg) 5@40/88, 2@50/110
Target: 62.25/137
Haven’t done this for months, and the last couple of times were only at a 15 degree angle. Looks like time to start working those shoulders nice and heavy.

Behind-the-Neck press 10@20/44, 5@30/66
Target: 48/106
Yep, definitely time to work those shoulders.

Preacher curl 10@20/44, 5@30/66, 2@40/88
Target: 34.5/76
Not bad, although I would like to get past 2 reps.

Reverse curl 5@20/44, 1@30/66
Target: 22.5/50
Another pass.

External rotation 5@6.5/14
Target: 6.75/15
Think I’ll have to try a few of these when I’m fresh. Even so, I wasn’t going to get all that much heavier.

Overall it looks as though shoulders are my weakness (at least according to this article). Expect to see a lot more shoulder hammering in future workouts.