I gave bench pressing a try in the gym today to see if my injuries have healed enough. No dice. I’ve used light weight and worked my way up to 115lbs (far from the measly 200ish I was doing pre-injuries).
I did about 3 sets of 3 reps before I felt some pain. 115lbs. Hm…
As I fretted next to the bench about how long my progress will take, I thought of how I was able to do a few sets of 8 push ups ealrier in the week feeling some uh-oh pain. That’s 8 reps of me pushing my bodyweight of about 185lbs. So why am I wasting my time with bench pressing?
I don’t mean to invoke DIY science but if bodyweight exercises are better for our bodies, core strength, balancing our muscles, etc. while bench pressing can create imbalances (yes, while I’m ignoring the benefits of bench pressing), maybe I should focus more on the stuff I can do and worry about the stuff I can’t.
After all, I always felt a lot more robust and stronger after pumping out push ups than bench presses. My upper back is worked along with my chest while the bench press does nothing for my back. I’m not dissing the bench press. It’s one of the main compound exercises for building functional strength. I’m just thinking that while I’m trying to recover and bounce back form many injuries (at my age), I should be thinking of what would benefit my body the most.
Dumping Sugar 