Back with the Smith

When I quit Planet Fitness early last year it was mostly a joyous event as I have always hated that gym and everything it represented. I left there because the county opened up their own on campus fitness center which was good enough for my needs, except for one thing.  The fitness center had no bench press, no shoulder press, no squat rack, and a general lack of any equipment used for pressing exercises.

Shortly after I started going there I contacted the person in charge of the center and asked if they were planning to add a Smith machine to the facility, a utilitarian piece of equipment that can be used in a variety of ways.  At that time I got a song and dance along with several excuses as to why they didn’t have one.  It was very clear that when this fitness center was laid out, it was done so with females in mind as 2/3 of the available space was allocated to fitness classes and stretching.

However about a month ago, an old leg press machine they had there broke and instead of fixing it they pulled it out to make space for, a new smith machine.  I was thrilled by the news.  The machine showed up Friday which is normally my body weight circuit day.  However I had to get on the Smith and do some bench pressing.

Now I have been bench pressing prior to this, sort of.  With no bench press at this gym I have been forced to awkwardly and painfully roll a barbell onto my chest to do the movement for months.  However that method has limited me to using no more than 135lbs.  With the Smith machine I can once again start moving heavier, body weight plus numbers which is good for me, both physically and mentally.

Yesterday, my normal gym chest day, was spent almost entirely on the Smith machine doing a bench press ladder that topped out at 225lbs before I stepped back down.  It felt great to have a similar feeling to the thousands of benching reps I have put in over the years.  I look forward to getting my pushing strength back to similar levels prior to covid becoming a household name.