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Jack laid on the bench, the bar stuck on in chest, he was totally frustrated. When Tom and Chuck went to re-rack it for him, he blew them off. Once more he pushed with everything he had. Inside, he knew it wouldn't move. It was like he was punishing himself. He hadn't been able to increase his bench in a year.

He gave Tom and Chuck the 'OK', and thanked them as they took the bar from his chest. Talk about dejection! Jack was so frazzled, he couldn't bale a buzzard. He felt swimmy headed and couldn't understand it. As Jack sat on the bench, he went over things in his mind. Then, he happened to notice Bill on the other side of the gym, benching in the rack. He knew Bill, but didn't talk to him on a regular basis. At a glance, it seemed like Bill had more load on the bar than ever before.

Jack ticked off the things he had been trying for the last year. He was using 8-12 reps, not going for singles. He stopped powerlifting competition a few years before. Naturally, he had the injuries to prove it. It was not like he wasn't experienced. He wasn't deluded into thinking he had reached his genetic potential, but he hadn't gotten past 325 for even one rep.

He had tried more sets, then fewer sets. He tried more workouts per week, and fewer workouts per week. Then, there was that short period of all kinds of assistance work that really made his bench drop. And, there was cycling rep schemes and periodizing. It was harder to calculate and schedule that stuff than to actually do it. Jack knew he had the ability, as well as all of the pieces of the puzzle, but he just couldn't put them together. He headed for the locker room, pretty much oblivious to everything around him.