[BamaDave]

Thanks, Gobbla. I think in Bench I have a natural limitation in that area and/or I use too much tricpes and not enough chest to move the weights. As evidence, I think my close grip bench press numbers are too close to regular bench press. BP is one exercise where I could really use some input from a trainer. So far the 15 year-old cat hanging out in the basement with me hasn't offered any decent pointers! I also think my shoulder presses are fairly weak; in fact, I have probably made less progress on those over the years than with bench press.

Otherwise, I am happy with my strength levels in most lifts -- but, of course, like anybody it would be nice to experience constant steady improvement in everything -- and that isn't going to happen unless I go on a bulking diet, which is not on the horizon for me.

I haven't planned out my next workout program yet. I have been doing pre-packaged programs for over 1-1/2 years without doing my own thing, so I am looking forward to a little less structure. In the near term, I would like to stay with routines that are fairly close to what I am doing right now. I really like the heavy sets combined with the lighter backoff sets. I think those work well for me. I'll also most likely stick mostly with major complex lifts. I would also like to work in some Olympic lifts and squat variations like Overhead Squats (I haven't done those since one of the phases of Homegrown Muscle last Summer).

I'm planning to continue weight training 3 days per week, but around the end of August, I plan to shift to 2 weight training sessions per week and 5 running sessions per week to facilitate training for a marathon in December (Huntsville, AL -- Rocket City Marathon).