Yesterday I dipped with ninety pounds! Yay! I did it. I started with eighty pounds and worked up to ninety. Instead of starting off with sixty or sixty-five, which is what I have usually done, I went for my upper weight limit and progressed by five-pound increments. When I start with sixty or sixty-five, my chest and triceps are exhausted by the time I get to the higher weight amounts. Thus by the time I reach eighty I can only do a few reps (six or seven) versus a full set of ten.

Since I was starting off with eighty yesterday, I was able to do a full set of ten reps. Then I repeated the set and moved up to eighty-five. I ended my dip routine with two large forty-five pound plates dangling between my legs. The more weight you’ve got hanging from a chain belt, the harder it is to move. Thank goodness the plates at the Y are round, and they easily roll to the dip bar as I crouch my way along. (Some plates are octagonal or dodecagonal or whatever you call a twelve-sided figure.) By the end of my routine I did six then five reps with ninety pounds. My goal now is to do full sets of ten before I leave on vacation in two months.