Arnie: I'm planning to do a reverse pyramid with a very light warm-up set beforehand. Tomorrow will be the Bench Press attempt and I'm planning to do 5 x 20 kg, followed by 50/47.5/45/40/35, going to failure on the first 2 sets and to 12 reps or failure on the last three, whatever comes first. If I feel really incredibly strong on the warm-up, then I may try 55kg as a first effort, since I calculated my 1RM from what I was able to do on my high set of the BFL pyramid--which, as you point out, comes after 30 reps of lower weights!

I have a very competent spotter lined up to assist me with this lift.

Squats will be attempted in similar fashion, on Saturday morning.

Redeemed: I've always been pretty strong. I started lifting weights in 1983 and graduated from the "girlie" weight room on my very first day, much to my shock--I had no idea I was that much stronger than most women. Over the past 20 years--including some looooong stretches with no serious training at all--I've worked up slowly. However, nothing has been more effective for my training than this BFL program. I am so pleased with the results that I'm already thinking about another Challenge...but I might do a powerlifting program instead. Haven't quite made up my mind yet.

Emily