Benchy lifty strongy strong

Good day today. After yesterday's success, it was a little harder to keep myself from having expectations today - I found my mind wandering to how many reps I wanted to get at 185, and had to work to squish those hopes. In the end, though, I did a pretty good job of approaching today with a similar mindset to how I approached it yesterday, and had a very successful workout.

First up was 5/3/1 bench. I warmed up, then hit work sets of 145 x 5 and 165 x 3. Both were really easy, but I had a small balance issue, and after the fact realized what the problem was - in recent workouts, I have hit the J-hooks while benching, because I was pressing the weight too far back. In working to fix that, I think I was OVER-compensating today. I was trying to press in a straight line, but what I thought was "straight" was actually pressing out towards my waist a little too much, which was causing the balance problems. This shouldn't be very hard to fix; I just have to press straight up. It will take a little more feeling out, but I don't think it should give me much trouble in the future.

I need a fuckin Bamboo bar to fix my problem. But I don't have one, so I'll just have to try sucking less instead. 

ANYWAYS, for whatever reason I didn't have this problem during my heaviest set (which is very nice). I put on the belt (my first time benching heavy with the belt), got a lift, and hit it for 4 very solid reps - a new PR. I stopped myself from going for 5, which was definitely a good decision, but I know I had a little more in me, which is very cool. After resting a minute, I hit the 185 for another single, and THIS is where I realized my pressing issue, as the weight came way out and almost dumped on my stomach before I got it back in the groove and locked it out. However, as I said this seems like a problem that should be easily fixed, and I made sure that in my benching for the rest of the day I focused on not making that mistake again.

For my 5 x 10, I decided to push the weight up as last week at 105 was just too easy. I put 115 on the bar, and hit it for 4 sets of 10 and a set of 13 no problem. Then, I did exactly the same thing with my bent over rows, which also felt very solid. For my last two movements, I was a little distracted, so I took them a little slower than I normally would (more than 90 seconds rest on the presses). I overhead pressed the 40 lb dumbbells for 15, 10, and 9 reps. Then, I did a 5 x 10 of lat pulldowns with 150 without much trouble; by the last few reps I was working really hard, but I made it through.

All in all, it was a great day. I want to make sure that bench balance issue gets fixed, but aside from that I got a rep PR at 185, killed my volume sets WHILE bringing the weight up, and my vertical pulling strength is on it's way up. And again, trying to go into the gym with 0 expectations - aside from doing the best I can based on how I'm feeling that day - is helping me enjoy my workout more and leave the gym happier and excited for the next workout. I can't wait for tomorrow.

ARMS DAY!