Bench 200 x 5

Not a bad day today. again, nothing spectacular, but not bad either.

Started with 5/3/1 bench. Hit the bar for a couple warm up sets, then 95 and 135. Hit 160 for 3 no problem, then 180 x 3, then loaded up 200 and hit it for 5. The first 4 were easy, and the 5th was pretty tough. Overall, I'm not unhappy with that. Nothing incredible, but not bad considering I haven't benched in a while, and my bench always is shitty when I first come back.

Next, did 3 backoff sets of 3 at 180. First one was cake. Second was a little soft and shitty, so I REALLY focused on tightness on the third set, which was WAY better and easier. It made me think that I DEFINITELY wasn't as tight as I should have been on the 200. I can't explain what was different - I simply focused more on pulling my shoulder blades together, and that made it far easier to control the weight, and made my reps far faster and easier. I need to try and focus more on tightness in my warmups/work sets next tuesday. Finally, dropped back to 160 and hit it for a bunch of reps, some paused some touch n go.

Next, took it easy on kroc rows because 1) wanted to be careful of my tender elbow and 2) they crush your soul, and I need a little more time to get back into lifting before I can handle real Kroc rows. Anyways, rowed the 75 lb dumbells for 50 reps per side. Not too hard, but not useless either. Elbow felt alright.

Third, strict press, which actually felt pretty decent today. Warmed up with the bar, which I normally don't do - but first day strict pressing in a while, I figured why not. Hit 95 for a set of 8, then went up to 135. First set of 8 was really very solid, reps were fast and not too tough. Second set was a little harder - I leaned back a lot for the 8th rep, but even so it moved pretty fast. 3rd set was tough. The first 4 or 5 reps moved nice, but 6 and 7 slowed way down. They were still pretty fast reps, but tough enough that I didn't think I would get the 8th, so I just racked it. No biggie, same as two weeks ago, which isn't bad considering the week off.

Finally, did a slew of horizontal pullups instead of real pullups. These bothered the elbow.

So, not a bad day. Again, trying to not stress too much and just move the weight the best I can for the day. Took is easy on the pulling today, but friday I'll try and go a little harder, and hopefully next tuesday I'll be back to normal. We will see. Lets keep at it.