Bench 215 x 1

Today was not a great day. But that's okay, gotta start somewhere.

So, started with max effort bench today. Besides being pretty fucking sore from lower body yesterday, I actually felt quite good. Did a nice long warmup, then started benching, touch n go. Hit the bar, then 95, then 135 for reps to start, and I really was feeling great. Hit 165 for 6, then 185 x 3, then 205 x 2. Then I decided to just work up to a heavy single. Hit 215 x 1 that was pretty easy - definitely had to push hard to lockout, but it was pretty quick and easy. Went up to 225, thinking I would get it for sure, and then decided whether to call it there or go up based on how hard it was - and failed. Then, took another crack at it and failed again. That's pretty disheartening and disappointing to me. Just based on how I was feeling, I thought I would get it  but beyond that, I thought I had 225 bench no problem. But I didn't let myself get too bummed out. As with the squats, I haven't been handling heavy weight! I haven't touched a 225 bench in like 8 weeks, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise that I failed. That's the whole point of this change. Hopefully, after a few weeks of handling heavier weights, that bench PR will start to climb, no problem. Although, I will say that perhaps I should be more open to making 5-lb jumps if I need to. Better to get 3 or 4 heavy sets in and maybe not get a TRUE max, then to fail too quickly after only 1 or 2 reps at 90% +.

Next up, dropped back to 135 and did a sort of "dip substitute." Close-grip, feet up bench with a totally flat back. Ripped through 3 sets of 10 with very little rest. Then hit the 4th set and only managed 9, so I rested a little bit more and finished off with a tough set of 10. Got a nice pump from these.

Next, did some yates rows. Kept them lighter, 165, but hit it for 3 sets of 20. Really blew up my lower lats and my traps, doing the higher rep stuff with slightly more body language.

Next up, Bodyweight rows with a chin-up grip, 5 sets of 8. I was so weak at these haha. It's pretty sad how hard it is for me to move around my own bodyweight. definitely felt these more in my biceps and less in my back, but I was really looking for a bicep movement anyways, so that's okay. Had to do a LOT of "kipping" to get through the 5 sets of 8, but got a good bicep pump from it.

Finally, felt like I needed to press a little more so I did some klokov presses. Hit the bar, then 95 lbs for 3 sets of 8. Kept the rest low, and HOLY SHIT these got hard as fuck by the end. First set was really not too bad, but by rep 8 of the second set the lockout was crazy slow and my rear delts were BURNING. Third set, I got to 6, failed the 7th, then finished the set by push pressing the weight up, and even so lockout was insane and my shoulders were scorched. This is a really great movement for my shoulders, and I definitely need to work it in more.

Overall, had a ton of fun with the assistance work and definitely worked my ass off. Wish the ME bench went better, but no biggie. I'm gonna eat a ton today, put in work friday, and hopefully have a better time next week. Lets keep at it.