Started with bench. Got nice and warm, then worked on my bigger jumps. Hit the bar, then 95 x 15 or so, 135 x 12, and 185 x 7, all feeling good and easy - ESPECIALLY 185, it felt so smooth and perfect. So, I made the jump straight to 225 and hit it for a really good double. The first rep was cake, second rep was just a little harder than it should have been - I think I was maybe a little bit loose. That shook my confidence a bit, but I decided to still jump straight to 245. I focused up and hit it for a single, which was pretty good but hard enough that I didn't attempt the double that I wanted. However, I decided to attempt it again, because I felt like if I was a little tighter, more confident, and aggressive I could get it. However, second attempt was atrocious. I simply didn't have it, probably for mental reasons, and got pinned pretty bad. This made me very angry. However, looking at it objectively - I made the jump straight to 225 and killed it for a double, which is really good. AND... I hit my pr! for a really good single! that's nothing to be ashamed of. Take into account the fact that this is my first day benching in this gym - new benched, bars, environment, food, sleeping conditions, new time for lifting, etc - and not getting that double is nothing to be bummed out about. But anyways, gonna definitely try to keep the reps a little higher for the next 3 sessions or so (probably for both bench and squat), then come back with the 3, 2 and 1's and try and set some new PR's.
After heavy bench switched to close grip, feet-up bench. This is tougher here, as the benches are thinner and wobblier; stability is a lot tougher. However, I managed to bench the 165 for 4 sets of 10, with a pause on the last rep of each set. I also didn't rest too much, so I'm pretty happy about that performance. And perhaps the lower stability will improve the effectiveness of this lift for me.
Next up, did something I have never done - seated dumbell shoulder press. I have to say, I really like it. Kept the reps high and just tried to work hard, without pushing too heavy or anything. I hit the 15's for 15, 25's for 15, 35's for 12, 42.5's for 10, 45's for 8, and then finally repped out the 47.5's (cause someone stole the 50's haha) for a set of 9, with a very difficult and back-cramping final rep haha. so that's a total of about 70 reps, a good chunk of which were fairly hard and heavy. Felt really good.
Next, did something that I am going to call "bar stars" even though right now it's more like "bar SARS." Basically, for 3 sets I hung from a pullup bar and did a bunch of whatever - regular pullups, wide grip, mixed grip, chins, leg raises, l-hangs, etc. The only rule is I have to hang on there for at least 20-30 seconds and work on moving my hands around after a few reps of each movement. The idea is that doing this will be a fun and very effective way of both increasing my pulling power/growing my back and improving my grip. I weigh enough that simply hnging from the bar, moving around, working on pullups both kipped and strict, trying to do some muscle ups/dips and the like will probably REALLY help both my back and my grip.
Finally, did some pullovers on the pullover machine. I love the pullover machine. MASS ON THE BACK.
So, overall frustrating bench day because my expectations were high, but I made up for it with a lot of very hard work on my assistance stuff. Lets keep at it.
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