Bench sets of 10

Solid bench workout today. It is a lot harder to beat myself to shit with bench haha. Yesterday with squats, I really felt like I worked my ass off and was exhausted. But with bench, it's harder to push myself to that point. However, I hit a ton of volume, tried to work as hard as I could, and I feel good. ALSO, this morning watched a really great Elliott Hulse video, where he talked about how to grind through bench reps, and he suggested that, when you get stuck mid rep, to focus on squeezing the bar as HARD ad you can, in addition to squeezing your butt really hard. I used this cue a LOT today, and it really helped me.

Elliott, looking hooge

Started with bench. Warmed up, hit the bar for 10, then got started - everything was touch n go today. Hit 95 x 10, 135 x 10, 185 x 10, then 225 x 6. Felt good - that 6th rep was tough, but I focused on squeezing the shit out of the bar and I managed to push through. Dropped back to 95 and hit it again for 10, 135 x 10, 185 x 10, then 225 x 5. Again, last rep was REALLY hard but I focused on crushing the bar and somehow I was able to push through when I probably normally would have failed. Pretty happy about that! I will say, with the heavier weight (225) I think I definitely resort to using movement a little more - I do a worse job of squeezing it, controlling it down, and instead I have to move it a little faster and sacrifice that squeezing in order to rep it out. HOWEVER, I tried to fight it at that weight, and really tried to focus on the squeezing/control on every other set.

In order to help with that, I did some Spoto presses next - short pause about an inch off the chest. Hit 95 x 12, 135 x 9, and 185 x 6 which was VERY hard. However, I loaded up 225 and managed to hit it for a single - probably one of the hardest reps I have ever done. But again, focus on crushing that bar with the grip really helped me to maintain tension during the sticking point and fight through! Pretty cool.

Next, dropped back to the bar and loaded it with some chains to do close grip feet up bench press. Used the chains for two reasons: one, to add some wiggle to the weight and force me to focus on stability. And 2, to make it so I didn't know EXACTLY how much the bar weighed, which in turn forces me to just work hard based on how I feel, rather than what I KNOW I should be able to get or something. Anyways, hit the bar and chains for a set of 8, then 95 x 8, then loaded up 135 and hit it for 8, 7, and 6.

Next up, did 3 sets of banded pullups, hit 8-9 reps each set. My vertical pulling is really lagging, now that I have my own band I need to be hitting pullups MUCH more regularly.

Next, did 3 sets of 20 band rows to hit some horizontal pulling.

Finally, did some inclined pushups - 5 sets of 20 with varying grip widths. Not to hard, just an easy way to get in some added pressing volume and work on squeezing my way up and down.

So, a hell of a workout. I did a lot of quality work, that is for sure. I feel good, I think even though I don't feel completely spent, I really did do a LOT of quality work, ESPECIALLY pure bench pressing, and that if I keep this up for the next 3 workouts there is no way I'm not going to build some serious upper body size and strength. Lets keep at it.