Missed recording a poor deadlift day of 455 x 4. My body just did NOT want to pull that night; even the warm-ups felt majorly heavy. If I can get 480 x 5 next week I'll feel redeemed.
Tonight? Great bench press session.
Swiss bar bench:
200 x 3
225 x 3
255 x 9
> Blew this away, had gas for another rep. It's kickass how fast I'm improving at wielding the Swiss bar. Last cycle at this time I gutted out 250 x 7.
Three I've adopted that seem to be helping:
1. External rotation exercises.
2. A warm-up that has variation over repetition (i.e. not doing the same primer movement for multiple sets but moving on to cover more ground).
3. A set or two of plyos before the main sets, like clapping push-ups. These did make my elbows click, though.
As a result my shoulder feels fantastic. I'm actually tempted to go back to straight bar pressing.
Swiss bar pause bench with Fat Gripz:
165 x 5 x 10
Dumbbell rows:
117.5 x 5 x 10
> With straps, no thumb, between sets of presses.
Swiss bar curls with band:
10, 6
External rotations:
10 x 12, 15
