Well as badly as squatting went last Sunday, that's how WELL benching went on Monday, although it really didn't have anything to do with the weight lifted. In fact, I don't even know if I even did that well weight-wise because we used 5 chains to a two board which  don't have a pr in. For whatever reason though, after the work was done, I just left the gym feeling better about my training than  have in a long time.

First off, here's how the actual work went, before I delve into my narcissistic psycho-babble

Warmed up to 135 with no chain or board

135 + 3 chains to a 2-board (where we stayed the rest of the session)

135 + 5 chains x 1 (kept the chains on for the remainder of the session)

185 x 1

225 x 1

235 x 1

255 x 1

265 x 1

275 x miss

I had some odd jumps because the 5 chains took some getting used to, and a few of my lifts were a little too sloppy for a big jump, even though I crushed the next one. 275 was just a bit too much.

Threw on the catapult and continued working up to 345 for some more top-end.

For assistance, I joined Anthony and Justin for a few sets of dumbbell bench presses with 120s. They both got sets of 15 with them, but since I haven't done dumbell presses in probably a year or two, I was only good for 5s. I just couldn't control the damn things. I will be keeping these in as they are obviously a weak point.

Finished with 4 sets of 15 on the dip machine.

 

I've made no secret of the fact that my squatting/DL has been in the toilet for the last 5-6 months.  I'm building back slowly, but I still have setbacks here and there, and they were starting to take a psychological toll. After the previous day, I started wondering how much I really wanted to keep pushing.

Even on bench days, since my priority right now is finding a shirt that will work, my training has been a bit detached from my training partners, and I haven't worked up on the same movement as the rest of them for a while.

What made this bench session so much fun was the fact that we were all doing the same movement, and it just felt great to be in the mix with these strong guys. I even managed to stay in the mix weight wise.  While there was nothing special about my lifting itself, it was a reminder of how lucky I am to be able to participate in this sport at ANY level, and how much I enjoy training and competing with these guys.

I don't know... I just needed this one.