For the seasoned gear whore, nothing is quite as bittersweet as breaking in a new suit or shirt. On one hand, there's the sweet anticipation of the new pr's that often come with incorporating the latest and greatest in powerlifting technology. On the other hand, there is also the bitter realization of how much work it will actually take before you become one with the new equipment, and it starts to feel anywhere near as comfortable as your old stuff.

On Monday, I broke out a new Ace Bencher. This is a shirt I actually got a while back, but outgrew before I could use it. Now that I'm around 25lbs. lighter, It seems to fit pretty good, so it's time to start the break-in process.

I warmed up raw to 315, which felt way heavier than it should have (damn I miss being bigger), then went:

405 - 3 board

455 - 3 board

495 - 2 board

545 - 1 board

I've mentioned before that the new Ace material is a bit stretchier than the old stuff, so the shirt stretched considerably from my first set to the last. On my final set with 545, the weight glided right into the sweet-spot, and practically flew off the board. I didn't go any heavier, even though I felt like I could have gone well into the 600's because I was just trying to get the ball rolling on the break-in. As I get closer to a meet, I will start using the shirt more often and with heavier weights.

After the shirt work (which wasn't particularly taxing, due to the lightish weights) I joined my training partner Paper for some partial benches with the cambered bench bar. We basically flip the bar so that the camber limits ROM, rather than increasing it. It's different than a board because you can't settle the weight completely, otherwise the bar will flip over. Worked up to a set of 5 with 335

Then Anthony joined us on the rack and we did a JM press chains, with the cambered bar, holding it in the middle of the camber. Here, I worked up to 3 sets of 5 with 115. This was an asskicker, and I should have gotten video because I know I'm not doing the description justice.

Finished with some light sets on the pec deck. My pecs are almost nonexistent from various tears and being mashed against the collar of bench shirts for 15 years. so I'm trying to give them some direct work before they totally raced back in to my sternum.

Good start... but that's all it is... a start