It has been since early December that I have been in a full on bench setup and it showed. Axle bar slingshot AMRAPS really force to stay extremely tight for an extended period of time, possibly too long. After my second set, where I managed roughly 15 reps my back locked up bad, to the point it almost felt similar to when it locked up during a deadlift! my erector got progressively worse over the course of the training day and into the evening. I finally got my back to "pop" which relieved some tension but it eventually was brought to my attention I was in far worse shape. While the powerlifting team was benching later that night I laid on the bench to show a particular setup, feet out in front, to show proper leg drive. Then it occurred, my back was so strained I literally could not touch my feet to the floor, I had a mild freak out in my brain and refused to allow myself to get to the point where I would need blocks under my feet to bench. I relaxed the rest of the evening and sleeping from this day on has been very disturbed. An appointment was made with a trusted Chiro and DNS therapist asap which is scheduled for Monday, I know my ability to brace with my lower abdominals will be brought up and I have sent him all my training videos of the past two weeks for him to see what's going on so hopefully we will find a plan of action.
Day 2 – Bench/Upper
A. Slingshot bench w/ fat bar or fat gripz – work up to a weight you can confidently hit 12 with. That will be your working weight. Then you will do 2 sets to failure.
Wk1: 295.
Wk2: 315
B. DB Incline – 4x12-15: 90
C. Cable flyes– 3x12-15
D1. EZ bar skull-crushers – 3x8 with 4-second lowering
D2. Overhead tricep extension (cable) – 3x15
F. Ladder pushups – 2x failure (set up 2 sets of J hooks in the rack, one at the lowest setting, one a few holes above. Do a set of pushups on the floor til pumped, then put your hands on the bar on the lowest J hooks, do more pushups til pumped, then move the bar to the higher J hooks and do more pushups to failure).