Last Monday was a shirt workout at Apollon
I've switched back to my Ace bencher for the next meet because the prototype I was using for the last few weeks is just a little too big. Too bad, because I really like the way it's made. Oh well, maybe I'll grow into it when I finally commit to the 220 class.
This was a full range day, and I really wanted to lock in an opener, giving this is a very difficult shirt for me to touch in. I have a feeling that anything less than 635 isn't going to cut it. I also wanted to dial in a new warm-up progression that has me taking plate jumps in the shirt until my opener, in an effort to save time and energy.
Here's how it went:
Bar x a bunch
95 x 5
135 x 5
185 x 3
225 x 1
275 x 1
315 x 1
Shirted up
405 - 3 board
495 - 2-board
585 - 1 board
635- touch
The 635 took a while to touch, but came up really solid. I also seem to have addressed that annoying habit of throwing the weight into the uprights, by flaring my elbows a little earlier, which seems to avoid the arcing motion I was benching with.
I also tried a shot at 675, but I passed out as I got close to touching. I think the issue here is that I've been taking my last breath before the unrack, then holding it. I'm going to start experimenting with taking a second breath in the locked out position, right before starting the descent.
I even tried working back down to 585 in the prototype, then back up to 635, but at a size too big, it just isn't enough shirt at this bodyweight. At least now I know for sure which shirt I'm going to use!
After all this, I was done, and didn't do any assistance work. My elbows and shoulders were SCREAMING. I figured that working up twice in the shirt was all the extra work my triceps needed, lol