I've been taking it pretty easy on my shoulder the past month or two, so I figured this would be a good time to test it out and see where I'm at. One of my training partners and Performance Coach at The Strength Lab, Josh Cioca, and I headed to London to train at the S4 compound. He competes at 165 and is just getting in to equipped lifting, so to be train with and learn from Steve Diel, Ted Toalston, and Dave Tate was phenomenal. Plus, seeing Brandon Smitley smoke a 475 bench was probably some good motivation.
I benched with the Elitefts Shoulder Save Pad to take it a little easier on my bad shoulder. I've benched with this once before (no shoulder issue at the time) and it was pretty tough for me because it stopped me right at my sticking point (about a two board press). Before the shoulder issue I had really been making some great progress in my bench and I've still been training hard around this issue so I figured I'd still be decent.
Bench Press w/ red shoulder saver:
barx10 -Close Grip
135x5 -Close Grip
225x3 -Close Grip
275x3 -Close Grip
315x2 -medium grip (pinky on rings)
365x1 - ring finger on rings
405x1 - ring finger on rings
435x1 - ring finger on rings
430 is my Meet PR and I'm usually worse with the shoulder saver or a 1 or two board press so I was really happy to hit this.
Josh Also hit 435 and it was his first time touching in his shirt. It will be interesting to see what he does in the future as he applies what he learned from this session in his training.
Accessory work:
JM Press with the EliteFTS Safety Squat Bar
135x5
185x5
225x5
275x2 x2sets
Chest Supported Rows
5x20
Wide Grip Seated Cable Rows
5x10
Here is a video of Josh's Press.