Bench into Oblivion

Awesome Bench Press Day, this one blew my last couple months of training out of the water. 222.5 for 7 reps, felt nice and smooth. I did something different today, something simple that I feel like a fool for not doing sooner! I chose to ask for a liftoff, for my last two sets. I have a hard time unracking heavy loads, which I can partly attribute to rack design. Bottom line, unracking wastes so much energy and I lose scapular retraction - ultimately ruining my sets. Once the weight gets upward of about 190, I need that liftoff to maintain optimal positioning. It's fine; after all, I will have a liftoff in competition. The assistance work went way better today, as well. I attribute this to the feeling of confidence, realizing that my bench is doing better than I thought - as well as the fact that I've been giving a far greater degree of focus to rest and recovery. Bend bars, fuck shit up! NO EXCUSES!!!

Here are the results:

Monday, May 5 -- Bench Press Day -- (Bench Press Training Max: 245)

Bench Press:
Warmup Sets - Barx8/95x5/135x3/150x2/160x1
Work Sets - 172.5x3/197.5x3/222.5x7

Pendlay Rows - 4x8x155/165/165/175

Seated Behind Neck Press - 4x8x75/80/80/85

Weighted Dips -4x6x25/35/35/45

Face Pulls - 2x30x45/60

Shrugs - 2x40x85/90

Poundstone Curls - 1xBarx70

Weighted Planks - 1x90x90secs/1x135x45secs