UB: Strong Week 1. Bench

Defranco Shoulder Mobility

Neck Machine - 3X20

Bench -
85X5
95X5
105X5
115X5
135X5

Incline DB Press - 55sX10, 5

Dips - Gym BW198+10lb.X11, 4

10 min. lope on the treadmill

I hate the bench.  I keep trying to dial my form in better, but sometimes that seems to make everything feel heavier.  Lately I've been focusing first on driving my upper-back into the pad.  Then I break the bar out of the rack.  Make sure my hands are straight so that the bar is above my wrists.  Look at where the bar is "at" on the ceiling to make sure it comes back to that same point every rep.  Squeeze hard, pull the bar apart, tuck elbows on the way down.  I'm having trouble the last couple of times remembering to flare the elbows while hitting my "target" on the ceiling.  Anyway this session sucked as all this shit makes it a pain in the ass.  Additionally, I was making sure to get a full touch at the bottom, and then drive that shit up.  This made sure the muscles got worked hard with relatively light weight.  However, all this shit in combination, plus only enough rest between sets to reload the bar, meant I was mentally and physically pretty taxed afterwards.

I guess I got a pretty good trap workout with the shrugs last session.  I've been worrying at them more than I should have with lots of little stretches during the day, and they got pretty sore as a result.  I didn't realize before today that really sore traps make incline presses suck.  I probably could have gotten one or two more reps on my opening set if my right trap wasn't screaming at me the whole time.

If it's not one thing with Dips it's another.  I was pulling back my feet to hard on these, and I started cramping in first one hamstring, and then the other.  I ended up pulling my knees forward and taking more of a "squat stance."  Of course all this distraction takes away from the set.  Whatever.  I went to failure on both sets and that's the main thing for this routine, I believe.

Nice, mindless trot on the treadmill with my calves screaming at me for not getting them warm first following the heavy calf work last session. 

-10%.  My first session of this program was nice and easy, but it seems like each day has gotten progressively shittier.  I hope that turns around when I Squat tomorrow.