Bench 9th December 2013

Warm up: Face pulls, rotator cuff exercises

Bench
Bar * 10
40kg * 5
60 * 5
70 * 5
80 * 5
87.5 * 3
100 * 3
110 * 3
115 * 3
120 * 3
122.5 * 3
Finally after 9 weeks of rehab, I can put my feet down when I bench! Yay no more faggotry. However, can't get tight cos it gets too painful if I try to arch, but am definitely feeling way more stable now with my feet down. I am still using the maxes and weights from my phaggot benching, as I slowly try to work back the technique. All the weights moved pretty fast today, so am very happy with that.

Dead bench (inch from chest)
85 * 1 * 8
60s rest intervals. Focused on trying accelerate the weight as best I could. Realized my weakness really is on not accelerating the weight as fast as I can. I tend to switch on cruise control whenever I get past the mid point. 

High Incline Bench
85 * 5 * 5

Weighted Pull ups
24 * 5 * 3
BW * 10 * 3

Front raises
8 * 12 * 3
Realized my front delts are actually much weaker than my triceps. Am including some additional work for them and gonna see what the results are like.

Programming wise, I'm gonna switch out the bench rep days for pressing, since now I can start doing presses without pain (as long as I wear a belt). The pressing will also follow the 352 format, and this will be followed by speed benching and heavy tricep (board) work. I will also include wide grip bench pressing as a supplemental exercise, since my chest and shoulders could really use the additional work.

Injury wise, rehab is coming along nicely, I am starting to squat even lower, gradually using lower and lower boxes. I'm almost at parallel with no pain, so it's major progress for me and only in 9 weeks. I must say I'm pretty stoked, considering how bad the tear was this time. 

More good news, I also experimented with a few exercises and realized that I can do lying leg curls (with a DB) and single leg split squats now without pain, in addition to my box squatting and sled dragging. Will be experimenting with rack pulls tmr to find the bottom limit range for my pulling, although I'm still miles away from the deadlift bar height.

As a result of all this, I'm gonna get back on diet and bump the macros back up to >350/320/100. Will bump up the carbs as needed. Step by step, I am coming back!