Press Wednesday: Green Means Good

*new warmup

Bench press
60 kgs x 10
80 kgs x 6
100 kgs x 3
110 kgs x 1
120 kgs x 9 PR

DB OHP (strict)
left only
30 kgs x 3
35 kgs x 3
46 kgs x 11 PR

Pull-ups
128 kgs bodyweight
+ 10 kgs chains x 11 PR
+ 10 kgs chains x 10

BB OHP
25 kgs x 20
30 kgs x 20
35 kgs x 20

IT WASN'T the double digits I was hoping for (again), but it's good enough I guess. LOL. That's a pretty crap attitude to have about a session that produced three new personal records. I'm really hoping I can bust out a couple of reps of 150 at the end of this loading cycle. That's the goal, at least. Feels like it's going to happen.

My programming required a dumbbell that was near enough to 45 kilos, but I couldn't find one, so I made one with a bunch of 10 kilo plates and an Oly spec DB bar. The size of the plates somewhat reduced my range of motion and I intend to use Fat Grips in the future (to better simulate the Strongman apparatus), but I'm pretty happy with this development... it feels more like the real thing with the bigger plates. I am looking forward to building back up to strict pressing 55 and more with my new, improvised circus dumbbell.

*James, a mate from the Strongman circuit (known associates include shady characters like Christian and Rory), has had shoulder issues also. He gave me a couple of stretching exercises involving bands to help me get accustomed to squatting with a straight bar. I will be using these in future, as they seemed to help. When it came time for my high-rep barbell pressing, the movements felt smoother (though far from symmetrical) and there was less discomfort.

More sub-maximal squatting tomorrow night.