Max Effort Upper: Bench Press vs 3 Chains Per Side and Shirt Work!

After sustaining multiple low back issues the past year, I'm now focusing on being a bench press specialist for the next year or so (both raw and equipped). I'm currently in meet prep for the 2018 XPC Bench Bash on the main stage at the Arnold Expo in Columbus, OH. I'll be competing at 132 in multi-ply on Sunday, March 4th, 2018.

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Second week of meet prep kicked off with some shirt work and heavy raw work as well. The goal here was to get back into my shirt and begin to feel things out. I really wanted to work on touching a bit more, but it was good to get some solid weight in my hands. I think I had 395-415 in me for the day, but just the way things were dragging I opted to shut it down here since it was still a PR for the day. The weather has been super cold lately, so I also feel like this might have affected how my shirt was fitting as things felt super loose compared to normal. I might have to eat up a bit more just to get the gear to fit better during some training and taper my calories later in the prep. A lot to figure out over the next couple weeks, but I'll get it all dialed in I'm sure.

A post shared by Brandon Smitley, MS CSCS USAW (@bsmitley) on Dec 23, 2017 at 6:55pm PST

Items Used in this Training Session Sabertooth Bench Bar EZ Loaders Chains Metal Jack Bench Shirt Mini Bands Monster Mini Bands

Warm Up Soft Tissue Work - T-Spine, Lats, Glutes, Hamstrings, TFL, Quads Cats/Camels - 10 each 90-90 T-Spine Rotation - 10 each side Push Up to Downward Dog - 10 Band Dislocations - 10 Alternating Band Dislocations - 10 per arm Band Pull Apart Super Series - 1 round Band Curls, Rows, Pressdowns, Straight Arm Lat Pulldowns - 15 each

A1) Bench Press vs 3 Chains Per Side 55x10 55x5 - add chains 105x5 145x5 195x3 215x3 235x2 245x1 260x1 - PR 285x1 - add shirt 325x1 355x1 - touch 375x1 - PR

B1) Pin Floor Press vs Doubled Mini and Monster Mini Bands Up to a hard set of 8, adding more band tension on the way up

C1) Pin JM Press vs 1 Chain Per Side 105x10 115x10 125x2x10

D1) KB Crossbody Tricep Extensions 4x10 per arm

E1) Rolling Tricep Extensions 100 total reps E2) Side Lying Rear Delt Raises 5x20 per arm