I was chomping at the bit to get into my new size 54 Metal Double Ply King Bash Bencher. I had a promising training session two weeks ago and was confident I could get something close to touching today. Went like this:

Got to the gym late due to some issues at work that needed my attention. Since the crew had already started, I jumped right in with a plate for my first set (kind of dumb of me). Progressed as follows:

  • 135 x 5 x 2
  • 185 x 3
  • 225 x 1
  • 275 x 1
  • 315 x 1

Jumped to 405 pounds and put my shirt on. From this point on, the training session went about as smoothly and predictably as a monkey sh*t fight. I've never really liked working weights down off boards, so I wanted to get away from them and just work the shirt down today.

Not a good move.

  • 405 x 1 - barely bent my elbows. It must have looked like I took the hand off, thought about benching it and racked it.
  • 455 x 1 - A little better, but still an abortion.
  • 495 x 0 - Broke down and used a 1-board for the rest of the session just to have a target. Tried to use more speed to get it down faster. Took it too low and dumped it
  • 495 x 1 - Wore the shirt higher and was able to get it lower. Still not close though.
  • 525 x 1 - Still no dice and now I'm really pissed.
  • 545 x 0 - Started to pass out out under the weight and had my partners take it.
  • 545 x 1 - Finally felt good!!! Just grazed the 1-board (at best), but it felt solid on the way down and more importantly, was very easy on the way up. This is a full board lower than I got this weight last time in the shirt.

I was happy that I wound up making progress, but I can't ignore the fact that the majority of the workout was a sh*t show.

Ok numbnuts, what did you learn?

I spent way too much time and energy trying to get light weights down into touching range. I've been using my PR's in my old beat-up shirt as my point of reference (545 at 181 pounds and 575 at 198 pounds, respectively). Considering I'm in a much better shirt and I'm stronger raw than I was at the time, I think I need to set my sights much higher.

In this shirt, I can't even bench correctly with less than 545 pounds. But the good news is that once I'm at this weight or above, it becomes a different shirt. Weights feel light and fly up. Although I would never normally consider this, I may need to open with a PR in the bench. After the 545 pounds, I really felt like 600 would not only have been attainable, but would have forced the weight into the groove better than the lighter attempts. Problem was, after 3 hours of benching, I was beyond shot.

To be honest with myself, I've been impatient. This was only my second time in this shirt and I was already trying to touch. Had I just worked down from high to low boards, I would have saved time and energy.

After this three hour debacle, I did some reverse-hypers and called it a day.