* My present plans - I am still in the process of rehabbing a nagging back and hip. However, I feel the need to compete. The plan is to keep dropping weight and compete bench only in the 242 class at the end of March.

Friday - Bench Training
Dynamic stretch
Blast strap circuit
Bench:
Comp grip w/legs up 315/365x5 405x7
FSL:
Close grip CAT w/legs up 315 2x5
(Got a wild hair up my a$$ and took 405 again with a more narrow grip) 405x6 w/legs up
Assistance
Close grip bench with shoulder saver w/legs up 365x8x8x7x7
Rev band bench pulldowns x20x15

So I am pissed. My back was wrecked for this day. Not sure why. It even killed me with my legs up. But train, I did. I was really pissed that I only got 7 with the 405. My body twisted on the sixth rep, kind of hard when the weight drifts and your legs are up. At least I was able to get another good rep.

I decided I would do CAT/speed bench with my FSL sets. After 2 sets I got that wild hair and took 405 again. This time it was with my pinkies on the ring. Man, that felt so much better. The 6 reps were really clean and after the first set of 405 and two sets of CAT work, it really did go pretty well. The only problem is that I don't know if that grip is really better, or does it just work better for stability with my legs up. I won't really know until next month when I put my legs down again.

We went back to the close grip shoulder saver for our second movement. I love this exercise. It has great carryover for my bench. For the next movement I wanted to do reverse band pulldowns. These help with form a lot. However, I could not put my legs down, which sucked. Also, they aggravated my back terribly. The first set sucked, the second blew, and I was smart enough to pass on the third. These are out for now!

After training it was time for Brazilian. No, not the wax, the food. You people really have sick minds. My man Karsten is engaged to a great woman who happens to be Brazilian, so he naturally has a taste for Brazilian--food. We headed to the hood in Bridgeport for some authentic cuisine. I think we were the only two not speaking Portuguese. Regardless, the food was awesome. I had some great rice and killer steak. I could see this becoming a regular thing. Plus, seeing all the big booties was nice. I'm sure they all appreciated mine as well.