Aaron (8/25)

Bench Press (ring finger on rings w/York BB): 200lbs x5 reps x3 sets (+5lbs PR)
Overhead Press (pinkie on rings w/York BB): 100lbs x8 reps x3 sets
Bent (about 30 degrees) Lateral Raises: 25lbs x8 reps x3 sets
Decline sit-ups: 35lbs x12 reps x3 sets
BB pull-overs: 45lbs x10reps
Spinal Decompression and squat stretching

Usually when I take coffee its 20oz, this time it was only 12 since I was a bit tired. Slowly trying to wean off, even though I'm not really addicted. Bench was really good. It was hard enough so that I felt my whole body tighten, even my legs. I thought of being in the middle of a freeway and a truck was about to run into me. I also tried to pull the bar apart and pull the bar off the J-hooks. All helped me make this bench easier. The second set I was off balance on the bench, but managed to finish anyway. All big sets were done with 4min rest, starting the setup on the 3min mark, so it might have been 3.5min rest. This is important because when I stall, I can just up the time to 5min.

Presses were great, I learned that if I don't keep my lower body, butt, and abs tight, my low back starts to hurt. Eight rep sets made me see stars though because of my breath holding, but they were easy. I figure my assistance will be sub-maximal effort (SE), and be a fixed percentage of what I did on my other Upper day. So in this example, my OP will be 100/135 74% of what I did when it was the main exercise. Or it will be 100/155 (1rm) = 64%. I figure I'll set it to 80% and do triples to work on technique. It will be like a DE attempt, but with the focus on technique and rep work.

Lateral Raise angle will be important because it will be something I change when I stall. I started doing ab work again because my stomach always feels sick after deadlifting and especially squat day. Even with a belt.

I'm starting to think of "chinning-technique" so I can involve my back more. I'll start experimenting later when I'm chinning more weight.

My short term goals have now been focused on repping 225lb on bench, 155lbs on OP, 315lbs on squat, and 405lbs on deadlift. 135lbs OP was already reached, and I feel I have that down easily. 405lbs will take the longest, about 8 training weeks or 80 days if I'm careful. That's about three months. I'm just counting down the days. Whats exciting is that once I reach it, I can still probably progress more since I started relatively light. Long term goals are to finish 3x5's and go to 3x3's, then do some triples (like westside), then finally go back to 3x5's and do that belt-less. That will probably take a year or two.