For some reason, during my warm up sets, I touched the bar just underneath my chin before unracking. I tilted my head back before taking it off the rack, and the bar was at a higher starting position than normal (around the Adam's apple level, as described in my article "3 Ways To Increase Your Overhead Pressing Strength". The higher starting position lead to a greater stretch reflex.
Also, I've been focusing on driving the bar backwards and flaring out my elbows after the bar clears my head. This makes it easier to keep the bar balanced to press the weight straight up.
385 lb Reverse Grip Bench Press
An ice storm in my area lead to a power outage on Friday, so I had no electricity from around 8AM-6PM, with the exception of whatever power that was left in the battery in my phone.
My home gym is in the basement, and there's only one small window. Not much sunlight shinning in that day, so the lighting was horrible.
I missed the first try at 385 lb, likely because of not enough leg drive. The 2nd attempt, I focused more on leg drive and pressed the bar up. Legs are important in the bench press.
Initially I was planning on doing a 460 lb over warm-up, then dropping down for a triple at 440 lb.
But 460 lb went up without much struggle, so I added 10 lb to the bar.
470 lb went up without much struggle, so I added ANOTHER 10 lb to the bar.
480 lb wasn't too bad, so I thought, "heck, let's see if I can high bar squat 500 lb. The worst that can happen is that I get injured again...not the end of the world..."
And I did it!
Last time I attempted 500 was sometime in September/October 2012, and my last 1RM high bar squat PR was late September, so I'm pretty happy with this.
Also, 500 lb high bar squat is a milestone that I've been wanting for a while. Previous best was 495 lb. I've low bar squatted over 500 lb before, but high bar is a little more difficult, and a little more satisfying to get.
My body seems to be healing up pretty good. I no longer experience that much pain when sneezing.
I can be more explosive out of the hole in the squat without feeling much pain or discomfort.
Also, I was planning on deloading this week (including today) for the bench press, but I felt fresh from taking it easy on Monday that I figured heck, why not go for some PR's??
Trying to be more explosive on the concentric phase of the squat, and try to pop the bar off my back and a rattling sound with the plates as I stand up. Seems to be easier to be explosive on the high bar squat than the low bar squat, at least for me.
Also, wore the Three Wolf Moon shirt today. Here's a pic I took a couple of days ago:
What a grind. Half way up I just kept telling myself non-verbally to keep on pushing. I think it's going to be a while until I attempt another 1RM for OHP. In the mean time I'll work on rep PR's.
