Training Logs 8-14-14, 8-15-14: Overload Bench and Deadlift.

Busy weekend! Drove to Cleveland and back Friday night, taught class and had two shows Saturday, then taught class on Sunday. Alison and I had a date-ternoon/night Sunday evening. Made a big 'ol salad, bottle of wine, went for a walk. Fantastic and relaxing; just what recovery calls for sometimes!

Overload Bench Press

Massive PR on the 315# Slingshot bench. Asked a fella in the gym to help spot, which is something I rarely do. I think it's important to know how to use/get used to/trust the safety system in a gym so that when you are forced to lift alone you can do it safely. That being said, 315# is a lot of weight and a spot can definitely help take the edge off. You have to be careful sometimes, when you ask for a spot; some people get a little too ready to help you. When I have someone spot I make sure to tell them "only help out if it drops down". If I'm gonna grind out a rep I'm gonna grind the heck out of that rep! Most significantly, he helped me out with the lift-off of the bench; when that happened the bench felt fantastic. Waaaay easier to setup when you don't have to do the initial lift-off. Wrists were feeling a bit touchy after benching, so I left dips and back bends out. 

Exercise	Weight	Reps	Sets
Bench Press	45	12	1
	135	8	1
	185	8	1
	225	5	1
Slingshot Bench Press	275	5	1
	315	1	1
	315	3	1
	280	4	3
Fat Gripz DB Row	50	10	2
	60	10	1
DB Row	80	10	3

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Deadlift

Not much to say about this session. It felt pretty darn good; Just deadlifted as I was going to be hitting the road an hour or so later for a 3 hour drive to Cleveland. Sometimes, when you're time limited, you just boil it down to the essentials. I think that I could have gone for some more back-off sets, but I started being well... gassy when I deadlifted. Grip felt great this session. Lower back felt awesome and totally not sore the rest of the weekend. I've been using the 135/185 sets as paused deadlifts, where you stop the bar just below your shins. Learned about this at Dan Green's seminar and I think they've really been helping to dial in my form.

Exercise	Weight	Reps	Sets
Deadlift	45	12	1
	135	5	1
	225	5	1
	315	5	1
	405	5	1
	465	1	7
	315	3	1