This night turned out a little different than I was hoping. I had planned to try out a size 54 Metal Bash bencher. I thought the stretchier, more forgiving material would be better on my injured sternum area. When I first received this shirt it looked like exactly what I was hoping for, but the sleeves were very long and TIGHT. I cut an inch and a half or so off of the sleeves and had my girlfriend sew a new seam on the bottom. I figured I would be good to go. Here is how the night went.

Stretching

Toe touch stretch x30 sec x3

Hip flexor stretch x20 sec x2 ea leg

Pec stretches against rack x10 sec x3 arm angles x3

Cracked back over pad on GHR

Warm up

Blue heat on pecs, delts, elbows, wrists, low back, and hips.

Arm circles x a bunch

Bench
135x15
225x5
275x3
315x1
365x1
405x1

At this point I spent about a half an hour trying to get into the Bash shirt that is 1 size smaller than what I am supposed to wear (Theres your sign) I have to thank Garett Curtis for being a trooper in helping me with this. I had him try every way possible to help me get into this thing and I'm surprised he has any skin left on his fingers today. We did manage to get the shirt most of the way up, but it wouldn't come close to seating in my arm pits and my hands were going numb, so I decided to abort the mission. At this point Garett spent 10 minutes or more trying to pry the shirt back off of me while I stood on the bottom of it and pulled. I have to imagine his forearm pump was tremendous because mine felt like they were going to explode and he was gripping the shirt a lot tighter than I was. The guys really got a kick out of the explatives and heavy breathing. They were of the opinion that it sounded more like gay porn than anything related to training... They were probably right.

The plan from here is to inflate footballs in the sleeves of the shirt to stretch them as much as possible. At that point I will decide if I need to trim any more off of the sleeves. I am confident I will make this size 54 work for me.

Moving right along:

Fat bar bench
bar x10
160x10
250x10
280x10
300x6 (I was about gassed out at this point)

Band flys (from the top of the mono)
EFS Pro Monster Mini Bands x15x3 sets

Band flys (from the bottom of the rack)
EFS Pro Monster Mini Bands x12x3 sets

Rope pushdowns
60x12
70x12x2 sets

EFS CSR
90x8
115x8
135x6
135x5

Clintoris rigged these up with 2 long collars inside the weights so that the plates were even further up the arm. He also elevated the back of the CSR so it was a tougher angle. These rows really made you work.

DB rear delt flys
35's x10x3 sets

I was a little disappointed that I couldn't get into my shirt as this was part of my training cycle for the meet. But its nothing I'm going to beat myself up over. While it could have went better, I am happy that I got in some good pressing and direct pec work as well as hitting my tris, delts and upper back. I feel I hit everything I use in my bench and from an angle that is beneficial to me. I'll have the shirt ready for next Sunday.

Garett is going to have some Popeye style forearms,
Zane Geeting