Originally Posted by
Beltshumeltz
Nice job, and be proud of your bench work, working on form is always useful and too many people don't take this aspect seriously enough. Next time, do you plan to lift until the bar slows down on the last few reps to find your true starting weight or do you plan to start at 45 and add a bit each workout?
Didn't the deadlift make you feel great tho? My first deadlift was 160 pounds, and even though it was easy enough, I too felt the same thing as you in that it required some mental toughness. I can't wait to double my starting numbers as I'm getting close now (295).
For the squat, I had similar problems, but only elbow pain. To the point where it made me stop squatting, but I have now fixed it, and have now squatted 15 times over the last 5 weeks with no significant problems at all, going from 160 to 245.
So here's the trick (your problem might be different though).
I was letting my shoulders relax somewhere through the set, sometimes only on the way to re-racking the bar. So either during these last reps or while lowering the bar to rack it, I would let the bar roll on my back a bit and my elbows would bear some of its weight, even for a short time.
You could say that now that I never relax my shoulders, they got a bit stronger so keeping the shoulders and the elbows up is no longer a problem - they don't get tired even in a long set. I have had ZERO pain lately thanks to this. The rare times I do forget this, it hurts right away (well, right after racking the bar), but only for one set since I fix it after I notice it. So focus on keeping your deltoids and elbows up, even up to the time the bar is re-racked!
BTW if you are still sore by your next workout, go ahead and add weight to the bar anyway. As long as you warmup, muscle soreness is not an indicator of a loss of strength and you'll forget about sore legs once you have 125 or 120 pounds on your back. It is also not an indicator of a gain of anything, so don't try to seek soreness either. It's just there.