All hail compression gear!

Shout out to my compression gear, I swear it really does work. Yesterday evening I went to bed thoroughly exhausted from a super fun weekend, and also thoroughly sore, perhaps because my training sessions were spread out over multiple days last week I ended up working harder? Regardless of the cause, pretty much all my muscles were aching, so last night I slept in my 2XU recovery compression tights and TWO 2XU recovery compression shirts (a women's L active/recovery shirt under a men's M recovery shirt - I find that the women's gives me nice pressure through my waist/low-back and torso and the men's has great compression on my arms and between the two they make my shoulders feel incredibly supported and compressed - it's a strange feeling at first but I love it.) I woke up this morning feeling actually capable of considering hoisting 104# above my head, which is what I did. 6 times in a row in fact, which was 3 more reps than called for this week. Whoo hoo! I think at least part of the reason I was able to do this is I changed my set-up from a strict-press set-up to a rack position (which is how you're supposed to set up for jerks) where you rest the bar on your anterior deltoid/shoulder with your elbows pointed forward and wrists extended so the bar rests more in your fingers close to your palm rather than in the center of your hand like with a strict-press set-up. It feels a little less stable but it's also more flexible and fluid and so encourages more explosive power and is easier to get underneath the bar to finish the jerk. Ross suggested I try it last week and I used it for all my sets this week, to pretty great effect. Form/technique wins again.

All in all it was a stupendously great morning at the gym, due to the success of my main lift and:
1) Listening to Kanye/Jay-Z's album "Watch the Throne." I love and it it makes me feel like a badass. Which I realize is absurd, but whatever, it works.
2) My back overall, and my lats specifically, is/are getting satisfyingly large. My friend Cary took a very sweet picture of me yesterday at polo and when I first saw it I was momentarily saddened at what appeared to be BACK FAT (my eternal nemesis, for real I carry a lot of my extra weight in my back, it sucks), but then I realized that I was actually looking at my lats, which are just sort of looking awesomely large these days. This makes me happy. And hopefully also means that a for-real bodyweight chin-up is creeping every closer.
3) I bumped up to using a 40# dumbbell for my single-arm floor presses. I do 4x10 for these, and the 40# DB is legit LARGE, so this also added to my general feeling of bad-ass-ery.
4) Tried out a new finisher that my nutrition coach posted on her Instagram feed (it does occasionally serve a purpose other than procrastination.) It was a single-arm overhead dumbbell waiter carry around the gym, it works on core and shoulder stability and also gets your heart-rate up and was fun to try a new exercise out. Wins all around.

Training Today:
Warmup: Is, Ts, Ys
Split Jerk: 6 sets working up to 104#x6
Accessory: Speed bench and single-arm rows; floor presses and upper-back work
Finisher: Single-arm overhead dumbbell waiter carry.

P.s. Random bonus: The logo on the 2XU gear makes me feel like I'm a member of the X-Men. This is obviously totally sweet.