6-week bench press cure - Day 1

So I have decided to commit myself to the 6-week bench press cure (to overcome my limit on bench press that I mentioned in my last post) by Dave Tate (workout is on page 3) and started today.  In actuality, I started over the weekend when I wanted to remove any barrier I could create for myself when I got to the gym, including packing my gym clothes last night.  It was highly convenient to start over the weekend because while going over the plan, I realized I did not know what ALL of the exercises in the first workout meant.  So, I went ahead and looked them all up:

Floor Press
Dumbbell Extension
Chest-Supported Row
Rear-Delt Lateral Raise

Granted, I have performed couple of these exercises before without knowing what they were called, and one of them not doing them with proper form.  I started with the floor press workout by starting with the 45lbs bar and added 10lbs at a time and doing 8-10 reps.  You can imagine where the problems started coming in when you do not have a spot.  I comfortably finished 75lbs for 8 reps but once I attempted 85lbs, I was having difficulty getting under the bar and lifting it off the floor (I have been using a bench to prop one side up to start for previous sets as I could not go underneath).  Long story short, I almost dropped the bar on face and struggled in holding up the weight long enough to get my head out from under the bar.  I tried stacking plates to make the starting position higher to get my arm underneath, but I already had stacked three plates and it still was not enough to start and I gave up at this point as I was getting tired from moving all these plates around and stealing them all.  I will attempt Day 1 again later this week and try using two benches to prop up the bar to start assuming no one is using them.

I did the other three exercises and completed the sets with relatively lower weights as I was unsure of what weights I was comfortable with.  Used a 40lbs for Dumbbell Extension, 15lbs for the Row, and 8lbs for the Lateral Raise that I dropped to 5lbs for the last set as I could not tell if my form was good or I just have no flexibility.

All in all, a good workout that could have finished faster if I could set up the floor press sets better.  Also, I like how Day 1 didn't even include using the bench press and working on different muscles that are weak for me and different stages of the bench press via the floor press.