Congrats OP! I know i felt like aMANthe first time i hit 4 plates!! I felt like i could rip one of those plates in half

One thing that has helped me in past lifts was hyperventilating before the lift. DEEP breathing so that you flood the blood and lungs with oxygen while you push out CO2 and Nitrogenous waste. I start with a song that gets my blood pumping then start my breathing and i dont move to the lift until i get goosebumps (BECAUSE goosebumps are a left over evolutionary tactic similar to what cats have when they are angry and they arch their back and stand their hair up. Anyway, when we get goosebumps, the erector pillae muscles in the skin contract (you can actually see this via the goosebumps) and it stands the hair up. WHat is special about this is that it is triggered by:
1) the autonomic nervous system: the part of the CNS we dont control (as compared to the ****tic nervous system. that we control). The deep breathing triggers adrenaline release and wah-lah! INSTANT +10 lbs add on to your bench
2.) You flood the muscles with 02 (and flushes out the waste products of metabolism) which helps you get a better contraction and wont fatigue as fast

Another neat tool to use when something like BP isOvercoming isometrics. Avergae human beings only recruit about 20% of muscle fibers where as elite level/olympic atheletes can recruit up to ~40%. Its thought that one reason why is that they use overcoming isometrics as a training tool. Simply put, you are pushing/pulling against an immovable object, but you are doing it for 6 seconds at a time and giving it all youve got. This will help you get stronger by teaching the body to recruit more muscle fiber. This wont help you get bigger in and of itself, but over time, you'll get bigger BECAUSE you are recruiting more muscle fibers.
On bench press. Set up on the smith machine and set the bar as close to your chest as possible. Then put more weight than you can move. Now get under and push with all youve got for 6 secs. DO this 3-4 times or more if you feel like it (just dont do more than 10 total minutes in a workout). You can raise the bar to mid and up high too and push there as well but you may need to add more weight.

Gleason's is OK. Ryan is a friend and I'll drop in to train now and then, but I don't like their training style.
I've walked through Norm's and wasn't impressed. Never heard of Steel Beach.
Check out Hellbent in Bridgeport sometime. It's $40/month but some serious lifting is going on in there.

Whats with the popper at the start? I've never seen those in person just TV/Movies, that common up there before lifts? srs, just wondering, never seen it, no judgement