July 24, 2014 – Week 1, Day 2

Dynamic Warm-ups

Axle Jerks
72x5
116x3
116x3
160x3
160x3
200x1
220x1
240x1
260x1
280x1
300x1
320x1 PR+3lbs
340x0,0
340x0

Standing Dumbbell Presses
75'sx10
85'sx10 PR+5lbs
95'sx10 PR+15lbs

One Arm Band Pushdowns
ABx8/8
ABx8/8
ABx8/8
ABx8/8

34 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: On to the next one. Definitely sore in the hamstrings and back from Tuesday. Today, seeing where I'm at for overhead. I felt a little slow to be honest and the weights above 240lbs felt heavy on my wrists and chest. Ankles also sore so I was hesitant to try split stance. Felt sloppy and slow with 280lbs but video seemed to suggest I moved it easy. Added belt and wraps for 300lbs, hoping the stability would improve and I wouldn't be screwing around. Better, definite press out to get the weight. 320lbs was the bare minimum I would accept today as it is only 3lbs over my best and I've been hitting reps with 300lbs and 305lbs leading up to the Pro/Am. Only reason for a miss would be nerves or an error on my part as the strength was there. Got ready and focused and launched it. Felt lighter and better than 300lbs so of course I was happy with that. But what to do next? Overhead can be tricky, especially when using legs to assist because speed is the name of the game and a slight increase in weight is a world of change. Unfortunately, I went too big and took a 20lbs jump. I felt good on my first attempt but just not enough. It was very close the first time and not happening on my second try. Progress though, as I wouldn't have even tried this much in the past, let alone thought I could do this weight after beating a previous PR. Just thinking of these as partial attempts and overload as I'll have many more chances to test and improve my axle before show time. 340lbs would have been nice but 320lbs is a good place to start. Moved on to dumbbell work. I sort of knew what I could hit here and I didn't do any warm-up accumulation/adjustment type sets. Just went all in. A little bit of a hiccup with the next set. The gym used to have a matching pair of 85's but something happened to both pairs and now there is one thick handle loose dumbbell and one thin handle solid hex dumbbell. I was initially going to do axle at the Y and then go to Ironmill for the rest but that was before the partial attempts with 340lbs. Figured it would be less stressful to stay in one gym for the night. No fun with these dumbbells as trying to move them in concert was not easy. One would sit higher on my shoulder so one would hit before the other. I knew I had to have it together if I wanted to go any heavier. Quite a bit of lean back near the end with the last set and back didn't like that much. I was kind of at a loss as to what to do to finish the workout as I had brought just one band and it was too easy for lower rep stuff for band pushdowns or banded pushups. Just went with one arm band pushdowns. Quite hard on the shoulders to be honest so not sure I'll keep them. Tons of stretching to finish up the day.