December 8, 2015 – Week 9, Day 1

Dynamic Warm-ups

Barbell Strict Presses
45x10
85x5
85x5
125x3
125x3
165x1
200x1
235x1
270x1
270x1
270x3 PR+10lbs

Barbell Z-Presses
95x5
135x3
185x1
225x3 PR+10lbs
225x2
225x2

Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses
60’sx5
80’sx3
100’sx1
120’sx5
120’sx5
120’sx9 PR+1 rep

Band Pull A-parts
LBx12
LBx12
LBx12
LBx12

Super Set: Decline Rope Triceps Extensions/Reverse Curls (5 second negatives)
130x10/100x8
130x10/100x8
130x10/100x8

Band Pushdowns
LBx30
LBx30
LBx30

31 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: I had a feeling this week was going to be a tough one. Usually, deload weeks feel like crap and get better while this time it started out good and got tougher. I also bruised my big toe on my left foot switching my wet clothes to the dryer after my last workout. No idea how I even did it. Add some unexpected stress and lower back tightness and… you get the picture. I went to bed the night before thinking about the warm-ups to the lifts for today. Old reliable strict pressing to start things off. Just 10lbs under my best single for the working weight. I just told myself it was a little heavier than last time. The little bit was noticed as each single felt close to a max effort. Had to get psycho for the max rep set. Anything more than a single was a PR. The excitement was good and the first two reps went up well. I lost tightness and botched the third and had to really fight to recover it (it went out in front of me). Took a bit for me to calm back down. Z presses after that. Goal for the day was to do 10lbs over my best triple for three sets of three. This was a tall order. Shoulders were a bit warm so I did a few warm-ups. I managed to get a triple the first set but only got doubles the other two sets (not for a lack of trying). The gym didn’t have heavy enough dumbbells for this week’s incline dumbbell session so I packed up and headed across the river to the Y. Another pretty big jump up in weight. I did an extra set to get ready for the work sets. I think these went better than last time. Right still lags and gets me caught. Ugly snaking to get that last rep up. Hips and glutes felt tight while doing these as well. Upper back and shoulders were a bit tight by the end of the band pull a-parts. I was more or less doing them as active rest again but the last set was noticeably tougher. Continued with the triceps/biceps superset. Decline rope stuff was a bit better this time but I noticed that the weight I’m using keeps pulling the decline bench closer to the cable stack every rep. Need to find a way to stop that as it makes it harder and it is distracting. This was the toughest the reverse curls have felt. Right biceps is definitely making a fuss about it. Last thing on the agenda was lightish band pushdowns. Really easy at the start and got a little tougher by the end. I think I had too light a band tension and will need to adjust it in the future. Stretched and home.