February 26, 2016 – Week 6, Day 3

Dynamic Warm-ups

Barbell Strict Presses
45x10
80x5
80x5
110x3
110x3
140x1
170x1
200x1
230x1
260x1
260x1
260x1
260x1
260x1

Close Grip Barbell Bench Presses
45x10
95x5
135x5
185x3
235x3
285x1
330x3
330x3
330x6

Super Set: Dumbbell Trap 3 Raises/Hammer Strength Iso Lateral Raises (bent over/modified)
10’sx12—100x12
10’sx12—100x12
10’sx12—100x12
10’sx12—100x12

Pulldowns
180x13
180x13
180x13

37 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Had to make some changes on the fly this session. Found out when I got out of work that the Y was closed due to no water (construction right beside the place is messing with the water) so I had to go to Max Fitness to train. I haven’t done a work that required benching there in over five years as the bench doesn’t go high enough for me to unrack it properly. But it needed to be done. Strict pressing for singles with short rests again. A little more weight, one less set and a little more rest between sets. Knees weren’t anywhere near as bad as last week but my right shoulder definitely has a little achy and sore. I feel my rack position was better this time and it is good thing it was as these were tough. Only my first and third lift weren’t grinders. Power felt good off the shoulders, lockout was a bit tougher than usual. Benching was next. Always interesting using an unfamiliar bench setup so I had to keep that in mind in that the unrack would be different. Also a fair bit of other parts on the rack that were kind of in my peripheral vision so another thing to try to keep in mind but also to ignore. The unrack of the weights wasn’t as bad as I feared it would be so I didn’t ask for help on my first two working sets as I knew it was well within my capabilities. Second set actually felt better than the first. Ended up having three spotters for the last set haha. I definitely wanted someone to help me unrack the weight so that I didn’t expend as much energy from the lower rack position. I was constantly worried with so many people around the bar and me that someone would help before I needed it haha. Managed six, one short of my all-time best but again, this is with a closer grip than I’ve previously used and an unfamiliar setup. With a different gym than usual, I had to modify the upper back super set. No issue with the t3 raises but the second part was tricky. The actual workout calls for a reverse pec dec but I don’t have access to one of those. I decided to use the Hammer Strength lateral raise and just bent over so that my elbows were in the pads and did a “reverse hug” for the lift. Not ideal but not bad. Pulldowns were next. I knew these would be tough from last time but this setup was different. It was not made for talls haha. I wasn’t able to do a full range of motion so I did the best I could. Stretched a lot (hamstrings and upper back really tight) and then home to eat and sleep.