June 11, 2016 – Week 1, Day 1

Dynamic Warm-ups

Safety Squat Bar Floor JM Presses w/ Chains
No Chains
60x8
Add Chains (+22lbs)
67x5
117x1
127x8
132x8
137x8
142x8
147x8

Dips w/ SlingShot
bwx30

Super Set: Pull-ups/Rope Cable Face Pulls
bwx12/70x15
bwx12/75x15
bwx(6/4/2)/80x15
bwx(6/4/2)/85x15

Super Set: Tate Presses/Dumbbell Curls w/ Fat Gripz Extremes
60’sx8/40’sx8
60’sx8/40’sx8
60’sx8/40’sx8
60’sx8/40’sx8
60’sx8/40’sx8
60’sx8/40’sx8
60’sx8/40’sx8
60’sx8/40’sx8

Drag Across Planks
25x6/6
25x6/6
25x6/6
25x6/6

34 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: I’ve been going a bit stir crazy these last few weeks so it was good to be back in the gym. I was initially planning on starting back on Monday but it just made more sense to start now as it would allow me to have rest days during the week when I could schedule chiro or massage appointments if needed. Saturday afternoon so not very crowded. Taking the advice from the last time I had this kind of back issue, I wore my rehband belt for the entire workout after doing the dynamic warm-ups. First was an exercise I never would have thought of doing. JM presses on the floor with the ssb and with chains. Having never done any combination of the chimera lift, I had to start out light to figure it out. I apparently had the bar backwards on the rack and had to switch midset haha. Goal for the workout was 5x8 with RPE 7. Ideally, straight sets but I figured I’d be adding weight to get an idea of what I needed to be hitting here. Felt good, a bit achy in the elbows but then again, the only thing I’ve done in the last four weeks has been some dips and pushups for my arms and shoulders. It was pain to get on to the floor and pack up between sets though. Next was dips but using a SlingShot. One set of 30 reps. Quite easy. Obviously these will get tougher with the increased reps. Good blood flow. Next was a superset that I knew would be bit more challenging. Pull-ups with face pulls. The workout indicated that I could use a band to assist on the pull-ups if needed. I had every intention of using on but they felt like they (average band and light band) giving too much help so I sucked it up and did them with no help. I managed to do the first two sets of pull-ups without rest pausing but I had to on the last two sets. The face pulls weren’t bad. After that was another super set for a lot of sets and reps. Tate presses into dumbbell curls with the Fat Gripz Extremes for 8x8. I wasn’t too concerned about the fatigue here but I was worried with how my back would handle having to clean the dumbbells for the Tate presses. Thankfully, it wasn’t that much of an issue. Tender for sure but not debilitating. Last thing on the agenda was a new core exercise, another that I would never have thought of; drag across planks. At the top of push-up position you put a weight to one side and stabilize while reaching with the opposite arm to pull the weight across the floor to the other side of the body and alternate until done. I had to try this one out in practice before to figure it out and it was ripping my insides up. Used a lightish dumbbell. Very tough but I like it. I did some soft tissue work at the gym before heading up to stretch. I took a stretch out and replaced it with three new ones. Good to be back to lifting. I will have to continue to test what my lower body can handle for the other workouts.