July 19, 2016 – Week 1, Day 1

Since the last post, things have improved. Mentally and physically. Still not 100%. Whatever I aggravated has been calmed to some extent from the medications. I’ve been off them for a few days now and I haven’t regressed yet. I was seen for an MRI on 7/10/16 and was told I would be contacted with the results by the following day. As of today, I still have no updates and this has been after calling twice. I’m kind of done with it. At least my insurance covered it. Inactivity has given me some new aches and pains that I didn’t have before. My left shoulder feels like crap and my right lat muscle feels off. Almost feels cold. I have massage scheduled for next week. On Saturday, two things happened. One I felt well enough to go for a walk so I did. Went for a 2 mile walk around my neighborhood. The other thing was that the events for Nationals were posted. Circus dumbbell, yoke, axle deadlift, husafell stone and carry load medley. Something woke up in me and felt like I needed to be back in the gym. I’m trying to come back at this slow and really, I don’t even know if I will be in any shape to compete this year but I’m using it as motivation. Back to taking my supplements and drinking the weight gain shakes. I maybe lost 10lbs from not doing anything for a month but that should hopefully come back. Hopefully, I will be able to do 4 weeks of exercising with no issues. I based the weights I’m using as my 1rm as 76% of my all-time best for strict press, circus bell, hatfield squat, deadlift and close grip bench. Light stuff really so no videos for now. I’m guarded but optimistic.

Dynamic Warm-ups

2 3/8” Thick Bar Strict Presses
40x10
70x5
100x3
130x5
130x5
130x5
130x5
130x5
130x5
130x5
130x5
130x5
130x5

Dumbbell Clean and Presses w/ Fat Gripz Extremes (one clean)
65x3/3
80x3/3
95x5/5
95x5/5
95x5/5

PVC Crazy Band Javelin Presses
30x10/10
30x10/10
30x10/10

Dips w/ SlingShot
bwx30
bwx30

Super Set: Dumbbell Front Raises/Dumbbell Lateral Raises
20’sx10/15’sx10
20’sx10/15’sx10
20’sx10/15’sx10
20’sx10/15’sx10
20’sx10/15’sx10

Occlusion Dumbbell Hammer Curls w/ Fat Gripz Extremes
20’sx20
20’sx20
20’sx20
20’sx20

Iso Side Planks
bwx30/30 seconds
bwx30/30 seconds
bwx30/30 seconds

39 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Cautious going into this. I had no ill effects going for walks over the weekend (also did a good half hour of gardening) so I felt I should be fine with an upper body workout. I had a vague idea before the events were announced and once they were, I modified things. Light weights and lots of reps to get back into it. I was going to do barbell strict presses but I figured I might as well use my thick bar to get my wrists and hands used to a thicker handle for dumbbell and deadlift. Left shoulder was achy for most of it but it wasn’t getting worse so I kept going. Short rests on just about everything. Then on to dumbbell. Not heavy enough to use the actual circus bell empty (130lbs) so I used my fat gripz extremes on the dumbbells at the gym. I only did one clean as I was concerned that it would put my back in a precarious position too many times and the grip isn’t the best with these handles. I felt some tightness in my hips if I didn’t stay tight on the presses but it went better than expected. I got to try out a new exercise that I’ve been wanting to do after I saw a video of Brian Shaw doing it when talking about dumbbell training. One arm pressing using a long PVC pipe (2.5” diameter) with hanging bands. I was going to just have the one set but I didn’t feel it was oscillating enough so I put another band on and hung that pair a different way so it shook more. Felt good and noticed my grip, triceps, shoulders and chest working hard by the end. Then high reps for the triceps with SlingShot dips. Felt pretty beat by the end. Then on to a super set of raises with dumbbells. The front raises might have been too light but the laterals were just the right amount of difficulty. I had bought so tourniquets so I could do the occlusion style biceps work correctly. I figured using the fat gripz extremes again would make this help get my arms ready for repeated circus dumbbell cleans. Not as tough as I thought but certainly harder than the last time I tried it. It could also be the inactivity getting to me too haha. Finished up with side planks to work on keeping my core tight. Just did them each side back to back with little if any rest. Good sweat going and finished up with a fair amount of stretching. Don’t want to get too excited yet.