July 22, 2016 – Week 1, Day 3

Finally heard back from the orthopedic place about my MRI. The is disc deterioration in the T12 and L3 spine but not anything noticeably different from when I got an MRI done about 3 years ago. So no PT, they just said to let them know if my pain comes back and is worse. So yeah, no real answers but thankfully the pain has lessened. Maybe the recovery supplements (BCCA’s, Glutamine and Play Again Now) and increased water (weight gain shakes) are helping. Keeping an eye on things still.

Dynamic Warm-ups

Close Grip Barbell Bench Presses
45x10
95x5
95x5
145x3
145x3
185x5
185x5
185x5
185x5
185x5
185x5
185x5
185x5
185x5
185x5

Overhead Dicks Presses
115x8
115x8
115x8
115x8

Dumbbell Triceps 3-Ways
30’sx10
30’sx10
30’sx10

Super Set: Plate Around-the-Worlds/Band Pull Aparts
35x9-9/LBx12
35x9-9/LBx12
35x9-9/LBx12
35x9-9/LBx12

Band Face Pulls
LBx25
LBx25
LBx25

One Arm Rope Triceps Extensions
20x12/12
25x12/12
30x12/12

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

40 Minutes of Stretching

Comments: Upper body sore and lower body super sore. I had hoped going for a walk yesterday would help with the soreness. I think I was even more sore today. Left shoulder still not feeling too good. Thankfully, it didn’t really bother me on bench press. Benching was actually pretty easy (at least compared to the squats) and it was good way to start thing off. Next I did overhead dicks presses. Shoulder didn’t like the initial start to get the bar into position but it wasn’t too bad once it was up there. It felt light at the start but it was near a max effort by the end of the last set. I wasn’t expecting that haha. It was a good fatigue though. Then a new triceps exercise. Three movements in one, consisting of a neutral grip bench press right into lowering the dumbbells like an extension to the shoulders and back up and then lowering them like an extension behind the head and back up. Counts as one rep so essentially each set of ten was thirty. I really liked how much these worked my triceps. With my shoulders being all funky, I figured the best thing would be to do some higher rep/time under tension using mobility around the shoulder girdle with upper back. This was plate around-the-worlds supersetted with band pull aparts. The ATWs were good and did exactly what I wanted but the pull aparts weren’t so good. My triceps were already beat so I was having issues keeping my arms locked to be able to drawn the band like a bow with my back. Not enough upper back work so I did some face pulls for high reps with a band. I think next time, I will just drop the pull aparts and put the face pulls with bands instead as part of the superset. Back to more triceps stuff. I wanted to do something somewhat light to work on one arm at a time so I did one arm rope extensions. Left arm definitely stronger than left. I feel I started too light but really, I wasn’t sure what I could handle after all the other triceps stuff. Finished up with drag across planks. It was harder to keep my upper body up then it was on my abdominals. My arms were having all kinds of issues from switching side to side with my triceps so fatigued. Needed to do a lot of stretching when I got home.