March 21, 2017 – Week 3, Day 1

5 Minutes Percor AMT

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx25

One Leg Leaning Calf Raises
BWx5/5

Sumo Box Touches (12” Box)
BWx15

Regular Box Touches (12” Box)
BWx15

Incline Bench Presses
45x10
75x5
105x3
135x1
165x1
195x1
225x1
255x1
285x1
2 Second Pauses
225x5

Chest Supported Rows (1 second holds)
100x10
180x8
180x8
180x8

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (3 stage 2 second pauses)
Regular Dumbbell with Fat Gripz Extreme
10x1 R
10x1 L
Plate Loaded Dumbbell with Fat Gripz Extreme
20x1 R
20x1 L
30x1 R
30x1 L
40x1 R
40x1 L
50x1 R
50x1 L
60x1 R
60x1 L
70x1 R
70x1 L
80x1 R
80x1 L
90x1 R
90x1 L
100x1 R
100x1 L
110x1 R
110x1 L
120x1 R
120x1 L
Circus Dumbbell
130x1 R
130x1 L
140x0,1 R
140x1 L

Stretching

Comments: Some aches from the previous session. A little irritation in the SI joint but it is hard to say if it is from just doing the movement or if the combination of the back work with the big jump in weight. Lower lats and supporting muscles were pretty sore. Not as bad as it was when I first did rack pulls with any kind of weight though. I think it will calm down after a bit. It was about 100lbs increase in moving events from the previous week. Warm up on the AMT. Felt good and easy. Heart rate only got up to 157bpm. Calf work to help get them primed. New change with the calf raises doing both legs and then doing one at a time. Plan is to decrease the two leg variation and do more one leg stuff. Box touches went well. No real aches in the SI joint which is what I usually get when it is irritated so that seems to suggest it will not be an issue. Then on to incline pressing. Gym was busy so I had to wait about 20 minutes after I finished the previous stuff to use it and I was already going pretty slow between those exercises so that I wasn’t waiting for so long. Like last time, work up heavy and then do a set of five with pauses. Instead of doubles, it was singles. I had been debating between going for 275lbs or 285lbs. Numbers supported the 275lbs but I wanted to get back to 90% of my pre-layoff number. The long wait kind of nudged me to go heavier. Not bad. However, but came off the bench again on the top set as I was sticking at lockout. I got the lift but I really want to be getting these clean. Can’t just be chasing a weight. Ego needs to calm down haha. Paused set was great. Same plan to do it with being explosive throughout the set. Lockout was slow and tough (relatively) on these again but the power off the chest and through the sticking point was great. Quickly moved on to chest supported rows after that. Light weight with holds at the top each rep. Again, really trying to focus on the muscles doing the work and trying to be consistent in how they move and controlling the weight. I took shorter rest than last time. Then on to the circus dumbbell work. Same drill as last time, starting super-duper light and working up to what would hopefully be a new heavy perfect single. Pauses on the shoulder in the rack position and in the bottom of the dip and then hold at lockout. With last session, there was adjustments based off of how that went. The change from regular dumbbell to the circus dumbbell was too much last time and it really threw off the form. This time, instead of the regular dumbbells right off the rack, I used the plateloadable handle. That way when it got heavy enough, I could use a bigger diameter plate to closer simulate the circus bell. Another adjustment was putting on collars to push the weight out from the center. This would allow for me to get used to a longer implement. The potential contest I want to do will have a circus bell with globes so this could help getting used to it as well. I kind of kicking myself for not thinking about this earlier and trying this in the past when warming up for circus dumbbell work. Things seemed to be going well with the changes. I feel like the jump to the circus bell wasn’t as bad this time and the rep with each side felt better. Other than hitting my ear on my right side, they were good reps. Adding weight on to that was not as good though haha. My first attempt with 140lbs on my weak side wasn’t good. Missed the press bad and of course my first instinct was to try and catch it and control it back to the floor. Looks of pops and cracks in my upper back (no pain). Obviously not a perfect rep and the plan was not to go for a max. I didn’t want to leave it on that note so I gave it another shot. Much better but my press was more of a jerk so I don’t know if I can count it. Left side went much better and more in the tank but it was a good place to stop for a perfect rep. Home to stretch and eat.