November 13, 2018 – Week 10, Day 1

5 Minutes Expresso Interactive Upright Exercise Bike

Leaning Calf Raises
BWx30

16” Goblet Box Squats
20x25

Shoestring Romanian Deadlifts
45x20

Band Rows
MMBx20

Modified Angled Push-ups

BWx15

Bodyweight Plank
20 Seconds

Biceps Stretches
20 Seconds
20 Seconds

Front to Back Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Side to Side Hip Swings
BWx10/10

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses
Plate Loaded Dumbbell with Fat Gripz Extreme
(2 stage 2 second pauses)
20x1 R
20x1 L
40x1 R
40x1 L
60x1 R
60x1 L
80x1 R
80x1 L
100x1 R
100x1 L
120x1 R
120x1 L
Circus Bell
130x1 R
130x1 L
EMOM Circus Bell
140x1 R
140x1 R
140x1 R
140x1 R
140x1 R
140x1 L
140x1 L
140x1 L
140x1 L
140x1 L

Chest Supported Rows
100x15
190x8
280x8
370x8
450x8 PR+10lbs

TNHYUT Presses
50x15
150x8
220x8
280x8
330x8

Stretching

Comments: Went for a walk Monday and had a deep tissue massage. Trying to reduce my stress. Massage therapist thinks that my tight traps are what’s causing the issue(s) with the shoulder(s) as the joint feel stable. I’m thinking the manta ray bar attachment may have exacerbated things (or not let things recover enough). That’s fine since I’m taking a break from that for the next several weeks so it will give a chance to see if that time away helps. As for the “movement” in the side from last week, nothing seems to be out of place or torn. It might have been some fascia. I’m still keeping notes of things. Of course work amped my stress levels back up so back to a deficit again haha. I had to head home as I forgot to put my gym bag in the car before work. Cold front definitely making my joints ache. Exercise bike to warm-up. I was worried my knees would be achy. Heart rate got up to 154 bpm. Ended up being a new best for distance in the time limit and managed to beat the pacer with the shortened head start for the 1.5 miles of the initial course. Calves felt ok, a little better in the ankles. Goblet squats had the aches in the knees again. Otherwise fine. Aching knees on RDLs too but it seemed to be fine on my muscles. Band rows felt good but my back was definitely a little tender on the right side. Not sure if from the heavy work on Sunday or from the massage haha. Best the modified push-ups have felt (in the three sessions I’ve done them). So maybe a good sign. Plank was pretty standard. Abs were a bit tight but I had them worked over pretty good Monday so to be expected. Needed the biceps stretching today. Hip swings loosened up my lower back and hips some as well on both sides. Dumbbell work again. More weight and the sets decreased by four total for the EMOM. Things didn’t start off well. First, I forgot to pack the collars I use for the plateloadable dumbbell to keep the plates secure in my rush when I got home. That meant I had to trust the spring collars up until I got to the circus dumbbell empty weight (130lbs). Plan was to do 20lbs jumps until 120lbs and then 10lbs. This also meant I couldn’t space out the weights to be similar to the big dumbbell. The spring clips held thankfully. One of the things it allowed was for the smaller plates it made me keep them a little higher since the spring clips stuck out a fair amount. Might use them in conjunction with the collars in the future. I was expecting my knees to bother me but they didn’t. Right side didn’t want to do this today. Felt uncomfortable on the shoulder. I went with using a rehband belt for this workout on account of the abdominal thing and having the deep tissue work done the day before. These reps felt ugly, none more so than the second rep. I was able to correct after the first miss but harder than it should’ve been. I had some redemption with the left side. It’s the smoother side but it also felt a bit off. Things seemed to finally click on the last two sets. I realized that I shouldn’t be worrying about the mirror for point of reference. There won’t be on in competition generally and I need to feel the groove that feels best so looking at the object I was pressing seemed to help. Glad that was done. Can’t have that sloppiness as I get into the heavier weights. Rows followed. Right biceps felt a little tight from Sunday workout (lip of keg had banging into a few times). Plan here was light warm-up and then try to improve on my previously set 8rm in weight, even if a rep or two dropped off. I figured I’d just do plate jumps again. I felt ok working up, shorter rests at the start and longer as the plates increased. Second to last set was good but I didn’t feel like I was another 90lbs good. Like 20lbs PR wasn’t there. It would be stupid to overexert when I still got plenty of weeks to build. No reason other than ego to try and hit a number. So I went with 10lbs over last time. I figured I had that for six reps. Chalked up my hands and gave it a shot. First rep tough and then the next five felt ok but then it was a struggle going for the seventh and eighth. Ego still there. I feel in that I will eventually get over 500lbs for reps on the exercise. Next was an interesting one. Avoiding exercises for the chest that irritate the shoulder until it gets to feeling good. Pec flys was what I did last week and that was good. But I need three exercises so this one was from some trial and error, testing out the machines to see what worked. The two I ended up with were essentially the same, standing press into a machine not meant for upper body pressing. The leg press one was too much anterior deltoid so the one using the chest supported row was the winner. I’m dubbing these That’s Not How You Use This (TNHYUT) presses. I wonder how soon this will be copied by other people in the gym. It is an odd one for sure. Doesn’t seem to bother the shoulder and still works the chest, shoulders and triceps. I put it at 50lbs total to warm-up and tested things out from there. It’s a little tricky so the arms are independent of each other and I have to put my bodyweight into to brace. Definitely will be some more trial and error. I was surprised how much I was feeling it in the upper chest. Goal was 3-4 sets of eight. I of course like to test and push things. 280lbs was a little tougher as it was essentially bodyweight for me with my shoes on. Weight wants to knock me around and lockout was a little soft that first rep as I wasn’t expecting it. I could’ve ended there but I wanted to try in excess of bodyweight, something more than what I was repping on bench. Wrist wraps on and I tried 330lbs. Oof, that was something. Much harder to control, literally knocking me back some reps. Maybe 3 reps were soft lockouts but the reps were tough. I did work is what my body is saying. I need more time with this exercise to get it down but it seems like a good one for reps, not so much very heavy weight for low reps. Home to recover, stretch and eat. Maybe sleep. I need so much sleep. Can’t I just sleep until Christmas?