September 13, 2021 – Week 9, Day 1

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (Dumbbell with Fat Gripz Extreme)
35x1/1
55x1/1
75x1/1
75x1/1
75x1/1
75x1/1
75x1/1
75x1/1
75x1/1
75x1/1
75x1/1
75x1/1

Seated Axle Shoulder Presses (3 seconds negatives)
50x3
80x3
110x3
140x3
170x3
200x3
200x3
200x3
182x7

Feet Elevated Pull-ups (Rings)
bw+11x8
bw+22x8
bw+22x8
bw+22x8
bw+22x8

Paused Behind the Neck Strict Presses (3 seconds holds)/Paused Seated Band Face Pulls (2 seconds holds)
45x12/mmbx12
45x12/mmbx12
45x12/mmbx12

Push Ups on Kettlebells (5 seconds eccentrics)
bwx15
bwx13
bwx12

Defranco Band Pull-aparts 
mbx12
mbx12
mbx12

Single Arm Band Triceps Pressdowns
lbx80(52/28)/80(52/28)

Stretching

Comments: I was hoping this week wouldn’t be a repeat of last week with work. I had my stuff together. And then I had a brain fart and through stupidity got locked out of my computer trying to login after my lunch break. IT never called me back after they put in a ticket so pretty much a half day. I was finally able to log in to the system after my shift was over. Ugh, so much for being on top of things. On to the training. Left side shoulder and neck aching and tense. Tried doing foam rolling the day before as part of my recovery work. Still undecided on if I’m doing the pro or open portion of the show. I’m leaning more towards open with just seeing how things have been recovering. I will definitely have my decision by the end of the week and possibly sooner. Main things are yoke and the circus dumbbell stuff. Speaking the later, circus dumbbell to start things off. Plan here was to keep the form work going. And maybe get the stupid out that I had last week with the “real weight” session. This was singles each side in the same set for EMOM. Left side feeling crisper but hard to say if that is just because it is light or if I’m actually getting back into the swing of things. Right side had some slight hiccups as far as rushed reps and knee aches on that side. But that was minimal. I did these with control back down to the shoulder rather than dropping it to get a little extra work in and doing the second clean from a hang. It’s light enough at this point. Inside for training in the garage. Seated axle pressing again. Back support and 3 second negatives starting from the top. I had to make up for last week’s blunder on these. Plan for the day was work up in triples to 200lbs for 3x3 and then take 20lbs off for 2RIR max rep set. I was testing things out as far as my wrist. I know it is improving each session. Wore the elbow sleeves for the working sets. Still working on breaking them in and seeing how they feel. I may not necessarily use them for circus dumbbell but I may want to test them out on stuff like axle or log if I do a competition with that so might as well get experience under my belt. With the achy shoulder on the left side, I’m not sure if I’m being cautious or if just doing the controlled eccentrics and then not trying to be reckless with reversing the motion makes these tough. Last rep of each of those sets felt pretty tough though don’t really look it on video. Rep set wasn’t exactly 20lbs less. I felt it was easier to just put on my 25’s than use a bunch of smaller change plates and my 25’s are 1lbs heavier. It felt a little unbalanced unracking the weight and I’m not sure why. But it felt easy. On the fifth rep, the left wrist wrap came undone during the rep. Couldn’t really stop and I didn’t want to at this point. I got two more reps but I probably should’ve stopped at 6 reps to truly leave 2RIR as 7 was pushing it. Next up was back work with the modified pull-ups. Advised to do 4x8 with added weight to my waist. With the setup and what I had available, I figured using my 11lbs chains was easier to setup. 10lbs had been the suggested. I did a set of 8 with 11lbs because I figured like last week the later reps would fatigue me but they didn’t. Too light. So doubled the weight for the rest of the sets. Felt pretty darn easy until the last set. That felt like I was doing work. After that was a super set of the btn presses with band face pulls. Same as last week. This was tough last week and I was a little anxious because last week my left shoulder had felt stiff and sore and it felt like I was pressing uneven with that side lagging. I didn’t feel like that this week. Shoulder girdle was worked hard and good blood flow pump. I like that feeling even if it is exhausting to get to that point. Push up variation after that and again, same as last week. I liked the kettlebell elevated push-ups. Same idea as last time leaving 2-3RIR on these sets. Managed to pick up some extra reps on each set. Continuing to work on the upper body mobility with the scapulae movement, upper back and shoulders as well as opening up the shoulders and pecs. Bands to finish out the evening. Defranco band pull-aparts feeling good. I felt less fatigued this time and didn’t need nearly as long of a break between sets. The triceps finisher had an extra 10 reps added to the total. But I’m getting better and even with the added reps, I did it in less sets than last week. Definitely noticing the left side is better vs endurance than my right side again. Strength output is still lacking though. Finished up with an eye round roast before stretching. As I was going to be doing squats the next evening, I left out that squat rack with anchor weights.