July 14, 2022 – Week 6, Day 3

12” Log Paused Complexes (strict + push, 3 seconds in rack)
87x1+2
107x1+2
127x1+2
147x1+2
167x1+2
187x1+2
207x1+2
227x1+2
242x1+2
218x1+2
218x1+2

Narrow Grip Axle Standing Pin Presses (top of rack, 1” block)
136x3
176x3
216x3
246x3
276x5
286x5
296x5

Chaos Band Push Ups (3 second eccentrics, feet raised 12”-rack)
bwx2
bw+20x2
bw+40x12
bw+40x12
bw+40x12

Paused Seated Band Face Pulls (2 seconds, high anchor)/Overhead Band Triceps Extensions (2 second hold in stretch)
lbx15/abx15
lbx15/abx15
lbx15/abx15

Stretching

Comments: There is a reason this is getting posted later than usual. Short of it is that I tried to do too much, stressed myself and made myself sick and had to cancel the one vacation I made this year. So not thrilled with that or myself right now. Any ways, on to the write up. I felt ok Wednesday and did the usual walk and soft tissue work. Took a break from cooking to have burritos. Got my workout situation figured out for the week to work around family vacation (best laid plans of mice and men). Train Thursday and Friday, it workout at a commercial gym at some point and then back to some semblance of training when I get back. Feeling beat so plan was a bit of mini deload so some changes to stuff to help with recovery. Woke up Thursday and my neck was crap. Left side base of the skull was stiff and restricted movement. Tried soft tissue work but not much relief there and then put Icy Hot on near the afternoon. A little relief. I guess lucky for me that things were altered as far as training. Usually this day starts with block clean and press for this training but break from that. I feel it would’ve been a crappy session with the block considering things. So plan was still pressing but not have the clean be a part of it. So best option was to do log press out of the rack. Complexes of one strict press followed by two push presses. The added difficulty was to pause on the chest for 3 seconds before the press to mimic extended time letting the weight settle like with a block (or how it had felt last week). My left shoulder felt really crappy. Achy and stiff. Not exactly painful but just didn’t feel good. My coordination wasn’t great for push pressing the log either. I’ve not really been feeling strong out of the rack on log for push press ever since I started training from home. Strict press is fine and lower weights for push press at least seem tolerable. But it isn’t an overload sort of exercise like say axle out of the rack can be. Started with the empty log and went up 20lbs. Plan was a top set where the strict press felt like 1-2RIR (or 8-8.5 RPE). The strict press seemed less and issue for me most of the time, it was more the amount of time with the log on the chest and then the push presses. I felt I was pushing it a bit near the end here. I really had wanted to use more weight but I knew I really couldn’t without a potential miss. Did a 15lbs jump for the last set. The strict press actually felt easier than the set before but the push pressing was tough. I almost lost the last rep there. Not exactly a morale booster that. Took off 10% and did two more sets of the complex clusters. Looked better than that heavy set but felt worse. Next was rack work. I was told to either do log or axle and decrease the ROM by 2-3” from what I had been doing. I have been doing axle with a narrow grip and seeing as how that seemed ok and Nationals has axle (and maybe this wouldn’t feel too shitty on the left shoulder) I went with axle here. Now I messed up here. I thought I was only standing on a 4” box when I was doing these but I was using a 7” box so I made the ROM 6” smaller rather than the planned 2-3”. Plan here was 3x5 with it going from RPE 7 to RPE 7.5-8. My hope here was to get near opener weight for the reps (285lbs) and get above that. These were tricky. Really seems to depend on getting bar in the right path. The suggestion was 20lbs jumps once I found working weight. First set with 276lbs I was starting out fine enough. I got a little distracted when I saw my busted tripod start to fall over midset (caught against the house thankfully). That made that last rep when I had to catch my breath really tough. Enough so that I was worried I’d not get 10lbs more for a decent set and then have to drop down weight to get three good sets in. That second set it was like every other rep situation. Easy or tough. So that threw me for a loop as far as what to do as overall felt about the same as the first set. I decided to go up another 10lbs. Got set and that first rep was hard as hell. I had to take a moment to refocus and then I made the next four reps the easiest reps of the day as far as working weight. I just had to kind of shake my head at that. No back work today so it was on to higher reps accessory stuff. Chaos band push-ups. Plan being 3x8-12 at RPE 7 with 3 second eccentrics. Been a moment since these popped up. I don’t think I’ve done them since I got this newer power rack really. I was advised not to be overly concerned with setup as probably only doing these for this week. Since the rack arms didn’t go as low as the other rack, I used the crash pads to elevate my feet. Did a few reps to see how things felt (trying to figure out if I needed wrist wraps or compression cuffs). I knew I was going to need weight added for these. Despite how things were feeling, these went well enough. Last thing was a super set with bands. Similar to end of last upper body based session with it being face pulls and triceps. Just different anchor points. Pauses too but different focuses. Face pulls I was to focus on the scapular retraction and set a high anchor point. Since I’m tall and the top of my rack is not really much higher, I decided I’d do them seated so as to have a more drastic point. The triceps was the overhead extension variety and I was to anchor low and flex the biceps in the stretch position. With my shoulder and just how awkward it kind of is to get into the position, I feel I used lighter band tension here compared to the face pulls. These seemed fine enough. Put stuff away and ordered dinner as trying to figure things out to be ready to leave Saturday morning. Stretched and took anti-inflammatories before bed to hopefully get my neck to calm down and let me sleep well.