November 28, 2022 – Week 6, Day 1

Circus Dumbbell Clean and Presses (2 stage 3 second pauses)
26x3/3
58x3/3
58x3/3
58x3/3
58x3/3
58x3/3

Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Presses (back support)
40’sx5
70’sx10
70’sx10
70’sx10

Band Assisted Pull Ups (2-2-2-0 tempo, pin 15)
sbx10
sbx9
sbx8

Dumbbell Pullovers (3-3-1-0 tempo)
26x3
40x3
56x8

One Arm Overhead Band Triceps Extensions (0-3-0-3 tempo)
lbx12/12
lbx12/12
lbx12/12

Front Foot Elevated Split Squats (4”, 1-3-0-0 tempo)
25’sx3/3
56’sx10/10
56’sx10/10

Paused Side Bends (3 seconds, staggered stance)
25x3/3
50x15/15
50x15/15

Stretching
 
Comments: Starting to pepper in things more event specific at this point. Probably another 2 weeks of this off season training likely. More exercises and changes. Workout balance it didn’t make sense to do a split to the session like before. Also since not doing stuff in the street after work. I was getting decent sleep and food over the holiday break. But work usually sucks hard after any time off as work backs up and other people decide to take off longer than the paid holidays around just about any time there is a scheduled day off. So work had me working. And then upon waking up my right side QL area decided to be inflamed all day for what would appear to be no reason. Not anything I can really put a finger on. So that wasn’t comfortable but I’ve worked through that before. I didn’t want to be taking any anti-inflammatories or Icy Hot at this time. Did some stretching and soft tissue work but that was minimal improvement. So starting things off was circus dumbbell. Been over a year since last did these. I had high hopes last time these were in training for a show but then I decided to sprain my wrist and fracture my elbow a week into training. So hopefully no injuries and progress better and have this be more like how all pressing besides axle went this year. Starting up because event for PA Dutch (140lbs or 180lbs for reps, heavier worth more points) but funny enough this is one of the events for the Arnold (for max) so it does seem like I’ll be hitting most of the stuff for the Arnold prep with the two shows I’m actually signed up for. The setup for the day was to do light pause work with the circus dumbbell. As in 35-40% of what I felt my 1rm would be. I’m not too good with figuring that out by feel. So I decided to take my best push press as opposed to jerk with dumbbell since 2016 reboot (162lbs) and use that to gauge things. These were to be push presses with pauses for 2-3ct in the rack position and again at bottom of dip for leg drive. Since using light weight, this meant using the plateloaded handles since my circus bell is 130lbs empty. Previously, I’ve used my longer and heavier handle since it was similar in length to the actual implement. However, I’m trying out the shorter handle because it would be closer to the actual spacing for my hands and potentially get better distribution of actual feel on the shoulders. Warm up felt fine with smaller plates. The 25’s weren’t comfortable at the start. Shoulders were achy on the right side and elbow was achy on the left side that first set. Got a lot of rust and dust to shake off. As I went, it was clear that left side is a lot more comfortable for me. But need to work both sides. Some reps felt like I didn’t have power in the shoulders and others where everything was perfect and some where it was just ok all around. Quads were getting sore from doing the short explosive movements to launch overhead as well as pausing. Into the garage then to do the next thing. More shoulders. Back supported dumbbell pressing. 3x8-10 with 3-4RIR and advised to do them with control so as not to be relying on rebound. I felt that 70’s would work here. Not worry about plateloaded stuff first week. Use solid dumbbells and hopefully not need any wrist support to shoulder or press. These moved easy enough but my right shoulder was quite achy on these. Same feeling I’ve had on the one arm kneeling presses on that side. As I was going, probably go heavier. But also could’ve done more control on the reps. I think I wanted to make sure I got things done as been a bit since I’ve done these. I figured I’d be good since I’ve done 70’sx12 in the past and done them for 15 without back support during one of the past training preps. Back outside again. Change in the pull-up exercise but by no means easier. Band assisted pull-ups but to do them controlled. So not like I did last week. Suggested was 2-2-2-0 tempo which I knew would be terrible regardless of how much assistance I had. Plan here was 3x8-10 with 4RIR. Needed most band tension I could muster here. These were challenging at this pace. But these were necessary as far as getting full ROM and hitting parts missed with how I’d normally do pull-ups. Back into the garage for pullovers with tempo. Same tempo as last week with idea to be a top set of 8-12 with 2-3RIR, warming up in sets of 3. I was expecting to push these a bit more than I did on that top set but these don’t really feel like they are hitting the lats. Mostly just my triceps trying their best to stabilize. I stopped as I felt like my right triceps was going to cramp up hard if I kept going.  Seems lighter stuff is way to go if trying to get lat control (like band stuff last two cycles) or just mobility to open rib cage and shoulders. Pullover machine used to be a good one too but no place really has those. I got through these and it was back outside for the triceps. Same as last week. I figured I could get 3x12 this time around. Triceps felt sore from the pullovers at the start. There was a fox stalking my backyard and only noticed me when I stopped my set as the band relaxing caused the rack arm to creak loudly. Haven’t seen one around before. As has usually been the case with these band triceps, the left side seems to handle it better. Tempo FFE split squats were up next. Same tempo as last week with suggested another week of them. I had debated going to ssb but seeing as how squats and other things with it are coming back into the mix and grip work is always good in off season, stick to dumbbells. Easier to bail on and easier to setup. Only 2x10 this week here. Plan was to do 56lbs on these assuming stuff felt good after mobility stuff and warming up. If for some reason it felt really easy, then I may try 70lbs. Well not tonight. This was the first time these have truly felt challenging. For the left side, this felt heavy and needed to be careful with lowering to keep knee stable (this is the side that has instability issues still) and then had to make sure not overstretch right side and make sure the soreness I was feeling around the knee was from the circus dumbbell leg drive and not other stuff. I was kind of glad it was just two sets this time. Last thing was more oblique work. This was a bit different. No walking but not lying down stuff either. Side bends with control and holds but staggered stance. As if I were in midstride doing yoke. Plan was 2x10-15 with plenty of RIR and 3ct holds. But note was to use the least amount of resistance that I could feel my obliques working. So a bit of different parameters. To change things up, I used my plateloaded kettlebell handle for these so it was a bit different feel. Hopefully I did these right. These didn’t exacerbate my QL stiffness at least. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching out. I usually ice knees but didn’t because I tend to let muscle soreness do its thing and only for tendon aches do I ice things.