December 23, 2022 – Week 9, Day 3

Swiss Bar Incline Bench Presses
40x2
60x2
80x2
100x2
120x2
140x2
160x2
180x2
200x2
220x6
203x6
203x6

Dead Stop One Arm Dumbbell Rows (knee on bench)
64x5/5
116x5/5
168x10/10
168x10/10
168x10/10

Dumbbell Floor Presses w/ bands (2 second eccentrics)
58’s+abx15
58’s+abx15
58’s+abx15

Band Y Raises to Overhead Presses (3 second holds)
µb’sx10
µb’sx10
µb’sx10

Dumbbell Preacher Curls on Incline Bench
12x5/5
25x15/15
30x15/15

Stretching
 
Comments: No walking was done on Wednesday. First snow and then it became a torrential downpour. Just not safe walking in that and even if it was marginally safer after work, it family obligations and not worth it to slip in the dark. Today was the start of the artic air as it was going to be cold but get colder as the day went on and wind would pick up. It was below freezing when I woke up and wind was picking up (up to 30mph). Half day at work due to Holiday observance. This was probably good as it meant I didn’t really miss out on family time, and maybe get to recover a little more before tomorrow’s training session. And get workout done before it got into single digits (which it would’ve been if I did normal workout time). I had a friend visit to drop off Christmas gift (I just mail mine direct) so I was little later starting training than planned. Swiss bar incline bench again. I was initially going to do these outside on the usual rack but thought better of it. Just do everything in the garage today. Was a little worried I had screwed up everything with missing a rep by going too heavy. Plan was to work up to a top set of 4-6 (2RIR) and then drop to a little over 90% of that for two matching rep sets and report RIR. Also indication was to go in less than 10% jumps here in doubles to the top set. So 20lbs pretty much. I’ve used the janky rack for log incline pressing and that had worked fine so I felt it would work for the swiss bar. I was initially going to aim for 5lbs more than my top successful set of 6 reps but with the bar being 38.5lbs empty, I felt I could make it 40lbs and try for 220lbs as the top set. Left wrist still feeling a little sprained/strained from last week but able to tolerate it. Pressing was feeling decent. I was successful in talking myself out of trying to do 225lbs again. 220lbs for 6 was close with leaving 2RIR. That unrack and feeling like my feet weren’t grounded had me thinking I had made a big mistake. Glad I’m back on track here. Down sets the weight felt heavy that first set to unrack but seemed well enough. Second set felt better on the unrack. I feel like 3-4RIR were there. Cleaned up that stuff and moved on to doing the dead stop one arm rows. Plan being 3x10 at RPE 7-7.5 so a little more than last week. Suggestion was less volume working up. I felt that I could do less sets this time after seeing how these felt. So pretty much 50lbs jumps. Plan was to do just 2lbs heavier than the top set last week and just try to keep that going for all the sets since last week I kind of had to build up my confidence on these after disappointment on the swiss bar. These felt tougher (probably from the heavy trap bar work) but I felt they got better as I went. Then the floor pressing with dumbbells and the band. 3x15 with 3RIR was indicated. I had felt that 58lbs (the 6lbs handles with overweight 25’s) would be perfect considering how they felt last week with the 40lbs dumbbells. Question would be how this increased weight would affect the shouldering. The size of the dumbbells certainly played into that. But I think it’s like I thought that I have to be a bit more aggressive with them and not overthink it to get things up and going smoothly. Fatigue really does build over the sets on these. I do feel like less shoulder fatigue this time around. It was at this point I started to get a late lunch cooking. Y raises into press again. I was a little hesitant that first rep as I think I was worried about hitting the ceiling initially but realized I wasn’t going to and was good after that. These do feel fatiguing but it wasn’t as bad as last week. I had figured they were harder last week (or more intense) from increased workload on everything as well as getting the movement right from the start rather than figuring it out halfway in like the first week. Change up for the last thing for biceps. Still curls but different. Preacher curls with dumbbell using the incline bench to rest my arms upon. Assuming this was single arm as can’t quite fit both arms on there really at the same time. The idea here was more biceps and elbow health. 2x10-15 with 3-4RIR at RPE 6-7. Control and get a stretch at the bottom. I went with a goofy setup on my long handle. Reason being that I wanted the weight spaced out so that it wasn’t hitting the pad and cutting the ROM short. Did a set with just the empty handle to feel things out. 25lbs was pretty easy, I didn’t really rest between sides with that. I was having a little trouble with the left side because of how bad the bursitis is that it was making things awkward. Not like pain, just odd pressure and such. Solution was putting my hand around it so that pressure was alleviated and that worked. 25lbs felt too easy to do the next set so I added 5lbs as best I could for the next set. That felt more appropriate as far as the level (near the top end of the suggested range). It was nice to see these didn’t feel bad. I can’t recall the last time I did preacher curls honestly. Maybe in high school? I ate my lunch and then decided my day was going too well and decided to make a 265lbs sandbag to use tomorrow (I didn’t want to use my loadable keg due to having to setup something to land on and such). I think I know what I’m getting myself into but nope, it is always way more aggravating than I recall it being. But with plenty of cursing and effort, it is done. Better to do it today than do it before I workout tomorrow or even during (shudder). Didn’t get a chance to stretch before being summoned over for family time. Cleaned up and my hair froze in the short walk down the block. Stretched when I got back home late in the evening and iced the left elbow just to try to get swelling down for tomorrow’s training. Stuff is probably going to be frozen or got ice on it.