December 9, 2022 – Week 7, Day 3

Swiss Bar Incline Bench Presses
45x10
75x6
105x3
135x3
165x3
195x6
195x6
195x6
195x6

One Arm Standing/Braced Dumbbell Rows
64x5/5
84x5/5
116x3/3
136x3/3
172x12/12
156x12/12

Dumbbell Floor Presses (2 second eccentrics)
40’sx5
58’sx5
70’sx25
70’sx25

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

Dumbbell Zottman Curls (5 second eccentrics)
28’sx10
28’sx10
28’sx10

Stretching
 
Comments: So intent had been to do recovery stuff like soft tissue work and icing for my legs after the last session. Prioritized sleep the day of the that training session and then had a lot of things going on the next day that left that stuff on the backburner again. Good news is the medication issue for the most important one has been resolved it seems (though now shipping issues preventing another for 10 additional days but not a required one). But this particular day has become more upper body focused that sore lower body wasn’t going to affect things. There was soreness for sure. Upper quads were sore and tight from the Bulgarian split squats. They always get like that after the switch up and especially with the increased eccentric time and added ROM. Thankfully I don’t really notice it when I’m walking around but they can be sore to the touch if enough pressure is applied. Abdominals were also feeling beat and sore from those one arm hangs (probably also with the heavy beltless rdls and the split squats as well) from having to hold up my knees and just bracing to keep from spinning around. Again, shouldn’t be a problem for this session but the next day maybe. Swiss bar incline bench again but no tempo. Plan here was to do 4x6 with 3-4RIR. Suggested weight was 195-225lbs. How I was thinking on these was 195lbs and then if feeling good add a little each set like I’ve been doing for several times when a range is given. Temperatures still fluctuating and seems drastic when the sun goes down as I was fine in shorts and t-shirt midafternoon but come training time I needed the warm-ups on for outside. So starting off, it was kind of weird with no tempo. Shoulders a little achy but fine it would seem. I was feeling like maybe I could do 195lbs as a warm up set and then do 225lbs for straight sets. But then it started to feel heavy in my hands working up. I then decided that if 195lbs didn’t feel super easy, I’d use that as the first set weight. It didn’t and it was feeling much harder than I would’ve liked that I decided I needed to use this for all sets to even have a shot at getting 4x6 done today with any RIR. Seeming to run into that issue I get on incline with that switch over from chest and shoulders rotating for triceps to take over. Less noticeable with using a log for pressing but definitely feeling it on the swiss bar with the 6” of added ROM. So sails feeling a little less full here. I’ve not done these outside of this training session in over a decade and I had been able to hit about 50lbs more for similar reps then (thought wearing wrist wraps). Last set did feel the best of these as far as moving and having sufficient RIR. I went lower side as it was more an outrunning of my sticking point and hitting a wall. Video shows that these looked really powerful. Then again, I haven’t pressed anything heavier than 185lbs on anything in over 7 weeks and this week was a bit rougher on shoulders and triceps with changes. But it also shows me that pressing is going to be an uphill battle going into next year, leaving where this one had left off. Also potentially tying up with anxiousness with potential competition coming up and feeling like I need to be a lot stronger than I am. But those are kind of the thoughts I have when I feel I’m not hitting what I should be. Joy doesn’t last long for me. With some changes to exercises for the workout, I didn’t put everything away outside so I could come back to it later. But I would be in the garage for the next two exercises. One arm rows again. Not tempo this time. Work up to a top set of 10-12 reps with 1-2RIR and slight pauses. Unlike with say pressing, I know that it is a lot more weight I can do on rows when pauses are removed. Pauses and tempo really lower the weight I use for rows but it doesn’t feel like I have doubts I can do the heavy stuff right away when dropped. Less weight and less wear on body. Just takes a bit to get warmed up for the heavier stuff safely. Concentric tempo certainly is similar in how much it seems to drop off what I can do on say pressing or leg work. No support stuff on these. Plan initially was like 50lbs jumps but changed my mind after seeing how pressing went. Best to be safe here and plan incase this was a day where top end wasn’t there. Stuff was feeling easy. I went with 172lbs (which is about what I can fit with the secure clamps) as that is the weight of the Inch Dumbbell.  And close to the weight of the heavier dumbbell for PA Dutch. Weight was noticeable on my body. This was easy enough for rowing but just the body strain to brace took a bit of air from me but I was good after the first few reps as I got used to the pressure. Left side had an easier time. 10% off to match reps and I went with 156lbs (1lbs heavier) because of nostalgia for at show from almost 13yrs ago that had a one arm dumbbell clean and press with a 156lbs dumbbell in the SHW class (HW had 145lbs). No assistance from the other hand at that show and it was the first implement in a 6 part medley. That also was good. Again kind of surprised my grip was feeling fine after the one arm hangs. Then the floor pressing with dumbbells again. I felt that this time around, I should be able to push things more now that I knew how things would break down as fatigue set in. The setup to get into position was still going to be a disaster but the plan here was still weight light enough to be hitting over 20 reps. So depending on how things felt, I had plan to do either 58lbs (6lbs handles loaded with overweight 25’s) and if that was too easy after a few reps, then go bold and attempt the 70lbs. Did 40’s for 5 and then the 58’s for 5 and decided I could do at least 20 reps with the 70’s. Though it could be tricky for a second set depending on how hard the fatigue hits me. The 25’s on the dumbbells aren’t an issue here like with shoulder presses or normal style benching as ROM isn’t affected since elbows hit before these would hit my chest. The added surface area does as comfort with the kick up as well. Those 70’s were a pain to get into position. Trying to be efficient but perhaps I may just need to stop trying to not expend energy on that portion if solo and just bully them up. Falling back with them lead to some back cracks (audible one on the first set). First set went about expected. Second set was getting into the area of triceps and shoulder fatigue. But the thing is that if I just over extend on that side (the right) I seem to be able to reset position and keep going, which is what I ended up doing near the end. Put that stuff away and then back outside for bands. Yes, I probably could’ve done them in the garage but I felt less issues with dealing with potentially hitting the ceiling and it was less time setting up if I left the power rack loaded with the anchor plates rather than moving them inside on to a different rack (this was less a thing the previous weeks as the weight I was using for the incline pressing hadn’t warranted needing anchor weights to keep rack from moving). So this was a little different. Y band raises with holds I’ve done enough of. It had been warm up exercise for a few trainings and I’ve done them at shows to get things moving well. But the change was to do an overhead press after the 3 second hold and that would be one rep. First set the pressing part seemed extraneous to me and not feeling like it was doing much of anything. However, I realized halfway through the second set that I was thinking too rigidly and was doing an overhead press as if I was just doing a press in the same ROM as the shoulder position and not doing it as if I were trying to do a press and touching my shoulders. I think I was thinking too much of it like it was one of the YTW exercises or a scarecrow. That adjustment was felt immediately and added to the difficulty. Not as apparent on the third set after getting used to that. Then the last thing was biceps and the zottman’s with the added eccentrics for 3x10. I was initially going to stick to the same weight as last week and try to stick to shorter rest periods (I was taking slightly longer as my arms were fatiguing so hard) but I did decide to add 2lbs to the dumbbells. First set went great and then started to get fatigue on the second set. The good was that I wasn’t really feeling any shoulder stiffness/tightness in the right side which has been the case some times with biceps stuff. I was getting some sensations of elbow tendonitis (tennis elbow vs golfer’s elbow) on the right side (which may be apparent as more pressing pops up). Last set was rough as it felt like my right side was giving out trying to control the eccentric like I recall sometimes happening with long eccentrics on triceps with dumbbells in the past (like first training cycle in 2021). But somehow even with that sensation, I was still able to stick to the tempo. Put stuff away and ate dinner before stretching out. I was debating traveling to train with some of the workout changes for the next session but felt it was best to stay home, get quality sleep and not stress about it. Nothing yet has been a must go out to train at the strongman gym yet.