January 12, 2023 – Week 12, Day 3

Swiss Bar Incline Bench Presses
45x3
65x3
85x3
105x3
125x3
145x2
165x2
185x2
205x2
225x6 PR+1 rep

Paused Swiss Bar Incline Bench Presses (1 second)
195x6
195x6
195x6

Paused Inverted Ring Rows (2 seconds)
bw+10x14
bw+10x12

Single Arm Dumbbell Y Raises on Incline Bench (Iso Hold)
10’sx10/10
10’sx10/10
10’sx10/10

Band Triceps Extensions
ab’sx30
ab’sx25

Stretching
 
Comments: Considering the feedback from the previous two workouts this week, this was going to be a shorter workout as far as the volume and exercises. I woke up with stiffness in the left side of lower back and glute and I knew I was probably going to have some stuff in that area stressed from the heavy rep work on the trap bar pulls. I was feeling it out for the first few hours but realized that I needed to do some spinal decompression to get things not as aggravated and then eventually things would calm down and moving around would get me back on track. Piriformis was tight and inflamed. I didn’t quite get to go right to training after work as the mailman decided to give me a bunch of another person’s mail that was about a quarter mile away. I was initially going to leave it until later (maybe give to my father to take to post office or something) but I noticed there was also a package that was stamped with expedited tag displaying that they had paid more on shipping then I’d care to spend on most items I purchase. So I walked it over and found it was an elderly couple. The husband had answered and said it’s been a while since they got the mail wrong and his wife was waiting for the package. So walked back home (took another route so that I wouldn’t run into the mailman out on route haha). Walking was probably good thing anyways for the tenseness in the lower back and glutes. Anyways, on to training. Thoughts are that perhaps less pressing work volume as that doesn’t seem to be recovering well with event based things for overhead implement work. A new exercise and there seems to be some solid weeks and then hit a wall. So this was initial decrease but it looks like even more so based off of response and from looking at past trainings from 2017 to 2021. Trying to replicate what I could do in 2016 or before doesn’t seem like it’s happening after what happened with my press trying to use that for helping axle press. But have to wait and see what that entails as workouts planned until next deadlift session. Swiss bar incline bench again. Only a single top set this time. Plan being 225lb and hit AMRAP with 1-2RIR and report back RIR. I’ve been improving slowly on this but improving despite that bad session where I tried to go too hard on these and get 225lbs. I was going to do it again I guess but fresh rather than a set beforehand. Working up in 20lbs jumps of triples and then into doubles has seemed to been working since I’ve implemented that. Feeling like I’m having better control on the reps in mobility in the shoulders and chest and really exploding up. What appears to feel most comfortable with unracking weights is not fully locked out arms but locking out for the other reps. This exercise is confusing to me in that stuff will feel fast, crisp and ridiculously light but then I add 20lbs and it will feel incredibly heavy. But have to trust I can do it from repeated efforts of the past few weeks. 225lbs now and time to lift. Managed to get an extra rep from when I last went for this weight and didn’t get stapled under it going for that sixth rep. Granted, hard to say if improved to the point where I’m doing 2 reps more (assuming RIR) when last time I did a set beforehand for more reps (6 vs 2). But in either case, it is nice to be getting somewhat past hang ups on this exercise. Down sets were to be 190-200lbs for 3 sets of matching reps with whatever I ended up hitting on the top set. So 3x6 with 1ct pauses. I figured I’d just stick to the same weight as last week because that did feel somewhat challenging as the set went on. Same thing here really but more of a contrast in the first and last rep. First rep super-duper easy and then getting tougher as I went. This was also a circumstance where the weight didn’t feel easier on subsequent sets as I went. But generally not that case when pauses involved and for more than a few reps. I do feel I didn’t overthink things about unrack and having weight on my chest like last week with pauses feeling like I had to control it with some hesitation to have it sit where I wanted it to. Back work next. No other pressing this session really. I had thought it would be paused chest supported rows  but not the case. Inverted ring rows back for a visit. Plan was 2x10-15 with 2ct holds and no more than RPE 7 so as not to take away from event work on Saturday. Last time I did these, I had used just bodyweight and was struggling to do more than 3x10 but that was with a set rest break between sets. It indicated in the notes to do some additional load so assumed I was to try more than bodyweight. So I put 10lbs in the backpack and wore it on my torso. I was expecting 10 reps really and some discomfort in the elbows/forearms at the start. But things actually felt quite good. Ended up doing 14 reps and had 3RIR and maybe more. I’ve done bodyweight for 15 reps before. So that was nice considering no focus on these in a few months. Took longer than planned between that and second set but there was still a rep decrease from fatigue. Which tends to be the case on this one. But still hit 12 reps with 3RIR. So that was fun. Then it was time for that weird unilateral but not really dumbbell exercise with light weight. Same as last time with it being 3x10 at RPE 7. Not really planning to progress these in weight. The difficult part is the hold for the none moving side. The lifting and such is easy. These felt tougher this time. Perhaps because last week didn’t have direct back work right beforehand and maybe because I was much closer to the actual rest periods of 90 seconds as opposed to last week. But these were quite exhausting by the end. Last thing was just band triceps stuff. No set reps other than indicating 2 sets of 3RIR and go for pump. I chose the same variation as last week here but increased the bands a good bit to try and lower the reps. Still hit decently high reps on these. Took some rest between the sets since not supersetting with something else. Put stuff away and cooked dinner before stretching out.