January 19, 2023 – Week 13, Day 3

Band Assisted Thread The Needles
lbx10/10
lbx10/10

Paused Swiss Bar Bench Presses (2 seconds)
45x3
75x3
105x3
135x3
165x2
195x2
225x2
255x6
230x6

Paused Inverted Ring Rows (2 seconds)
bw+15x12
bw+15x10

Single Arm Dumbbell Y Raises on Incline Bench (Iso Hold)
10’sx12/12
10’sx12/12

Single Arm Overhead Band Triceps Extensions (followed by 40 seconds stretch)
mmbx15/15
mmbx15/15

Knees Over Toes Calf Raises (3 seconds stretch)/Deep Squat Holds
bwx15/bwx45 seconds
bwx15/bwx45 seconds

Stretching
 
Comments: So based off the further considerations and thoughts, this workout did lower a bit more but not a lot. I initially thought it might be pushing too much (after the elbow issues this week from the draining) but realized that only parts of the workout were really going to be intense and rest was kind of mobility and related. Certainly some troubleshooting needed on my part here with some of these newer exercises. It was raining outside off and on and was dark all day so I just stuck to in the garage for training. Not that really anything needed to be done outside. The first thing was a new one for thoracic mobility called thread the needles with band assistance. The app recommended video didn’t look right to me (it had the demo with a foam roller for the arm which would definitely bother my one elbow) and had to look around some more. I think I got the gist of it down but it would appear from comments from Drew that I had too much band tension and need to rewatch videos for next time assuming it shows up again. Even if not quite right, whatever I did I can see as something to help with mobility for say an arm-over-arm. I also need to remember to put something down or wear something on my knees on the garage floor. Next thing was still swiss bar benching but a change. Flat benching with pauses. Indication was to work up sets of 2-3 reps and do a top set of 4-6 (2RIR) and then drop 10% for a match rep set and report back how they felt as far as RIR. Haven’t done any flat benching for many months and I had clearly been overdoing it at the time with failing weights I have done for many reps in the past. Perhaps the change from incline to flat was to take stress of shoulders but still work the pressing muscles. I was hoping I could push things on these but also leery with the elbow. Thankfully, the elbow was fine with this. I guess as fine as it is going to be with things. Flat benching did feel a little weird. I’m not sure if I’ve done just flat bench with this bar before. I know I’ve done board pressing, incline and floor press before. The bar path feels better to me. There isn’t that “dead zone” like with incline press that I feel I have and need to press fast to get through. I could feel the chest muscles having to work today. Can’t say that always is the case with pressing. I would’ve liked to have done this top set with 285lbs but I made the right call with 255lbs for this first session. Down set felt good. Using the wrist wraps because wrist seems to be needing more time to recover as well. Lower abs were sore from the ab wheel work as expected so laying down on the bench a little gingerly and getting up off it was also a little tougher. Up next was the inverted ring rows. Repeat of last week with 2x10-15 with 2ct holds and no more than RPE 7 so as not to take away from event work on Saturday. Notes indicated that if these do feel like too much that this will be dropped and something would get adjusted as far as volume on other things. I was pleasantly surprised how these went last time as I had not been expecting to get as many reps with weight added due to past experience with fatigue on these with pauses. I didn’t want to do an exact repeat of last week so I decided I’d add 5lbs more and see if I could still keep at it. Definitely saw a decrease in the reps with that adjustment but still comfortable. I feel I also didn’t take as ridiculously long between the two sets as I did last week either. Iso Y raises were next. This was the thing that would get changed in volume if rows were dropped. Same difficulty listed for these as last time but volume change. 2x10-12 was what was posted this time. These are quite challenging I’m finding. Since I can do sets of 10 with the rests, I figured I’d give sets of 12 a shot with just two sets. Oof, this was kind of tough with the iso hold. These might be the toughest thing of the workout for me. Triceps with bands but a lot lower intensity as focus was more moving and then mobility. So overhead single arm stuff with anchor point being around my knee. Do a set of 10-15 reps and then hold the stretch for 30 seconds with deep nasal breathing for stretch in lats and tris. Of course with my counting, I went long and it was more like 40 seconds. I used less band tension than I’ve usually used for this exercise because notes were light and the stretch focus. Funny enough, there did seem to be some fatigue from the first and second sets. Last thing was ankle mobility tied in with calf work. I also was allowed to add in hip mobility to superset if I wanted to. Exercise was knees over toes calf raises with 3 second stretch. My ankles found being flat to the floor was enough of a task for the stretch at this point. Drew did suggest I get some kind of block and think forward sled movement. I got to keep working on these things so as to keep my joints healthy enough for this dumb stuff I do. I did a deep squat hold after each set for what I thought was 30 seconds but ended up being 45 seconds (again, I seem to count slow when relaxed). Put stuff away and ate pot roast. This workout didn’t beat me up. It felt relaxing. I kind of needed that with how stressful the week had ended up being.