January 5, 2023 – Week 11, Day 3

Swiss Bar Incline Bench Presses
40x3
60x3
80x3
100x3
120x3
140x2
160x2
180x2
200x2
220x5
220x5

Paused Swiss Bar Incline Bench Presses (2 seconds)
195x5
195x5

Dumbbell Floor Presses w/ bands (2 second eccentrics)
63’s+abx20
63’s+abx18

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

Band Triceps Extensions/Band Curls w/ Fat Gripz Extremes
lb’sx35/mmbx35
lb’sx30/mmbx30

Stretching
 
Comments: I was feeling a little worn by this point in the week. Workout day before was tougher than probably was expected to be with the change in the deadlift pulling height. I did notice that my right wrist is starting to not feel so achy. Plan was workout, eat dinner, and then train my sister as she is starting contest prep (same show). Swiss bar incline bench again. Again, somewhat similar to the trap bar pulls in how these were setup. First part of it was working up to 2x5 with between 215-225lbs and report back RIR. I figured I’d do the same working up in sets of 2-3 reps and just do 20lbs jumps with aim for the top weight to be 220lbs. I’m still not confident in hitting 225lbs for more than 4 reps for multiple sets yet. But getting there. Especially with how it feels like I get better as I go. For ease of setup, I just did everything in the garage. This is always a tricky one as weights can feel like nothing working up to a point and then it feels really heavy and tough and like I could mess up big time if I’m slightly off. First set wasn’t as convincing as I would’ve liked but seemed to make up for it on the second set. Incline pressing wasn’t done and it was time to drop some weight off for paused work. With log incline bench in the past, doing regular reps and then paused reps seemed to be a good plan so not surprised it was implemented again now that going full tilt competing switch from off-season. Same as the regular style with 2x5 and report RIR on last set. Suggested was 190-200lbs so I did 195lbs to split the difference again. Form seems a bit different. Like it necessitates that I control it down to a specific spot for the pause and then press. Goal was 1-2ct so I did 2 second pauses. I felt I could do more but it was a bit odd in that it felt a lot tougher to actually finish the final bit of lockout. Something I don’t usually feel like I have happen. But similar fashion to the regular style, second set felt better. Seeing as how this day is without rest after the heavy pull day that also had rows, no rowing today. I guess also because plan is to do stones Saturday. So that meant it was right into the floor pressing with dumbbells and the band. 5lbs heavier than last week and reducing to 2 sets vs 3 sets. Aim being 15-20 reps with 2RIR with these 2 second eccentrics. First set feeling pretty good and got 20 reps but I could tell the added weight and lack of “break” between pressing exercises was going to take its toll. Second set definitely saw a reduction in power as it was feeling challenging before I got to 10 reps. But still got 18 reps before shutting it down. Indication is that this may be switched out to some kind of lockout variation with the swiss bar or something. Who knows, I do what is programmed to the best of my abilities. No Y raise exercise was next. I had to read over it a bit to make sure that what I was doing was right (I sent video to Drew to confirm after the fact and he said it was right). So essentially it was a single arm Y raise while laying on my prone on incline bench but also holding the other side up as well. One side does the reps and then I switch to the other side and the side that was working as reps goes into isometric hold. So Iso hold left side/lifting right side and then right into right side iso hold/left side lifting. That is one set. So that noise for 3x10 at RPE 7. I took a little longer rests between sets as this was a bit new and it was fatiguing. I’ve done one side iso holds before while doing a set when my left arm had the fractured elbow and wrist sprain in 2021. It is an interesting twist on unilateral upper body work and I can see the application with getting sides working independently towards a single task like for circus dumbbell. First set was fine but by the end of the last set it was getting tough to hold the arms up. Last thing was just pump exercises with bands for triceps and biceps. Only indication was superset them for 2 sets with leaving 3-5RIR. Pick variations that felt good on the elbows (and indication not too fatiguing/hard for biceps as stones Saturday). Notes seem to suggest that next week these won’t really be part of the equation to accommodate rowing exercise(s). For triceps, I felt the extensions with the bands at top of the rack and pressing away with a band each side was best bet. No rep range indicated but I figured I’d go high reps and do no rest between exercises. I appear to have picked wisely for the triceps as these felt good. Biceps I tried something new. I did a single band and attached the Fat Gripz Extremes on the band for a really close grip curl. That seemed to also work out well. Just going from one to the other definitely made these tougher with fatigue for the second set. Put stuff away and ate dinner before having to switch from training to coaching. After that was done, stretched and cleaned up before eventually going to bed.