April 17, 2023 – Week 6, Day 1

Bottom Up Kettlebell Presses/Dumbbell Pullovers (3 seconds stretch)/Cobra Stretches (5/15)
15’sx8/20x8/bwx3
15’sx8/20x8/bwx3

Sandbag Tosses (bottle drill)
45x1
45x1
45x1
45x1
45x1
45x1
45x1
45x1

Viking Presses (strict, facing away, hands 11” down handles)
+10(33)x3
+55(66)x3
+100(99)x3
+145(132)x3
+190(165)x3
+240(202)x4
+240(202)x4
+240(202)x4
+215(183.5)x10

Paused Swiss Bar Chest Supported Rows (2 second holds)
40x4
90x4
130x8
135x8
140x8

Dumbbell Front Raises (concentric) to Side Raises (eccentric, 3 seconds)
10’sx5
16’sx10
16’sx10
16’sx10

Paused Single Arm Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extensions (seated, 2 seconds)
10x5/5
32x10/10
32x10/10

Stretching
 
Comments: Still have some on and off again disc pressure symptoms. Nothing so much that I got a constant eye twitch which seemed to be where things were headed start of two weeks back. But keeping note of things. This week will be somewhat stressful with little things (folks out of town, work stuff, altered workout schedule). Just shrug it off. I was tempted to do some traction on the dip stand but felt it was better to wait until the end if I still felt like it was needed (so I could warm some things up). There were changes to this workout as we get a third of the way to Regionals. The mobility warm up was adjusted with lower reps on two of the three exercises. I felt for the pressing the weight didn’t really need to be adjusted but I felt the pullovers could be considering things. I just held both of 10lbs dumbbells. Felt nice. No cramping on the cobra stretches this time around. I was feeling tension in the left side trap and serratus which was feeling similar to that very first week after stone to shoulder. But didn’t feel nearly as sore as it did that time. Continuing to keep up this circuit to have my body ready for the viking press and sandbag tossing. Speaking of sandbag toss, that was here again. The plan was to do a specific drill (bottle drill) which is to work on keeping close on the initial hinge and then drive down on the extension. Clear the bottle on the way down and send it flying on the way up. I used a foam roller. I didn’t necessarily have to go full power on these as goal was just to get form and another touch on the implement. 45lbs was the bag I brought home with me to do drills (and potentially as I may only have access to this sandbag for the weekend). Plan was 6-8 singles. Form is a little different. First one felt ok and balance was a bit off going for a second and stopped to reattempt. This was where I started to really feel that my upper body was quite sore from event work Saturday as my arms and shoulders were getting quite sore. I guess I should be thankful the abs have finally calmed down. Noticed I was having the bag go a little off course to the right. The setup at home has two height marks; 10’7” and 15’7”. I was not clearing 15’7” on any of the tosses. I messed up and took too much off the throttle with the seventh toss and it was much tighter arc from what I was doing and it came down and took out the one height marker. Oh well. Last one might have actually been my best one. So after the sandbag stuff, it was time to setup the viking press again. The wind had been blowing a good bit and sky wasn’t looking like it was going to stay dry out (it hadn’t looked great doing sandbag) but from what I could see, I had a few hours before it did anything but figured it was best to move things along as the storms tend to move faster than the instruments predict. The strict press work week. Plan this time was to work up to 5lbs more than what I did last time for my top set and then do 3x4 with it. So I had accidentally put that I did 230lbs when it was 231lbs. So weights were for 4lbs more. So another lbs on that would be 236lbs and by then it might as well be 240lbs. At least that was my thinking. See how I felt working up. It has felt good the past two sessions and I felt both times I had undersold what I could do because it “felt” heavy. I had things set for 45lbs jumps to 235lbs. Did triples. Went for 240lbs. First set was just ok. Second set it felt like nothing. I’m not sure what happened on the third set as I got off balance and the setup tilted hard to my left side and I had to set it down after two reps and get my air and then get those last two reps. I looked to make sure something hadn’t come loose or broke. Seemed fine. Took off 25lbs and it was time to do a rep set. Leave 2RIR. I think I was good with calling it where I did. I’m not sure that I’ll be needing to worry about those kind of reps at Regionals but still a good idea to be ready and use that to keep building up the muscles in the shoulders (also getting comments about that). My bodyweight has been pretty consistent. The rest of the workout was different from the past few weeks for this session and since none of them would really benefit from being outside, I put away the viking press setup to make sure it didn’t get rained on and moved into the garage to get to the rest of it. Chest supported rows up next. Using swiss bar and holds so this would be new for me and have to see how my setup works with this different bar. I figured it would be much lighter considering the holds. Plan was to be 3x8 with it at RPE 6 so a good few reps in the tank. The pull does feel a little different with the bar and angle to get the bar flat against the bench at max contraction. But it seems like I’d be less likely to “row” low like I tend to do with a barbell. I was thinking about straps but felt it was fine to do without as still not yet doing Hercules hold and general grip is probably best bet. Knurling is quite good on this bar as seen from the doing the feet elevated pull-ups the past few weeks. I also felt I wouldn’t be using weight that would be taxing enough to really be using straps. A little awkward but I feel I had things about where they needed to be for these. Don’t kill myself on the new stuff. Just enough to stimulate and move on and add to it next time. That was kind of thinking I had for these newer exercises. I mean, same but different in the case of the rows. The next thing was a pretty new thing for a dumbbell raise. So it was front raise and then moving into lateral raise and lowering that under control. So front raise concentric and then doing a “pull apart” motion to get side raise and do the eccentric. I wasn’t sure how these would feel really. I’ve not done much in the way of dumbbell raises lately. Last time I was doing them, I needed compression cuffs because of elbow/wrist discomfort (haven’t had to wear them for months now). These movements with higher reps and tempo adjustments can be slow cookers on my shoulders and since the plan was similar to the rows (3 sets of RPE 6) I tried to keep these reasonable. Felt robotic at first but as I got more into it, became fluid and almost enjoyable. I was initially worried I had gone too heavy with the initial stress on the forearms/elbows but it was all good. Last thing was single arm triceps work. No tib stuff, as mentioned, dropped it would seem as end of prehab and allowing for more recovery. Took this time to do the dip station decompression/traction. Dumbbell for 2x10-12 with it being lower RPE with holds in the stretch. I wasn’t too sure how the elbows would do after all the bands. Would the left one be achy? I was thinking of doing these standing but I’d not be able to them in the garage with a normal stance and weather could be bad so just did them seated. Can focus more on the movement anyways. I’ve done more weight but it has been a while since I’ve done these with free weights so took a guess on what would be good for the lower rep range and build from there. A little awkward but surprisingly good. Put stuff away and went to get burritos for dinner (working on meal prep plans and needed a break to spend time figuring out something). It just is unfortunately to have like the worst Chipotle that is nearby (and it is like $3 more per item on Doordash) so ingredients were not available. Ate and stretched and iced knees before bed.