July 3, 2023 – Week 2, Day 1

One Arm Half Kneeling Dumbbell Strict Presses w/ Band Rows (mb, 3 second eccentrics)
10x3/3
40x10/10
40x10/10
40x10/10

Paused Push Ups on Kettlebells (2 seconds)/Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows
bwx15/70’sx15
bwx15/70’sx15
bwx12/70’sx15

Landmine Bar Twists/Kettlebell Windmills
50x8/8 – 30x8/8
50x8/8 – 30x8/8

Stretching
 
Comments: Maybe things are during around. Or it won’t be my problem in a few days and won’t be my problem for over a week. Despite my power going out for 3hrs on Sunday, I did finally get to sit down and put my thoughts in order and reflect on the competition and going forward. Also coinciding with the air quality improving as well. As far as the work stuff, it is good that there is a holiday so that I can have a day to get stuff mostly ready for vacation and kind of catch up on postings and such. Muscles in my neck and upper traps were quite sore after Saturday due to the tempo work for the trap bar stuff. Been a bit since I felt this sensation there, even when I was doing the heavy frame work leading up to the last show it was sparse. Work stuff dumb but it has been less stressful with not being required to do all the things I had to as of last week leading up to my time off and I will have a slight reprieve of that when I get back. Because just about everyone took off Monday rather than come in and then be off Tuesday, I did end up having to do more things. But I did want to make the most of the next day for resting so plan with the session was to try and keep it as quick/minimal as possible. As in not get overly complicated with setups. First thing was a return of an exercise that has been absent for a bit. One arm pressing in the half kneeling position. These had been a thing in the off season I recall. Sometime normal and other times with tempo. This was the variation where I also rowed a band with the non pressing side. Maybe as a distraction, maybe as something for thoracic mobility. Plan was a bit higher RPE range but with 3x8-10 and 3 second eccentrics. I wasn’t too sure how these would be feeling really with those eccentrics and not really sure where my pressing is truly at. I want to stick to the higher rep ranges on things if I can to take a mental break and build in ranges I don’t normally do in a contest peak. I didn’t think that 70lbs would be there for sure on the higher end of effort for the lower range of reps. There were some aches in the shoulders and elbows but those did seem to go away. I tried to step back a little more to not have the tension in the band go slack at extension but hard to get things into position. In retrospect, I might have been able to do the 70lbs here but rather start off lighter than too heavy and I’m not sure if this is more just a volume and stability thing with the next planned workout being interchangeable stuff for a vacation as to what the progression will be. But probably too easy if I didn’t need to take rest between sides. It did feel easier as I went. Right side felt more comfortable. From there, the rest of the workout was supersets. First pairing was my choice of push ups (3x12-15) and chest supported dumbbell rows (3x15) with a no accelerated reps protocol. Keep things with like 4RIR. Lot of choices with push ups. I was initially thinking of chaos band stuff for the stability work but I figured that the setup would take up time and went with an easier setup that would be able to open the shoulders up and hit the chest muscle. That being the push ups on kettlebells with pauses. I feel this will be important to get things good for log pressing again. Plan was to do 3x15 but fatigue hits hard and I had to stop at 12 reps to keep from getting too close to failure. I knew my shoulders and chest would be sore later. The rows was interesting in that I’ve done this weight at my own pace for a set of 50 reps one time. But this was to be done with the utmost control. Coupled with the push ups, this did get quite fatiguing and was challenging by the end of the series. Last pairing did require some setup. The landmine bar twists to start and then into windmills. Both lower RPE for 2x8. 50lbs or so seemed to have been fine for the bar twists previously. Maybe a little anxious with these as I usually wore knee sleeves out of habit with how these were programmed in the previous off season stuff. First set for the turn to the left was fine. Right I just straight up forgot what I was doing as far as position and form. I did correct it for the second set. Windmills I just do the plastic sand filled kettlebells like I did last week. I’ve been kind of surprised these have been feeling as good as they have been. I wasn’t too sure how higher reps would go but I’ve done more weight with tempo based stuff previously so maybe not that big an issue. Bends to the left feel easier on these. The left shoulder is the one that feels tense. Managed to finish this workout in under 40 minutes. I’m not too sure what the plan will be with the pressing workouts as go from this brief summer off season to Nationals prep as either day could become the “lighter” session and potentially the later session in the week could be the event focused day. Not sure and that will be something for later. Put stuff away and stretched before cooking dinner. Trying to avoid the icing at the moment to let myself have the inflammation based recovery at this point with the DOMS.