August 10, 2023 – Week 7, Day 3

Seated 12” Log Pin Presses (no back support)
87x3
110x3
135x3
160x3
180x3
180x3
180x3
180x3
180x3

Banded Push Ups (24” apart)/Single Band Arm Archer Rows (3 second holds)
sbx10 – sbx12/12
sbx10 – sbx12/12
sbx10 – sbx12/12

Side Lying Shoulder Flexions (3 second holds)
10x10/10
10x10/10

Overhead Band Triceps Extensions
mb+µbx20
mb+µbx20

Stretching
 
Comments: The “easier” day for upper body stuff. Would be kind of test to see how things would go as far as recovery as while I did about this workout last week, that had not been with the tougher Monday session. And that was a tougher session compared to what has been the case for the first half of this training cycle. I was also feeling soreness in the upper body from the banded front squats. Log work outside in the rack. Saw a mosquito while I was setting up and said no thanks and went and sprayed myself to keep them away. I had enough bug bites from Monday. Seated pressing off of pins again for triples. Plan here being to do a slight bump up in weight. 5x3 with same rests as last time. I was advised the rack height was right for where I should be here. But I seem to not have the stability to prevent power leak as I press. I sway a bit and need to work on that and get it so that I have the brace and get the pressing consistent. Pressing does seem to be where I’d expect things to be at really after not doing log for about 18 months. Hoping that things improve each session in a reasonable fashion. Still a little fixated on the front squats with bands being harder than I was expecting them to be as far as what weights I ended up moving. Left side rib cage area was feeling a bit sore on these presses. Suggested had been 175lbs here but I went slightly heavier as I had gone a little above that on my top set last week when I was going up 2lbs a set. Slightly bigger jumps in weight until right before. I wasn’t feeling as strong at the start but I felt like I was good with 160lbs. These aren’t super consistent still. There are sets where the reps feel a little tough and others where it feels like not much weight at all. Likely this pressing will stay like this as far as the lighter session and working the upper body and not having any accommodating resistance. There wasn’t a rush to put stuff inside but I figured I’d use the time to recover and put stuff away and get things setup for the rest of the workout. Same superset of push ups and archer rows. The push ups with bands remained the same with neutral grip on dumbbells spaced out 22”-24” Also still 3x8-10 leaving a few RIR. That was fine with me as I hit a bit of a wall on the last set of these last time with the strong band. I wasn’t sure how these would really go considering the extra stress added with the Monday training session. The archer rows did get a change in that I was allowed to increase the reps and the length of the holds to try and get into the right effort range. So with 12 reps and 3 second holds, I could hopefully get these to be challenging enough. So the push ups I was not really expecting things to feel that fresh but it went well that first set. Rows were definitely tougher with more reps and more TUT. Push ups made it through all the rounds with 10 reps. I can’t really go with more tension then this but fine with sticking here to make it so that last set is truly leaving a few reps in the tank. Or like the archer rows adding reps and tempo (but these have not been as easy). The additions to the rows did make them harder and fatigue was starting to build by the end. The side lying shoulder flexions were next. Same as last time. I put down some padding so didn’t bruise my hips lying on my side on the concrete for that long. One thing I was advised was to potentially do some soft tissue work before and between sets to loosen up the lats as I should be keeping my arm straight. Also told to flex the triceps at the start. I didn’t feel I needed the rolling out or mobility stuff as last time this was new and I was having some shoulder mechanical issues initially with the track on the movement. I was going for more just relaxed. But seeing as this should’ve been a more active movement, I treated it as such and worked on resisting my arm wanting to bend. This was a bit more exhausting for obvious reasons so I did end up taking a rest after the first set rather than just going one to the other with no rest for the entire time last week. Hopefully this was better quality this time around. Band triceps to end the session. I was allowed to add a micro band to the mini band to bring the difficult to the 15-20 reps. Guideline was to hopefully make 20 reps challenging for the second set. This did the trick with all the other things of controlled movements and taking very short rests between the sets. Put stuff away and cooked dinner. Ate and then stretched.