UB: Strong Week 6. Press

Defranco Shoulder Mobility

Machine Lateral Neck Flexion - 30X20X2, 20X20

DB Military Press - 15sX20, 10sX20

Press -
BarX5
BarX5
95X5
110X5
125X2 (fail on 3)

BB Overhead Extensions - 65X8X2, 45X15, 10

Rope Push-downs - X10, 20, 15

Timed mile - 2:15, 6:57, 9:53, 12:58

Raised the weight on neck machine, but thought I might be cheating a little bit, so dropped it back down for the last set.

I did some light DB presses to warm-up through a fuller range of motion.  Thought I might need it.

For the up-sets on the Press, I wanted to try and take the lessons I've learned on the other lifts where I've been backing off on the up-sets ahead of a PR attempt.  So I did a couple of sets with the empty bar and focused on drive and snap at the top, then two medium weight sets.  Both of these felt heavy, and I started to get a bad feeling because my top sets on the Press have been feeling heavy for a couple of months.  Sure enough, I couldn't get even 3 reps with 125.  3 times I've missed lifts, once on bench, and twice now on the press.  I was pretty damned pissed.  If I'd been thinking clearer, I would have composed myself, and taken 125 for 3 singles to at least get more time under that weight.  I'll try to remember that next time I fail a lift.

UB: Strong Week 5. Bench

Defranco Shoulder Mobility

Machine Lateral Neck Flexion - 20X20X3 each side

Bench -
BarX20
105X5
125X5
135X5
155X5
165X5

Flat DB Bench - 60sX12, 7

Dips - Gym BW 208+25X8, 4

Hanging Leg Raise - BWX5 (stopped for shoulder)

DB "Cleans" (external rotation) - 15sX13, 8, 10sX10

Treadmill - 10 minutes jogging

Everything moved smoothly on bench tonight.  I continue to feel more and more confident in my set-up, and then I just focus on pressing the weight instead of feeding myself cues during the lift.  Top set was the same as last week, but all the other sets were heavier.  Next week is the last week of the cycle and I'll be going for a 10lb. 5 Rep PR.  It'll happen for sure.

UB: Strong Week 5. Press

Defranco Shoulder Mobility

Machine Lateral Neck Flexion - 20X20X3 each side

Press -
BarX12
70X5
80X5
90X5
105X5
115X5

BB Upright-Rows - 105X10, 5

DB Laterals - 35sX8, 5

Defranco-style Core circuit - 45lb. plate X2 (spread-eagle sit-ups, crunches, crunches w/ feet up)

Treadmill - 5 min. walk, 5 min. jog

I switched neck work to lateral flexion starting today.  Paul Carter down-played my notion that neck work could contribute to any of the big lifts saying it's just in the program because it's cool to have a big neck.  Nevertheless, I did some digging on exrx.net and it looks like the muscles responsible for lateral neck flexion play a bit of a role in the deadlift; at least more than the other neck muscles are involved in any of the other big lifts, so I might as well work on those if I'm gonna do neck work.

Pressing felt Hea.  Vy.  3 times I've lifted the equivalent of this weight or more in the Press, but I gotta say that I'm nervous I may miss my goal next week.  Maybe not though.  I know I've strained more to make this lift before, so hopefully I can gut out my little 5lb. 5 Rep PR next week.  Similar to my last Squat sessions, I may reduce the total weight of the warm-up sets to save more for the top set next week.

I've gone back and looked at my logs to try and figure out differences between when the press felt strong and when it felt weak like it kind of does now.  Of course there can be lots of factors that effect things, and I don't track diet and weight as closely as a lot of folks do, so I could be missing something there.  But the biggest difference I can see in the logs, is dropping overhead triceps work.  I've been relying on pressing movements and dips for triceps work for a couple of months now, and the press has felt heavier and heavier.  Back when it was shooting up and feeling strong, I was doing a lot of overhead BB extensions.  Hope this is a light-bulb moment.

UB: Strong Week 4. Bench

Defranco Shoulder Mobility

Machine Neck Extension - 25X20X2, 30X20

Bench -
BarX30
95X5
115X5
135X5
145X5
165X5

DB Incline - 60sX9, 4

Dips - Gym BW 207+25X8, 5

Hanging Leg Raise (Feet to Bar) - BWX5, 3, 4, 3

10 minutes on treadmill

5th week of neck work in the bag.  I've been growing a beard since October, and I'm shaving it off this weekend.  Wondering if my neck will look drastically different once it's exposed.  I originally started addidng in extensions here, because I thought it might help with upper back tightness in the deadlift.  Paul Carter poo-poo'd that idea, however looking at the deadlift on exrx it mentions the levator being a stabilizer along with the traps.  The levator gets worked in lateral neck flexion, so maybe it would be better to start doing those instead.  2 weeks to go, might as well mix it up a little.

So 165 is right around my projected 5RM.  I did a lot of reps with just the bar to make sure to get a lot of blood flowing into the muscles and get the mechanics locked in.  I took progressively longer rests between sets as I progressed through the 5X5.  On the top 2 sets, I let my focus come away from mechanics and move towards power, or "intent."  Top set felt pretty good.  Hard, but not a grinder.  Next week the weight on the lower sets come up, but the top set remains the same, so everything should be good, and setting the stage for a PR the following week.

UB: Strong Week 4. Press

Defranco Shoulder Mobility

Machine Neck Flexion - 25X20X3

Press -
BarX5
65X5
75X5
85X5
95X5
105X5

Upright Rows - 95X12, 6

DB Laterals - 30sX12, 6

Hanging Leg Raise - BWX5, fail

Timed 1-mile run - 12:30

Hard to make myself get up and go the gym this morning, but felt fine once I got there.

Face pad on the 4-way neck machine just isn't cool.  The padding is fine, but covering your face and doing this kind of thing just feels...wrong.

Press felt good.  Taking plenty of rest between top sets, and really attacked that last one.

UB: Strong Week 3. Bench

Defranco Shoulder Mobility

Machine Neck Extension - 15X20, 20X20, 25X20

Bench -
BarX10
95X5
105X5
125X5
135X5
155X5

DB Incline - 55sX12, 7

Dips - Gym BW 204+5lb.X12, 4

Defranco-style Core Circuit X2

20 minute, brisk walk home

Back of my neck felt a little sore coming into the gym, so I backed off the weight on the extensions.  I'm pretty sure it was just my traps from heavy shrugging the day before, but no point in killing myself on neck extensions anyway.

Bench felt a little better today.  I've been focused so much on tinkering with my set-up, that everything had just felt hard.  Today I tried to just make sure and do the things I KNOW have been good, and not worry as much about other stuff.  That meant setting up high on the bench so that my shoulders end up just below the uprights, and getting into this position by setting my feet then sliding down the bench and then back up onto my upper-back.  The thing I had trouble with today was tucking-and-flaring my elbows through the movement, and pulling the bar apart.  Otherwise, I gave myself decent rests between the top sets, and things mostly felt good.  Next week the top set is my projected 5RM.

UB: Strong Week 3. Press

Defranco Shoulder mobility

Machine Neck Flexion - 25X20X3

Press -
BarX10
55X5
65X5
75X5
85X5
95X5

Upright Rows - 95X10, 6

DB Laterals - 30sX11, 6

Hanging Leg Raise - 7, 6, 6, 6, 6

10 minute trot on treadmill and 20 minute walk home

I had a friend staying with me this weekend so everything is kind of hard because of late nights, inconsistent diet, and massive quantities of alcohol.

Neck machine felt heavy.  Great.

Pressing felt fine.  Now that I'm about at the half-way mark of the cycle, I'm starting to allow more time between top sets.

UB: Strong Week 2. Bench

Defranco Shoulder Mobility

Machine Neck Extension - 20X20, 30X20X2

Bench -
BarX10
85X5
105X5
115X5
125X5
145X5

DB Incline Press - 55sX11, 5

Dips - Gym BW 200+10X10, 4

10 minute trot on the treadmill

Switched over to extensions on the neck machine.  I figure this will have more carry-over to the Deadlift and Squat than flexions were going to have to anything else.  However, before I decide to do them for both upper-body days I want to see how the muscles feel tomorrow.  If my neck is sore and achy, I may not want to do them on Press day, and then have them sore on Deadlift day.  OR maybe I should and make my body adapt.  Dunno.

Still hate benching.  I'm still monkeying with my set-up, and taking minimal breaks between sets while the weights are this "light."  I've done 145 for 10 reps before, but those 5 felt pretty heavy today.  Hope that's not a bad sign.

UB: Strong Week 2. Press

Defranco Mobility work

Neck Fexion - 25X20X3

Press -
BarX5
55X5
65X5
75X5
85X5

Upright Rows - 85X13, 7

DB Laterals - 30sX10, 6

Hanging Leg Raise - 6, 5, 5, 5, 5

10 minute lope on treadmill

I'm wondering if I should be doing neck extensions instead of flexion.  Seems like it would have more carry-over to lifts.  I'll think about this.

Similar to last bench session, I only rested between sets long enought to reload the bar, so got a better work-out as a result.

UB: Strong Week 1. Bench

Defranco Shoulder Mobility

Neck Machine - 3X20

Bench -
85X5
95X5
105X5
115X5
135X5

Incline DB Press - 55sX10, 5

Dips - Gym BW198+10lb.X11, 4

10 min. lope on the treadmill

I hate the bench.  I keep trying to dial my form in better, but sometimes that seems to make everything feel heavier.  Lately I've been focusing first on driving my upper-back into the pad.  Then I break the bar out of the rack.  Make sure my hands are straight so that the bar is above my wrists.  Look at where the bar is "at" on the ceiling to make sure it comes back to that same point every rep.  Squeeze hard, pull the bar apart, tuck elbows on the way down.  I'm having trouble the last couple of times remembering to flare the elbows while hitting my "target" on the ceiling.  Anyway this session sucked as all this shit makes it a pain in the ass.  Additionally, I was making sure to get a full touch at the bottom, and then drive that shit up.  This made sure the muscles got worked hard with relatively light weight.  However, all this shit in combination, plus only enough rest between sets to reload the bar, meant I was mentally and physically pretty taxed afterwards.

UB: Strong Week 1. Press

Defranco upper-body stretches

Neck Machine - 3 sets of 20

Press -
BarX5
BarX5
55X5
65X5
75X5

Upright Rows - 75X12, 7

DB Laterals - 25'sX12, 7

Hanging Leg Raise - 5, 7, 5, 6, 5

Foam-rolling at home afterwards.

First day of Ultimate Beastdom.  A really refreshing session due to the combination of light weights and few exercises.  I guess I didn't realize it, but the 2-day split I'd been doing because of my heavy rehearsal schedule had maybe been wearing me down with two ME style movements per session, plus plenty of accessory and core work.  I just felt great after this.

For the Pressing, even though the weight was light I tried to focus on driving it up fast so that I had the feeling of "coming-off-the-ground" at the top.  Just to make sure I was getting some work in there.