Conditioning. Week 1. Upper Body

BW - 205

Cuff Work - Lots (capsule stretching, band dislocations, pull aparts, 5lb. plate "cleans," front raises with various grips, band external rotations)

Bench -
BarX20, 20
95X6
115X6
135X6
155X8

BB Rows -
BarX15
95X10
135X15, 12, 15

Chins - BWX10, 5, 5

Decline Sit-Ups - BWX10, 10, 10

Being very careful with the shoulder since I seemed to re-aggravate it by sprinting (!).  Just tried to run through a sequence of everything I've ever done for shoulder cuff and shoulder prehab.

That included an extra warm-up set with just the bar, and more reps and smaller jumps on the warm-up sets.  Originally I programmed for 12 reps of 155, which would normally be slightly challenging but completely do-able.  Everything was very tentative today, and I cut it at 8.

The lay-off and tentativeness about the shoulder seemed to cut into my rowing as well.  This felt more like a neuromuscular issue than a strength issue.  My mind just didn't want to let my body "get after it" today on these.

Chins were okay, though.  Programmed for 20 total, and got it in 3 sets.  Hoped to go over on the last set, but 5 was the limit.

The crunches I did in my BW circuits in the last block did not set me up well for decline sit-ups.  Originally hoped to do 60 or so total reps, but had to bring that down, and will adjust my programming for this block accordingly.

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.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 3. Pressing

Defranco's Simple-6

DB Press - 15sX16

Press -
BarX8
65X5
85X5
100X3
120X1
110X5
super-set with
Chin-ups - BWX7,7,7,6,7,7

Chin-ups - BWX7, 5, 3
super-set with
BB Overhead Extensions - 55X10, 12, 8, 8, EZ-Curl BB (45lb.)X16

Wide-grip Lat-pulldowns - 90X10X3
super-set with
DB Shoulder Cleans - 15sX13, 10sX12, 8

More bad math.  I mistakenly loaded 120 instead of 110 for my last work-set, and couldn't get more than 1 even with double lay-back.  Afterwards, I realized my mistake, dropped back down to the correct weight and got a 5 Rep PR!  That's a 5 Rep PR in each of my last four work-outs.  Cool.  I knew tracking my actual rep PRs was going to be motivating.

5/3/1 Log: Cycle 1. Week 2. Pressing

Defranco's Simple-6

DB Shoulder Press - 20'sX10

BB Press-
BarX5
65X3
85X3
95X3
105X7
super-set with
Chin-Ups - BWX6X5

Chin-Ups - BWX6X4 (54 total chins on the day)
super-set with
BB Overhead Extensions - 55X10, 45X10X3, 50X10

DB Cleans - 15sX15, 12sX10, 10sX8

Hammer & Tire - 4 rounds of 20 swings "per arm"

Decided to add a set up DB Presses as my warm-up on Press day to get the joints good and warm with lighter weight and through a wider ROM.

Press was fine.  I didn't try to go for a projected 1RM increase, however 105 is a 7RM PR.  This is one of those things Wendler and other guys talk about, but I only realized the importance of this week.  I will talk more about this in my Deadlift post.

BLAB Log: Week 9.Day 3

Simple-6

Chins - BWX8, BWX5

Lat Pull-downs Drop-set - (90X8, 70X6, 60X6)X2

Seated DB Arnold Press - 35X8X3
super-set with
Incline DB "cleans" - 35sX5, 20sX10X2

BB Curls - Bar, 45, 55, 65, 75X6

Core Circuit - 10lb. plateX1, XFail

Incline BB Push-ups - Ladder down from 15 to 1, +6 reps

Chin-ups still showing slow but steady progression.  I had thrown in a few between sets on bench day, but avoided them on squat day to make sure I was rested for today.  Might keep doing that.

Pulldown drop-sets were fine.  However, I watched a Thibodeau training video where he was talking about making sure you're using lats more than arms, and I'm not sure I'm dialed in like that.  I will try to keep it in my in the future.  I'm trying to get stronger in pull-ups not pull-downs, so I want to make sure I'm taking full advantage of the exercise.

DB Cleans weren't there for me with the 35's.  Had a similar experience the last two weeks with the Defranco "shoulder shockers".  These aren't explosive cleans, but rather a shrug into a 180 degree bent-arm raise.  The difficulty is on the rotation, but I don't know what this means exactly.  Will this weakness be addressed when I start heavy OHP's again?  Do I keep testing these against that, and what if there's no improvement, then what do I do?  Argh.

I know you're not usually supposed to work up to top sets on shit like curls, but I really wanted to go for a rep PR on these, and so I did a work-up instead of all sets at the same weight.  And, yeah, I used the chrome bar.  So what?

Oh, core, why do you hate me?  Lately the extra reps I'm getting on chins have been straining my abs a bit, preventing me from doing the full core routines.  It's a vicious circle because the core work would be strengthening my abs for the chin-ups.  Whatever.  I've already settled that I will restart the core circuit progression from this program on the next one.

I was supposed to start the BB push-ups last week, but life commitments prevented me from getting to the gym.  I had done a ladder-down of netural-grip push-ups out at the beach instead.  I know I'm too weak in the push-up to finish a ladder starting with the prescribed 18 reps.  Instead, I kept track of how many total reps I did last week, 66, and was determined to almost double that this week.  Mission fucking accomplished.  The ladder down from 15 got me to 120 total reps, and then I took a breath and did another set to failure.  So 126 is my new target to beat.  I think my next ladder should start with 17.  That would get me 153 reps.  Not as big of a jump as this last one, but I can always add in another failure set to find my new limit.