10/28 – Incline Bench ME

This workout was pretty dull. On Monday I strained my right elbow/tricep connective tissues doing those DB overhead extensions and it really limited my pressing abilities, or at least my comfort/confidence in them. I only did a few sets at incline, then did some ‘spoon presses’ – a DB press movement for triceps that I saw in a recent article on EFS. Something different, and they felt pretty good. Did some real slow flyes for lots of TUT, then finished with some back and ab work.

Incline Bench Press:
135x12x1
185x5x1
225x5x1
245x3x1
265x3x1
265x3x1

DB Spoon Press:
40x12x1
55x12x1
70x12x1
80x10x1 (PR)
80x10x1 (PR)

Flat DB Bench (superset behind spoon presses):
80x12x1
80x12x1

Flat DB Flye (60s rests):
40x12x1
40x12x1
40x12x1

Wide-grip Pulldowns (60s rests):
200x12x1
225x12x1
225x12x1

Y-Lateral Neutral-grip Pulldowns (30s rests):
160x12x1
160x12x1
160x12x1
160x12x1

Standing DB Press:
50x50x1

Iron-Cross Laterals:
20x50x1

Ab Roll-outs (30s rests):
bw x10x1
bw x10x1
bw x15x1

+ stretching

Duration: 70 minutes

10/26 – Deadlift ME

Pretty decent day for pulls. Things weren’t feeling quite ‘right’ – hips and low back felt out of alignment so I focused on reps today. Elevated the weights ~3″ for these pulls (plates sitting on a single 100lb plate). Despite things feeling off, I ended up with some solid rep work that I am pretty happy with. After deads I did some light’ish shrugs to get the upper back some more work. Closed out with light ham curls, db curls (forearm slowly tolerating these more), and ab roll-outs. Did some ab roll-outs, which were super painful today since my abs are still real sore from doing them on Monday.

Elevated Deadlift (plates raised 3″):
135x12x1
225x12x1
315x12x1
405x5x1
495x2x1
585x3x1
585x5x1
585x8x1
585x4x1

Shrugs (60s rests):
225x12x1
405x12x1
495x12x1
585x12x1
495x12x1
405x12x1

Standing Ham Curls (60s rests):
95x7x1
125x7x1
125x7x1

DB Curls (30-45s rests):
25x12x1
30x12x1
35x12x1
40x12x1
35x12x1
30x12x1
25x12x1

Ab Roll-outs (60s rests):
bw x12x1
bw x12x1
bw x12x1

+ stretching

Duration: 90 minutes

10/24 – Incline Press RE/Push Press ME

Good pressing workout today. Finally got 265 for a set of 8 for a reps PR. Push presses felt decent – tied a PR with 245×3. DB presses were tough – lots of fatigue by that point. Finished with some good tricep and back work.

Incline Bench Press:
135x12x1
155x12x1
185x12x1
225x10x1
245x8x1
265x8x1 (PR)
225x10x1

Push Press:
135x5x1
165x3x1
185x2x1
205x1x1
225x1x1
245x3x1 (PR)
225x4x1
225x3x1

Flat DB Bench (60s rests):
110x12x1
110x10x1
110x8x1

OH DB Extensions:
120x7x1
130x7x1
150x7x1

Extra-wide Wide-grip Pullups (60s rests):
bw x12x1
bw x12x1
bw x10x1
bw x10x1

Y-Lateral Pulldowns (60s rests):
160x12x1
160x12x1

Ab Roll-outs:
bw x15x2

+ stretching

Duration: 80 minutes

10/18 – Upper Deload

Nice quick and easy deload workout. Pushed push presses a bit using a wider grip, but nothing real intense. Matched a PR despite just cruising. All high rep assistance work – nothing taxing.

Push Press:
135x10x1
155x2x1
175x1x1
195x1x1
215x1x1
235x5x1 (PR)
215x3x1
195x5x1
175x5x1
155x7x1
135x10x1

Cable Pushdowns:
80x50x1
80x50x1
80x50x1

Freemotion Wide Pulldowns:
80x60x1

Freemotion Narrow Pulldowns:
80x60x1

DB Curls:
25x50x1

Flat DB Flyes:
40x50x1

+ stretching

Duration: 30 minutes

10/15 – Wide-stance Squat ME

Pretty good squat day. After doing the high rep wide-stance squats on Tuesday I felt like giving them a heavier go today. Wasn’t sure what to expect, but was pleased to still hit 585 without too much trouble. Upper back was more of the limiting factor than anything today; not used to the walkout/weight on the back after squatting ‘light’ for the last few months. That will shape up quickly. Got some good volume in, and finished squats with 4 triples of paused atg squats. Great exercise. Did some back work, light curls to work the crappy forearm, and finished with more push presses. Light stuff working with a wider-grip. Great cardio movement to finish a workout with.

Wide-stance Squats:
135x12x1
225x12x1
315x5x1
405x3x1
495x2x1
555x1x1
585x1x1
550x2x1
500x2x1

Paused ATG Squats:
405x3x1
405x3x1
405x3x1
405x3x1

CG Pulldowns:
257x7x1
267x7x1
277x7x1
284x7x1
291x10x1

Standing DB Curls (30s rests):
25x12x1
25x12x1
35x12x1
35x12x1
35x12x1

Push Press:
135x10x1
155x10x1
155x10x1
155x15x1

+ stretching

Duration: 80 minutes

10/13 – Incline Bench ME/Push Press ME

Solid pressing session today. I maybe could have went after a PR attempt on incline, but went after singles with 305 instead, which all went well. Glad to have some strong feeling presses again today as they have been feeling lame lately. Wore myself out pretty well on inclines but decided to try some heavy push presses again. Got 265 pretty handily this time but ran out of gas for 275 – pushing strength was just worn out, as I had plenty of leg drive. Going to do concentrate on moving my grip out a bit more on these and doing more rep work to improve my form consistency. Flat DB bench with short rests went well, as did the back and tricep work. Finished with a quick set of ab-rollouts.

Incline Bench Press:
135x12x1
155x12x1
185x12x1
225x5x1
255x1x1
275x1x1
295x1x1
305x1x1
305x1x1
305x1x1
305x1x1
305x1x1
305x1x1
275x3x1

Push Press:
135x5x1
155x1x1
185x1x1
225x1x1
245x1x1
265x1x1
275x0x1
245x2x1
225x3x1

Flat DB Bench (60s rests):
110x12x1
110x12x1
110x12x1

Tricep Cable Extension (60s rests):
23x12x1
30x7x1
40x7x1
50x7x1
30x12x1

Freemotion Y-Lat Pulldown Variants (30s rests):
160x12x1
160x12x1
160x12x1
160x12x1
160x12x1
160x15x1

Ab Roll-outs:
bw x20x1

+ stretching

Duration: 80 minutes

Pretty weak deadlifting today. Strength just wasn’t there today. Still got 675 to keep my ‘streak’ alive, so that was good. Did some wide-stance squats for assistance with some light weight for a change of pace. Gave the wide-grip pulldowns and light db curls a try to get my forearm used to doing stuff again.

Deadlift:
245x10x1
335x3x1
425x2x1
515x2x1
605x1x1
675x1x1
635x2x1

Wide-stance Squats:
315x12x1
315x12x1
315x12x1

Standing Cable Adduction (15s rests):
30x12x1
40x12x1
50x12x1

Standing Cable Abduction (15s rests):
30x12x1
30x12x1
30x12x1

Wide-grip Pulldowns (30-60s rests):
100x7x1
150x7x1
200x7x1
200x7x1
200x12x1

Supinated DB Curls (30s rests):
25x12x1
25x12x1
25x12x1
25x12x1
25x30x1

+ stretching

Duration: 90 minutes