Spytech’s Intense Workout Log

I was too busy yesterday to get to the gym, so I did yesterday’s workout this morning. I did a 60min yoga class first, which involved alot of upper body work, then went to it. Benching felt fine, no pains, but 245×12 was tiring. Had a handful of reps left, though. After that I did some work with 265, just to get a feel for something a little heavier. CG Bench went well with lower reps. I decided I am going to start focusing on db pressing more than bb pressing, so I started doing those again. Light weight, but my shoulder handled them well. I finished off my main workout with some db rows. I didn’t go too hard on these as they really pull on the subscap, and that is where my right shoulder still hurts yet. No pains from the rows, though. After I finished that stuff I did around 25 sets of shoulder rehab work.

Bench Press:
135×12x1
155×12x1
175×12x1
195×12x1
215×12x1
245×12x1
265×1x1
265×3x1

CG Bench Press:
185×5x1
205×5x1
225×5x1
185×12x2

Flat DB Press:
65×12x1
75×12x1
85×12x1

DB Row:
55×12x1
110×12x1
120×12x1
130×12x1
120×12x1
65×12-100×12x1

Shoulder Rehab Work:
25 sets

+ stretching + yoga (60min)

Duration: 120 minutes

My sternum/neck/head thing feels alot better today, but it has a ways to go… I wanted to get some blood flowing so I did a light upper workout today. Nothing major. I did a bunch of band flyes and presses after the weights, but I didn’t keep track of sets or reps, etc.

Floor Press (different grip for each rep):
135×12x1
225×10x1

Flat DB Extensions:
40×12x5

Flat Tate Presses:
40×12x5

Seated Cable Row:
135×15x1
156×15x1
204×15x3

Underhand CG Pulldown:
108×15x1
156×15x1
204×15x3

Band Flyes and Presses:
2 light bands x alot

+ stretching

Duration: 30 minutes

My legs are sore. I think the kb swings+gm+deadlift triple-combo finally did my hams in. Good thing today was an upper body workout, and almost all floor pressing so I got to lie down and relax most of the workout! I warmed up my shoulders well with some external rotations and some other light movements and gave floor presses a try. No real pains issues, but I could feel some general discomfort/instability in the delt as I worked into the heavier stuff. It might just be mental at this point, but I feel like avoiding working it is hindering it more than anything, so I will keep doing light stuff (light presses, rotations, band pull-aparts) to keep it mobile and fresh with blood flow. Floor presses were all done from a dead stop, which makes them a lot tougher (to me). DB Floor presses with a neutral grip are one of my favorite pressing movements now. I keep my elbows tucked in tight and focus on really hammering the tris. The first 3 sets were paused, last 2 were done ‘traditionally’. No shoulder issues here, either. BB Rows with the medium grip felt great. The weight is still pretty ‘easy’ but I am really focusing on pinching my shoulder blades at the top of each rep. As long as I can pinch my shoulder blades back as far as my flexibility allows I will keep adding weight every time I do rows.

After the main work-sets I did a bunch of rehab stuff. Light inclines with the bar and then 95lbs. Some light incline db presses (45lbs). Everything for high reps. Stuff that causes a tiny bit of discomfort, but nothing that aggravates the injury and still allows for blood to get moving through the injured site.

Yoga was tough tonight due to my incredibly sore hams. They kept cramping up and tightening, but it was a great flow and I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Floor Press (each rep from a dead stop @ bottom):
135×12x1
155×12x1
185×5x1
210×5x1
240×5x1
275×5x1

DB Floor Press w/ Neutral Grip:
90×12x4
90×20x1 (PR)

BB Rows (overhand medium-wide grip):
225×15x1
275×12x1
285×12x1
295×12x1
305×12x1 (PR)

Cable Pushdowns w/ Rope:
100×20x1
150×20x3

Shoulder Rehab (light high rep movements):
Incline Bench
Incline DB Press
Rotations

+ stretching + power yoga (60min)

Duration: 120 minutes

Went to see Dr. Scott today to see how things are holding up. My pelvis is still in proper alignment (good). Deads are coming up so we will be able to see if the pain in my ham/glute is connected at all. It is probably too soon to tell, though, but we will see.  My knees were out a bit, so he adjusted those, and he did some work on my calves since they are always sore. Now they are very sore (as he said they would be), but hopefully he did something good in there.

Today I went to see Dr. Scott, the kinesiologist/chiropractor who has fixed alot of my aches and pains in the past, about my glute/hamstring issue.  Simple reaction tests show my right glute/hamstring is not firing and ‘catching’ like it should (I knew that).  The doc says my pelvis is ‘out-of-line’ quite a bit. Now, we don’t know if this was caused by the clot, but it certainly could have been due to the extreme distension the swelling put my leg through (especially the upper hamstring and glute). We also don’t know if the pelvis issue is causing the glute/hamstring issue, but right now we are treating it as if it is, and will end up seeing whether this is the answer or not. Dr. Scott showed me how to reset my pelvis to help keep it in-line, and wants me to ice it every day. Running and jogging is discouraged for now, so I will be doing some walking and swimming for a while, it seems. My glute/hamstring felt pretty good after treatment today - I could not reproduce the pain afterwards.  Dr. Scott expects it will take a month or so to get things to stick.

Since the pain is at its worst exploding off the floor on a deadlift (I haven’t been able to explode off the floor for a few months now, for that matter), but seems to alleviate once I ‘load’ the glute/hamstring, I am going to try doing deadlifts a little differently next time.  I am going to try to set the plates up on some 12″ risers we have at the gym so I can start my first rep from the top. I will then have someone pull the platforms out of the way once I pick the weight up, and then will lower to the ground under control and let it rip. I’m thinking this will allow me to keep going hard, but take it a tad easier on the glute/ham.

Various Band Movements with Green and Red Bands:
Rows
Curls
Extensions
Presses
Cuban Rotations
Presses

Duration: 15 minutes

Tough session. My core and shoulders are pretty beat up from this week so pressing movements were really tough. Core wasn’t up for some heavy squats, either, so I just limited my squats and bench to 5 reps at 90%ish. Accessories were good. I am taking next week off, which will be nice.

Bench Press:
135x12x1
185x3x1
225x3x1
275x1x1
305x1x1
315x1x1
315x2x2

ATG Squats:
135x10x1
225x1x1
315x1x1
405x1x1
405x2x2

One-arm Flat DB Press (free hand is unweighted):
130x5x1 (PR)
110x10x2

Close-grip Chins (hands touching):
+65x5x1
+75x5x1 (PR)
+65x5x1

Rope Pushdowns (”hard tower”, very strict):
120x5x2 (PR)
108x5x1

Bicep Curls (three movements):
varying x12+x4

+ stretching

Duration: 75 minutes

Good session

Elevated Speed Deadlift (toes at plates, reps deloaded, standing on 45s):
135x10x1
315x2x10

Standing BB Press:
155x5x1
175x5x1
195x5x1
215x8x1 (PR)

External Shoulder Rotations:
50x8x1 (PR)

Pull-throughs:
204x12x1
239x12x1
274x15x1 (PR)

Standing Cable Knee Raises:
60x12x1
84x12x1
108x12x1 (PR)
132x12x1 (PR)

Standing Cable Hamstring Curls:
60x12x1
84x12x1
108x12x1
150x5x1 (PR)

+ stretching + power yoga (30min) + abs (standing bb twists: 155×20, 185×12, hanging knee raises x30, hanging leg raises x30)

Duration: 100 minutes

Dominated everything this session. I love Monday workouts.

Incline Bench Press:
155×12x1
185×10x1
225×3x1
275×1x1
300×1x4 (PR)
300×3x1 (PR)

Wide-stance Box Squats (// box, each rep paused):
135×10x1
225×3x1
315×1x1
405×1x1
475×1x1
505×1x1
520×1x1
535×2x1 (PR)
405×20x1 (PR)

Standing OH BB Extensions:
95×5x1
115×5x1 (PR)
135×5x1 (PR)
155×5x1 (PR)

Standing OH V-bar Cable Extensions:
209×5x1
214×6x1 (PR)
214×7x1 (PR)

Shrugs:
315×5x1
405×5x1
495×5x1
585×5x1
675×5x1 (PR)
585×10x1

Rack Pulls (mid knee, reps deloaded):
585×3x1

+ stretching

Duration: 105 minutes

Good session. Upper back and rear delts were still pretty tired from the standing btn presses last workout.

Incline Bench Press:
135x12x1
155x12x1
185x3x1
225x1x1
275x1x1
295x1x1
305x1x1
295x1x1
275x4x1
225x15x1

DE ATG Squats:
225x2x10

Close-grip Chins (hands touching):
+35x5x1
+45x5x1
+55x5x1

Rope Pushdowns (”hard tower”):
108x5x1 (PR)
120x5x1 (PR)
132x5x1 (PR)

One-arm Flat DB Press (free hand is unweighted):
100x5x1
120x5x1
120x6x1

+ stretching + abs (7 sets)

Duration: 75 minutes