It looks like you're really kicking ass on the mobility work, keep it up!
I'm sure I am.
Monday December 4
NROL Hypertrophy I
Incline DB Press
5x5 @ 75 (EH)
Shoulder was doing ok. Felt a little unstable, but virtually pain free. That changes later.
Seated Cable Row
5x5 @ 180
Standing DB Press
2x5 @ 50
Shoulder.
Pullups
2
The right lat is what seems to be the problem. Started screaming as soon as I attempted to pull myself up on the first one, and gave out on the second one. Looks like a lot of foam rolling, tennis ball work and stretching.
Close Grip Bench Press
Scratched
Close Grip Cable Rows (subbed for high pulls)
5x5 @ 195
I can row without pain. So it's definitely a stabilization issue on the pressing, and a problem on the vertical pulls.
Mobility work (before workout)
Core Booklet
I'm pissed that my shoulder didn't heal up. It's fine when I don't do anything that doesn't involve a lot of weight. ROM is painless, but once weight becomes involved, its a different story. I am frustrated and annoyed. Big time.
Is the problem only on close-grip pressing? What happens if you move out to a wider grip?
It's not so much the close grips, because on the DB presses it was there, but it wasn't an issue. More along the lines of an instability problem. However, I was very wary about pinning myself after aggravating the problem doing pullups. It was more of a "better safe than sorry" approach.
Edit: Just looked at an anatomy model and it's definitely something in the teres major region.
Alwyn Cosgrove is a terrible person. Who wants people to die during their workouts??????
Superset 1
Front Squats (because I still can't back squat)
4x10 @ 135
Deadlifts
4x10 @ 185
My God. My back tightened up big time, although I think I did an ok job of keeping it flat. My knees were bowing outwards during the lowering phase of the deadlifts, which I believe indicates a glute weakness. I think I may stick with these weights for another workout.
Bulgarian Split Squats
4x10 @ 20 (EH)
Fuck you Cosgrove.
Step Ups
4x10 @ 25 (EH)
Fuck you again.
Core booklet.
I've been run over by a train. I may not be able to walk tomorrow.
Standing DB Press
3x15 @ 25 (EH)
Lat Pulldown
3x15 @ 150
Didn't really hurt. Weird.
Close Grip Bench
3x15 @ 105
Now that hurt. Not smart. Widened out and it felt a little better
Close Grip Rows
3x15 @ 135
I could hardly lift my arms above my shoulders. Hell of a workout.
Front Squats
3x15 @ 115
That was brutal
Romanian Deadlifts
3x15 @ 155
I tried to do regular, but no matter the weight, after about rep 8, my knees go out. My glute activation is still pitiful. Really need to work on this by the end of the year. Gotta get my ass endurance up. (that sounds terrible.) I think MR has an article somewhere about this.
Mobility work
Stretching
Incline DB Bench
5x5 @ 75 (EH)
Going to have to move up to 80s next week. Shoulder felt fine on these.
Seated Cable Rows
5x5 @ 225
I hate the cable stack here. Absolutely hate it. So unreliable. This was even too easy.
DB Shoulder Press
5x5 @ 40 (EH)
Should have gone higher, but I didn't want to arch my back to get the weights over my head. (I realize that's a flexibility issue.) 45s next week. Shoulder was good on these too.
Lat Pulldowns
5x5 @ 170
This is just the opposite of the cable stack. What the hell? I was doing 165 at the rec, (with new--and I assume--reliable stacks) for 10 reps. Whatever.
Pushups
3x12
This was supposed to be the CG bench. Nope. Pain. Ok, what about DB bench? Nope. Pain. I don't get it. I used to never be able to do anything more than a flat press without a crackle or pop. That's fixed now, I hurt my shoulder and now I can't do anything flat without a pain in the back of my shoulder, but anything tilted vertically is pain free. I'm confused as hell. Going to have to get some ART done again this week.
Two Point DB Rows (like the lawnmower things)
5x5 @ 100 (EH)
This was just an excuse to use the 100s. Naw. I was mad at the cable stack, and couldn't figure out something else neutral grip, so those were the logical choice.
Pain again when I was supporting myself on my right shoulder. It's when my arm is perpendicular from my torso and pressed backwards. I *try* to retract my scaps, so I don't know if that's the issue, and scap pushups don't hurt at all. And sometimes with side planks, but that's not very painful anymore.
Lower body tomorrow. I know I'm not supposed to do these workouts more than four days a week, but I'm fairly fresh, so because it alternates between upper and lower, I don't think trying to work out every day this week is terrible. I need it if I'm going to be coerced into eating all of these goodies. Although I did well today, only four after dinner, and an oreo around 10. If I can keep that up, I may do ok. But we had white pasta for dinner tonight. I hadn't had white pasta in forever.
I landed directly on the side of my deltoid playing football on Thanksgiving. That made it hurt, but then I kept landing on it; and made it a lot worse.
Blah. Knee clicked a little bit, hadn't in a while. I think it was because I didn't do as much ass stretching and mobility work before. Going to watch MM again pretty soon.
I've been neglecting to mention what happened Thursday, which was very significant and changes my weightlifting outlook greatly for the end of 06 and the first week or so of 07.
I went to my ART guy--the smartest man I've met this side of Bill--to have him work on my right shoulder, which still didn't feel completely stable after that Thanksgiving day kick return.
The session was brutal. Probably the most painful I've experienced. But damn, did it work. My shoulder feels great now. It was a teres major and minor problem, like I was able to guess by looking at a diagram.
And since I was there to get my right one worked on, I mentioned to him that my left had been clicking and popping more than normal. I was afraid that it was a side effect of all of the pressing I had been doing, and I also had been doing some vertical pulling for the first time in a while.
We went through the normal shoulder tests, and failed the subscapularis test miserably. Also had a little teres minor problem, but that wasn't a big deal. He basically told me that if I didn't want to blow out my rotator cuff fairly soon (read: anytime) that I needed to drop the pressing and vertical pulls, and start doing rotator cuff exercises right away with special emphasis on the subscapularis exercises.
He gave me a copy of the Buchburger 12 shoulder exercises DVD, which he said a local baseball team uses and they don't have any shoulder problems. (Can anyone vouch for the program? It looks good, but again, I'm no expert.)
So since I am having to work on my shoulders, hopefully for once and for all, I figured that I might as well focus on finally getting my glutes activated and stretched, and my hip flexors back to normal. I'm going to do this, and only this, for the next two weeks, and then strength 1 from NROL like I was originally planning if all goes well. I'm a little wary of jumping into a strength program right away, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Saturday
Foam rolling
Mobility work/stretching
B12 Day 1
Bench Squats
3x10 @ 135
Sat for about a second each rep on the bench. Made sure to squeeze my glutes to get up. Stayed upright throughout the whole movement, which is a great improvement.
DB Split Squats
3x8 @ 40 (EH)
Sunday
Foam Rolling
Mobility work/stretching
B12 Day 2
Pushups
3x15
Bent Over Rows
3x10 @ 165
This isn't what I was planning on doing right now, but if it's going to help me for the near future and the rest of my life, I guess it's worth it.
Unlike yesterday when the gym was crowded, it was empty today. Same two turds that were there yesterday doing 20 sets of decline bench on the smith machine were doing burnout curls and some sort of lat raises. They had been there a while, and I did my whole workout before they had finished. Tools.
Foam Rolling
Stretching/Mobility work
Buchberger 12 Day 2
Bent Over Rows
5x5 @ 185
Pushups
4x12
Cable Woodchoppers
3x12 @ 60
for thematic elements, some sensuality, brief language and incidental smoking
Linear Mode
