Dufisthenics

So this weekend I did my first training brick in quite a long time, a bike ride, followed by a run followed by swimming laps in the pool.

I have mentioned several times the chronic shoulder problems I have developed over the past several months.  Basically to some degree my shoulders always feel sore and painful if I move my arms in certain ways.  I have been trying to address the issue by doing shoulder exercises at the gym to help even out the muscle in my shoulders which are assuredly more developed in the front than the rear.

Well as I was swimming I had a very simple revelation.  The time period that my shoulder issue developed coincided with my almost total lack of doing any swimming in the winter or spring.  Swimming is an EXCELLENT all around shoulder exercise, working the area from almost every angle imaginable.

I am hoping my return to regular swimming will help rehabilitate my troublesome shoulders.

Lately I have been straying from BBR focused training and mixing things up a bit.  One of those things I have been doing is trying max rep push up sets as opposed to mixing them into a GUTS routine.  Three times I have been able to do 50 rep sets.  I want to try to get to the BBR required 55 reps shortly.

Another movement I have been working more is the dragon flag.  I still have issues with the movement having lasting effects days after I do them.  Yesterday I tried to do pull ups and had to drop off the bar immediately.  As soon as I pulled up my core was hurting like mad, still sore from flagging.

Feeling the pain in my abs was a reminder that even though it may not be obvious at first, pull ups really are a great overall fitness movement.  I do very few conventional ab exercises but still maintain a solid core form all of the other body weight stuff I do.