Dufisthenics

So as is often the case at Planet Frustration, the three smith machines were tied up making my buddy and my plan for bench press invalid.  We decided to go with dumbbell chest press instead but neither of us were looking forward to it.  We both have varying degrees of shoulder pain doing chest press and normally dumbbells make it even worse.  For my warm up set it was once again the case as the lower half of the movement in particular made my left shoulder feel pretty awful.

For my next set for some reason I decided to rotate my hands somewhat so instead of the dumbbells being more or less perpendicular to my body they were close to a 45 degree angle.  It was like somebody turned the pain switch off.  I was able to do full range of motion and felt stronger doing so since there was no little stabbing pains draining my power.  I had my buddy try it as well on his next set and he too felt instant relief from the level of pain he was accustomed to.  It was a good discovery and will make those days where the smith machines are tied up with noobs less frustrating.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

Dumbbell chest press – 50lbs x 12, 60lbs x 10, 60lbs x 10, 70lbs x 10, 75lbs x 10, 60lbs x 12

Pec dec – 130lbs x 10, 150lbs x 10, 190lbs x 8, 210lbs x 5