A little is too much, 21

Jul02
by Duf on July 2, 2015 at 5:20 pm
Posted In: Daily Workouts, Injuries

seated-single-dumbbell-extension-2[1]My bench press buddy was at the gym today.  He was doing some benching and asked if I wanted to see how 185 felt.  I could move the weight ok but immediately had that unsettled feeling in my left shoulder.   I racked the weight after 5 reps, unwilling to further aggravate the shoulder. The odd thing with the injury is immediately after benching is I went over to the nearest wall and did a set of belly to wall handstand push ups without a big issue.

I also crossed the 20 pull up plateau for the first time in months, grinding out a 21st rep to start the workout.  Consistency pays off.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

21 pull ups

60 second wall handstand

Belly to wall handstand push ups x 5

Seated dumbbell curls 25lbs x 12

Belly to wall handstand push ups x 5

Seated dumbbell curls 40lbs x 8

Barbell bench press 185lbs x 5

Belly to wall handstand push ups x 4

Seated dumbbell curls 50lbs x 4

Overhead seated dumbbell tricep extension – 50lbs x 10

One arm preacher curl – 25lbs x 10

Overhead seated dumbbell tricep extension – 65lbs x 10

One arm preacher curl – 30lbs x 10

Overhead seated dumbbell tricep extension – 75lbs x 6

 

 

 

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Focus required

Jul01
by Duf on July 1, 2015 at 5:32 pm
Posted In: Daily Workouts, Endurance activities

Concept2-Model-D-Indoor-Rowing-Machine[1]Today was a row/ride brick.  I notice if I want to keep my pace on the rower at or below 2:15 per 500 meters I need to pretty much exclusively stare at the little 4 inch by 4 inch display the entire time.  If I look anywhere else I routinely will lose 10 meters off my pace, even though it feels like I am pulling the same.  To stare at that little square for the majority of a 20 minute rowing session just is not much fun.  It did however result in me pulling the furthest amount of distance in recent memory.

I backed it up with a serious 10 minutes on the stationary bike where I maintained 19+ virtual mph for the first 8 minutes and 20-22mph during the last 2.

Today’s Workout

20 pull ups

Row/Ride brick

20 minutes Concept 2 rower – 4433 meters covered

10 minutes stationary bike – 3.16 miles covered

 

 

 

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Finally back in Smithtown

Jun30
by Duf on June 30, 2015 at 5:19 pm
Posted In: Daily Workouts

smith_machine[1]For the first time around a month one of the Smith machines was actually free at Planet Fitness when I wanted to use it.  I used the opportunity to get some squatting in.  Despite not being able to do squats at PF for a month, I have been trying to push my limits with the other leg work I have been doing.  It seems the effort has helped as I felt more solid under the bar than I have in quite awhile.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

20 pull ups

Smith machine squats – 135lbs x 10, 185lbs x 8, 225lbs x 4, 185lbs x 8

Seated leg extension – 110lbs x 12, 130lbs x 10, 150lbs x 8

Seated leg curl – 100lbs  x 12, 120lbs x 10, 140lbs x 8

Standing 1 leg weighted calf extension – 25lbs x 10, 45lbs x 8, 45lbs x 8

 

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20 and 50 mutually exclusive

Jun29
by Duf on June 29, 2015 at 5:29 pm
Posted In: Daily Workouts

IMG_7385[1]Right now a challenging one set rep count for pull ups for me is 20 reps.  For push ups that same number is around 50 reps.  In many workouts I will start off with either 20 pull ups or 50 push ups.  They are typically mutually exclusive, I don’t put 1RM sets of both movements together normally but today I decided to try it.

I started with the 20 pull ups which was consecutive reps until about 16 followed by four dead hangers.  After a couple minute breather I was down on the floor pushing towards 50 chest to floor reps.  The last 10 reps were especially painful requiring a brief pause after every couple reps.  I got there albeit huffing and puffing along the way.  It felt good to be able to pull that off although doing the same trick with little to no rest in between is where you separate the boys from the men.  I don’t think I would be able to reverse the order (push ups first) and pull this off.

My entire workout was imply alternating between sets of pull ups and push ups.  The goal was to work my upper body without aggravating my left shoulder with the hope to getting back to bench press next week.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

20 pull ups

50 push ups

10 pull ups

25 push ups

10 pull ups

25 push ups

10 pull ups

25 push ups

10 pull ups

25 push ups

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Deep tweaks

Jun25
by Duf on June 25, 2015 at 5:27 pm
Posted In: Daily Workouts, Injuries

how-to-bench-press-without-pain-use-more-extension[1]So I planned to include bodyweight dips in today’s routine, preferably weighted reps.  Well right away in my warm up set I could feel that deep pain in my left shoulder I felt Monday during benching.  It wasn’t severe but it was clearly there.  I bailed after rep 5.  I wasn’t interested in tweaking it further.  I already have decided to skip bench press next week, hoping a week off will do me some good.

The weird thing with this type of injury is most conventional shoulder exercises are ok where the stress across the shoulder is up and down instead of forward. For example my belly to wall handstands push ups didn’t feel bad at all.  I worked around the shoulder pain, sticking to movements that didn’t hurt, much.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

20 pull ups

30 second wall handstand

Belly to wall handstand push ups x 5

Standing tight body concentration curl – 50lbs x 10

Belly to wall handstand push ups x 5

Standing tight body concentration curl – 60lbs x 10

Standing cable machine tricep push downs – 100lbs x 12

Weighted pull ups – 40lbs x 5

Standing cable machine tricep push downs – 130lbs x 10

Weighted pull ups – 40lbs x 3

Standing cable machine tricep push downs – 140lbs x 10

Weighted pull ups – 40lbs x 3

Bench dips x 30

Standing one arm bicep dumbbell curl – 30lbs x 10

Bench dips x 30

Standing one arm bicep dumbbell curl – 35lbs x 10

Bench dips x 30

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