re: Daily Strength Check-In

Been a while since I've posted in here. Took my maxes the last few weeks.

Hovering around 165 lb bw.

Squat: 385 lbs. RPE 8 but my knee felt iffy so I shut down.

Bench: 310 lbs. If the fan were on I'd have missed the lift.

Deadlift: 425 lbs. Missed 435 due to grip slipping. Pulling with my hands half on the knurlung half on the slick, the bar I use sucks.

Strict OHP: 190 lbs

Neutral grip pull ups: 31

I've been doing the 5/3/1 Triumvirate for the last few months. I feel like I've been hit by a truck. I'm getting too old for this sh*t

W8 D3:

DL 8x1x275, 1x5x275, 1x325

OHP 3x5115, 1x160

DB pullover 3x10x65, 75, 80

Face pulls 3x10x130, 140, 150

HS rows 3x10x140, 180, 200

The dl stuff took a while with 2 minute rest breaks, so I only did programmed accessories today.

W9 D1:

Decided to get started early this week since I bought some new shoes for lifting.

OHP 1x4x140, 1x2x140, 1x4x140

DL 2x4x245, 1x10x245, 1x325

The stability with new shoes made that single pull feel much lighter.

Lat pulldowns 3x10x130, 150, 170

Rear delt raises 3x10x20

Leg ext 10x120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 2x5x160

Rope lat pullovers 10x80, 90, 110, 120, 2x5x120

DB hammer curls 10x25, 30, 35, 6x40

Crazy fives barbell curls (5 reps, rest for a 5 count, 4 reps, rest for a 4 count, etc.)
3 sets at 65

Last night:

Haven't done a max on my bench since I've been back in the gym and for some reason I tried last night at 9pm while exhausted from Skiing and work. But, just wanted to see.

Bench Press: 1x8x135, 1x1x175, 1x1x185, On the 1x1x190 my shoulder crapped out on me and I couldn't finish the rep all the way and had to bail out on the lower rack. Dumb idea to try and max when I'm tired and no spotter. 1x8x135.

Incline DB: 4x8x45. Shoulder was hurting from the bench still.

Machine Chest Press (one arm isolation): 4x8

Decline DB: 4x6x55

Cable Fly's (cables set to the floor to focus on lower chest): 4x8

Machine Fly's: 4x10

Struggled the whole workout with my shoulder and did band stretches in between sets most of the night to try and alleviate some pain. Still was able to hit the chest pretty good even though not as heavy as I wanted to on a night I wanted to go heavy.

How is your preset stretch up on bench? I was having shoulder issues, partially related to lifting, and I changed my set up to include a really good shoulder stretch when I lay on the bench. That along with focus on death gripping the bar, and not flaring the elbows has really improved my shoulder health, and I use a very wide grip which can be harder on shoulders.

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How is your preset stretch up on bench?

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I normally do a pretty decent job stretching before and after. Usually do better stretching my back because my back injury is worse than my shoulder. But Monday I really just used a 3-4ft small pvc type pipe they have and did some shoulder stretches with it.

quote:

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and not flaring the elbows has really improved my shoulder health,

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I think I probably need to work on this. It normally hurts worse on the bench but it actually hurt worse for me on dumbbells for the first time. Normally it's like I can get my arm into some range of motion on the dumbbell where it helps with the pain whereas on the bench I'm locked into a painful move. It was opposite this go around. Just kind of sucks in general really though.

Probably need to go a little more narrow with my grip as well.

W9 D3:

DL 2x2x275, 1x5x275, 1x1x335

OHP 3x4x120, 1x8x120, 1x1x160

Tinkering with GGBB progressions on accessories.

DB pullover 3x10x65, 75, 85, 2x5x85

Face pulls 3x10x130, 140, 150, 2x5x150

HS Rows 3x10x140, 180, 200, 2x5x200

CG lat pulldown 2x10x130, 150, 1x6x170, 2x5x170

Still made it out in about 2 hours.

Meant to reply with an idea for a good set up for bench to help your shoulder. I’m in a rush at the moment and it’ll take me a minute to effectively describe it, but I’ll get to it when my day let’s up.

Hope your back loosens up so you can lift.

So this is nothing ground breaking, but it’s helped me immensely to avoid shoulder pain on bench.

Before this it’s a good idea to use that pvc pipe to do some shoulder stretches. Some banded pull aparts too.

1. Sit on the bench and reach down to the floor stretching your shoulders to the front. I’ll usually do a few arm circles when I sit back up.

2. Lay on the bench and get your torso and legs into the position you’ll lift from.

3. Reach your hands back and grab the bar that connects the posts (supports the upper end of the bench that you’re laying on). So your hands are in a similar position to that which you’d start a behind the neck press from.

4. While in this position really stretch the shoulders, focusing on digging your scapulas into the bench and squeezing them together. You’ll arch your back a bit too. I’ll kind of rock back and forth a little to make sure I’m really balanced on the bench.

5. Now, maintaining that bedded down into the bench feel reach up and grab the bar.

6. Squeeze the bar tightly. This helps me really focus on keeping all my involved muscles tight.

7. Take a big breath, filling up so that your stomach protrudes and arch your back more simultaneously.

8. Unrack the weight and do your set.

I do this for every set and it’s really helped my shoulder. It’s also nice to have a routine to prime myself before each lift.

Good luck.

Will definitely do that stretch next chest day Thanks

Saturday:

Quick arm workout.

DB curls: 1x8x25. 2x8x30. 1x6x35

Overhead DB Extension (single arm): 2x8x20. 2x8x25

ISO Preacher Curls: 2x8x25. 2x8x30

Seated DB Tricep Extension: 1x8x50. 1x8x55. 2x8x60

Cable Curls: 1x8x55. 1x8x60. 2x8x65

Cable Tricep Rope Pulldown: 4x8x?. Only workout my shoulder bothered me on. Shoulder popped with each pullldown. That's the first time it's been popping. I honestly should probably go see the doctor.

Reverse (palms down) Cable Curls: 4x8x?. Need to do a better job of keeping up with my weight on cables so I can keep up with gains.

Machine Seated Dips/Pushdown: 4x8x135

Was in and out in less that an hour.