Still feel a bit off this week. Back is a little sore, so I am still cutting the extra back work out, and saving up for Deadlift day. I also feel like I have tender muscles right under the bottom of my ribs. So I went for a light bench day today just to stay active.
warmup: slow neg side raises, Cuban presses, shrugs
Bench Press (2 min rests)
bar x many
135 x 8
160 x 6
190 x 5
*wraps, sleeves*
215 x 3
215 x 3
215 x 3
215 x 3
215 x 3
190 x 13
190 x 10
notes: I definitely felt off. Maybe it was too soon to bench again.
Flat DB Press (sleeves, no wraps, 2 min rests, hammergrip)
90s x 9
90s x 8
95s x 5
95s x 4
notes: I also wasn’t sipping on intra carbs, so my energy was fading a bit lol
Incline DB Press (45 degree incline, sleeves, no wraps, 2 min rests)
50s x 12
60s x 10
70s x 8
Smith Machine Seated OHP (no wraps, no sleeves, 2 min rests)
bar x 10
90+bar x 2
140+bar x 2
160+bar x 2
JM Press (smith machine, 60 sec rests)
bar x 15
50+bar x 15
50+bar x 15
50+bar x 15
50+bar x 15
I was SO exhausted today. I suffered from killer insomnia last night, pills, powders, nothing worked. I prob got 3 hours tops. I was so tired today I was sweating for no reason. Like when I get overtired I can’t cool down and end up overheating all day. Work kinda sucked, I was dragging ass.
I talked it over with my trainer, and she got my confidence up, so I put my big boy pants on, and showed up after work to push some iron on an empty tank.
will go to bed early and try to catch up on sleep
Shoulders
pre-workout cardio 8 min elliptical
Superset Standing OVerhead Press and Over & Backs w/ Resistance Band (60-120s rest)
55 x 5 / O&B x 8
65 x 5 / 8
80 x 5 / 8
95 x 3 / 8
110 x 3 / 8
120 x 5 / 8
notes: I did not bad, afaic. No PRs, but I hit my goal reps and then some.
I wanted a second shot at the cage presses I was denied last Thursday, so we decided to throw some of those in.
Cage Press (45 sec rest, with trap squeeze at top)
45 x 5
65 x 5
75 x 5
95 x 5
95 x 5
notes: They sure make a lot of noise, but were fun! Good trap squeeze.
Rear Delt Incline Fly Destroyer Set (one set only)
15s x 20 full ROM then 25s x 30 hang & swings
notes: Argh! these murder! Trainer said she could see some size in my shoulders though!
Superset Spider Crawls and Over & Backs (45 sec rest)
45 sec / 8
45 sec / 8
45 sec / 8
45 sec / 8
Superset Minor Chest Dip and Over & Backs
12/8
12/8
12/8
12/8
We fit in a lot in just an hour! Would have chalked this up as a good session even if I was 100%!
Sunday I wanted to catch up on the stuff that had been lagging. I wanted to get in some solid cardio, I wanted some work on my triceps and shoulders. So it shall be done!
I showed up for a double Spin class. We were in the last few rotations of Release 57, so the music was known in advance, but Andrea (the instructor) decided to switch in some of the bonus tracks for some of the midpoint songs. If I think I am tired of those tracks after spinning to them 7 or 8 times, imagine her teaching them 20 or 30 times!
The first class was pretty hard, I poured everything I could into it. My right calf got a little tight, but I dropped my heel more and it went away. Overall, I am pretty happy with it, my focus was there and the work felt smooth, I had some hard climbs and raced hard on the straightaways. During the last working track I think the magnet slipped a bit because all of a sudden the tension became HARD out of nowhere, and I had to to turn it back down, but when I turned it up a second later I didn’t notice it again and it never came back.
In between classes, my friend dropped by to do the second class with me. When I went to fill up on water, Andrea told me it looked like I was doing really well with the double classes, I looked good on the bike. I take that as a big compliment!
I rocked out the second class as well, no major issues. The second hour went by so fast, I almost kind of wanted a third! But two were all that were on the schedule, so I went to do some weightlifting instead.
I decided to do a mid-light and quick Push session. After 2 hours of RPM I didn’t really feel like doing legs so I just worked the calves a bit; and I had a really good chest session on Thursday, so I decided on some triceps, some shoulders, and only a little chest. No need to overtrain.
Sunday Push:
standing bodyweight calf raises: 85, 85, 85 (rest of about a minute between sets)
one hand seated tricep dumbbell extension: 30 x 6/6, 6/6, 6/6, 6/6 (45 sec)
lateral raises: 50 x 6, 6, 6, 6 (45 sec)
overhead shrugs: 110 x 12, 12, 12, 12 (45 sec)
notes: I don’t do floor press very often. I used the 55 lb dumbbells, I wanted to use the 60s, but this other guy was using one set, and I couldn’t find the other set. I have never done closegrip floor press, it didn’t feel too bad, would do again.
The inclines flyes felt REALLY good. I think I waited the right amount of time to do more chest. My last session was Thursday, and I had some mild DOMS going on there, so these flyes helped stretch it out a bit.
I had never done overhead shrugs before either. It was a different feeling to try and engage my traps in that way. Didn’t feel too bad though, could go heavier next time for sure.
And that was my Sunday! How was yours? Any good workouts?
Today (Friday) was a weird convergence of events. I had been fighting off an illness, but still wanted to workout. I had legs left to do, I had shoulders left to do, and I really wanted to get one good session in at my hot yoga studio. No problem, hit the gym in the morning, go to work, yoga after. Great plan!
my coworkers approve, great plan!
Yeah, so Friday morning I slept in.
game over!
I should have changed my plans, but today I felt too stubborn to say die just yet. I thought go to work, rush to a gym, run to yoga class, and die happy. Too simple right? OK.
So I went to work. We had a goodbye party for our intern, we made him buy his own cake, ROFL.
Thanks Dosal! Sorry, we told the cake store we wanted to be the ones to write on it. And we wanted croutons on it. LOL, trollin the interns!
Then because we have a long weekend coming up, my boss let us leave early! YESSSSS Ok, off to the gym for shoulder and legs.
notes: I did 5 min of warmup cardio, but NO cooldown cardio! I was in a rush to get to yoga. yoga would have to be my cardio.
I was in no mood to play around, so I grunted my way hard through the overhead presses. I mean, the weight wasn’t heavy, but those were a lot of reps to do all in one go. Consequently, the arnold presses were tiring as heck, but I made it through another weight for another week. My shoulders are steadily clmbing back to fighting form.
even the Three Stooges need to blast those delts from time to time!
I tried to do reverse flys on an incline bench. Awkward! Much as I hate doing them standing up and bent over, it feels the least awkward. I guess the matter is settled.
After shrugs, I realized I didn’t have a lot of time for legs. So I dropped the pistol squats down to a warmup set, then replaced leg presses with quad extension. The extensions were hard as hell! They felt hard on my knee too, if I had been thinking, I would have warmed up with a lighter weight first to warm my knee up. I pushed hard through the leg curls, you can see by the numbers that my left leg lasted longer than my right leg, but they both reached 50 in the end.
I skipped leg raises since we would do abs at yoga. So I did calf raises. THEN… this buff and hot woman comes over to my mat area. I mean, she had great shoulders and upper back, and had that bodybuilder swagger, but she was also pretty good looking. So, she starts doing this triset for her chest or something. She did some presses on the bench machine, then some pec dec, ok fine. THENNN… she puts her feet up on an exercise ball and does pushups, BUT when she pushes back up, she uses the ball to push her hips up into the air, like an inverted V shape, this pushes her butt rightinmyface… UMMMM
Isn’t this how cats seduce each other? They wave their butts in each other’s faces? I won’t even look for an internet pic to illustrate what she did, it was obscene! Let me just say… her pants were WAY too tight for what she was doing… leave it at that.
So she did that for a while. I think I blacked out… I can’t remember if I did all my 360 calf raises (4 sets of 90). I mean I think I kept counting, but I have no memory of the event…
So after the smoke cleared, I realized I was late for hot yoga! OK screw it, I went home and napped for 30 minutes, then headed out to catch the late class.
I showed up, and realized it was going to be rough. I was WAY rusty with my yoga, and had just come out of a legs and shoulders gym session, AKA what I would specifically need for yoga. I resigned myself to getting pulverized.
This is Katie and John from the studio. John worked the front desk, he wrote down my emergency contact, and cosigned my DNR form. Katie would be teaching. She would be the one kicking my butt, with a smile!
Thankfully, it was a Friday night by-donation class, which meant it attracted a more casual crowd, so the class isn’t as hardcore, more forgiving.
We did 60 minutes in the hot room, so 41 degrees, humid, etc. It was a 60 min Moksha series, so 2/3 standing series: crescent moon, Warriors, bent leg triangle, sun salutations, toppling tree, dancers pose, planks, side planks, etc. Then it was 1/3 floor series: locusts, bow poses, various hip stretches, endless leg raises and air bikes, etc.
I am a little ashamed to say I took a lot of breaks during the standing series, like 3 or 4, and my ab work wasn’t so hot either, lol! Oh well, you can’t always be a yoga star.
dancer’s pose
bent leg triangle
Luckily, Katie is an awesome teacher, she makes getting your butt kicked fun! 🙂 After class, she indulged the blog and posed for some pixx, say thank you blog!
Notice how Katie’s feet are together for crescent moon, and she is lifting her toes? That’s why she’s the teacher, and I am not, haha. NO, your eyes do not deceive you, we are bending space and time, and combining our yoga powers to summon…
by our powers combined…
CAPTAINNNN PLANET!!! RRRARRRGGHHHHH
Yeah, we summoned Captain Planet using yoga. No big.
I have a special treat coming! Starting tomorrow (Sept 1), I am starting a “30 day challenge”. What does that mean? yoga every day, resistance training as per usual, super clean and tight diet! What does that mean for you?? You will get my daily updates, how the challenge is going, the yoga, the all natural superclean diet, how my brain is coping without junk food, etc.
September will def be a yoga and diet heavy month for posts. Hope you enjoy it!
paxauxbellum 