Not sure if it was the strange beds I slept in last two nights or something I did last time at the gym, but my upper back/neck on left side is messed up.
Only seem to hurt when I’m turning my head, just dull soreness otherwise so assuming I survive snow shoveling I’m planning to proceed normally at the gym this week and see what I can do mostly pain free.
Weight remains above 175 so that seems to be trending the right way, will continue eating in the same way
I get the neck/upper back pain too in between my spine and trap, right around the area you’re describing, usually when I do a lot of overhead work involving wrenching. I’ve tried 15 min cold pack/15 min heat pad a few times a day and it seems to help a little bit. Normally goes away for me in a couple days of rest.
Pretty sure in my case it has been muscle cramps/possibly a pull? I’d say be careful with overhead work and stop at the first sign of discomfort.
Yeah I think its resolving, this am is the first since it happened where it didnt feel completely awful upon waking up. Though even for the past couple days it loosened up quite a bit over the day to the point where by the evening I almost forgot about it when I wasn’t near end range on turning head or looking down.
I tested overhead yesterday with super light db (like 10 lb) and didnt have any pain, so that’s good.
Ended up getting a couple extra days of rest because of snowstorm, which probably doesn’t hurt.
Back in the gym and on program again. Made all reps on main work and pushed reps a bit on smaller exercises.
My shoulder/neck is still not perfect, but didnt seem to affect anything I did today and in fact I forgot about it entirely after warmup, until checking blind spot on the drive back to work after.
SS1.
Trap bar dl 5x5@205. (+10 next time)
Suspended knee raise 5x10.
3rd set was hardest. I think it just took a little bit to get back in the groove and based on relative ease of all reps in sets 4-5 will raise to 215 next week. Easily got all reps on knee raises so I’ll start progressing that by extending leg(s) for eccentric.
SS2.
2kb front squat 4x8@(40+30, switch hands each set).
Back raises (bw “prisoner” position) 3x15, 1x13
Was hoping for 2x35 (had been doing 2x30) but simply could not find even one 35lb kb today. Might have to really push reps to progress on this eventually because there’s nothing available between 50s and 80s as far as I know. But that’s a future thing.
Ss3.
Rear foot elevated split squat(bw) 15/12/12/10
Seated ham curls 4x15@55. But, last few reps were partials.
Was supposed to go to the gym yesterday and tomorrow but schedule would not allow it. Today and tomorrow instead.
My neck is mostly better but I still have dull pain just between my left scapula and spine. I think it’s the same pain from before but no longer distracted by neck pain. Not sure how well squats are gonna go tomorrow but I’ll be testing it in any case.
I did not feel at all strong today but nothing seemed to exacerbate my shouldrr/back and in fact it feels better now than it did before gym.
SS1.
Incline BB 5x6@75. Got all reps but could not really get in a good groove on this today. Maybe because I hadn’t done this in a while what with vacation and “off-program” week.
Chins 7x3. Meant to do 8x3 but miscounted. Pretty sure I could have done it. This is still a PR of sorts and I’m going to try to get 25 reps in 7 sets next.
SS2.
DB row 4x12,1x10@35. This is a new weight and it felt harder than expected in the state I was in at the time especially on the left side.
Standing single arm db press 4x8@25. Elected to do single arm so I could focus on doing it as stably as possible on left side for shoulder/back.
SS3.
Pushups, db curl@10s, BPA.
16,20,20
11,20,20
10,20,20
8,13,12
Wanted to skip this entire thing, or drive home and do it (i.e. 20 min break) because I was beat and knew it wouldn’t go great. Decided to do it anyway and it went better than I thought.
The BPA were a little different today. I took a slightly heavier band and anchored it to a bar around 7.5-8 ft high, So the band made a triangle shape so I had to push/pull the band toward the floor while pulling apart.
Neck is messed up again late eve yesterday and this am. Worse than yesterday but not as bad as last week. I assume the rhomboids(?) thing is leading me to compensate with traps or something. Might take it a little easier on pulling the next few times at the gym and see if that helps.
Had another commitment I didnt initially plan around, couldn’tget to gym during the day today. Managed to get to y by in laws 20 mins before close and get
SS1.
Squat 5x8@125 (135 next time)
Sit ups 8,12,12,12,10
Leg press. 1x10@170 then kicked out. I guess close at 6 means kick everyone out at 545
Edit: +100 walking lunges after I drove home. Fun times on icy road
Back again. Neck was back in good order pretty quickly so I think the shoulder neck back thing is getting better but just needs to be dealt with for some time.
SS1.
OHP 5x6@70 - felt fine but will hit same weight again once more
Chins. 4/4/4/3/4/3/3. May have done another 3 after, not sure due to recording snafu. Was shooting for 25 in 7 sets so great success, I’ll have to set a new goal.
SS2.
Low cable rows 5x12@60. I did 4x12@75 last week but seen a meadows video with some pointers on these and wanted to concentrate on doing them better. Was fairly challenging and felt a lot back-ier
DB press low incline 4x12@25. Did these with slower ecc than usual
SS3. Pushups/10lb db curl/BPA
16/20/25
14/20/25
10/20/25
8/20/25
Might up the curl weight a bit. Like to 12s, hahaha. I don’t know if 4x20 are giving me anything more than a pump but I do think they might be helping my elbows feel great.
On vacation for a few days. Made it to the gym, tried to keep the spirit of planned programming. Maybe I got thrown off by equipment differences a bit but I got a decent session on vacation so it’s a win to me.
SS1.
Tbdl 5x3@215
Situp 5x8
Used bar unlike any I’ve seen or used. A one sided bar that seemed to want to tilt when loaded no matter where I held it. Also had spinning handles so it was hard to grip. Did min reps but I bet I can do max reps when I get back home.
SS2.
“Super squat” machine face out. 4x10@90
Reverse lunges 3x12, 1x10
Wanted to try this dope machine I don’t have at my usual gyms. Sick quad pump on this ss
SS3.
Ham curls 4x12@100
Back raises 4x12
Ham curl machine was also very strange. Had one pad on shins below knee, other behind ankles. I don’t think the weight is at all comparable to ham curls at home, where 50-60 is plenty for me on controlled reps.
Another quick session on last day of vacation.
SS1.
Incline press 5x6@80. A little wobbly into first couple sets. Could have used a better warmup but I was rushing.
DB row 5x12@35. Last few reps were iffy, will keep this weight.
SS2.
SA lat pulldown 5x10@40
SA db ohp 4x10@25.
Rested 60 sec instead of 90 here due to double SA.
Ran out of time and had to stop here. Missed my pushup curls BPA ss, so I plan to do it tomorrow when I get home.
I decided to try something a little different, did pushup test from 531 forever. Went out a little fast but met the milestone of 100 push ups at around 930 anyway plus a few more.
Then, did 10 curls emom for 10 mins. Last few sets were kind of hard, but I think the weight was too light for this construction.
Then, did 4x25 BPA.
Nice to change it up a bit i guess but pretty sure this was inferior in every way to the usual ss. Probably will never do it again.
Awesome stuff burnur. Keep plugging away. You seem to be bumping up working weight pretty regularly- thats great!
Bailed on gym yesterday - decided sleep would be more effective. Maybe had some jetlag but back in the saddle today.
Some squat reps were not great. I don’t think I’m good enough at squatting yet to keep form when I get really fatigued. I am going to not raise weight until the quality improves, in the mean time I’ll still be pushing hard on the lower skill exercises so I’m confident I will keep gaining.
SS1.
Squats 5x8@135.
Sit-ups 12,10,10,8,8
Pretty tough, some of the squat reps were not great. Definitely needs to improve before I raise weight any more.
SS2.
Back raises@+35DB. 4x8
45 deg leg press 4x12@90
Never used this leg press machine before so I was kind of experimenting with foot/back positioning on these sets. Can go heavier maybe even much heavier for sure next time.
SS3.
Walking lunges 4x12ea
Ham curls 4x15@55.
This sucked as usual but I believe in it for whatever reason.
What about them made it so bad?
As best I can tell, right knee coming inward and hips turning toward left a bit as a result, kind of throwing everything a little out of sync. Right leg is generally weaker than left so I think it got fatigued faster and then I compensated to put more load in the left on late reps in a couple sets.
One thing that was told to me that I try to think about while I’m sitting at the bottom of a squat, before the push comes, is spread the floor and push your knees out. Try to actively think about that in the hole.
If you know for a fact your bracing and upper back tightness is good, I’d try a few sets of sitting in the bottom of a squat and run it through your mind before you come back up. It definitely helped me. I normally try to do my first few warmup sets as pause squats, not so much for added difficulty but so I can actually concentrate on what the hell it is I’m supposed to be doing before the weight goes up.
Schedule has been hectic but I made it to a (new to me) gym yesterday. Small facility but had a lot of fancy new age machine thingamajigs. But, I was really pressed for time and could not use them.
SS1.
OHP 5x6@70
Chins 4x4,3x3.
I had been doing chins on angled grips, like half neutral half supinated. They didnt have such grips here so I tried full supinated. Felt kind of weird and circular, not as “up and down” as I had become accustomed to. Anyway, whatever.
SS2.
Cable row 5x12@60.
Incline DB press 4x12@25s
These both felt awesome. Cable low row was some fancy thing with a pulley for each hand. I think it’s time to up weight on the dbs too.
At this point I really had to get back to work. A few hrs later:
Ss3.
Pushup/db curls@10/BPA
15/20/25
15/20/25
15/20/25
20/40/30
This (non surprisingly to probably anyone else) felt a lot harder every other time I’ve done it which was at the gym right after the first 2 ss’s. If I ever need to split it off like this again I’ll find some ways to go harder (e.g. band or foot raise pushups, heavier curls)
Back in the normal gym. Super crowded on arrival (kids back home from college I think) so I took a slightly extended warmup while some people finished up. Did box jumps, etc. Also a 3x5 of chins which is some kind of pseudo mini 3 sets pr.
SS1.
Tbdl 5x5@215
Suspended knee raise 3x10,1x8,1x7
Ss2.
2kb front squat@2x40
8/8/7/8
Back raises 2x12(prisoner), 12 10 (crossed)
Ss3.
Ham curls 4x15@55
Rfess 12/12/10/10.
Reps were hard but ok on tbdl so mission accomplished? But damn this sucked, was totally gassed on ss2 and weak on ss3.
Did light band and abs work today. Wife was working the holiday, so I made a nice dinner and we ate when she came home. Included duck breast - rarely ever had it before but it came out quite nice, meat resembled steak as much or more than chicken or turkey which I did not fully expect. Still got some legs to cook later, maybe next week
In the gym again. Felt decent but crapped out about halfway through.
SS1.
Incline press 5x6@80
Chins 5/4/4/4/3/3+brief rest+2.
Incline felt really good, weight to increase next week. Thought I could manage 25 chins in 6 sets, but not quite yet (at least not today).
SS2.
DB rows. 3x12@35, 12/10@30.
SA db ohp. 12/10/7@25. 10@20.
Really sucked here. I think the weights were fine based on prior experience but today I just didnt perform all that well.
SS3.
Pushups/db curls(12.5)/BPA
16/20/25
13/14/25
10/11/25
7/9/25
Really lost steam here as the sets wore on. Pushups decayed a bit more than usual. Rep drop on curls wasnt totally surprising as I finally increased load.