Saving this for later. It’s a long one, but the squat and deadlift vidoes from last month were worth watching. Anyway, I did some close grip benching last week and it irritated my right upper back. Like on the rhomboid or something. It’s related to setup or breathing or some BS. Tate usually does a great job of explaining and cueing the small but important stuff.
A few more related ones
Hey Flats, your log is definitely one of the most unique ones I’ve seen. I never heard of all these movements but obviously they are for a good purpose. Do you have any long term/short term goals?
Unique! I guess that’s cool. Thanks man. I hope these silly moves are good for something.
Anyway, Goals! Right now I’m working on transitioning from “bodybuilding” or “Muscle Focused” training into “strength” or “Movement Focused” training. So short term goals
Build conditioning with the warm up circuits by pushing the reps up.
Find a big pressing movement i can use to focus on Strength for awhile.
Get my ankles and calves ready for future jumps and sled drags with calf raises/tibia raises.
Medium term, I want to get through a nice 12-week Strength Focused block of training. I don’t need to get super strong, just a little stronger than I am now, so I can do all the physical chores this summer. And I want to get some jumps in so I don’t feel so slow and flat footed shuffling around.
Long term, I want to run a 2nd twelve week strength focused cycle. And then it will be time to exceed the 335/265/415 squat/bench/dead I worked up to last time I was trying to get strong.
2-21 Lats/Triceps
Get Loose
1 Arm Neutral Pulldown
45 + hanging 15 x 10
70 + 15 x 10
85 + 15 x 10
95 + 15 x 10
1 Arm Seated Neutral Row
90 x 8
115 x 8
140 x 8
150 x 8
Neutral Chin Up
x 1, 3-1-3 tempo x 4 singles
Straight Arm Pulldown
40 x 13
50 x 13, 13
Cross Body Cable Tricep
a few shitty sets of 15
Close Grip Bench Press
2 chains x 10 -Voodoo Floss, 1 on wrist, 1 on elbow. Felt like I’d loose the arm.
2 chains x 10 - 1 Voodoo floss from wrist to right above elbow. Shoulder clicked.
2 chains x 10 -floss forearm, and around chest. Shoulder still clicked.
2 chains x 15 -floss on forearm and around shoulder. Very supportive.
I was gonna do some more tricep stuff but i wanted to see how my arm felt with the floss on the close benches.
Hanging kettlebells on pulldowns were cool.
Chins were pain free.
The voodoo floss was pretty cool. With my wrist supported I could feel that I was gripping the bar weird and lowering the bar too high on my chest. In the bench press video from the other day Tate told one keep the knuckles up and the forearms vertical, resulting in touching a little lower. It felt solid, like I was driving more with my arms, only I couldn’t get my shoulder exactly set.
I’ll keep at it.
Yesss Yesss welcome to the dark side
2-23 Lower
Get loose
Tib Raise x 15
45 back raise x 10
Decline Situp x 15
Front Foot Elevated Lunge x 8
Jump on 18" Box x 1
4 rounds
Goblet Squat
35 x 3 x 8 sets
Rack Deadlift Sumo Iso
Pins 3, 2,1 x 3 exertions x 3 sets per pin
Standing Abs x 6
Reverse Hyper x 15
4 pairs
Standing 1 Leg Calf
3-1-3 tempo x 7 reps x 4 sets
Jumps felt like slow motion.
I wrapped some Voodoo Floss around my lower ribs/upper abs, like where George Leeman used to wear his belt. It was cool to have something to brace against and it really helped not to round over in the bottom on squats. And not overarch in the dead.
2-25 Chest/Biceps
Get Loose
Face Down Y/T/W x 12
Laying on Bench No Money x 12
Laying on Bench Band Pull A Part x 12
Tricep Pushdown x 15
Pushups on Barbell x 10
4 rounds
DB Incline Bench with Underhand Grip
3 count descent x 10 x 4 sets
Dip Machine
1 Arm Pec Deck, Go Way Across the Middle
x 13 x 4 sets
Wrist Curl Cradling Kettlebell x 15
Arnold Curl with Kettlebell x 15
3 pairs
Reverse Curl with PVC x 20
Hammer Curl with Monster Miniband x 25
3 pairs
The streak of good workouts continues. I was working on the lower and inner chest today. I think I was successful. If my sternum is soar tomorrow we’ll know for sure.
My biceps were still a little twerked from chinups on Monday so I had to take it a little easy. Finding out little shit like this to plan better in the future is why I scheduled this transitional period.
2-28 Traps/Triceps
Get loose
Face Down T-Y-I-W x 3 each
Band Face Pull x 12
Band Straight Arm Pushdown x 12
Band Upright Row Behind Back x 12
Neutral Chinup x 2
4 rounds
Chest Supported T-Bar
3 plates x 9
2.5 x 14
2 x 18
DB Shrug
85 x 14
70 x 20
55 x 31
DB Trap Circuit
20s x 10 reps x 4 moves
15s x 12
12.5s x 14
Reverse Light Band Close Bench
145 x 8
165 x 8
185 x 8
Overhead Tricep, Miniband x 30
Bench Dip + 17 x 15
3 pairs
Neutral Band Pushdown x 40/35/30
Good day at the gym. Voodoo floss on upper arm, down to elbow. It felt pretty good, I wasn’t thinking about my shoulder our elbow when I was lifting. .
Reverse bands on the bench were new and different. It was kinda like benching on the moon or something. Smaller bands would probably be a little better (more optimal) for me, the Light bands were still taking a little off at the top.
World’s Strongest Man says to do Hip Airplanes for hip problems. And Juji says to do some hip flexor front leg raising action like just High Kicking out in front of you, karate style.
Coach Joe Ken has WSM doing “readiness warm ups,” 4 rounds of high rep prep stuff before the real workout. 1 leg RDLs, pull thrus and back raises to get the hinge motion hingey.
Shaw does some sumo. Big dude can get down to the bar pretty good! I saw some shrugging of the shoulders and rowing with the arms on a few sets. Nobody is perfect!
At about 8 minutes Brian uses the “Power Runner” machine. There’s one at my gym that’s rarely used. Maybe I’ll try it? Anyway, 1 leg at a time, slow eccentrics.
Then some Farmer’s Walks. Short runs, EMOM for 10+ minutes.
Recent stuff from Westside.
Soooo many good reminders in your posts. Hip Aeroplanes made it into my warmups in recent times. Appreciate the links!
No problem man! I’m glad you’re picking out some good stuff.
3-2 Legs
Stretch Out
Standing Hip Flexion x 12
Tib Raise x 15
Standing Hamstring Curl x 8
Front Foot Elevated Lunge x 8
18" Box Jump x 2
4 rounds
Goblet Squat
40 x 3 x 8 sets
Deadlift Iso
PIn 3,2,1 x 3 x 3
Ass Blaster, 10 count hold at top, squeeze ball between knees x 5
Sideways QL on back extension x 6
3 pairs
Reverse Hyper x 16
Seated Calf x 20
4 pairs
I didn’t did too much more explosive over the last week, I think a 19" box jump would be too high. I got the 10 count, ball squeezin’ glute bridges from Martins. I think they crushed my adductors most.
Another good one. Shoulder pain in the bench because the scap muscles are lacking stability, or the mobility to get stable.
At like 1:50 Sam points out that little dude has no Thoracic Mobility (upper back arch) so all his archness is coming from his lower back. So his ribs are flaring, or he’s “losing his abs” or he’s drifting into Anterior Pelvic Tilt. However you want to say it or think about it. Sam says this causes a lack of scap stability, and the Postural Restoration guys say the same thing.
3:00 Little dude is laying on the foam roller to practice his Upper Back/Thoracic extension, and he’s paying attention to his ribs/pelvic to avoid that rib flare, extended low back position.
5:00 they do the Thread the Needle to get rotation in the upper back, not lower back. At
6:40 Sam says to “expand the rib cage backwards.” The ribcage makes the platform for the shoulder blade.
8:00 Stretch the lats, but don’t extend into rib flare.
9:00 Stretch the pec minor. Don’t lose the ribs!
11:30 Half kneeling scap protraction/retraction vs the cable machine.
This was like a combination of Postural Restoration Breathing and Reaching, PT explanation, correctives and stretches with Meat Head explanation. Sam is really good at this. And this low back over-extension, whack breathing not expanding the back-ribs, shitty glute/hip shift seems way less complicated when Sam and Dave are explaining (like to that Szat guy) than anybody else.
Lately I’ve been wrapping my lower ribs with Voodoo Floss so I have something to breathe and inflate into when I think about expanding my ribs backwards. Just like you use a lifting belt around your waist. And I’ve been doing some moves like Pull Aparts and No Moneys sitting on an incline bench so I can push my mid back into the bench to get stable.
3-4 Upper
Stretches
DB External Shoulder Rotation x 8
Prone I-Y-T-W x 3 each
DB Tricep Extension x 15
1 Arm Bottoms Up KB Press x 12
4 rounds
Smith Press
45 x 6, 5
Rear Delt Swing
15 x 20
20 x 45
Medium width, Overhand Pulldowns
120 x 13
130 x 13
140 x 13, 12
Wrist Rotation x 10
Band Curls x 100 going through 3 styles
2 pairs
Wrist Lever Front/Back x 12
Band Pushdown x 100 going through 3 styles
2 pairs
First “Upper” day in awhile. Pressing and pulldowns! Rear delts and Biceps! Shocking!
3-7 Upper
Subscap Pushdown x 15
Band Overhead Tricep x 25
Bent Forward Shrug x 12
Dip Machine with hanging KBs x 20
4 rounds
Cambered Bar Bench Press
105 x 5 x 5 with 5 count eccentrics
Seated Iso Kelso Shrug
45 x 12
60 x 12
70 x 12, 12
Cuban Rotation x 12
Rear Delt Row x 15
3 pairs
Floor DB Tricep Extensions x 20
Shoulder Width Pullup x 1
4 pairs
Seated Knee Raise x 9 with 3 count hold at top
Standing Band Twist x 9
Decline Situp x 15
3 rounds
I was using the cambered bar to get the angled hand/wrist position, not for the increased ROM. Working on pinning shoulders together and keeping abs/ribs in position with the slow eccentrics.
3-9 Legs
Stretch out
Tib Raise on Incline x 12
Standing Ham Curl x 10
Ass Blaster, squeeze ball between knees, 10 count hold at top x 6
Laying Hip Flexor on Bench x 10
18" Box Jump x 3
4 rounds
Goblet Squat
45 x 2 x 10 sets
Sumo Dead Rack Iso
Pin 2, 1, 1 standing on plates x 3 x 3
Laying Adductor Raise, pin 1 x 20
Hip Airplane x 6
3 pairs
Step Down on Incline x 12
Leg Raise off bench x 16
3 pairs
I’m starting to feel a little POP.
3-11 Upper
Get Loose
Shoulder external rotation vs band x 15
Bench Dip x 20
Supinated Pullapart on incline bench x 20
Hanging KB incline bench x 20
Bench Press + 49 chains per side
70 x 8
85 x 8
95 x 8
105 x 5
Scap Pulldown on Lever Pulldown Machine
85 x 15
95 x 15
100 x 15
80 x 15
DB Shoulder Ex Rotation x 12
Rear Delt Swing x 25
3 pairs
Band Pushdown (monster mini band) x 40+
Floor DB Press (35) x 20
4 pairs
Glorious!
its a little quiet in here, you all good mate?
Hey Man!
Everything is cool, I just had some trouble logging in for a few days. I guess I needed to update/restart the old machine.