Where’s the TGUs in here?
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11-25 Upper
McGill action and upper back stuff x 2
Barbell Incline x 12s, down to 8s
T-Bar Row x 15s, down to 10s
4 sets each, ramping up.
Pushups on handles, sorta decline x 20-15
Band pull-aparts x 25
3 pairs
DeFranco Shoulder Shocker x 3 rounds
Dicks Press x 20
Mini Band Pushdowns x 25
Overhead band tri extension x 20
3 rounds, reps got a little lower each round
Barbell Curl x 12
Plate loaded gripper x 10 two handed then 10 one handed
4 times
Video repost from 3 weeks ago. This was a good one, I’ve been thinking about it when pressing. Or doing pushups or rowing. Right elbow has been feeling good. I was getting hellacious scap motion today on the incline bench. We’ll see how my clavicles and ac joint feel tomorrow.
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Im working up to them. Right now I need both hands to get up off the floor.
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Understandable and relatable
Instead of thinking pecs and tris, I’m going have to start thinking scaps. I dont lock my scaps in retraction but I also am not sure that I’m allowing them to move like I should. Going to have to think about it next chest day. That’s a pretty awesome video.
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Don’t forget to think about it on back day. I was doing some rows and instead of just lowering the weight, or just getting a stretch on the negative I thought about actually pushing the dumbbell or handle away from me at the bottom, for full motion. The first few times I just felt myself twisting my torso or slumping my shoulders to get the ROM. It took a couple tries to get keep my body still and move scap “forward” or to make it move around ribcage.
Like you, I wasn’t exactly locked back, but I thought about “back and tight” so long I wasn’t letting both sides/scaps move forward naturally.
Thanks for this flats! Lots of good info here. Lots of words, but I think the most important thing in summary is to keep the scapula in depression and just let it move naturally; as long as they’re in scapular depression…did I get that right?
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That’s what I’m taking out of it, keep the shoulder blades in line beneath the elbows. Let them go “around” your ribs, not “up” your back. That way your forearms stay vertical, hands over elbows.
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Alright alright, you summarized it way better than I did. Haha. Thanks Flats! As usual!
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Would that hammer the serratus? I mean thats not a bad thing…but just wonder if would take anything away from back/scap?
Oh, sorry man. Yes, there will be more serratus on the down or negative. Once you lower the weight and the arm is extended, serratus the shoulder blade forward a little more. That’s the bottom of the move. From there, rhomboid the shoulder blade back, then row the arm. That’s the top. Then lower and let the arm straighten, and finish the end of the ROM with serratus and scap motion. Now your scap is “forward” so you need to retract it a little before you start pulling with your arm.
Check out Ronnie
“Let it go all the way, contract coming up.” I was so focused on contract coming up, that I wasn’t allowing my arm to go all the way on the negative. To get that nice, natural scap motion I had to overcompensate and cue myself to push forward at the bottom, to let it go all the way. From there I actually need some retraction to use back muscles and row properly.
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I really love that first exercise Ronnie Coleman was doing. Feels like it balances my back real effectively in terms of horizontal pulling
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From Thib’s forum, about controversial and mysterious “Overtraining.”
New guy;
"I’ve been doing Dr John Rusins FHT program and the volume is insanely high. For example: Like in phase 3 he has you doing upwards of 60 work sets of legs a week (split into 2 sessions). Note: that includes hip thrusts, calves so it’s not 60 sets of squats and RDLs.
I end those sessions feeling totally fried, both physically and in my CNS. But I am confused because I am able to add weight and/or reps every week so I am still progressing correct?"
Thibadeau;
"Not necessarily, and that’s the problem. When the body has an overactive sympathetic nervous system (always being on high alert) compared to its parasymphathetic system performance can actually improve despite the body/brain being worse and worse.
I’ve seen tons of athletes who didn’t sleep, were losing weight because of being overworked and felt depressive and unmotivated, beat big PRs in the gym.
That’s because the brain/body feels weak and any potential threat is seen as a lot more dangerous than it really is and as a result there is a huge dump of cortisol and adrenaline. You are essentially performing simply on a survival mechanism.
This is no good because it gives the illusion that you are doing just fine, so you keep going and digging a bigger and bigger hole."
Brickhead;
Good post. In the contest prep for my one show in which I got shredded to the bone, though a few lifts suffered, it wasn’t significant and I was performing off of adrenaline, caffeine, and will. The insomnia was unexplainable. I also felt slightly mentally disturbed.
Thibadeau;
“Dude, very easily explainable. High cortisol (the increased need for energy mobilization and the deprivation, among others) leads to high adrenaline. If on top of that your serotonin is lowered (which happens when you are dieting down, especially on lower carbs) you don’t have a biochemical way to calm the brain down from the adrenaline, The mind keeps racing.”
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It’s real.
During periods of overtraining (when I finally hit that 185x50 squat set) I literally could not sleep. I was so overreached that my body could not shut down.
It was pure hell.
Then I went into afib.
Lol not lol
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Are you sure it was squats and not the get ups?
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11-28 Lower
Get loose
McGill 3 x 5
45 back raise x 12
Peterson Step Up x 12
Thrice
McGill 3 x 5
Back Raise Parallel to ground x 12
Band loaded Leg extensions x 20
Thrice
McGill 3 x 5
Good morning x 10
Step Ups x 12
Thrice
McGill 3 x 5
Seated DB Shrug x 20
Standing machine shrug x 20
Thrice
Ultra science based lower body workout. Inspired by grumpy uncle Kenny Croxdale, I did 45 degree back raises for the middle of the strength curve, back raises parallel to the ground for top range and GMs for the bottom. I hadn’t done back raises on the glute/ham bench in awhile, they really did get my glutes and adductors, like the lockout of the deadlift.
Peterson step ups for the top end, or lockout of knees. Or the VMO, lower quad. Leg extensions for mid range, or rectus femoris/mid quad. Regular step ups with thigh parallel to floor at the bottom for the bottom of the strength curve. Or for the quad sweep area.
In pure hypertrophy, Paul Carter terms I was working quads shortened (Peterson step ups) and lengthened (regular step ups). Or backside muscles, shorted on the parallel back raises and lengthen on the GMs. Super biased.
Pretty exciting for a workout your Grandma could do.
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Positive. My soul left my body at rep 40. I remember it like yesterday.
I will NEVER do that again.
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Scary stuff. I’m glad you were able to recover from all that. I guess those are the things you think about this time of year.
It’s strange to think about theoretical people who don’t train hard enough. Or all the times you hear/read about how you need to work more/work harder. Or that your body can handle more than your mind. Who are the slack-ass people that need to hear this? Everybody I know goes to crazy in the gym.
I think about it all the time. I’m fortunate that I can still do this stuff.
I think we are a specific subset of the population. If you’re going to use your time to keep up with a training journal online and share information with others, it’s likely this stuff is important to you. That alone probably means you are going to push the limits.
I’ve been thinking lately, if I hadn’t of pushed so hard and dealt with so much injury, how much further along would I be? How much more optimally would I have grown? Answers I’ll never know, but I am doing things smarter now, so hopefully that means I’ll get to discover some late stage training gains.
I’m having a lot more fun now though. It’s amazing what not training burnt out all the time is like. Eagerness. Variety. Like my S&S sessions. They are a blast, and totally different.
It’s a constant yin & yang.
Here’s a great article. Really hits home.
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It is nice to get a good workout without feeling trapped in a spreadsheet. Or beating myself up to focus on advancing the program, vs relaxing the program to focus on building myself up.
I’ve always liked carrying dumbbells around, and I do enjoy getting some work done outside.
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