October 2, 2025
My shoulder has been making some strange crunching noises and feeling off with a some pain as well. Will take a break from flat barbell bench press as well as squats as it makes it feel worse.
Couldn’t get myself into position under the bar for squats.
As it’s the second cycle of Operator (9th week) I may switch up my cluster of lifts and try something different to let my chest/shoulder heal more.
I have also been cycling a lot more this week as the weather has been great so I’m sure the extra KMs have impacted my recovery overall resulting in my sluggish feeling in the gym and not wanting to do heavy squats 3 days.
Was thinking of making my next cluster:
Hack Squats (video below, felt great all around) the one at my gym is amazing for my leverages I feel.
Chin-ups/Weighted chin-ups
Keep my sumo deadlift going as long as it feels good.
Not sure what to try as my upper body push. Single arm landmine press, dumbbell floor press potentially. I will try some different variations during the next session and see what my shoulder likes. There is a Viking press attachment at my gym as well.
Tactical Barbell - Operator - Week 3 Day 2 (90% TM week)
Kettlebell Swings:
56 kg x 6 sets x 15 reps (instead of adding extra reps i added a couple extra sets this week).
Sumo Deadlift:
135 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 3
335 x 2 (intentionally used a 25kg plate this time!!)
385 x 3 x 3
Barbell OHP (tried this out instead of bench, felt better than bench but won’t be continuing with it.
45 x 5
95 x 5
115 x 3
135 x 3
Hack Squat (really enjoyed these!)
180 x 10
360 x 3 sets x 10 reps
450 x 8 reps (Video)
Excited as this hack squat has a lot of space for plates so will try to really push it!
Lat Pull downs for some added back volume
165 x 3 sets of 10 reps
finished with some captain’s chair for abs
25lbs x 3 sets x 10 reps
If anyone has other suggestions to try for my upper body pressing that will fit well into tactical barbell.
Just keep moving!