Week10 - Day26A - Aha!
Weight: 181.4 lbs Duration: ~1 hour
Got to the gym pretty early today. Did my leg swings, fire hydrants, static hip stretches and some brief jump roping to get the blood flowing. Took my time with a lot of the lifts, especially rest periods between heavy sets. A lot of things fell into place today. Today's workout session probably tops every other workout I've had thus far since I started lifting again in October. Low bar position was on point on the squat. The whole upper back felt super tight. I had an "Aha!" moment when benching that lead me to realize why my right arm sometimes works so much more than my left arm. Rows were also better, technique wise.
Squats: 3x5xBar + 5x95 + 3x115 + 2x135 + 1x155 + 5x5x170
Counter to what Mr. Rippetoe says about bar grip width, today, I went for a slightly wider grip width than normal. This point my forearm more towards a 45 degree angle than when using a narrow grip which would probably be closer to a 30 degree angle with respect to my body. One immediate thing that happened was that my palm would turn out more, putting the bar closer to the meaty part of my palm around the thumb and the base of the hand. This relieved a lot of strain on my right wrist because, before, the bar would essentially be along the top of my palm and this would lead my wrists to buckle. Widening the grip also helped me to easily get the bar placed in the right low bar position that Mr. Rippetoe was speaking about in his bar position video. Once the bar was in place, I lifted my elbows and this, in turn, allowed me to lock the bar really nicely on my upper back by driving my palms forward as if I was trying to push the bar through my back. I went a bit lower than parallel on some reps and I think this caused me to round my back a few times.
Bench: 3x5xBar + 2x10x65 + 2x5x85 + 5x5x105
So, the "Aha!" moment. Many times in the past when benching, I've experienced a load imbalance between my left and right arms. I would also find my right arm cranking out and doing so much more work than my left arm. So, today, I had an epiphany while doing the warm-up sets. To give a little background... With benching, I've always gravitated towards closer grip, tucked elbows rather than wide grip benching. Wide grip benching puts a certain degree of strain on my shoulders than I'm not all too comfortable with bearing, so I've always gone by way of safety first. Along with this style of benching, one thing of note is the importance of squeezing the shoulder blades together. Doing this along with the use of a power lifter arch and driving through the ground with the feet creates a very strong kinetic chain, stabilizing the entire lifter's body from the feet all the way up to the traps, giving the lifter the best means and position to press. So, what was my problem? I wasn't squeezing my right shoulder blade in. So, what I noticed was that, when I pressed into the lockout position, I would essentially lose my squeezed shoulder blade position. This resulted in my right arm being removed from the kinetic link with my shoulders and traps. To fix the issue, I made sure to press only to a point where I would still be able to maintain my squeezed shoulder blades.
Rows: 5x55** + 3x75 + **1x95 + 5x5x120
I tried not to bend my knees too much. It was turning into a semi-deadlift when I bent my knees too much.
Accessories:** Preacher BB Curls: 10x50 Incline DB Press: 10x40** Standing EZ-Bar Curls: 10x40 Dips: 5/5/4 Seated DB Curls: 8x30 Pushups: 10/10/8
Are those dips? Yes, they are! My doctor cleared me and basically told me I have no restrictions any more with regards to exercise activity. The only thing to avoid is any behind the neck pressing. Increased the incline dumbbell pressing weight from 35 to 40. They felt relatively light. Seated dumbbell curls also went up, they were pretty difficult, used a bit of swing.
*Core: *Pushup-Position Planks: 45sec.
I may have jumped an extra 5 seconds today, but that's alright!