5/3/1 - Back from the Dead(lift)

[Antti]

Congrats on the job! More espresso, right? Maybe it's even necessary with the job.

 

[Philippe Geoffrion]

Congrats on the job! More espresso, right? Maybe it's even necessary with the job.

Thanks @Antti ! Indeed and I’m sure it will be! These youngns these days...

 

[Philippe Geoffrion]

Day 1 (Horizontal Push)

A1) Plyo Pushup x 3,3,3,3
A2) CG Floor Press 55 kg x 10
75 kg x 3,3,3, 8, 55 kg x 13
A3) Band face pulls, Rows

4 Rounds
B1) Chins x 10,10,10,5
B2) Sprints

It is quite pathetic how much my close grip pressing lags from my wide grip. This, I think I’ll need to focus on it for some time. My best Wide Floor Press is 110 ish kg x 5 (on a different bar that allows a wider grip than this one) and here my first set at 75 kg close grip was a challenge! Looking at the video, it’s easy to see why. My right arm, which flares like it shouts Wooooo! before it enters the ring in its green spandex and bleach blonde hair, has a crazy discrepancy from my left arm. This is of course the old injury that has plagued me. Alas why I can’t do a proper OAP on the right side and my wrist and elbow cannot stay stacked. One reason why my wide grip is better. Another, is in wide grip, the trouble is at the bottom and CG, the sticky zone is near the top, this on Floor press, which is partial ROM, the wide grip has an advantage. I recall a Waterbury program which upped my bench by nearly 30lbs nearly ten years ago. I only used close grip presses. I think it is a good time to work on close grip. I was going to do wide grip today but I just wasn’t feeling it on my first set w 104 kg. It just felt overworked. According to Thibs ratios of strength, close grip should be 90 % of wide grip approx. mine, using Wendlers formula, is a pitiful 75 %!!! Some room for improvement there I think.

Chins felt good and sprints felt great!!! These weren’t full on start at top speed sprints, but more like strides turning into sprints then going back and forth between top speed, or nearish, to cruising. My shoes weren’t the best for this however. I did some HSPU after chins, but my triceps were so fried, they were woefully a travesty so I’ll exclude them from now on and next week. I think moving my grip in for both horizontal and vertical presses the next four or so weeks may be helpful.

You can see my awkward right arm and the poor guys trouble with these. Moment arms everywhere but with lighter weights, may be a good thing to train “out of optimal leverage” to strengthen neglected movement patterns ie elbow extension and shoulder flexion.

 

[bluejeff]

My right arm, which flares like it shouts Wooooo! before it enters the ring in its green spandex and bleach blonde hair, has a crazy discrepancy from my left arm. This is of course the old injury that has plagued me. Alas why I can’t do a proper OAP on the right side and my wrist and elbow cannot stay stacked.

I would suggest checking your scapular motion; maybe go see a physio. I have been through similar issues with both sides ever since my shoulder surgery in early 2017. When we get injured, our biomechanics can alter unconsciously to avoid perceived painful ranges of motion. In other words, even if your injury had healed, your body might still be wary of it. I know that the scapulae should be immobile during a floor press, but if one isn't in the proper place or if especially your shoulder rotation is off, it'll affect the entire arm. Hope that's helpful.

 

[Philippe Geoffrion]

I would suggest checking your scapular motion; maybe go see a physio. I have been through similar issues with both sides ever since my shoulder surgery in early 2017. When we get injured, our biomechanics can alter unconsciously to avoid perceived painful ranges of motion. In other words, even if your injury had healed, your body might still be wary of it. I know that the scapulae should be immobile during a floor press, but if one isn't in the proper place or if especially your shoulder rotation is off, it'll affect the entire arm. Hope that's helpful.

@bluejeff perhaps you are right. Ever since the surgery, I just kind of presumed this is the way it is now even tho I did PT for a while. Sorry to hear about your shoulders. May I ask what type of injury you’ve endured? Has PT helped you with it?

The altered ROM for perceived threat is interesting, like the physical trauma is still avoided by my body. Maybe something I should check out.

 

[bluejeff]

@bluejeff perhaps you are right. Ever since the surgery, I just kind of presumed this is the way it is now even tho I did PT for a while. Sorry to hear about your shoulders. May I ask what type of injury you’ve endured? Has PT helped you with it?

The altered ROM for perceived threat is interesting, like the physical trauma is still avoided by my body. Maybe something I should check out.

Thanks! I narrowly missed a rotator cuff repair due to a bone spur under my acromion that the orthos found in an x-ray. They removed the spur and cleaned up the rough tissue, but it still took me about a year and a half for it to feel normal. The surgery shoulder is now pretty much 100%. Ironically it's the other one that has been giving me trouble; however, it's close to normal after months of rehab.

I talked about it more in this thread/post:

Other/Mixed - Benefits of hanging

I thought this was very interesting podcast by Tim Anderson & Aleks Salkin: Many people seem to really recommend daily hanging (including Pavel, Dan John etc.), and it takes a very little time, so I figured why not give it a try. I have done it daily for a week now. I find a nice stretch in...

www.strongfirst.com

Generally speaking, I think it's like since you had an injury, your body is trying to find alternate ways to accomplish the same motions without using the injured areas, leading to the wrong muscles being used in the wrong ways. Yes, PT helped tremendously. Just find a PT that understands what you want to do with your body and also wants to help you accomplish your goals. A good physio ought to be able to see how one shoulder is working differently from the other. Unless you really know what you're doing, it's quite hard to discern these things for oneself.

I will add that sometimes you need to do PT for logner time than you think. If it's not better, it's not better. So keep looking for answers, that's what I've learned. I've also learned that the majority of shoulder dysfunctions have common patterns.

 

[Philippe Geoffrion]

Thanks! I narrowly missed a rotator cuff repair due to a bone spur under my acromion that the orthos found in an x-ray. They removed the spur and cleaned up the rough tissue, but it still took me about a year and a half for it to feel normal. The surgery shoulder is now pretty much 100%. Ironically it's the other one that has been giving me trouble; however, it's close to normal after months of rehab.

I talked about it more in this thread/post:

Other/Mixed - Benefits of hanging

I thought this was very interesting podcast by Tim Anderson & Aleks Salkin: Many people seem to really recommend daily hanging (including Pavel, Dan John etc.), and it takes a very little time, so I figured why not give it a try. I have done it daily for a week now. I find a nice stretch in...

www.strongfirst.com

Generally speaking, I think it's like since you had an injury, your body is trying to find alternate ways to accomplish the same motions without using the injured areas, leading to the wrong muscles being used in the wrong ways. Yes, PT helped tremendously. Just find a PT that understands what you want to do with your body and also wants to help you accomplish your goals. A good physio ought to be able to see how one shoulder is working differently from the other. Unless you really know what you're doing, it's quite hard to discern these things for oneself.

I will add that sometimes you need to do PT for logner time than you think. If it's not better, it's not better. So keep looking for answers, that's what I've learned. I've also learned that the majority of shoulder dysfunctions have common patterns.

Thanks for the information and support @bluejeff! I’m sure it would take some time, no doubt. My shoulder and scapular region have operated as are for years now! I’m glad you’ve been able to see success with your rehab. Perhaps when my life has a bit more stability, I can work on my shoulder’s.

I believe, besides my pec tear which was repaired and labrum tear which wasn’t, chronic suprispinatis tendenosis was an issue. After being in a sling(in internal rotation for months), I’m sure the ER loosened and weakened and the IR shortened and tightened. I’m sure I’d need a good shoulder specialist. I’ve been doing some infraspinatus work (as of today) to see if it helps a little, I am able to press properly with lower weights, but as fatigue grows the elbow flares. However, I’m lucky and happy that I don’t really feel shoulder pain much but I do get tightness, around my traps mostly.

 

[bluejeff]

Thanks for the information and support @bluejeff! I’m sure it would take some time, no doubt. My shoulder and scapular region have operated as are for years now! I’m glad you’ve been able to see success with your rehab. Perhaps when my life has a bit more stability, I can work on my shoulder’s.

I believe, besides my pec tear which was repaired and labrum tear which wasn’t, chronic suprispinatis tendenosis was an issue. After being in a sling(in internal rotation for months), I’m sure the ER loosened and weakened and the IR shortened and tightened. I’m sure I’d need a good shoulder specialist. I’ve been doing some infraspinatus work (as of today) to see if it helps a little, I am able to press properly with lower weights, but as fatigue grows the elbow flares. However, I’m lucky and happy that I don’t really feel shoulder pain much but I do get tightness, around my traps mostly.

External rotation is something most people who don't actively train it or use are lacking haha. It's one of those super common issues. A variety of ER drills is what rehabbed my surgery shoulder.

Serratus slides are a great shoulder drill that targets many of the weak issues all at once.



And this is about aiding HSPUs but he teaches the serratus slide nicely as well. You can also throw a light band around your wrists to challenge the ER more if needed. IMO this should be worked up to a medium or even heavy theraband. A cue I like is to think about leading the motion with the bottom of your shoulder blade. Your scaps should wrap tightly around your ribs, and the elbows and wrists should stay vertically in line with each other. You should not be shrugging your shoulders up towards your ears.


If you have barbells that are long enough, landmine presses are also awesome for all of this. Just make sure that when you do them you don't let your elbow flare out to the side, and don't shrug the shoulder towards the ear, no matter how hard it is. Use an empty bar if you must.

 

[Philippe Geoffrion]

External rotation is something most people who don't actively train it or use are lacking haha. It's one of those super common issues. A variety of ER drills is what rehabbed my surgery shoulder.

Serratus slides are a great shoulder drill that targets many of the weak issues all at once.



And this is about aiding HSPUs but he teaches the serratus slide nicely as well. You can also throw a light band around your wrists to challenge the ER more if needed. IMO this should be worked up to a medium or even heavy theraband. A cue I like is to think about leading the motion with the bottom of your shoulder blade. Your scaps should wrap tightly around your ribs, and the elbows and wrists should stay vertically in line with each other. You should not be shrugging your shoulders up towards your ears.


If you have barbells that are long enough, landmine presses are also awesome for all of this. Just make sure that when you do them you don't let your elbow flare out to the side, and don't shrug the shoulder towards the ear, no matter how hard it is. Use an empty bar if you must.

Ha that’s how my HSPU look too! The flawed version that is...perhaps that fella who’d recently posted about during HSPU would appreciate that article. Yes, SA work is something I’ve also wondered about as well as lower trapezius function. I find these little muscles so difficult to “activate” without compensation. There have been times where I’ve done the right drills at the right times that seemed to cure shoulder woes but it’s not always consistent for me.

 

[bluejeff]

There have been times where I’ve done the right drills at the right times that seemed to cure shoulder woes but it’s not always consistent for me.

I do them as a warm up for 2-3 sets. That way they get done 5 times a week And yes they can be tricky. They might feel near impossible at first but with time and effort they get better.

 

[Philippe Geoffrion]

I do them as a warm up for 2-3 sets. That way they get done 5 times a week And yes they can be tricky. They might feel near impossible at first but with time and effort they get better.

I’ve read about this type of drill for SA a bunch, hard to know if I’m doing them correctly tbh! I wonder if protraction is the key though. The SA and rhomboids are basically the same muscle just on opposite sides of the scaps and I feel mine are so called dominant. Aye aye aye the shoulders so complex it makes me crazy.

 

[Philippe Geoffrion]

Day 2 (Squat Emphasis)

A1) Vertical Jump x 3,3,3,3
A2) Squat warmup 53 kgs x1 bottom breathing squat x 30 seconds, 5 x paused

High Bar Squats-105 kgs x 5,5, 15

B1) Dips x 20,15,15
B2) BW Rows x 15,15,15, 8

Squats went well. 2 + reps on High Bar from last session. I find it interesting how little torso demand there is in these compared to low bar squats. A lot of sources say High Bar is more demanding on the back because of the longer lever, but the horizontal nature of the torso in low bar makes me disagree. Makes me curious as to my own squat. Because of my leverage, modern literature and physics say Low Bar should be my stronger because of the hips and back. Maybe my back is weak, hard to say but high bar certainly feels a bit more natural.

For the assistance work, no extra load just doing more reps. Maybe I’ll increase volume or just aim to get 50 reps in as short as time possible. We shall see.

High Bar set

 

[bluejeff]

I’ve read about this type of drill for SA a bunch, hard to know if I’m doing them correctly tbh! I wonder if protraction is the key though. The SA and rhomboids are basically the same muscle just on opposite sides of the scaps and I feel mine are so called dominant. Aye aye aye the shoulders so complex it makes me crazy.

Protraction is most definitely the key Try some scapular pushups, shoulders depressed, hands just a tiny bit wider than your shoulders, for like 3 sets of 10-15. You'll probably find your serratus. When I started doing work for that muscle, my ribs felt sore a couple days later. Mission accomplished. You can also film yourself shirtless from different angles to see if you're protracting correctly.

 

[Philippe Geoffrion]

Protraction is most definitely the key Try some scapular pushups, shoulders depressed, hands just a tiny bit wider than your shoulders, for like 3 sets of 10-15. You'll probably find your serratus. When I started doing work for that muscle, my ribs felt sore a couple days later. Mission accomplished. You can also film yourself shirtless from different angles to see if you're protracting correctly.

I have played around with push up pluses and struggled to see if anything came of them but yes, also a reason my extra upper body work is BW exercises, feel the serratus gets a bit more play with pushups and dips! I’ll give em another try!

 

[Philippe Geoffrion]

Day 3 (Vertical Press)

A1) Plyo pushup x 3,3,3,3
A2) Incline Bench 20 kgs x 12, 52 kgs x 10
75 kgs x 5,5,11
CG-53 kgs x 12, 8
A3) Band Y’s, Face Pulls, Rows

B1) Kroc rows - 26 kgs x 25 x 2 sets

Thinking about focusing on pushing up my incline and close grip floor press for my main lifts on pressing days, though pr’ing on both every week seems unlikely. Maybe volume adjustments or ladders. My loading is too limited to really play much around with. Got an extra rep but lord it was Grindy as heck. Probably should’ve rested another day but trying to squeeze these workouts so Xmas eve and Xmas are off, although I sadly have no plans as everyone’s away. Kroc rows were quite brutal, and much to my delight, my upper back was sore from yesterday’s rows, which oddly makes me happy...it’s reassuring I’m hitting the proper muscles groups when rowing.

 

[Philippe Geoffrion]

Day 4 (Pull)

A1) Snatch Grip SLDL
52 kg x 5, 104 kg x 5
125 kgs x 5,5, 10
A2) CG elevated Pushups x 20,20,20,20,20
B1) BSS x 10,20,20

Grip still troublesome on Snatch Grips so I had to do my set rest pause like at the end. First sets of pushups paused at ground, then as fatigue came regular reps. Split squats done sans weight. Two days often to finish HW and other work. Finally got my visa extension work done so I can hang in Paris, hopefully it all gets approved. ? Happy Holidays everyone!!

 

[Philippe Geoffrion]

Day 1 (Horizontal Press)

A1) Plyo Pushup x 3,3,3,3
A2) CG Floor Press
75 kgs x 5,5,11

B1) Pull-ups wide, narrow, supinated
(12,6,5) (6,5,5) (6,5,4)- 55 total
B2) Sprints

Hit 3 + reps this week on CG floor press. Grip width is about a hand spacing closer than normal, right outside shoulder width for me. Felt better this week. Did giant sets for pull-ups, taking a short break and moving to easier grips. Still, I tank after the first set pretty quickly. Sprints and then hot wine for Xmas!!! Merry Xmas all!

 

[Philippe Geoffrion]

Day 2 (Squat)

A1) Zercher Squat - 125 kgs x 5,5, 8
B1) Dips - 10 kgs x 10 x 5 sets
B2) BW Rows - 20, 15,15,12, 15 (77)

Day 3 Rest

Day 4

A1) Push Press x 75 kgs x 3 x 5 sets
A2) Chins - 10 kgs x 3 x 5 sets
B1) Kroc Rows - 26 kgs x 30, 25 (55)

Day 5
A1) Trap DL - 175 kg x 5,5,10
A2) Pushups x 25,25,25,25
B1) BSS x 25,20,15 (60)

Ive upped the volume a bit and I definitely feel it, particularly in my upper back and lats. Sprints made me a bit sore this week but not last week. Wonder why. That with my sore lats affected my Zercher sets a bit. Hamstrings, Glutes and adductors. Made add them on Squat day instead to remedy this and put another press accessory between chins.

Trying to add some mass and it seems to be working. Don’t really have a scale but my upper body and legs are looking a bit fuller. Strength is taking a hit, for now, while I adjust and eating quite a bit more. I think next week, after a couple days of rest, I’ll feel more adjusted.

Didn’t sleep at all the night before push presses and they felt heavy. The bar is also starting to bend and I definitely had bruises on my collar bone after the cleans, which I do with a false thumbless grip, as this is how I press.

Grip also a bit tired on pull day after heavy Kroc rows before but that’s volume training.

 

[Spartan Agoge]

I like your routine!
How many days per week you sprint? If you do it only once, it is not ideal.
Instead try 2 shorter sessions per week to have a better stimulus-recovery-adaptation cycle.

 

[Philippe Geoffrion]

I like your routine!
How many days per week you sprint? If you do it only once, it is not ideal.
Instead try 2 shorter sessions per week to have a better stimulus-recovery-adaptation cycle.

Thanks mate! You’re right, I’ve only been doing it once so far, and I got sore as hell! May add a second day after pulls! ????