June 19, 2014 Upper

• Pullups: 70*3 70*2 70*2
• Seated Press: 135*3 175*3 185*2 195*1
• Unilateral bb t-bar rows: 160*3 170*3 180*2
• DB Reverse Laterals: 15*8 20*6
• Suitcase Carries: 40*75 40*75
• Rows: 200*0:31 TIES PR

Good times, pullups didn't hurt shoulder at all. Left elbow is still tight, been like that for months though, and it's not getting worse or better. I'm pretty sure it's tennis elbow, but I don't really want to rest it.  Rest of session went well, wanted to rest shoulder because it was SORE after dodgeball yesterday.  Seated presses don't bother it for some reason, but incline benching will irritate it.

So I haven't tried rowing in a few months, or at least not a 200m row...I actually stopped trying very hard around the 20 second mark because I thought I was way off pace. I think I can get 0:29 if I build back up here.   

July 28, 2011

• BB Incline Bench / Pullup Superset: 235*4/ 10 245*3/ 9 245*2/ 8
• Unilateral DB Flat Bench: 90*6 100*5
• Cable Rows: 140*10 160*7
• BB Standing Press: 145*4 150*4 155*2
• Doubled-Up Banded Bench Press: 135*6 185*5 205*4

Good session, felt a bit long though.  The pullups went very well, I was pretty jacked up all workout.  I think I have the timing of the rice pre workout down.  I did it about a half hour earlier than usual and it worked MUCH Better than eating it right before going.  I think I may move the unilateral DB bench to my other upper day, it would fit in better there.  Progressing on standing press, really getting the hang of exploding off the bottom.  On banded bench I need to use a heavier db like last week to anchor the bands. I used the 90s this week and they rolled a bit.  Here's a video of the unilateral bench set, for my left arm, with the 100 lbs. db:

 A couple of pointers if you try these:

1. These will tax your core and stabilizer muscles to a ridiculous extent, do not let your body slide off the bench or 'slump' to one side, stay nice and straight on the bench
2. Keep your legs on the ground.  If the leg on the opposite side of your body that is moving the weight comes off the ground it's time to end the set, or use less weight.
3. The narrower you place your feet the more challenging it is to keep balanced, and the more intense the contraction of your core muscles. 
4. Do not grab onto the bench with your free hand, leave it in the air or off to the side.
5. Don't hold a DB in the other hand as this offsets the load and makes it much easier on your core and stabilizing muscles, which get absolutely torched doing these.

July 25, 2011 PM Upper Body

• BB Flat Bench: 230*11 235*10 240*8
• BB Rows: 240*6 245*5 250*3
• BB Push Press: 185*2 185*2 205*1
• Rope Pullups: 6, 5, 4
• P.U.P.P.: 2:00

Apparently my current 10 rep max on benching is 235.  Next week I'll try for 240.  BB Rows felt good, although again the squat rack was taken so I did them in the power cage.  I have NO idea what happened on push pressing.  I could barely lock out on any of the reps.  I thought I had loaded 225 on instead of 185 those first 2 sets.  Rope pullups were ok, pissed my grip gave out so quickly.  In positive news I hit 2:00 on Push-Up Position Planks!  I set the stopwatch on my cellphone since I already had it out for the videos of rope pullups that I took below.  I just stared straight down at it and waited to hit 2 minutes. Talk about excruciating, but I did it! At the end I thought my abs were going to cramp on me.