Monday 9 May 2011

Pushing

Not a very good start to the day - I twisted my left shoulder getting out of bed! I was so pissed at this that every activity I've done today - including cycling to McD's and to the gym - was particularly aggressive! The shoulder problem was badly timed as this is my pushing day and I'd planned on doing some dips. This meant I had to change my routine at the last minute, which accounts for the less than ideal planning of the last exercise.

Barbell push press: 3, 3, 3, 3, 3
[Warm up:75 (3)]
100, 105, 110, 115, 120 (2)

Perhaps not a great idea to do push presses with a bad shoulder, but I didn't feel any pain doing these. In fact, I think I PRed.

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Incline rack bench press; 5 sets, max reps @ 95 (safeties @ 7 holes)
7, 6, 5, 5, 4 = 27

The previous time I did this I had the safeties set at 8 holes, but when I set up in the cage the bar looked too high so I lowered it 1 hole. This meant that the bar was less than an inch above my chest and I had a greater range of motion. I did 8 more total reps than before, but I'm pretty sure I had the bench set at the same angle as last time.

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For time:
DB bench press @ 52s x 5 reps with 20 push-ups
DB bench press @ 47s x 5 reps with 20 push-ups
DB bench press @ 42s x 5 reps with 20 push-ups
Time = 8:43

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Amrap 15:
4 x bench press @ 45s
8 x push-ups

Score = 5 + 1 bench press

This is 1 whole round less than my PR, but the same as when I did the this last time in November. Of course, it doesn't help that I did exactly the same combination of movements in the preceding exercise. The first 3 rounds went really well and by halfway through the allotted time I thought I was on my way to a new PR. However, things slowed down with round 4 and I had 3 minutes remaining at the start of the sixth set. I tried and failed several times to complete that final bench press, but I could never lock out. I took long rests, walked around swearing to myself, but nothing seemed to get those dumbbells up in the air. I finally managed to do the bench press with 12 seconds remaining, then I dropped them to the floor.

I'm frustrated that my shoulder made me change my planned routine at the last minute, but not too pissed that the last routine didn't go too well. If I'd had time I would have chosen a better amrap to end with, instead of simply duplicating the preceding DB bench-press/push-ups movements.

Legs tomorrow, so hopefully plenty of time for shoulder rest before Wednesday's pulling.

4 comments:

Paul French said...

That sucks about the shoulder, seems like it's always a simple every day kind of thing that causes an injury, keep it rested till it heals.

What bench did you use for the incline bench press?

Common Sense Design said...

My shoulder was fine after the workout and for most of the day, but it's just starting to hurt again. Bugger.

It's difficult to describe which bench I used. It was a white one, not the silver one. It's easier to show you the incline I had it set at rather than try to explain it!

Paul French said...

Was it the one that's always set at some level of incline, or can it be adjusted to go flat?

Common Sense Design said...

I think it goes flat, but I had it up at a slight angle.

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