Exercise Log 5.15.14 (Bench Press & Deadlift Day, No Cardio)

Well I wanted yesterday to be a rest day, but wound up throwing boxes all over receiving so still was tired as all hell. So today I hit up the new gym, which I officially am subbed to. Goodbye LA Fitness, hello Factory of Solitude.

Today was my first day of the new bench press/deadlift split. I honestly looked forward to doing some bench press after the long break, and wanted to test my shoulder integrity. Due to that, I took it slow and easy during the lifting.

Bench Press: Sets 1 & 2) 5 reps @ 145lbs. Set 3) 5 reps @ 150lbs. Normally I would have gone up 155 (+10lbs), but for bench press just due to the fact that I was cautious due to shoulders, I decided to stay strict to my program’s suggested weight. Then I did a drop set of 8 reps @ 125lbs just to remind my body what a bench press motion is like.

Deadlift: These were harder than I imagined they should be given the fact that in comparison I did substantially more reps on Monday. Still have a lot of focus in improving my upper body form, keeping my head back as a physical cue to engage the upper back tighter. In fact today having so much shoulder work was all done with my back tense. Sets 1 & 2) 3 reps @ 255lbs. Set 3) 2 reps @ 275lbs.

With the main lifts out the way, it was time for two chest/tricep accessory exercises…

Incline Dumbbell Press: Felt like I wanted to get these out of the way with extra light weight due to them being a greater risk of shoulder impingement aggrevation. 4 sets of 12 reps @ 30lbs. Focused on form, and made sure to squeeze my shoulderblades together to keep the back tight to support my shoulder shelf, it helped a lot.

Decline Bench Press / French Press: Thanks to the new gym being quiet, I can wrap up this delicious superset into my workout today and take a big ol’ bite into it. I did 4 sets of 8 reps declined bench @ 115lbs / 8 reps of french press @ 50lbs. Was cautious on form, and always cautious when using the decline bench, especially with the shoulder issues.

Next was a couple back/bicep accessories to encourage the split for the day.

Chin-ups: 3 sets of 6 reps (failed my last two reps). I’m still an awful pull-up-er-er and it goes no different for chin-ups.

Lateral Pulldown: I felt like this could help me make up some deficiency in the previous exercise, so did some of these and am now using an underhand grip so I can bring some bicep into the motion. 3 sets of 10 reps @ 105lbs.

Did skip cardio today, it was wet and nasty outside and I had things to do… like cancel the old gym membership. Yoga later tonight though so don’t think I’m missing out on my stretches. I’ll try to get cardio in soon when I get the free time to next. Unfortunately my only time to work out these next two days is tomorrow morning, and I have a feeling I will not have enough rest from the workouts to justify going straight out and working out again tomorrow, so that means my next workout will be after 2 days rest. Which, with this new more flexible and awesome program, is fine. Right? It’s fine. I might just start busting out into curling Moxie again if I get a little hungry.

Random gym story, guy asked me today why I don’t lift with a belt on deadlifts. I like using the natural weight belt that you have when lifting. I feel like I want and need to develop the skill of isolating and improving my lift from that part of my body rather than shore up the deficiencies there with a belt. Is that probably bad in some ways? Sure, potentially. But it’s what I enjoy. I really have no good reason otherwise not to wear a belt. Thankfully the new gym supplies belts, so maybe I’ll try one sometime to get a real firsthand opinion about how I feel like it. Like Einstein though, I shave without shaving cream (just water), and I lift my heavy lifts without a belt… I doubt much will change that anyday soon.