Bench Press

Back From Bulgaria

Yesterday I woke up at 4:30am UTC+3 (9:30pm Eastern on Sunday night) to travel home, so was up for over 24 hours again. I did get some little naps on the flights though. Planned to bench when I got home but all I wanted to do was be lazy. Bryan came over at 4 to bench with me. I warmed up with 3 minutes (0.89 miles) on the Airdyne. Start of week 6 on the Hybrid Push Only program and with a long weekend out-of-town I wanted to get in 2 days worth today.

10×45#
10×95
5×135
5×165
5×195
4x5x210
3x10x195
3x10x165 (close grip)

The 4×5 working sets were prescribed to be at 75%. Thought I might feel weak, but felt good after the week of rest.

Accessory

3×10 Tricep Rock-n-Rolls (30-35-35#)
3×10 DB Side Raises (20#)
3×15 DB Bent-over Side Raises (15-15-20#)

Pull-up Day

3×10 Pull-ups (quick 6-4)
3×10 Rack Chins (25#)
3×15 Banded Lat Pull-downs (green)
3×10 DB Curls (30#)
3×20 Shoulder IYT (CS Purple)

I had just started to sprinkle but I headed out for a run. Went a shorter loop, which was 2.09 miles in 22 minutes.

Push Deload

I walked 18 holes today and wasn’t going to do any workouts, but decided to knock out the first day of the Hybrid Push Only deload week since it was less than a half hour of stuff. Good timing for the deload since I’m heading to Bulgaria tomorrow.

Bench Press

10×45#
10×95
8×135
2x8x175

That’s all? 🙂

Accessory

3×30 Push-ups
3×20 Shoulder IYTs (CS Purple)

That 3rd set of push-ups got rough!

Clear It

Was able to get out golfing yesterday and it turned out to be a beautiful day for it. Out in the garage around 5:30 today.

Bench Press

10×45#
10×95
6×135
3×165
3×185
3×205
3×225
3x3x240

Added an extra warm-up set and increased 5# on working sets from the last time. 240 was rough and I didn’t notice until after my entire workout that I was supposed to do 4 sets of it. Whoops! 99% sure I only did 3 sets, so I guess getting in that extra warm-up set was even better because it ended up being 45# less volume.

Push Press

3×95#
3×135
3×165
3×185
3×200
3x3x215

Increased 10# over last time. Why not?

Accessory

2×30/30 steps 1-arm Farmer Carry (90#)
3×15 DB Side Raises (15-15-20#)
3×15 DB Bent-over Side Raises (15-15-20#)

Got to use my straps for the carries! Programmed with 20 steps, but I went to the end of my driveway, which was 30 and swapped hands there. Should stick to 15# for the raises yet; too much”kipping” with 20 pounds. Bent-over wasn’t so bad.

Conditioning

12 Rounds

5 HSPU
10 H2H Russian KBS (50#)
5 T2B
10 Over the Bench Jumps (18″)

The jumps were all the way over; no landing on the bench. Planned this to be 10 rounds but after 5 I decided I’d do 12 to get in 20+ minutes of breathing. Finished the 6th at 10:30 and then after finishing the 10th at a little over 17:00 I felt like I had a shot to break 20. Pushed it home with fewer steps between stations and quick turns after each jump. Almost! 20:08. So the second half took me 9:38 compared to the 10:30 of the first half. I guess I was cruising too much early on.

That mix of movements allowed me to keep moving. The handstand push-up reps let me work on bringing my legs down at the same time I’m lowering my body so I can get right into the kip. Started to get the hang of it.

Performance Plus

4 Rounds

1:00 Half Turkish Get-ups (left arm, 25#)
1:00 Half Turkish Get-ups (right arm, 25#)
No rest!

These are great for the core and shoulder too. I did 14 reps each side for the first 3 rounds and then 16 each side to close it out.

2 Sets of 15/15 Side-lying Thoracic Rotations (video)

Holy shit what a difference from side to side. When reaching my right arm back I could get to the ground. When reaching back with my left arm there was still about a foot of daylight before I’d get to the ground!

That completes week 4 of both the Hybrid Push Only and the Performance Plus programs. I took 5.5 weeks to get through them. Week 5 of Hybrid is a deload and perfect timing since I’m heading to Europe on Tuesday. The next month of PP focuses on core work, so I think I’m going to restart the shoulder stuff after some traveling and save the month of core for later.

Perfect Pacing

Forgot to hit publish on this yesterday, so it’s going live the morning after, but the post date is correct.

Monday night I started having issues with my sinuses and it hit me full on yesterday. Took the day off work since I couldn’t sit or stand for more than a few minutes without my nose and eyes watering like Niagara Falls. Was supposed to golf, but had to bail again. 🤒 I got out in the garage around 5:30.

Bench Press

10×45#
10×95
5×135
5×175
5×195
5×210
5x5x220

Used 215 last time. Not sure how long these 5# jumps are sustainable.

Shoulder Press

5×45#
5×95
5×115
5×130
3x5x140

Last time I did 2 sets at 135 and one at 140, plus adding in the extra warm-up set. These increases really aren’t sustainable on the shoulder press so I jumped up a bit in volume and increased the weight on 2 of the working sets.

Accessory

3×16 Alternating Incline DB Bench Press (50#)
3×15 Pallof Press (CS Red)
3×15 Tricep Extensions (40-45-50#)
3×15/15 Landmine Press (80#)

Performance Plus

4 Sets

Bench HS Walk (3s hold at end of turn – video)
10 Straight arm pull-downs on low rig (feet on box – video)

Interesting.

Conditioning

10x

1:00 Ski Erg (90% of 500m PR pace)
1:00 Rest

Pace goal came out to about 1:45, which I was holding after the start, but that’s not enough to bring the average down low enough. I got progressively better and longer sprint starts. Splits in meters and average pace were…

282-1:46.3
283-1:46.0
284-1:45.6
284-1:45.6
285-1:45.2
285-1:45.2
286-1:44.8
287-1:44.5
289-1:43.8
293-1:42.3

Came out to a total of 2,858 meters and … 1:44.9! Made it. 😉

Forced

Had to take a forced rest day yesterday after waking up with a headache that was giving me blurred vision and nausea. I went back to bed until 2:30! Got up and was able to work the rest of the day. Meant I had to skip out on golfing today, though it was quite chilly with rain on the way. Out in the garage at 4pm.

Bench Press

10×45#
10×95
8×135
8×165
4x8x185
3x12x195
3x10x165 (Wide Grip)

I hate this fucking day in the program. Took 39 minutes to get through those sets!

Accessory

3×15 Skull Crushers (45-55-65#)
3×15 DB Side Raises (15#)
3×15 DB Bent-over Side Raises (15#)

Used a barbell for the skull crushers. I felt a lot more fatigued after the benching today, which made the raises harder than they have been.

Performance Plus

3 Sets

30s Double DB Overhead Hold (50# DBs)
10 Scap Pull-ups
30s Rest

The double dumbbell overhead was the hardest part of the day and I didn’t even do it walking like it was supposed to. I took a few steps and nearly fell over. The fifties were too heavy for this, but after making it through the first round I didn’t want to bitch out.

The scap pull-ups were actually supposed to be paired up with 20 ring dips for 3 sets, but I moved things around.

Conditioning

30-20-10 Ring Dips
30-20-10 GHD Sit-ups
~~30-20-10 Pistols~~ 60-40-20 Air Squats

I figured the ring dips would be trouble and planned to start with sets of 5 and quickly switch to 2 or 3s if needed. I was able to continue sets of 5 the whole way. GHD sit-ups were harder than they should have been. I struggled through 12 of the ugliest pistols I’ve done in years. My left quad was not having it today. I probably should have warmed up my lower body some. After 12 pistols, a lot of falling over, and too much wasted time, I changed the workout to double reps of air squats. So I finished the first round with 48 air squats to get to 60. Total time was 12:42.

Ski Drift

Last night my legs started to feel trashed! Not sure if it was from the squat cleans on Saturday, DT yesterday, or 3 hours of outlet mall shopping yesterday. All of the above? Was going to golf today, but too much rain. My legs were still feeling fatigued most of the morning. Out in the garage around 6pm.

Bench Press

10×45#
10×95
6×135
3×165
3×195
3×215
4x3x235

Yeah buddy!

Push Press

6×95#
3×135
3×165
3×185
3×195
3×205

Tender collarbone. Done with the big lifts in 30 minutes with 1:30-2:00 rests between sets.

Accessory

3×15 Pallof Press (CS red)
3×15 DB Side Raises (15#)
3×15 DB Bent-over Side Raises (15#)

Feeling gains on these raises.

Performance Plus – 3 Sets

8 alt Archer Ring Push-ups (video)
1/1 Turkish Get Up (50#)

Exactly an hour at this point. Archers are a lot harder than they look.

Conditioning

2k Ski Erg

I’ve only tried this once for real so it’s hard to know what I’m capable of. Saw my best was 7:53.4 from 2 years ago, so I set a goal pace of 1:55/500m. Once I settled in past the first 500 meters I kept drifting away from the pace so I had a feeling I picked well. I fought to keep it within striking distance and then picked it up in the final 250 and again in the final 150. Was able to pull my average pace back under the 1:55, finishing in 7:39.6.

Bottoms Up!

Yesterday my abs were a little sore from the 100 sit-ups on Wednesday. I walked 18 holes on the course. Got a bunch of yard work done today and finally got out to the garage around 6pm.

Bench Press

10×45#
10×95
5×135
5×175
5×195
5x5x215#

Why does this day always seem so heavy? Maybe not warmed up as much as the higher reps on that first day of the “week” in the program or possibly fatigued from it? Seriously… sets of 12 with 200 feel easier than this. This was a 5# increase over the last time.

Shoulder Press

5×45#
5×95
5×115
2x5x135
5×140

My plan was to do 1 set at 135 and 2 at 140 but evidently I didn’t pay close enough attention to my notes. Last time I did 2 sets at 130 and 1 at 135, so I guess I ended up lining up with that.

Accessory

3×30 alt DB Bench Press (50#)
3×12/12 Half Kneeling Single Arm Bottoms Up KB Press (25#)
3×15/15 Tricep Kickbacks (15-20-20#)
3×15 Landmine Twists with 45# bar + 15# plate (video)

Fucked up here too and did these kickbacks instead of extensions. I get too used to remembering previous workouts on the program.

That was a lot of lifting. Took just over an hour. First time doing those twists and shit, they are deceiving. Counted left, center, right, center as 1 rep.

Performance Plus

3 Rounds

30s Left – Bottoms Up KB Marching (25#)
30s Rest
30s Right – Bottoms Up KB Marching
30s Rest

This bottoms up KB marching is similar to the presses on a difficulty level. My left arm starts to lose it but my right side is pretty solid. Program also calls for:

Foam Roll Lats – 30s/side
Thoracic Spine Extension Mobility

I’ll get these in tonight after dinner.

Conditioning

15-10-5 Squat Clean (135#)
150-100-50 DU

Was going to do some running around the block, which is about 700m, but I got rained out again. Thought about doing burpees again but figured the double unders would fatigue the legs more for the squats. I did the cleans 6-5-4, 6-4, and 5 unbroken. Finished in 9:22.

Volume Day

My hands are sore from raking and my legs seem to be feeling those squat movements from yesterday. Out in the garage at 1pm.

I made some Farmer Carry handle straps this weekend. Super cheap and work great.

Bench Press

Moved inside the rack starting today to be safer with the straps that are in place.

10×45#
10×95
8×135
8×165
4x8x180
3x10x200
3x10x165 (close grip)

I think it was during the second set of 8×180 that I thought there was no way I would get through the heavier tens. Did it though. Those close grip reps continue to be a challenge. Feels so different. This volume day is getting nuts even with some rep decreases.

Accessory

3×10 DB Tricep Rollback (30-30-35#)
3×15 DB Side Raises (15#)
3×15 DB Bentover Side Raises (15#)

Had clock running to keep resting on track. Finished at 58:35.

Such pump! Lotta reps!

Changed into some compression shorts, laced up the shoes, and headed out for a run on a beautiful day.

Run

Did a loop I run quite often which is 2.57 miles. Did pretty well keeping it in the aerobic zone. Average heart rate turned out to be 138 and the zone alarms that were going off were triggered on 1-3 beats on the high side. Felt easy running at that pace, but it is quite slow. Took me 28:44 (RunKeeper).

Was Killin’ It

Had been planning to go class yesterday, but was a bit tired during the day so made the call early to make it a rest day. Went to 10am today.

Warm-up

3×15 RH (140#)
2 Sets
- 5 Inch Worms
- High kNees
- 10 Air Squats
- 10 HR Push-ups

Strength – 4 Sets

10/10 single arm single leg RDL (62#)
5/5 OH walking lunges (62#)

Did my own version since it was programmed to de RDLs and lunges.

Conditioning

“Wall Ball Kalsu”

EMOM Buy-in: 5 Burpees
Accumulate 100 Wall Balls (20#, 10′)

I made the call today that we were starting with burpees like it should be. I got 24-20-19 and then on the 15th rep of the 4th set I felt something and on #16 I got a minor back tweak. Clock was at 3:49 through 79 reps when I finished. I was killing it! Would have gotten a few more reps there and then could have finished in the next minute. I’ve done 4:50 in the version that doesn’t do the 5 burpees during that initial minute, so this would have been a nice improvement.

So I skipped out on the medicine ball sit-ups they did and figured I might as well get in my Push Only work for the weekend.

Bench Press

10×45#
10×95
6×135
3×165
3×195
3×215
4x3x230

Felt easy!!

Seated Shoulder Press

10×45#
10×75
6×95
3×115
3×125
3×135
2x3x145

Subbed these instead of push press due to my back. Different.

Accessory

bench-on-boxes

3×24 Seated alt DB Shoulder Press (40#)
3×15/15 Pallof Press (red band)
3×12 DB Side Raises (15#)
3×12 DB Front Raises (15#)
3 Sets
- 20 Shoulder Ts (prone on elevated bench hanging over the edge, 5#)
- 3x30s Overhead Opener

I’m so used to having the combination of side raises and then bent-over side raises I didn’t realize there were front raises. There were supposed to be first, but I was already 2 sets through the side raises when I realized the program difference. I decided to superset in the overhead openers from the Performance Plus program.

Performance Plus

Handstand Shifts (video)
- 2×2
- 3×8 Scaled with feet on plate stack
3 Sets
- 1:00 HS Hold (facing)
- 1:00 Rest

😂 I tried doing the sponge shifts up on the wall but wow! I was using the eraser from the whiteboard. After 2 attempts I went for scaled, which was no walk in the park either. Instead of doing 3 max sets of handstand hold I did the intervals since I’d already worked my shoulders so much. Barely made it through the last 2 sets.

A Visitor

Bryan came over for a garage session. He did his deadlift program while I did the Push Only, which are both Hybrid programs.

Bench Press

10×45#
10×95
5×135
5×175
5×195
5x5x210#
3×30 alt DB Bench Press (50#)

Add 5-10# over last week on the 5 working sets. I added 5# since I started higher than 70% due to doing a couple of weeks of pre-program.

Shoulder Press

5×95#
5×115
2x5x130
5×135

Supposed to increase 5-10# here too. Last week I did 115-120-125 to ease in, which was actually low on the 65-70% starting range.

Accessory

15/15 Half Kneeling Single Arm DB Press
- 1 set @ 30#
- 2 sets @ 35
3×15/15 Tricep Kickbacks (15#)
Performance Plus – 3 Sets
- 10 Scap Pull-ups
- 10 Overhead Shrugs (45#)

Conditioning

200 DB Snatch (50#)
100 T2B

Had an idea to do something high rep before moving on to another movement. We did this as a partner workout, going 4 alternating snatches at a time. Then we did sets of 5 toes-to-bars. Finished the snatches at 9:39 and overall at 12:58 I think. There is a small chance it may have been 12:28. I thought the T2B would get much harder than they did. Snatches weren’t very hard either with that set breakdown.

I skipped out on a stretch from the PP programming that I’ll get in later.

2×15/15 Bretzel (video)