Monday’s Pull/Push workout was a heavy pulling day, and a dynamic effort (speed work) bench day. Well, today’s Push/Pull (Note the difference? I’m a genius) was a max-effort bench day, and a ‘technique’ pull day. You can’t really chin-up for speed, but you can certainly make sure that your upper back is functioning as well as possible. I’m exhausted, so let’s get down to business.
Foam rolling with emphasis on upper back, chest, and shoulders (front and back). Then I used The Stick for SMR of the forearms and biceps/triceps. Looks something like this:
After some Halos, Wall Slides, and a number of push-up/row isometric holds, I was ready to go. I’ve been wanting to floor press for a while, because my triceps are the weak link in my bench, so I went about figuring that out. Turns out, the power rack in my gym doesn’t go low enough to allow a true floor press, so I had to place an aerobic step in the middle of the rack. Then, to counter act the height of the new ‘floor’, I ended up stacking 3 25lb plates next to the step, to keep my elbows from breaking parallel. With this contraption covered with a thin yoga mat, I was ready for action.
- Floor Press – Set 1-2, 225lbs x 5. Set 3, 245lbs x 5. Set 4, 275x 3. Set 5, 295lbs x 3. Set 6, 315lbs x 0. Utter fail. Set 7, 315lbs 3. Take that!)
- TRX Row – 6 Sets, all were for 10 reps, and I was relatively vertical, as I wanted to concentrate on squeezing my shoulder blades together.
- Incline Dumbbell Bench – All sets for 10 reps: 70lbs, 80lbs, 85lbs, 90lbs.
- Chin-Up – 4 sets of 5, Body Weight.
- Unilateral Fat Grip Standing Cable Row 3x(12,10,8) with 80lbs, 90lbs, 100lbs. Alternate sides until all sets complete.
- Half -Kneeling Cable Lift 3×8, 40lbs. Alternate sides until all sets complete.
- Grappler Press, Set 1, Olympic bar(45lbs) +25lb plate, 12 Reps. Set 2, add 2nd 25lb plate, 10 reps. Set 3,add 3rd 25lb plate, 8 reps, Alternate sides until all sets complete. (Great conditioning effect from this, if you’re wondering.)
- TRX Body Weight Row, 3×10. (On this row, I was much lower, body was parralel to the ground.)
- Hand Switch Pushups, 3 x 10. Oh, you don’t know what they are? A deceptively complex one!
Finally, as a finisher, I did a Barbell Bicep Curl (65lbs) and Lateral Raise (15lbs) giant set, for about 6 sets. I routinely knock both exercises, but that’s because people rely on those instead of thinking about the big lifts. As a finisher, that one’s tough. Plus, it’s finally summer, so ya gotta do curls for the girls. And I have no shoulders. Fair deal.
Harold Gibbons 