Workout - Sunday 21/10/12

Today's workout was about studying technique, especially for deadlift.  I have seen some footage of my technique for this movement and I round my thoracic spine in the beginning of the concentric phase.  The reason for this is I am allowing my shoulders to fall downwards as a begin my lift, rather than packing both them and my lats in the set-up phase.  Doing this not only helps to activate the lats big-time, but it allows you to keep your chest out and forward for the lift, and to maintain a neutral spine throughout the movement.  With this emphasis on technique, I dropped off the load to a mere 75.5kg - this is a more manageable weight for study.

Note how the shoulders are forward of the bar here - the hips are not back enough.  Shoulders are also not engaged, and the chest is facing downwards.  This puts a lot of pressure on the thoracic spine and across the rhomboids and trapezius.

Look, I know he's just a kid, but this is exactly what so many people do wrong in the deadlift.  At the middle phase of the concentric movement his legs are already straight, the shoulders are forward, the chest is downwards and the thoracic spine is rounded.  Too much stress on the thoracic and lumber spine, and a herniated disc or two at 12 would be a disaster.  His coach should be sacked.

Terrific set-up position.  Shoulders are above the centre point, chest forward, head up and hips way back.  Using a trap bar is a great idea, too.  Smart lady.

Warm-up

Joint mobilization routine.
3 sets of Y-T-W-L with 2 kg db.
Shoulder and chest mobilization/activation with resistance cord.

Chest

Bb bench press warm-up set - 55.5kg.
Bb bench press - 3 sets x 6 reps at 70.5kg.

Legs/back

Deadlift - 3 sets x 6 reps at 75.5kg.

Back/arms

Superset

3 sets

Seated row - x 10 reps at 45kg
Assisted chin-ups x 10 reps at 25kg.

Core

2 sets

Crunches x 20 reps.
Bicycle crunches x 20 reps.
Prone hold for 1 minute.

Warm-down

Foam roller for 10 minutes.

Workout Wednesday 8/8/12

Today I had to abbreviate my workout somewhat due to picking-up-the-kids commitments.  As time was a big factor - 45 minutes from start to finish - I decided to start with what I like to call my 'deadlift superset', then a chest superset, and finish with dumbbell shoulder rotations.

Warm-up

Five minutes continuous skipping, with five minutes on the foam roller.  Foam roller.  Mmmmmmmmm.

Deadlift superset

Deadlift, chin ups, dips.  Five sets of five reps.  95.5/115.5kg

First set of deadlift is the warm up set - a relatively decent weight to start, but not tough enough so there is any compromise on good technique - so I had the weight set at 95.5kg.  The four remaining sets had the weight set at 115.5kg.  Chin ups and dips are body weight only.  This is a great superset to start with as it really gets the heart rate up (no break between exercises) and smashes on the core with the big focus on intra-abdominal pressure in the deadlift.  Core focus is maintained throughout the chins and dips too, with an emphasis on body stability throughout the movement.  The deads give me a great leg and back workout, as well as being a classic power exercise.  Mmmmmmm.  Power...

Chest superset

Dumbbell pec flies, incline dumbbell chest press.  Three sets of ten reps.  12.5/20kg dumbbells.

I'm really looking to smash the pectoralis major in this pre-fatigue exercise, plus the hugging movement is a handy strengthening technique for martial arts.  Doing this movement before a standard press is a very efficient way of achieving total chest fatigue.  The incline press was an alternative movement to the flat bench, which I had performed two days ago.

Shoulder rotation

Three sets of ten reps.  4kg dumbbells.

Due to work-related repetitive strain, I'm having trouble with tendinitis in my right shoulder at the moment (supraspinatus and biceps brachii tendon) AND with lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow) on the same side, so I have to be very careful about aggravating these issues.  The dumbbell shoulder rotation is a compromise exercise while I wait for the inflammation to die down (thank you big Pharmaceuticals).  The movement is performed starting with holding the dumbbells in front of the body, elbows tucked in to the sides.  The elbows are then raised laterally (shoulder abduction) and then rotated upwards, similar to the Cuban press, and then reversed to completion.  Terrific for shoulder stability and strength.

Warm-down

5 minutes on the foam roller, 5 minutes static stretching.