Tuesday: Upper A, Week 5. in Exerbabble III

Tuesday, 12-30-14
Cycle I, Week 5: Upper A

Yesterday's nutrition: Light for a lifting day.
Last night's sleep: 7 hours.

GYM STUFF:

DB Press: 5 @ 30 lbs
5, 5, 5 @ 47.5 lbs (+2.5 lbs)
Chins: 3 @ BW
5, 5, 5 @ +30 lbs (+2.5 lbs)

DB Bench Press: 5 @ 45 lbs
8, 8, 8 @ 65 lbs
BB Bent-over Row: 5 @ 90 lbs
8, 6, 6 @ 140 lbs

Tricep Pushdown: 10, 10, 7 @ 60 lbs
EZ-BB Curl: 10, 10, 10 @ 55 lbs

upper stretching

Crux of workout: 54 minutes

It’s not that overhead pressing is somehow easier than anything else, but the loads themselves have always been relatively light enough that I never had to put much thought into stabilizing myself. Bench has a form, squat has a form, even getting into bent-over row position has a form. The set-up is part of the entire sequence. Much like dumbbell bench presses require effort from the moment I pick up the dumbbells, I’m having to concentrate a bit more with overhead presses.

Still glad I favored dumbbells over barbells. For whatever reason, my form with barbell pressing would shift and cause discomfort/pain in my lower back. So. None of that. : )

DB bench felt pretty confident today. Only the last rep of the last set was a grinder, and a grinder it was. The kind of grinder I would never chance with a barbell, but I will attempt with dumbbells and almost always finish.

I’ve noticed I feel the first set of pressdowns in my abs. Go figure. Added a rep to the second set, lost a rep in the last set. It happens. Curls felt good. (Ew, I never thought I’d say that.)

Week 6 will bring 70 lbs for db bench. Last time I did that I was pressing singles for fun. As well, I’ll be pressing 50 lbs, which used to be a single or double at best. Wasn’t my goal to take 1RMs and turn them into something doable for sets?