Two workouts so far this week

Pushed Monday’s usual lower-body day to today, and did Wednesday’s usual upper-body day to yesterday, just to make sure my shins and lower back could recover fully from last week’s screw-ups. I have to say, it was a good idea. I feel good, I had good training sessions the past two days with increases in all my lifts.

Last night, again the (5×1) x 5 is for cluster reps:

A1) Incline bench press (5 x 1) x 5

A2) Medium grip pull-ups (5 x 1) x 5

B1) Flat db bench 3 x 6

B2) Head-supported db rows 3 x 6

C1) Csble backhands 3 x 12

C2) Zottman curls 2 x 10

On the last couple of sets I really wanted to hit the reps so I sometimes rested a little longer than 10 seconds during each rest interval, but most of the time I stayed under 15 seconds.

Tonight:

A) Front squats (5 x 1) x 5

B) Dumbbell step-ups 3 x 6

C1) Bar roll-outs 2 x 10

C2) Natural glute-ham raise 2 x 8

D) Single-leg box squats 2 x 10

MUCH better this week. On the roll-outs I kept my core as tight as I could and back as straight as possible and it felt pretty good. Great exercise, like an Ab Wheel on steroids. I jimmy-rigged a glute-ham raise using the Smith machine on the lowest bar and wedging my ankles under it while kneeling on a folded-up yoga mat. Major league hamstring contractions which lead to cramps, but at least I was able to do it this time. I had better balance on the single-leg squats. Much less frustration.

I’m switching the upper and lower days on Friday and Saturday to make sure I can recover. Then it’s Halloween time. The Bono costume is looking right.