Richard Gibney's 365 Days of Fitness: Day 317

Day 317 A little over a week ago I ordered some Olympic weight lifting shoes. They arrived in the mail earlier this week. I was really looking forward to using them this week but with my back being a little tricky I decided to hold off. I was feeling really good today but another couple days of being careful won't kill me.

A couple days ago, I did a pretty substantial chin-up workout. My lats and my biceps have been killing me and were certainly in no shape to be tested again. I wasn't going to get into any squats or deadlifts today, so I defaulted to the good old bench press.

Today's Workout:

Exercise 1: Shoulder Stability Series (Yellow Tubing)

• Backwards Arm Circles x 10 per side
• Single Arm Y x 10 per side
• Shoulder Extensions x 10
• External Rotation (Horizontal) x 10 per side

Exercise 2: Barbell Bench Press 5 sets / 8 - 10 reps / 2 min rest Set 1*: 135lbs x 10 Set 2: 185lbs x 10 Set 3: 185lbs x 10 Set 4: 185lbs x 10 Set 5: 185lbs x 10 Set 6: 185lbs x 10

Exercise 3: Dumbbell Neutral Grip Inclined Press (Drop Set) 2 sets / 10 rep, failure, failure / 2 min rest Set 1: 60 x 10, 50 x 12, 40 x 12 Set 2: 60 x 10, 50 x 12, 40 x 12

My pressing strength seems to be coming back. Things are not completely pain free. If I get loose with my reps, my left shoulder still hurts a little bit. I'm still working on improving my shoulder function. Helena has been helping with the active release, but I think I need to do my part a bit more with my stability work.

I thought my work day was over at 6 and was planning on fitting in some upper back exercises before dinner (Making sure that the muscles of the upper back are strong helps counter balance the effects of heavy pressing). However, I had forgotten that I had rescheduled a client and still had one more hour to work. By the time I actually finished work I was starving. The only thing I had on my mind was food. The other exercises would have to wait until another time.