Ring pull ups are pretty cool. I have a pair of rings but honestly have never used them.
Iām just excited to be able to pull-up without pain. Fixed implements still suck, especially pronated.
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Monday 2021-01-11
Punch the clock workout
Jumps: an insufficient amount
Jump rope: 100 double leg
ā¢ Cossack Squat x 5/side.
50 left leg
ā¢ Push-up x 3, hold bottom position for 3 seconds.
50 right leg
ā¢ Walking lunge x 5 reps/leg.
100 alternating left leg and right leg
ā¢ Band pull-apart x 20.
50 double leg
ā¢ Squat x 30 seconds.
| Main | Set | Reps | Weight | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. Squat | -2 | 10 | bar | |
| -1 | 5 | 60 | ||
| 0 | 2 | 80 | ||
| 75% | 1 | 6 | 85 | |
| 85% | 2 | 6 | 100 | |
| 95% | 3 | 6 | 110 | |
| B. Zercher (ss: ab-wheel 5x10) | 1 | 5 | 60 | |
| 2 | 5 | 65 | ||
| 3 | 5 | 65 | ||
| 4 | 5 | 60 | ||
| 5 | 5 | 80 | belts are cool, exhibit A |
Assistance:
3x12/10/8/6/4/2/0-pause at peak contraction lying leg curl for hamstring rehab. Humbling. 2/1 method.
PNF Stretching session
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@EyeDentist Have you found a different exercise now that you prefer for chest or is pec deck still your favourite? Iāve ignored some shoulder impingement for a long time and now itās really limiting my repertoire of pain-free chest exercises. For now, Iām taking focus off of training chest so that Iāll be able to accurately gauge if an exercise actually does cause me pain or not as right now almost everything involving the chest seems to illicit a lot of tightness at the front of the shoulder.
Doing inverted rows I saw the visual discrepancy between how much more developed my pec was on the non-affected side 
so ignoring the pecs isnāt a long-term solution.
Did I really say āpec deck is my favorite pec exerciseā? 
Because if so, that was an error on my part. Pec deck did feature prominently in my training at the time, but it was just another tool in the chest (if youāll pardon the expression),
If you continue to ignore it, soon enough it will limit your repertoire of pain-free anything exercisesāincluding legs. The point being, while Iām happy to discuss pec training with you, a subject of greater import and urgency to discuss might be your impingement, nez pa? (Thatās French.)
It might, Iām working with a physiotherapist and didnāt want to impose too much on you.
Hereās everything I can think of to share. From your post history Iāve garnered you know shoulders very well, so Iāll just dump what I have.
My AC joint was stiff, completely essentially, and needed some manual adjustment to release.
Before that session I didnāt even have the ROM shown here, my elbow would stop at parallel
But now I have that ROM. I still feel symptoms, so impingement is still present. I also fail the Apley Scratch Test on that side. This could be me but is some other bloke
Working on regaining scapular control via overhead press ups with knees on a bench andā¦ a version of a shoulder horn. Imagine the below, but kneeling next to a bench with the shoulder on the bench. This is so I get tactile feedback if I use my upper traps involved as Iāll feel myself āliftingā the shoulder towards the ears
Incorporating as much face pulls and band pull-aparts as I can recover from - usually as an upper body warmup before upper body dominant lifting sessions and climbing. Iāve become really fond of the exercise sequence from this article
After which I feel quite stimulated in the rear part of the shoulder. Maybe itād be more prudent to have a planned progression with face pulls, pull-aparts, et al.
My scalenes are perpetually tight, havenāt managed to get them to release using a lacrosse ball yet so might need additional manual adjustment. Have my next follow up with my physiotherapist early February.
I mull over that with climbing, I might spend so much time pulling vertically that I shouldnāt include weighted vertical pulls as the lats rotate the shoulder inwards but the problem is only on one side. Iāve been trying instead to be more mindful of daily habits, such as trying to switch which hand I use to operate for instance my phone as the usage of it is more pronounced with the right hand/arm (my problem side)
Welcome any advice, thoughts, and ideas you might have.
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I fail it on both sides- what does that mean?
Simplest answer is you have restricted ROM. From your pictures that you post, Iād assume that you have inwardly rotated shoulders. If you hold a pen in your hand, and stand relaxed, and someone takes a picture of you from the front, will they essentially get a side view of the pen? Then your shoulder is inwards rotated.
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Tuesday 2021-01-12
Madly great bouldering session. I did kneeling finger-tip pushups this morning. Iām never again doing that on a climbing day. But all my hangboarding has unlocked some potential in the boulder room. I performed above my wildest expectations (wildest as in āwhat I expect to do nowā. Not: "what Iām projecting to do in my lifetime).
I donāt attribute all of this to hangboarding. Simply being less injured in elbow and finger makes me comfortable pushing a little harder.
Thatās a cool phrase to use to explain this. Iām stealing it. Although pronation of the hand plays a minor role as well (in my case one that is more significant than in most peopleās).
I presumably got it from a Cressey article, or a Mike Robertson article
Winteeer. Over half a meter of snow fell today. Saw three cars that had come off road, and another two stuck in curves. This morning, I couldnāt see the lights from the house two doors over because it was snowing so much. I want this in my log, because I donāt know how many more such winters there will be.
Oh yeah, (some) people took skiis to get to the climbing gym. Love. It.
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I was thinking not about how to rehab your impingement (which is of course important), but rather about what youāre doing that impinged you in the first place. Because rehab or no rehab, if you continue doing that-which-impinged-you, your long-term prognosis is one of chronic pain and compromised lifting (ie, my life).
I started getting impingement early with lifting. I did not have an athletic upbringing, and while I did lift weights for a while as a teenager I did not have any problems then.
However, when I revisited the activity at 25 I had amassed an additional decade of being in front of the computer. I think I have some kyphosis, and desk work seems to encourage inward rotation of the shoulder. This, combined with neglectful programming and technique exacerbated my issues
When I learned about bench pressing, it was all about locking the scapula down and back. Not sure what role that plays on the impingement, but would not be surprised if it has contributed in creating shoulder issues. Bench has been the worst movement by far, and Iām not doing that currently. Iāve never benched excessively often, in relation to my other lifts it does not stand out as a strong lift. But I wasnāt adamant enough about pulling volume in relation to it.
Further, growing up, I did have a chin-up bar. Iāve always been pretty decent and banging out chin- and pull-ups. This hasnāt given me huge lats or anything, as they were trained more GTG style, but thatās another muscle that encourages the problem. Not sure if it causes protraction, but Iām aware that it causes forward rotation and I need more retraction and maybe even some depression of the shoulder.
Iām willing to accept that to undo it all, I may probably have to skew my programming to compensate for the years of imbalance.
- If I can, Iād really like to keep doing weighted vertical pulls at least 1x/wk as that has carryover to my other hobby beside lifting but if I have to Iād be willing to forego that for a time too.
- Iām less invested in the idea of continuing to stimulate the chest, but Iām not sure thatās the best for the tissues to heal properly. Ideally, Iād find some exercises that do not cause pain and that are not using a bar. Iām thinking cables, machines where the arms move independently, and dumbbells.
Weāve only gotten one snow storm so far this year. Typically weāll have had 2-3 at this point, or several smaller snow falls. Weāve had like three actual days of accumulation, but theyāve been followed by high temps and then very cold dry weather. So whatever snow remains is rock solid and dirty.
Iām not as big a fan of the cold and snow now that I no longer snowboard, but I still have a romanticized view of winter and I can just sit in my window with a cup of coffee and watch the snow fall for hours. These more recent years have been a sad departure from that.
Wednesday 2021-01-13
GOODGOODNOTBAD
| Main | Set | Reps | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. Press | -1 | 10 | bar |
| 0 | 5 | 30 | |
| 65% | 1 | 5 | 32 |
| 75% | 2 | 5 | 37 |
| 85% | 3 | 11 | 42 |
| B. Log Press | 1 | 13 | log |
Some decent PR sets there. Superset with weighted ring pull-ups, 8-6-4-2 @ 10, 20, 30, and 40 kilos. Back-off set at FSL. 10 reps?
| 6 laps (odd/even) | Reps | |
|---|---|---|
| C1. Log Press / Strict Press | 10/10,10/8,8/5,7/5 or therabouts | |
| C2. Push-ups / Inverted Rows | AMAP (avg: 10, 7 - guessing) | |
| C3. DB Lateral Raises | 7-15 | |
| C4. Band Pull-aparts | 15-20 |
Guessing at the reps here as I didnāt write it down in the gym. Worked well. No pain in shoulder. Have to do the push-ups almost like a planche push-up but at least it is a pressing motion in the horizontal plane. Several of the overhead presses were to failure or near failure, not pretty at all. Shouldāve reigned myself in a bit.
| Assistance | |
|---|---|
| D1. Seal Row | 3 sets 16 kg kettlebell, 7+ reps |
| D2. Ring AB wheel | 3x10,10,7 |
Good.
Strict Press was at FSL and Log was just log. I think Iāll use the weight from today until I get 10 reps on each lap. Same with seal rows, can just keep with the sixteens until I get likeā¦ 20 reps on my first set. Or all sets.
Was intent on doing Strongman Fran but I cleaned and removed the log during the rows to be efficient and then cursed myself. And then I went to the grocery store and bought extra food for my post-workout meal instead of griping about it.
In a way this was good, because now I didnāt do 21+15+9 extra pull-ups and if my elbows feel good tomorrow I know I can tolerate weighted chins 2x weekly. If I add Fran later and I have a flare up I know my max volume.
Capped my evening off with this after my meal (@mr.v3lv3t you might like)
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Hot damn!
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Iām a climber, if I wasnāt halfway decent at vertical pullingā¦ I wouldnāt be one.
But thank you
Just take the compliment my man. Pull ups with 40 kg sounds crazy to me.
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Monster session dude, nice work! Thanks for the share, Iāll have to give this a watch next lunch break.