This week started with the normal plan, and by Thursday veered off.... because life happens.
My good friend and training partner (who many of you see on my Instagram posts), her mom passed away on Wednesday morning. It was a huge shock. Thursday morning, she needed some gym time so I put my regularly scheduled programming aside and trained with her.... because that's what friends and training partners do. We stayed focused and had a couple laughs as well as some tears. Love you, Ange... My sidekick and partner in crime. #housemomsofIPA
Friday, Christian Anto came in town to visit. I made sure he experienced Chicago food... Deep dish pizza, Portillo's sandwiches and hot dogs, even some Chicago distilled bourbon. He grilled steaks in 30* weather and played soccer with my kids. Visited some of my family and supported Ange at her mom's funeral. This guy is not only an amazing coach, but such a genuine man with a heart for helping others. True depiction of #livelearnpasson that we live by here at eliteFTS. Thank you, babe, for all you do.
If you've been following along, you have noticed that this isn't your traditional "volume" type hypertrophy phase. It's more of a "minimalist" phase. Which has been nice in terms of length of session, volume and overall stress to the joints.
It's also given me a chance to do some different things, things I haven't done in awhile and and some things I've never done (or a slightly different stimulus). This week continued with some loaded stretches, which I hadn't utilized to this extent before, especially upwards of 2:00
So far I've enjoyed it.
I'm currently training Mon/Tue/Thur/Fri so there the way my training falls is on like a 9/10 day rotation.... 6 workouts, 4 training days a week.
Workout 1 - Monday
Workout 2 - Tuesday
Workout 3 - Thursday
Workout 4 - Friday
Workout 5 - Monday
Workout 6 - Tuesday
Then new rotation starts:
Workout 1 - Thursday.... and so on.
The added recovery time on the weekends has been helpful and works with my life outside the gym as well. This has definitely been an off-season for me and being flexible was what I needed the past few months.
Monday
A. Calf Raises - 6x6
B. Loaded calf stretch - 2:00
C. Decline DB press - 3x12, slow negative
D. Smith machine overhead press - 3x8 with slow negative
E. EZ bar skullcrushers - 3x10 with slow negative
F1. Leg extensions - 3x20
F2. SSB box squat - 3x10
Tuesday
A. DB RDL - 6x6, 30 sec rest
B. Loaded hammie stretch - 2:00
C. Banded rear flyes - 3x20 with slow negative
D. Pulldowns - x15, 12, 10 8
E1. Strip the rack rows - 3x8
E2. Low row - 1x amap
F1. Banded reverse hyper - 3x10
F2. Round back band Goodmorning - 3x15
G. Cable curls - 3x8 + partials
Thursday (train with Ange day)
I honestly can't remember exactly what we did, but it was a sh$t ton of back work that went something like this... Ange was in charge of the session so I followed her lead.
A1. Lat pulldown - 4x12-15 drop set last set
A2. Low row - 4x15, drop set last set x20/20/20
B1. BB Bentover row - 4x10
B2. Straight arm pulldown - 4x15
C. Lat pulldown with single handles - 4x15
Friday
Anto came up to visit for the weekend so of course we got a training session in.... his first back from the meet. He jumped in with what I had been doing.... We didn't make it through everything, but I'll give him credit.... he works his ass off.
A. Rear delt destoyer x60, 30, 15
B. Cable crossover loaded stretch for rear delts 2:00
C. DB rows 3x10/10/10 (super short rest)
D. Chest supported rows - 3x10, controlled negative
E. EZ bar curls 4x6, controlled negative.