Day 2 week 3

Beautiful day -- alternating between hard rain showers and hot sun. Already like Spring.

Been watching the waves hit Hawaii -- nothing bad yet, but my memories of being in Thailand after the 2004 tsunami are inescapable. No one should have to pick up so many bodies, and I didn't by any stretch have the worst of it. I still look at the pictures every once in a while to remember. The power of the tides is incredibly fascinating, regardless of the harm they do.

So I had another day in my five set week. I didn't expect today to hurt too much, but I was laughably wrong. I made some adjustments to deal with what I perceived to be cheating and they seem to have proved effective. I love this stuff, even though I haven't deadlifted in a month. Just working toward something tangible is delicious to me.

I started with Shelby's pre/peri (and later post) workout nutritional regimen. I wore loose briefs, my Spud, Inc. DL belt to hold my briefs up, and APT Convict elbow sleeves and Metal wrist wraps for the first two exercises. I warmed up with both dynamic and bar work.

All exercises were five sets each, 90 seconds rest between sets, all to positive failure (last rep of each set on the edge of cheating), and 10-12 reps per set.

Straight-arm anterior/medial/posterior fly: 60 reps per set, 20 each direction, five sets with 10 pounds.

I had been doing 90-degree laterals but felt I was muscling them up too much. I considered doing overhead DB presses with the fat DBs, but instead went back to my Westside/EliteFTS roots and did an exercise from the Elite Beginners Index. Each set is 20 reps each direction in order seated on the end of a bench without swinging the weight. I bend over and rest my chest on my knees for the posterior twenty. These were awful, painful, and incredibly humbling. I was definitely in pink dumbbell territory and my shoulders were on fire for fifteen minutes after I was done. The extreme stretching at the end was a cruelty joke, but I feel virtuous for doing these. 300 reps of shoulders is ballsy, even with pansy weight.

Skullcrushers: 5 sets of 10 reps, 90kg on the bar plus a black shorty band plus a lot of chains.

I decided I ought to take it easy on my elbows and make sure form was good. I started with my low weight and added a little band with one twist and three chains (I think). I anchored the bands to the pins that were set right at my nose bridge (don't die, don't die...) and set the chains to that one link was still on the ground at full extension. Each set I relaxed the chain hanger so that a couple of links stayed down. Turns out this was perfect -- each set was brutally hard from about one-third to the top. My elbows stayed happy, my form was good, and my triceps screamed. Excellent. Grip stayed at about 12 inches -- half of each hand on the smooth.

Front squat: 5 sets of 10 reps, 150kg on the bar.

I backed the weight down a little more from last time and narrowed my stance. I concentrated on keeping knees aligned and fixing my recent depth problems. True ATG today, which was satisfying. These were harder than anticipated, but I never had to cheat. I'll go back to 175 next time and try to keep the same discipline.

Abs: 3 sets of 50 with the super-duper band, crunch style.

I was a little surprised by how long my shoulders burned from the fly work. I was seriously pleased with the tricep work and felt good about the squats. I had a little back pump going, but nothing terrible. I never felt like the briefs took the weight, so they had the desired effect. But I didn't pitch forward and everything stayed tight -- just what I was looking for.

So I'm still progressing in my opinion. I'm also seriously hungry most of the time, so I'm eating as often as I can in accordance with Shelby's instructions. I've decided seven or more ounces of any one thing any one way is too much -- I get tired of it and want to gag. But two four-ounce portions of different things or different preparations is fine. And balsamic vinegar is my current best friend.

I am loving this.