Fast and Slow week...

Well this week has been up and down...and it has reduced my enthusiasm for blogging...but Im going to try and look past the events of this week so far and get back into action again.

So firstly...this weeks workouts. This is the last week before I go in for shoulder surgery and while the regular person would probably have little motivation, I have been giving it my all in every session for the week. Monday night was a mixed session, worked the whole body. The session went as follows:

1. Back Squat
2. Deadlift
3. Standing Calf Raises
4. Chinups
5.  a) Close-grip Cable Pull Down b)Bent-over Barbell Row
   
6. Cable Woodchop
7. Hanging Knee Raises
8. Jackknife

Probably not one of my better organised workouts, but I still did max weight and high sets on most exercises. Since I didnt make it to the gym on Sunday, opting for a run around the tan, I had to incorporate all the body into the one session.

Tuesday was out of the gym, took the dog for a good walk...which was before things started falling apart.

Wednesday was PT session....one of my last sessions with JL before I have surgery and he moves overseas. My shoulder has been giving me considerable more pain of late and it so turned out that on Wed night JL decided  to add all the exercises that put extra strain on the old shoulder...so that made things that much harder. The session turned out like this:

1. Front Squats (HEAVY)
2. a) Dips b) Decline DB Extension
3. a) Chinup w/Tucks b) Bent-over Plate Rows
4. Inverted Strap Rows w/Feet on SB
5. Bench Press w/Resistance

I have been asking a lot of question to my PT lately and on wednesday one of the big things I was interested in was knowing when is the best spot to put "chinups" in your workout. Im a fan of doing them as the first exercise in my workout, since they are one of the more challenging exercises and I can belt out more when Im fresh. But I was interested in any advantages of doing them later in the workout. JL suggested that a good alternative is to keep them as the first exercise, but also add them in at the end, so you are doing them twice in the workout. It doesn't make a lot of sense to only do them near the end of you workout as you will be fatigued and wont belt out many and will display poor form. Also it is widely recommended that you complete your Compound exercises early in the workout and leave Isolated exercise towards the end. I follow this rule almost every session and it has seen great improvements in my workouts and results. Chin-ups have probably been one of my biggest improvements in terms of exercises, so after surgery when Im back in action, I will be interested to try this out.

Finally tonight I did a Painful Arms workout...

1. Dips 10x10
2. a) Cable Tricep Overhead Extension b) Cable Tricep Pushdown c) Pushups (4 x10 on each)
   
3. Incline DB Curl 6x10
4. Hanging Knee Raise 4x15
5. Reverse Crunch on SB 3x10
6. Jackknife 3x12

 The superset for Triceps was a total killer...so I will definitely do that more in the future =D

Another thing i consciously tried tonight was more sets. Instead of the standard 3 sets, I did more sets, but same reps. Working out the right rep/set range is a work in process and I will need to play more to work out the right setup for my body, but for now, doing more abs exercises cant hurt =P

I have been talking a lot about workouts lately...so Im going to have to break from tradition in my next blog entry and talk about Groovy...