Exerbabble for 12-12-6

Today’s workout:

HGM Phase V: “Winter Champ”, Lower Day, Workout II

Superset A
BB Front Squat:
3 @ 65 lbs/30 kg
8 @ 105 lbs/48 kg
10 @ 95 lbs/43 kg
12 @ 85 lbs/39 kg
Unanchored Sit-up:
8, 10, 12 @ 10 lbs/4.5 kg

Superset B
King Deadlift:
8, 10, 12 @ BW
Reverse Crunch:
8, 10, 12 @ 25 lbs/11 kg

Superset C
Drunken Lunge:
8, 10, 12 @ 25 lbs/11 kg
V-Up:
8, 10, 12 @ BW

Cuban Rotations:
2×20 @ 30 lbs/14 kg

current bodyweight: 158.2 lbs/71.9 kg (no change; weekly average of 157.9 lbs)

First, soreness report. Shoulders. SHOULDERS. ..I have SHOULDERS. Lateral deltoid, traps, everything’s kind of tight. And they are SORE. I like it!

I went easy on front squats. Well, I did! I wanted to try and get my grip right. Man, my wrists didn’t like that. I tried to get my fingertips away as much as possible. I have enough shoulders that it can rest on them. I love that wonderful red line I get afterwards, as I lift in a wife-beater. To anyone that thinks supersetting legwork with abwork is detrimental: It isn’t. Squats or king deadlifts didn’t make me break a sweat, sit-ups and reverse crunches did.

As for the king deadlifts, I stood and watched myself in a mirror. I had to make sure I was flexing my knee, otherwise it was turning into a bodyweight one-legged romanian deadlift. Heh. Full depth? Okay, fine, no. But, I could have done worse. Maybe I should do it next to a bench so I can catch myself if I fall. I went down so my hands touched the floor, then raised. There’s also a balance factor to it. I probably went too easy on reverse crunches. I’ll make it harder and stuff.

I’ve renamed Forty-Five Degree Traveling Lunges to simply Drunken Lunges. You’re lungeing at 45 degree angles. I went too light, which I don’t mind. I’ll simply add more weight next time. There was some guys trying to deadlift. I saw the bar initially at 405. ..Which nobody could pick up. Then 315. One pull. Then they were told to go over to the other squat rack, because they were on the track. I saw a guy try at least three times to pull 495. All I could think of was, “Okay, you’re strong, but where is your warm-up?” V-ups are deceptively hard, they’re not something you want to do at the end of a work-out.

Overall, I liked it. Oh. I did some cuban rotations as a form of active recovery. I had this sneaking suspicion I needed external rotation work. The first set, it felt like it used to when I first did them. Meaning, I needed to do them. Second set felt fine. Good to know my shoulders are healthy. I may just tag them onto the third superset next time, to save time.

Adjustments: Add lots of weight. Bump front squats to 115/105/95. It’s not easy to add weight to sit-ups, because they took out the bar I used to anchor my feet. I don’t like doing them on a decline bench, because it makes something in my lumbar pop repeatedly. I’ll add… 5 lb dumbbells to my first set of King Deadlifts. Must challenge myself! Bump my reverse crunches to 35/30/25. Yes, I’m serious. Bump my drunken lunges to the same. I don’t think there’s any way to add weight to V-ups, nor would I particularly want to.