Off Season: Day 39

Westside for Skinny Bastards, Part III

Max-Effort Upper Body

"Not much about the max-effort movement has changed since my original article was published. I still prefer a 3-5 rep max (RM) - as opposed to a 1RM - for my skinny bastards. The one thing that has changed – you’ll notice this later on in this article - is the second movement on max-effort upper body day. We recently started having our athletes perform two high-rep sets of an exercise immediately following the max-effort movement.

This high-rep movement is usually an exercise that’s closely related to the max-effort movement. For example, if our athletes performed a 3RM in the bench press, their second exercise may be two sets of dumbbell benches. We don’t do this all the time, but it’s a new “twist” in our templates that wasn’t covered in previous articles." 

- Joe Defranco

A.) Max-Effort Exercise – work up to a max set of 3-5 reps in one of the following exercises:

• Thick bar or regular barbell bench press
• Barbell floor press
• Rack lockouts / Suspended chain lockouts
• Incline barbell bench press (regular grip or close grip)
• Close-grip bench press (index finger on smooth part of bar)
• Weighted chin-ups
• Board presses or foam presses
• Chain bench press (*recommended for not-so-skinny bastards)
• Band bench press (*recommended for not-so-skinny bastards)
• Reverse band bench press (*recommended for not-so-skinny bastards)

B.) Supplemental Exercise – perform 2 sets of max reps in one of the following exercises. 

(Choose a weight you can perform for 15-20 reps on the 1st set. Use the same weight for both sets and rest 3-4 minutes between sets).

• Flat DB bench press (palms in or out)
• Incline DB bench press (palms in or out)
• DB floor press (palms in)
• Barbell push-ups (wearing weighted vest)
• Blast strap push-ups (wearing weighted vest)
• “Criss-cross” chain push-ups
• “Triceps death”
• Chin-ups (don’t perform these if you chose to do weighted chin-ups for your first exercise)

C.) Horizontal pulling / Rear delt superset - Superset one exercise from “Group 1” with one exercise from “Group 2.” Perform 3-4 supersets of 8-12 reps of each exercise.

Group 1

• DB rows
• Barbell rows
• Seated cable rows (various bars)
• T-bar rows
• Chest supported rows

Group 2

• Rear delt flyes
• Scarecrows
• Face pulls
• Seated DB “power cleans”
• Band pull-aparts

D.) Traps – Perform 3 – 4 sets of 8-15 reps of one of the following exercises:

• DB shrugs
• Barbell shrugs
• Safety squat bar shrugs
• Behind the back barbell shrugs

E.) Elbow flexor exercise - Perform 3-4 sets of 8-15 reps of one of the following exercises:

• Barbell curls (regular or thick bar)
• DB curls (standing)
• Seated Incline DB curls
• Hammer curls
• Zottmann curls
• Iso-hold DB curls

Here's what we did:

A.) Thick Bar Bench Press (Fat Gripz)

- Work up to 5RM

B.) Single Arm Alternating DB Bench Press (4 x 10)

C1.) DB One-Arm Row 4 x 10

C2.) TRX Scarecrow 4 x 12

D1.) Strict Stationary Dips 4 x 10

D2.) Barbell Curls 4 x 10

Put Strength First

"When you encounter an obstacle that defeats your strength, all of the metabolic conditioning in the world won’t get you over the wall."

Today's Article: Put Strength First

A.) Bench Press (5 x 6) (80%)

-Warm up sets of 6 up to your first working set

- goal is to get heavier weight than last Week at 5 reps

B.) Four Sets of: Weighted Chin-Ups x 8

Bodyweight x 8 *Warm-up set*
Weighted 4 x 8 

- goal is to get same weight than last week at 6 reps for 8 reps.

C.) Four sets of: Weighted Dips x 10

Bodyweight x 10 *Warm-up set*

Weighted 4 x 10 

- goal is to get same weight as last week at 8 reps for 10 reps.

D.) Strict Press (5 x 6) (75%)

- Every rep should feel explosive and strong, no grinding reps, we are not trying to burn out our CNS.

E.)  Elbow Flexor Exercise:

Perform 5 sets of 8 reps of (ONE) of the following exercises:

Barbell curls (regular or thick bar)
DB curls (standing)
Seated Incline DB curls
Hammer curls
Iso-hold DB curls

E2.) AbMat Sit-ups 5 x 20

Throwback Tuesday

Today's Article: 

You CAN do more. You CAN always do MORE - Talayna Fortunato

A.) Bench Press 5 x 5 @ 75%

- Rest 75s between sets

B.) Weighted Chin-Up (Rest as needed)

1 x 8 (Bodyweight)

4 x 6 across (Weighted)

C.) Weighted Dips (Rest as needed)

1 x 10 (Bodyweight)

4 x 8 across (Weighted)

D.) Strict Press (Rest as needed)

4 x 10 across

E.) Barbell Curls (Rest as needed)

4 x 10 across

F.) Core Circuit x 3 rounds 

(for quality, but keep moving right through)

AbMat Sit-up x 20

Weighted Hip/Back Extension x 12

Med Ball Slams x 20
__________________________________________________________________________
*Reminder: Reebok CrossFit ONE ROAD TRIP!

The invitation is extended to all of our friends and members of local Boxes. Space is limited to 33 persons. If the interest is greater we have the ability to extend it to 53 participants. Registration is first come first serve.

Cost per person $85.00 (cash only)

Please see Chad or Mike to complete the registration form and submit payment.

Payment and registration is due no later than January 31, 2014.*

Old School (Upper Body Strength)

I decided I wanted to take Mike through one of my old school workouts that I saw a lot of success on. Sometimes you just need a little change of pace, and this definitely was a great stimulus.

Mobility:

PVC Shoulder Dislocator x 10

Wall Slide x 10

Quadruped T- Rotation x 8 (Each Side)

Warm-Up: 3 Rounds 

(Rest 20s between exercises)

Plyometric Push-up x 3

Pushup to T- Rotation x 5

Prone Scaption x 8

Strength: Bench Press (3 x 3) 

(Wendler Week 2, cycle 2)

(Rest 3–5 minutes between WORK sets)

70% x 3 +5lbs

80% x 3 +5lbs

90% x 3 +5lbs

-Percentages based off of 90% of your (1RM) PLUS 5lbs (ex. if your max Bench Press is 225#, your percentages will be based off of 90% of 225# + 5lbs (205# + 5lbs).

B.) Weighted Chin-up 

1 x 8 (BW) 

4 x 6 (Weighted) 

C.) Weighted Dips 

1 x 10 (BW) 

4 x 8 (Weighted) 

D.) Strict Press 

4 x 10 

(Superset)

E1.) Hammer Curls 3 x 10 

E2.) Med Ball Clench Pushups 3 x 10