01/10/2021
Training Snippet - Max effort upper body day
1) Axle straight bar press – Ramp to 2RM
Over 6 sets I ramped up to 82kg for a double. Bar speed was 0.15 mps for the second rep, so it as slow as I’d ever like to press, however it still didn’t stall, just moved very slowly. The axle is (for me) always easier on my shoulders, which is pretty vital in terms of being able to press overhead long term. Due to the increased surface area you should be able to get even better force transfer than a standard barbell.
2) Axle straight bar press – 11 reps @ 64.5kg
This was roughly an 80% for max reps set. If you ever want to hit a rep max you’ll benefit from ramping up to heavy few reps and then attempting your rep max as you’ll have primed your nervous system for heavy loads only to surprise it when the weight is that much lighter.
3) Swiss bar floor press – 8 reps @ 80kg
Easy on the shoulders and a great option to build speed in the bottom part of the bench press, the floor press is a lower CNS stress option to follow up heavy overhead work. I should have ideally paused for longer on the last couple of reps, but don’t have the luxury of a spotter.
4A) Chin up – 3 Rep max @ 43kg
Not a variation of pull up’s that I do regularly – often purely to test due to elbow stress that can build up over time– the chin up tends to provide a decent gauge of strength to bodyweight pulling ratios. Chin up numbers tend to go up in the lower training age population with frequent practise and simultaneous drop in bodyfat percentage, however as I’ve aged I’ve eaten more biscuits and aren’t as lean as I used to be, so I was pretty happy with this.
4B) Rolling tricep extension 3x15
A simple pressing tricep accessory movement than also provides a little bit of a lat stretch at the same time.
5A) Farmers walk 3x30 meters
The focus here was speed. I didn’t want to absolutely burn myself out as this isn’t a high volume session, so 30 meters at a challenging but not maximal weight was enough of a stimulus.
5B) Banded press down 3x25 reps
Banded makes this pressdown easy on the elbows meaning you can do them regularly and avoid any joint pain worries.
Continued in comments
6A) Rear delt flys 3x15+10
The rear delts can take a lot of volume, so work well when combining full reps and back off partial reps. Going to near failure on these types of movements won’t tire you out in the same way that the heavy first half of the program can, so extra volume – done well – is beneficial to strengthen this area.
6B) Banded finger extensions 3x30 per hand
The tendons that contribute to repetitive gripping motions tend to get overworked. Add squeezing heavy weights into the mix and the stress is further increased. Training the opposing movements through these banded finger extensions helps to balance the load on these tendons and allows pain free training when doing grip work.
