Tried replacing Kettlebell Arm Bar in my warmup

As part of warmup for today's workout, I tried replacing the kettlebell arm bar with another T-spine mobility exercise. It's one of the exercises recommended in Geoff Neupert's Kettlebell Strong! for improving mobility for the double KB Clean + Jerk - basically just lying on your back and moving tucked knees side to side.

My left shoulder felt uncomfortable during practice of the double KB press. It was as if my arm bone was a bit out of the shoulder socket. Paying stricter attention to the zip-up technique did not pull the arm back into the socket. I fixed the shoulder issue by adding an extra step to the zip-up: Engage the external rotators to really pull the shoulders back.

It seems that I have to resume including the KB Arm Bar in my warmup routine to help ensure my left arm doesn't wander away from the shoulder socket again. I think I'm starting to understand why the KB Arm Bar is thought of as a shoulder stability exercise, because my left shoulder sure didn't feel as stable as it did in previous KB pressing sessions. I did do the KB Bent Arm Bar, but that obviously did not prevent what happened with the shoulder today. I think part of it is the Bent Arm Bar stretches the front of the shoulder more, while the Arm Bar stretches the chest more. The Arm Bar also seems to work the rotators and other stabilizing muscles more intensely due to the straight arm being a longer lever than the bent arm.

Today's Music Discoveries

Double KB Foundation: Week 1

Completed Week 1 of the Foundation program from Kettlebell Strong! X by Geoff Neupert. I can't give away too much about Foundation but maybe it's ok to report that it focuses on the same fundamental double kettlebell exercises that make up Dan John's popular ABC (Armor Building Comnplex) - the double clean, the double press, and the double front squat.

So far my shoulders have held up just fine. I can't really claim that my current level of overhead reaching mobility is good enough for a pain-free Easy Muscle training block with double KBs, because the training volume this week was low. I can lock out my arms, but my upper back still arches a bit. Last year, not being able to lock out the arms led to shoulder pain. I try to work on my overhead pressing ROM (Range Of Motion), by pulling my arms back after locking them out.

The lower back has held up during and after the double clean and double squat practices. However, I found ATG split squat on stairs is still an essential warmup exercise, and should be done as the first exercise of the warmup. Something about how it loosens the hip flexors dramatically reduces the odds of a back spasm or other unexpected strain on the back.

One unexpected gain was in the number of pike pulse reps I could do when I practice pike pulses for hamstring flexibility. The reps jumped from 8 to 12. This is is one of the easier variations of the pike pulse exericse - one leg while leaning back. I'm guessing the gains came from resuming practice of double KB cleans.

Next training block: Double 16kg Kettlebell foundation work

After completing my latest Easy Muscle training block, I attempted a single 24kg kettlebell press and failed. Then, I tested my double 16k KB Clean + Press repetition max. I did 7 reps. My upper body still felt good for more reps but my lower body was fatigued enough that there was risk of hurting myself if I attempt an 8th rep. I did the test to assess whether Schedule A with double 16kg KBs would be an option. I also needed to assess whether my overhead reaching mobility, while still not ideal, had improved enough for double KB pressing without shoulder pain. I believe the shoulder pain that I suffered the last time I attempted Easy Muscle Schedule A with double 16s was caused by not being able to lock out both arms overhead.

I was so keen on working with the Baraban expander again that I forgot about the double 16kg KB C+P test, until I started thinking again about the next Easy Muscle training block, and what my choice of schedule should be: Should I do Schedule A with double 16kg KBs, or Schedule B again, push pressing a single 24kg KB? I decided to go with Schedule A with double 16kg KBs, even though it looks like a step backwards for my upper body development. That rep max test showed me that my lower body is lagging in strength/conditioning compared to the upper body. If I want to progress to double 24kg KB C+P, I need to get better at double 16kg KB C+P. If I can't clean double 16kg KBs for 10 reps, I'll struggle even more with double 24kg KBs, assuming I don't hurt my back in the process.

Before I start Schedule A, I want to increase my double 16kg KB C+P rep max from 7 to 10. If I don't do this, I might end up having to take breaks in the middle of sets like I did in the previous Easy Muscle block, because of my lower body tiring too early. The more breaks I have to take, the less volume I'll be able to put into the training session.

The way I plan to improve my C+P rep max is by working with the Foundation program from Geoff Neupert's Kettlebell Strong! X. It's focused on building proficiency in the double KB clean, double KB press, and double KB squat. I don't think I'll need to work through all 6 weeks of Foundation - I only need to progress to a double 16g KB C+P rep max of 10. On every other Friday, I'll retest my double 16g KB C+P rep max. If I fall short of 10, I'll proceed with the Foundation workout of the day. If I do hit 10, I'll spend the rest of the session working on overhead mobility and start Easy Muscle Schedule A the following week.

I had to take a break from training for almost 2 weeks because I came down with COVID-19. Half that time was spent lying in bed because of fever, headache, and fatigue. This inactivity left my low back more vulnerable to strain, which I realized when I lifted a pitcher to pour myself a glass of water. This past Wednesday I tried to do a Foundation workout, but my low back felt a little too sensitive when I tried to set up for a double clean, even with pulling my chest up and hinging at the hips to avoid lower back flexion. So what I did instead was do 3 sets of 1-minute 16kg KB suitcase carries.

On the next day I did a P3 mobility session to try to reduce whatever tightness was causing the low back to be suspect, and restore reflexive core stability to help protect the back.

My back felt good enough for a Foundation session on Friday. Since it was my first double KB workout in a year, I took a generous amount of rest between sets. The only mishap was during the double KB front squat. I held the KBs too close together, which resulted in my elbows flaring out a bit and causing my right shoulder to go a little too far forward. I corrected by holding the KBs a little further apart, which resulted in the shoulders being pulled back and down more and the elbows fitting more easily between the thighs at the bottom of the squat. The shoulder felt sore immediately after the workout, but felt better after it snapped back into place.

Looking ahead, after completing Easy Muscle Schedule A with double 16kg Kbs, I'll do an IsoMax 6x6 training block to improve my force output (strength). After that, I should hopefully be ready to train with double 20kg KBs. Given my injury history with the back, it just seems safer to spend at least 8 weeks training with double 20kg KBs before attempting to progess to double 24kgs.

Today's Music Discoveries

Chest Expander Workout 8/21

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 4 springs - 7 reps, with at least 3 going all the way to a nice T-pose stretch.

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 back off set - 3 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 2 sets - 3 springs - 16 reps first set, 10+ second set. Will try 4 springs next time.

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 set - 2 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 mechanical drop set - 2 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 set - 1 spring

Back Press - 1 set - 5 springs - 7 reps

Back Press - 1 back off set - 4 springs

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 1 set - 4 springs - 7 reps

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 1 back off set - 3 springs

Overhead Tricep Extension - 1 finisher set - 2 springs

Reverse Curl - 1 set - 3 springs - 8 reps

Reverse Curl - 1 back off set - 2 springs

Bicep Curl - 1 trial set - 1 spring

Bicep Curl - 1 trial set - 2 springs

Deltoid Raise (scapular plane/Y raise) - 1 finisher set - 1 spring

Starting to feel stronger in the Overhand Vertical Pullapart. Seems like focusing my power on the pinky side of my hands leads to the best performances.

Tried bicep curl with just one spring, just to see if I can do curls again, albeit with drag curl technique, which is how I've was doing bicep curls on the Baraban expander before my elbows started to hurt. As previously noted, the elbow pain did not appear after the last time I d did bicep curls on the expander, but after my latest Easy Muscle training block, in which I frequently held a 24kg kettlebell bottoms-up for goblet squats. Also as previously noted, elbow pain flared up a bit when I attempted bicep curls, even with one spring, at the start of this current chest expander training block. This time the elbows felt mostly fine during the 1-spring trial set. During the 2-spring trial set I had be stricter about my drag curl form

Chest Expander Workout 8/14

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 4 springs - I might have managed 3 full reps. Only way to confirm is to try it again next time.

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 back off set - 3 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 set - 3 springs

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - mechanical drop set - 3 springs

Horizontal Pullapart - 1 set - 2 springs

Underhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 mechanical drop set - 2 springs

Overhand Vertical Pullapart - 1 mechanical drop set - 2 springs

Back Press - 1 set - 5 springs - 7 reps

Back Press - 1 back off set - 4 springs

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 1 set - 4 springs - 5 reps

Sideway (Tricep) Extension - 1 back off set - 3 springs

Overhead Tricep Extension - 1 finisher set - 2 springs

Reverse Curl - 1 set - 3 springs - 8 reps

Reverse Curl - 1 back off set - 2 springs

Deltoid Raise (scapular plane/Y raise) - 2 finisher sets - 1 spring

I decided to treat this day as my "heavy" day, really pushing to failure on the 5-spring Back Press and the 4-spring Sideway Extension.

I posted a while back that I'd given up on doing the regular Bicep Curl on the chest expander, due to elbow pain. Then found this video on straight-arm exercises for bicep strength and muscle gains:

Out of the exercises presented, I decided to try Supinated Grip Front Raise, which is the 2nd exercise presented in the video, with the elastic band that was shipped with the IsoMax. This band offers light resistance for most exercises, but for the front raise the resistance is too heavy.

I did 3 sets of isometric Supinated Grip Front Raise with my IsoMax. My lower body was working just as hard as my shoulders and biceps, if not harder, just to maintain my balance. Next time I'll try isometric Bicep Curl and see if my elbows hold up.