HSPU Program Sessions 73-75

 My body seems to be responding well to increasing the number of sets per exercise to 4 and making Wednesday my "bonus" session for the exercises that I am weakest at.

16kg KB military press - Max reps increased from 4 to 6

Pullups with pinkies out at top for external rotator emphasis - Max reps increased from 4 to 6

Incline pushups on rings - Max reps increased from 6 to 8

Tuck Front Lever Rows - The one exercise in which I saw no improvement, but this might be due to doing more work with pull ups with pinkies turned out.

Lower body performance is about the same.

HSPU Program Session 72

Prepare
Set up rings.

Practice
Pair 1
16kg Kettlebell Military Press - 4 sets of 4-6 reps. - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Pullup on Rings w/ 4-6 sec. negative - 4 sets of 4-6 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
1:30  rest between all sets

4 min. rest before Pair 2

Pair 2
Incline Pushup on Rings w/ 4-sec. negative - 4 sets of 6-7 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Tuck Front Lever Rows Rings w/ 4 sec. negative - 4 sets of 6 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
2 min. rest between all sets

Push
L-Arm Stretch
German Hang Stretch
Brachial Hang for about 1 min.

Play
External shoulder rotation exercises on Light mini-band spread through the afternoon.

Ponder
I was too distracted to log my sessions 70 and 71.  Bumping up the volume for all exercises to 4 sets each seems to have boosted my performance a bit, as measured by max number of reps, except in the Tuck Front Lever Row, which was probably reduced by doing more reps per set of pullups.  This tells me that even though the pullup is a vertical pulling exercise, and the tuck front lever row is a horizontal one, there are enough muscle groups used in both exercises that doing a lot of work in one exercise will probably reduce work capacity in the other when done in the same workout.

Today's Music Discoveries

https://metalinjection.net/lists/6-indigenous-metal-bands-you-need-to-know-about

https://shoegazepilipinas.bandcamp.com/album/alunig-a-shoegaze-pilipinas-compilation-volume-1 

https://shoegazepilipinas.bandcamp.com/album/alimb-kad-a-shoegaze-pilipinas-compilation-volume-2?fbclid=IwAR2jIh-E9Z0I15cej1gSUP943lXzq8UyUj5wsgTcIpFHFj_9YXx5KK9B1ak

HSPU Program Session 69

Prepare
Set up rings. 

Practice
Pair 1
16kg Kettlebell Military Press - 4 sets of 4 reps. - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Pullup on Rings w/ 4-6 sec. negative - 4 sets of 4 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
1:30  rest between all sets

4 min. rest before Pair 2

Pair 2
Incline Pushup on Rings w/ 4-sec. negative - 4 sets of 6 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Tuck Front Lever Rows Rings w/ 4 sec. negative - 4 sets of 6-77 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
2 min. rest between all sets

Push
Lounge Chair Stretch
L-Arm Stretch
Brachial Hang for about 1 min.

Play
External shoulder rotation exercises on Light mini-band spread through the afternoon.

Ponder
Went ahead and replaced the Inverted Press with the 16kg kettlebell press.  I'll figure out over time when I will switch back to the HSPU progression.  I bumped up the volume for all exercises to 4 sets each.  Will see how this works out.  

Some interesting finds:
Cool hacks we never knew about the human body

Took a couple of kettlebell workshops with Mike Mahler a while back. I have not trained with David Weck, but I thought it was an interesting interview:

HSPU Program Session 67

Prepare
Set up rings

Practice
Pair 1
Incline Pushup on Rings w/ 4-sec. negative - 4 sets of 6 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Tuck Front Lever Rows Rings w/ 4 sec. negative - 4 sets of 7 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
2 min. rest between all sets

Push
Modified German Hang Stretch
L-Arm Stretch
Brachial Hang for about 1 min.

Play
External shoulder rotation exercises on Light mini-band spread through the afternoon.

Ponder
Found out I would have a morning meeting today so I changed up my routine a bit.  I did multiple sets of 16kg kettlebell press yesterday to replace the Inverted Press as my overhead pressing exercise.   That left one antagonist pair to practice for this morning's session.

Decided to replace the Lounge Stretch for the shoulders and chest with a modified German Hang.  This was just the German Hang on the rings with feet on the floor to reduce the intensity.  I thought I did it like GMB teaches it in the lower end of the progression but it turns out I did it a little different.

HSPU Program Session 66

Prepare
Standing Knee to Chest
Front Scale w/ Hip Thrust

Practice
Antagonist Pair
Shrimp Squat (full 3 reps, then both arms in front 3 reps) - 3 sets - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Single Leg Deadlift w/ 24kg KB -  3 sets 7 reps/leg - Quality: Rough, Ease: Solid
2 min. rest between sets
4 min rest after last antagonist pair set.

Push
32kg KB 2-arm swing - 10 reps/set for 8 sets
24kg KB 1-arm swing - 10 reps/set for 1 set per side

Modified Pigeon Stretch - about 1 min.
Half Pancake Stretch - about 1 min/side
Side Split Stretch
Standing Straddle Good Morning - 10 reps with 20 sec. stretch at bottom of last rep
Brachial Hang - 2 sets of 30-60 sec.

Ponder
Getting close to the full 10 sets of 10 32kg 2-arm swings.  May try working windmills again.

HSPU Program Session 65

Prepare
Set up rings

Practice
Pair 1
Incline Pushup on Rings w/ 4-sec. negative - 3 sets of 6 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Tuck Front Lever Rows Rings w/ 4 sec. negative - 3 sets of 7 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
2 min. rest between all sets

4 min. rest before Pair 2

Pair 2
Inverted Press on Parallettes w/ feet 1 step up  and 4-sec. negative - 3 sets of 5-6 reps. - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Pullup on Rings w/ 4-6 sec. negative - 3 sets of 4 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
2 min. rest between all sets

Push
Lounge Chair Stretch
L-Arm Stretch
Brachial Hang for about 1 min.

Play
External shoulder rotation exercises on Light mini-band spread through the afternoon.

Ponder
Switched up the antagonist pairs.   In case I'm running late I can do 1 or 2 more sets of the first antagonist pair instead of waiting the 4 minutes then starting the 2nd antagonist pair that I might have to cut short.

Thinking of changing up my overhead pressing by switching to kettlebell pressing.

HSPU Program Session 64

Prepare
Set up rings

Practice
Pair 1
Inverted Press on Parallettes w/ feet 1 step up  and 4-sec. negative - 3 sets of 5-6 reps. - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Pullup on Rings w/ 4-6 sec. negative - 3 sets of 4 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
2 min. rest between all sets

4 min. rest before Pair 2

Pair 2
Incline Pushup on Rings w/ 4-sec. negative - 3 sets of 6 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Tuck Front Lever Rows Rings w/ 4 sec. negative - 3 sets of 6-7 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid

2 min. rest between all sets

Push
Lounge Chair Stretch
L-Arm Stretch
Brachial Hang for about 1 min.

Play
External shoulder rotation exercises on Light mini-band spread through the afternoon.

Ponder
Shoulder continues to feel good.
For Inverted Press, I decided to focus more on the range of motion at the top of the movement, making sure to elevate the scapula, and not worry about the range of motion in the bottom of the movement. This way, I was able to get more reps and less strain on the shoulders.
 

For Pullups, I noticed that I can pull my elbows a little lower and thus pull my scapula down a little more, when I focus on pulling the pinkies to the side, and thus keeping the palms facing away. This reduced my reps but it will be worth the practice of depressing the scapula more and possibly engaging the shoulder external rotators

HSPU Program Session 63

Prepare
Set up rings
Mulligan exercise for shoulder rehab
GMB Handstand Wrist prep routine

Practice
Pair 1
Inverted Press on Parallettes w/ feet 1 stepsup  and 4-sec. negative - 3 sets of 4 reps. - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Challenging
Pullup on Rings w/ 4-6 sec. negative - 3 sets of 5-6 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
2 min. rest between all sets

4 min. rest before Pair 2

Pair 2
Incline Pushup on Rings w/ 4-sec. negative - 4 sets of 6 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Tuck Front Lever Rows Rings w/ 4 sec. negative - 4 sets of 5-6 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid

2 min. rest between all sets

Push
Lounge Chair Stretch
L-Arm Stretch
Brachial Hang for about 1 min.

Play
External shoulder rotation exercises on Light mini-band spread through the afternoon.

Ponder
Shoulder is feeling pretty good. If it was 80% last week, it feels more like 90% recovered as of today.  I don't mind progress in the vertical movements seeming to stall a bit as I feel its more important to work on and progress in the horizontal movements for continuing to improve shoulder stability.  So for the time being if I have time for an extra antagonist pair set or two, I'll prioritize the horizontal movements.

HSPU Program Session 62

Prepare
Set up rings
Mulligan exercise for shoulder rehab
GMB Handstand Wrist prep routine

Practice
Pair 1
Inverted Press on Parallettes w/ feet 1 step up  and 4-sec. negative - 3 sets of 4 reps. - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Pullup on Rings w/ 4-6 sec. negative - 3 sets of 6 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
2 min. rest between all sets

4 min. rest before Pair 2

Pair 2
Incline Pushup on Rings w/ 4-sec. negative - 3 sets of 6 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid
Tuck Front Lever Rows Rings w/ 4 sec. negative - 3 sets of 6 reps - Quality: Smooth, Ease: Solid

2 min. rest between all sets

Push
Lounge Chair Stretch
L-Arm Stretch
Brachial Hang for about 1 min.

Play
External shoulder rotation exercises on mini-bands spread through the afternoon.

Ponder
Decided to regress in the Inverted Press from feet 2 steps up, to feet one step up.  This should make it easier for me to work on getting strong in the bottom portion of the movement, because it's clear that getting strong in the full range of the bottom movement is critical to advancement.