Easy Muscle: Week 1

I chose Schedule C because of a shoulder issue limiting my range of motion when reaching overhead with a straight arm.

Following Schedule C, I did the pullup-dip session on Wednesday. Because of the shoulder issue, it hurts to get into the hang for a pullup, even with depressed scapula, because the hang pulls my arm... overhead. So for a workaround, I started each rep by positioning my body as if I were going to do a row, with feet on the floor in front of my hips, then pulled myself off the floor.

I hadn't done dips for almost 2 years, and my ring dip rep max, even with both shoulders feeling healthy, is well short of 10. So, I set my NOSSK suspension handles about hip height. Then I warmed up with 2 sets of 5 dip shrugs, then 2 sets of 10-second top position holds. Then I started the 20 min. timer, doing the dips with feet on floor to lighten the load. Turning the palms slightly out helps to engage the shoulder external rotators, which help stabilize the shoulders.

I should try some knee raises as part of the warmup next time.

Dip shrugs for warmup

I studied this video to review how to do assisted dips

I found doing the dips after the partial pullups - done carefully - stretches my shoulders nicely enough to wash away any irritation from doing the partial pullups. So going forward, I'll make sure my last set on Pullup-Dip sessions will be the Dip set.

The schedule for this week had Monday and Friday as my 2-hand swing days. I tore some skin off of my ring finger when I tried 2-hand swings on the 24kg kettlebell last week. This particular kettlebell has a handle that does not allow a comfortable fit for all my fingers, so in the past I had to squeeze my hands a bit. The tear happened because I was gripping the handle too hard. So to avoid reinjuring the finger, I tried leaving out the ring fingers when gripping the handle, and instead rest the ring fingers on top of the middle and pinky fingers, and not grip the handle too hard, just letting the fingers be hooks

I think it's a decent first week of Easy Muscle.