Day 444: Testing My Shoulder Strength

I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm was set to go off which is always a bit annoying but I just rested until I had to get up. 

Even though my chest and triceps workout on Sunday was hard, my muscles were only sore if I really pressed on them. However, my obliques became increasingly sore as the day went on. 

Whereas I didn’t have a lot of meetings yesterday, my day kicked off with a meeting followed by four hours of back-to-back meetings after a short break. Luckily a couple of meetings ended a few minutes early giving me opportunities to get my meals in. 

I headed to the gym for a shoulder, traps and calves workout: 

• Barbell Shoulder Press - 1 x 12 reps (40 lb barbell), 3 x 8 reps (60, 80, 80), 1 x 6 (80)
• Smith Machine Upright Row - 3 x 10 reps (135 lbs), 1 x 8 reps (155 lbs)
• Dumbbell Lateral Raise - 3 x 15 reps (15 lb dumbbells)
• Cable Rear Delt Flye - 1 x 20 reps (25 lbs), 2 x 20 reps (30 lbs)
• Barbell Shrug - 1 x 8 reps (135 lbs), 2 x 8 reps (185 lbs)
• Behind-the-Back Barbell Shrug - 2 x 10 reps (95 lbs), 1 x 10 reps (105 lbs)
• Seated Calf Raise - 1 x 15 reps (90 lbs), 2 x 15 reps (115 lbs)
• Standing Calf Raise - 1 x 20 reps (155 lbs), 2 x 15 reps (155 lbs)

Heading into today’s workout I was curious how my body would respond since it was so focused on my shoulders. 

My shoulders performed well and I was happy as I moved through my lifts. 

Again, this week is really about benchmarking my lifts but I am surprised at my strength thus far. It just goes to show how strong you can get from bodyweight exercises. 

The area that I really need to work on is grip strength which has historically been hard for me. 

Prior to my injuries I never did barbell or behind-the-back barbell shrugs, always relying on dumbbell shrugs. It was hard to keep my grip on the barbell even with lifting gloves on so that is something that I’ll continue to work on. 

When I came home I took time to use my TriggerPoint GRID to help break up the soreness in my upper back and, hopefully, help my calves to not get as sore following today’s workout.