Did Monday’s workout, which marks the second workout with the new rack and bench. Since obtaining the barbell and weights I’ve been careful not to load up too much weight at once, gradually increasing weight while giving the tendons and joints a chance to acclimate to barbell work. Finally starting to get to weights that feel heavy.
With the new rack and bench comes a new order of exercises:
- PUL – Pullups
- ABW – Ab Wheel Rollouts
- BSQ – Back Squat
- BP – Bench Press
- BOR – Bent Over Row
- OHP – Overhead Press
- DL – Deadlift
- FC – Farmer’s Carry
The Pullups and Ab Wheel Rollouts are not really part of the routine proper, I do one small set of each as part of the warmup, then do a couple of sets after the main barbell session, maybe one set right after and another set later in the day.
Next comes the Back Squat. I do this big lift first because I want to be fresh for it and it doesn’t have much of a negative/tiring effect for the next few lifts. Not yet anyway since I’m not moving really heavy weight yet.
Next is the Bench press. I do this while my upper-body is still fresh because I’m moving a relatively large amount of weight and since the exercise is inherently more dangerous than the others I don’t want to have any upper-body fatigue at all.
Next is the Bent over row. Here is a complimentary pulling exercise for the Bench Press’s pushing. Since it employs different muscle groups than both the Bench Press and Overhead Press it fits nicely in between in order to break up similar pushing exercises, and to allow a longer recovery period in anticipation for the Overhead Press.
Next is the Overhead Press. Maybe 15 minutes have elapsed since the Bench Press while I was busy with the Bent Over Rows so my shoulders, triceps, upper pecs, etc. have had a chance to recover for a bit.
Next is the Deadlift. I do this as the final big lift because it’s low to the ground so if I have to bail from it the bar doesn’t have far to go and my body is already out of the way. Also, the legs have had a long break from the Back Squats and the back has had a break from the Bent Over Rows so I feel pretty fresh for the Deadlifts at this point. This will certainly change when I start moving more weight.
And finally the Farmer’s Carry. This is just to finish off the forearms and grip.
Total time is about 2 hours, and that includes about 15 minutes of warmup and longish rest periods between sets where I stretch, walk a bit, set up the bench and weights, etc. I haven’t had any symptoms of overtraining yet but it’s a possibility as the amount of volume I move increases so at some point I’m almost certainly going to need a new program. When I started this I anticipated four whole weeks then a reevaluation, so another five sessions from now and I’ll see how things are going.