Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
King David, The 23rd Psalm
Would that this were the case in the weight room. The weight room is a place where you've got to use your brain. God will let you hurt yourself if you're not smart.
Today, I returned to Boston Sports Club, Waltham for the last time this trip. I bought a T-shirt. I wanted to carry the memory with me back to Ann Arbor. A memento from the mountain where I saw many valleys.
I pushed it too hard at one point, but I think I was smart enough to stop in time. It was shoulders/tri day. My game plan was to fatigue the shoulder with various laterals before going into presses. Lately, I have been favoring cable exercises because I find they force a smoother motion and provide more consistent load than dumbbells. Those two things can help in areas that are prone to tweaking, the right shoulder and elbow in my case.
However, my game plan was foiled by other people inhabiting the cable machine I wanted to use. So, silly me, I went to dumbbells, followed by a rear delt press. Dumb. But, I get ahead of myself. Let me give a blow-by-blow of the workout. I'll use the picture method which Nancy Arnold seems to like so much:
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First I did four sets of 10 dumbbell lateral raises. The dumbbell pictured is 22.5 lbs., but the one I started with was 20. This is the exact brand and model I used (Ivanko), a good feel. I did four sets of 10. After the first set, I went to 25 lbs., even though I felt a slight something in my elbow. Changing the grip can help this sort of thing, and it did. After 25, I did two drop sets starting at 30, a personal record. But, was I overstressing my joints? |
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I Then moved to the Cybex Smith machine and did military presses behind the neck to stress the rear delt. This time, I only did three sets of 10. I started at 58 lbs. That was EASY. So, I jumped to my previous record, 78 lbs. That was doable. The blood rushed in my ears. I was in "the valley", embracing evil, not fearing it (see quote above). I jumped to 88. Bad move I got 8 reps, but something was twisting a little too hard in the right shoulder. I felt a straining sensation, always a bad sign. I considered going down in weight for a fourth set, but then I thought of what Mary or Arnold would say. So, I simply stopped. |
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I then got smart, kind of. I moved to the Hammer Strength iso-lateral shoulder press. What a machine! It is a shoulder press with no stress on the rotator, almost pure delt and tri. Again, the great advantage of the iso-lateral machine is that your dominant (in my case right) side will not over stress itself trying to compensate for the weak side when you are pushing heavy weight. I started with 25 lbs. per shoulder and ended with 55. I did four sets of 10. It was hard, but the shoulder felt fine. I must say though that I was in quaking fear for the rest of the workout. |
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I then did 4 sets of 10 for two different rotator exercises using 8 to 12 lb. dumbbells. I find that these exercises both stretch and strengthen the rotator. Should I move them earlier? I clearly need to exercise more care when pushing the limits. I need to turn down the volume on this "valley" stuff. |
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It was then back to the Smith machine for some close grip presses. Again four sets of 10. I had become sufficiently cautious at this juncture that I did a light 98 lbs. on the first set. Like nothing (this was beyond my upper bound a year ago). I jumped to 118. Moderate. I had no creaks, but I was feeling like the weight was heavy. I set the Smith machine so that the weight could not crash down and completely crush my chest. I bumped to 138, my current limit and did two sets, drop setting the last. I was back hunting in the valley. Lord keep me. |
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I then jumped to the LifeFitness cable system and did overhead tri pushdowns with a triangle. Another four sets of 10 experience. I wanted to start at 130, my previous record. But another guy was there, and I was afraid of crashing in to him. So, I started at 110 to get calibrated. Then 120, 130, and finally 140, a new record. I felt like a god in the valley, deep in the valley, where it was muddy and hot and everything was a test of personal strength where I won. |
So, the workout probably sounds great. A big head rush at the end. But, it's scary too. My right shoulder feels slightly tweaked. I pray for the health of my elbow. I feel a bit like a fool who drove too hard. Too much on the edge.
My New Year's resolution is control. I'm going to get Arnold to help me even more with that than she has.
Lord, keep me from the valley of the shadow. I tend to go to far in.
But maybe, just maybe, I can lean over the edge and take a peek.
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