Great Upper Body Days!

I remember when 5 sets for my upper body muscle groups was a great workout. Now that's a day that I'm just being quick because I'm short on time. Now 7-8 sets are the norm.

Last week, 2 of my 3 upper body days were big.

I was at a college gym on Tuesday (where I used to teach... I still have access!), and I've been going there to normally do 8 sets that look like this:

8x chest/back
4x lats/shoulders
8 minutes of some PT shoulder exercises
4x lats/shoulders
8x bi/tri

= about 70 minutes total

But on Tuesday I did 9 sets (which feels TOTALLY different, I swear), and then I did an extra 10th set for biceps and triceps. I focused on doing movements where I can move more overall weight: for example, I could do 8 pull-ups and move 1280 lbs (160 lbs x 8), or I could do 12 lat pulldowns and move 1680 lbs (120 lbs x 14). I do that sometimes to see how much weight I move as a fun random comparison between workouts. A very solid workout is usually around 55,000 lbs. A really good one creeps into the 60,000+ territory. But this one was 71,090 lbs! I think that was my first time over 65,000!!

Thursday was a quick 6x upper body day as I was short on time. I had to get my wife to her colonoscopy!

Saturday was another big day! I went back to the gym, and I did circuts (which is what I usually do on Saturday at home, but this time I went to the gym because I knew it would be dead within a week before Christmas, so I could "spread out" and take up space doing circuts... I was the only one there). My circuit routine is chest, back, lats, shoulders, biceps, and triceps... then repeat. I usually do 7-8 sets, but I did 9 this time! I did each exercise in a minute, so I'd get through each circuit in 6 minutes (6 muscle groups). So I did 9 circuits of this in 54 minutes before doing some PT shoudlers and some forearms to make it 69 minutes total. Whew!... good burn!!

The only issue is that my right shoulder felt a little tight during that workout, and then it was quite sore for a few days after that as well. It feels like the impingement that I had years ago (why I do "PT shoulder exercises" from my old physical therapist EVERY time I lift weights!). So I took it real easy lifting 2 days ago (and also did NOT do any shoulder exercises), and I'll take it easy today as well.

p.s. Here's my cute wife getting ready for her big moment on Thursday: