Oh the wheel in the sky keeps on turnin'

Since getting the wing cleaned up, rehab exercises and warming up rule anything and everything in the gym right now. Want to deadlift? Better take 30-60 minutes rolling, stretching, mashing and moving first. Want to run? Same thing. Squat? I'm sure by now you can guess the trend. I do the "speciality" exercises 3 times week - 2 shorter, quicker days, and 1 longer one. I have a bunch of movements I do and can choose from - though I still get bored with them. When that happens, I try to figure out a different way to do an exercise to make it different. Since I'm not technically supposed to be using much of my pec and delts in pressing movements, everything is aimed at strengthening my shoulder blades and upper back. Rows, rows, and more rows. I have 4 different variations of rows that I do, and usually 2 types in one session.

What does my typical shoulder specific workout look like? This is pretty typical, and has been done on both shorter or longer days.

Warm-up: roll on a lacrosse ball against a wall, roll on a foam roller on the floor, roll on lacrosse ball on the floor (which is as fun as it sounds), stretch a few minutes (very short time in warm-up), and some rows with resistance tubing around a squat rack upright - this takes about 15-20 minutes.

Actual workout - about 20-30 minutes depending on how many times through:

15 of each T's & W's on a ball with 2lb weights, 5 second count

15 TRX rows

20 sets row plank

15 Eccentric Rows

20 sets HIAS plank

15 each hand kettlebell snatch

Finish with 10 minutes of rolling, and 5-10 more minutes stretching. I spend more time stretching post-workout since the muscles are loosened up at this point.

You may scoff at the 2lb weights, but those 2 movements are awful. I wish at least once a week while doing them that I never have to do them again.

The T's and W's, regular TRX rows, row plank, and snatches are done pretty much in every session. I rotate the others out for variety and how I'm feeling that day. If I feel shaky during the row plank, I'll bypass the HIAS plank; if I'm feeling really good, I'll do Eccentric Rows AND W Rows and also increase the kettlebell weight each round. I know, exciting stuff.

Due to all of this specialized fun-ness, my "shoulder" is always tight. Well, not my shoulder joint, but the muscles around it are always tight. Not sore, just spent. But, I'd rather have that than my shoulder crunching, grinding and popping all the time. Also, I'm pretty sure my upper back is much stronger than most people's at the point.

Here's my typical week:

Monday: 2 rounds of rehab stuff, squats, bi's and tri's and other assistance work. I do not do cardio on Monday's or Friday's. Lately squats have been super awesome for me, and they make me ravenous - adding cardio on top of that would make me eat even more like a 14 year old boy. Doug is already trying to gain weight for Dublin and is eating a ton of food, that would also not be wise for our grocery bill. And, squats take way more energy out of me than deadlifts.

Tuesday: AM Deadlifts, back and ab work. PM 20-30 minutes of cardio.

Wednesday: AM 3 rounds of rehab stuff. PM cardio or 5k run.

Thursday: AM only and normally something very low impact - spin bike, row, etc., abs and a good amount of time stretching

Friday: Squats, bi's and tri's, and other assistance work.
Saturday: 2 rounds rehab stuff, followed deadlifts and usually some nastier cardio

Sunday: off

I space out the rehab work so it's not every other day. I did that when I first started PT, and it killed me! I've never been so sore! So that extra day at the end of the week and taking Sunday completely off helps tremendously.

I try to have everyone I work with on kettlebells to do some of these movements during training as they help tremendously with the pull. I even force Doug into doing some of these as well - can't lift heavy shit without paying attention to the small shit.