Yesterday was my delt/traps/calves workout. Thankfully I didn’t need to make any modifications to yesterday’s training as a result of the lower back muscle I pulled last Friday. The only part of the workout that put any real strain on my lower back was the standing overhead press/power shrug supersets. Yes – yesterday I was able to power shrug! My back seems to be recovering very quickly. I did feel some discomfort towards the end of each set of standing overhead presses, but nothing serious.

I was a little annoyed at myself after the first two overhead press/power shrug supersets. I performed significantly more reps than last week, and the weight felt light – too light. I looked at the bar and saw that I’d forgotten to slap a couple of 5-pound plates on there. I was so irritated at myself for making such a stupid error that I added 20 pounds and then did two more sets.

I’m really enjoying the leaning dumbbell lateral raises. I don’t think I’ve done those before this bulk. I’m able to go very heavy on these, using about 1.75 times the weight I’d normally use for regular strict form DB laterals. This is not a strict movement like standard laterals done to the sides: it’s more of a power move with some controlled momentum involved. Leaning DB laterals are a great way to overload the medial delts with more weight than you could normally handle. The trick to getting the most out of this exercise is to point your thumbs slightly downward at the top of the lift while holding the weight as long as possible with a good hard delt squeeze. Lower the weight as slow as you can, always under control.

After my usual delts/calves/traps workout, I decided to hit my traps a little more, and did four sets of close-grip barbell shrugs. This morning I’m paying for it – it hurts to turn my head! I took a traps progress photo at the conclusion of my workout and posted it in my journal.

I have the day off from training, so the plan is to relax and enjoy myself. I’ll be back tomorrow with my weekly measurements and stats. Have a wonderful Saturday!