Week 2: Back

Today was a very exciting day to say the least.. first of 3 days worth of SCUBA training, which ended a little early due to lightning. Just lugging around the gear and swimming around in the pool for a couple hours was exhausting, but I was determined to squeeze in the final day in this week's routine. I found an LA Fitness in my hometown's general area, and my brother kindly volunteered to act as workout buddy. Not quite as accommodating as Fernando, but I made do with what I had.

While I should in no way attribute the following disappointing lifts to the dehydration and weariness brought on by training earlier in the pool, I will anyways. I was really looking forward to a steady climb in my deadlift, but may have gotten a little too ambitious, and failed miserably.  Not too defeated by that loss though, since all other lifts were gains from last week. As far as my form is concerned, Chris made a great observation about the strain I put my arms under when pulling off the ground. Instead of jerking, I am now keeping my arms taut, to reduce the intensity of the pull.

Here is the breakdown, with a video of my last set of deadlifts. I found one of my old straps, that I used to give myself some grip. As an added bonus, watch Chris bench a new personal best of 285! Congrats bromo.

Deadlift:

• 45 x 10
• 90 x 10
• 135 x 10
• 225 x 4
• 275 x 4
• 315 x 4
• 365 x 1, break, x 2 very upsetting
• 335 x 4 per Chris' suggestion, I did each of these in succession with no rest in between

One arm dumbbell row:

• 75 x 10
• 80 x 10
• 85 x 10
• 85 x 10
• 90 x 10 +10lbs 

Pullups:

• Bodyweight x 8
• Bodyweight x 8
• Bodyweight x 10

Final thoughts: I realized that though there are a ton of sets of deadlifts, this didn't really feel like a comprehensive back workout. I am toying with the idea of adding some lower back extension to build my core strength, and maybe alternate between seated row, upright row, and one arm row to target different areas of the back.