11-12-15 HY: Body Beast- Build: Shoulders + ChaLEAN Extreme-Extreme Core Circuit + Splits + TCF.

11-12-15 HY: Body Beast- Build: Shoulders + ChaLEAN Extreme-Extreme Core Circuit + Splits + TCF.

Getting back to the resistance was good.  Because of the extra tennis recently, I've been unable to do my regular schedule of alternating resistance and Cardio with a mid-week recovery workout.  But it is working out to get my muscles used to the new style of resistance.  The Body Beast calendar calls for 3 weeks of BUILD, but I'll probably do the BUILD schedule for the rest of the year if I can since I'm not strictly following the schedule.  Once I can get a normal schedule, I'll do it as is.  Right now, I'm just fitting it in where ever I can.

With my shoulders, I usually lift around 17kgs, but I went way down today because of the Super/Giant sets.  Also, since this is the first time for me to do this routine, I sort of wanted to set a baseline for it. I'll just list out the moves and the weights I used.

Single Set-
Shoulder Press:5/7.5/12/10 Last two were a drop set.

5kgs is really light, but keeping good posture and maintaining control really brought on a burn at the last few reps.  This is the move I usually do 17kgs which is why I jumped up to 12kgs for the drop set. And that was really tough. Almost hit failure, but probably could have gone to 12reps.  I'll have to up the weights a bit next time for this move.

Super Set-
Lateral Raise: 3/4/5
Upright Row: 12/13.25/15.75/14.5 Last two were a drop set.

First move is really tough, especially if I keep my arms straight.  Again, the same thing, 3 was light at first, but by rep 12 my shoulders were on fire.  The final set with the 5's was a BEAR! Had to really had to tough it out. The row is a good move for me, but the failed on both drop sets. I fell behind Segi's pace, and had to take a moment to recover at rep 6, then finished it out. OUCH!

Giant Set-
EZ Bar Underhand Press: 5/7.5/12
1,1,2 Front Raise: 2/3/4
Rear Delt Raise: 2/3/4

I used dumbbells here because I don't have a bar.  This is a new move for me so I went light the first time.  I was able to keep up, but on the final set, I was really breathing heavy to get the weights up.  But I probably will go up a bit next time.  2nd and 3rd moves were again, major burners.  Straight arms= light weights for sure.  Even just 4kgs on the final set pushed me hard, so I had to push myself.

Super Set-
Standing Dumbbell Shrug: 12/14.5/18.25/17 Last two were a drop set.
Dumbbell Scap Trap: 6.25/7.5/8.25

I had to really focus on these moves to hit the intended target muscle.  It was a little to easy for me to get the weights up at times but then I noticed I wasn't using my Traps, so I really had to focus and flex. Same for the second move, but since I don't have a bench, I was using the ball, and my ball was a bit flat.  I couldn't take the time to pump it up, so I had to do this move with bent arms. Doing it that way, forced me to focus even more so I could hit the target.  I'll make sure my ball is pumped up next time.

Super Set-
Sagi Six-Way: 2/3
Tuck & Roll: 15 reps X2

The first move reminded me of one of Tony's moves in P90X except Sagi goes up, where Tony bent his elbows and weights went back to the shoulders.  Same story, straight arms=light weights.  Definitely true for this move.  I was grunting in the last set to get the 3's up and hold it for each second.  The final move, again, reminded me of Tony's P90X Ab Ripper X move, "Hip Rock and Raise".  I was able to hit the abs better lifting up my butt so I went ahead and did it that way.

At the end of the routine, I was really feeling my shoulders bulge.  Got an awesome pump and burn so many times.  But since I was sitting and lying down a lot, and only working on isolating the shoulders, didn't get that much of a calorie burn.

Abs on the Ball was tough, but I almost made it all the way through without a break.  Maybe next time will be it.  Great core burn today.  I also used some .5lb hand weights just to see what would happen.  It went well at first, but just after the halfway point, I noticed that I was arching my back trying to assist my abs, so I fixed that, and the pain was almost instant. Yep, I was cheating with the weights.  I'll have to keep an eye on that next time.

Splits and Flow were good.  Did the new protocol again with the splits and I really like the extra stretch in the hip flexers.  For the Flow, I was able to go really clean at a moderate pace, so I tried to pick up the pace and I got it down to 60 seconds for left and right Flow.  Took a while and some really focused practice, but I GOT IT!

In the end, I burned only just over 500kcals.  But I got an unquestionable burn in my shoulders and abs!