Chest, Shoulders, Chin-Ups & Novel Squat Finisher

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre, Aston University

Quick Starter:
Swing-Assisted, Uneven Muscle Up - 2 failures (when will I get this right?!)

Main Event:
2 Raise-assisted handstand push ups - 3 x 20kg plates under head
10 Shoulder Press (seated with dumbbells) - @18kg
1 Raise-assisted handstand push up - 3 x 20kg plates under head
10 Shoulder Press (seated with dumbbells) - @18kg
1 Raise-assisted handstand push up - 3 x 20kg plates under head
10 Shoulder Press (seated with dumbbells) - @18kg

5 x 5 Dumbbell Bench Press 4 sets@30kg, 1 set@28kg
5 x 5 Weighted Chin Ups 4 sets@15kg, 1 set@12.5kg

Finisher: 300 Single-round upper body finisher

Bonus Finisher: Barbell Plate Partial Squats - 60 @20kg plates.

Total time: 30 minutes

Post Workout Nutrition: none - fasted until dinner.

The tendon/ligament that popped across my kneecap a few times earlier in the year did it’s thing again last night, much to my irritation. It happened as I was retrieving something from under the table – not exactly a warrior’s injury.

So that’s why today’s workout was both savage and leg-shy. Savage because I wanted to vent my frustration at the injury – but also because I like to feel as though my workouts emulate the kind of urgency a hunter would have felt when called upon to fight, flee or hunt for his life. If you can’t use your legs, this is quite hard.

So I hit a bunch of upper body exercises, mainly 5 x 5 style (which of course my training partner approved of) then came up with an upper body only version of the '300' workout to finish.

This finisher was like the '300' workout because you are required to complete all reps of each exercise in one go rather than circuit style, sometimes necessitating a rest mid-exercise, although there is no 'official' rest time.

By the end I certainly had muscle fatigue and was out of breath – but I did not have that slightly violated feeling that you can only get with lower body involvement.

Given that the knee is okay unless bent too far, I spontaneously added 60 reps of barbell plate partial squats – essentially partial squats whilst holding barbell weights. I haven’t seen that done before, so I took a video.

This exercise only works with Olympic plates with in-line handles - but it seemed like a good way to limit the knee bend without guessing as you must with dumbbells; and the centre of gravity felt somehow better, too. I would recommend this as a finisher – you can probably do them faster to add intensity. I will probably try the 25kg plates next time and go for 50 fast reps.