Hey, I’m coming off a nerve compression injury – posted about it here before. I’m able to train somewhat normally again and have been doing the bodybuilding template. Because of a protracted period of disuse, I have some visible signs of atrophy around my right trap and right delt.
Because of this, I thought it might be smart to retain the side lateral raises from block I and carry them into block II to try to drive additional shoulder hypertrophy. My thought was to add the raises and perhaps additional shoulder work into the second GPP day of the week to have kind of like a shoulder/arm/core day along with my HIIT. However, I really wanted a credible opinion on that idea before I decided to modify this already awesome program.
Do you think that’s misguided? Would the volume be too much? And If it can be added, can you suggest a sound way to implement it in block II? Thanks, guys!
I think the volume in the program is probably sufficient as-is, so I’m apprehensive about telling you it’s okay to add a bunch of stuff. That said, I think keeping the side raises would be fine - as exercise selection is really up to you. I probably wouldn’t put in additional work though for your first run through the program.
If I understand correctly, you are more suggesting that I swap out one of the existing shoulder isolation exercises in block II for the lateral raises as opposed to lumping the exercise into a GPP day?
‘Further to the volume question on GPP upper back training, do u advise the same warm up progression as for regular training? E.g., if my first set of squats in regular training is at 80kg (8 reps@7), the warmup would be something like 20kgx8, 40x8, 52x8, 65x8, then 80x8. So for upper back GPP, if the worksets on barbell row are 40kg x 8-15 reps x 2 sets @8rpe, would the following warmup be appropriate: 20kgx10, 26x10, 33x10, then 40x8-15x2 sets @8rpe?
Hi Eric,
For the GPP movements in particular, you can generally keep the warm up much shorter-use any warm up to ready yourself for THAT lift. So with the rows, you can likely do a set with 20 or 30kg and then go right to your 40. (I’d also round your weight up or down for ease of loading and not using micro plates unless you’re really focused on a particular weight for a PR.)
Erik, yes this applies to arm work as well. You can do the same reps, sure. Also aim to not overthink this too much-make the warm up something that prepares you for the working weight. Do something to help you get ready for the movement and the load, and beyond there, it simply doesn’t really matter.
