Day 17 - Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X

I like this workout a lot even though it strains the sternal head of my pectoral muscles. Sometimes the movements cause a deep burn right beside my sternum on the right side, especially the dips. As with many of the workouts, the arm circles in the warm-up are death. I hate them. I wonder if I will ever get used to them. I don't remember them being so hard when I did them in grade school.

Highlights in this video are Tony's comment about letting your head do the work when doing the neck stretches. He claims his head is 600 lbs and "there's not a damn thing in it." I always laugh because I forget it's coming. The other funny bit is the tip of the day for this workout, which is "Don't Smash Your Face". His point is not to strain yourself to failure on lying triceps extensions because if your triceps fail, the path of least resistance for the dumbbell is back toward your face.



The bands on this workout, if you can get them set up right for your exercises, are murder. The resistance just doesn't let up, so each rep is a strain at the top. When I was curling at the gym with dumbbells, I always enjoyed the rest at the top of the curl where the weight sits on your hand, which sits on top of your arm over the elbow. There's also a rest when you drop the weight to the bottom of the motion because at that point, it's just hanging there. If your bands are set up right, there is resistance at the top, bottom, and middle and your biceps get tired fast. Good stuff.

I still want my ironmasters, though. Some day, I will have the disposable cash to get them, but I don't know when. My wife is due with another bundle of joy in late July, so I need to get crackin', I suppose.