Pause bench
305 x 3, 3, 2

2-board press press
275 x 6, 7

Close-grip bench
225 x 10

Lying dumbbell rows
125s x 8, 8, 10, 10

Band-resisted chest flyes
35s x 12, 10

Curl medley

Right shoulder started hurting on the 225 bench, so shut it down at 10. But even 10 at that point was a challenge, which took me by surprise.

Weighed 203 in the morning before breakfast. Roughly 20 lbs lost since January. Feeling small and weak, but LOOKING stronger in the mirror. I'm also always benching close to my most intense conditioning night at boxing and usually have some manner of shoulder soreness coming in to these sessions. What's really nuts is that my traps got sore from doing a shoulder circuit with 3 lb dumbbells Friday night at the gym. This isn't one of those "you can make light weight feel heavy" anecdotes, either; it wasn't even hard. Crazy.

Speaking of boxing, got a new pair of Rival bag gloves over the weekend. They feel amazing to wear: lighter but with more protection than my Muay Thai gloves. They're most certainly not for sparring, as the ends feel you'd be on the receiving end of a rock getting hit by them, but once I get medical paperwork and start sparring, I'll pick-up some 16 oz Winning or Onyx gloves to spar with.

Sumo deadlifts

565 x 2 (PR)

5-second pause deadlifts
365 x 3

Romanian deadlifts

365 x 10

Reverse hypers

2 plates x 2 x 15

Some weirdness that happened: my thumbs were digging into my quads when nearing the top of the sumos and I had trouble clearing them to lockout, although I was able to with some adjusting. May help to wear pants instead of shorts next time.

Feeling a little knee pain from standing in one spot too much at the office. That's easy to remedy at the root cause, but will also feed it some leg extensions, backwards hill jogs, and tibialis raises to make it feel happy.

Had an all-around great weekend. Starting with Friday night boxing, we worked the heavy bag for the entire hour. The annoying thing is space; there aren't enough standard bags for everyone so again I was on the uppercut bag, which made it impossible for me to throw body hooks when that was the drill. Threw uppercuts instead. Shoulders felt sore and it was actually a bit of a slog throwing punches in general, an opportunity to push through and throw hard shots anyway while pretending I was tired in a fight.

Saturday:

Squats
430 x 5
370 x 10

Single leg curls
4 plates x 10, 10

Ab work

Again, focusing on rep quality with a narrower stance and going below parallel. It's funny how even though my numbers have dropped, I FEEL more powerful from how much more my quads are working compared to having my hips play a greater role with a wider stance. It's an oddly more satisfying and fun way to squat.

I'm also not doing anything crazy; I don't have my heels touching each other or anything and it's a fairly standard width to squat with, but my stance was getting wider and wider once I started squatting in the 500s regularly so bringing it back in a little 

Tried using the ab wheel but that thing's going to have to be put aside until my elbow is back to normal due to the pain this inflicted. Did instead weighted decline crunches with a 50 lb kettlebell for 2 sets of 12 followed by a 1-minute plank.

Went to a small black metal show Saturday night, but because it was in a little dive bar, there was no moshing unfortunately. Had a big meal before leaving and then Greek food 

Sunday:

Paused bench press
300 x 3 x 3

Bench press
275 x 6 

Close-grip bench press
245 x 8
225 x 10

Bent-over dumbbell rows
125 x 3 x 8

Reverse hyper
2 plates x 2 x 12

Dips

Bodyweight x 10

50 lbs x 10

100 lbs x 10, 10, 8

Super-set with chin-ups:

Bodyweight x 12, 12

50 lbs x 8 + 2 bw

50 lbs x 5 + 5 bw

Behind-the-neck axle press

70 lbs x 20

Super-set with bodyweight dips x 6

Axle curls

70 lbs x 20

Super-set with dumbbell hammer curls: 35s x 10

Reverse-hyper
2 plates x 2 x 15

No left elbow pain except when I tried to do dumbbell preacher curls; didn't even bother completing that first rep. It's wild to me that I can go heavy on dips just fine, but anything that remotely makes me strain while pressing overhead seems to hurt. I'm very happy being forced to do dips, though, and can still do high-rep pressing overhead. It's also an opportunity to try all kinds of different presses and see if anything agrees: Z press, Bradford press, Klokov press, Swiss bar, Arnold press, etc. 

Back is also feeling a lot better since Monday.

I just have to mention that on Friday I was hitting the mitts with a coach and he remarked that I've been watching Mike Tyson videos in regards to my punching speed. The kind of comment I fantasize about in my head when going on runs but don't expect to actually hear. Got to talking to him about the peek-a-boo style and that I'm not actively trying to imitate it, to which he said I could make it work.
Monday morning: 5 minutes of alternating between 10 burpees, 20 kettlebell swings, and 30 jumping-jacks

Back was pissed at me Monday morning at work and while it felt better by the time I got home, I decided to table heavy barbell squats until this Thursday.

Belt squats
6 plates x 12
8 plates x 12
Finisher: 50 lb goblet squats x 10

Tuesday boxing was mostly mitt-work with a partner, starting with 1-2-3 and then adding a slip and a 2-3 eventually, or later, 6-2-3. Feeling a little elbow pain when I throw hooks so that's something to monitor.

Ended with lying on the floor and doing 50 neck raises off the ground and then 35 side-to-side. Woke-up to my upper-back and lower-neck area hurting on the left side, around the cervicus muscle. It's the exact same injury as when I tweak that area pressing overhead and should be better in a few days.

Weighed 207 the other morning. Body is in a holding pattern, so going by feel I'll slightly reduce calories to continue progressing.

Back was pissed at me yesterday morning at work and while it felt better by the time I got home, I decided to table heavy barbell squats until Thursday. 

Belt squats

6 plates x 12

8 plates x 10

Finisher: 50 lb goblet squat x 10

Reverse-hyper

1 plate x 12

2 plates x 12, 12

Hanging leg raises

2 x 12

15 minute jog afterwards

Back felt vastly afterwards and today.

Felt off and like I was on the verge of getting sick throughout last week. In particular, on Tuesday I felt off and once I was at boxing I found myself getting more tired than normal just from skipping rope and doing mitt work. Eventually caught a second wind and felt a lot better midway through class.

Thursday night ended up being more testing than a real good training session. Worked out how I want to set-up for my new way of doing belt squats, and I found my elbow was hurting from overhead pressing the axle so I switched to 100 lb dips for a couple sets of 10 and 8.

Did a short session for the posterior chain on Saturday. Since I already had 6 plates on the landmine for belt squats, I did Romanian deadlifts with that amount for 2 sets of 12, then SSB good morning with 150 and then 170 for 2 sets of 10.

Yesterday:

2-board press

315 x 1

335 x 1

355 x 1

365 x 1

1-board press

315 x 3

Bench press

275 x 6

245 x 8

(Close-grip) 225 x 10

Lying dumbbell rows

115s x 5 x 12

Curl giant set

Lying dumbbell curls: 35s x 15

Preacher curls: 35s x 5

Standing hammer curls" 35s x 8

Experienced minor elbow pain on the work-up sets when unracking the bar. Put on a cloth Venum elbow sleeve I'd bought last year for the other elbow and then benched wider than normal. Pain went away.

Also want to note that I replaced my Costco extra strength fish oil that made me nauseous in the mornings with a bottle of Flameout and the amount of DHA isn't even comparable. I'll be sticking with Flameout from here on out.

Yesterday evening:

Swiss bar bench press

255 x 3 x 6

Super-set with dumbbell rows

115s x 10, 13, 12

Weighted dips

50 x 12

100 x 10

Lying dumbbell curls

35s x 12, 12

This was just what I needed during the week with limited time. Doing something else other than straight bar benching immediately felt fresh, and my left elbow didn't complain any. Was shocked at how light dips felt at first before I remembered how light I am. Upped it to 100 after that.

Did 40 band pull-aparts this morning and some Muay Thai shadowboxing. Been starting the morning off with high kicks to get my body limber as a form of dynamic stretching.

Friday night boxing was brutal. We were doing push-up variations for the majority of the hour and when we shadowboxed with weights, I put back the 3 pounders I initially grabbed and suffered with the 5s. 5 lbs sounds like nothing until spending a 10 minute round trying to punch FAST with it and holding the guard up. Eventually ended with intense rounds on the heavy bag with an emphasis on power. Very little technique analysis. My biceps were also a little sore the next day.

The way the days progress, Tuesday at the boxing gym tends to be the easiest with the most technique breakdown, Wednesday is a nice middle-ground, and Friday is mostly conditioning. It works out well, but because 1-on-1 work with a coach is so valuable, I tend to like Tuesdays the best right now. Smallest class size, too. I wanted to make it to all 3 this week but I received an email notification announcing there was a mistake in scheduling and Wednesday is full, so I'm signed for Tuesday and Friday.

Back hurt a little the next day from trying to gut through a 3-minute plank at the end of class. Always feels like my back is the failure point, not my abs, something I'm keen on rectifying by continuing to make overall improvements to my back health. I also asked about signing up for sparring and was given a form for my doctor to sign.

Noticed inner elbow pain on my left elbow recently, while last year it was my right that was giving me trouble. Will reduce the amount of push-ups and burpees I do in my free time and save that for class, for now, while finding other things to do at home instead (hello sled!). If the pain persists, I'll wear elbow sleeves and, if necessary, modify exercises. I was already planning on using the Swiss bar for a change. The reverse-grip board press and weighted dips were tw1o movements that gave me no pain last year when my other elbow was at its worst.

Let myself rest and have a dietary cheat day on Saturday. I ended up going to the mall after a Costco run, had a terrible chicken sandwich at the food court Popeye's, and then passed on trying something else out to instead go home and have a bunch of grass-fed steak instead. It felt like my craving for junk was destroyed after that sad little burger.

Hit squats on Sunday:

410 x 9

340 x 15

Reverse-hyper single leg extensions: 4 plates x 12

Reverse-hyper single leg curls: 4 plates x 3 x 15

I also worked out a superior way to do belt squats using my makeshift landmine apparatus instead of standing on two sets of stacked patio tiles like I'd previously been doing. This requires no more set-up than merely loading plates and because it affords a deeper ROM, I don't need to use a preposterous amount of plates like before. I'm super excited for this.

Because I'd woken up early on Sunday, I had plenty of time to train more later that afternoon. Did 2 rounds on the heavy bag for 3 minutes each and then went on a 20 minute run.

 Axle strict press

180 x 7, 6, 4

Kettlebell overhead press

50 x 12, 15

Chin-ups

12

50 x 10, 10

13 dips giant-set with:

15 dumbbell preacher curls with the 35s

16 standing alt dumbbell curls with the 35s

15 kettlebell hammer curls with the 15s

 Had a fantastic boxing session on Tuesday. Seems there's a new coach for Tuesdays. It was hooking day (not the kind you'd get a hotel for). We drilled the left hook, pivoting, left hook from that angle, then pivoting back. Soon added pivoting into a double jab. Very simple, but keeping everything fluid and without winding up to emphasize speed and spontaneity over power was the goal. 

Eventually partnered up and started by throwing nothing but hooks on the mitts. My partner didn't look super in-shape, but it turned out he has a good amount of Muay Thai experience. That's when I noticed he's the only other person I've seen here with MT gloves like me. He threw some impressive hooks with a style that really whipped his arm into it, but I definitely prefer to keep my arm a little tighter and lean my weight into it more. It was fun as hell to hold mitts for him, though. When my turn to strike was done, he commented to the coach that he wasn't trying to stumble around, it was my power moving him.

I maintained good speed and power throughout all rounds. My conditioning is among the top in the class from what I can honestly observe, although this is still the intermediate level.

I keep forgetting to ask about signing up for sparring. The gym's website states they require a clean physical on file, which is annoying.

Left shoulder was sore on Wednesday from so many hooks. Seems obvious but I need to remember to drill individual punches repetitively like this.

Wednesday morning, I did a 3-minute workout comprised of banded tricep pressdowns, preacher curls, and standing alt dumbbell curls.

This morning, I got in 3 minutes of shadowboxing followed-by 30 burpees.

On Friday night, I squatted up to 350x5 and then walked away. Back was hurting and I was just totally spent from the week. 

Went to a pool party on Saturday at the invitation of a coworker. Brought along some bison patties, but there was already tons of food and they didn't get made, so I brought them back for myself. The pool was unheated, which I welcomed as a cold plunge but ended up being 1 of 2 people even staying in at all. 

On Sunday night, I went to bed early and woke up at 6:15 Monday morning to train before work. After a quick mini meal of a little oatmeal, coffee, and sips from a protein shake:

Bench press

290 x 4

275 x 4

225 x 3 x 7

Dumbbell rows

115s x 3 x 10

Rested 2 minutes or less between all sets. That factor, coupled with this being first thing in the morning, yielded numbers that I wasn't surprised by, but the effort was there. It was really interesting: the weight felt like normal at first, but upon repping it out I found little in my tank. I do plan on making this a habit, but I'll also lift in the afternoon sometimes as well. Flexible enough that no schedule can defeat me. 

Came back in the same evening to do:

Squats

450 x 4 before stripping down to 410x3, 320x7, 230x7

20 single-leg curls with 3 plates

Kept some reps in reserve and trimmed the fat by ending the drop-down set at 230 in order to reduce muscle soreness affecting my boxing on Tuesday.

Trained under a new boxing coach yesterday. It was a good class. Lots of basics on the mitts but we polished things up, especially pivots. My partner holding the mitts had to leave 15 minutes early so by the time we were supposed to switch roles, I found myself striking again with a new mitt-holding partner instead of taking my turn holding them up, which was awesome. Ended with abs, which was hard on me because my abs were sore from the ab wheel and planks the night before. Coach walked up to me after class and asked me my name after he had asked me to demonstrate several drills he was introducing on the mitts earlier.

Came home, grabbed the 200 lb sandbag, and did 2 sets of 10 sandbag squats before finishing it with 25 single leg extensions with 3 plates.

Did some light shadowboxing this morning before work.

Also, I weighed 210 at night after a day's worth of meals in me several days ago. Weight loss progress has been coming along at a perfect rate.

My back is sore today from deadlifts and probably from the sandbag, but in a good way. Its pain status overall has been low lately. Things have gotten better.

Deadlifts

555 x 1, 3

Dumbbell Romanian deadlifts 

125s x 20 (shrug at top of every rep)

Ab wheel

10

Untimed plank while watching a DBZ AMV

Felt a little rundown and like I was lacking pop. The first single was a grind. Second set I dialed in and just berserked it up without much trouble. No missed reps either!

 Quite a few days to update about. First, RIP Akira Toriyama. Dragonball Z and Bruce Lee are THE 2 influences that got me into working out and martial arts as a kid. I remember a kid in my high school Japanese class telling me I should watch "real" anime, yet here I am 20 years later (after enjoying and favoriting plenty of other series) still watching and being influenced by DBZ.

Enjoyed an amazing 3-day weekend in Capitola for a friend's birthday getaway. Did this just before leaving Thursday:

Squats

320 x 20

Reverse hyper leg curls (single leg)

3 plates x 20

Skullcrushers

50s x 3 x 8-10

Seated curls with the 50s and 35s

Actually stayed fairly on-point with my diet, except allowing myself a cheat day on Saturday. Food throughout the trip was awesome. Aside from my hotel can of tuna, every meal was a 10/10. 

Breakfast on day 1: Ribs with shrimp and artichoke salad and a cappuccino

Once parked at the hotel, we didn't drive for the entire stay because the beach was about a 20-minute walk. Got a lot of walking back-and-forth done as a result.

Came back fairly early on Sunday and trained the bench press.

Bench press
Up to 340 x 1 
Switch to 2-board press: 355 x 2
315 x 4

Bench press
280 x 6
250 x 8 (close-grip)
225 x 10 (close-grip)

Lying dumbbell rows
115s x 3 x 12

Finally, this morning I hit 30 burpees before work.

 Had a crazy busy day yesterday but made time for a real quick night workout before bed.

Axle strict press

200x3 + 10 overhead shrugs

160x8 + 10 overhead shrugs

20 pull-ups

It's been awhile since I've put 200 on the bar to press overhead and I was honestly expecting to get 2, so this was nice to hit. I'd like to bring my press up after focusing on bench for so long. 

This morning: 50 band pull-aparts, 40 unbroken narrow push-ups plus 10 more after a rest-pause, and 22 single-arm preacher curls with a 25 lb kettlebell.

Leaving out of town this evening for a friend's birthday trip until Sunday. Will do some sort of training while away.

 Lunch pic yesterday: sliced lamb from the Google campus. 

Really felt the DOMS in my legs at boxing yesterday just from skipping rope, but no cramping. Was a little uncomfortable during the activity but it stayed at that level and I felt fine when we finished.

Class was pretty technicall and relatively low on the conditioning. Worked with partners the entire time, starting out with light no-contact sparring. My first partner is someone I want to work with more. He's around my height and while pretty skinny, shows a good level of skill. Really gave me a chance to utilize footwork and movement because he was very mobile.

Next drill had us switching partners and using mitts. We would throw a jab, hold it out in the long guard, then throw a cross, slip their jab and throw a right upper-cut, and pivot into a left hook. 

Ended taking turns on the bag while dodging noodles that the defender behind the bag would use to simulate hooks. Upon rolling under the hook, 4 alternating hooks are thrown. While the instructor was further clarifying for my partner how to get down low enough and roll I was already well into my Mike Tyson imaging. 

This morning before work: 5 minutes of shadow kickboxing. 

Whole body was sore yesterday but especially legs and glutes, so went on a low-intensity jog for about 12 minutes at night

Before work this morning I did another set of 30 band pull-aparts and 20 preacher curls for each arm.

Got boxing tonight and while I still feel a bit sore,  my legs aren't in the crippled state they were yesterday. Made sure I got to bed early last night for recovery. I tend to allow myself more calories and carbs when I'm extremely sore and have to stay disciplined by not slipping into eating like that full time again (I mean, eating to grow isn't a bad thing either, but I've been really seeing the benefits of losing 10 lbs for boxing and want to continue my progress).

Only boxing at the gym 1 day this week as Wednesday's class was full when I tried to sign-up and I'll be out of town on Friday. 

Sunday:

Squats

480x2, drop-down to 410x6, 320x10, 230x10, 140x10, 50 lb kettlebell goblet squat x 10

Got this done and then went to George's to watch some bad reality TV, with the highlight being Mountain Monsters (the crew got attacked by giant pterodactyls in a cabin). The weekend is just much more weekend-like if I take the time to relax away from home instead of just doing chores and training all day. 

Monday morning before work:

Hit 25 burpees, 20 single-arm preacher curls with the 25 lb kettlebell (it's what happened to be in my living room), and 30 band pull-aparts.

Bench press

315 x 1

335 x 1

345 x 1

355 x 1

320 x 3

275 x 7

250 x 8 (Close-grip)

225 x 12 (Close-grip)

Dumbbell rows

115s x 3 x 12

355 felt light, continuing a good trend and 5 lb increase from last week while I continue to slowly go down in bodyweight. 

Did this during rain and despite 2 layers of tarps above me the balcony had water dripping down. Was in a bad mood going in and got pestered by rain drops falling directly in my eyes at times, but coming out of the misery and into the house with a good session left behind has me in a different mood entirely, like I left my irritability out there.

Sumo deadlifts

545 x 1, 3

Dumbbell RDLs

125s x 20

First set felt heavy, but I got dialed in and really emphasized channeling power through my legs and got a stupidly easy triple. No missed reps either, which is important to me on the deadlift as I have a history of doing that with deads and regressing. I walked away from the set after that single to regroup.

It was raining heavy again and there was a lot of mud. Third deadlift session in a row it's been like that, and deadlifts are the worst lift for rain because I don't do them under the balcony. Bring it.

During my daily lunch break walk yesterday, I went down the route that has the pull-up bars and I did 21 reps before heading back to the office.

Got to work with a tall partner in boxing, which I want to do more of. Simple drills of parrying the jab and countering with our own, or throwing 1-2s and blocking the 2 that's going to the body. Switched partners and did the shoulder tag sparring. I paired with an older guy whom I've gotten to know a little and have a good rapport with. We were REALLY moving and getting into it and we cracked some smiles because it was obvious we were working harder than some of the other trainees around us. He was out of breath by the end but I appreciate that this guy works hard during drills; he masks his fatigue well while partnered up.

Upon getting home, I hit the weights AGAIN. I was annoyed I only got 5 reps of skullcrushers with the 50 lb dumbbells that morning while fasted, so after warming-up with 20 burpees I tried again and got 9 skullcrusher reps, but this time with a flat bench, not an incline. Also did more band pressdowns and 3 sets of curls.

Went on a 30 minute jog Monday night. Right ankle has been bugging me and culminated in it being painful to walk before I went to bed, but it was better after a night's sleep. Skipped any morning workout to be safe so I could make it to boxing.

I managed to make it to boxing after going to the store once I got off work to get my dad his favorite ice cream for his birthday and dropping it off. Worked with partners for most of the session. One person would stay behind the bag and tag with foam noddles while the other would evade and move in to throw combos. I don't think much of working with noodles. It's too easy to tag someone with basically no consequences. My partner was a small teenager and he commented he was getting beat-up by the bag when I was punching it, but luckily I switched partners when we moved on to donning the body armor and had our partner evade and throw combos before switching. Ended class with push-ups.

Went to bed early again that night and managed to get in a no-rest fasted workout in the morning before work:

20 burpees

15 thrusters with 50 lb kettlebells

5 dumbbell skullcrushers with 50 lb dumbbells

8 skull crushers with 35 lb dumbbells with Fat Gripz

12 heavy band tricep pressdowns

40 minute dead hang

30 band pull-aparts

Saturday:

Squats
460 x 5 + drop-down to 410x4, 320x8, 225x8, 135x8, and goblet squats with 50 lb kb x 10

20 single-leg curls with 3 plates

Mostly rested Sunday. Just got in some walking and sunlight from doing errands and ate a lot of food. Considered Sunday my cheat day and had an exceptionally greasy pizza slice and half a giant chocolate chip cookie from the Costco food court. Upon coming home, I spontaneously decided to do a set of 20 curls with the 35s + Fat Gripz, then dropped-down to 15 lb kettlebells x 35. Just felt like putting this carb bloat to use and really feel a pump.

Today before work: 20 burpees, 50 total band pull-aparts

Forgot my bone broth mug with the 4 eggs at home, but I have bone broth, eggs, and egg whites in the office fridge. Just lacking the seasoning and big mug size.

Bench press

315 x 1

335 x 1

350 x 1

315 x 4

275 x 7

250 x 8

225 x 9, 7

Dumbbell rows 

115s x 10, 10, 10, 10

350 flew up. I was shocked at how light it felt compared to how heavy working up was. Performance boost was notable due to boxing on Tuesday and Wednesday instead of Wednesday and Friday, giving my shoulders more rest. Enjoying it while I can because I definitely want to box on Fridays more. 

Ran 3 hill sprints last night followed by a 15-min jog. 

My breakfast lately has been 4 eggs in bone broth with some egg whites added in along with lime or lemon juice, hot sauce, and citrus garlic seasoning. What started off as drinking just the broth when I had COVID last year turned into "Hey, I should add egg whites for more protein", then "Why not add a whole egg as well?" to 2, 3, and now 4 eggs. 

Also, I finally found out what's been making me so nauseous every morning: the extra-strength fish oil capsule taken before bed. Now I'm thinking maybe morning nausea wasn't just part of the game when I was bulking, it was this all along (I generally feel perpetually not great when going above 220 lbs so I was just sucking it up without attempting to diagnose anything). I've also been taking fish oil before bed for 20 years and don't recall this being a thingwith me. Going to cautiously reintroduce it back into my diet early in the day and use the lesser strength krill oil caps I have if I take anything at night. I'll make Flameout my next fish oil purchase too. 

Glad it's Friday. I scheduled 2 boxing sessions in the middle of the week in anticipation of going out for a crawfish and seafood dinner with coworkers, but they canceled. Fine by me - I'm going to bench this evening!

Went to bed early on Tuesday and woke-up early enough yesterday to get a quick, no-rest workout in after waking up: 15 kettlebell thrusters with the 50s, 8 skullcrushers with the 50 lb dumbbells, and 20 alt dumbbell curls with the 50s.

"Breakfast" before training was a miniature hummus cup, a small cup of coffee with organic half-and-half, and a few sips of an Orgain grass-fed protein shake. Light enough that I could go right into training. Hummus is my hack for quick fuel before training or at competitions; it's so easy to get down, being basically protein and complex carb pudding.

Boxing last night after work was fun. Took turns with a partner catching combos with our gloves and then throwing our own, then finished on the heavy bag.

By the time boxing was supposed to start yesterday nothing was happening, the coach who I had just greeted wasn't around, and there was nobody else in the room except for two guys working the bags, so I put my phone timer on and started skipping rope by myself. 3 minutes later as I'm finishing the round, everyone comes filtering in and the coach instructs everyone to start skipping rope. That pissed me off, but I got over it and took advantage of having to skip rope for a 6-minute round instead of 3. It's just that this was the coach and room (secondary space from the main gym) that I had my first boring, low energy class with, although I've come to find that I enjoy this day when adjacent to other crazy conditioning-intensive sessions during the week.

Did the same fun but odd "sparring" where we have to tap our partner's shoulders or knees. I'm not sure why it's the knees and not the torso.

Did a bunch of conditioning after that, including medicine ball slams and burpees, but also some footwork drills using the rope ladders.

Ended with hard rounds on the bag. This class is always small, probably because it's not in the main room, so out of the 4 other young, skinny guys, my heavy bag work was standing out in terms of noise and making the canvas move. Saw some stuffing fly out, too. Not proud to compare myself to much weight classes but it was impossible to ignore.

Had a nice conversation with the coach after class. He's a young guy who did kickboxing before and had to stop competing due to a surgery, but wants to get back into competing while juggling a tough schedule of classes and working at the gym. I told him a little of my own story, being much olderthan him but wanting to fulfill a dream of fighting before I cross into my 40s. We bro-fisted and gave each other encouragement.

More storm lifting on Sunday, although winds weren't as insane as last time:

Deadlifts
525 x 3

Dumbbell RDLs
125s x 12, 12

Wide pull-ups
20, 10

Carter curls
35s with Fat Gripz x 10 

Super-set with 15 kettlebell curls with the 15 pounders

Went on a night jog last night.

Looking forward to boxing today and tomorrow. It sucks how I'm out of the house for 12 hours at a time and basically have to come home and immediately prepare for work next day, but I've made my choices. Stepping out of boxing feels soul refreshing and I would rather do it than have relaxation time at home.

1-board press

315 x 3 x 4

275 x 7 (Close-grip)

12 heavy band-resisted bench push-ups

Had a pretty wild night out with coworkers last night. Had the whole bar singing happy birthday. Because I'm me, ordered steak steak tartare and a charcuterie board with quail eggs. Also had Orgain protein shakes with me and drank a ton of water. They want to do it again next Friday, which I'm turning down to live clean again and go to boxing that night. 

Last night after work:

Squats
320 x 20

Press
185 x 4
165 x 6
150 x 8
135 x 10
Super-set with pull-ups x 4 x 12 and last pull-up set with 50 lb dumbbell x 8, then 2 bodyweight finisher reps

22 dips

Preacher curls with Fat Gripz: 35s x 10

Single-leg curls: 3 plates x 15

10 kettlebell high pulls: 50s x 10

It's my birthday today, turning 37. Co-workers got me a card with this inside:

Went to boxing on Tuesday and had a better time with that coach than my first time. More energy and engagement with the athletes. And while I'm no longer a snotty lifter who's against calisthenics and conditioning, I do appreciate that this is one day of the week that's all about technique and basically no general exercising. Did restricted sparring with partners where we could only tag each other's shoulders and knees. 

Did 5 minutes of shadowboxing the past 2 mornings before work. Contending with morning nausea lately. Going to try to eat farther away from bedtime.

Also weighed 213.6 yesterday, a 2 lb loss.

This week is trying to be very busy event-wise. To name just 2 out of several, a co-worker invited us all out to tacos on Tuesday and another co-worker suggested we go out on Friday because my birthday is close in date to another employee's. Sacrifices have to be made in the interest of selfishness so I cancelled Taco Tuesday to go to boxing at least once this week. There are just too many people asking for my time this week and I needed to rebalance.

Sunday:

Squat walkout: 500 lbs x 10 seconds

Squats
430 x 8
320 x 19

20 kettlebell pull-overs with 25 lbs

Dumbbell RDLs
125s x 8

Back has been hurting since Friday, possibly from forced reps during ab training in boxing class after going to failure. Woke up thinking I'd have to do belt squats so this was a win.

Block press (equal to 2-board press)

350 x 3

Bench press

315 x 3

Block press

315 x 5

Close-grip bench press

285 x 5

275 x 6

245 x 7 

225 x 10

Kroc rows

125 x 30

Dumbbell skullcrushers

50s x 7

Alt dumbbell curls

50 x 16, drop-down to 15 kettlebell hammer curls with 15 lbs 

We went HARD in boxing yesterday, going to failure repeatedly on push-ups throughout class mixed in with max power heavybag rounds. My shoulders felt like they were replaced with kitten muscles right at the point that I reached 315 while working-up. Damn happy I could move 350 for 3. I'm so beat I would have been happy with 1, and 315x3 is exactly what I was going for afterwards.

I will soon give myself a day or two of rest before bench day (it can't be healthy on the shoulders to keep doing this, I can feel it), but for now I'm enjoying/hating pushing my limits and training under fatigue.

Got a new pair of Hayabusa boxing shoes and they feel like cheating compared to my floppy, no-grip Chinese sneakers I'd been using. There's a good chance the new shoes were made in China too, but I literally mean I have a pair of Chinese-brand sneakers called Xidiso for everyday use. They look cyberpunk and cool, but have a very light structure to them and are practically like a sock. Be curious to see if the Hayabusas help reduce the minor quad and calf cramps that I sometimes get at the end of class when pushing off the back foot.

Got in a light, low-rest workout last night.

Kettlebell thrusters: 50s x 5
Chin-ups: 5

6 rounds

20 dips

20 goblet squats x 50 lbs

50-second chin-up

Reverse-hyper
2 plates x 2 x 10

Came home from work on Tuesday and right away did 5 minutes of skipping rope and some shadowboxing. Went out for a jog that night. Also weighed 215 Tuesday morning, down 5 lbs since 1/19.

Boxing yesterday was a rejuvenating session. I'd been having a bad mood day and after making myself go, found out 5 minutes before class in the parking lot I didn't have my gloves in my bag. The thought crossed my mind to cancel but I knew it'd be ridiculous to not go inside, so I did, looked for my gloves, and found them in a cubby because I'd forgot them on Friday. Instantly felt better as soon as we started rope skipping, although once again the instructor had to give me his personal rope after all the remaining class ropes were far too short. Going to bring in my own from now on.

Focused on the clinch today, which is easy but as a formality is a new lesson for me in boxing. Different from the Muay Thai clinch I've learned where the hands clutch around the neck to bring the head down. First practiced on the heavy bag, but because class sizes are too big for the amount of space we have (people hit each others' ropes when jump-roping all the time), there weren't enough bags to go around so I shared. Next after partnering up, one boxer would strike, clinch, and turn the defender around. I partnered with a smaller guy but he was very game, threw his combos hard, and moved fast with me. I'm pretty sure we ignored a break at some point, too. I was tired by the end and left shoulder was feeling sore from throwing so many hard jabs, but not gassed.

Woke-up before my alarm this morning and did 5 minutes of skipping rope, 20 burpees, and 10 rapid Muay Thai kicks each side.

Lifted outside Sunday during the worst of a bad storm. There was a weather advisory to not drive, but they didn't mention anything about deadlifts.

Sumo deadlifts
505 x 3

Romanian deadlifts:
365 x 2 x 8

SSB squats
240 x 2 x 8
Notes: Left hip is pissy at me.

Kroc rows
125 x 25

Dumbbell curls: 35s x 10

Supet-set with kettlebell hammer curls: 15s x 15

I've lifted in the rain before but the wind speed was a new challenge. It meant that there was no dry spot, even under the balcony. Definitely the stormiest I've ever lifted in. 

Had a vet appointment for my panther right after this and while I was gone the power went out. Luckily, it came back on about 4 hours later.

Got in a 3-min round of rope skipping and another 3 min of shadowboxing this morning before work.

Block press (equivalent to 2-board press)

345 x 3 

315 x 5

Bench press

285 x 5

275 x 6

245 x 8

225 x 6

Dumbbell skullcrushers

35s x 10

Heavy band tricep pressdowns x 10

To recap, I did a press workout the day before yesterday and then a bunch of push-ups, medicine ball burpees, dumbbell lateral raise holds, and shadow boxing with 3 lb dumbbells yesterday. Well I don't have any crazy DOMS, I was planning for today to be a day of rest but the timing to lift heavy was just too perfect: a rare break in rain during this week-long atmospheric river, nothing on the agenda for the day, lots of food...ended up letting the intrusive thoughts win and gave my shoulders a little break by using the bench block on the heaviest sets. 345x3 was perfect - pretty heavy, but nothing that destroyed me.

Surprisingly, the body part that's most sore is my upper back from doing deadlifts for the first time in awhile. And only with 225! Sign from the universe to never break-up with deadlifts again. 

Was going to do Kroc rows at the end but I want to deadlift heavier tomorrow and got the idea to add rows and curls in that workout. 

Fun boxing session last night. Paired up with a partner for a movement drill where we had to tag each other's shoulders. I was standing less square than the 3 people I worked with and while they primarily blocked my taps, I was fairly effective in simply twisting my shoulders away from contact. It's obviously very easy to block a light tap so I figured it'd be much better use of the exercise to dodge.

Next, inside the boxing ring one person would throw a succession of jabs while backing up the other person, and the defender would circle out to either side when sensing proximity to the ropes. Eventually we added a 6-3-2 combo (uppercut-hook-cross) for the defender to throw before moving away from the ropes.

This morning before work was 3 minutes of rope-skipping followed by 20 burpees.

Last night:

Squats
480 x 1, 2
410 x 8

Was going for a minimum of 3 reps with 5 being extra credit, but it was just feeling really heavy for me tonight. Second set definitely felt better. Worth noting this is the first time I'm doing a heavy squat session after a work day rather than the weekend. 

Quads are feeling better and this is the most consistently prolonged period my back has felt decent in a long time so I'm very happy overall. Powerlifting is playing second fiddle at the moment to boxing and just being healthy.

I also haven't deadlifted in quite awhile, mostly because of my back. I'm thinking this Thursday I'll reintroduce them with a Dirty Double: 20 reps of squats super-set with 20 reps of deadlifts, and then a back-off set of Romanians. 

Had time for 20 burpees yesterday before work. Night training was shadowboxing and shadow kickboxing in separate rounds and stances. Am focusing on boxing right now but still want to keep my Muay Thai kicks polished. Plus, kicking is good for my back. Dr. Stuart McGill noted in a podcast interview I listened to recently that he notices less anterior pelvic tilt from martial artists who kick a lot vs sprinters who frequently have their legs extending behind them. Went on a 20 minute jog after.

Spent about 3 minutes this morning skipping rope before work. Going to do this regularly. My $8 rope from Ross that's probably around 10 years old now feels like premium equipment compared to what the boxing gym has. They're mostly too short and and I snapped the handle off a really old one on Friday.

A coworker gets free eggs from her restauranteur friend. We worked out a deal where she'll trade me regular cartons of pasture-raised eggs for bone broth, which I buy in bulk from Costco. I've been adding 3 eggs to my bone broth in the morning for breakfast in addition to the 

Finished lunch fairly early and got my longest walk yet on my lunch break, 30 minutes. It was gorgeous out and my stroll was fortunately timed to coincide with the sunniest part of the day. Good thing because the next 10 days are forecast for rain.

Bench press

315 x 1

335 x 1

350 x 1

355 x 1

315 x 4

285 x 6

275 x 7

245 x 8

225 x 8

* Last 3 sets were close-grip. Was expecting to feel a lot weaker than this given my weight loss and extra calisthenics from boxing the day before yesterday, but after a hideously dirty cheat day yesterday that involved Costco pizza, gourmet hot dog from the mall, and an eight bucket chicken meal from KFC, I was feeling bloated and strong today. Definitely could have gone past 355 if I came at it fresh but after getting pinned recently, I was going up fairly carefully. None of the singles were a grind.

Reverse hyper unilateral rows: 3 plates x 3 x 10

Super-set with wide chin-ups x 8

Dumbbell rows: 125 x 3 x 10

Super-set with wide chin-ups x 8-10

Various dumbbell curls drop-sets, heavy band pressdowns

* I'm still using this ultra thick powerlifting band from a brand called Iron Woody that I got around 2007. Its twin ripped well over a decade ago. Definitely weeded out the weak.

I'm due to go back in for more bloodwork because of my elevated creatinine levels. I already know the deal about how intense training can throw those off, so to make sure it's just a temporary reading I'll rest a few days before going back to the lab. I also forgot to mention to my doc during the visit that I was supplementing with creatine mono up until a few weeks ago.

Wednesday boxing was a good session. Young coach but he at least had a pulse and was attentive to the class. Just gotta avoid the Tuesday class. My blood sugar levels felt drained halfway through class and I became fatigued and shaky. It's a familiar feeling so I calmly rode it out until my body switched to a different fuel source (hopefully fat). Happens if I drink a sugary post-workout shake and wait too long to eat solid food, but I've also noticed it if I'm underfed and go on a run. Took the feeling of being drained as a good training challenge and I felt much better by the end of class (and not even particularly hungry).

Yesterday morning before work I hit 40 push-ups paired with 30 heavy band pull-aparts. That night I did a full-body workout with minimal rest times. Worked up to squatting 320x5 with the SS bar using a close-stance, ATG, no knee sleves, and in sneakers - I take the time to detail that because it feels like such a different beast compared to how I squat on the weekend. Followed that with a couple 15-rep sets of single leg curls with 3 plates, then 160x5, 7, 5 axle press super-set with pull-upsx10-15, and ended with a super-set of dumbbell curls with light kettlebell hammer curls.  It's amazing how you can make light weight heavy by tweaking some small things, reducing rest times, and focusing on the muscle contraction. 

Got the past 4 days to cover.

Friday: Went to the doc's for the first time since I can't even remember. Purposefully chose a doctor that made mention of physical activity in his or her bio. I did well, he was fantastic. Commended me for hitting the weights and wasn't worried about my weight or overeating, but he did suggest blood tests after I said that. Blood pressure is good. The staff member who drew my blood seemed to have trouble and a bump on my arm that formed got pretty swollen and red. I kept saying I'm fine when a more experienced nurse took over and asked if I'm OK. My bicep also made the tourniquet pop off twice. 

Boxing went much better than Tuesday. More experienced, more engaged coach. Had a sore left shoulder from shots and a painful, bandaged right forearm from the botched blood draw, which was just another training obstacle to me. Drills were very simple and consisted of jabs and 1-2s mixed in with free rounds via shadowboxing and bagwork. Also took turns of jabbing while moving backwards down the length of the gym and back.

Coach commented that I'll have trouble keeping guard as tight as other people because of how thick my upper-body is, which was kind of rad to hear, and to just do my best. I don't walk around with invisible lat syndrome but they definitely push my arms out more than normal.

Got a welcome reminder to step out at an angle more when coming forward. He held me after class to drill stepping in while ducking, then pivoting while throwing a jab or cross. We added a strike during the step-in, too. 

One annoying thing about this place: the heavy bags are clustered together. It's basically impossible to move and throw punches at range; have to stay very close to the bag and they hit nearby people  sometimes. It's also hard for the instructor to see you when you're in the middle of a small punching bag crowd.

Saturday: Squatted 450x7, 410x3, 320x8, 230x8, 140x8, and a 50 lb kettlebell x 10, done in one strip-set. Afterwards, I felt like I got hit by a truck and this feeling persisted for the rest of the day. I was likely feeling extra fatigue from the prior day's shots.

Sunday: Felt rundown. Benched 315 x 4, 3, 3, then 275x7, super-set with 125lb dumbbell rows x 10.

Monday: Did some single-leg curls on the reverse-hyper for the first time and they're great. I don't have to overload the machine with a ton of plates when I want to save time. Super-set 2 sets of 15 with 20 kettlebell swings, went on a jog, then used the ab wheel and Captains of Crush gripper.

Results of my bloodwork are mostly very good. Only point of concern is cholesterol being at an elevated risk but not a high risk. Will see how the change in diet and weight play out. It was fantastic to find all this out.

Will edit the formatting of this later as I wrote it in notepad and pasted. 

Whole body is still sore from the heavy previous weekend followed by boxing, which worked my quads and shoulders pretty good. I previously did Muay Thai at a bodyweight of around 200-210 lbs, depending on the season. I'm definitely feeling the extra weight at 225 now, hence the sore legs.

Went out and did a full-body deload session yesterday.

Incline bench:

135 x 10

185 x 10

205 x 6

Kettlebell military press

50s x 8

Chin-ups: 4 x 12

GIANT SET

SSB front squats: 60 x 20

SSB back squats: 60 x 20

Kettlebell swings: 50 x 50

Quads had that familiar pain that told me better to go easy on the loading tonight and focus on depth and contraction instead if I want to squat heavy on the weekend.

I'm thinking I'll keep this arrangement, going from 4 lifting days a week to 3. I can still go crazy on the weekend, then focus on bodybuilding technique and form during the weekday for recovery.

Diet has been gradually ramping down this week. Nothing drastic, but not eating so much past the point of full. Last full meal of the evening is also no-carb unless I happened to lift right beforehand.

Had my first boxing session at Dreamland yesterday. I've been writing about this place in my training log since 2007 so it's been a long time coming.

As usual, I was the biggest guy in class, but also the oldest. The instructor was super young, possibly still in his teens. He was also really quiet and it was hard to hear him at times. Worse, he was on his phone while we were doing drills instead of monitoring everyone and handing out tips. First impressions are important.

Started off with 3 rounds of 3 minutes skipping rope to warm-up and then moved into minimal contact sparring: only the shoulders and...knees???...could be punched. This was fun enough. Compared to the last time I sparred someone in Muay Thai, I was working angles a lot better and cutting guys off who kept trying to run. 

 For the next drill, one person held a punch shield and walked their partner down while the other moved backwards while striking. After a few rounds of this, the direction was reversed and the striker moved forward while the defender moved back. We had an odd number of people so I switched off between working with the instructor and just hitting the heavy bag. Everyone rotated partners each round and I kept asking to join with people, but for some reason I was relegated to either the instructor or the heavy bag the whole time. 

Ended with 1-2s that escalated up to 6-punch combos (1-2, 1-2-1-2, 1-2-1-2-1-2, then back down the pyramid) and then some push-ups.

The only advice I got the whole time was pivot directional changes faster and throw jabs off the pivot. In truth, my legs were sore but that's MY problem so it was a sound tip. Afterwards, I stuck around a little longer for open gym to hit the bag some more.

Definitely been to gyms with a better atmosphere. It felt like everyone was just in their own shell to get through the session instead of working with each other. Looking forward to working with a different coach this Friday.

Squatted 520x1, followed by 350x18, on Saturday. Did leg curls and ab work in the evening. 

Yesterday:

Bench press
365 x 1
385 x 0
320 x 4, 4
285 x 7

Banded chest-flyes, 13 dips, and a 48-second chin-up for biceps

On the 365, the plates hit my keg that was situated nearby, killing my momentum and throwing the bar path off, yet I still crushed it. Was really expecting to get 385 based off that, but it wasn't to be.

I will say that was some seriously good BJJ training, though.

Really relaxing weekend overall. Big lifts and eats.

Monday:

Squats
410 x 13

Back had been hurting and wanted to get something done for legs. Invariably works out that I get under the bar, feel pretty good, and that just continues the more I load up. Squatting is more pain-free than day-to-day life. Still feeling quad pain, but I notice an improvement from reducing barbell squat frequency and taking a break from daily burpees with a deep squat.

Wednesday:

Incline axle bench press:
225 x 3 x 8
205 x 10
Super-set with wide chin-ups: 15, 15, 15, 20

50 bar curls

Weighed myself mid-day and I was 225.7, more than I thought. Cool! I'm just letting my body do what it wants for now until boxing starts up.

Last night: shadowboxing practice and an easy jog to unwind after a 10-hour work day.

Went on a 2 hour hike yesterday at Castle Rock, an old favorite. Had a sushi dinner afterwards at this local spot that gives very thick cuts of sashimi. I usually have a problem with getting full at sushi places and have to constantly keep ordering new plates - not here.

Bench press 

370 x 1

375 x 1

315 x 5

285 x 8

Kroc rows

125 x 30

Lateral raises: 15 kettlebells x 20

Super-set with band pull-aparts: 20

The bar felt so light today it caught me off-guard. I've benched 380 in my past but it was a much harder rep and then I went on to fail 385. I would LOVE to beat that before I truly focus on boxing and end up losing weight because I just received an email that the boxing gym I'm on a wait list for has openings and I have to go in to meet them and sign-up next week if I don't want to get in the back of the line again.

 

I had time to do more this session, but separating out the heavy power portion of my workout with the more hypertrophy-focused incline bench work last week seemed to work so well that I'm going to keep trying that out. That has me lifting more frequently but via shorter sessions.