Friday night boxing was hard conditioning, like usual. After rope skipping, we did dumbbell shadowboxing with a short supply of light dumbbells. As a result, I ended up boxing with a 4 pounder in my left hand and a 5 in my right. Striking was slow as a result, but there was a fun Dragonball Z effect of putting them down and feeling super fast with empty hands.

Did 3 rounds of medicine ball burpees, plyometric push-ups, and dumbbell lateral holds. Immediately went to the heavy bags afterward and did power rounds on those mixed with push-ups, mountain climbers, and high knees. Ended with ab work.

Stayed after class to hit the bag for some extra time and watch a couple of my coaches spar. They went pretty hard. Inspiring.

Fast-forward to Sunday and my shoulders are still torched from Friday at the boxing gym. Traps are sore from the dumbbell holds, too. This coupled with having hard sparring scheduled for Tuesday drove me to leave a little more in reserve than I otherwise would have under the iron.

Axle clean once and strict press 

130 x 5

150 x 5

170 x 7

Super-set with band pull-aparts: 3 x 12

Front squats

240 x 5

275 x 5

315 x 3 + 1

Super-set with neutral grip pull-ups: 3 x 15

Incline dumbbell press 

80s x 3 x 10

Super-set with bent-over dumbbell rows 

115 x 3 x 10

Sandbag carries

200 lbs x 2 x 1 minute

Shoulder pain is feeling better under the axle press, although sore shoulders posed an entirely different level of discomfort. Left a rep in the tank, didn't want to grind.

I'm employing the barbell clean grip with front squats now rather than using the SSB and am finding them harder as a result. Feels like the weight is a little more in front of me and makes it more quad intensive, but I ran into trouble from sweat causing the barbell to start sliding down my chest, even with chalk. I will have to be very vigilant about watching out for wrist pain, especially with boxing in the mix. It felt fine until the bar movement started increasing the wrist strain. A grip shirt would be a good idea if I want to keep squatting this way in warm weather. 

I will definitely have to lower the weight on front squats using the clean grip. I managed to squat 315 for 3 before I had to rerack and reset my grip, and then squatted one more after a brief rest pause. My quads are actually a little sore just from this the next day.

Went out to Costco afterwards and had a really good grocery run. Got lamp chops for the fryer, lots of steak, salmon, chocolate whey, creatine, and 10 dozen eggs. 

Deload

Log viper press

155 x 3 x 5

Incline crazy bells

145 x 3 x 10

Super-set with bent-over dumbbell rows

100 x 3 x 10

The program suggests doing the standard 5/3/1 barbell lifts for the deload week. I kept the log for the main work but replaced the events training with the incline bench press, hanging 50 lb kettlebells off each end. I previously mentioned how crazy bells feel great for my shoulder pain so this is a good opportunity to bring them in.

I'll evaluate my shoulder health and strength levels closely the next few weeks to determine contest readiness. Between my 2 goals of getting better at hard sparring with Gabriel at the boxing gym and getting strongman ready, boxing still takes priority. I've got sparring again next Tuesday. Still, this deload has been incredibly invigorating and I went far too long not doing scheduled deloads. I'm super hungry to train heavy again.

Physique right now is in a good place after a month of a calorie deficit. I've lost bloat and midsection fluff, and though not ripped I have visible abs at rest.  

 Did a deload workout on Monday that I neglected to record, then did a 2.25 mile jog on Tuesday. Felt a bit under the weather and was going to rest, but when I got home I felt like going on the jog.

Wednesday boxing was with 2 coaches, which is a change. I haven't worked with coach Dominic in a few weeks, but he seemed extremely enthused to see me, which I wasn't expecting and was very cool of him. My group within the class started out with drilling jabs and straights using an empty barbell set-up like a landmine press. 

I'll be honest, it was starting off like this and then waiting for awhile for the bell to start to do an exercise that I knew wasn't going to challenge me or develop much power when I started to think that there's a reason I prefer coming in on Tuesdays versus Wednesdays lately. And I was right, there was nothing to popping up an empty bar for 3 minutes. But we rotated with the other groups to doing it with exercise bands that were tied to the punching bag posts and because everyone avoided the thick purple band, I got to use that one. That was a decent workout punching with it for 3 minutes. 

Final rotation was pairing with partners to practice pivoting out of a clinch. Everyone immediately paired up with someone, leaving me out - which I took as a great compliment. I worked with the coach, and instead of two partners trading off, I did several rounds of being the only striker. Double jab - clinch first round, lunging body jab - clinch second round, and third round a mix of both. Having to keep jabbing and lunging forward for 3 rounds was another good workout and I worked up a sweat by the end.

Saturday was a deload:

Axle clean once and press away

110 x 5

130 x 5

150 x 5

Super-set with Band pull-aparts: 3 x 15

Front squats

185 x 5

225 x 5

275 x 5

Super-set with pull-ups: 3 x 12

Incline dumbbell press 

80s x 4 x 10

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows 

115s x 4 x 8

Loaded carries

200 lb sandbag, 45 seconds

160 lb keg, 45 seconds

Ended with a 5 minute heavy bag round with oxygen mask

Sunday was home boxing training.

1 round shadowboxing with oxygen mask, 5 minutes

3 rounds on the heavy bag, 5 minutes each. First 2 rounds with oxygen mask, last without.

Later in the evening, went on a 2.25 mile jog.

Spent a lot of time playing Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Only took 6 years for me to finally get really into it and learn the ins and outs of the battle system, but I'm hooked now. Glad I didn't sell it.

Went on a 3.35 mile run yesterday for 45 minutes after getting home from work. Hadn’t eaten since lunch and only had casein protein in me.

Played a little mind game with myself when a coworker brought donuts in this morning: I pretended I already ate one and all that was left was the memory of it, just like any time I actually eat dessert and wished it lasted longer.

Tuesday

3 rounds on the heavy bag, 5 minutes each (oxygen-deprivation mask on the first round)

3 sprints up Heart Attack Hill + shadowboxing at an incline at the top of each round

10 min jog

I have also been doing 20 rapid Muay Thai kicks for each leg every morning after waking-up and sometimes doing 20 burpees afterwards.

Axle power cleans

170 x 5

190 x 3

210 x 3

Deadlifts 

415 x 5

470 x 3

525 x 2

415 x 10 (1 min AMRAP)

Wide pull-ups: 5 x 10

Super-set with weighted dips

55 x 3 x 10

65 x 2 x 10

Lying leg curls

340 x 5 x 10

Super-set with curls

55 lb dumbbells x 10

35 lb dumbbells x 2 x 10

Swiss bar: 2 x 10

Felt strong on everything. I'm having fun with power cleans. I've never done them seriously since getting bumper plates and crash pads. I can remember getting into them for the first time after signing up for my first contest ever, a power clean competition in 2011, and straining my back trying to drop the barbell quietly at 24 Hour Fitness in the lead-up to the event.

The form on these were still pretty ugly and done with brute strength, but there were a few reps where I felt the arm swivel happening when catching the bar, which was cool. Never felt that so automatically before.

I'm deadlifting exclusively on flat ground now, either in the garage or, in this case, on the patio, rather than uneven dirt. I used to take pride in the bad set-up as a training condition, but it also lead to missed deadlift reps.

Axle clean once and press 

125 x 5

145 x 5

165 x 8

Super-set with Band pull-aparts: 3 x 15

SSB front squats

250 x 5

290 x 5

330 x 5

Super-set with pull-ups: 15, 15, 15

Incline dumbbell press 

80s x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Super-set with dumbbell rows 

115 x 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

200 lb sandbag carries 

3 rounds of 1 minute

160 lb keg carries

2 rounds of 1 minute

 Boxing on Tuesday was a typical technical partner combo day. Paired up with another beginner who wasn't good at holding pads yet, but I keep attending this class because the coach is good about polishing up technique. We practiced a Mike Tyson favorite that I'd already been training on my own before: jab, right straight to the body, and a rising left hook. Got reminded to throw the left hook as I'm starting to rise from a crouched position, rather than throw it too late.

Strongman workout yesterday crashed and burned. The program calls for getting creative with a press medley. Although 2 lifts hardly make a medley, I opted to mimic what I'd be doing in the comp: log clean and press a rep, followed by a 100 lb dumbbell press (substituting the dumbbell for lack of a 105 lb kettlebell), alternating for as many reps as possible. 

The comp calls for a 225 lb log for my weight class, but I couldn't even rep 205 more than once in a set. Did 3 total sets of 1 rep each: 

205 lb log clean and press

100 lb dumbbell clean and press

Log pressing in general hurts my right shoulder. I'm working with the Titan 12" log and its size puts the beginning portion of the press rather far out in front of me, which is the portion that hurts (even with leg drive). Once it's halfway up and getting directly over my head the pain is gone, but I feel like I'm not able to fire at full power off my chest to get a powerful press.

Shoulder pain is the main reason I haven't committed to the comp and signed my name yet, but I've found that I'm really enjoying getting back into strongman training again. My gameplan right now is to lower the weights and build my press up more gradually. If shoulder pain continues, I'll continue training in strongman regardless of entering this particular show or not, but change the press to something that doesn't hurt (first picks that come to mind that I'd want to experiment with are an axle push-press or a trap bar lift).

I'm due for a weigh-in soon, but body composition has undergone a noticeable change. Abs are showing more and arm vascularity is really noticeable even just typing at my computer right now.

Thursday night: 

Log clean once and strict press

145 x 3

165 x 3

187.5 x 4

60 sec AMRAP: 145 x 14

Super-set with band pull-aparts: 4 x 15

SSB front squats

250 x 3

290 x 3

320 x 5

Super-set with pull-ups: 15, 15 15

Friday night:

Incline dumbbell press
85s x 10, 10
90s x 10, 10
80s x 10
Super-set with standing bent-over dumbbell rows
115 x 5 x 10

Sandbag carries: 1 minute, 3 sets
Keg carries: 1 minute, 2 sets 

Sunday:

Power cleans

152 x 5

180 x 3

200 x 3

60 sec AMRAP: 160 x 12

Deadlifts 

385 x 3

445 x 3

495 x 3

Weighted dips

50 x 3 x 10

65 x 10

Super-set with wide pull-ups: 5 x 10

Log clean and press

190 x 5, 5, 5

Medley: 200 lb sandbag carry, 150 kb keg carry, 370 lb sled push

20 meters x 1:41, 1:50, 1:28

Sandbag loading: floor to table

200 x 5

Didn't realize I'd already log pressed 3x5 with 190 a few weeks ago, but at least the log was snapping up faster than before. Technique is improving. Lost the log a couple of reps from standing too narrow and squatting too deep with it, and then had much stronger cleans by standing wider. 

Times on the medley were affected by the sled getting stuck at my garage entrance and having to walk it over the lip to get it back inside to the starting point. On the final set, I just decided to leave the sled out and push it from there instead of starting in the garage. The 80 dumbbell I had on it also kept rolling off. All stuff I can dial in with time and experience.

Time was an issue and could only afford 1 set of the sandbag loading, but it was a good way to end things. I've never picked my sandbag up from the floor before, but it was pretty easy.

This morning at work a driver dropped off a trailer and had trouble parking it straight so I told him it's fine and did it myself by deadlifting it into position.

Despite being a decent back workout with all the positioning, the general state of my back is now healthy enough that I was able to handle today's clean and deadlift workout when I got home.

Power cleans

145 x 5

170 x 0, 0, 5

190 x 5

Deadlifts 

375 x 5

435 x 0, 5

485 x 5

Dips

Bodyweight x 10

50x 10, 10

65 x 10, 10

Super-set with wide pull-ups 

5 x 10

Leg curls

290 x 5 x 10

Super-set with seated curls

35s x 10, 10

15s x 10, 10

35s x 10

A couple of false sputtered rep attempts on the cleans (didn't lean back enough to catch the weight) and deadlifts (gunshy about my back so I put on a belt). Missing a rep of 435 had me chuckling and shaking my head as I walked away because I knew I was going to destroy 485 in a few minutes with room to spare.

Log clean once and strict press

137.5 x 5

157.5 x 5

177.5 x 6

Super-set with band pull-aparts: 3 x 15

SSB front squats

230 x 5

262.5 x 5

300 x 5

Super-set with pull-ups: 15, 15, 12

Incline dumbbell press 

80s x 5 x 10

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows

80s x 5 x 10

Sandbag carries 

200 lbs x 40 sec, 40 sec

Keg carry

160 lbs x 1 min

Day 1 of the program. Chose good starting weights. Left shoulder is completely healed, but right was bothering me a little on the strict press. Shut-down an attempted 7th rep to not grind hard with it, but the pain has improved and I feel like I can still heal while log pressing. I happen to have microplates so I went ahead and used them to adhere to the percentages as close as possible.

Front squats might have been too light but that's a good problem to have. I haven't front squatted 300 lbs in over 15 years and it took me awhile back then to work-up to 315. Kicker is I'm much stronger now.

Was going to attach 10 lb plates to make my dumbbells 90 lbs, but light weight can really sneak up on you for 5 sets of 10. The 80s were a good weight to start with; the final few reps of the last 2 sets became challenging enough.

Weighted carries were the only program deviation. Only had time to do 3 sets, and the 200 lb bag was feeling heavy for 1 minute at the end of the workout until I discovered the art of lapping it to get a better grip. Will clean this up next time and do 5 sets of 1 minute carries.

The whole session took about an hour and a half, but there was a lot of set-up time carrying weights and the log from the garage to the yard (garage roof is too low to overhead the log), setting up for squats, and moving things around to protect them from the incoming rain that night/the next day. Will set-up in advance next time. 

Had an awesome weekend with family for Dad's birthday and ate a ton. Stone Stew + Eataly on Friday was good, but going to Eghbal's on Saturday was restorative for the soul. Haven't had everyone gathered around like that in a long time. 

I messed around with 2 press workouts over the weekend. On Saturday, I felt physically fatigued and worked-up to log clean and pressing 200 lbs after a couple of misses. Couldn't even clean it at first, then got it up for a grindy single that I had to immediately put back down to keep from blacking out. After a mental pep talk, I went up to the log with more conviction and did a stronger set of 2, popping the weight overhead without issue. Did a 5-minute heavy bag round right after and called it there, as I had a family dinner I didn't want to miss.

Since I had to cut that workout short, I returned the next day and worked up to axle push-pressing from the rack 220x2 after a couple of missed attempts, followed by Arnold pressing the 80 lb dumbbells for 3 sets of 8, super-setting that with chin-ups, and ending with skullcrushers and curls.

I still feel fatigued today and with a headache. I've been having a lot of coffee lately so I'm making a point not to have any today despite the energy crash. It's quite tough having this goal of upping my conditioning to do better in sparring at the boxing gym AND aim to get contest ready for strongman, but I love the puzzle. I think I need to be better organized with programming; to that end, I'm looking at strongman programs that are out there so I can have my days planned out more in advance than what I've been doing.

Yesterday I did a 70-second dead hang from the pull-up bars at lunch. I feel my endurance increasing and a minute is no longer challenging. Worth noting that these bars are a lot thicker than the bar I do pull-ups with at home. Harder to grip but feels easier on the elbows, which is a good combination.

At home:

5 minute shadowboxing round with oxygen-restriction mask

3x 5-minute rounds on the heavy bag with 30 seconds of rest, last round with headgear and mouthpiece

Wanted to give my shoulders a break, so instead of doing more push-ups or other ways to pre-exhaust my arms for heavy bag rounds, I increased the rounds to 5 minutes for an added challenge.

I have to say that it's great my shoulders are feeling better, but having the right one hurt has done wonders for my right hook. I've been forced to practice moving my whole body into it in order to throw it without any shoulder pain and it's a much stronger punch now. 

I've also been reading Angelo Dundee's (trainer to Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, and 90's George Foreman among others) autobiography, My View From the Corner and it's a 10/10. Lots of interesting stories and perspectives.

Just got back from my lunch break where I did another 70-second dead hang on the pull-up bars.

 Did a 65-second dead hang yesterday on my lunch break after walking to the pull-up bars and back. Some guy came up and stood behind me nearly the entire time. I don't know if he wanted to ask me something or he was waiting to use the bars, but I walked away before he could say something.

After getting home, I did:

50 push-ups

4-minute high-intensity round on the heavy bag

30 push-ups

4-minute bag round

25 push-ups

4-minute bag round

Essentially, I replaced the rest times with push-ups.

After dinner, went on a 2.23-mile run while pushing the pace for the first mile, which resulted in a time of 7:53. 

I have some numbers to compare from my training log. In 2005, I recorded my best mile time in high school at 6:25 at a bodyweight of around 185 (roughly 20 lbs lighter than now). In 2015 and 2016, I recorded two instances of my mile time at 8:02 and 8:11, roughly weighing the same that I do now.

Went out to dinner with coworkers on Friday and devoured crayfish, shrimp, and lobster.

Saturday:

Log clean and press

190 x 3 x 5

Super-set with pull-ups: 3 x 10

Arnold press

80s x 3 x 8

Super-set with wide pull-ups: 3 x 10

Was sleepy from going to bed late and the first 2 sets of log press moved slow. Got focused and tight and the third set was by far the best.

Also finished watching Riddick (the last movie) Saturday night. It kicked ass. The second is still my favorite due to how over-the-top it is, but this one was a fine homage to Pitch Black. Now I need to somehow get the games on my Steam Deck... 

Sunday:

Mat pulls (stack of 8 mats)

535 x 5

Sandbag squats

200 x 3 x 10

Reverse-hypers

200 x 2 x 10

290 x 10

Back was a little achey afterwards from doing heavy pulls and sandbag handling the day after log cleans, but nothing alarming. 

Went on a hike at Russian Ridge afterwards. Saw lots of deer and I think my first California newt ever, a real big one. While heading back, the fog rolled in and made for some incredible scenes, especially when we spotted deer in the mist. 

Walked to the pull-up bars on my lunch break yesterday and did a 60-second dead hang.

Upon coming home from work:

20 ABCs with 50 lb kettlebells

27 decline push-ups

17 pull-ups

90-second intensity round on the heavy bag

Was gasping for air by the end. No elbow or shoulder pain, they’re holding up.

Later at night, ran 2 miles. Time for the first mile was 9:18, although I walked at the start because it was dark and my elderly neighbors sometimes go down the narrow trail to our neighborhood.

2-board press

315 x 3

Close-grip 2-board press

275 x 7

Skullcrushers

50s x 5 -> drop-set to 35s x 6

50s x 7 -> drop-set to 35s x 4

50s x 4 -> drop-set to 35s x 5

Dumbbell rows

115 x 4 x 8

200 lb sandbag carries

Doing what doesn't hurt the shoulders. Happy to report that the left feels fine now and it's just the right one. Although pain was minimal (just a little bit at the bottom of the first rep and it went away), it felt like I couldn't fire at full power under the bar and the reps of 315 were slow as a result. Still very good to be pressing something heavy.

A strongman competition in May has caught my eye. Would interfere minimally with boxing, as I would simply steer the lifting I'm currently doing toward training for the events. What has me really excited is a car deadlift AND a truck pull, the latter which I've never done before. Will start doing more heavy push pressing and monitor how my shoulder feels.

I read a training approach from one boxer that involved pre-exhausting the arms via landmine presses, battle ropes, and other exercises before doing non-stop rounds on the heavy bag to build-up stamina for his fight. I would love to try that with strongman training like RE clean and press instead of the typical boxing gym lifts. I think they would compliment each other well. 

 Left shoulder is feeling much better and no longer aches when at rest.

Boxing yesterday went great. Ended up being my first lady coach ever, for any martial art, and it was the perfect class to attend with a healing shoulder. Intensity was low and technique was the focus. Very similar to Tuesdays, except combos were simpler and we didn't continue to build on and add to the same string. Informed my partner that I'd be throwing light with my left hand, but was still able to put out a pretty snappy jab. Left hooks on the shield were definitely light, but it was an opportune moment to focus on putting my whole body behind the strike and whittle down any habit of arm striking. 

 SSB box squats

330 x 5

350 x 5

380 x 5

Dips: 8

Log press

140 x 8

90 x 20

Chin-ups: 20

Dumbbell skullcrushers

35s x 10

50s x 10, 7

35s x 10, 10

Hammer curls

35s x 10

50s x 10, 10

35s x 10, 10

Experimenting with different upper-body movements to see what hurts. Basically, everything. Log press with 150 felt fine until rep 6. Settled on skullcrushers and got a satisfying arm pump super-setting them with curls.

Feels like hitting the bag hard after sparring worsened my left shoulder, particularly left hooks. 

I decided not to cancel boxing and will go today. Never worked with this coach before. Will make sure to take it easy and not throw anything hard except right straights and uppercuts. 

Quads still hurt a bit, too. Made the right call to do punch-the-clock box squats instead of that 20-rep squat/deadlift hell super-set. Will squat heavy again on the weekend.

Unrelated, but I finally got to watch Pitch Black on Wednesday night with Eli, roughly 20 years after seeing Riddick in theaters (which I aim to rewatch soon). Was really good.

Got totally schooled in sparring yesterday. I was paired up with coach Gabriel again, probably because we're both similar weights, and just before starting, his cornerman coach (who's cornered me before) called me over to explain that this isn't an intro to sparring class anymore so Gabriel is going to go harder on me. The most frenetic sparring session I've ever been in ensued. The hits were hard, but it was the pace that threw me off my game. I've sparred hard in Muay Thai before, but  they could always be interrupted by my own hard shots. Gabriel kept surging forward and I couldn't really find my rhythm. It was my first time going against someone that high level who's also a pressure striker.

Ate some big shots as a result, but defended decently against the majority of them. The problem was just how much on defense I was across the 3 rounds. I also started to tense up more than previous spars, which made me tired but not gassed. There were moments when he eased up so I could get some offense going, and I noticed just how much my arms felt like lead in those windows despite training for much longer rounds.

Afterwards my cornerman gave me tips about movement and defending, and then Gabe worked with me on the ground floor to polish up my guard. People started leaving early, but my hour of sparring class wasn't up so I smashed the heavy bag for the remaining 20 minutes with short breaks. It was a very good learning experience and right now I just want to spar and train more.

Also of note is that I went into the gym with both my shoulders now in pain, not just the right, and I suspect it had an effect on my aggression and arm fatigue during sparring. Will keep up the rehab and rotate out painful pressing movements. I'm thinking today will be a light axle press medley followed by either dips or skullcrushers, depending on dips feeling good or not.

 Yesterday was another rest day. Left shoulder was achy from the combination of intense heavy bag training + push-ups on Friday and grinding out bench press reps Sunday, even with the Swiss bar. During my lunch break I walked to the pull-up bars on the nearby trail and did a 60 second dead-hang.

Also caught up on UFC 312 from last Saturday. Zhang Weilei was as impressive as ever, but Dricus Du Plessis also put on a savage performance. Such a wild striker.

Shoulder is feeling a little better. Ready for sparring.

 Friday night boxing was a grueling workout, like usual. Mixed in push-ups, squats, and high knees during rounds on the heavy bag. This coach also had us practice hooks with the palm facing down, which he explained can sometimes slip over the opponent's guard better. It's something I've experimented with before and never stuck to, but that's an interesting point.

Throwing right hooks is a little painful on my shoulder and it's hard to generate power. Will up the shoulder rehab this week: band pull-aparts, dead hangs, and Turkish get-ups. Thankful that it's my right, though, and that I can throw hard straights with my right just fine. 

Saturday was a rest day. Did some stretching, foam rolling, and went on a 10-minute post-lunch walk. Went to George's for a game night to play Mansions of Madness with Atlas and Azzy, which was a blast. Really brings me back to playing Arkham Horror 10 years ago. In the midst of having some drinks I remembered to sign-up for boxing. To my surprise, a lot of classes were already full, but member sparring (my main target) was available and a Thursday evening class with 2 coaches I've never trained under was also open. After I registered, I felt distracted the rest of the night and kept thinking about sparring. It was an exciting feeling.

Sunday was a helluva training day:

Swiss bar bench press: 260 x 5 x 5

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows: 115s x 5 x 8

Incline Swiss bar bench press

175 x 9, 7

Lateral raises

15s x 10

35s x 2 x 10

Deadlifts

455 x 5

8 shrugs at the top

Alternating dumbbell curls

50s x 2 x 16

Nighttime:

2.5 mile run to the bank and back

Shadowboxing with headgear, mouthguard, and 16 oz gloves: 3 rounds, 4 minutes each

Despite it being in the 30s outside, I was drenched in sweat after taking my headgear off. My fingers were cold when starting the run and became warm at the halfway point.

As for the lifting, I had in my mind to do at least 2 deadlifts, wanting to go easy on myself after last week's failed reps, but 455 ended up feeling like air. Good weight to build confidence up again.

Yukon bar squats

430 x 7

Drop-down to 365 x 7, 315 x 8, 225 x 8, 135 x 8

I did not take into account that I may want to squat heavy later when I did kettlebell goblet squats in the morning. And we did kettlebell squats and dynamic jumps in boxing the day before. Still crushed this. Didn't feel particularly heavy, but my quads felt like they lacked a little pop when at the bottom so I screamed on the last few reps.

There was heavy rain so I squatted in the garage, but was a bit wary about the smooth concrete and wet shoes from going outside to fetch plates (first time barbell squatting inside). 

Afterwards, I ate dinner and purchased Street Fighter 6, which downloaded in time on my Steam Deck to go a few rounds as Ryu and Zangief. It plays marvelously. Can't wait to unlock Akuma. Hajito Shirei!

Boxing was a good workout yesterday. Ran through 8 different stations: sledgehammer hits on a tire, tire flips, push-ups, landmine presses, kettlebell squats, battle ropes, step-ups, and sit-ups. Switched to 2 rounds of freestyle heavy bag work and 2 rounds of partner drills where the striker would call out a combo and the opponent has to defend, switching every 3 combos. Ended with ab work and then stretches.

Between the 100 push-ups in the morning and the additional workout at boxing, my upper-body got good training for the work week. May do heavy but low-rep benching this afternoon along with squats, or just squats by themselves since I'm signed-up for Friday boxing which is the most calisthenic-intensive day of the week.

This morning: 30 goblet squats with the 50 lb kettlebell followed by 30 kettlebell swings.

Good sparring day yesterday. Sparred coach Gabriel again, as the only sparring day available this week was coach sparring. Slipped way more punches than previous sessions and didn't keep my head on the centerline. I also used my strength to push him around as he came forward, moving him into position for my punches and throwing him off-balance, which I'm now reminded that George Foreman used to do. I also threw rapid double left hooks, which landed every time. People just don't think another hook is coming after the first. My corner coach complimented me after each round and said I look much better than last time.

My biggest regret was looking at the clock at the end of round 2, trying to time when I should start throwing more flurries in an effort to pace myself. During this pause, I heard my cornerman yell out that my opponent was open and to capitalize. I consider this action personally disgraceful and mentally reprimanded myself to not check the clock again. Coach Gabe was doing rounds with almost everyone while I only had 3 rounds with him to contend with, there should be no worry about cardio.

After 3 rounds were over, instead of watching the rest of the matches like most people I went to work on the heavy bag for the remainder of the time I had. I ran into another coach of mine on the ground floor who fist bumped me and he also said I've improved.

Ate a big steak with a small salad for dinner, followed by cottage cheese before bed, and slept like a baby after nighttime stretches and foam rolling.

This morning before work I did 100 total push-ups, broken up in sets of 52, 30, and 18, followed by 50 band pull-aparts.

Came home from work yesterday and wasted no time getting to shadowboxing:

1 round with breath restriction mask
3 rounds with headgear, mouthguard, and 16 oz gloves on

4 minutes each.

Looking forward to sparring today.

Yesterday I couldn't deadlift 530. Brain just kept shutting the attempt down and I didn't get a chance to strain. It surprised me to check and see that it's been 2 months since I've deadlifted heavy. That's not a bad thing with boxing being my focus, but I can start getting back into heavy deadlifts with either mat pulls or going lighter than I want to next time. The 470 I lifted during my work-up set ended up being my top set for today.

Romanian deadlifts

365 x 3 x 8

Walking dumbbell lunges

80s x 3 x 12

Another week of Costco not having eggs. This time, they were out of the liquid egg whites I buy, too. But bought a LOT of red meat and have a fridge full of prepped meal containers for the week.

Axle press
130 x 3
160 x 3
195 x 3
10 pull-ups

Arnold press
80s x 3 x 8
Super-set with 3 x 12 pull-ups

Incline dumbbell press
80s x 10, 6

Dumbbell palm curls
50 x 8
35 x 8, 8

Dumbbell hammer curls
50s x 8, 8
35s x 8

Lying lat flyes
15s x 3 x 10

Some right shoulder pain on the axle press, but glad I got 3. I think switching to log press is a great idea next week. Not really feeling much stimulus with the palm curls, so going to ditch them.

Tuesday boxing was a good endurance workout. After skipping rope and shadowboxing, someone approached me to be his partner. He wasn't very good at holding pads as he seemed like he was still learning basics, so I was basically doing power shadowboxing from a lack of impact due to him holding them so limply. Because my shoulders were getting a little tired, though, I embraced the suck when I should really offer him pointers next time.

Been watching Roy Jones Jr. more lately, someone whose style I've always admired, but I noticed that I was working angles and standing wider a lot more in shadowboxing this time from bingeing his fights before class. I really like his rapid same-side hooks, too; he threw 4 or 5 rapid left hooks at one point. Insanity.

Was dead tired on Wednesday. Culprit is most likely waking up too much during the night to pee. I've been taking Biotest P-Well and drink cran + pomegranate juice with creatine as well, but I should make a point to get extra hydration during the early evening to avoid suddenly feeling as thirsty as I do after 8pm. Went to bed an hour early and felt better the next day.

Loaded up the bar with 310 to do the 20 rep squat + deadlift super-set, but my quads had that familiar glass feeling I've felt before when I squat heavy too frequently. I could have handily done the 20+20, but I decided to stop the squats at 10 and consider it a deload, as they don't feel recovered from my last squat workout and I'd like to nip this in the bud while I can. Followed-up with 10 deadlifts, with a plan to deadlift or mat pull heavy over the weekend, something I haven't done in a minute.

Ending this post with something ridiculous: my new Rumble Roller got torn-up by my cat. I was using it when I noticed pin pricks and some torn rubber when looked at up-close. It's not totaled, but I'm storing it in my closet from now on. I'm more amused than anything picturing him mauling it. I also have to say that while the Rumble Roller gives a better massage almost everywhere else, my low back feels better after using my regular foam roller, which was my main incentive for getting so into foam rolling on the regular. The Rumble Roller doesn't hurt it or anything, but I notice it doesn't make back pain disappear 1 or 2 days out from using it like the regular. Makes sense that the low back doesn't have as much tissue to dig into so there's no need for those spikes. So I'm using the flat roller more again, but will still use the Rumble for other areas.

Bench press

275 x 5

Close-grip bench press

225 x 3 x 8

Super-set with dumbbell rows

115 x 3 x 8

Keg curls

150 x 2 x 12

Haven't straight bar benched in awhile due to shoulder pain exclusively with this bar and movement. Still felt discomfort, but it's getting much better. Felt like I didn't have any pop compared to the Swiss bar, though, and 275 was moving VERY slow, so I made a wise call going in with reasonable expectations and settling at that weight. Even on 225, it felt like I was lifting through quicksand.

Lifted without elbow sleeves for the first time since I can remember because I have no elbow pain anymore. Will cautiously test doing kettlebell ABCs soon, as I miss having those as a workout option.

 Spent most of Saturday sick. Had it in my mind to do squats, but decided to give myself a rest day instead. Ate an extra large Round Table pizza throughout the evening.

Congestion and cough were better on Sunday. Still felt low energy and under the weather, but went ahead with the plan:

Yukon bar squats

470 x 2

Drop-down to 410 x 7, 320 x 8

Lying leg curls

290 x 3 x 10

During the work-up sets I put 410 on my back and did what felt like a max effort rep. Just felt heavy as hell. I walked away at first, figuring I'd better call it there and get some lighter work in, but then tried 405 again with a belt and it felt much better, and then I ended up surprised at how light walking out with 470 felt.

Still, left a reserve rep or two in the tank to promote recovery and cut-out all the drop-down sets below 320.

Then went on a 4.64 mile run in the evening, broken up with a little walking to use a store restroom, for 55 minutes.

Picked up a Rumble Roller. It doesn't feel difficult or extreme at all, just like a nicer massage than my standard roller, but my girlfriend reported that it felt like a torture device on her frame. 

Went to boxing on Wednesday for a standard partner drill and bag work day. There was sparring going on in the ring behind us and one young teen walked away with a bloody nose. Also watched 2 of my coaches spar pretty hard, the twins. Afterwards they both happened to be adjacent to me when my class was using the heavy bags and the 3 of us were by far making the most noise in the gym with power shots. 

Did a light mid-week maintenance workout yesterday after work:

SSB box squats

Worked-up to 330 x 5, 350 x 5

Giant sets:

Weighted decline push-ups: 105 lbs x 3 x 7

Lying dumbbell rows: 80s x 15, 12, 12

Dumbbell palm curls: 80 x 8, 8; 50 x 8

I'll find out if there's a name for those curls, but I took them from Paul Carter: you simply take a single dumbbell and support it vertically on your palms. Makes light weight feel incredibly heavy. Noticed I started gripping the 80 pounder like it was a grenade ball curl so knocked it down lighter.

Left IT band is still a bother sometimes. It was better the last time I did heavy squats, thankfully, but the other night I noticed it hurting from falling asleep on my left side and I also feel it if I sit down too long. Felt it ever so slightly on box squats, but it barely registered.

Did about 30 minutes of walking on Monday, along with stretching and foam rolling. Body felt beat from weekend training. Besides soreness, neck is tweaked from pressing overhead.

Yesterday was sparring. BIg focus going in was to relax my shoulders and take deep breaths between rounds. I sparred coach Gabriel again. Technically these are intro to sparring classes, hence why I've only gone against coaches. Now that I've completed 3 of these sessions, I can do member sparring from now on, which I'm highly anticipating. 

Round 1

Felt my jab falling short right away because I'm so used to light partner drills. Quickly course corrected and within seconds I was landing to his face at will. Popped him with jabs, crosses, left hooks, and upper-cuts; this was my most effective round at this gym yet when it came to displaying an offensive variety. My cornerman coach commented that I was looking "very technical" as he gave me water. My guard was a little too low though and I could still get more reach from extending my shoulder more.

Round 2

Right away I started throwing longer jabs with my shoulder rolling into my cheek and I heard my corner coach yell out "That's it!" One right hand that caught my headgear twisted it, obstructing my vision, and I had to adjust. From then on, strikes kept shifting my headgear and I was fighting it for much of the round; it kept blocking my vision and breathing. Although my technical gameplan went out the window from here, my conditioning prep at home and emphasis on staying loose had worked and I was feeling good between rounds unlike last time. 

Round 3

I couldn't see where his punches were coming from well because of my loose headgear but I could see his head so we both landed good shots. We were both all offense here. He started going lower to the ground and I was hitting the top of his head, so I shifted to uppercuts more, which he did a good job blocking. Was surprised when the round was over because I'm used to 4-minute rounds at home. Hopefully with member sparring I'll get a chance to do a lot more than 3 rounds.

Watched some other gymgoers spar and then went over to the heavy bags to get a round in.

Came home and immediately went out to Heart Attack Hill, sprinting up for 3 rounds and doing a shadowboxing round near the top at a steep incline after each sprint. 

I also resized my headgear so it's much tighter. There was a lot I didn't utilize because I was so distracted by it. Can't wait until next time. 

Axle clean once and press away

110 x 5

130 x 3

160 x 8

185 x 5

Last set followed by 12 pull-ups 

Axle clean and press every rep

140 x 3 x 8

Super-set with pull-ups x 3 x 10

Incline dumbbell press 

80s x 12, 10

Dumbbell curls

35s x 4 x 10

Reverse hyper 

200 x 3 x 10

Overhead band pull-aparts 

2 x 20

Haven't pressed the axle in a while and totally forgot it's 25 lbs lighter than the barbell. Got to 160 lbs and thought things felt abnormally light before I realized it wasn't 185. 

Made bicep curls harder via a tip from John Meadows about not hammer curling the weight partially up, but supinating the wrists at the very beginning of the movement. 

Signed up for sparring on Tuesday. Brought back cleans to add a conditioning element to press day. Also happy to report that my shoulders have improved enough to press with a straight bar again. A little discomfort in the right still, but big difference from before.

Eggs are still out at Costco. I don't want them bad enough to go hunting for them at other stores even though I probably could get them if I tried hard enough. Bought plenty of steak at Costco yesterday to make up the difference. 

 This week has been hectic at work. We suddenly ended up shorted a delivery driver so I went from my office desk to taking over driving the truck and unloading pallets. By sheer coincidence, I brought a homemade weightgainer shake (milk, chocolate whey protein, almond butter, a banana, and pre-cooked oatmeal) in a thermos the first day, which was indispensable during my time out in the afternoon. Repeated that the next day, this time knowing I'd be out on the road for much of the day.

On the second day, I had a driver I was training and we were delivering to Gold's Gym locations all day. They are pretty nice gyms inside compared to 24 Hour Fitness. He used to be a gym rat before falling off the train, but we had plenty of meathead talk to trade, which was a fun change of atmosphere from my very non-meathead office colleagues. He also used to box as a teenager,

My back was a little sore from lifting and carrying cases of protein shakes and Gatorade while bent-over, but nothing too drastic. 

Went to boxing on Tuesday and Wednesday - very standard sessions doing partner combos. Hoping next Tuesday is a sparring day I can sign-up for.

The combination of manual labor at work and boxing back-to-back, combined with poor sleep on Wednesday night, had me feeling beat yesterday, but I still got something done despite the temptation to skip it and rest.

Swiss bar bench press

245 x 8, 8, 7

Super-set with dumbbell rows

125 x 3 x 8

Incline dumbbell press

80s x 8, 10

Dumbbell hammer curls

50s x 8, 10

Had a headache by the end and felt like I needed to go lie down, so called it here. Happy with the workout.

Went to boxing on Tuesday and Wednesday. After skipping rope and 3 rounds of shadowboxing, we did simple partner combos. When we ended with heavy bag work, I couldn't help but blast the power shots despite my sore shoulders.

On Wednesday, I was doing awful when skipping rope. Kept messing up every 20 or so seconds. Shoulders also got tired, so likely a recovery thing. Unfortunately, we started shadowboxing rounds with dumbbells, and by the time I got to pick, only the 5 pounders were available, which is heavy for shadowboxing. Made it work fine, but my coach went to another room and got out 2 pounders to use mid-round. Also did front and lateral raises. I'm not going to brag about beasting 2 lb front raises, but while other people looked like they were dying and had to take breaks, they felt very nice as relaxed active recovery for my shoulders.

Alternated rounds between partner combos and heavy bag work. Ended with abs, which wasn't hard until my abs suddenly cramped and I had to hold my hand against my stomach in order to keep moving. Ended with stretches.

 Deload

Squats: 225 x 20

Super-set with deadlifts: 225 x 20

Standing ab wheel: 8 reps

Just squatting with 135 during warm-ups made me feel soreness in my quads from Friday that I wasn't aware was there, as I've been walking and running fine. 225 was uncomfortable as a result, but just the right weight for a deload. Used a mixed-grip with deadlifts, no straps for this.

Because I hit this soon after I got home from work, rather than eating first and then waiting, I had more time than usual the rest of the evening. Definitely going to make eating BEFORE I leave the office more of a habit. I was able to easily do that this time by making twice the amount of ground bison that I usually do, giving me extra meal prep bowls.

Aside from chores, I spent the rest of the evening doing stretching and soft-tissue work via my massage gun, foam roller, and Rolflex (compression device for elbow pain). Just cycled between them all to treat my shoulders, IT band, lower back, and left elbow while I watched TV. Also stretched out my hamstrings on the kitchen counter and the floor. About 2 hours before bed, I also went on a 30-minute night walk while listening to a Dan John podcast.

I mentioned my IT band: the upper area of that is what's been bothering me when I squat and sit for extended periods of time, rather than my "hip". It's been an on-and-off annoyance for the past few years.

Finally, this morning I did a 30-second dead hang and then foam rolled my lower back some more.

I feel INCREDIBLE today as a result of all that, like the feeling right after a big stretch in the morning but extended. I think putting all that together in a written list with timed intervals as a routine will make sure I cover everything on a regular basis without having to think about it, especially on busier nights.

Got boxing on the agenda today but my shoulders feel up for it.

Bench press
Work-up to 225 x 3

2-board press

315 x 1
370 x 0

335 x 2

345 x 2

Incline Swiss bar bench press

165 x 10

185 x 8

205 x 6

165 x 13

Kroc rows

125 x 30

Lying rear-delt flyes

15s x 20, 20, 15

Super-set with dumbbell curls

50s x 8, 8

35s x 10

Hammer curls

35s x 3 x 10

Switched to board pressing because my shoulders still feel fried from that max effort bench press workout last weekend. Got up to 225 on the bench press before I switched. 

Just barely missed pressing 370. Bar got stuck for a few seconds just before lockout before it came back down. I would have had it if my shoulders felt fresher.

With that said, there has been a lot of max effort grinding the past few weeks during these feast-heavy holidays. It's been fun and I've gotten stronger, but I'll be scaling that back. Returning to the boxing gym this week. Speaking of boxing, I missed recording a couple of home training sessions, but one involved 4-minute rounds of shadowboxing with 3 lb weights when I should have been giving my shoulders a break, haha.

This week will be a deload. Body needs it.

Yukon bar squats 

460 x 3

Drop-sets of 410x5, 320x10, 230x10, 140x10, 50x10

Reverse hyper single leg curls

200 x 20

 

Good mornings
140 x 10
190 x 8

Crushed this and only stopped at 3 reps because of my hip. That was feeling better this session than last, by the way. I brought my massage gun down to the gym and used it on my hip between sets.

Done at 10pm, felt tired and hungry, and actually walked away at 405 because I figured I should come back the next day when I was well-rested and with more food, but then turned back around because I'd already come this far. Was pretty surprised at how light everything felt.

Back has been feeling fantastic, by the way. Foam rolling regularly has made a world of difference.

 New Year's was fun. Went to a gaming party at Cayce's house. Mostly played F-Zero and Shenmue 2 on my Steam Deck that I was hoping to hook-up to the TV that was being occupied by Mario Party, but alas, it never happened. Someone noticed F-Zero GX though and invited me into the garage where a Gamecube with a boot disc was running and I got to play it with a GC controller. It controlled SO well that way.

I fretted over what plans to pull the trigger on for New Year's, but this was the right call. Super fun yet close to home so I could leave at 1:30 and be home in 20 minutes with no long-distance travel hassle. And it was just so fun to get drunk and geek out over videogames.

Anyway, back to motherfucking bizness:

Seated Arnold press

80 lb dumbbells x 10, 9, 9, 8

Super-set with pull-ups: 15, 12, 12, 12

Dumbbell skullcrushers

50s x 10, 8, 8

Super-set with hammer curls

50s x 10, 10, 8

Tate press

50s x 8, 8

Super-set with concentration curls

50s x 10, 10

First I tried to barbell overhead press and my shoulders felt painful once I worked-up to 95 lbs. I really ran them through the ringer on Saturday with that max bench press workout. It wasn't that bad and I could have worked through it, but when I tried dumbbells and found them more comfortable, I opted for the Arnold press, which I've made good gains on since the last time I hit that.

My shoulders were done after the 4th set so I went pretty tricep-intensive after that. I had also just read an early arm workout that Bruce Randall did in his heyday with multiple sets of extensions and curls and I was in a bodybuilding mood afterwards.

Since I'm on my second week of no boxing gym (they were closed last week and are on a reduced schedule this week), yesterday I donned my breath restriction mask, a wool beanie, and two layers of sweaters to shadowbox in my living room with 3 lb weights. 2 round for 4 minutes. Went outside afterwards and hit the heavy bag also for 2 rounds, 4 minutes, then went on a 1.8 mile jog afterwards.

I'm making my minimum round time at home 4 minutes, so 3 minutes for drills in the gym and 2 minutes for sparring feel easy.

Squats: 300 x 20

Super-set with deadlifts: 300 x 20

https://youtu.be/dAfsPeDhqKU

Took frequent rest-pauses for my back during the deadlifts, but it's been awhile since I've had a pain episode (regular foam rolling has seemed to do wonders for it). I feel good enough to try and push it more next time. 

After this, I went out to visit my aunt who just returned from a long stay in Iran and ate homemade lamb and eggplant stew at her house. After returning, I went on a 2-mile run that included a sprint up a hill.

 Today was interesting.

Bench press
275 x 1
320 x 1
340 x 1
350 x 0

Went into this workout hungry and having drank too much coffee, which made me depleted and shaky. 350 was still close and I knew I could get it if I had a little more fuel in me.

I left the barbell on the floor and went upstairs to eat, then headed out for a Costco trip only to find out they had absolutely no eggs. It was just a big, empty section. Bulk eggs were the main reason I went here instead of Trader Joe's. Still made off with some items that made it a worthwhile visit: liquid egg whites, new running shoes, plenty of meat, and cat food.

Ate again when I got home and started a revenge workout at 9pm:

Bench press
275 x 1
315 x 1
335 x 1
350 x 1

Incline Swiss bar bench
180 x 10
190 x 8
200 x 6
165 x 12 -> dropdown to 135 x 3
Super-set with lying dumbbell rows
115s x 4 x 10

Lying lateral flyes
15s x 3 x 15
Alternating lateral curls
50s x 20, 20
35s x 16

After having done so many singles in a few hours, 350 didn't come easy, but I physically just felt rock solid this time despite some shoulder fatigue.

I lowered the normal 170 on the last set of incline bench down to 165 to try and ensure I got 15 reps but at that point, I was understandably spent. When I unracked 165 I couldn't believe how heavy it felt.

 Christmas Eve:

Overhead press

185x5

Super-set with pull-ups: 15

Overhead press against bands

107.5 x 4 x 10

Super-set with pull-ups: 4 x 12

Barbell skullcrushers

120 x 2 x 10

Hammer curls

50s x 3 x 10

Fought very hard to get the 5th rep, but that's an improvement. Shoulders felt sore in warm-ups from low bar squats 2 days prior.

Christmas day: went on a 3.25 mile run.

I'm taking it upon myself to do more road work for boxing. Downloaded a couple of running apps to track my progress on that.

Even though I didn't go out for any events on Christmas, it was a very welcome rest day. Along with that run, I played a lot of Soul Reaver Remastered and watched part of a decently funny movie, Bad Santa.

 Brutal Friday night at the boxing gym. Lots of calisthenics mixed with hard rounds on the bag. Left shoulder was feeling serious fatigue from ending with rounds of jabbing our partner while moving backwards, but unlike my partner, I didn't need to take rest periods.

It's interesting how my mindset has changed. Before I used to hate any kind of exercising at a martial arts class because I could just do that at home and it would interfere with my weightlifting. Now, I appreciate it. Every bit helps with being a better fighter and a coach will prescribe things I wouldn't normally do on my own.

Saturday was a rest day, but got a lot of walking done at the Dickens Fair with Eli. Only stayed for a couple of hours, as her mom wasn't feeling well. 

Got to spend time with Farah and Eghbal yesterday , who came over before we went out to Stone Stew for lunch and Eghbal's apartment afterwards for some tea and coffee, where I helped him set-up a little espresso machine. I vowed to come see both of them more often now that they are back in the US. Very nourishing day for the soul.

Sunday evening:

Squats

445 x 4

Drop-down to 405x5, 315x8, 225x8, 135x8, 45x8

Reverse hyper single leg curls

200 x 2 x 20

Weighted decline crunches

50 x 20

Hanging leg raises: x 15

Going to be replacing some of my standard powerlifting-style strength training with more strongman-centric workouts due to having my eye on a strongman contest next month. With boxing as my focus now, though, I don't feel excited about spending the money and energy toward it unless I'm strong enough to feel competitive, so I'll run this training block and see how I feel. Back health is a major factor, too.

Last night was focused on circus dumbbell training. The dumbbell in the contest is 110 for open and 100 for masters. The last time I trained for this event, I didn't have fixed dumbbells and my Fat Gripz didn't fit my adjustable dumbbell handles. That's all changed now.

However, I couldn't get the 115 bell up with Fat Gripz. The dumbbell handle is already thicker than a barbell so the Fat Gripz didn't close all the way around, making it even bigger than normal. I think that's even better, but it was too much for my current level so after a few failed reps I took it off for the topset.

Dumbbell push press (all with Fat Gripz except 115)

50 x 2

80 x 2

115 x 1

Landmine press

115 x 3 x 10

Pull-ups

15, 12, 10, 10

Barbell shrugs

300 x 10 

Several missed attempts at 115 before I locked out. The landmine press was easy on the joints and something I've been meaning to bring back for boxing. I made this lift a lot harder by really letting the bar sink down at the bottom to the point where I had to twist my torso to accommodate it, which added some ab work in and somewhat mimics throwing a cross in boxing.

This was an idea I got from Emevas several years ago, who got the idea from Jon Andersen.

Squat

300 x 20

Upon which I walked off the patio with the bar on my back and onto the dirt, dropped the bar behind me, and then:

Deadlifts

300 x 20

Ab wheel: 10 standing reps

Some disclaimers:

The bar had trouble clearing one side of the squat stands so I reracked, took a few breaths, got it on my back again, shrugged high, and made it.

Left the bar on the ground and took a standing rest-pause after rep 10 of the deadlifts before cranking out another 10.

Had some hesitation about even continuing that latter 10 reps due to concern for how my back was feeling (not painful, but a similar sensation to when pain crops up later), but took the calculated risk and went for it.

All that said, this was brutal. The squats were the easy part, since I've been running heavier weight for 20 lately; it was following them up with the deadlifts that wrecked me afterwards and gave me a headache.

My back is completely fine the next morning. I'm glad I've been able to push it further and further. There have been countless times when I take some new measure for it that works in the short term only for pain to resurface, but so far, the daily foam rolling has been doing wonders. I'm also opting for my ergonomic Herman Miller chair 100% when I do sit at home and absolutely zero couch time. Good move, because yesterday I was gifted the new Soul Reaver remaster for Steam and stayed up later than expected getting lost in the world of Nosgoth and reliving that game. 

Had a super fun sparring day yesterday. Second time at this gym when not counting informal spars on the ground floor in the middle of drills. It definitely feels different stepping into the ring with gear, a cornerman, and the gym gathered to watch. The only downside was how short it was: just 3 rounds for 2 minutes.

I went up against a shorter stocky guy who I only learned afterwards is one of the coaches. I've seen his name on the weekly class sign-ups as Coach Gabriel but his class conflicts with my work so I've never trained with him. Coach Eric was my cornerman this time (he was my sparring partner last time).

Of note is that I way hyped this session up in my mind, partially by design. I was thinking about it the whole weekend and as a result, my head was bursting with ideas and things to tweak from last time. 

As a result, the biggest change in round 1 was not being overly nice and actually hitting with an appropriate amount of power. Coach Eric advised me to use my reach and spar on the outside, and sure enough, his swings often fell short while my jab and cross landed over and over again. A real success was a jab followed by a lightning left hook. I don't see a lot of guys in the intermediate classes throwing this, or many combos from the same arm in  general, but I've been working on this for some time now and my hook comes really fast after jabbing from the same arm. I also landed a lot of jabs and crosses to the body, but next time I'd like to practice body hooks more.

When he'd rush in, I would meet him with an uppercut while circling out. He didn't land anything significant until the end of the round when he caught me with a big left hook that adjusted my headgear. Didn't hurt, but it was a great shot.

After round 1, Coach Eric told me he likes the punches I'm choosing and my jab is landing, but I can get even more reach from it because he sees my arm not fully extending. Very old issue of mine.

Round 2 went much the same: I landed clean the vast majority while almost all of his smaller strikes were falling short, but that leaping Frazier-style hook got me one more time again. 

After round 2, I felt that same feeling of a panic attack that occurred last session, which was also after round 2. It felt like I couldn't get enough air through my mouthpiece while I was resting and that was causing my heart to race, but I ignored it. I probably need to do a better job of taking full breaths as the action progresses, but in truth, I was 100% fine and I knew that. The breath restriction mask helped a lot with mentally managing this feeling. Funnily enough, same with 20-rep squats.

As soon as round 3 started, I felt fine again, as I expected. This time, he ended up standing in one spot and telling me to hit him harder, which I did but not enough to rock him. In the moment I thought he might have been having an ego trip to show-off and didn't know he was a coach. Round 3 ended up being slower as a result of his relative inactivity.

I was a little bummed round 3 was the end. I watched the rest of the spars where the same coach went at it with two other trainees, which made sense why he had periods of energy composure with me and probably why he got hit more than I expected since he was going way more rounds. When everyone was done I did a 4-minute sesh on the heavy bag.

Hopefully I get more rounds in next time. Even though I wasn't going against a fresh combatant, I'm stoked at the changes I made with regards to aggression and landing uppercuts.

Bench press 

315 x 3

Swiss bar incline bench 

177.5 x 10

192.8 x 8

207.5 x 6

170 x 14

Lying dumbbell rows 

115s x 3 x 8

Hammer curls

50s x 10, 10

35s x 12

Super-set with banded tricep press downs

3 x 10

Made gains on bench despite shoulders and traps feeling sore. Will use the foam roller and massage gun tonight. Over the weekend I'd been using the foam roller exclusively on my back.

I'm signed up for sparring tomorrow. At the forefront of my mind will be to relax, pick quality shots vs overdoing the volume, and sink in good body shots. My sinuses have been clearer lately; hopefully I don't have trouble breathing through my nose this time.