Entry #140
Did squats at 265 lbs today. Gonna go for 275 lbs and stick with that
for a little next time, until I'm stronger. My spotter commented that I
went really deep. I've been going down as far as possible.

Meals have been going very well the past few weeks. Haven't slacked off at all.

Check out Alex Fedorov. He trains in a cemetary in Russia. His
comment on Gold's Gym: "Everyone flexes, but nobody lifts." His article
was awesome. Wow, now my profile picture looks puny with this guy on
here. Haha, cool.

                         
            
   

Entry #139J
ust did endurance training today with push-ups. Also practiced
thai kicks on the heavy bag. Gonna work on these for the August
16th throwdown.

I'm changing my schedule to go bed earlier. I need more sleep to
keep down cortisol levels. Buddies on AIM, go to bed already.
Cortisol will break down muscle tissue and lower testosterone
levels. Cortisol is like the girly-man chemical, as Arnold
would probably put
it.          

Entry #138
Did deadlifts at 275 lbs today for 7 reps. It really didn't feel any
different than 245 lbs (the highest I've been doing prior to today). No
doubt it's due to all the Dragonball Z I watched the night before. I
think I'm going to raise it to 300+ lbs next time.

Entry #137
Benched 225 lbs for 3 reps. Ryan (my spotter) did 350 lbs. I'll get him soon.

Also got a pair of 12 oz. boxing gloves. George and I can practice headshots now with these.

 

                       

Entry #136
Weighed in at 184 lbs. No fat gain.

Squats: 5 sets; 12, 10, 5, 5, 5 reps (135 lbs warm-up, 185 lbs
warm-up, 255 lbs last 3 sets) Concentrated on going down as far as
possible.

Leg press: 4 sets; 12, 8, 8, 6 reps (400 lbs warm-up, 610 lbs last three sets)

Wide-stance smith squat: 3 sets; 8, 8, 6 reps (225 lbs)

Leg extension: 4 sets; 8 reps (195 lbs)

Lying leg curl: 4 sets; 8 reps (120 lbs)

I've been doing calves on a seperate day from the rest of my legs in
order to devote better attention to them. They were still sore today
from Friday, but luckily it doesn't affect squat performance.

This was kinda funny, I was arguing with my cousin afterwards while
we were at the park having a barbeque with some other relatives. He
seemed insulted when I refused his offer to have a beer. He asked why,
it's just something to enjoy, and I told him it's nothing but junk.
"All this boy cares about is his nutrients..." he muttered. Funny
guy.

 

Entry #135
Did endurance training at the high school.

Chin-ups: 4 sets; 17, 10, 8, 8 reps

Biceps were sore from deadlift day. Might have been able to do more than 17 if I was at full strength.

Entry #134
Light chest day from the powerlifting routine with abs and calves afterwards:

Weighted crunches: 5 sets; 25, 20, 15, 12, 12 reps (2 25 lb plates on chest)

Reverse crunches: 4 sets; 12 reps

Standing calf raises: 5 sets; 15, 12, 10, 10, 10 reps (150 lbs, 210 lbs warm-up sets, 320 lbs last three sets)

Seated calf raises: 3 sets; 15, 15, 12, 12 reps (185 lbs)

Lying calf raises: 3 sets; 15 reps (400 lbs)

Also note-worthy: benching 185 lbs on light chest day now. Seems
like yesterday that I could barely bench this. Now it's used on
the light day of my program.

I was doing weighted crunches in the ab room when one of the
raquetball-player guys came in and started rolling on one of the
balls. I knew this was trouble. The guys at my gym are like sharks in a
feeding frenzy -- when one of them appears, the vibrations they
create attracts other nearby creatures. Sure enough, the room was
soon filled with old people rolling on balls. Two of them were blocking
the exit. I was surrounded, but luckily managed to escape without
conflict.

Entry #133
Deadlifts up to 245 lbs. Wanted to go more but I've never gone this high. I'll raise it slowly but surely.

Also weighed in at 181 lbs. Gained 2 lbs, none is fat.

There's a throwdown coming up on August 16 in Berkeley. George and I
will be fighting in it. George isn't having much training time
right now, but the trade-off is he's a counselor at summer camp yelling
(in Russian) at little kids. Hehe he reads them military books.

Entry #132
Benched at 225lbs for 3 reps without the aid of a spotter. He had to
help me on the fourth one, but that's 1 more than last time. Really
concentrating on using more explosive power.

I'm also thankful for the time when my spotter, Ryan,
clued me in and made me lower the bar all the way down to my chest. Up
until a few months ago I was stopping about an inch off. Yeah, he told
me by slamming the bar back down on me when I was in the middle of a
rep, but it's nice he's looking out for me. I think he just
wants me to get stronger so I don't bounce off his back all the time
when we play basketball.

Endurance training: managed only 35 push-ups on the first set. No
doubt a result of a heavy chest day. My arms felt shaky from rep 1.

Also, I am sick of fish.

Entry #131
Trained at the beach today. I punched and kicked the waves.

I'm a monkey trying to do muay thai.

Entry #130
The tae kwon do testing wasn't that great. Turns out it wasn't even the
testing. As the instructor said, it was just a "graduation". Fun to
watch, but not worth describing.

Endurance training at the high school field with George today. I managed 16 pull-ups.

I need to go to GNC to get something different than N-Large for a post-workout shake. N-Large doesn't have dextrose in it.
List:
100% pure whey protein isolate (not concentrate).
Pure dextrose
Maltodextrin

Haven't been eating enough the past few days.

Entry #129
My friend and I traded videos of us shadow-boxing so we could compare
techniques. I never realized how stiff and poor my stance is. Blame it
on being self-taught. My punches were fast and hard, but I still need
to work on more fluid combinations. I also need to work on faster
kicks. Before I kick I instinctively prepare by switching into a tae
kwon do stance. The attack can be seen coming a mile away. I need
to work on snapping a decent kick from a better stance.

I also figured while I was filming I might as well take a picture:

Entry #128
Raised the weight on several sets for squat day today.

Squats: 5 sets; 12, 10, 5, 5, 5 reps (135 lbs warm-up, 155 lbs warm-up, 245 lbs, 245 lbs, 255 lbs)

Leg Press: 4 sets; 12, 8, 8, 8 reps (400 lbs warm-up, 620 lbs remaining sets)

Wide-stance smith machine squats: 3 sets; 5 reps (225 lbs)

Leg extension: 4 sets; 8 reps (195 lbs)

Lying leg curls: 4 sets; 8 reps (120 lbs)

Flexibility stretches at home. I got much closer to the ground
in practicing splits. Heavy bag practice afterwards.. I was kind of
dizzy and my legs were feeling shaky, so I worked on conditioning my
shins and knuckles rather than practice bad form by doing
several poor rounds on it.

George invited me to come to his testing for his 3rd
degree black-belt in tae kwon do, Friday night. Gonna check it out and
perhaps post pictures of it. His tae kwon do school is
awesome. Last black-belt testing he had to spar his teacher
and two other instructors all at the same time, full contact, 3
against one. That was after the 500 push-ups they had to do in the rain
while they were waiting for their bus. If he's up to it maybe we
can do some sparring the next day. We'll see.

Entry #127
Light chest day on the powerlifting program, and added abdominals and calf exercises.

Weighted crunches: 5 sets; 25, 20, 15, 12, 12 reps (2 25 lb plates on chest)

Reverse crunches: 4 sets; 12 reps

Standing calf raises: 5 sets; 15, 12, 10, 10, 10 reps (150 lbs, 200 lbs warm-up sets, 300 lbs last three sets)

Seated calf raises: 4 sets; 15, 15, 12, 12 reps (185 lbs)

Lying calf raises: 3 sets; 15 reps (400 lbs)

At home: drills on the heavy bag. Several rounds of both punching
and kicking. Went bare-knuckle. Working on snapping my kicks harder. I
noticed while watching K-1 on ESPN, Michael McDonald never lost power
in his kicks, while his opponents legs looked slow compared to his
powerful and lightning fast snaps. Impressive. Flexibility stretches
and push-ups afterwards. Managed 40 in one set. Very low but compared
to my standards for endurance, it's an improvement considering my
muscles are fatigued from bench pressing.

Watched Dragonball Z afterwards. Seriously. It counts.

Entry #126
Deadlift day: 235 lbs at 7 reps. Dead-lifts are kinda weird. For me
they hurt at first and I'm thinking "ARGHHHHH this hurts, am I gonna be
able to do this 7 times?" But that first rep is the hardest. Afterwards
they all feel the same. So I thought it might be too much at first, but
at the end I wasn't having much trouble. I think I can go much more
than 235 lbs for 7 reps.

Currently not doing the pull-ups/chin-ups portion of my endurance
training. Need to get access to a bar. Maybe I can install one in my
garage this weekend. At least that's an area I'm fairly strong in,
compared to my push-ups.

Worked on conditioning my shins on the bag with low-kicking drills.
This will definitely help next sparring session with George, my mortal
enemy.

Entry #125
Weighed in at 177 lbs today. It seems that I'm having difficulty
getting past 180. I'm getting a lot stronger, however, and that's what
really matters to me.

Bench pressed 215 lbs today. 3 reps. I can do 235 lbs for
1 rep so it would seem I should be able to do more than just 3 with 215
lbs. Perhaps endurance work with push-ups can help in this area.

Entry #124
Squat day. Turns out I counted wrong last time: my squats were at 245
lbs, not 255. So today I raised the weight to 255 lbs. Didn't feel any
different.

Squats: 5 sets; 12, 10, 5, 5, 5 reps (135 lbs for warm-up sets, 255 lbs for last three sets)

Leg press: 4 sets; 10, 8, 8, 8 reps (300 lbs warm-up, 600 lbs last three sets)

Horizontal wide-stance leg press (smith machine was taken, couldn't
do squats on it): 2 sets; 8 reps (400 lbs -- the highest the machine
could go)

Leg extensions: 4 sets; 8 reps (180 lbs)

Leg curls: 4 sets; 8 reps (120 lbs)

In between sets I used the speed-bag. I find it helps loosens up
muscles and helps with lactic acid build-up. Hmm, that was
my excuse for practicing nunchaku, too. Hey, it's a valid
reason. I'm getting much much faster with the speed bag also,
for what it's worth (nothing). Seriously, a few weeks ago I couldn't do
more than a few hits with it; now I'm pounding it like Rocky. No wonder
Em called it "boxing mastUrbation" [edited].Ended with a short speed bag session.

Home: flexibility stretches, light kicking drills, and three rounds of shadow boxing.

Entry #123
Light chest day, but also added calves and abs at the end.

Standing calf-raises: 260 lbs, 10 reps 6 sets

Seated calf-raises: 155 lbs, 15 reps 4 sets

Leg press calf raises: 400 lbs, 15 reps 4 sets

Weighted crunches: two 25 lb plates on chest, 20 reps 5 sets

Weighted sit-ups: 25 lb plate, 25 reps, 2 sets (abs were fatigued and started using my back too much -- cut it short)

Reverse crunches: 12 reps, 4 sets

Might get to go sparring with George tomorrow, when he gets home
from camp. Will definitely check out Cung Le's school;
there's more time on the weekend.