Entry #358

I ran without hinder. My legs felt extremely capable, with little shin discomfort. This week has been a turning point in my progress. Leg conditioning opens up a plethora of training possibilities.

Entry #357

Tonight marked another return to the tennis court. The procedure of exercise is quickly becoming accustomary. The content of events, however, is not. I found it a surprisingly difficult task of evading George's punches. There were interruptive factors, such as dim lighting in the night, but returning habits of closing my eyes and losing track of the hits were aspects for myself.

I eventually warmed~up and became more comfortable in that area, but I was fighting my legs throughout the drill. They felt like lead. It's a sign of proper utilization for movement, but I should train them to more of an extent than just heavy lifting. Nevertheless, I'm making significant improvements; there was hardly a hint of cramping, something that was somewhat of an issue last session, and a cause of ending the entire day the session before that. The fact that this proceeded those exhaustive days further substantiates that.

That was only the beginning. Immediately thereafter, we practiced stance skipping across the court and back, and moved on to an exercise of one man kicking forward, and the other countering while moving back. This was also done across the court. I had to sacrifice height for proper pivoting here.

Next, we engaged in a similar drill, only the defendant would be reacting with his hands. This was less strenuous on my legs because we chose to stay in a single spot, rather than perform it across the area.

I seem to be getting more apt at anticipating. I'm aware that this can't apply to everybody, but when it came my turn to box and for George to defend, I was able to fake him out with feints to the extent that I had to hold back on them. A very deceptive move I tried out was an upper~cut immediately followed by an over~hand, and vice~versa. The latter of the two punches made contact everytime. In an actual match, this would leave my arms out and tangled should they miss, with nothing at my guard for that instant, but it is still interesting. Being able to recognize what can and cannot directly apply seems to be becoming a more natural process.

Entry #356

I went on a run to the bookstore and back. My cardio is nothing short of impressive at this point, but more noteworthy is the fact that I had less of an issue with my shins than before, despite gaining weight regularly; indeed, it was nothing that made me stop prematurely and walk the rest of the way. I attribute this to the rise in strain I've subjected them to the past few days. I'm going to train my legs to be iron.

Entry #355

George and I returned to the tennis court to finish off from where we last concluded. Once again, we practiced the evasive drill of one man attacking and the other defending.

Entry #354

George and I hiked up to Lexington and back. My shins proved painful within the first few minutes of walking (!), but I ignored it. Somewhere along the uphill terrain, the pain completely subsided. I've labeled that as "beating therapy". In retrospect, I'm satisfied with pushing through the ordeal.

Entry #353

I've added another bag to my arsenal today. It's a stand~up that offers the same functionality as a double~end. It's flimsy, but that's the price to pay for budget gear.

My diet has been consistent, but I need to intake more water.

Entry #352

George and I drilled techniques in a tennis court at the high school. It's actually a very adequate space to be left unbothered in. We began with defensive momentum drills that consisted of reacting and moving to the opposing direction of whatever the leader goes with. Text alone doesn't do justice to the extensiveness of what we did with this. George led with TKD in mind, but the value lies in the universal applicability of quick footwork.

Thereafter, it was my area to drill. I had him don the 16 oz. gloves and attack me at around 50% intensity. My role was to bob and weave. I've eradicated the habit of closing my eyes, but my movement is still far too sporadic. I managed to escape the first blow, only to lose track of where his fist concluded; from there, I'd dodge randomly in hopes of getting lucky, waiting for him to pull back and reset. It's in my best interest to keep his hands within peripheral vision, at the very least. On the other hand, I can safely say that my head movement is nothing short of fast.

I realized a flaw in this, however. Getting inside guard through dodging leaves an extremely vulnerable opponent. Instead of capitalization, the drill forces unnatural retreat. I would never back up in such a situation. We somewhat overcame this by limiting the combination length to no more than a few attacks, but this resulted in much predictability when the attacker stops the offensive. Next time, a more suitable approach would be enabling counter~attacks for the defensive man.

This session ended on my calves cramping out. It was, nonetheless, most efficient while it lasted

Entry #351

I practiced forms today. Prior to anything, I'm beginning with sets of dynamic stretches, taken off of trickstutorials.com. They are aiding greatly in hip flexor flexibility. Next, I set~up a few light plates on a barbell, and worked on posture for snatches. My feet seem to land at odd angles, so I'll keep drilling this before I actually encorporate it into a routine. In fact, I plan on setting aside some time for training in forms on various lifts everyday.

Another simply involved sitting on a low curb for extended periods of time in such so that squatting low becomes second~nature. I also tried doing this on flat ground with my back propped up against a wall, but it seemed to put unneeded amounts of pressure on my shins, whereas squatting that low in actuality only has weight on them for a second or two, if that.

Entry #350

My diet consistency has dropped. I've been eating only five meals a day for the last two days. My brain seems to crash and loses motivation trying to eat so much everyday. I must ignore this and make it as natural a habit as brushing my teeth and taking a shower.

Entry #349

I lifted with a group of old school acquaintances. I went in with intent of keeping out of any socialities. One asked me if I was going to max out, and I decided that since I agreed to train with them, I should abide by what they were planning on doing. Despite having done ME day on the same area two days prior, I incrementally increased the weights until I was benching 255 lbs. My shoulders didn't hurt to the point that it hindered performance, but I was beginning to feel the price for my incompetence in doing this. Still, I felt that I was going strong, so I continued on to attempt to overhead press 75 lb. dumbbells. After struggle to even throw the load above me, I barely managed 1 repetition in a lift that I did an easy 8 of just a few days earlier. Upon that, I came to my senses and thereby decided to end the session then and there.

I had a thought~provoking walk home thereafter in the dark.

Entry #348

ME Upper~body

I trained hungry. My blood sugar levels were low enough to the point that I was unable to keep my hands from shaking. Potential wasn't fully realized. My diet needs to be more methodical.

Bench press: 7 sets; 20, 20, 12, 8, 4, 3, 3 reps (45, 45, 135, 185, 225, 235, 245 lbs.)
The weight felt light over me, but I wasn't in my best condition, so I decided not to proceed.

Overhead dumbbell press: 3 sets; 15, 6, 6 reps (25, 75, 70 lb. dumbbells)
The first set is light to stimulate and warm-up deltoid involvement.

T~bar row: 5 sets; 12, 10, 10, 10, 10 reps (95, 95, 85, 70, 45 lbs.)
My muscular endurance utterly gives out on this under the alloted time of rest (two minutes). However, my form and ROM was impeccable.

Bent~over alternating lateral raises: 3 sets; 12, 15, 12 reps (35, 30, 30 lb. dumbbells)

Abdominal circuit

Entry #347

DE Upperbody

My shoulders hurt during incline bench. I lowered the weight too quickly, and stopping that sort of momentum focused the load all at once on them. I have to keep it more controlled next time.

I played basketball with Ryan afterwards. My cardio level was nothing short of impressive, but I'm wholly uncoordinated.

Entry #346

DE Lowerbody

The gym was closed for the holiday, so I utilized the limited equipment in my backyard.

I did dumbbell snatches instead of squats. The form was awkward, but I had it down by set 4.

Entry #345

ME Upperbody

I went into this session with painfully sore triceps lingering from Friday, and I still made gains.

Expectations weren't high, and I approached the bench press with caution, but I managed 245 lbs. for three reps with little difficulty. I could have gone for four or even five reps, or I could have gone back to 255 for three reps, but I'm training with a more cautious philosophy in mind. I believe that gradual progression on the load throughout the sets is key. Rather than jump from 225 to 255, I raised the weight in increments of 10 lbs., from 225 to 235 to 245, to become accustomed to the stress. Next week holds great potential.

Ryan was in the room, and he jovially yelled at me to "smack on the quarters" (275). A year ago, I would have listened to my ego. Instead, I told him that I'm not at 100%, so I'm being careful, and that I have no interest in maxing today.

I used the 70 lb. dumbbells for overhead press, and 8 reps posed no trouble for the first set. I made extra effort to ensure achieving a deep ROM, lowering the iron so that they were actually touching my shoulders on the eccentric portion of the lift. Subsequently thereafter, my arms started to feel like lead, and my reps drastically decreased; I heaved out 3 by the last set. I suspect this is a matter of sore arms. The weight felt light, but my muscles simply died.

My back is still stiff, but these relaxed stretches I've added to the usual routine that I've been doing in my room help some. My spine is arched a lot from the form that lifting entails, so anything that counters that and rounds my back feels beneficial. I kneel down on my knees on the floor in front of my bed, and rest my upper~half on the mattress, keeping myself occupied with a book or a Game Boy. Simple, but effective, at least in feeling.

Diet is going well. I started taking weightgainer today, for breakfast. Twelve eggs daily isn't feasible. I'll still consume those occasionally, though.

Entry #344

I'm going to be doing the latter half of Workout #1 off of trainforstrength.com for lower~body training, until my back is more capable.

Today's bodyweight session, however, suffered no dearth of intensity. I couldn't walk afterwards.

Endurance training is a foreign method for me. It sets my strength gains back about two years, to the point of them feeling negligible. I would be lying if I said that it discourages me, though. I'd like to work on this, not that I have much of a choice at this point.

Stretching is essential in these circumstances. My back was so stiff that touching my toes posed difficulty. I'll just have to keep this up.

Diet consistency is second~nature. I haven't wavered under six meals in months. However, portion sizing remains to be perfect.

Entry #343

End hiatus.

Today's session was productive, but discreet.

Incline bench was the choice for the RE lift, and I greatly overestimated my ability (which is a feat in and of itself). 135 lbs. posed difficulty for six reps. To be fair, I've done 215 lbs. with no issues for the same amount, with three minutes of recuperation between each set. The sixty second rest here makes a significant difference.

Disappointing, but that's the point of training in it.

I otherwise felt capable. I seem to be able to do no wrong with dumbbell lifts.

I started loading on creatine today. Water intake is through the roof.

Entry #342

Today's session was essentially a repeat of one week ago. My back went out mid~set on box squats. This time, I substituted with bodyweight ones.

Entry #341

ME Upper~body

Tri's were feeling sore from the prior week; consequently, my bench suffered.

DB military was good, though. Managed 70 lb. dumbbells for 7 reps.

Entry #340

Injured my shoulder on speed bench. I took it relatively easy for the remainder of the session. Must remember to warm~up thoroughly.

Entry #339

I went on a run, half~way to Lexington, and my shins got hell for it. I'll have to entail more variety of cardiovascular exertion, until I feel adjusted. 

The remainder of packages arrived today; I will be hereby starting back up on creatine.

Entry #338

DE Lower~body

My back was feeling stiff to the point that it hindered training. Luckily, this is a flexible program, so there was no shortage of substitutes to utilize.

> Box~jumps replaced box~squats.

> Leg~curls replaced Romanian deadlifts.

> Weighted crunches were done on an exercise ball, rather than a decline bench.

The exercise ball was actually more intuitive than I expected; my back actually felt much better on it. I still believe that the nature of it provides momentum, defeating intents at an adequately controlled ROM, but I've deemed it invaluable under these circumstances.

I set another precedent with designated grip training, through plate pinches. Those proved deceptively difficult.

Prior to the gym session, my weight read at 202 lbs., meaning I've maintained for the past few~weeks. It's the heaviest I've been while cycled off of creatine, which I haven't taken in two months.

Stretches were a relief in the evening. These will be daily procedure.

Entry #337

Have settled on a slight alteration of previous program, in order to avoid training with ORM's.

Day 1~Max effort Upperbody
A. MAX-EFFORT LIFT (ME)~ Work up to a max set of 3-5 reps.
Pick any and use for 1~3 weeks:
Bench Press, CG Bench, 2 Board Bench, Floor Press, Incline

B. SUPPLEMENTAL LIFT~Perform 3-4 sets of 6-10 reps.
Pick any and use for 3 weeks:
DB Bench, CG DB Bench, DB Incline, DB Military

C. HORIZONTAL ROW~Perform 5 sets of 10-15 reps.
Pick any and use for 3 weeks:
Bent-over barbell rows, DB Rows, Rev Grip Bent-over rows

D. REAR DELT/UPPER BACK~Perform 2-3 sets of 12-15 reps.
Pick any:
Bent-over dumbbell rear delt flyes, seated DB "Cleans"

E. ABDOMINAL CIRCUIT TRAINING~Perform 2-3 Sets.
Just pick a variety of ab exercises and perform them in circuit fashion with no rest between exercises.

Day 2~Dynamic Lower Body

A.
DYNAMIC EFFORT LIFT ~Several Sets of Low Reps, with Low Weight. These
lifts should be done with as great of speed as possible. This will help
build explosiveness. Use wave loading for weights on lifts for 3 week
minicycles (week 1~50% 1rm, week 2~55% 1rm, week 3~60% 1rm).
Perform 6~10 sets of 2-3 reps.
Pick any and use for 3 weeks:
Box Squat, Speed Squat, Speed Pulls, Power Clean, Snatch, Box Jumps (no weight)

B. HAMSTRING / POSTERIOR CHAIN MOVEMENT~Perform 4~5 sets of 6~10 reps.
Pick any and use for 3 weeks:
Romanian deadlifts, GHR, Ball Leg Curl, Reverse Hyper, Good Morning, Pull through, DB Swings

C. WEIGHTED ABDOMINAL EXERCISE~5 sets of 8~15 reps.
Not really too much you can do with this one. Just do some weighted crunches. If you can hang from a bar, do hanging leg raises.

D. GRIP TRAINING~Perform 3 sets of timed sets of 30 seconds
Plate pinching, Hex DB Holds

Day 3~Repitition/Dynamic upper body

A1.
REPETITION EFFORT LIFT (RE)~Work up to 3 sets of max reps, rest 60
seconds between sets. use 50% 1RM for lifts and record total reps, and
try to break record every week.
Pick any and use for 3 weeks:
Bench Press, Incline, Regular push-ups (no weight), bar push-ups or suspended chain push-ups (no weight), Dips

A2.
DYNAMIC EFFORT LIFT (DE)~Alternate RE and DE lifting in 3 week cycles.
These lifts should be done with as great of speed as possible. This
will help build explosiveness. Use a constant wave loading for 3 week
mini cycles (week 1,2,3~50% 1rm).
Perform 6~8 sets of 3 reps.
Pick any and use for 3 weeks:
Speed Bench, Push Press

B. SUPPLEMENTAL LIFT (triceps)~Perform 4~5 sets of 5~10 reps.
Pick any and use for 3 weeks:
Dips, Dumbbell triceps extensions (flat, incline or decline bench), barbell tricep extension

C. VERTICAL PULLING~Perform 5 sets of 8~12 reps.
Pick any and use for 3 weeks:
Chin~ups, Pull~ups, Lat Pulldown, CG Pulldown

D. DELT or TRAP EXERCISE~Perform 3 sets of 10~15 reps.
Pick any:
Barbell or dumbbell shrugs, Front or Side Raises

Day 4~Max effort lower body

A. MAX~EFFORT LIFT~Work up to a max set of 5 reps.
Pick
any and use for 1~3 weeks: Straight bar deadlifts (conventional, sumo,
snatch grip, standing on blocks/weight plates, weights off of weight
plates), Box Squat, Front Squat, Squat

B. UNILATERAL MOVEMENT~Perform 3 sets of 8~15 reps.
Pick any and use for 3 weeks:
Walking lunges, DB SL Squat BFE, DB SL Split squat, step ups

C. HAMSTRING / POSTERIOR CHAIN MOVEMENT~Perform 3 sets of 6~10 reps.
Romanian deadlifts, GHR, Ball Leg Curl, Reverse Hyper, Good Morning, Pull through, DB Swings
D. WEIGHTED ABDOMINAL EXERCISE~5 sets of 8~15 reps.
Not really too much you can do with this one. Just do some weighted crunches. If you can hang from a bar, do hanging leg raises.

First day went in accordance. Bench press has dropped by 20 lbs., however; I was able to manage 235 lbs. for three reps. I don't expect this to be much of a platueau, if any.

Came across Jeff working at the front desk, with whom I had had plans set~up for a fight. He expressed interest in regular training sessions. I'll have to check the Academy for possible open~gym periods.

Lower~back feels extremely stiff, so I'm setting aside ample time for extensive static initiatives for it.

Entry #336

Packages came, at last. Will be resuming previous WS template tomorrow.

Diet has been thoroughly consistent.

Entry #335

The last few days have largely consisted of conditioning work. Once I recieve the necessary supplements in the mail, I'll resume my original powerlifting routine, but with the order altered so that the two max~effort days aren't back to back.

Also recieved hand wraps in the mail, which I'll be using from now on for bag work.

Entry #334

Went on a run to buy some groceries. My breathing rate hardly changed throughout the entire way. Cardio's at a great level right now.

Details for the bout coming soon. Now, I'm unsure as to whether he wants to actually fight, or to spar, or to simply train.

Entry #333

Spent the majority of the day working the bag.

Entry #332

Shadow~boxing and bag work. No organized structure. Tremendous gains on form on all~fronts; it feels like I have progressed more in the last few months than I have in the prior two years combined (since I first recieved a heavy~bag).

I'm currently in the process of getting a potential fight happening. I want to test what I've been working on.

Entry #331

Bag work:

I've become a lot more comfortable standing and hitting with the left side leading. The exception would be any type of kick; those remain precarious. But the left jab feels like a piston firing. Interestingly enough, I'm more comfortable with left hooks. Straight on the right from southpaw is stronger than the left counterpart, however. I'm all over the place, but I don't see that as a negative aspect.

Worked the peek~a~boo stance, and I really need to get some wraps for my wrists. All those hooks are taking their toll.

Went for a brief run in the rain later at night.

Entry #330

Relatively easy week. More or less a resting a period, with some shadow boxing here and there.

Need to get way more sleep. Only reason I ever stay up late is to eat, so consequently, I need to learn to eat faster. Breakfast takes well over an hour (mostly because I hate eggs, though). Really need to practice this.

Entry #329

Bodybuilding day. Seemed to have drastically dropped gains in bench press, but I was running on little sleep, not to mention a shorter resting period. Only managed 225 lbs four times (no spotter). This situation will be established next week; I'll be resuming powerlifting.  This bodybuilding attempt has been constantly interrupted by injury after injury and I can't afford to wait any longer. Perhaps I'm to blame. This was supposed to be a sort of rehabilitation period coming off of the extreme loads, but I ended up training even harder than before. Speaking of injuries, I hurt my shoulder today. At least it's not the rotator cuff again.

Ran to the track at night to jump~rope, but there was a game going on.

Diet was one thing that went well. I ate until puking point. Must keep the nutrition coming; I can't fall further behind on injuries.

Breakfast:

10 egg whites
2 whole eggs
6 small tomatoes
8 slices of salami
2 waffles with butter and syrup
2 slices of wheat toast
1 cup of milk
1 multi-vitamin

I think I'll continue eating like that, and save the weightgainer (which I have chosen not to use thus far) for another part of the day.

Entry #328

Completed a bodyweight session for quads and hammies. The focus here was muscle endurance, with thirty second rests in between sets. Was strong on hindu squats, but my legs gave out on bootstrappers. Still completed it with just a slight decrease in repetition quantity.

Bag training:

Experimented with peek~a~boo stance. Projected great power like this. Upon leaving, there was a large indentation left in the bag. It just feels more natural to have my hands in even space. I don't think this is something I'd want to start with, however.

Entry #327

The sparring match is off. He said his leg's bad, and today he left for L.A.

Ran to the track at night and mixed shadow~boxing with jumping rope. I stayed from southpaw stance. My left has improved substantially. Jabs with this arm were snappy and coordinated. At this point, I'm about equally comfortable with conventional and southpaw.

Really need to work more with the jump~rope.

Entry #326

Year two of this training journal. I'm not going to post and compare my lifting progress annually anymore as it's redundant, since I make note of gains to the day.

One attribute worthy of mention is how I've come to train with preperation of an actual opponent in mind. Before, I would simply do cardio to raise my stamina, lift heavier weight to get stronger, and hit the bag to get practice on form. Everything was simple and seen in a black and white view; if I lost at something, it meant I didn't spend enough time on it. It was a matter of quantity and not quality, but now there's much more to training; I actually take into consideration a particular style of how I go about this. For example, I've never utilized uppercuts in fighting with George. Today, I practiced a strategy of playing the distance game with jabs and front kicks, and then rushing inside with something that he's not expecting while he's comfortably fighting in the area that he's used to. He can't backpedal faster than I can go forward. Of course, if the opponent had the same thing in mind and planned on also coming in to confuse me, it'd be fine because what I trained for was just the means to get to this position anyways and I was obviously already prepared for it.

Basically, it just shows how more thought goes into this compared to before, when a plan against someone would be to the extent of, "I'll run more so I don't get tired."  This is what happened when I boxed Marty (10/15/04, see entry #11).

Speaking of boxing, I've been breathing it the last few days. Today I spent all of my leisure time analyzing old Marciano videos.

Entry #325

May have sustained more damage from Friday that I thought. Shins felt sore during jump~roping.

That preceded shadow fighting. As mentioned before, I need to warm~up smarter. In practicing this I focused on snapping and pulling back whatever attack I threw. Didn't throw anything big; instead I worked on tools to chisel away and pick at an opponent, like jabs and fronts. This is specifically for my final match with George before he leaves for L.A. I'm already well~off while inside; now, I need to be able to fight from a distance if rushing in isn't an option.

Also opting out of resistance training for the first half of this week in order to be up to par.

Entry #324

Sparring:

Took place at Fisher. Concrete ground. Sparring gear was rather uneven. 4 oz. gloves on both of us, but he got the shinguards and mouthpiece.

Injured back (reason for the hiatus) was feeling better by approximately 95%, more or less. Just some small discomfort during warm~up stretches.

Contemplated on an orthodox stance, but ultimately went with comfort and fought south~paw. First round went great, technique~wise. Agreed to go at 50%. I intended to start off more aggressive rather than waiting to counter, but he telegraphed his first kick so early that I took that instead. Grabbed it and got him in right in the chin. Kept him at bay with muay thai front kicks. I was excellent in utilizing these. The bagwork has payed off.

Second round was hard~contact. I gained the upper~hand on pure power alone. The exception were the front~kicks again. These were being pulled off nearly as proficiently as my jab. He anticipated my boxing and kept his hands glued high, which left numerous opportunities for body kicks. Also made use of knees. These worked well in both getting his hands to drop and in blocking, although the advantage I'd normally have in my knee hitting his shin was moot with his shinguards. Still proved effective because he'd be trying to gauge his distance with a kick, and I'd negate whatever he was doing by charging in with a knee. If he pulled one off I'd usually manage to grab it and nail him in the head. I don't know why I stopped making a conscious effort to do this the last few years, but it works. This eventually backfired because I got in the habit of dropping my hands to grab him when he kicked, and if I missed I'd be rendered completely open, which he was more than happy to capitalize on. Got me in the eye this way, which I shook off but felt foolish for falling for. What I should have done was knee the low ones instead of reaching out. Guard must never drop like that.

Killed myself in the third~round. At this point we seemed to unconsciously shy back to what we knew best: he kicked, and I boxed. I was at a severe reach advantage here; I spent most of the time chasing after him (at no expense to his integrity; it worked on his part). I'd rush forward, see him back off, stop myself, and wait for him to return. Again, this was to my disadvantage because of the reach (if this was a ring, I'd have cornered him, but this was open ground). In one kick, I made a grab for it and then stopped myself at the last moment to keep my guard up and knee. This essentially left my open hands a free target for him to hit in my moment of relapse, and my fingers took the full punishment. Didn't even feel it during the round so I continued with no second thought. I did realize how predictable I was getting, however, so instead of stopping in exasperation and waiting for him, I ran forward and caught him with a straight in the jaw. Didn't follow up with anything, though. This holds true in general. I have a bad habit of letting the other guy fall back and gather himself before moving in, in some unfortunate form of chivalry (and despite all of my work in coherent combinations).

In overview, I'm my own worst adversary. My sloppy technique seems to get more and more glaringly apparent the stronger I get. Didn't get hit by any big shots, but I've got more than one sore appendage at the expense of poor form (i.e., accidentally blocking with my fingers, stubbing my toe). I can safely come to this conclusion in seeing him with a bloody mouth (with a mouthguard), but my fingers and toes gnarled like an old man's. My method has a lot of catching up to do with my power.

Also note: eat earlier before a spar. Was struggling not to puke by the end.

Entry #323

Replaced resistance day for lower body with bodyweight drills due to lingering throe in my back. Barbell squats require too much stability from the back for comfort in this condition. Felt extremely light on my toes with shootfighters, though legs felt shaky after a few sets from the unfamiliar rep range.

At this point I'm most comfortable with the brief, burst movement that powerlifting entails. I wonder how much of an influence this has on my style of fighting. My guess would be little. My contention with muscle endurance seems to be specific enough to not be much of an issue; I feel like I can go all day in sparring and bag training, just not these exercises. Food for thought.

Attempt for the following set of boot~strappers resulted in increased back pain, so I cut it short. I'm stretching in the evening to relieve this.

Shadowboxing and bag~work are currently on hold.

Entry #322

Super~sets are proving more than adequate for endurance work. Forced me to go lower on some sets, however, but I'm recovering faster than ever.

Hurt my back somehow. Remember to warm~up before going all out in shadowboxing.

Entry #321

Bare~knuckled the heavy bag. Made huge progress on maintaining form. My
wrists didn't bend at all  in the later rounds. Ironically enough, safe
form means I'm punching harder so I drew a lot of blood. Stayed with
the familiar stance today.

I've also just realized that I'm a right~handed southpaw.

Entry #320

Tris are still sore from the pushups...from Tuesday. Amazing. My endurance needs the most improvement, however. My arms fatigued easily on the speedbag today.

Otherwise, I made good gains. 70 lb dumbbells on overhead press felt light.

Entry #319

Performed Workout #1 from www.trainforstrength.com
Completed it with little difficulty. Last time I was unable to complete the push~ups pyramid.
I'm reaping the benefits of endurance training. I might have this replace the bodybuilding routine for the following week. Most likely I'll just alternate from one to the other before going back to powerlifting.

Did some experimenting in shadowboxing today with a peek~a~boo stance. I'm not going to attempt to practice with it until I can officially get coached, but just from trying it feels so much more natural to me than what I've already learned. The tight guard feels awesome. Must check out the gym this weekend. I'll have struck gold if I can run to it.

Found a boxing gym near me. It's closer than AKA is. Might be within running distance.

I can't stand straight. I tried to box and I just fell down.

Entry #316

Have been steadily increasing calorie intake. I'm going to manage by without weightgainer for another week or two.

New split is 100% bodybuilding. It'll be on the menu for just a few weeks, however. Entirely custom~made.

Monday: Quads/Glutes/Calves
Tuesday: Chest/Lats/Traps/Forearms
Wednesday: Delts/Calves/Abs
Thursday: Lower back/Hamstrings
Friday: Triceps/Biceps/Forearms
Saturday: Delts/Traps/Calves/Abs
Sunday: Rest

High volume stuff, but I've been resting for this. There's also no pre~set routine. I'll be relying on experience and intuition. This encourages the variety and shock that bodybuilding entails. Squats, deadlifts, and bench are all in still.

Will continue bag~work as normal. I'm trying to look up the aforementioned MMA guy for AKA.

Entry #315

Taking a few days off while I devise a new routine. It's going to be bodybuilding~oriented in order to give my system a break from maxing out multiple times a week. Last time I tried this I made tremendous gains (January '06, ECO training).

Shoulder is feeling better so I can probably resume boxing~work with no problems.

Entry ##314

End cutting phase.

Currently at 192 lbs, which is 20 lbs less than what I was in April.

Pics:

Cut short again. Shoulder problems.

Entry #313

ME lower~body

Was extremely careful coming in. Had an extensive warm~up with the exercise bike.

Felt a small pain in left leg joint going down on third set of squat. I repeated the same weight for another and the problem remained. I took no chances; reracked the bar from there. Still, it was much better than last time. Should have no problems next week at this rate, and with the extra DE training days.

Instead switched over to heavy lunges with 105's for dumbbells, and had no problems. Made gains on this.

Entry #312

Cardio day. HIIT in the morning on the track, jumprope later at night. Conditioning is excellent.

Entry #311

Internet was down; unable to record yesterday.

Saturday, August 5, 2006

DE upperbody

I've lost 12 lbs and am down to 195.

Also began reloading phase on creatine mono.

Speedbag for warm~up. Three rounds of it mixed in between the initial sets of the first lift for endurance purposes.

Continued on with ten sets of speedbench. 185 felt oddly heavy, but I was rather sore. Made a point of bringing the bar down lower; instinctively it comes down to my chest. Blame bodybuilding.

Went heavy on everything else. No drop in gains here.

Found a new recruit for the AKA. I knew the guy working at Taco Bell when I walked there later at night. He asked me about training and made mention of how he wants to join there. He said he's excited because he just got his new car, too. Still, it'll only work if it's offered to me; I'm not going to impose myself on his convenience by getting a ride from him everytime. Same goes for George and the other dude (who never got back to me). If I can somehow organize all of this to work, though, I'll have some awesome training partners.

Entry #310

DE lowerbody

Making a point of not missing out on these.  Box squats work, in regards to both assisting heavy lifts and as AR. Started out stiff, but felt strong by the end.

Did Romanians for back work with 225. The form is tricky; should practice on a clear bar at home. It's worth the trouble because they're better than extensions for building hammies.

As with box squats, shrugs were tough to get into. Probably harder than before because of the DL's, but by the end I was repping 'till I saw red. Loaded the bar with 365 lbs. Great carryover for grip.

Worked on some easy knees and combinations at home, more for the sake of stretching out than anything else.

Entry #309

ME lowerbody

Cut short in a matter of sets. I pulled a muscle on squats. I was having trouble with 285 (!), and on rep one of set two I felt a sharp pain in my thigh. Reracked it and had a long, thoughtful walk home.

There's literally some new obstacle or injury every week now. This is fucking war.

Entry #308

Took a week off due to my back. Never do half~assed deadlifts.

In a state of comtemplation. I'm considering switching over to bodybuilding routines for a few weeks for the sake of refreshment. The most significant strength gains I've experienced occurred the last time I tried this.

Rose early today for cardio and conditioning continues to improve. Ran to the highschool, did laps around the track (doing HIIT on the final), and ran home with little fatigue and only short rests between.

Entry #307

Still haven't heard back from the friend who expressed interest in the AKA.

Worked on knees today.

Entry #306

Was sore from hiking, and my deadlift suffered. Somehow this must have caused me to use more back and less legs; afterwards my back was so sore that I couldn't do crunches. Fucked my entire day.

Entry #305

Just went on a long uphill hike with George today. Got a good workout for my legs.

Bodyfat is way low. As long as I make strength gains, it doesn't matter. I could probably start bulking now, but I want to condition further.

Entry #304

ME upper~body

Continued on with floor presses. The movement still feels awkward. 275 lbs didn't feel like much. Probably could have gone for more than just singles with that weight. Hopefully this carries over.

Pullups were much easier, probably due in part to losing weight. Widened the grip to compensate. I should start to look towards adding resistance on them.

Went hiking on a trail with George. Killed my legs. I was still sore from yesterday.

Entry #303

Beginning reloading phase of creatine mono.

ME lower~body:

Made gains despite losing weight. Deadlifted 365 lbs for triples and 395 lbs for multiple sets of singles. Grip was tighter than previous efforts and there was no failure because of it. Shrugs pay off.

Also started bringing protein concoction to the gym and mixing it immediately after. I really don't need to use the blender.

Entry #302

Jogged to the track and did four laps of moderate interval training. Couldn't help but notice how much faster my default jogging speed is than everyone else on the track. Legs held out fine. Jogged home afterwards.

Evening, ran from George's house and commenced with jump-rope circuit at home.

Conditioning is at an excellent level.

Entry #301

DE upper-body

Down to an even 200 lbs.

Began with a speed~bag warm~up. Reduced the rests in between sets of speed bench and continued to integrate bag work alongside. I figure it's a good opportunity to train for muscle endurance, in stark contrast to ME days. Increased the weight on several sets even, despite the weight loss.

Jumprope circuit later at night. Kept tripping up over it, for some reason.

2:32 AM
It's worse tonight. I went along with the pain and shadowboxed with it to build up pain tolerance. Still need to see a doctor.

3:00 AM
Just woke up. My stomach is cramped so bad that it's hard to breathe. I came on here to wait for it to pass; I think I'll have to go to the doctor early today so I can train after. It's been bad the last few days, but never this severe.

Entry #298

Sparred in the park.

Started off with heavy-contact. Shoulders were sore from lifting on the previous day, but I did an extremely consistant job of keeping the hands up. Felt like I could throw jabs all day. Did excellent in working them into combinations.

Kicks were abysmal. The power is there, but a moving opponent throws me off, admittedly. More than once I connected with my toes to an undesired location. At least I have the mechanics of it improved, but I'm looking forward to more work on them with actual humans. I need to anticipate and aim, not just recollect bag drills. Oddly enough, this isn't as significant an issue in regards to handwork.

Also did an exceptional job of bobbing and weaving. No idea where I picked this up. I've always just parried, but the smaller glove size made that and covering~up more difficult. George noticed this as well; consequently, he wanted to focus on that. We did a drill of me going for his head and him defending. I didn't want stay with this for too long because it didn't allow him a chance to defend via any sort of counter.

Calves cramped out before long. I brushed it off as nothing, we reset the timer, I attempted initiation with a roundhouse, and instead fell down before even getting halfway, unable to move my left leg. I encouraged George to keep coming, but he wouldn't have it. I fucking hate being weak.

Notes:
> Stay loose. Don't flex while fighting.
> Don't shift weight onto back leg so much.
> Don't telegraph kicks by changing stance. Just use whatever the situation calls for.
> Use more hooks. Got too comfortable with jab~jab~straight.

Entry #297

ME upper-body

Started floor-presses. The weight is basically what I bench. I need to get used to the coordination of it; had difficulty keeping shoulder blades pinched without having my legs extended to stretch my body out, as it would on bench press.

Have been using the speed-bag and the standing-bag for warm-up as of late. Knuckles are raw and cut from going bareknuckle so often, but the bag is soft compared to what I've got at home, so it's just skin breaking. .

Found a possible sparring partner. He's a competitive MMA'er with primarily BJJ in his arsenal, in stark contrast to my situation. We'd go hand in hand. I'm also lending him the AKA address, so if he's close I can maybe get a ride with him to the center, but I don't want to impose myself.

Jump-roping in the evening. Didn't aggravate my shin.

Entry #296

DE upper-body

Mixed in standing bag rounds with speed bench today. Momentum mechanics stayed consistant; endurance seems to be improving. It's getting easier and easier to go through fatigue and to keep my hands up throughout training. Shin is still in a bad state, but the soft wimpy gym bag allowed me to mix in kicks.

Also went to George's TKD black-belt testing, second degree. Regardless of my thoughts on the 4-on-1 sparring, the conditioning involved was impressive.

Entry #295

DE lower-body

Box squats killed my right shin. Walking with a limp now. Barbell shrugs were awesome, though. Hands felt like vice-grips. 365 lbs for ten reps felt like nothing, but was using a mixed grip. Hopefully, this transfers over to deadlifts.

Entry #294

ME upper-body

Left tricep was excruciatingly and unevenly sore for some reason. Consequently, was unable to bench straight. Had to nix the entire push portion of the session.

Also attempted some easy sets of floor press in the squat rack to drill the form down for next week. Got a headache from having my head press into the ground. Otherwise is a good situation for training, however, considering how desolate the rack room usually is.

The safety bars don't go down low enough in the rack to enable a full ROM (with elbows contacting the floor). Looks like I'm going without them.

Did a jump-rope circuit in the evening.

Entry #293

Finally back in the gym. DE upper-body day. Supplemented speed bench with speed bag mixed with standing bag rounds in-between five of the ten sets. Coordination and speed is good enough so that speed bag can be used as continuous cardio in and of itself. Used 50 lb dumbbells for skull-crushers, but the aforementioned bag work took a toll on endurance for tricep training.

Eating was big today. Lots of calories and fat.

Entry #292

Extensive static stretches in the AM. Opted to skip out on DE day for my leg's sake. Tomorrow should go as planned. No difficulties with jump roping in the late hours.

Diet has been extremely consistent.

Entry #291

Went on a run after a few days of rest. No problems from shins, and cardio held out the entire way. Shoulder is also better. Nevertheless, I intentionally skipped ME days for this week.

Entry #290

Bad case of shin~splints. Have been taking the week off, save for Tuesday. Squat number was down by a lot, likely in due part to the aforementioned injury and burned out CNS. Will still keep up boxing drills, but no thai kicks. Shoulder has also been acting up, though it's the other side this time. Things should even out by next week.

Entry #289

DE upper-body:
Decreased rest period in-between sets of speed bench. Would have liked to do speed-bag transitions, but the bag was flat. Could make a point of instead using the punching bag instead next time, but fatigue usually sets in if I bench immediately after working that. Still, this may actually be something to continue working on.

Cardio circuit:
Jump-rope run late at night. Technique in it isn't good enough so that it's as continuous a motion as running is, but the dynamics of it are more applicable to fighting. It's also easier on the joints.

Entry #288

DE lower-body
Continued training under two plates for box squats. Becoming more proficient with explosive concentric movement, but there is still a subsequent pause at the bottom. Awesome as to what extent flexibility is being incorporated into this movement, nevertheless.

Been using the Playstation 2 Eyetoy for some easy cardio on rest-days.

Entry #287

ME upper-body:
Consecutively advanced weight on bench singles. 275 proved to be no problem without a spotter, but form was off 10 lbs later. Should practice the technique at home on a free bar. Also need to work on faster eccentric phase while maintaining control. Several alterations this week: close-grip bench currently posing as my replacement for dips, and seperate deltoid movements being given more emphasis. When time is low, thus should be my priorities; curls come last. Will incorporate this sort of philosophy from now on, rather than follow the order strictly by what's written.

Analysis of MT drills:
Introduced a brief warm-up session via dynamic stretching methods, taken from trickstutorials.com.
> Followed up with 50 right roundhouses.
Felt much improved due to the prior stretching. No strain in hip flexors.
> 50 left roundhouses.
Couple instances of sloppy foot positioning upon lift-off; back leg would tweak for compensation of impact. Need to enforce a solid base.
> 50 right straights.
Fatigue in shoulder, most likely  result from today's lifting split. Excellent maintenance in power despite this.
> 50 left straights.
Still feels awkward from this position. Need to get this fixed with proper instructioning.

Analysis of heavybag rounds:
> 5 rounds of MT,  3 minutes each, 4 oz. gloves.
More shoulder fatigue, but if anything this forced me to lower my chin to compensate in order to get it behind my drooping hands. A testament to how instinctive protecting my chin has become.
> 3 rounds of MT, 1 minute each, bare-knuckle.
Noticeable improvement in fist conditioning. Little loss of power between the transition from gloves to bare. Was having trouble getting used to the lack of support, however; warped my wrist on more occasions than one.

Finished off with 10 minutes of jump-rope.

Entry #286

ME lower-body:
Regained lost strength. Can most likely attribute this to rejuvenated CNS via better sleep and consistency with DE days. Also have the advantage of creatine loading. Depth on squat was lower than ever; consequently, 365 on single still proved to be too much.

Entry #285

Synopsis of bagwork:
50 right roundhouses
50 left roundhouses
50 right straights
50 left straights
> Reiterating moves like this is helping to erradicate sloppy habits, especially "wrist~warping". Should expand upon these drills. Better warm-up is desirable as well, perhaps via dynamics.

2 full~purpose rounds, 4 oz. gloves
> Running into some trouble effectively incoporating straight-kicks here; in fact, too much telegraphing on kicks in general. Might need to adjust my stance/footwork. In the case of straights, however, chances are the (relatively) stationary nature of the heavy bag is to blame; this is something that needs room, and should in fact be used during the distance game. In this instance, it shouldn't be unrealistic to back off and work it from there.
Contrarily, jabs felt awesome. Great snap into them, without sacrificing power.

Entry #284

Box squats went well. Removed a plate, with little difficulty. In all that makes the flat box with two plates stacked on it. Flexibility is great. Wanted to do Romanians after that, but after a set I realized that I was rounding my back. I'm opting out of them until I get the form right. Also, tore the callouses off my hands doing barbell shrugs. This should do the trick for my grip.

Entry #283
Bench max dropped, but the subsequent reps prior to that were satisfactory. Benched 255 for three reps, with enough gas for a fourth. Also was forced nixed weighted dips for close-grip bench press; didn't want to take chances on my injury.

Cardio in the evening consisted of warm-up drills followed by three heavy bag rounds. Need to stop getting lazy in later rounds and letting my wrist limp on contact.

Entry #282
Weight dropped -- along with my squat number. Need to get more sleep. Beginning reload on creatine.

Entry #281
Vastly improved bench press form today. Kept elbows drawn in and shoulder blades pinched back, and altered the positioning of my feet in more of a powerlifter style.

Pain in chest was as prevalent as ever upon a cautious attempt at bodyweight dips. Should go and get it checked out.

Seeing noticeable improvements in heavy bag form, but I'm in serious need of human training. I need to work out some other plan for the Academy. I can't grow like this.

Entry #280
Changed up the lifts for ME upper-body. Used the 105 lb dumbbells on dumbbell press for six deep reps. Amazing how light these feel after months of bench maxing. However, was unable to do weighted dips due to my chest, to much dismay. I'll give it another week.

Another satisfying cardio session:
50 right roundhouses
50 left roundhouses
50 right straights
50 left straights
6 three minute rounds of stand-up on the bag, 45 second rests in between, using 4 oz. gloves (one more over last week)
2 one minute rounds of stand-up on the bag, 30 second rests in between, bare-knuckle
2 untimed rounds of shadowboxing by poolside
25 minutes of swimming fast laps

As for the Kickboxing Academy: the local Los Gatos shuttle doesn't give rides after 6:30 pm. Just found out today. Dammit.

Have also been off creatine since Sunday, and will begin loading phase next week.

Entry #279
Attempted 395 lbs on deadlift. Got the lift-off on all four sets, but not the lock-out. Prior to that I did manage 365 for three relatively easy reps. I wonder how I'd be able to do if I maxed out while fresh.

Just recovered from a chest injury lingering from last week, so tomorrow should go well.

Entry #278

ME for upper-body went by without a hitch. Shoulder felt fine. Had spent the previous week working on the subtle powerlifting nuances of bench press form. For that lift I put up 295 lbs for a single, but I'm not going to count it since my spotter gave me a small nudge on it. It was rising slow but I'm certain I could have done it all on my own. Still, I was being careful by asking for his assistance beforehand, and I got what I asked for. And in Jared's words, weighted dips own my soul. Also saw improvements in pull-ups. Damn, this day by far has the best lifts in the program.

Started cardio earlier today. Had my best heavy bag session yet. Did great in encorporating my punching and my kicking game together. Structured as such:
50 right roundhouses
50 left roundhouses
50 right straights
50 left straights
5 three minute rounds of stand-up on the bag, 45 second rests in between, using 4 oz. gloves
3 one minute rounds of stand-up on the bag, 30 second rests in between, bare-knuckle
2 untimed rounds of shadowboxing by poolside
25 minutes of swimming fast laps (was dying in the pool by this time)

Entry #277

Shins were feeling sore from a run last night, but it didn't affect ME for lower body today. Discovered a flaw in my deadlift form; my foot positioning has been way too narrow. Lifted 385 lbs for a single. Weighted lunges were with 105 lbers, but my hold was shot to hell after deadlifts. Only managed 4-5 reps on the four sets. Excellent grip training, though.

Evening cardio:
A round of heavy bag work.
20 minutes spent swimming laps.
3 rounds of shadowboxing by the poolside.
Should start this earlier from now on so I don't have to retire early on the bag due to the noise at night.

Gonna lay off running for a while and spend additional time on the punching bag, for my shins' sake.  This is more applicable training to me for fighting, anyways.

Entry #276

Academy update: found out the bus stop number for the location near the school. Just need to find a cross-city stop closest to the local stop of the Los Gatos bus, and I'm all set.

Cardio is improving. Ran to the school with little trouble. Once there I rested by the bleachers for a few minutes and then did HIIT on the track. Only did a lap of it because the  field was being closed down for the night, so I HIIT'd home, and went in the pool for some laps. My shins held out through all of this. Looks like they're not an issue anymore. My shoulder also didn't gave me little problems while swimming. Afterwards I proceeded to do 20 roundhouses on the heavybag. Had to retire on that early because it was late and I didn't want to make much noise.

Need to increase water intake, however. I've been getting lazy with that.

Entry #275

Am taking days off until next week's session in order to rehab my shoulder. Keeping frozen vegetable bags on it to reduce inflammation, and doing some basic exercises to keep it mobile. Also been practicing bench form whenever I get the chance. Attempting to keep my shoulder blades drawn back while I'm doing everyday activities so that the form becomes second nature to me, but it hurts my back if I keep them pinched together too long. Will work on this.

Great cardio today. Used the Eyetoy for PS2 as an entertaining warm-up (Virtua Fighter had my arms tired), and then ran to the high school to jog on the track. Didn't do HIIT. My shins hurt just from jogging. However, they're getting more tolerable to my weight, it seems. Did a lot of shadow boxing after. My cardio level has improved tenfold; it's just my shins holding me back. I seem to be locked at 212 lbs, but my bodyfat is definitely dropping.

Quoted for further reference:

"Retract your shoulders and press them down, get your legs under you and
drive your heels into the ground (or toes depending on if you want to
compete or not), arch tight and tuck your chin (double chin it), get a
hand out, keep your shoulders tucked while benching, then flare your
shoulders as the weight goes up.."

Entry #274

Attempted a bench press variation today with floor presses. Didn't go so well. I thought I'd be able to slide under the bar to assume pressing position with 45 lb plates on each end, but I could only fit by raising it while I lay under. That definitely wouldn't work with 315 lbs. As I was doing the initial set of 135, the pain in my shoulder felt worse than ever -- and this wasn't even as full a ROM as bench press. It still didn't affect my performance, and I could have worked through it if I wanted to, but I decided to not press my luck with this. I just did bodybuilding stuff instead, supersetting biceps and triceps (exercises that would not aggravate my shoulder). Actually, I would say that today was the most painful workout I've ever experienced because of the blood rush. I have stretch-marks on my biceps from doing super-sets today.



I also did the entire rack of weight for tricep pushdowns for 10 reps. I hate machines. It wasn't all fooling around, though. I tried out elbow-extensions, a tricep movement specifically prescribed for powerlifters looking to build up that area.

Entry #273

Squatted 355 lbs for a single. Spotter remarked how deep I went. I had a good conversation with him after that. Turns out he goes to the Kickboxing Academy, and takes judo, muay thai, and jiu-jitsu. I didn't even know they had judo. Also introduced lunges in my routine in place of the lat exercise. Used the 100 lb dumbbells for 10 reps, but they were stationary ones. I would have used the basketball court or something for walking lunges, but it was taken. A couple was using it for ballroom dancing.

Went swimming at night, followed by shadow boxing at the poolside. My ride for the Academy bailed out on me. I'm going to check to see what bus stop locations are around here tomorrow so I can just go at my own leisure.

I definitely felt stress in my rotator cuff while I was swimming. I did some research and found out how essential it is to keep the shoulder blades pulled back as much as possible during bench press. Never really payed much attention to it before. I'm also going to start doing the 5 minute jog prior to lifting tomorrow for a warm-up, just to experiment. If I feel any joint-pain from benching I'll be quick to cut the session off.

Entry #272

Walked to the store and bought dinner. Cottage cheese, case of creatine, and flax oil. Note how I can hardly contain my excitement. It was a good walk. Worked the heavy bag bare-knuckle when I got back. Noticed a bad habit of letting my wrists bend when my fists make contact. I'll go bare-knuckle more so I can work on this.

Shoulder feels fine, but I'm planning on stretching tomorrow before lifting starts again.

Entry #271

Shoulder hurt like hell today in the weightroom. Did not affect performance, however. Warmed up on the speed bag and the punching bag. Had my fastest speed bag session yet; the thing was blazing, with no slowing down when I switched hands. My arms gas out on that thing because I have to hit it hard to keep it bouncing fast. There's probably a better way. Also lowered the weights on speedbench. Supposed to use 45% of ORM, and I was using 185. I lowered it to 145, figuring that my bench max is more or less 290 right now.

Cardio was mixed. I did (consecutively)
five rounds of jump-rope.
forty roundhouses on the heavy bag for each leg (shins hurt like hell).
Three mixed rounds on the heavy bag, 4 oz gloves (would have done more but didn't want to over-exert stress on my shoulder, although it felt much better at this point).
Numerous laps in the swimming pool.

Shoulder feels completely fine now. I have an idea that it's because of how I sleep. I usually lay on my side with my body resting on my arm. I never really thought much of it, but I should probably stop doing that now that I weigh so much more. We'll see if that makes any difference. I'm basically trying to test out all these theories so that I can pinpoint the problem.

Entry #270

Box squats today. Boring as hell. My form is getting stricter, though. Should decrease the height next time. Been pounding my traps these last few weeks especially. Used 335 lbs for 12 reps of shrugs, and then eventually switched to 105 lb dumbbells for 10 reps. Ryan was there and commented about how I was using my arms a bit excessively for the dumbbell shrugs. Or more like roared it across the room. That guy, he'll kill you, I tell ya. But I should watch for that next time.

No BJJ or muay thai today, but I'm scheduled for sign-ups and lessons on Tuesday. The desk lady'd better not bail on me again like last time.

Also, I've been eating this cottage cheese crap before bed for the last two weeks, and the stuff doesn't even phase me anymore. Good mental discipline. I should get some oatmeal to replace the bagels, now.

Entry #269

Productive training day. Attempted 295 lbs for a single on the bench press after warming up on the speed bag and the punching bag, but only managed to get the bar up half-way before my spotter took over. He commented on how close I was. Also raised the weight for weighted dips, with a 45 and a 35 attached to the belt, all for 10 reps. I managed to make use of the broken equipment; the hook to link it to the chain is still intact, but the fastener to lock it in place is long-gone. It still held up, and if anything it forces me not to swing around so much.

Later I worked rounds on the heavy bag using the 4 oz. gloves. My legs were still feeling it from the sprinting yesterday everytime I kicked. It's not the muscles that are sore, but the joints meeting by the groin area. Did not affect performance, however. Cardio has improved by a lot.

Entry #268

Kicked my ass in cardio training today. If I can't find anyone else to fight, I might as well do it against myself. My pattern was a lap of HIIT around the school track immediately followed by a round of shadow boxing, and then a rest. Was tough trying to link smooth combos under heavy fatigue, but I had little trouble putting power into my shots. Of course, I was tired from running, not fighting, so it's no mystery why that was so. I've noticed how second-nature it's become for me to snap back my strikes now. Same with keeping my hands up; I never drop 'em anymore. These were two bad habits that gave me a lot of problems in my spars against Malcom last year and the year before. All the bag training's paid off. To substitute for that I hung my sweatshirt over the pull-up bar and used the two hanging sleeves as targets to aim for in later rounds. Discovered it totally by accident.

Preceding this, I managed 15 pull-ups, at the current weight of 210. At 185 lbs last year my max was 17.

Entry #267
Easy day today. Was restless, so I made this.

Entry #266
Today was awesome. Raised the weight on everything, save speed bench. I think you're only supposed to go heavier on that in accordance to the poundage achieved on max effort day. Rather, the point is to become faster on it. One-armed dumbbell rows were with 90 lb dumbbells for 10 reps each. Also used the speed bag and heavy bag for bench warm-up. I nearly hooked the bag onto its side (it's a stand-up).

Brent invited me to go paintballing tomorrow at his place. Should serve as some badass cardio.

Entry #265
Box squats again. Boring stuff. I did Romanian deadlifts after for 8 at 225 lbs. Stood on the box for a greater ROM. Should go heavier next time. Also did shrugs for 12 reps with 335 lbs. I attempted an overhand grip, but that failed by rep 4, so I had to quickly switch to over under. Awesome grip training. Screw wrist curls, my forearms got more pumped from shrugs than anything else. The 100 lb dumbbell shrugs felt light as hell after using the loaded barbell. By the way, they haven't replaced the broken weight belt yet. What a cheap piece of equipment. I could hardly believe it when it snapped in half.

Muay thai is on Monday. And, I'm still at 210 lbs. I love creatine for this.

Entry #264
Took the first half of this week off to revise the routine. I'm going to deal with the alternating schedule for squats and deadlifts because box squats are in every week, and on non-deadlift weeks I can do Romanians for the choice back exercise (I've been doing extension variations for that category). This way I'll be more familiar with the movements. I'm also replacing the consecutive lat exercise with lunges. I'll make some good use out of that ab room yet (lots of space to do 'em).

I've also been choking down cups of cottage cheese before bed. Good mental discipline, I must say. I'm reserving the casein powder for bulking. Here's my bedtime stack:
1 1/2 cup of cottage cheese (45 g of protein caseinate)
Half a wheat bagel
3 tablespoons of flax seed oil
5 g of glutamine

Entry #263
In the process of revising my routine, so I didn't lift today. There are some discrepancies that are bugging me about my current one:
>Squats are the only leg exercise.
> Squats and deadlifts are alternated tri-weekly, rather than having their own dedicated sessions.
> Lats are worked two consecutive days in a row.

Prior to this entry I ran to the high school for some cardio training. Shins held up well on the run over, but I didn't want to push my luck, so I did no sprinting on the track. Instead, I did stair runs on the bleachers. That didn't bode too well, seeing as how it was pitch black at night, so I went on the lighted track and jump-roped. Didn't record time or anything. After that I ran home with no problems.

Entry #262
Actually got some fun training done at the party today. This was by far
the most educational high school birthday party I've ever been to. We
were talking about books from school, sports, and politics. A small
group of us would swim some hard sets of laps in the pool (freezing cold, at night),
run to the hot tub, run to the pool and swim laps, etc. Taking a five minute break inbetween like that allowed me to swim explosively and fast, rather than a steady, lazy lap run. I also did some
shadow boxing.

Brent kicks ass. Happy birthday. Anyways, here are some pictures:

Entry #261
Went to the Kickboxing Academy with intent of signing up from here on out. The plan was a BJJ lesson tonight (muay thai ends early on Fridays, as I saw on the schedule today). As luck would have it, the front desk lady wasn't there. This guy helped me out and went to look for her, but to no avail. He said it was weird, try coming back tomorrow, etc. Went home and did some shadow boxing instead.

Had a good lifting session. Was showing my sister how to do deadlifts, and Ryan (formerly known as "Coach" in previous entries) showed up and helped her out with them. Also had a good talk with an ex-powerlifter. He commended me on deep squats.

Entry #260
Ran to the high school, but my shins started dying near the end (it was supposed to be a warm-up run). To make matters worse, the track was being used by one of the school teams. I walked back and used the heavy bag at home instead. Roundhoused it 'till my shins were sore, and I went bare-knuckle on it a few rounds. I regret not making a more organized session out of it, actually. The pool is closed until May, by the way. I wanted to use it this month.

Also, the pool party thing wasn't today. It's on Saturday. One of the wrestlers wants to spar me. It's on a lifting day, though.

Entry #259
Highlight today: breaking the weight belt from doing weighted dips. The chain broke in two by the fastener. What's the point of a weight belt if you can't use heavy weights on it? Must have been a cheapie. It was a new one replacing the old one that kept randomly disappearing. I have bad luck with these things. Luckily, I managed all my sets.

Also hit 285 on the initial set of bench press. I had a good warm-up using the gym bag. It's soft as a pillow, so I s'pose it's ideal for that. I figured out that the running warm-up wasn't helping my shoulder pain. The cause of it was actually the weighted crunches I do. I rest the 25 lb plates on the floor next to me, and when it's time for the set I reach to the side and twist them up on my chest. I guess the movement of doing so was placing stress on my rotator-cuff. I just realized this yesterday as I was doing them. Next time between sets I'll simply lie flat with the plates resting on me, without placing them on the floor.

Today's session:

1 minute heavy bag warm-up
Bench press: 45 lb bar; 15 reps
1 minute heavy bag warm-up
Bench press: 4 sets; 3 reps (135 lbs, 185 lbs, 225 lbs, 245 lbs)
Max bench press: 4 sets (285 lbs, 285 lbs (failure, help from spotter), 275 lbs, 275 lbs (little help from spotter [I believe I'm stuck in old bodybuilding habits by lowering the bar too slowly without realizing I'm doing so; when I let it go down faster it did not result in failure])
Weighted dips: 4 sets; 10, 8, 6, 5 reps (45 lb plate and 25 lb hanging from belt)
Cable pushdowns: 4 sets; 10, 8, 8, 7 reps (170 lbs [meaningless number -- on the adjacent cable machine I can only do 90 lbs])
Lateral raises: 4 sets; 10, 8, 8, 5 reps (30 lb dumbbells -- kept them at the side rather than in front)
Bent-over barbell rows: 4 sets; 8 reps (145 lbs)
Hammer curls: 3 sets; 8 reps (50 lb, 45 lb, 45 lb dumbbells [hammer curls seem initially easier, but for some reason they make it harder to stand straight -- must work on stabilizing back, rather than using a wall or bench as a crutch])

 I was invited to an all-day pool party tomorrow by someone from school. Thinking about skipping it so I can do better cardio, which I missed today.

By the way, I haven't lost any weight, but my midsection looks less blurry. I'm thinking it's the creatine maintaining that weight.

Entry #258
Put out 345 lbs for singles on squats. At the end of the session I managed seven wide-grip pull-ups, a one rep improvement, consecutively going down to six and then five reps. My fresh rep range for ordinary pull-ups is 17 still, despite the weight gain. No cardio today, but tomorrow for sure. I need to go lifting earlier so I have time later in the evening.

I'm also planning on ordering a cheapie battery-operated blender off of eBay so I can make a shake immediately upon walking out of the gym and into the car, rather than waiting five minutes until I get home. The definition of paranoid.

And if all goes accordingly, muay thai lessons are up for Friday.

Entry #257
I hate speed exercises on these "dynamic effort" days, whether it's with box squats or with bench press. I understand the benefits that derive from them, but they're extremely dull. Performed the obligatory speed bench (12 sets of doubles with 185 lbs), and the rest of the session saw an increase in weight. One-armed dumbbell rows was with 85 lb dumbbells for 10 reps. I'm relatively new to this one so I've made decent beginner gains in it.

No real cardio today. Gave my shins a rest. I stocked up on good food at Costco, though. My traps are sore from yesterday. It's a rather satisfying feeling.

Entry #256
Box squats went well. Increased barbell shrugs to 295 lbs for 10 reps. Attempted a standard snatch grip. By the third set my hands were failing; I had to go for an overhand/underhand grip to even lift the bar. A great grip exercise.

Later on, I did HIIT at the high school. It was pouring. I brought along my jump rope. There was no real order to what I did, however. It was a mix of sprinting, jump roping, and lots of shadow boxing.

Entry #255
Training with George screwed up my schedule. Took today off, lifting-wise. Still sore as hell from Saturday. Really looking forward to speed day as a means of active recovery.

I ran to Hollywood Video and back again. It was a fast jog rather than HIIT. Shins still hurt, but not nearly as bad. Still, I should go easy on them for now. The punching bag and the pool will suffice for cardio.

Entry #254
Squatted 315 for 3 reps, and then 335 for singles today. Definitely could have done more, but I'm wary of possible injury from increasing poundages too suddenly. I'm also looking to improve on pull-ups by using them as the lat exercise at the end of this session from here on out. The plan calls for an 8-10 rep scheme; I managed 6 (due to it being at the end).

Did HIIT on a run later at night. My shins were killing me after the first burst. I had to walk half the way, and sit down for a few-minute rest in the middle of it. Never had this happen before. Perhaps I'm not used to sprinting at this weight, or maybe it's because I shouldn't be running on leg day.

Entry #253
Yesterday was HIIT in the rain on the school track. Started to feel some stress in tendons around the groin area after a few sprint sessions, so I finished off with four rounds of shadow boxing, and then jogged home with a final sprint up the hill leading to my house. Maybe I'm not used to sprinting at this weight, or something, but I usually don't feel pain like that from mere running.

In terms of diet, I've cut out the weightgainer, along with those crappy frozen pizzas. I plan on eating big still, just cleaner. Today was mostly a rest day. My upper-body is blasted from Saturday's session.

Entry #252
Finally, final bulk pictures. Highest body fat percentage I've been at. Unfortunately, I don't have pre-bulk pictures in the same poses that would make for fair comparison. Note to self: take pictures outside next time so objects aren't construed with my form and lighting is more consistent. My camera randomly takes pictures dark.

6'0, 210 lbs:







Just for fun:



Begin cut phase. Will update after HIIT tonight.

Entry #252
Demonstrated a Westside session with George. Two weeks off seemed to work. Shoulder is feeling completely fine. I seem to be at a plateau on bench press at 275 lbs. I'll give it a few more weeks.

Might start cutting tomorrow. I have contemplating to do tonight. I hate the condition my cardio's at right now. Currently at 210 lbs with shorts on.

I'm looking to start taking the bus to BJJ/Muay Thai class.

This entry is scattered. I'm exhausted.

Entry #251
George and I did HIIT on the track today. My cardio level was far below his. Twice I had to stop and struggle not to lose my lunch.  I was hurting severely in my chest. It was also stormy and freezing. It kicked ass. I can't wait to start cutting so I can do this more often. Only downside is that I'll probably get pneumonia and die from wearing gym clothes in the storm. Long live spring break.

Entry #250
Taking a three day hiatus while I devise a new routine. As much as I want to keep benching 285 every week with my Westside routine, it just ain't happening with my shoulder. It doesn't prevent me from doing so (it hurt on warm-up, but I benched 275 last time with no issues); rather, I myself am choosing not to make the situation any worse by maxing out like that. Hopefully, after some therapy stuff for it, I'll be able to return to this routine in a few months. I still plan on gaining strength in all regards with whatever I come up with. It'll just be cutting my shoulder a little slack.

Also resumed creatine loading phase as of today.

Entry #249
Injured my hamstring on squats. It wasn't severe, but I stopped anyways to avoid worsening the situation. It's at 100% now. It did mess up my routine, however, because I couldn't train legs for the remaining session. Did an improvised bicep/tricep split instead. I tested out my bench prior to that, and my shoulder still gives me problems. Perhaps I should consult a sports doctor about it. There's an office for that right next to the high school.

Entry #248
In an unprecedented state of consistency (in terms of rest days, that is), I haven't slacked off on eating for a single day this week. I've also been off creatine since Tuesday. Due to the indefinitely delayed cutting session, I'll go ahead and get up bulk pictures sometime in the next several days.

Entry #247
I've decided to take a week-long hiatus from lifting to allow my body to recover. The aforementioned shoulder issue is a part of it, and I'm still feeling stress in my lower back from the deadlifts two weeks ago. I really am against switching routines at this point, as I was planning to. I've made better strength gains the last three months than I have in an entire year. Perhaps overloading my body like that is to blame, but this routine is awesome, and I look forward to resuming it next week. 'Sides, I always come back stronger after a long-term (1 or 2 week) break. The challenge is to keep my meal plan consistent. I also plan on regular muay thai training, as always.

Also, I recieved my Hori Real Arcade Pro stick in the mail today. I plan on entering some arcade tournaments near me. It set me back $130, but it rules for Street Fighter and Virtua Fighter.

Entry #246
Shoulder is as shitty as ever. Contemplating on switching to a bodybuilding-oriented routine next week to give heavy bench pressing a break. Perhaps isolating the problem area will resolve the issue. It only hurts on the first few sets, but that's enough for me. Today may have been only a speed bench day but I raised the weight on every assistance lift. Due to circumstances beyond my control my ride home was delayed, so I had extra time to waste. I concentration curled the hell out of my biceps. Fun-ness ensued.

I also jumped on the scale for a quick read, fully-clothed, and it read 214. Yeah fucking right. We'll see next week. Had to be broken (hope not). But it was a welcome number. I've been having mood swings all day for no particular reason, especially in the weight room. I kept myself in check in front of everyone, though. If nothing else angst is a good placebo effect on lifting.

Entry #245
Put up 275 lbs on bench press with no spotter for singles. Initially there was pain in my right rotator cuff (fairly confident that's the problem area) on warm-ups, but it got better. It's funny. I felt pressure at 135 lbs in my shoulder, but 275 lbs felt great. I'm still unsure as to whether I should actually be working through this thing, though. Someone jacked the lifting belt and I was driving myself crazy figuring out how to hang on to a 90 lb dumbbell between my feet - the head was too small. Opted for normal bodyweight dips with higher reps. Who the hell keeps taking that thing, anyways? It's there for a few days and then it disappears, only to return the next week.

Flexibility is awesome. I'm striving for perfect splits by the end of the year. This has actually transferred over to deeper squat form. I also have an easier time with higher kicks.

Entry #244
Worked the heavy bag in the rain. Practiced a "straight-kick", for lack
of a better term. The rain added a challenge because my foot would slip
off the bag unless it hit directly in the center. This forced me to aim
extremely specifically. Did a few bare-knuckle rounds as well. Very
extensive stretching session prior to this. It's good on my shoulders.

Meal-plan went extremely well. Need to work on getting more sleep. I often find myself staying up late to eat more.

Entry #243
Making great gains on the routine. Increased the weights on everything,
and I was actually able to do more reps than usual. Shoulders are
feeling better. I'm sticking with the jog warm-up.

Picked up some more weightgainer; I'm extending this bulking session. What can I say, I'm greedy. Mo' powa.

Entry #242
Back in training mode. I took a few days off due to some school stuff I
had to take care of. As of today I've resumed the five minute warm-up
jog that I decided to get rid of a few weeks ago. Ever since I stopped
doing it I've had shoulder pain during bench press. It's probably no
more than a coincidence, but this literally started up on the exact day
I got rid of the jogging. Consequently I want to see if this'll
actually help the problem. I've never had any sort of problems in the
past. Box squats felt good, but I had to fight the ego to go heavy.
Gotta stick to the routine.

I've got some money saved up for a car of my own. I long for the day
when I can attend muay thai as often as I'm able to lift (as the gym is
in walking distance).

Entry #241
Been a lack of updates due to my internet connection being off and on
all this week. My lower back is still feeling it from deadlifts from
the prior week, so I took lifting off today for another day of
recovery. The load was an unprecedented amount of weight for me last
week and it feels like it's taking longer to recuperate.

Entry #240
Deadlifts today were at 365 lbs for singles, although I did it twice on
the first set. I wanted to do an even 405 lbs with four plates on each
side, but I don't want to go faster than what my body can cope with.
I'm taking it in slowly.
Weight is more or less the same, in the 205 range. Must make sure not to slack off.
I'm really hoping to get in the boxing gym tomorrow.

Entry #239
Was my birthday today, so I decided to do something special: go to the
gym. I was repping 345lbs on deadlifts when, sure enough, my mouth
started bleeding. At least I finished all my sets before it happened.
It felt like my gums had popped. Damn, I'll be paying for that later.
Last two weightgainer cases before I start cutting. That makes it about 2 weeks.

Entry #238
More bodybuilding stuff today. Real basic. I'm going for heavy deadlifts tomorrow to make up for it.
Glutamine is disgusting. More powders to stuff down my throat. Joy. Anyways, here's my bedtime stack:
2 1/2 scoops of casein powder with 16 oz. milk
wheat bagel
three tablespoons of flax seed oil
5g of glutamine

Entry #237
Today was just some bicep curls and various forearm exercises. Got a good pump off it.
Started taking the supplement glutamine. My cabinets are stacked with supplement powders.
Still haven't taken any pain medication for my teeth (I didn't even
bother picking up the prescription anesthetic that the dentist
prescribed for me). Everything's fine. Seriously, I've had more painful
leg days. Looks like squats are on for tomorrow. I think I can resume
strength training now.

Entry #236
I just attempted a set of push-ups, and sure enough, my mouth was
bloody by the tenth rep. The involuntary tension that the jaw is placed
under is what's causing the problem with exercising. Solution for
tomorrow: bodybuilding day. Nothing too heavy, no compound movements,
nothing where I'll be under and supporting anything, and no pushing
exercises; all isolation stuff. I think I'll
do a super-set day of triceps and biceps with forearms at the end.
Obviously the tricep portion will be various extensions rather than
push sequences. It'll A. give my problematic
shoulder joints a chance to recover from all the unprecedented heavy
benching I've been doing lately (maybe I've been doing too much too
soon? I've increased the poundages every week), B. be easy on my mouth,
and C. just be
a fun change of pace.
Obviously real fight training is out for now, but I plan on doing some
form practices at the very least. Next week should go as scheduled. I'm
also feeling pretty lightheaded, maybe from all the blood loss. I think
my multivitamin pack will be a life-saver for bedtime.

I just got my wisdom teeth removed and it was awesome. My blood was
convulsively shooting out of my mouth. I talked to the doctor about my
situation and she said I can still eat steak and good food, but I can't
eat popcorn and candy for a while. Which I never do anyways. I'm also
refusing pain medication. Gym should still be up for tomorrow. The only
downside is that I can't eat anything until the bleeding stops, so
this'll make it about 5 hours or so going without a meal.

UPDATE: Five hours later, and the numbness has worn off. I don't really
care about the pain, but my gums are still bleeding and I can't eat
until they stop. I'm glad I stuffed my face in the morning. Five meals
at most today.

Entry #235
Shoulders have been hurting when I bench press. It gets better after a
few sets, though. It's actually the joint, not the delt muscle. Hasn't
affected lifting ability at all. Hopefully
these two days of rest from lifting, coupled with stretching routines,
will solve the problem. I suspect it's a result of less-extensive
warm-up sets that this program calls for. Perhaps it would do me good
to add in some high rep sets at the beginning next time. Or I can
increase my jogging length. I usually jog on the treadmill for three
minutes prior to lifting, just to raise my body temperature. The
swinging motion of my arms probably does more good for warm-up than
running itself, though. I plan on
getting a lot of bagwork done these following days.
Ideally I'll get a ride to BJJ and muay thai class.
Additional notes: the other day, rather than "Oblique work" as listed
on the routine, I opted for crunches, and instead of "Neck work" I
worked my traps with heavy shrugs. Just a couple of alterations I made
to it. I used to swear by oblique exercises (back in my bodybuilder days, strangely enough) and I hate them now.

Entry #234
I'm digging my new meal plan. Upon wake-up I take the weightgainer, and
have a solid meal a few hours later before the gym. Shoving eggs down
my gullet wasn't nearly as beneficial as 1200 calories from Serious
MASS before 7:30am.
Initial attempt at box squats today at the gym. I had to be creative.
Too many people were using the plastic blocks for a boost up to reach
the pull-up bar, so I used the wooden deadlift box with four plates
stacked up on one another. The recommendation is to start at about
parallel, but I was surprised at how deep I was able to go. Blame it on
a habit of good squat form in general.
Didn't get any striking done; I crashed after the gym. Meal plan was insane, though. Also started loading phase on creatine.

Entry #233
Man, I lost my creatine scooper. Measurements were probably a little
off today on shakes. If anyone's seen it, please return it to me.
Lost 2 lbs since going off creatine a week ago, but as long as my
strength is the same, I'm fine with it. I'm thinking after this
creatine phase I should start cutting. I'm really anxious for some hard
sprinting sessions. As it stands I gas out pretty early during sparring.
I'm only going to record lifting numbers on the big ones, if there's a
substantial enough increase. For today I managed squats at 325lbs for
singles.

Entry #232
Took a few days off due to pain in shoulder area. It felt more serious
than normal muscle soreness, but I'm hitting the gym tomorrow. Also got
my braces out today. This helps a lot in boxing without a mouthpiece.
'Course, I shouldn't be boxing without a mouthpiece in the first place.
I plan on recording my calorie intake for tomorrow as well.

Entry #231
Today I tried a new max for bench press (no spotter) but it ended up
falling back down on me half-way up. Because my pecs were flexed it
bounced off and into a position that allowed me to grab it mid-angle
and push it over and down onto the floor. I deadlifted it up onto the
bench and re-racked the weights before trying again. It was the most
successful failure ever.

Bench press: 5 sets; 15, 8, 3, 3, 3 reps (45lbs, 135lbs, 185lbs, 225lbs, 235lbs)
4 sets; 1 rep (275lbs {failed}, 255lbs for the rest)
Weighted dips: 4 sets; 8 reps (45lb plate attached to waist)
Cable pushdowns: 4 sets; 8 reps (90lbs)
Front raises: 4 sets; 10 reps (25lb dumbbells)
Wide-grip pulldowns: 4 sets; 8 reps (145lbs)
Preacher curls: 4 sets; 8  reps (75lbs)

Only managed 5 meals. Must wake up earlier.

Entry #230
I plan on recording the lifts for the initial week of this powerlifting routine for future reference.

Squats: 4 warm-up sets; 15, 10, 3, 3 reps (45lbs, 135lbs, 225lbs, 295lbs)
4 sets, 1 rep (315lbs)
Hyper extensions: 4 sets; 10, 10, 8, 8 reps (35lb plate over head, 45lb plate over head)
Weighted crunches: 4 sets; 12 reps (50lbs on chest)
One-armed dumbbell rows: 4 sets; 8 reps (70lb dumbbells)

Squats felt strong. Should go heavier next time. Actually, everything felt kind of light. Because the workout is shorter, I should up the weight next time since stamina isn't going to be an issue. I really regret that my gym doesn't have any bar chains or anything. I was reading about it on the West-Side site and it sounds like a cool technique. Then again, it's a miracle that this place even has free weights.

This is a busy week. I really need to get my ass into BJJ/muay thai class. It'd work so much better if the place was open on the weekends. I'll have to manage my time better.

Entry #229
New strength routine layout, taken off of Westside-Barbell.com:



Day 1 - Max Effort (ME) squat/deadlift
Squat/deadlift/good morning - Using one of these exercises or a
variation of them for no more than 3 consecutive weeks work up from a
warm up in sets of 3 until 3 repetitions are no longer possible and
switch to a single rep working up to 4 single repetitions of between
90-100% of your max.

Lower back work - Choose from glute-ham raises, reverse
hyper-extensions, half deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, stiff-legged
deadlifts (SLDLs), hyper-extensions or cable pulls - 4 x 8-10 (weighted
if need be to stay within rep range)

Abs - Any form of rectus abdominus work - 4 x 8-12

Lat work - Any form of upper back work such as wide grip chins, pull downs, barbell rows, cable rows - 4 x 8-10



Day 2- Max Effort (ME) Bench press
Bench Press of any of the above mentioned variations working from a triple to a single.

Tricep work - Any form of core strength tricep work such as close grip
bench, JM presses, Tate presses, lying dumbbell extensions - 4 x 5-10
Cable pushdowns - A variety of cable attachments may be used (flat bar, V bar, rope) - 4 x 8-12

Shoulder work - choice of either lateral or front raises - 4 x 10-12

Lat work - as above - 4 x 8-10

Biceps - Pick any bicep exercise of your choice - 3 x 8-10



Day 3- Dynamic Effort (DE) Squat
Box squat 8-12 doubles with 45-65% of 1RM

Lower back work - as Day 1

Side bends (or variation of external oblique training) - 4 x 8-12

Neck work



Day 4- Dynamic Effort (DE) Bench press
Speed bench 8-10 triples with 45-46% 1 RM

Tricep work - as Day 2

Pushdowns - as Day 2

Lat work - as Day 1

Biceps - as Day 2


Apparently the authors swear by box squats, touting their superiority
over traditional squats and, in one instance, power cleans. The
athletes' lifting records speak for themselves, though, so this should
introduce some good gains. Another claim to fame for box squats is
their induced recovery time and therapeutic assets, since the athlete
is using a lighter weight and being forced upon good form from the box.
Sounds like it'll be a great benefit for martial arts practice.

Entry #228
Love Fridays. Gym's always empty. This is the last week of ECO
training. Thank goodness for that because I feel like a dope typing
"ECO" in this journal. With a new routine I plan on adding the
supplement glutamine. It's expensive but it'd last a while. Also gonna
cycle off creatine for a week or two for resaturation. According to
abcbodybuilding.com, lots of guys have gotten gains by this mere
procedure. Hopefully I don't drop down in weight too much. I'm 207lbs
with
clothes on. Kinda funny how I'm never satisfied with this. A few months
ago I was ecstatic to be 180. Now I want to shoot for 250.

Entry #227
Broke my perfect streak and ate only 4 meals today, although they were
pretty big. Nevertheless I plan on kicking my ass tomorrow for this.
Probably could have squeezed in a fifth but opted not to for the sake
of an 8 hour sleep span. In big news, I'm looking at getting a car so I
can hit up muay thai and BJJ everyday of the week.

Entry #226
Since this is the last week of this program, I'll go ahead and record my lifts for the day.

Box jumps: 3 sets; 3 reps
Squats: 3 sets; 7, 6, 6 reps (275lbs)
Superset - Leg Extensions: 3 sets, 12, 10, 10 reps (205lbs) Leg Curls: 3 sets, 10, 10, 8 reps (120lbs)
Standing calf raises: 4 sets; 10 reps (400lbs - machine is at the max.
Need to switch to the smith machine to get a higher weight.)
Seated calf raises: 3 sets; 12 reps (185lbs)
Lying calf raises: 3 sets; 20 reps (300lbs)
Close grip bench press: 3 sets; 3 reps (135lbs - you're supposed to go light for warm-up)
Dips: 3 sets; 8 reps (was supposed to do weighted dips, but someone
jacked the weightbelt. I would have used a 45lb plate attached to my
waist.)
Skull-crushers: 3 sets; 10 reps (30lb dumbbells)

Lots of bodybuilding-esque stuff, but I've made noticeable strength
gains. It was a refreshing change, and I was introduced to weighted
dips, my new favorite exercise. Need to bring my own weightbelt from
home next time.

Entry #225
Every consecutive training session results in an improved aspect over
the previous one. Gains are good. Double-group routines are my new
favorite. After this week I'll be switching to a Westside program. Meal
plan has been extremely consistent for the past month or so. I should
break 210 soon (relatively speaking, at least). I've also been helping
George with his weight training. Consequently I should have a stronger,
more vicious sparring rival come spring break. They grow up so fast.
Shadowboxing in the mirror has proven to be a valuable training aid for my jabs.
And just a side-note: stop turning the fans on in my face in the weightroom. Seriously. If you want to cool off, don't train.

Entry #224
Weighed in at 201 lbs. Still not ready to cut. It'd be cool to get to a
high enough weight so that I have to cut down to 200+. Strength gains
continue to rise. No muay thai tomorrow, unfortunately, so I'm on my
own for the weekend.

Entry #223
Week 2 of ECO training. Strength gains are through the roof. Meal plan
has been extremely consistant and I expect to be able to cut in a few
weeks. On a sidenote, my legs are getting huge. I never took any before
photos for comparison, unfortunately. I've been really pounding my
calves during this, too. It felt like they were giving birth.

Entry #222
Went ahead and trained legs regardless of sore legs. I actually feel
better, and soreness didn't hinder performance at all. I missed out on
muay thai because of this. I need to get some practice done next week.

Entry #221
ECO training is deceptively simple. My entire body is sore as hell.
Great feeling. Squats felt as strong as ever. The leg training had me
hobbling like an old man. Worked the speed bag for a cool-down. I've
been taking more time to do some flexibility stretches at night as well.
Muay thai lesson on Friday. I still haven't heard anything more of
capoeira going on at the gym, though. I was kind of looking forward to
that. Hope it's still under way.

Entry #220
New routine is pretty weird, but more difficult than I anticipated. A
pleasant surprise. Gained a lot of strength on incline bench. Weight
still hasn't risen, though. I'll check back in a week. I've stopped
chugging gallon jugs, too. They just made me feel sick during lifting.
Worked the bag early in the morning. Jabs felt snappy, but I wore out my shins again.

Entry #219
Woke up early and worked the bag after breakfast. Worked on proper foot
shifting and not dropping my hands when I kick, a bad tendency that
I've picked up. Returned to the scene later in the day and had a more
extensive routine.
100 right jabs
100 left jabs
35 right shin kicks
35 left shin kicks
Five full-body rounds, three minutes each.

My shins were dying, although they're completely fine now. Ate a lot,
but only five meals in total. This is partly attributed to the fact
that it was all solid food today, of course. Nevertheless I need to cut
down the time in between meal times.