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.