Wasn't due to lift on Saturday but I had the day off and a morning with nothing to do, so I did some farmers' walks with 190 in each hand, neck crunches, and rear-delt work. Took maybe 20 minutes.

Went on a 7-mile hike on Sunday with friends. Was a total walk in the park for me despite plenty of uphill terrain. Only difficulty was having to go to the bathroom by the end of it. Crazy to think how badly my legs used to cramp 12 years ago.

Yesterday I failed at deadlifting 535 once on a first attempt, then on a second try I easily hit 3 reps. Thinking about pushing the Earth instead of pulling the weight did it. Really got my legs engaged that way. Nice to have a strong showing the day after hiking 7 miles.

Few hiking pictures:

I haven't made it to Muay Thai this week due to car problems. It broke down on me twice driving on the freeway Tuesday. Ended up being stranded in Redwood City but made the most of it with my friend meeting up and hanging out. Ate a lot of food between two trips to a local diner, first a burger on my own and then later a barbecue dinner for the two of us. Earlier that day I hit a deload press workout, but still went pretty heavy on dumbbell pressing (115 in left, 100 in right, but only for 2 sets before doing some tricep pressdowns).

Because I was up late dealing with that mess Tuesday night (AAA didn't show up after waiting for an hour so I drove home myself down residential roads at midnight going slow), I was tired the next day, but still managed to do some home Muay Thai rounds of shadowboxing.

Yesterday and today I got some good sessions in. 415x5 squat and 275x7 bench press. I actually lifted twice yesterday, first the squat sets along with the SSB bar for 335 before work and then deadlifts and lunges at night. Between overhand gripping the bar, Fat Gripz on lunges, and Fat Gripz for skullcrushers and curls today, my forearms are fried.

Not done with the backlog of updates. I've been training a lot.

After lifting on Tuesday I went to Muay Thai. Was a big class comprised of young kids in gis who were transitioning from some other class. Interesting experience. Had to pull back a drastic amount which probably fared well for technique.

Wednesday I went on a jog, followed by 2 rounds of shadowboxing with a breath-restriction mask (this thing is hell).

Went on a night hike Saturday night with friends for about 45 minutes.

Mat pulls off of 2 pavers on Monday with 535. Felt really strong, but on rep 2 I felt a painless twinge in my back so I cut it short to be safe. No pain afterwards. Moved on to 335x2x5 box squats and a third set for 6, just because, as well as Hise shrugs with the same weight for 20. Finished up with dumbbell lunges of 50 lbs in each hand for as many reps as I felt like doing without bothering to count.

Tuesday I strict pressed 205x1 and dumbbell pressed 115 in my right arm, a move up from 100. Did 125 in my left and super-set all that with rows using the same weight.

I also rebought these for the third time since 2012. Forearm pump was downright nasty.

Bench press
235 x 5
270 x 3
300 x 3
235 x 12
* A bit sore. Trained upper-body really intensely on Wednesday and then did some push-ups yesterday at practice, along with the usual shoulder involvement from striking. Solid performance but everything past 185 felt like a ton of bricks.

Weighted dips
50 x 10

Iron Woody band tricep pressdowns
12, 10

All exercises starting from 300 bench press and after super-set with chin-ups, both bodyweight and weighted (50 lbs) x 9-12

Curls

Pretty intense 3 days of training. Ready for the weekend and lots of food. May hit up the gym with a friend on Saturday or Sunday but it would normally be mat pull/deadlift day for me, which is the worst session for a commercial gym. Will either save it for Monday at home or just do lighter, high-rep touch-and-go deadlifts for 405 or 450 depending on how sore my back is by that time (never done a controlled eccentric phase past 405).

Went to class last night. Surprisingly big group. Haven't seen that in a long time. Partnered up and worked another combo string, this time starting off with parrying a jab. Parry the fist to the side, don't smack it down.

Finished up with some intense bag-work.

Did some intense shadowboxing rounds on Wednesday after squats. Experimenting with breath restriction using a respirator. I am under no illusion that I'm somehow going to blood dope or accurately simulate elevated environments this way, which have been copiously debunked, but it DOES get me used to fighting under a suffocating blanket of misery. I notice that this sensation is the hardest part of sparring when using my headgear with full face-mask and I start to gas. I've never quit from feeling like I'm unable to breathe, but I've had to fight the urge to.

I really liked it. Started having a challenging time about 8 minutes in of hard striking. Will keep using this until I buy a specialty mask.

Some new basics to emphasize that I gleamed from a YouTube video: sit in your punches much more. Get the legs to do more of the work.

Squats
340, 395, 440 x 3
* Felt good to have a strong showing and to break the week pattern that's been ailing me the past week. First rep felt a little shallow so I sank in deeper for the next two.

335 x 2 x 8
315 x 9

Deadlifts
408 x 2, 8

Swiss ball planks and reverse crunches

Strict press
140, 170 x 3
195 x 1, 1
Last set super-set with 8 pull-ups
* This has stalled and has been at this point for awhile now.

Bench press
225 x 8
235 x 8, 8, 8
Super-set with lying dumbbell rows with 115s x 8, 8, 8, 8

Band pull-aparts, curls

Woke up with an upset stomach this morning from spicy buffalo wings the night before. Had a tough time creating good intra-abdominal pressure in my belly. Couldn't break 535 off of 2 mats on first attempt, but did it for a slow single on the second. Did a poor job of staying tight and practically RDL'd it up. Damn, I am just full of excuses this week, aren't I? Anyway, glad I at least got the bar up at all. Can't wait to attack again next week.

Have been sick but I'm better as of today. Only hit 185x3 on Saturday's press workout (wasn't sick then but shoulders were sore). Couldn't squat over 395x2 on Tuesday.

Yesterday I benched 285x5 and went to Muay Thai after. Learned a combo-string: low right kick, 3-2-3, right body kick, 3-2, left switch kick, overhand right and left hook to the body, circle out with double-jab. Started with just the first portion of that and added on.

Next, learned the calf kick. Coach Anthony said he's not the biggest fan but it can be a useful tool in the right situation. Eventually utilized it in a sparring situation. Donning headgear and a mouthguard it was going against the coach that had me gassing really hard by the end. Gassing with the headgear on always presents a suffocating feeling. Wanted to quit and get some air by taking my gear off but I suffered through. I find myself getting too spastic when I go up against him, trying to match his movements. Relax, don't waste any movement, and be efficient. Against everyone else I'm fine. When I get good enough THEN I can do fancy fake-outs every second. Glad to have gotten a good solid cardio workout, though.