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.