Squatted 500x3 and bench pressed 345x2 the other day. Not bad. Lifts seem to be in a holding pattern as I drop weight except for strict press.

Splurged a little on groceries yesterday to prepare for a cheat day sometime early next week. Let's give a boost to these numbers.

 Took yesterday off to have a friend day but had a big cheat meal at an Italian restaurant. Huge appetizer of melted brie and bread, two pasta dishes that we split, and tiramisu for dessert. Was riding on an edible so appetite was voracious and this food was amazing. I'm planning on bringing full cheat days back, always had great success in maintaining my strength with them while still losing fat.

Squatted 500x3 today before work. Planning on squatting with the SSB when I get back soon.

 Couple of lifting sessions to report. Mat pulled 585x3 off of 9 mats followed by deadlifting 500x5 with a controlled eccentric. At first I couldn't budge the 585 but I tried again.

Strict pressed 210x3 and got a great pump doing banded strict presses giant-set with band chest presses and chin-ups. My press number has diminished by a factor of about 15 lbs from the weight loss, but my bench press is mostly holding and that's the important lift right now. Still going to fight the good fight and get this back up though.

Been doing more bag-work. Yesterday I went on a fasted 30-min run after waking up, had a modest-carb breakfast with green tea, then did 5 rounds lasting 2:17 each on the heavy bag. 

Weighing in at 207 mid-day with a meal in me and clothes on. Still on creatine.

Bench press
250x5
285x5
325x4
Right shoulder has been hurting for a week-and-a-half now when doing any benching. Wonder if farmers' walks caused it but it seemed to happen after my last heavy strict press workout. 1-rep short but I can't be too unhappy about 325x4.

Dumbbell press
125s x 5, 4
Giant-set with dips x 15, 10 and dumbbell rows of 125 x 10 (last set only, forgot to do the rows after the first)

Called it here to make it to work on-time. Will do more in the evening.

Running on 5 hours of sleep. I did take a 2.5 hour nap yesterday until 7pm because I was exhausted from the weekend but I woke up today and just couldn't go back to sleep.

Squats
365x5
415x5
470x5
Holy shit, on the last rep of 415 my head twitched in a weird way and pain radiated through my lower skull down my neck. Reracked in a daze (glad I hit all 5 first) and staggered over to a tree to regain composure. Thought I'd have to shut the entire session down but slowly the pain melted completely away. Anyway, glad I felt strong at my new and lower bodyweight but I'm definitely feeling less stable with a trimmer midsection. Going to hit abs hard tomorrow after strict pressing. SSB walkouts would also be cool to bring back, I can do Hise shrugs too.

Strip-sets:
405x3
315x8
225x10
135x10
45x10

I'm covering for a co-worker's shift at 7am and I forgot how much I love mornings. With my hours cut I've been waking up at 10:30 to go to work, which used to be extremely late for me. Thing is I also like nights.

Did a deload deadlift workout Friday, up to 500x3. Very nice how 500 from the floor feels like an appropriate deload weight for me now. Felt good actually hitting the goal on this day for once, even if it was an easy one. Finished off the deload cycle with a strict press session Saturday.

Finally replaced my scale batteries, I weigh on the low side of 208. Also found out that I lose 3 lbs just from taking a hot bath. I'm also still on creatine so deloading will drop me another few.

Weekend was very fun. Lots of carbs, including a 1am trip to Denny's Saturday night where I inhaled my staple Sriracha burger, but also lots of walking and very consistent protein intake throughout. Friend commented that they noticed I'm eating way less than before and my waist looks smaller.

Got to visit a farm on Sunday and pet a lone sheep who walked over and hungout until well after sunset.

 Went on a fasted run for 30 minutes after waking up yesterday, then did about an 8-minute heavy bag round followed by some shadowkickboxing in the evening. Today I woke up early 1.5 hours before my alarm and did 20 minutes of shadowkickboxing circuited with the exercise bike before breakfast.

Tried to weigh myself in the morning but my scale is wack. On a given day it'll alternate between showing me around 208 or 215. Today it was the latter before it died and refused to turn back on. Definitely needs new batteries.

Actually had a dream that my meet was today and I had no idea how I was going to lose so much weight within a day. I should be able to make it with exactly one month to go but this is definitely the most pressured I've ever felt to make weight for something. I'm thinking now a better tactic is to start undersized and gain weight into a meet. 

Unracked 530 to squat last night and knew I didn't have it in me so I set it back. I need to deload, feeling rundown. Immediately went to 405x8 (before 530 I'd hit 465x3 at least).

Did a deload bench workout today up to 275x5, then decline pressed 205 for 4 sets of 10-12 super-set with T-bar rows. Finished off with 150 lb farmers' walks followed immediately by 160 lb keg carries. Going to do that combo a lot more, I loved it. I've also noticed that shrugging back on farmers' is a great way to make the rear-delts sore.

Failed to mat pull 570 a buncha times off 3 mats, then did 495x8. Time for a long overdue change for this day. I think this is one case where the Golgi tendon organ is relevant and I'm training my body to fail week after week. I remember this being an issue way back in Portland years ago even. At least 500 is the new 405, which I remarked on back then as being the new 315.

Normally I'd be excited to try new things out but nearly a month away from competition this really sucks. Still, I know the strength is there so I just need to rack up some wins before gameday.

Plan right now is to reset the mats up to 7-9 and rep 600. After that, roll the bar to the floor and pull 500 for reps. Every 3 weeks will be a heavy single day from the floor. No failing a single rep.

Anyway, glad to have gotten the 500x8 at least. Will return to do belt squats and lunges tomorrow.

Bench pressed 375 yesterday. After searching through my log it seems that's a lifetime PR (I know I've done 370 once before). Was conserving time to meet a friend by early afternoon so I ate less carbs than usual, just a modest bowl of oatmeal and a handful of frozen berries on top. Definitely felt hungry during training. 375 was a little harder than I expected but it wasn't a grind. On a full stomach I'm very confident I have 405 in me, these recent singles are NOT feeling very heavy even when I don't feel 100%.

Sacrilege incoming but been really enjoying decline benching lately. Just an easy way to bench decent weight while giving my shoulders a little bit of a break compared to dips or flat benching, or at least that's the way it feels.

Went to the beach the rest of the day with a friend. Slept for 12 hours at night. That is absolutely ridiculous for me but I feel really good after it. Entire lower-body and abs have been very sore the past few days. 

Squatted 500x3 on Saturday night, felt a lot easier than I was expecting but my foot slipped at the end of the second rep and it threw me off for the 3rd. Did drop-down sets of 405x5, 315x10, 225x10, 135x10, 45x10. 

Did some farmers' walks yesterday with 240 in each hand, then keg carries. Felt my left bicep start to twitch so I called it out of safety. 

50 minute jog later at night.

Lifted in my respirator in 95 degrees after roasting in my car driving home. I count that as training.

Strict press
170 x 3
200 x 3
227.5 x 1, 1
245 x 0, 0.5
Really wanted a win but just didn't have it again. Might be time for a deload. Felt drained. Lifted in a respirator.

Did some incline pressing and a lot of chin-ups. No isolation work today.

Canceled some hang-out plans to rest and go to bed earlyish tonight.

Did some shadowkickboxing last night and went on a 40 minute run. Really wanted to pig-out afterwards but forced myself to be reasonable while also not skimping on calories TOO much. Made a bomb recipe of cilantro lime chicken with quinoa. Between the quinoa and black beans (I used half of what the recipe called for) this was carbier than I would have liked for nighttime. Next time I go grocery shopping I'll buy ingredients with that goal in mind. Recipes will be low-carb, pre-made food like pizzas and packaged pasta dinners will be for peri-workout.

 Had a pretty enlightening day yesterday. Did my mat pull work-up sets and everything felt light until I jumped from 500 to 575 (off 2 mats) and just had nothing in me to move it. Tried twice to no avail, then moved back down to 500 and repped an easy 6 with a controlled eccentric (not intentional, I don't know why but my hamstrings are sore from it so cool). Moved back up to 575 and did a single rep without much issue. On those last two successful sets I felt like I had little pop and just had to human crane the weight up. I'm wondering if eating closer to a deadlift workout will make a big difference in my performance consistency. 

Did belt squats after and then headed to work. 

20 minute jog in the evening. Also been using my new Thai bag on my elevated punching bag stand. This bag is huge, I love it. So novel to be able to low kick like this at home.