Felt like my body was lacking a disturbing sense of discomfort so I banged out a 20-minute workout before getting ready for New Year's Eve with my lockdown pod. This is borderline-dumbass mainstream fitness crap but wanted to earn my drink intake tonight.

Axle
Clean and press
110 x 20, 10, 10

Lat pulldowns
20
Chin-ups
10, 5
Drop-down to lat pulldowns again x 10

SSB squats
10, 10, 10

Push-ups x 35

1 hill sprint

These were done as giant sets with no rest between each set of presses, lat pulldowns/chins, and squats. 1-2 minute rest times after that trifecta.

Those clean and presses kinda kicked my ass once the short rest times started adding up. I ate like a powerlifter beforehand and that was a mistake before a circuit type session like this. Basically had to cut sprinting short so I wouldn't throw up and also in anticipation of staying up late with my friends. I'm definitely going to do something like this at least once a week to compliment my heavy lifting. Anytime I find a way to make myself out of breath within a matter of minutes is a gift to focus on and I honestly feel out of my element pushing some resistance while gasping for air. I also feel emotionally better not spending 2 hours training because I'm addicted to nailing some coveted top-set.

Got a lot of food for tonight and protein supplements. After today's stressful work day I'm ready to unwind and then get back to the...ugh, "grind".

Had a good pull day doing lighter weight and more reps after lifting 585 once and just feeling dead. Hit 505x10 off 8 mats and then 405x12 from the floor. Worked up to 200 lb SSB lunges and some ab work as well. Butt and abs are especially sore now.

Went on an easy hike yesterday with a friend. Nothing strenuous but between that and walking around downtown I got a solid 5 hours of walking.

Drank a lot of sugar and I haven't done a dedicated cardio session in like a week. Just so happens the timing of New Year's coincides with my intent to get back on the frequent Muay Thai training and running again. Body composition is still looking good.

Axle press
180 x 5
205 x 1, 3
230 x 0, 1

Axle push-press
230 x 2

Axle press
155 x 8, 8, 7

Axle Incline bench press
110 x 10
160 x 5

Bench pressed 325x4 yesterday. Been two months I've been at that, time to try something new.

Christmas squats:
390 x 3
445 x 3
505 x 3
Strip sets of 405 x 5, then 315, 225, 135, 45 x 10

Band leg curls

The work-up sets felt very heavy but everything came together at the end. Might go to George's for dinner, we'll see. Feeling antisocial and crabby that I had to buy gifts at the last minute due to just last week getting a pay raise and only being able to afford them recently, then USPS fucked up the delivery and showed them as delivered yesterday when they're not here. Another thing I've been keeping to myself is that Jade has suddenly cut off contact with me since October with no explanation because she's in a relationship now, which is weird and shady. We'd been tight for 12 years. Not feeling great about humanity at the moment.

Mat pulls (8)
585 x 5 (PR)

Deadlifts
505 x 0, 1

SSB box squats
330 x 5, 5

Slow ab wheel
5 reps

Felt strong on the mat pulls but had nothing left for deadlifts. Left hamstring has been acting pissy. I notice how tight it is when I do high kicks especially. Will cautiously stretch it on a daily basis. Also had to take work calls and deal with an issue at the office so rest times were long. It's very possible cooling down in the cold evening weather made it worse. 

Sleep schedule is normalizing, got 7.5 hours of sleep last night. Feeling tired but I'm in a sleep debt. Will get at least a solid 8 tonight.

My new work schedule is mornings. On top of that, got called in to the office at 5am Monday to fix a serve issue. Meant to go to bed early and get 7 hours, didn't happen. Managed to sleep for 3 thanks to an edible but once the high wore off I could not get back to sleep after waking up to use the bathroom. Woke-up at 2 am and tried to sleep until 3 before I got up. About 3.5 hours total, but feeling alert. Had a nice breakfast with coffee while playing Hearthstone and managed to fix the issue in 20 minutes.

Yesterday:

Axle press
170 x 3
190 x 3
215 x 3
* Hard fought, got it though.
-
Last set super-set with dumbbell rows of 100 x 5

Push press
215 x 4
* Couldn't lock out the first rep attempt, otherwise I would have gotten five. Too relaxed so tensed up and knocked out four.
-
Last set super-set with dumbbell rows of 100 x 5

Incline axle bench
200 x 8, 10

Decline axle bench
220 x 10
230 x 10

All benching super-set with 115 dumbbell rows for 8-10

Taking a break from maxing on squats to put some reps in and lay some bricks. Hit some simple sets of 405 for 3 sets of 8 before work today. Will do hamstrings and abs at night. I'm thinking about doing this for two more weeks and increase the reps or decrease the rests, or both.

Meal-prepped last night and made delicious chicken thighs with pesto. Used too much sauce so the end result was soupy but damn is it good.

Went two days without any training. Body is feeling rested.

Bench press
Up to 365 x 1
375 x 1 (PR?)
255 x 11
I can't recall if I've ever successfully put up 375 but I don't think so. Definitely haven't succeeded in anything heavier though.
-
Last set super-set with chins x 10

Press (clean once from ground)
110 x 8 switch to 160 x 5
160 x 8
140 x 8
-
Super-set with chins
10
45 x 10
45 x 5 switch to bodyweight x 5

Called it here to go to work. For me, this is a good amount of work done in an hour, considering I did near-max singles.

Hosted a Mexican dinner with the two quarantine bros on Monday. Had a blast playing Smash Bros and Streets of Rage 4 after.

Pressed 225x1, surprisingly hard. Giving the extra press work I'm doing some time to show me benefits.

Had a good mat pull day. Hit 4 reps instead of the usual 3 for 585. Didn't do deadlifts afterwards, wanted to keep this day somewhat breezy so I could recover. In violation of that I did an extra fun day of high pulls, power cleans, and farmers' walks Sunday.

Feeling tired from 6 hours of sleep. Have Azzy staying over but I'll probably make time for bagwork when I get home from work, or maybe hit pads with him. I showed him Westside vs the World a few months ago, it was a fun watch but I was a bit disappointed in it.

 Woke up and did the exercise bike while fasted with a VR bike ride through a city, then some shadowkickboxing, then 25 burpees, ending with 5 more minutes on the bike. Total time of everything was 40 minutes. Wow, the time flies by in VR. When I used to do fasted jogs before breakfast it felt nothing like this. Awesome.

Had a low-carb breakfast of scrambled eggs and green tea with a chunk of ginger. Am extremely sore all over but especially my legs. Traps are pretty sore too from doing hise shrugs with SSB after I squatted the other day.

 Came back to the dungeon yesterday after work and finished up with my lower-body.

SSB good mornings
SSB x 15, 15
150 x 12, 15
200 x 10
-
Super-set with keg runs of 2 laps around the yard, 3 sets

Slow ab wheel rollouts
5, 5

Since I hit a decent squat single the other day but no follow-up sets I did a quick run with the SSB today, up to 330 for two sets of 10 with 4 minutes of rest between, ATG (only feel the need to note that because I usually go to parallel on heavier squats and I consider them both valid as different ways to get stronger). My legs were surprisingly a bit sore warming-up. Probably accumulative training via running, keg carries, hill sprints, and then squats just the day before yesterday even if the reps were low. Cut it here due to work and am currently typing this at the office. Will do good mornings and abs when I get home.

My plan was go over 380 and rep that but quads were sore enough for ATG 330 to be a decent challenge, especially with shorter rest times. I'm aiming to push the pace more and make 4 minutes NOT be a short amount of rest for me, at least on some days. Still find a lot of value emphasizing maxing out my top weight on certain sets and days, rest times be damned.

 Had a real lousy squat sesh last night. Everything felt like a ton and my knees didn't feel great. Worked up to a 505 single. Walked out with 535 and wasn't feeling it so I put it back. I don't usually sweat failing but I really don't want to drop anything on my concrete patio (I've bailed in the gym on a squat before so my own safety isn't a big deal). I could probably workout some safety apparatus with the kegs and patio pavers. After this I was about to walk out with 405 and noticed the left squat stand had shifted over the edge of the patio and was about to fall. At this point it was past 9:00 and I just didn't feel like taking everything off to fix the set-up so I called it a night. I'll have another kind of lower-body day on Wednesday (tomorrow as of this writing).

Livestreamed a bench press day today and got up to a smooth 370. That was a lot of fun.

Went really savage on the heavy bag Saturday evening. I tend to start light to warm-up but for some reason I felt like getting into it right away as soon as I put the gloves on. I've been switching between regular and southpaw more frequently as an exercise (not just switching every round like I've been doing), and also working angles a lot better, making sure to stay off the center line. Did 4 rounds lasting 2:15 each.

Went to an awesome Cuban place for lunch the next day with George. First time having a proper Cubano (Trader Joe's wraps don't count), so good. Going to have the leftovers today after squats. 

Came home and figured I'd make it a rest day but despite feeling tired I couldn't resist. Went on a run and did some shadowboxing near the high school.

 Did a fun loaded carry session after work. Loaded up the farmers' handles with 200 lbs each and would do one set constituting a lap back-and-forth in the yard followed by carrying the keg until bicep fatigue (a little wary about tears, maybe I should just ignore it though). Did this 5 times.

Went out to run hill sprints at night, 4 total. As I was jogging backwards down the hill on the 3rd somebody came up to the fence at the top and hopped it, then started jogging down it after me as I was staring back at them. They didn't bother trying to get on the other side of the path either, they just started following my path. I could barely see them but they could definitely see me with my arm light. Decided to be a little bit of a dick and pretend they weren't there, so when it was time to sprint again I basically came barreling at them from downhill and they kind of jumped aside at the last minute. This is an enclosed path in a pandemic, maybe go down the other way a few minutes further instead of hopping a fence and following someone in the dark? 

Went on a short jog after the sprints.

Axle press
165 x 3
190 x 3
210 x 3
> Whoops, this is what I did last month. Should have upped the weight.

Axle incline bench
210 x 7, 8
-
Super-set with dumbbell rows
115s x 8, 10
> Shorter rest times than normal.

Went to work after this. Going to do a push-up/chin-up workout at night when I come home.

Had a bit of a bad pull day, but it's a marked improvement from previous days in that I actually lifted some weight off the ground. Mat pulled 585 with the intention of 5 reps. Got 3 pretty handily before the bar rolled off the mats. Lifted the end up and got ready before it did it again. Shifted the mats so they were aligned better and lifted the end again, then couldn't move the bar up. Moved on to deadlifts with 505. Did one rep with a slow descension, then couldn't break the bar off the ground. Given how shitty my back has been feeling this week with only today feeling good enough to pull heavy, I called it here to make it to work in time. Will return for belt squats at night, lunges, and good mornings at night.

Took advantage of my new late work schedule today with some fasted cardio. This was really fun. Put on my Google Daydream headset and rode the exercise bike to some VR bike videos on YouTube. Got bored of this after 10 minutes so put on Baki the Grappler to watch instead. After around 20 minutes of biking I got up and shadow kickboxed for a bit to loosen myself up, then did 20 burpees. Legs felt pretty jelly-like afterwards but it went away after 5 minutes. 

Blending tech with cardio really makes me miss the PS2 Eyetoy. Why has nobody replicated that? Sure, there was a PS3 version but the games tried to be more ambitious rather than just a fun novelty of filming you on-screen punching things and shit. Haven't found anything good on PC that's an equivalent, either.

Also want to mention my back has been feeling horrible lately. Yesterday I stretched it, did some no-resistance reverse hypers off the couch, and did a janky chiro session I've found makes me feel good by flopping my body over the Swiss ball and rocking side-to-side, which very lightly cracks it. Still hurts but feels better today. I need to do daily maintenance of it.