Mat pulled 585x5 and deadlifted 500x1. Back wasn't feeling good enough to do mat pulls and high rep deadlifts back-to-back. Belt squats after.

Strict pressed 205x3, and it was pretty hard. My pressing strength has come down across both benching and overhead lifting. I haven't been doing anything "wrong", but my weight is inching closer to sub-200 and I just gotta fight back by bringing in some methods that have worked for me before. Did some presses with 140 against bands afterwards along with weighted dips and chins. Arms are feeling blown-up right now.

 Did 3 hill sprints in the storm followed by a 25 minute run yesterday. Some knee aching before the run but not during.

 Bench press
250, 285 x 5
325 x 4ish
* Didn't lockout the 4th and had to raise my ass off the bench to get the bar above the pins. Very close to failing. My bench has regressed a little after being stagnant, going to take a break from eyeball bulging max attempts and take a few weeks of repping sets of 280 with the end goal of 3x10.

Did a lot of other things including banded bench and banded press. Super-set them with 125 lb unilateral dumbbell rows and a bunch of bodybuilding stuff like chest flyes and curls.

Big storm tonight, got a flash flood warning. Encountered some sprinkling but nothing major during my lifting session thankfully.

Knee pain is much better. Felt some minor discomfort on one random set in the middle of working up and it went away.

Squats
405x3x10 (PR)
* Well, this was something I wanted to work up to within the next few weeks but I found out I can already do it. Oops. Thinking about either upping the weight or seeing how many reps I can get on either the first or last set. 405x15 would be sweet, and I think modest enough to be doable soon if not now.

Good mornings
150 x 2 x 12

Banded leg curls

I'll get back to squatting in the 500s soon but I'm liking these higher rep but still heavy squats right now. Give my joints a break too.

Have been doing fasted morning cardio before breakfast the past 2 days. Typically starts with 10-15 minutes on the exercise bike, followed by 25 burpees and shadow kickboxing. No structure, just doing what I feel like really. Also finished up my deload week. Knees are feeling better.

Having a cheat day today. Breakfast was a bowl of quinoa, ground turkey, veggies, and avocado and olive oil, then a handful of mixed nuts, whole milk, and two coffee cake bites. Good start.

 Still having knee pain on my right side. Warmed up with wide-stance squats, then moved to box squats. Still hurt on the first set of box squatting 95 lbs, then went away second. Added bands, then moved up to 135, added bands, etc. Went up to 275, 295, and 310 x 8 against bands, no knee pain. Finished with banded leg extensions super-set with banded leg curls. 

Have also been supplementing with glucosamine, fish oil, and recently picked up curcumin supplements for cheap that I saw at Grocery Outlet. Took a hot bath afterwards too. 

Made it to the beach yesterday, it was actually a full day of zero training for once. Ate a bunch of ice cream before bed too just because. Aside from eating every few hours and bringing a protein shake with me it felt nice to let go and relax for a day. 

Tuesday

Deload

Axle clean once and press
Work up to 170x5, overhead shrugs top x 5 on last rep of each set

Dips
12
45 x 12
55 x 10, 12

Chest-emphasized push-ups (elbows out, lessened ROM, squeezing the handles together into the ground)
30, 20

All presses super-set with either 170 lb axle rows x 12-15 or heavy band pulldowns

Bar curls
45 x 20, 10

Went on an easy hike later and had really good Thai food for dinner.

 Did five 2:15 rounds of heavybag striking yesterday, followed by 7 minutes cooling down on the exercise bike. Had to force myself not to lift. I'm addicted to the routine of coming home from work early in the afternoon and eating fun carby foods before lifting.

Going to hit deload press day today. Was planning on going to the beach but the weather is nastier than anticipated.

Oh wow, really shit training day. Working up to deadlifts everything over 135 felt heavy and I almost blacked out holding my breath on only 315. Couldn't budge 505 on first attempt, then did a slow 1. Decided to make this a start of a deload because I absolutely feel like I need it, this wasn't like my old psyche-outs where I feel on fire up until the heavy set and then can't budget. Did 405x5 next and 240x8 SSB squats. A second set of that only came out to 5 reps because my right knee started to feel worse and worse until I just had to shut it down.

I'm laughing it off, got some blood flowing at least and will take it easy this week.

Been a long time coming but I'm finally reading Powerlifting Basics, Texas Style and it's fantastic. Might fully try this simple bench training routine at some point but for now I'm going to give these bench shrugs a go.

Squatted up to 480x5. This is always the day my drop-sets go to hell. Did 405x3 before I had to rerack. Rested and hit 405x5, 315x8, 225x8, 135x10, and 45x10. Did good mornings with 150x10, 10 and then some banded leg curls.

Tried to finish up with reps on the ab wheel and that really made my back hurt. After 5 slow reps I decided it didn't feel right to do more. Feeling fine the next day.

Yesterday I messed around with loaded carries. Put 150 on the farmers' handles and did walks mixed in with keg walks. Also bare-knuckled the heavy bag. This wasn't too disciplined, I did this for about an hour mixed in with making some work calls. Afterwards I did 3 hill sprints followed by a 10-min jog.

Had a job interview yesterday, went incredibly well. It's run by one guy who took the business over from his uncle and we connected in the interview, even started talking about lifting and boxing. Right now things are good at my present position but it's so volatile and without stability things can change anytime, and last year up until late-December were reeeeeally rough for me because of my boss' decision to cut hours. I'm not going to go through that again if I can help it.

 Axle press
160 x 5
180 x 5
205 x 5
* Promising performance, felt really strong. Thought I might not get the 5th, took a deep breath, and powered it up with no trouble. Using elbow sleeves as of today, just think it's a good idea because for the first time my left elbow has been pissed off for more than a few months now.

Axle push press
205 x 6

Axle incline bench
205 x 9
220 x 8

Axle decline bench
220 x 10
250 x 8
* Man, I really like decline benching now whe n I used to shit on it. It's just a joint-friendly way to bench heavy and my flat bench seems to respond well.

All presses super-set with bent-over dumbbell rows of 100, 115, and 125 pounders x 8-10

Incline skullcrushers
35s x 10
Super-set with incline curls
35s x 10

Medley of incline chest flyes, rear-delt flyes, push-ups, band chest-flyes, more curls

Really good pump, chest and arms were blown up after taking sleeves off. Despite not doing a ton of cardio lately I'm looking lean, I think I've been eating pretty intelligently. Haven't weighed myself in awhile. I need to figure out competing again. I'll look to see if there's a date for the cursed meet I signed up for more than a year ago now, but also go for a new one. Maybe strongman?

Deadlifted 505x7 and then 405x12, followed by belt squats up to 9 plates x 10 and finishing with 50 lb dumbbell lunges (alternating) for 20. Now that made my back sore. Was hoping for more with 505 and I probably should have pushed the envelope but I was doing touch-and-go, which I find much harder honestly. Once I stopped to rest-pause I couldn't budge the bar after the 7th, back felt pumped and fatigued. Good shit though.

I think I've minorly injured my left hamstring. It's been feeling tender for a while now. I feel it when I descend on the squat and anytime on deadlifts, but it's not too bad there. Muay Thai high kicks though? Forget it, feels like my leg is tearing.

Forced myself not to touch the weights for 2 days so I can feel more recovered and did frequent bouts of cardio. Hill sprints and a short jog on Saturday night, and Sunday I did fasted exercise biking + shadow kickboxing and 20 burpees, then later 2 rounds on the heavy bag, and in the evening a 30 minute jog. 

Came back to finish the fight.

Bench press
Up to 275 x 7, 6
225 x 13
-
Super-set with pull-ups of 12-14 reps

Axle clean and press away
150 x 8
130 x 12
-
Super-set with chins of 15, 15

Tricep pressdowns, curls, band pull-aparts

Chest and shoulders were sore from fighting 345 yesterday, so didn't hit the 3 sets of 8 I was expecting, but I feel like I did something productive. 

Watched Pumping Iron with a friend before this. Never gets old. I also can't stop showing people the Westside vs the World trailer. It's fun to show the fucked up side of the lifter world.

 Weird training day. Worked up my bench press sets and felt incredibly strong, then got pinned under 345 trying to hit that for 3 (only got 1). After retiring to bed I slept 7 hours straight without a pee break which never happens so there's some recovery thing going on with me. I'm going to return today after work and do some working sets with around 275 and get some volume in.

Squatted up to 530 for a single and then did the drop-down sets. This was after an attempted friend workout yesterday. I ended up not having enough time for myself really and focusing on training him so all I really got up to was 405x1. Knee was a little pissy today but otherwise I didn't feel anything that indicated I squatted at all yesterday.

New Year's was very fun but I felt terrible and didn't eat as much as I should have. I forced calories down every few hours out of sheer willpower while staying up all night but it definitely should have been more. Anytime I do something like that I'm going to bring a weightgainer shake.