Mat pulled 515x2 yesterday off 4 mats. Body really didn't want to pull heavy, but I'm glad I haven't had any MISSED reps in a long time now. Anyway, that was fine, but I sent my muscles a message that there are consequences for that decision. Immediately dropped-down to 405x17, then 315x15, then 225x10, stopping only because of my back. In retrospect, I could rest-pause and keep punishing myself.
Going on 6 weeks without a day off now. In that time I have secured other job offers and now have a back-up if I need it, but after playing hardball with my boss he is cooperating with my demands and now I'm working by choice to keep the company running. Will work Sunday from home again if I cannot get Saturday off.
New 50 lb kettlebell and Cerberus belt came on the same day, already got two roughly 10-minute living room workouts in with them. Still figuring out the structure to make it easier to record, but I messed around with thrusters and upright rows in a circuit fashion. Biceps and shoulders are feeling sore but legs feel like they haven't worked-out at all.
Bought another tarp to cover my balcony with to keep underneath it where I lift dry in this weekend storm but the wind shifted it and the backyard patio is still soaked. I could say fuck it like I always do and just squat in the rain on wet pavers but I'm taking this as a good opportunity to get acquainted with the kettlebells. My reverse-hyper has the biggest tarp over it and is staying protected.
Woke-up and did a fasted circuit comprised of some Muay Thai warm-up drills we used to do in class like high-knee skips and bear crawls, the exercise bike, and 20 push-up/squat burpees. Total time was roughly 5 minutes. Breakfast at the office during the work meeting is bison, quinoa, and veggies (turned down the crappy bagel sandwiches from Noah's, but accepted the coffee). These days my breakfast is usually either bison or a weightgainer.
Even if it's no more than a few minutes I'm going to make some kind of workout a staple in the morning everyday before work. It really gets my head and body in the right place.
Ordered a Cerberus strongman belt from Kalle's website Starting Strongman. Had my eye on it for awhile.
Was going to squat in the rainy weather last night but work and chores had me running very late. I could have still done A squat workout, but spontaneously decided to do some circuit training with a 50 lb pair of dumbbells. Movements included Arnold presses, curls, upright rows, push-ups, and chin-ups. Also did the reverse-hyper with just the 45s on each end because my back had been hurting for 3 sets of 10 and then took the keg out for a walk.
Total workout time was 30 minutes.
I actually took the time to go to Home Depot during my work break the other day to buy 2 tarps to cover my equipment. Want to protect the reverse-hyper as much as possible, but I also covered up my weight tree. Going to buy a couple more and make this a habit so I can cover my bars and strongman log.
Hit the heavy bag with some bare knuckle MT rounds. All 4 pieces that held onto the chain have torn-off, so now the bag cannot be mounted without some modification. That's OK though, I have it propped up against a tree. The nice thing about this set-up is I can kick it better without the bag stands impeding my footwork. I can also angle it so I can practice low kicks that mimic a partner holding a kick shield. Just need to get some rope to secure it, but my rounds on it so far have already been fun.
Need to get some batteries for my scale, have no idea what I'm walking around at but I'm feeling the extra bodybuilding work I've been doing. Chest has been sore for days and can't remember the last time that's happened. As expected, eating, meal prep, and dishwashing is an absolute slog, but there's something delightfully nostalgic about this misery, especially as I sit here at the office drinking my homemade weightgainer shake.
Woke-up and did 3 minutes on the bike and 40 straight burpees. About 5 minutes total before going to work.
Back is more or less recovered from the injured state and back to its everyday levels of discomfort and pain. Just did a bunch of stretches and yoga poses at the office, which always helps.
My schedule is getting a bit tighter. My boss wants me in the office more hours. There's a lot of fat in my normal schedule to trim that will afford me time to hit the goals I need. An obvious one is to not eat and chill at home before training; that will be done at the office and I'll train when I get home. I also don't take proper breaks at work; I eat at my desk and stand-up or stretch as needed, but actually walking away and coming back makes a big difference.
Working with my client remotely at 7:00 today, so will train after work and before then.
I haven't taken the time to jot down the measures I'm taking during this weight gain phase that differ from how I've approached gaining before, but I think it's worth noting.
* Goal is to no longer stuff myself with reckless abandon on anything and everything. It's fine to not be on the verge of puking after every meal. I'm no longer a lanky 18-year-old and don't NEED that approach to put on weight, it's easy enough falling short of that.
* Making more of an effort to increase food quality. Grass-fed beef, bison, grass-fed lamb, organic veggies. In fact, I eat bison now much more than I eat beef. Less junk like greasy pizza or burgers.
*Still allow for dessert here and there but not every meal.
* I don't make an effort to eat carbs late in the day. If they're already in what I'm eating then fine but the trend is lower carbs at night. This is something I'd like to be more strict about actually.
On that note, I recently discovered that the Safeway by my house has good deals on grass-fed lamb, and is competitive with other stores like Costco for bison and beef. I don't usually shop at Safeway so this was a nice find.
Axle clean once and push-press
180 x 2 x 5
* I recently did 180x3x5 strict pressing, but that was a grind and my sore shoulders wouldn't have been able to replicate that this time.
Dumbbell clean once for every 3 Arnold press reps
50s x 12
35s x 12
All super-set with chins x 10-12
Dumbbell SLDLs
125s x 17, 15
2 hill sprints backwards
Did this in 109 degree weather. The heat doesn't bother me - anything past 90 degrees all feels the same to me when training, you're hot and sweaty regardless of 95 vs 105 - but trying to stay hydrated was a killer. Lips and throat felt parched despite drinking water.
Squats
405 x 1, 2
Drop-down to 315 x 10, 225 x 10, 135 x 10, 45 x 10
* Continuing to improve but my hip pain didn't let me do the high reps I was anticipating with 405. Still glad I managed to move 405 some.
Bench press
295 x 3
Drop-down to 265 x 3, 225 x 7, 185 x 8, 135 x 10, 95 x10, 45 x 20
* Much better than last week. Was breathing hard after this.
Dumbell rows
115s x 10, 10, 15
I'm interested to see how these drop-down sets will help with my bench press while losing or maintaining weight. They're how I brought my squat up in the past.
Took about an hour altogether.
Weight is down to 198. Part of that is probably from deloading off creatine.
SSB narrow stance squats
240 x 15
290 x 10
330 x 7
Bench press
275 x 6
Drop-sets of 225 x 7, 185 x 8. 135 x 10, 95 x 15, push-ups x 7, bar x 15
Dumbbell rows
125s x 8, 8, 9
-
Super-set with facepulls
My goal was to rep 240, knowing my hip pain wouldn't let me approach max weights. Realized after I could probably keep going. There was pain but manageable. Knee hurt on the first attempt at 225 but more warming-up and keeping tight remedied that.
Experimenting with drop-sets on the bench press since they work so well with squats on a calorie deficit.
I'm thinking about returning in the evening to do heavy belt squats and get in some curls. Keg runs too. I have in mind to do both ATG narrow squats and heavy belt squats to cover all my bases in absence of my normal heavy squats.
Shoulders were a little sore from VR boxing yesterday. That's OK, prepares me for actual martial arts training again. It's IMPOSSIBLE for me to go light in that game. The opponent throwing knockout blows just causes me to react in kind. I was delivering bombs.
OH, something I'm not sure I mentioned. I bench wider now. It's harder for me. I've always been a fairly close-grip bencher, with pinkies in the ring or inside that even. Now it's ring finger, or a little past that approaching middle. Took advice from Louie Simmons on benching wider as a way to progress on the bench. Interesting how that coincides with squatting narrower (advice I've heard from Dave Tate or Matt Wenning, can't remember which).
Workout was finished in one hour, pleased with the pace and difficulty level that brought me. The gift of injury.
Woke-up today and did 5 minutes on the bike, 30 burpees, and some Muay Thai kicks to open up my legs and hips.
I have two different styles of burpees. The first is using my knuckles on the floor and not squatting all the way down (those two traits don't have any relation or bearing on each other, it's just how I've done them. The knuckle support is just from my martial arts background).
The second is more contractile and less ballistic, squatting all the way and doing a push-up.
Both are hard in different ways but I can definitely do more the first way. Today I did the second, and felt a little knee tenderness but no pain.
My thigh pain has been bothering me to the point that I could not squat without pain yesterday, and that was a light day. After a lot of experimenting and some knee pain I was able to do high, narrow-stance SSB box squats with 225 for 20 reps. Still had thigh pain but it was manageable. I will always find a way.
Super-setted that with 225x20 deadlifts. First 10 regular, last 10 stiff-legged. Attacked next the upper-body with heavy band presses for 4 sets of 15-20 and super-set that with pull-ups. At the end, I did a 40-second pull-up. I have a minute in me, but the eccentric part started to strain my biceps as they lengthened and that'd be the dumbest thing to injure one of them on.
Yesterday was a good cardio day. Woke-up at 6:20 from my cat (he's been stirring me up about 15 min before my alarm every morning, which I actually appreciate) and hit 50 burpees combined with jumping-jacks, shadow kickboxing, and the exercise bike for a 10-minute workout. The cat plays with me whenever I do this in the morning, running around and tagging my arms when they're on the ground during burpees and then sprinting away. We have the same routine of wake-up, train, then eat.
After work, I took two chocolate-covered espresso bean edibles and ended up going on a nearly 2-hour run to the park and back. It was some great sight-seeing, as well as a change of pace by doing LISS cardio for that long. It made my body tired but it wasn't hard at all. Afterwards, I came home and enjoyed the hell out of half a smoothie with orange juice, spinach, blueberries, and strawberries.
Then, around 8:30pm, I swam 5 laps in the pool, which I've been doing regularly but haven't been logging.
On Friday I log viper pressed 170 x 3, 3, 5, then a set of 6 with just a clean on the first rep. Deadlifted 485x5 after in a 2-rep improvement over last week. Really good session.
At night I went on a run and by the time I came back my knee was bothering me to the point of limping. It did not get better the next day and I had to cancel a planned hike with my friends. Instead, I wore my SBD knee sleeve the whole day and we went to Crab Cove beach. The sleeve helped tremendously to the point where my limp and pain level declined as the day wore on. I also got some great swimming done in the ocean, fighting against the waves (they were small enough that I could power-swim through them, it's a really shallow and calm beach even when the waters are choppy).
Cheated on my diet and engorged my share of an X-large pizza afterwards, no regrets there. Woke-up today and my knee feels fine.
Diet has been strict all week so I'm having a calorie-up day. I've stopped calling it a cheat day because this is not a diet break or a period of eating for pleasure; I'm actively trying to stuff myself for anabolic purposes. I don't even crave sweets like I do on other days because I'm so adept at making food seem miserable, so I can't even fully enjoy a dessert like I would if I was carb-deprived.
I also don't do this every single week anymore. Some weeks when I have more social outings and I eat more carbs I won't feel a purpose to, so I'll skip that week.
Drank part of a homemade weightgainer shake in the morning and packed the rest of it with my ground bison with veggies and avocado for work.
Log viper press (clean each rep)
155 x 5, 5, 6
-
Super-set with chins x 10
Barbell clean once and press
135 x 10
-
Super-set with chins x 10
Deficit deadlifts
225 x 20
Back had just started to recover again. I probably could have continued my deadlift progression, gotten all the reps, then would wake-up with an injured back the next day, so instead went for high reps with a deep ROM and light weight. The right move.
Woke-up at 6:30 today and did 8 minutes of the exercise bike, 40 burpees, and some shadow kickboxing, then took a contrast shower (I never shower before work). It started off freezing and after a minute or two of controlled breathing I was fiddling with the control valve trying to make the shower colder, but it was already as low as it could go. Good way to start the day.
Back has been feeling better overall. Supple Leopard gave me some good tips for posture to counter APT syndrome, and I'll be diving into Bach Mechanic by Stuart McGill again this week.
Slept on a small spring mattress I dragged into my room last night and spent about 3/4 of the night on my back, the rest on my side. Initial impressions seem positive, but it's too soon to tell for sure. Still have that sharp pain in the middle of my back if I bend backwards, that's probably something that will need time to heal, if not professional treatment. Will continue testing the bed switch.
Finally, meet day. Despite my positive start, I actually did VERY poor by my own standards at this meet, yet still ended up winning 1st place in my weight class as well as a second award of "Best Lifter". For whatever reason, I thought the bluntness of that was funny. There were other titles like "Best Performance In _________" with some qualification at the end, so that was a surprise.
One big mistake was not taking care of the hotel room earlier. Because my last powerlifting meet, and indeed many of my strongman meets, took 12 hours to finish, I greatly overestimated how much time I had. By about 10:00, we still had 2 flights to go before mine was ready, so at this point I started packing my hotel things. Right as I walked back to the meet area I heard my name being announced. I'd had no warm-up and my gear wasn't ready, so I just ripped my shoes off, put on my knee sleeves, put my shoes back on, and walked up to take my opener, an easy 445. Next was 465, and then 501. Everything went up fine but by the time I was finished squatting I noticed my back was bothering me.
In my hurry, I forgot twice to go to the judges and let them know my next attempt. I'd also cut my pinkie somehow and bled on the judge's table. My card was splattered with blood, which made it easy to locate when writing my attempts down. The judge said she was a surgeon and that it didn't bother her. I actually recognized her as the judge who was rude to me last meet, but she was very nice here.
Anyway, some real amateur shit on my behalf, but I had to move on. The bench press was terrible. I hit 315 on my second attempt, which I intended to be extremely conservative given my weight cut, but then failed 350. I know I should have that and more, but it's not like I've ever crushed that while doing a sudden water weight cut, either. I didn't beat myself up over it, but my mind was already racing about getting back to training and bringing my upper-body strength up.
The deadlift phase came by very quick. I could see that this meet was breezing by far more quickly than before. At this point, it was around 1:00 pm; in 2016 we were starting deadlifts around 5:30.
My opener was higher than I remembered choosing, probably because I was thinking about it from a state of being in back pain. I did 515 and then immediately started using my vibrating foam roller and massage gun, which seemed to help quite a bit. I chose a super conservative jump up to 535 after my bench experience and knowing my back was in bad shape. Made a very concerted effort to harden my abs and it flew up faster than 515. Feeling a little good about that, I pondered for awhile before choosing 570 for my third. Not the 600+ I had planned for, but above the 550 I was considering as a safe bet. Well, the bar broke off the floor but I felt a strong twinge in my already painful back so I dropped it. At least I was able to walk away without any hindrance or limp.
As I already went over, I won 1st, but was feeling some imposter syndrome. I felt like I didn't deserve it. I let myself enjoy the moment and my friends being happy about it, but as mentioned before, my mind was racing about the things I need to do for next time. I didn't even bother asking my friend for the footage from the bench and deadlift portions. I wasn't seething over it or anything, I simply didn't care. I would like to see them now, though, but for the time being, I have my squat on video.
I learned a lot going through with this meet and I can at least be satisfied I threw my current best at it. I'm glad I had the know-how and discipline to make weight on advanced notice and max squat without much preparation. I've got a lot to work on and also have to decide where I want my weight to go from here.
