Squats: 300 x 20

Super-set with deadlifts: 300 x 20

https://youtu.be/dAfsPeDhqKU

Took frequent rest-pauses for my back during the deadlifts, but it's been awhile since I've had a pain episode (regular foam rolling has seemed to do wonders for it). I feel good enough to try and push it more next time. 

After this, I went out to visit my aunt who just returned from a long stay in Iran and ate homemade lamb and eggplant stew at her house. After returning, I went on a 2-mile run that included a sprint up a hill.

 Today was interesting.

Bench press
275 x 1
320 x 1
340 x 1
350 x 0

Went into this workout hungry and having drank too much coffee, which made me depleted and shaky. 350 was still close and I knew I could get it if I had a little more fuel in me.

I left the barbell on the floor and went upstairs to eat, then headed out for a Costco trip only to find out they had absolutely no eggs. It was just a big, empty section. Bulk eggs were the main reason I went here instead of Trader Joe's. Still made off with some items that made it a worthwhile visit: liquid egg whites, new running shoes, plenty of meat, and cat food.

Ate again when I got home and started a revenge workout at 9pm:

Bench press
275 x 1
315 x 1
335 x 1
350 x 1

Incline Swiss bar bench
180 x 10
190 x 8
200 x 6
165 x 12 -> dropdown to 135 x 3
Super-set with lying dumbbell rows
115s x 4 x 10

Lying lateral flyes
15s x 3 x 15
Alternating lateral curls
50s x 20, 20
35s x 16

After having done so many singles in a few hours, 350 didn't come easy, but I physically just felt rock solid this time despite some shoulder fatigue.

I lowered the normal 170 on the last set of incline bench down to 165 to try and ensure I got 15 reps but at that point, I was understandably spent. When I unracked 165 I couldn't believe how heavy it felt.

 Christmas Eve:

Overhead press

185x5

Super-set with pull-ups: 15

Overhead press against bands

107.5 x 4 x 10

Super-set with pull-ups: 4 x 12

Barbell skullcrushers

120 x 2 x 10

Hammer curls

50s x 3 x 10

Fought very hard to get the 5th rep, but that's an improvement. Shoulders felt sore in warm-ups from low bar squats 2 days prior.

Christmas day: went on a 3.25 mile run.

I'm taking it upon myself to do more road work for boxing. Downloaded a couple of running apps to track my progress on that.

Even though I didn't go out for any events on Christmas, it was a very welcome rest day. Along with that run, I played a lot of Soul Reaver Remastered and watched part of a decently funny movie, Bad Santa.

 Brutal Friday night at the boxing gym. Lots of calisthenics mixed with hard rounds on the bag. Left shoulder was feeling serious fatigue from ending with rounds of jabbing our partner while moving backwards, but unlike my partner, I didn't need to take rest periods.

It's interesting how my mindset has changed. Before I used to hate any kind of exercising at a martial arts class because I could just do that at home and it would interfere with my weightlifting. Now, I appreciate it. Every bit helps with being a better fighter and a coach will prescribe things I wouldn't normally do on my own.

Saturday was a rest day, but got a lot of walking done at the Dickens Fair with Eli. Only stayed for a couple of hours, as her mom wasn't feeling well. 

Got to spend time with Farah and Eghbal yesterday , who came over before we went out to Stone Stew for lunch and Eghbal's apartment afterwards for some tea and coffee, where I helped him set-up a little espresso machine. I vowed to come see both of them more often now that they are back in the US. Very nourishing day for the soul.

Sunday evening:

Squats

445 x 4

Drop-down to 405x5, 315x8, 225x8, 135x8, 45x8

Reverse hyper single leg curls

200 x 2 x 20

Weighted decline crunches

50 x 20

Hanging leg raises: x 15

Going to be replacing some of my standard powerlifting-style strength training with more strongman-centric workouts due to having my eye on a strongman contest next month. With boxing as my focus now, though, I don't feel excited about spending the money and energy toward it unless I'm strong enough to feel competitive, so I'll run this training block and see how I feel. Back health is a major factor, too.

Last night was focused on circus dumbbell training. The dumbbell in the contest is 110 for open and 100 for masters. The last time I trained for this event, I didn't have fixed dumbbells and my Fat Gripz didn't fit my adjustable dumbbell handles. That's all changed now.

However, I couldn't get the 115 bell up with Fat Gripz. The dumbbell handle is already thicker than a barbell so the Fat Gripz didn't close all the way around, making it even bigger than normal. I think that's even better, but it was too much for my current level so after a few failed reps I took it off for the topset.

Dumbbell push press (all with Fat Gripz except 115)

50 x 2

80 x 2

115 x 1

Landmine press

115 x 3 x 10

Pull-ups

15, 12, 10, 10

Barbell shrugs

300 x 10 

Several missed attempts at 115 before I locked out. The landmine press was easy on the joints and something I've been meaning to bring back for boxing. I made this lift a lot harder by really letting the bar sink down at the bottom to the point where I had to twist my torso to accommodate it, which added some ab work in and somewhat mimics throwing a cross in boxing.

This was an idea I got from Emevas several years ago, who got the idea from Jon Andersen.

Squat

300 x 20

Upon which I walked off the patio with the bar on my back and onto the dirt, dropped the bar behind me, and then:

Deadlifts

300 x 20

Ab wheel: 10 standing reps

Some disclaimers:

The bar had trouble clearing one side of the squat stands so I reracked, took a few breaths, got it on my back again, shrugged high, and made it.

Left the bar on the ground and took a standing rest-pause after rep 10 of the deadlifts before cranking out another 10.

Had some hesitation about even continuing that latter 10 reps due to concern for how my back was feeling (not painful, but a similar sensation to when pain crops up later), but took the calculated risk and went for it.

All that said, this was brutal. The squats were the easy part, since I've been running heavier weight for 20 lately; it was following them up with the deadlifts that wrecked me afterwards and gave me a headache.

My back is completely fine the next morning. I'm glad I've been able to push it further and further. There have been countless times when I take some new measure for it that works in the short term only for pain to resurface, but so far, the daily foam rolling has been doing wonders. I'm also opting for my ergonomic Herman Miller chair 100% when I do sit at home and absolutely zero couch time. Good move, because yesterday I was gifted the new Soul Reaver remaster for Steam and stayed up later than expected getting lost in the world of Nosgoth and reliving that game. 

Had a super fun sparring day yesterday. Second time at this gym when not counting informal spars on the ground floor in the middle of drills. It definitely feels different stepping into the ring with gear, a cornerman, and the gym gathered to watch. The only downside was how short it was: just 3 rounds for 2 minutes.

I went up against a shorter stocky guy who I only learned afterwards is one of the coaches. I've seen his name on the weekly class sign-ups as Coach Gabriel but his class conflicts with my work so I've never trained with him. Coach Eric was my cornerman this time (he was my sparring partner last time).

Of note is that I way hyped this session up in my mind, partially by design. I was thinking about it the whole weekend and as a result, my head was bursting with ideas and things to tweak from last time. 

As a result, the biggest change in round 1 was not being overly nice and actually hitting with an appropriate amount of power. Coach Eric advised me to use my reach and spar on the outside, and sure enough, his swings often fell short while my jab and cross landed over and over again. A real success was a jab followed by a lightning left hook. I don't see a lot of guys in the intermediate classes throwing this, or many combos from the same arm in  general, but I've been working on this for some time now and my hook comes really fast after jabbing from the same arm. I also landed a lot of jabs and crosses to the body, but next time I'd like to practice body hooks more.

When he'd rush in, I would meet him with an uppercut while circling out. He didn't land anything significant until the end of the round when he caught me with a big left hook that adjusted my headgear. Didn't hurt, but it was a great shot.

After round 1, Coach Eric told me he likes the punches I'm choosing and my jab is landing, but I can get even more reach from it because he sees my arm not fully extending. Very old issue of mine.

Round 2 went much the same: I landed clean the vast majority while almost all of his smaller strikes were falling short, but that leaping Frazier-style hook got me one more time again. 

After round 2, I felt that same feeling of a panic attack that occurred last session, which was also after round 2. It felt like I couldn't get enough air through my mouthpiece while I was resting and that was causing my heart to race, but I ignored it. I probably need to do a better job of taking full breaths as the action progresses, but in truth, I was 100% fine and I knew that. The breath restriction mask helped a lot with mentally managing this feeling. Funnily enough, same with 20-rep squats.

As soon as round 3 started, I felt fine again, as I expected. This time, he ended up standing in one spot and telling me to hit him harder, which I did but not enough to rock him. In the moment I thought he might have been having an ego trip to show-off and didn't know he was a coach. Round 3 ended up being slower as a result of his relative inactivity.

I was a little bummed round 3 was the end. I watched the rest of the spars where the same coach went at it with two other trainees, which made sense why he had periods of energy composure with me and probably why he got hit more than I expected since he was going way more rounds. When everyone was done I did a 4-minute sesh on the heavy bag.

Hopefully I get more rounds in next time. Even though I wasn't going against a fresh combatant, I'm stoked at the changes I made with regards to aggression and landing uppercuts.

Bench press 

315 x 3

Swiss bar incline bench 

177.5 x 10

192.8 x 8

207.5 x 6

170 x 14

Lying dumbbell rows 

115s x 3 x 8

Hammer curls

50s x 10, 10

35s x 12

Super-set with banded tricep press downs

3 x 10

Made gains on bench despite shoulders and traps feeling sore. Will use the foam roller and massage gun tonight. Over the weekend I'd been using the foam roller exclusively on my back.

I'm signed up for sparring tomorrow. At the forefront of my mind will be to relax, pick quality shots vs overdoing the volume, and sink in good body shots. My sinuses have been clearer lately; hopefully I don't have trouble breathing through my nose this time.

Went to a work event Friday night bocce ball at a place 5 minutes from my house with tons of food. Feasted on smoked sausage, prawns wrapped in bacon, meatballs, and pizza. Rather than stay at the office after work until it was time to go to the event, I went home to feed my animals, drink some protein, and relax before heading out again, which was absolutely the right move. Before, waiting around for the group to leave at work just meant doing extra email requests past 5pm, turning down drinks from the people not driving, and generally waiting around being bored and wondering why I'm still at work.

Saturday was stormy. There was a TORNADO 25 minutes away in Santa Cruz, which is insane. Lifted indoors:

 

Deadlifts
525 x 0, 1

RDLs
300 x 2 x 8

Barbell shrugs
300 x 2 x 10

I wanted 525x3, but was too gunshy and had difficulty mustering up the neurological confidence to blast the weight up due to recently recovering from a back tweak. When I did move the weight it shot up quick, but a second rep was definitely not happening. I'm still happy I moved it for a fast single. Back to more reps and building before going heavy again.

And the liberating thing is building my deadlift is a side quest to boxing, so I didn't feel any frustration with missing that first rep like I would have before.

 

Have been using my foam roller more and it's been feeling awesome on my back and shoulders. It's a 1st gen Viper vibrating roller that I paid way too much for only to have the vibration break down, but still functions as a firm regular roller. I should get a lacrosse ball too.

Later that evening, I did 3 rounds of 4 minutes shadowboxing with several layers on, hoodie up, and the breath restriction mask indoors to simulate the heat from sparring in the gym. Went out to the store and when I got back home, went to Heart Attack Hill and did 3 hill sprints followed by a 30 minute jog. Awesome all-day mix of training and relaxation, which is my ideal weekend if I'm not going out anywhere.

Axle clean once and press: 110 x 5

Close-grip neutral grip chin-ups: 5

8 rounds in 6:58

Dips

50 x 12, 12

75 x 10

-

Super-set with Pendlay rows

160 x 12, 12, 12

Sandbag squats

200 x 12, 12

50-second chin-up

I wasn't looking forward to this because training without some kind of heavy top set bores the powerlifter in me, but I always end up feeling really good once I'm running the workout. Got a good upper-body pump and walk out of the gym feeling better and more energized than when I walked in.

No elbow pain on the 50-sec chin-up this time, but I'm keeping the dropdown faster than the ascension in order not to push that.

 When I arrived at boxing on Tuesday I found my Cerberus belt waiting for me in the exact same spot that I'd left it. Thankfully I didn't need it this time, but after skipping rope I lent it to someone who was telling the coach he threw out his back bending down to his gym bag just then. He said it helped immediately.

For shadowboxing rounds, we used a plastic ring to throw a 1-2 in front of, then dip to either the left and throw a right uppercut or to the right and throw a left uppercut.

Partnered up afterwards with a fairly big guy who was dressed in pink pants, a Mike Tyson tank, and a comb embedded in his hair. I dug it, haha. Despite the loud look, he was quiet and all business, which was fine by me. Took turns throwing 1-2s, then 1-2-3s, and then did various combos on mitts and finished up with the heavy bag.

Wednesday was a total rest day because I was feeling rundown. The timing worked out because my girlfriend invited me to a holiday event at the PayPal Arena that her work got her tickets for. It dawned on me later that I've seen the event from the outside in years past because it's by the Costco I used to go to and I always thought it looked neat. We walked around and looked at the decorations, which were incredibly extravagant, and I got several comments from strangers on my Abdominal Swoleman sweater. 

Not super exciting but got a lot of walking in while taking in the eye candy. I'd had a huge meal just before leaving so I wasn't hungry enough to buy any food and I abstained from alcohol even though the drinks in a lit light bulb looked cool.

Squats

410 x 7

315 x 20

Reverse-hyper single leg curls

200 x 20

On Friday, I got set-up for belt squats a bit too deep in the hole and with my foot placement off. Straining to break the weight off the ground made my left hip angry. I was able to belt squat fine after an adjustment, but I've been feeling the hip pain a little since then. Squatting was a little uncomfortable so I stood a little more narrow than normal and kept a couple of reps left in the tank. Very happy my back is feeling better from last week and that it held out fine. 

 Stayed up very late on Saturday from hanging out with George until 3am watching Tomorrow Never Dies, Blood Omen 2 cutscenes, and playing Drakengard 3 (or what little of it we could until his controller issues became untenable). Didn't end up going to bed until 6am. Haven't done that in a very long time and it was a lot of fun. Blood Omen 2 had me dying, almost literally because laughing at it brought out the worst of my cough. I need to beat that one of these days; it's been 20 years since I played it on Gamecube.

Got set-up to squat the next day, not knowing if I was going to go through with it or not, and ended up cleaning the gym and garage. Practiced boxing instead: 1 round, 4 minutes of shadowboxing with 3 lb hand weights and 1 round, 4 minutes of heavy bag work. Went on a 45-minute walk afterwards.  

Bench press 

225 x 5

275 x 3

310 x 3

Incline Swiss bar bench press

175 x 10

190 x 8

205 x 6

175 x 11 -> Drop-down to 155 x 5

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows 

115s x 4 x 8

Banded tricep pressdowns 

10, 12

Super-set with seated hammer curls

50s x 8

35s x 10, 10

Feeling more recovered. Just have lingering congestion and the cough. The bench press top set came very smooth. Intentionally shorted myself of 315 by going with 310 to ensure success, but turns out I had more in me.

The rep scheme for the incline bench is a suggestion from Eric Bach: 10, 8, 6, and ending with 15 using the weight that was done with 10. 175 was too heavy for 15 reps at that point in the workout, but that's a cool sub quest to try and reach. The rep variety was very fun after doing 4 and 5 straight sets of 10 lately, which can get very boring (boring but big ala Wendler).

No training yesterday. Made myself rest. Will do belt squats today and possibly repetition effort goblet squats with the 50 lb kettlebell if my back agrees with that. 

Back is the same: injured, but not too bad. Can do life stuff fine, just can't load the spine too much right now. Sleeping doesn't hurt like with some nastier back injuries.

Not feeling too bad from illness anymore but cough has become quite bad, especially at night. Have been going to bed early to account for coughing time. Last night I'd find myself drifting off to sleep only to wake myself back up with a cough. Eventually fell asleep right at the mark where I'd get 8 hours, so I timed that well.

Being cozy makes me want to train. I'll be chilling in bed feeling sick with tea and the cat on me before my intrusive thoughts instruct me to ruin the moment and go sprint some hills. I'm glad I have that fire and it served me well on Tuesday when I didn't want to go to boxing at first.

 Swiss bar bench press

225 x 10, 10, 8, 8

Super-set with pull-ups

4 x 12

37-second chin-up

Wanted something dead simple and fast I could hit while sick. Was surprised at how light 225 was given that I got under 135 and noted that it felt oddly heavy.

Wanted to do a 1-min chin-up, but I was feeling pretty weak at this point - and I HAVE gained almost 10 pounds in total during this mass gain phase. Settled on 40, but my elbow started to hurt on the eccentric phase so I let myself drop down. Going up didn't produce any pain, though. 

Back is still in pain with limited function, but not nearly as bad as previous injuries. I can put on socks, get in and out of bed, and was able to load work equipment this morning without trouble. 

Very glad I ended up going to boxing yesterday. Usually I get home from work, spend 10 minutes lying down watching boxing videos on YouTube, and then I get up to prepare and leave. I started thinking about not going as I lay down in pain yesterday, comfortable with the cat sitting on my chest while watching a video about Sugar Ray Leonard, so I gave myself a minute of feeling like I didn't want to get up before I stopped thinking and simply did it. Made sure to grab my Cerberus soft belt on the way out.

Skipping rope was the hardest part, but not too bad. I made a point to raise my legs more gingerly and land a little more softly than usual so I felt slightly more tired than normal.

After 3 rounds of shadowboxing, we partnered up to trade various combos that we had to parry and block, eventually moving on to one of us getting mitts. Partner understood my back woes so I bobbed and ducked slower than normal. Finished with bagwork. Unfortunately I left my Cerberus belt there.

I did cancel today's class in advance, which typically has more ballistic conditioning workouts and ab exercises. 

 Suddenly tweaked my back twice today at the office! The first time was at my desk when I leaned forward and felt a small twinge. The second was at lunch when I bent further down, clearly not having learnt my lesson the first time, and felt a sharper pain that's now lingering with me. I went for a slow incline walk on the warehouse treadmill afterwards and lay down for 15 minutes for the remainder of my break, dozing off slightly. 

Not sure about boxing today. My instinct is to call it off, but it's a technical day and the easiest day of the week. Might be able to pull it off with my Cerberus soft belt for support. Will evaluate how I'm moving the remainder of my work day and go from there. It costs $15 to cancel a class if it's less than 24 hour notice, which is my only annoyance about this gym. Will definitely cancel tomorrow's class, though, which typically has a lot of conditioning.

 Felt sick and rundown, so last night I worked up to squatting 405x5 with the Yukon bar and called it there. Every rep felt awful, but equally so - the 5th was just as hard as the 1st and I could have kept cranking out reps, but knowing I haven't been sleeping great and with 2 days of boxing ahead of me, 5 was just the right amount.

Why back to the curved bar? Low bar squatting has been starting to hurt. My elbows are no longer feeling the strain, but lately I've been feeling discomfort on pressing exercises that feel like accumulative punishment from squats. Rotating different bars and bar placements is needed.

I am also going to bring back scheduled deloads. There have been countless times running 5/3/1 where I came back after a deload and marveled at how much better and stronger I felt.

 Neglected to mention that I got sick the day after Thanksgiving, and trained through that on Saturday for the press workout. Got set-up to do squats yesterday, went up to 290, and called it off based on how rundown I felt. Practiced some boxing in the living room instead.

Will see how I feel today after work. Throat is no longer sore, but am still sniffly. If heavy barbell squats still feel crummy, I'm thinking belt squats as the main work again.

Boxing will be only two days this week again. Class slots fill up incredibly fast. I need to register as soon as class selection becomes available (Saturdays at 4pm) so I can get in more days. I actually did so this weekend but hesitated because I felt sick and wasn't sure if I wanted to register for Monday. By the time I came back, a bunch of classes were full, including sparring. 

I'll be well prepared for sparring next time, though. For Black Friday, I bought new headgear and a groin guard from Phenom. I originally had my sights set on headgear from Winning, but what was around $350 in 2019 (when I logged about it) is now well over $600.

Overhead press

155 x 3

175 x 3

200 x 1

Against bands:

115 x 10

105 x 10, 10, 10, 10

Super-set with pull-ups: 5 x 10

Barbell skullcrushers

105 x 10, 10

115 x 10

Super-set with upright rows + shrugs

105 x 10

115 x 10

Axle curls

40 x 50

The rep of 200 was the closest I've ever come to passing out on this life. Could feel consciousness rapidly slipping away as I locked out, but somehow still felt confident enough that I could hold on. 

I recently watched a Brian Alsruhe vid about keeping your breath in the belly the entire walkout for the press. I used to do this intuitively and for some reason started breathing out and then taking another breath before pressing the first rep. I can definitely lift more weight holding my breath before the first rep.

I've had great results pressing against bands in the past so I was excited to bring these back in. I could tell I wouldn't be able to get 115 for 5 sets; going to 105 was the right move. 

The bar skullcrushers were fun. I'm at the age where I legitimately get nostalgic for certain exercises; used to do these a lot in 2008. I definitely had 135 x 10 in me like the old days.

Thanksgiving workout:

Landmine RDLs

5 plates x 10

6 plates x 10, 10

Super-set with reverse hypers: 200 x 3 x 10

Belt squats 

9 plates x 3 x 10

Standing ab wheel: 5 slow reps

Had a massive feast at my sister's. As siblings we've never gotten together like this for Thanksgiving by ourselves. The last time we did something like this was 2008 at my aunt's house, and my brother wasn't there. So definitely a special night.

Trained my coworker again yesterday. Because I was still eating when he arrived, I had him watch World's Strongest Man with me to pregame. Once we were done with his session, I did my own work.

Incline dumbbell press

80s x 10, 12, 10, 12

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows

80s x 12, 12, 12, 12

Lateral raises

35s x 10, 10

Super-set with Kelso shrugs

80s x 10, 10

Alternating side curls

50s x 20, 20

35s x 20, 20

On the dumbbell press, I intended to use a high incline to make the 80 pounders more challenging, but on the second set, I had lowered the angle for the rows and forgot to set it back. Ended up alternating the angle for the next 2 sets to be consistent.

Low back was feeling very fatigued so I did several feel-good yoga poses before bed. One came from Dr. Stuart McGill while another came from my cat. I noticed after his play session that he was laying on his belly with his lower body on the couch and upper body hanging off, arms stretched out in front of him, so I went next to him and did the same, which felt awesome and decompressive. 

 The shrimp I ate from Google upset my guts. Starting to wonder if I'm developing a shrimp intolerance, as I recall feeling bloated after eating shrimp from Trader Joe's recently, or it's this particular batch. Nothing debilitating, just bloat and stomach gurgles. Haven't noticed any issues from crab and lobster so it's not shellfish in general.

 After squats yesterday, I spent the whole afternoon cleaning the kitchen and throwing out old pots and appliances. Took a break to go on a 45-minute walk, then hit this at night:

Reverse hyper single leg curls

200 x 2 x 20

Weighted decline crunches

50 x 20

Hanging leg raises

15

Hips were sore after squats so the walk did a lot of good. They feel better this morning. Experienced some wrist pain again in the morning, but not as bad as a few weeks ago. Going to look into non-lifting wrist support wraps for sleep. 

Visited one of the Google campuses today at work and made off with a good haul from the cafeteria. Spicy shrimp, garbanzo beans, salad, and pumpkin cheesecake. Paired this with lamb vindaloo from Trader Joe's and ate everything as one huge lunch, followed my the usual 10-minute walk and 10-minute nap before returning to my desk.

Squats 

465 x 2

315 x 20, 13

Had a another rep of 465 in me, but this time I really did feel satisfied with leaving it at 2. My back wasn't feeling too good this morning (identified the culprit being my couch that has no lumbar support) so I was cautious. The weight felt extraordinarily heavy going down, but when I squatted out of the hole it felt light. While my waist has gotten a little thicker during this bulk period, I'm still walking around at under 200 lbs and am still lighter and slimmer than before, which makes a big difference in how stable the walkout and eccentric phase feel.

Finally back to 315x20. It wasn't too hard until the 20th, which was the rep that felt like my back was about to fold over (previously, that was rep 17).

Will do hamstrings and abs either later tonight or sometime tomorrow.

 Trained a co-worker at my home yesterday evening and then spent some time moving equipment indoors in anticipation of upcoming storms. My traps have been getting some work lately between deadlifts and shrug-holding the dumbbells for Bulgarian split-squats, but it seemed that merely carrying the 160 lb keg and 200 lb sandbag from the yard to my garage finally reached the tipping point - my traps and the center of my upper-back are suddenly very sore today, and lower-back is feeling a little pain on the right side. I would love to fit in regular loaded carries more often when I'm not already feeling fatigued from deadlifts because this was a reminder of what a back builder they are. 

Also moved my strongman log under the patio while I figure out a permanent indoor placement for it. It's already gotten rust after a year of outdoor use, but I'd like to prevent that further.

After all that, went to Heart Attack Hill and ran 3 sprints up it, followed by a 10-minute jog. Ran into my girlfriend getting gas as I passed the gas station so I hopped in and we drove home together.

I've got boxing today after work, which I selected out of being the class least likely to have intense mitt and heavy bag work in order to let my hand heal. Yesterday I felt an ever-so-faint sensation when I made a sudden opening motion with it, but it's been feeling pain-free since the weekend.

 Last night:

Romanian deadlifts

315 x 10 (double overhand)

365 x 8 (5 reps double overhand, 3 mixed grip)

365 x 8 (straps)

Bulgarian split-squats

80s x 3 x 10

Decline weighted crunches

50 x 20

This morning, 10 burpees to get warm and 5 standing reps on the ab wheel. 

Left hip is bothering me ever so slightly. Felt it on the split-squats and again on the ab wheel. Nothing debilitating, just something to watch out for.

Saturday night:

Overhead press

135 x 5

155 x 3

185 x 3

155 x 8

High incline dumbbell press

80s x 8, 10, 9, 9, 9

Super-set with pull-ups 

5 x 10

Incline dumbbell skullcrushers

35s x 10, 10

50s x 6 -> drop-down to 35s x 5

Dumbbell lateral raises

35s x 3 x 10

Axle curls

40 x 50

Shoulders felt unexpectedly sore from weighted dips the night before last. 185 was a smooth effort without any grinding, but I don't think I had another rep in me, either.

Had fun doing lateral raises. Haven't done those in a minute.

Big steak and rice dinner afterwards.

SSB squats

150 x 5

240 x 5

290 x 5

330 x 5

380 x 5

SSB hise shrugs

330 x 10

380 x 10

Reverse hyper single leg curls

200 x 15, 15

Weighted dips

50 x 5

100 x 10

110 x 10, 10

Pull-ups

3 x 10

Axle curls

40 x 60

This was my midweek, moderate intensity workout before the grueling weekend where I get to enjoy longer workouts, so I'm quite pleased with how light these loads felt. Didn't even wear knee sleeves for the first time since I can remember. Total 180 from feeling rundown last Thursday and still left plenty more in the tank. Did everything as giant sets so there were few rest times.

The one exception to my body feeling great is my right hand and wrist pain. At one point during the night I took my Loop earplugs out and the act of pinching made my wrist suddenly hurt. Felt waves of pain after that. Feels fine again this morning, but I'm thinking I shouldn't strike with it at all throughout next week.

Also had gut problems this morning. For dinner I airfryed a package of New Zealand lamb from Costco and it smelled a little, but it still seemed fine and was well before the expiration date. My stomach started feeling bloated right after eating it so I'll be tossing the leftovers out, unfortunately.

No boxing gym tonight because of my hand. Will probably shadowbox and run instead, or just treat myself to a rest day and root for Mike Tyson (I predict that he'll lose).

Yesterday at boxing, after rope and shadowboxing rounds, we switched between various kettlebell exercises and dumbbell shadowboxing. I didn't get a lot out of this except active recovery as 30 second rounds was too short to be challenging. 

Next, we partnered up and took turns slipping 1-2s. My partner was obnoxious. This guy tends to drift around during shadowboxing and stray in peoples' personal space. One of his gloves' velco straps was dangling; I'm guessing he had some equipment issues there but I had to deduce this on my own because it slapped my face close to my eye a few times and he never said a word about what was going on. He also kept sighing out of frustration and stopping to reset after he'd throw, no idea what that was about either. He was also throwing pretty hard for a drill and kept coming in close to in-fight so there wasn't much room to avoid his 1-2s, I had to block his hard shots each time. I played nice for a while and then started bopping him on his head harder when he wouldn't let up (still light enough to not be a dick, but hard enough to have considerable impact when that wasn't really the point of the drill).

I thought my right hand was healed, which is why I did some bagwork on Tuesday to warm-up for sparring, but right before bed my upper wrist area suddenly burst into pain. There is no lingering pain, but I'll have to be careful about that.

1st day of real sparring at this gym yesterday that wasn't just partner shadowboxing that got a little physical. Also my first real spar since the pandemic. When I walked in, two people were sparring in the ring while others worked the heavy bag or watched, so I stood around watching for a bit until I struck-up a conversation with someone next to me who said I have to sign-in a second time on the sparring list. I didn't have a groin protector though and wanted to ask the coach about the gym spares first. Then this guy asked me to film his sparring match, which I was doing when the coach suddenly called out my name without me signing in and announced I was up next. He showed me where the spare head gear and groin guards are and I entered the ring to spar the coach for 3 rounds.

Got told by another coach between rounds that I need to commit to my jab and not let it fall short so much. Bad habit of mine trying to be too nice and not hit hard because I'm used to being bigger and stronger than people. Again, it's been 5 years since I've sparred and more practice  knowing I'm SUPPOSED to hit people instead of just running drills will obviously fix this.

My jabs landed more after this but still fell short a few times. I threw a right uppercut that lightly landed as coach was moving laterally, which I'm real happy about. 

My defense needs work and I ate a lot of shots. Inside of my mouth got cut up. HUGE difference compared to when I sparred in Muay Thai, though, is I'm not overly jumpy about getting hit and I remain calm under fire. Getting punched didn't bother me. The Title headgear may also be more protective than my old Venom one because my nose wasn't sore like it used to get in Muay Thai, although that may be due to the coach's accuracy in aiming for the chin.

After round 2 was over, I felt a familiar sense of suffocation anxiety from breathing hard with the headgear on and I wanted nothing more than to rip it off, which I ignored. As round 3 went on, I felt fine again and was ready for a 4th. This is why I bought that breath-restriction mask. 

Can't wait to spar more rounds.

Squats

450 x 2, 3 (low bar)

Drop-down to high-bar sets of 405x3, 315x8, 225x8

Reverse-hyper single leg curls

200 x 15, 15

That pulled lat muscle that suddenly reared its head while making breakfast last Tuesday is not completely healed and I felt the strain when supporting the bar on my back, but everything held up.

After racking the first set of 450, the whole "left a rep in the tank" didn't sit with me this time for whatever reason, so I hit an even stronger, deeper set of 3 afterwards before proceeding to the strip sets. 

Nixed the extra sets I usually do of 135 and then just the bar to try and reduce being sore for my intro to sparring day. Also used the massage gun on my quads, shoulders, and back, and did a few hamstring stretches before bed. This morning my legs feel pretty good. A little sore but nothing that has me walking funny.

Weighed 199 the other night with a day's worth of food in me. 

Finished 4 days of boxing on Friday evening. Lots of bagwork mixed with calisthenics and little partner training, as is normal with Coach Hashim. Noticed at night that my right hand was in pain from some hard power shots I threw. There were a couple of times I recall accidentally landing without a tightly closed fist, which is a stupid mistake.

Did a large Costco run on Saturday that included ribeyes and 2 different packages of lambchops (1 from New Zealand, the other local). Considered taking the whole day off due to feeling beat, but by the late evening when all errands were done, the iron bug bit me.

2-board press

335 x 2

1-board press

275 x 8

Incline crazy bells

145 x 10, 10, 10, 9, 7

Super-set with dumbbell rows 

80s x 10, 10, 12, 12, 10

Dumbbell skullcrushers

50s x 5 -> drop-down to 35s x 5

Various curls

Felt a little pressure on my injured hand on the 335 - nothing too alarming, but I left one rep in the tank just to be safe. Was pleased to hit 8 with 275.

Had my brother and sister visit on Sunday to pick out pictures for Dad's stone. Went to a nice brunch at Gardenia in Los Gatos and it was cool finally eating at that location after seeing it from the outside for decades. Eataly afterwards for a creamspresso, like always.

I signed up for boxing only twice this upcoming week to let my hand heal. Tuesday is my first "intro to sparring" class. I have to attend 3 of those before I can spar, along with getting my physical on file (which is already done).

 Day 3 of boxing on Wednesday was a low-intensity session. We alternated between 2 groups: 1 doing bagwork and the other doing 30 second rounds of circuit training consisting of med ball slams, jabbing with band resistance, throwing rights with band resistance, battle ropes, and med ball push-ups.

Yesterday after work:

Squats

335 x 10

Weighted decline push-ups

105 x 6, 7

Against bands: 12

Pull-ups

3 x 10

I got under the bar for a 15+ set of squats, everything felt as light as it usually does, and as soon as I squatted out of the hole it felt like I was moving through quicksand. Hips felt like they just didn't want to be doing this and I had no explosiveness whatsoever. I thought about putting the bar back on the stands at rep 3, but reasoned that though it felt miserable, the weight is light and I could keep burying a few more reps. Made it to 10, and after it was done.

During my usual lunch break walk yesterday, I went all the way to the trail's pull-up bars and did a 60 second dead hang.

Day 2 out of 4 at the boxing gym yesterday. My body was hurting: lower back from tweaking it last week, right glute, and left lat which suddenly burst into pain when I was microwaving breakfast yesterday morning. On the upside, my elbow has been feeling MUCH better and my left shoulder is improving. I didn't have any problems when it was time to perform. Worked with my partner on trading combos and did a good job of staying relaxed.

For bagwork, I took off my new Ringside 16 oz sparring gloves, which are comically big and pillowy even for 16 oz, to don my bag gloves and it was like I had super powers with the smaller gloves.

Before bed, I switched my foam mattress from the firm side to the soft side and sure enough, woke-up today with my back feeling like it was recovering. This seems to be the pattern that works: firm side for most nights, but when I have tweaks or injuries, the soft side makes me feel better for a few days before it starts to feel like my back needs the extra support again. Very interesting. 

Went to boxing on Monday for the first time, marking the start of a 4-day boxing gym week.

First drill was forming 2 lines and going down the length of the gym throwing a right and then a left to the body, followed by a couple of other combos that the coach called out.

Partnered up afterwards and Coach Tommy worked with me since everyone else picked each other very quickly. Main drill was a right-hand lead, post with the right, then a left hook to the body and left to the face. Took me awhile to realize you're quickly replacing the post arm with the left, not holding them with the post and throwing the hook at the same time, but it soon clicked and I was moving at angles better as a result of not being pinned with my right arm. 

Once we moved onto other combos I realized I was tensing up and actively fought against that. I definitely do it more when working with a coach vs a regular partner. Sinuses also started impacting my breathing when they seemed to have gotten better last week.

Great session overall. I think Coach Tommy is brothers with Tuesday's coach; they look like twins.

Glute held up fine. I just made sure not to do high knees when skipping rope, which we usually do in the last 30 seconds of a round to burnout.

Unfortunately, woke up with my back feeling stiff, and when warming up breakfast in the morning my left side suddenly seized up. Luckily it's more in the lat area, not lower back. Bobbing and weaving, while feeling fine in the moment, do seem to make my back act up later that day and the next morning. Quite possible my mattress is a factor in that, as well. 

Had a really nice Saturday after that deadlift workout. Sister came over with my niece and we went out for pizza and gelato. They came back so my niece could hangout with the 2 cats for a bit, and after they left I went on a 40 minute run Saturday night.

Sunday afternoon:

Weighted dips
100 x 10, 8, 8, 8

Super-set with
Chest-supported dumbbell rows
115s x 8, 8, 8, 8

Incline dumbbell press
80s x 10, 10, 10

Alternating lateral curls
50s x 26, 20, 20

Right glute is still acting up at night, making it a little painful to walk before bed. Never had a glute injury before IIRC. I used the massage gun on it, which must have been a funny-looking scene.

I signed up for boxing 4 days this week. Hopefully my glute holds up today.

Deadlifts
455 x 1
505 x 0, 1
550 x 1
Felt gunshy about my back on the first attempt at 505 due to just recently getting pain free again, so I put my belt on and donned lifting straps. I know I can hold 600 fine in my hands so it's not about grip; it was a matter of creating an environment where I FELT more secure and could focus on exploding up.

Bulgarian split-squats
80s x 3 x 8
Literally doubled the weight from the last few times by holding 2 dumbbells instead of using 1 hand to brace myself.

Pull-ups
2 x 10

Press

135 x 5

155 x 3

175 x 5

Standing one-arm dumbbell press 

80 x 7/6 (right arm/left arm), 7, 8

Pull-ups 

12, 10, 10

Dumbbell shrugs

80s x 3 x 15

Boxing was very low intensity Wednesday,. Started off with partner shadowboxing, which I was hoping we'd do the entire session because with the right partner it "devolves" into light-contact sparring, but we just did it for 1 round and it was with a lower-skilled partner who asked me again to partner with him. We switched and just worked on simple in-fighting combos: taking turns throwing 1-2s to the body, then 1-2-3, and finally 1-2-3-2 with a slip to the outside. Ended with a full round of non-stop 1-2s and uppercuts per the coach's callout.

I believe I tweaked something in my back while benching the other night, probably from slightly bridging without realizing it, and it's been hurting since. Then last night my right glute started acting up while I was walking around the house. Glute is better this morning but back is still in pain. Will probably do belt squats and split-squats this evening instead of bar squats, but we'll see how warm-ups feel.

Was dressed as the Terminator for Halloween at the office. This is what the NSA agent or illicit hacker spying on me through my webcam sees:

Bench press

315 x 1

325 x 1

335 x 1

High incline dumbbell press

80s x 10, 9, 7

Chest-supported dumbbell rows

80s x 4 x 10

Kelso shrugs

80s x 3 x 10

Had exceptionally poor sleep the night before and wasn't sure I would end up lifting today. After failing a bench press rep last week, I wanted to crush some singles with heavy but sub-maximal loads. Weight felt heavy but wasn't a grind, either. 315 felt just as hard as 335.

Going light on the dumbbells was a good move. I got work a harder incline angle and was able to maximally squeeze my shoulder blades at the top of the rows to a degree that I don't quite reach with the 115s and 125s. Experienced a strong upper-back pump.

Have never made a concerted effort to do Kelso shrugs before but it's high time I did. The Shrug Book has been in languishing in my Amazon wishlist for something like 15 years now.

Bodyweight is currently 196.5 in the morning, which is quite a bit lower than I expected. I gained 4 lbs from eating more calories and carbs and then stabilized. It explains my gradual but modest strength increase, a rate that I'm actually quite happy about if I'm still this light.

 Had a packed weekend. Friday was a ramen dinner with coworkers. Went to a wine bar afterwards but only stayed out until 10:30. 

Saturday was home boxing training. Alternated between doing a 4-minute round on the bag and going for a short jog, ending up doing 2 of each. I found a free road bike during the first lap. I haven't had a bike since I was 8 or 9 and had been thinking about getting one to bike to work on occasion, so this was awesome.

Saturday night was a Halloween party on the USS Hornet, a decommissioned aircraft carrier. The second I stepped on it, I paid no mind to the stage and party area on one side because I was geeking out over the WW2 artifacts. Ended up being one of the best Halloween nights I've ever had. I had 2 Chipotle burritos waiting for me in the car to take food breaks and I'm craving the leftovers right now as I type this at the office.

Sunday was a company event at a winery. Ate duck pizza and did felt like doing as minimal an amount of socializing I could get away with before leaving for a Costco run, ending the night by watching some classic Dragonball.

I also had some sleep and recovery items arrive from Amazon: a Manta Bluetooth sleep mask, Biotest P-Well, Loop earplugs, and a Roflex for my elbow. Unfortunately, I ended up having a bad night of sleep after combining everything. I woke up to the earplugs hurting my right ear and the left one missing, so I ditched them. 

Yesterday was an insanely busy workday amidst an already busy week, but I crushed the day and stayed on-schedule with tasks to check-off at home even after getting out of work an hour late.

Squats (high bar)

315 x 18

Reverse hypers

200 x 3 x 10

Weighted dips

100 x 10, 9, 10

50 x 12

Super-set with pull-ups

3 x 10

Hammer curls

35s x 3 x 10

Added one rep to 315 and had no elbow pain on the pull-ups. Great development. Did them unweighted, but really emphasized the shoulder blade squeeze at the top of each rep. Didn't allow myself to strain to avoid aggravating the elbow. Same with the hammer curls: light weight but an extra intense squeeze at peak contraction.

Random boxing form cue I realized the other day: start the punch from the lat muscle, not the elbow or fist. Ensures a full extension that way and also makes for a more powerful jab. This way, the fist is launching like a spring from the torso, rather than the fist moving first and the arm following, which begets arm punching.

This morning:

100 kettlebell swings with 50 lbs

20 burpees

Got a busy weekend ahead. Ramen dinner with coworkers tonight, a Halloween party on a decommissioned WW2 battleship tomorrow, and then another work outing at a winery with pizza on Sunday. Training hard to earn those calories, and eating big but clean when at home. Have also turned down numerous alcohol offers at the office throughout this week.

Speaking of food, the Ninja air fryer I scored on Prime Day has been the best kitchen appliance I've bought that isn't a fridge. Been making wild caught salmon in it but looking into more recipes (buffalo wings are going to be a must).

 Boxing on Tuesday went well. Did a better job of relaxing and not burning out this time. I'm starting to suspect that coffee played a role last week. I also drank coffee before Friday's session and my coach then told me I'm overreacting and too twitchy. 

Trained a coworker yesterday at my home gym. Ran him through a basic bench press workout, since I know that's the most likely approach to keep his interest piqued. Got in a 10 minute run for myself in the evening, but I needed the break anyway. My legs were sore up until yesterday from Saturday's squats. Today, Thursday, is the first day they feel back to normal. I also got in some band pull-aparts and 5 Turkish get-ups with the 25 lb kettlebell in the morning, followed by a 30-second dead hang.

This morning I hit:

50 kettlebell swings with 25 lbs

55 push-ups (which might be a PR)

50 kettlebell preacher curls with various weights

Incline bench press

210 x 6, 5, 6, 6, 5

Super-set with dumbbell rows 

80s x 5 x 12

Dumbbell skullcrushers

50s x 7

35s x 10

Super-set with alternating side curls

50s x 20, 20

35 second chin-up

Never ceases to amaze me the disparity between how light the weight feels at first vs how quickly I tire out with incline bench. Last 2 sets had some ugly final reps, but I've made good progress on this lift. I would like to switch to dumbbells soon.

Noticing a pretty decent bicep peak developing from my regimen of side curls, prolonged single-rep chin-ups, and the weight gain. 

Work story: I was standing at my computer plugging away when the CEO's wife walks by me, looks in my mug, and goes, "What is that?" 

I answered "Eggs, bone broth, and kimchi." [Also egg whites.] 

"That looks disgusting."

She's a nice lady and meant it in jest, but I was surprised at how rude that was. Being in the iron game for a long time has made me take pride in doing and eating things normal people don't, though, so it was easy for me to laugh it off. - it's cool to be a freak. Plus, nobody at work gives me grief over how I eat when they come to me to lift heavy machines that nobody else in the company can budge. Additionally, I make these mugs so I can seamlessly consume my caloric needs without interrupting work for the good of her company.

Part of our business' product line are RTD shakes and some of those protein shakes are so nasty I don't understand how they sell. I'll take soup that tastes like eggy chicken noodle any day over Lean Body Vanilla.

Hit the iron yesterday:

Bench press

315 x 2 (failed a third)

Close-grip bench

225 x 10, 10, 9, 7

Reverse-hypers

200 x 3 x 20

Kroc rows

125 x 25

Had an out-of-body experience while bench pressing. Similar to blacking out on heavy overhead press, but more conscious of what's happening and mostly just feeling a disconnect from my body; I was aware that I was pressing the weight but I felt like I was controlling a videogame or a dream character. I've experienced this before when maxing out, but I completely gassed out on the third after the first 2 reps went up easily. I didn't even hesitate going for a third, either. I just went for it like an automaton without any concern or regard for failure.

This was the fastest I've ever recovered from a bench failure. Tilted the bar to one side, rolled the half that was still on me down my torso a little, and did a weighted landmine sit-up with the 3 plates thanks to my bench's leg anchors (bench is more or less a year old and I've never failed on it; did not have anchors on my old bench). 

Considering how hard I worked my shoulders the past 2 days in the boxing gym, I'm very anticipatory of what I can do in the following weeks bench pressing while fresh on the weekend. I'm also pleased with how fast the bar went up for the first 2 reps.

This morning before work was another easy "just move" session:

50 band pull-aparts

10 ABCs with 15 lb kettlebells

 Hard 2 days of boxing training at the gym. Primarily partner combo work, but at a high pace with few rests. On Tuesday I got more tired than usual and realized I was tensing my shoulders up. T he other main factor, shallow breaths, is because of my sinuses. Going to use a saline rinse I purchased before class next time. Need to remember to keep shoulders relaxed and tuck chin. Let the arms fall into their natural position with the hands up. Keeping the elbows tucked aids this. Very basic stuff but still easy to lose when dynamically moving and reacting, especially when you have larger lats pushing your arms out (something my Friday coach has commented on).

I am also going to be using this blog as a dream journal. I thought about creating an entirely different account, but this place has been such a longtime hangout place for my thoughts that I'd like to have it be more than just training notes. I always appreciate reading back on entries years earlier and seeing life stuff jotted down.

Last night/this morning was a funny bad dream. I had some people over and everyone was really bored in my living room while I had DBZ playing on the television (buncha idiots if you ask me...). I made George waffles in my new Ninja air fryer (which is a real development) but they turned out weird and the butter, which I never eat anymore, was old. Then in the same dream I hosted a house party for goths and alt folks, but it was terrible and also boring. One guy told me he just got his PhD and gave me a hug, so I awkwardly hugged him back. Then he started crying and claiming I harassed him by touching his ass when we hugged and I was going WTF at this. Immediately, giant bighorn sheep started climbing onto my balcony, so I pointed that out and ran to see what the hell was going on, but really I was just glad to be away from this dumbass and I forgot about the sheep. Finally, a couple were sleeping in my bed and wouldn't leave when I announced that the party was over because they weren't sober. I was thinking about calling the police when I woke-up. I THINK this was the point my alarm rang but I'm not entirely sure. Felt like I went from an entire night of partying to going straight to work.

I find dream descriptions really boring from other people unless they're super short, hence why I rarely share any, but that was fun to write and keep on record for myself. So far I have eliminated edibles entirely during weekdays this week, hence the vivid dreams. Feeling better in the mornings as a result.

SSB good mornings

200 x 10, 10, 8

Swiss bar incline bench against bands

185 x 8, 6, 6

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows

125s x 3 x 8

Weighted dips

50 x 2 x 10

Super-set with side curls

50s x 2 x 20

Russian twists

45 x 30

Weighted decline crunches

50 x 20

Quads got a lot of work over the weekend between high bar squats and 3 days of uphill hiking, and I've been wanting to bring good mornings back for some time now. I'm also rereading Pavel's Beyond Bodybuilding at work and the anecdote about good mornings increasing squat numbers got me even more anticipatory about them. While a lot has not aged well ("never go over 5 reps"), there are still a lot of useful nuggets in there.

The good mornings sucked far less than I thought they would/than I remember them. I'm actually conscious of what a hip hinge is now and I'm consciously sticking my butt out at the bottom, then per Pavel's cue, driving my feet hard into the floor. Wasn't miserable at all, but I stopped at rep 8 on the final set just because injury has completely snuck up on me the next day when doing these and I wanted to leave plenty left in the tank. Back feels great the next day, thankfully.

Benching against the bands was killer. Ton of tension on the chest. Using medium black bands from Dave Draper's brand. Dismayed to find that the pair have different levels of tension and thickness, so the quality control isn't there. One side was a little lighter than the other. Oh well, imbalances are good for strongman.

Quick little workout this morning before work just to get some movement in and stoke hunger:

50 band pull-aparts

10 ABCS with 15lb kettlebells (what happened to be sitting in my living room)

 Camping trip was amazing and also quite brutal. It was a hike-in spot and while it wasn't terribly far from the parking space, it was completely uphill and there was a lot of gear to haul via the supplied wheel barrels at the foot of the trail. I got in hours of "sled" work that way on top of a 3 1/2 leisure hike up the mountain on Saturday. Legs were tired but didn't cramp once. Ate lots of high calorie, high protein food via a portable propane stovetop. Also saw deer every day. I wanted to eat them but was also just appreciating their majesty at the same time. They're particularly cool to come across at night.

I recently nabbed a Dakine hydro pack and it's been a game-changer. Sipping on water without needing to slow down and reach for a water bottle is so great.

When I got home, I was quite worn and left my laptop open with my boxing registration pending to muse about how many days this week I wanted to sign up for. Probably 1 to give my mind and body a break after how rundown I felt this past weekend. Came back later and signed up for my standard 3. Started thinking about how much better my days are with class at the end.

Squats (high bar, narrow stance)

405 x 5, 5, 4

Bench press 

275 x 3 x 5

Super-set with unilateral reverse hyper rows

200 x 3 x 10

Dumbbell Romanian deadlifts 

125s x 2 x 10

Super-set with alt side curls

50s x 2 x 20

I was DRAGGING today. Felt like my body just wanted to do nothing. Happy with the numbers but I was definitely not pushing the rest times.

The squats were a real quad killer. Alternating the bar placement really shows me how different both of these squat styles feel. 

I'm leaving for a weekend camping trip this afternoon, hence the full-body workout. We'll see how I feel upon returning, but I may schedule a week deload. I honestly never regret doing that, as boring as it is.

After shadowboxing rounds at the gym Tuesday, coach asked if I could partner up with him during partner drills.

First drill was one person throwing two jabs while moving backwards, a left upper-cut, and then a 2-3-2. Idea is to lure the opponent in and then deliver the upper-cut as they’re coming forward. Really appreciated the 1-on-1 attention. As usual, he enforced me using the full range of my jab and stopped me from coming forward a few times. Very happy to report I had 0 shoulder OR elbow pain from whipping my jab out. Shoulder seems completely healed. Elbow pain is still present if I exert pressure at an odd angle or when straining with pull-ups, but less often when boxing.

Sinuses were an annoyance again. Had to breathe through my mouth frequently when I wasn’t tired and blow my nose every break. Zyrtec seems to make my symptoms worse if taken in the morning, but SLIGHTLY better if taken the night before. I’ve tried the advice about ingesting local honey but have never noticed a difference. Yesterday I ordered a saline rinse bottle off Amazon per @simo74’s suggestion.

Speaking of Amazon, I scored big on some Prime sales. Ordered a new pair of Ringside 16 oz sparring gloves to replace my old cracked Muay Thai Fairtechs, a bag of Metabolic Drive, another exercise band, some soup mugs for my egg and bone broth “shakes”, and a Ninja air fryer. Never had an air fryer before, although I’ve used one at the office.

Wednesday boxing was half conditioning exercises and half partner drills yesterday. For the first half we went outside and went through the circuit: vertical jumps, med ball slams (I almost wrote "slaps" which would have been a pretty funny exercise), 1-2s on the bag, push-ups, and a few others. Going back in, I got asked by one of the beginners who I'm friendly with if I'd partner up with him. In full transparency, I was sort-of hoping he wouldn't so I could pair with one of the bigger and more skilled trainees, but I pushed back on that thought and the urge to physically avoid him because it felt like such a bitch move and sure enough, he asked. I'm happy to give back after I got such good 1-on-1 coaching the day before. We took turns slipping 1-2s, eventually adding a 3 to roll under. He started developing a big grin on his face as we took turns slipping and I thought it was so cool to see how happy boxing made him, but I kept my glare unchanged so he'd feel a little intensity while under fire before the break.

Incline bench press

205 x 8, 7, 7

Super-set with weighted pull-ups

50 x 3 x 8

Dumbbell shrugs

80s x 2 x 20

Spider curls

50s x 10

35s x 2 x 12

I'm looking bigger from doing shorter workouts more frequently compared to 2 long workouts on the weekend followed by a longer break from the iron. Likely just glycogen retention, but it feels good and I'm less rundown. STILL sore from Saturday's squats, but it's relegated to muscle soreness and not mental fatigue and malaise like last week.

Squats

330 x 16 + 4

* Took about a minute of rest-pausing before knocking out 4 more.

Weighted dips 

100 x 3 x 10

Super-set with seated unilateral reverse hyper rows

200 x 3 x 10

Alternating dumbbell side curls

50s x 3 x 20

Resisted the urge to do more upper-bod sets and exercises. I just pressed yesterday, I want to train boxing and conditioning at home tomorrow, and I want to go to boxing at least three times next week so I don't want to feel run down for days on end like last week. 

Woke-up early to lift before work yesterday. Breakfast was 2 mini hummus cups with a few nuts on top, leftover protein shake, and coffee before training 20 minutes later.

Press
135 x 5
175 x 3
205 x 0, 0

Push press
205 x 1

Seated Arnold press
80s x 7, 8

Chin-ups
10, 15

Wow, 205 wasn’t even close! Could be the time of day and/or being in need of a deload. The real win was how much stronger that second set of overhead pressing the 80 lb dumbbells felt compared to the first.

A reminder that I need to do more 60-min-and-under workouts. The weekend was a great 2 days of hard, extended training, but I felt destroyed in the days following. A day of rest in-between would have made a difference, too.

Later in the evening, I resisted the urge to do more lifting and opted for home boxing training instead. Did 3 rounds of 4 minutes shadowboxing:

1st round: breath restriction mask, 3 lb weights
2nd round: 3 lb weights
3rd round: no equipment

Went on a 25-minute run with the mask on for half of it afterwards.

 Woke-up early to lift before work today. Breakfast was 2 mini hummus cups with a few nuts on top, leftover protein shake, and coffee before training 20 minutes later.

Press

135 x 5

175 x 3

205 x 0, 0

Push press

205 x 1

Seated Arnold press

80s x 7, 8

Chin-ups

10, 15

Wow, 205 wasn't even close! Could be the time of day and/or being in need of a deload. The real win was how much stronger that second set of overhead pressing the 80 lb dumbbells felt compared to the first.

A reminder that I need to do more 60-min-and-under workouts. The weekend was a great 2 days of hard, extended training, but I felt destroyed in the days following. A day of rest in-between would have made a difference, too.

Still, went to work in an elevated mood from lifting. I think I'm going to come home and do weighted dips to finish this day off. They don't hurt my elbow or shoulder and I haven't dipped in a good while.

I came into the weekend sick, trained hard on both days when I felt rested enough, and then felt wrecked again. Was going to go on an easy jog Monday after work, but decided to just get ready for bed extra early instead. Only did about 5 minutes of stretching at night, including some band-resistance seated pulls for my back. Got a long night of sleep.

Felt better Tuesday just in time to contend with boxing in this heatwave. Normally I start my boxing recap with something like "Boxing went great", but I definitely felt off. Got more tired than usual just from trading combos, and I realized during a rest period that I wasn't taking full breaths. Loosened up the rest of the session and felt much better despite throwing harder shots on the shield. We're in a crazy heatwave with 105+ weather; hottest week of the year by far. 

I've been a little sick and rather nauseous, so I resisted the urge to lift on Thursday and Friday and just relaxed.

Saturday:

Incline bench press 

205 x 7, 8, 7, 6

Lying dumbbell rows 

115s x 8, 9, 9, 9

Incline dumbbell press 

80s x 2 x 10

Super-set with lying lat flyers

35s x 2 x 10

Incline skullcrushers 

50s x 7, 7

Super-set with alternating side curls 

50s x 2 x 16

Seeing significant gains on incline bench. Was aiming for 6 reps across the board, with 5 as an acceptable fallback since I'm sick. Bar felt very light in my hands, but by set 4 fatigue finally set in.

Sunday:

Deadlifts

505 x 5

Romanian deadlifts

315 x 2 x 8

Single dumbbell split squats

100 x 3 x 10

Russian twists

35 x 30

Weighted decline twist crunches

50 x 10, 15

Went out to a pumpkin patch afterwards and had an awesome end to my weekend there. Shot mini pumpkins out of a rocket launcher and had an overpriced but delicious burger from a BBQ stand.

 Got to spar yesterday. Officially it was "shadowbox sparring" but 2 out of my 3 partners ignored that.

First opponent was a young guy about my height. Constantly circled to his left so my rights kept intercepting. When he'd try to react and switch direction, he walked into my left hook. I was barely touching him because he was going appropriately light, so this was basically point sparring.

Second opponent was the big guy I've worked with before who definitely did not point spar, but while he made contact more solidly than the coach instructed, I didn't mind at all. They weren't asshole punches but around what I expect when we're supposed to go at 50%. He's the tallest guy I've ever sparred at around 6'4 and I was having trouble landing to his head. His jab was long but my guard was tight. Coach instructed me to hit the body more, which was a reminder I needed. I was hitting his body so easily at first that I tried to be "fair" while also challenging myself to go for his head, but I'd be better served in that goal precisely by hammering the body. The goal is to find openings: exploit them, don't be nice. I also need to extend my jab more when sparring, I have more reach to give. 

Third opponent was another young guy who was my height, but more skilled than the first partner and someone who also connected at around 50% so I matched him. Same tactic - he kept circling in the same direction and I kept intercepting. Thought I'd shaken the bad habit of asking people if they're OK but he totally ate a left hook that he moved into that prompted a check-up from me and I was conscious that we were supposed to point spar. He landed good ones of his own and kept a very good guard.

We switched partners after sparring to work on some simple drills: 1-2 to the body, then a 3 that we ducked, and afterwards, ducking left and right hooks in succession. 

Something that's been really bothering me are my sinuses. I'm having to blow my nose every break we get. Will look into natural remedies, meds, and nose strips, probably in that order.

 Yesterday morning I upgraded to 25 lb Turkish get-ups for 5 reps. After work, I did a 1-minute head hang for my achey shoulder and then some brief misery training yesterday. Breath restriction mask, 3 lb dumbbells, and a 4-minute shadowboxing round. Couldn't rip the mask off fast enough to get some air when the round was over and I stopped moving, although DURING the round I felt OK.

I debated for awhile before rebuying a mask and ultimately decided I benefit from it too much to ignore. I don't pretend it simulates elevation training or has an effect on red blood cells; it simply trains me to stay calm and psychologically deal with being gassed, which is invaluable in sparring. One of my bad habits, especially when rusty, is overreacting to the opponent and getting twitchy instead of staying calm.

I need to take a picture next time because I looked like a Mortal Kombat wannabe with my ninja mask and neon blue "tonfas" (hand weights). My edgelord 17-year-old self would have been proud (and then snapped pictures for Myspace).

Had plans for more rounds but hunger hit me and since this is a season of gaining, I went to eat some steak and rice instead. Went on a 45-minute walk afterwards. 

Squats

450 x 3 (low bar)

Drop-down to 405x3, 315x8, 225x8, 135x8 (high bar)

Single-leg reverse hyper curls

3 plates x 10, 15, 15

Russian twists

25 x 20

Hanging leg raises

15

Weighted crunches

25 x 15

450 went up easy. 405x3 with the high bar positioning was more of a struggle.

Did a good job with low bar shelving tonight after watching how Layne Norton squats. Figured out a configuration to relieve stress off the elbow by warming up with band pull-aparts and bringing my hands in close rather than farther out on the bar to get a really packed upper back. It creates a little more wrist strain for me so I wrapped my wrists up, but this is the first time I can remember that my elbow didn't hurt at all from squatting low bar. Bar  feels way more secure on my back with my hands in, too.

Switching to high bar on the fly continues to be interesting. I expected the sensation of falling forward this time and pushed back more from the start. Such a quad killer.

After training last night, I brought my 25 lb kettlebell in the living room and this morning I updated my

 2-board press

365 x 1

Weighted push-ups

105 x 4 x 10

Kroc rows

125 x 25

Did this after a hike. Very happy with pressing 365, hard as it was. Left shoulder was aching in the work-up sets of full ROM bench pressing (when board pressing, I typically bench until 275 before switching to the partial ROM), so rather than a bench variation for the assistance work I went with push-ups.

Boxing on Friday went well. Practiced on pushing a close or clinched opponent away with a shoulder shove. 

Saturday was a rest day. Felt crummy from bad sleep. I also spent this weekend dog sitting for a co-worker. The constant driving back-and-forth was annoying, but everytime I actually arrived at the destination I had a fun time with the dogs and got in some good agility training with the younger German shepherd.

The hike was at a wildlife refuge with lots of birds and wide open marshlands. Very different from a narrow forest trail hike. I felt all the stress from the week wash away during the trek.

Happy 20th anniversary to this training log! It was the 9/19, so even though I'm typing this on 9/20 the workout was done on the actual day. That's a long time. So far, my arms are well short of the 30-inch biceps I should have with this amount of lifting. For the next 20 years, my goal will be much more realistic: 40" biceps to signify 40 years of training.

Squats (high bar)

325 x 15

Incline bench press

185 x 10, 10, 7, 8

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows

115s x 4 x 8

Spider curls

50s x 3 x 12

Drove a lot for work today and back was feeling stiff. I had plans to reach 315 x 18, but adding reps really tests my back stability so I opted to lower it down to 15 and increase the weight instead. I was feeling tired and just a few reps in I felt ready to shut it down if my back started hurting, but as usual, I was able to keep going.

My left shoulder has been hurting a little so I reset the bench weight down to 185 to go for higher reps and an extra set. I've been doing Turkish get-ups with 15 lbs that I haven't been recording and they've been helping, but I should do dead hangs more consistently.

Monday:

Press

190 x 3

135 x 4 x 10

Pull-ups

Bw x 10

50 x 3 x 10

1-minute chin-up

20 axle curls (30 lbs) for elbow rehab

5 lb increase on that top set. Slowly getting stronger. Despite the increase in carbs, the scale says I haven't gained any weight. We'll see what these rib and ground beef Costco lasagnas have to say about that. I'm looking to gain for fall, but more slowly and with less sugar than last year. Whereas before I was eating 2 eggs in egg whites and bone broth for breakfast first thing in the morning and then 3 eggs in the same concoction for a mid-morning meal, today I had 5 eggs first thing and eggs mid-morning at the office. Thank goodness for Costco.

Tuesday boxing:

Noticed one bigger guy being very intense during shadowboxing and throwing hard punches, so I asked him to partner up during drills. One person would stay against the wall and defend while the striker throws any 4 shots, pivots to either side, and throws a hook. After some variations on this, we held mitts and donned the shield. Dude had great power but slowed down very dramatically. Credit to him for not being one of those people who stop to catch their breath, though. 

Afterwards he goes "Not gonna lie, your punches made my shoulders hurt from holding for you" and I told him "You say it, I'll say it: mine too!" We had a laugh and he asked me how I "get veins to show", which is something people fixate on far more than arm size.

 This update is basically going to cover the work week.

Returned to the boxing gym on Tuesday after a 1-week hiatus. After 3 rounds of shadowboxing, we partnered up for several drills. The one I remember: 1 person throws jabs, other defends and occasionally counters with a 1-2, original striker responds with 1-2-3 when that happens. I partnered with someone I have a good rapport with and has a powerful right hand. This hyped me up to really blast the mitts and later the shield when it was my turn. Felt tired but didn't slow down. 

Returned for Wednesday's class, which was shadowboxing, rounds on the bag, and a fitness circuit including battle ropes, med ball slams, kettlebell squats, and more. No partner work.

Felt surprisingly sore in my hamstrings from those 100 kb swings earlier in the week. Back has also been hurting this week, but as of Friday it's feeling a lot better.

Despite back pain, I was able to squat without issue last night.

Squats (high bar)

315 x 17

Kb pullovers

25 x 20

Incline bench press

200 x 7, 8, 7

Pull-ups

Bodyweight x 12

50 x 8, 8

Spider curls

50s x 3 x 12, 12, 10

Rewatched the Muhammad Ali documentary When We Were Kings afterwards before bed. Old favorite.

Also got some training stuff in the mail: 2 new bands and a couple of 3 lb hand weights for shadowboxing.

 Ended up having a total rest day yesterday except in the morning before work: 50 band pull-aparts and 5 Turkish get-ups. Also did some yoga and banded reverse hypers using the couch as an anchor for an exercise band in the evening. Just felt like I needed to rest and recuperate. I trained hard Friday night and Saturday morning, got little sleep over the weekend due to my internal clock not allowing me to sleep past 8am, and I've been experiencing headaches in the back of my skull as a result. 

Went to bed early last night and got very good sleep, then went out in the gym at about 6:40 am.

1-minute dead hang

100 swings with 50 lb kettlebell

10 ab wheel reps (5 lying, 5 standing)

Feeling refreshed and ready for boxing.

2-board press

360 x 1

Swiss bar incline bench press 

195x3x7, 1x6

Lying dumbbell rows 

115s x 4 x 9

Incline skullcrushers 

50s x 2 x 7

35s x 10

Spider curls

50s x 4 x 10

Pressing 360 was easy. I've been eating more carbs so I figured I've gained some weight this past week, but the scale says I'm the same. I haven't been slacking on the cardio and it's only been a week, but the strength gains are noticeable. 

Back to the boxing gym next week. For today, I'm about to hit the beach to end the weekend.

 Damn, what a night. Was on my feet at work all day and was feeling tired, so I half-heartedly got set-up to squat at 8pm ready to post-pone it until the next day but the lure of the iron won out tonight.

Squats
440 x 3
Drop-down to 405 x 3, 315 x 8, 225 x 8, 135 x 8

This felt so much easier than 430 x 3 last time. Used low bar for the top set and high bar for everything else. Very interesting experience. Felt like I was going to fall forward when I switched to high bar. Low bar felt more secure than last time (no sensation of the bar about to fall off my back), but elbow still hurts when I walk the bar back and unrack. Trying really hard not to press my hands into the weight, which feels like the problem for my elbow, but to pull the bar down into me instead. Haven't got it 100% yet. High bar gives my elbow a total break.

Very happy to be getting stronger in the squat again.

Mat pulls (3 mats)

500 x 5

Romanian deadlifts 

315 x 2 x 8

Bulgarian split-squats

80 x 3 x 10

Barbell shrugs

315 x 20

Reverse hyper

200 x 3 x 12

Russian twists

25 x 3 x 20

15 hanging leg raises

Deadlifted in the garage for the first time. The flat ground made it feel like I was cheating. Still capping reps at 5 to keep my back feeling healthy, but I had more in me.

Going to be spending more time today cleaning the space and working on my hybrid indoor/outdoor set-up.

Bench press 

225 x 3

275 x 3

300 x 3

Close-grip bench press 

235 x 8, 8, 8

Meadows rows

90 x 10, 10, 10, 10

Incline dumbbell press 

80s x 10, 10

Keg curls

160 x 12, 12

 

I'm at a point where I really know my body well and am picking loads that I know for a fact I can hit. 300 was the perfect amount for where I'm at right now. I wanted to go with 315 but reasoned I haven't earned that yet and the way to get there is work back up. 

Still feeling under-the-weather. Was in San Francisco with family yesterday for my cousin's wedding party and I opted to cancel my desire to go out around town afterwards because of my congestion and head pressure. Ate so much high calorie junk food. When we arrived, I scarfed down pizza and Chinese food. People were laughing at how badly my paper plate was sagging from the weight of my portions. Afterwards, we stopped and got steak burritos.

Post-workout shot. Those shorts used to be tight on me.

Squats

315 x 17

Kettlebell pull-overs

25 x 20

Incline Swiss bar bench press

185 x 8, 9, 9

Super-set with dumbbell rows 

115s x 3 x 8

1-minute chin-up

Feeling sick and wasn't sure if I would train today. Got set-up and felt pretty dead in my warm-ups. Lately I've been pretty mature about walking away and saving it for the next day, but I just had too much fire burning in me and ended up having a good workout. Felt better afterwards, not depleted. Back is also feeling a bit better.

Snapped a shirtless pic after the squats and a shot of my training partner:

Ended up having crazy vivid dreams from taking 2 ZMA capsules when I woke-up at midnight to use the bathroom. I've taken the stuff off and on for almost 2 decades and my dream responses to it vary from normal to yeah that was a little more intense than usual, but man, it was like experiencing movies all night long this time. The most memorable: I was a hacker and ISIS was operating in my town so I broke into the electronics of their vehicles and made one of their convoys crash and explode on the freeway. Reviewing footage of the crash, however, revealed my last name in the filename of the executable I used to hack them flashing onscreen (it only made sense in the dream) and I was worried they'd find my identity. I woke-up and had to take several minutes to accept that no part of that was real.