Last night:

Squats
480 x 1, 2
410 x 8

Was going for a minimum of 3 reps with 5 being extra credit, but it was just feeling really heavy for me tonight. Second set definitely felt better. Worth noting this is the first time I'm doing a heavy squat session after a work day rather than the weekend. 

Quads are feeling better and this is the most consistently prolonged period my back has felt decent in a long time so I'm very happy overall. Powerlifting is playing second fiddle at the moment to boxing and just being healthy.

I also haven't deadlifted in quite awhile, mostly because of my back. I'm thinking this Thursday I'll reintroduce them with a Dirty Double: 20 reps of squats super-set with 20 reps of deadlifts, and then a back-off set of Romanians. 

Had time for 20 burpees yesterday before work. Night training was shadowboxing and shadow kickboxing in separate rounds and stances. Am focusing on boxing right now but still want to keep my Muay Thai kicks polished. Plus, kicking is good for my back. Dr. Stuart McGill noted in a podcast interview I listened to recently that he notices less anterior pelvic tilt from martial artists who kick a lot vs sprinters who frequently have their legs extending behind them. Went on a 20 minute jog after.

Spent about 3 minutes this morning skipping rope before work. Going to do this regularly. My $8 rope from Ross that's probably around 10 years old now feels like premium equipment compared to what the boxing gym has. They're mostly too short and and I snapped the handle off a really old one on Friday.

A coworker gets free eggs from her restauranteur friend. We worked out a deal where she'll trade me regular cartons of pasture-raised eggs for bone broth, which I buy in bulk from Costco. I've been adding 3 eggs to my bone broth in the morning for breakfast in addition to the 

Finished lunch fairly early and got my longest walk yet on my lunch break, 30 minutes. It was gorgeous out and my stroll was fortunately timed to coincide with the sunniest part of the day. Good thing because the next 10 days are forecast for rain.

Bench press

315 x 1

335 x 1

350 x 1

355 x 1

315 x 4

285 x 6

275 x 7

245 x 8

225 x 8

* Last 3 sets were close-grip. Was expecting to feel a lot weaker than this given my weight loss and extra calisthenics from boxing the day before yesterday, but after a hideously dirty cheat day yesterday that involved Costco pizza, gourmet hot dog from the mall, and an eight bucket chicken meal from KFC, I was feeling bloated and strong today. Definitely could have gone past 355 if I came at it fresh but after getting pinned recently, I was going up fairly carefully. None of the singles were a grind.

Reverse hyper unilateral rows: 3 plates x 3 x 10

Super-set with wide chin-ups x 8

Dumbbell rows: 125 x 3 x 10

Super-set with wide chin-ups x 8-10

Various dumbbell curls drop-sets, heavy band pressdowns

* I'm still using this ultra thick powerlifting band from a brand called Iron Woody that I got around 2007. Its twin ripped well over a decade ago. Definitely weeded out the weak.

I'm due to go back in for more bloodwork because of my elevated creatinine levels. I already know the deal about how intense training can throw those off, so to make sure it's just a temporary reading I'll rest a few days before going back to the lab. I also forgot to mention to my doc during the visit that I was supplementing with creatine mono up until a few weeks ago.

Wednesday boxing was a good session. Young coach but he at least had a pulse and was attentive to the class. Just gotta avoid the Tuesday class. My blood sugar levels felt drained halfway through class and I became fatigued and shaky. It's a familiar feeling so I calmly rode it out until my body switched to a different fuel source (hopefully fat). Happens if I drink a sugary post-workout shake and wait too long to eat solid food, but I've also noticed it if I'm underfed and go on a run. Took the feeling of being drained as a good training challenge and I felt much better by the end of class (and not even particularly hungry).

Yesterday morning before work I hit 40 push-ups paired with 30 heavy band pull-aparts. That night I did a full-body workout with minimal rest times. Worked up to squatting 320x5 with the SS bar using a close-stance, ATG, no knee sleves, and in sneakers - I take the time to detail that because it feels like such a different beast compared to how I squat on the weekend. Followed that with a couple 15-rep sets of single leg curls with 3 plates, then 160x5, 7, 5 axle press super-set with pull-upsx10-15, and ended with a super-set of dumbbell curls with light kettlebell hammer curls.  It's amazing how you can make light weight heavy by tweaking some small things, reducing rest times, and focusing on the muscle contraction. 

Got the past 4 days to cover.

Friday: Went to the doc's for the first time since I can't even remember. Purposefully chose a doctor that made mention of physical activity in his or her bio. I did well, he was fantastic. Commended me for hitting the weights and wasn't worried about my weight or overeating, but he did suggest blood tests after I said that. Blood pressure is good. The staff member who drew my blood seemed to have trouble and a bump on my arm that formed got pretty swollen and red. I kept saying I'm fine when a more experienced nurse took over and asked if I'm OK. My bicep also made the tourniquet pop off twice. 

Boxing went much better than Tuesday. More experienced, more engaged coach. Had a sore left shoulder from shots and a painful, bandaged right forearm from the botched blood draw, which was just another training obstacle to me. Drills were very simple and consisted of jabs and 1-2s mixed in with free rounds via shadowboxing and bagwork. Also took turns of jabbing while moving backwards down the length of the gym and back.

Coach commented that I'll have trouble keeping guard as tight as other people because of how thick my upper-body is, which was kind of rad to hear, and to just do my best. I don't walk around with invisible lat syndrome but they definitely push my arms out more than normal.

Got a welcome reminder to step out at an angle more when coming forward. He held me after class to drill stepping in while ducking, then pivoting while throwing a jab or cross. We added a strike during the step-in, too. 

One annoying thing about this place: the heavy bags are clustered together. It's basically impossible to move and throw punches at range; have to stay very close to the bag and they hit nearby people  sometimes. It's also hard for the instructor to see you when you're in the middle of a small punching bag crowd.

Saturday: Squatted 450x7, 410x3, 320x8, 230x8, 140x8, and a 50 lb kettlebell x 10, done in one strip-set. Afterwards, I felt like I got hit by a truck and this feeling persisted for the rest of the day. I was likely feeling extra fatigue from the prior day's shots.

Sunday: Felt rundown. Benched 315 x 4, 3, 3, then 275x7, super-set with 125lb dumbbell rows x 10.

Monday: Did some single-leg curls on the reverse-hyper for the first time and they're great. I don't have to overload the machine with a ton of plates when I want to save time. Super-set 2 sets of 15 with 20 kettlebell swings, went on a jog, then used the ab wheel and Captains of Crush gripper.

Results of my bloodwork are mostly very good. Only point of concern is cholesterol being at an elevated risk but not a high risk. Will see how the change in diet and weight play out. It was fantastic to find all this out.

Will edit the formatting of this later as I wrote it in notepad and pasted. 

Whole body is still sore from the heavy previous weekend followed by boxing, which worked my quads and shoulders pretty good. I previously did Muay Thai at a bodyweight of around 200-210 lbs, depending on the season. I'm definitely feeling the extra weight at 225 now, hence the sore legs.

Went out and did a full-body deload session yesterday.

Incline bench:

135 x 10

185 x 10

205 x 6

Kettlebell military press

50s x 8

Chin-ups: 4 x 12

GIANT SET

SSB front squats: 60 x 20

SSB back squats: 60 x 20

Kettlebell swings: 50 x 50

Quads had that familiar pain that told me better to go easy on the loading tonight and focus on depth and contraction instead if I want to squat heavy on the weekend.

I'm thinking I'll keep this arrangement, going from 4 lifting days a week to 3. I can still go crazy on the weekend, then focus on bodybuilding technique and form during the weekday for recovery.

Diet has been gradually ramping down this week. Nothing drastic, but not eating so much past the point of full. Last full meal of the evening is also no-carb unless I happened to lift right beforehand.

Had my first boxing session at Dreamland yesterday. I've been writing about this place in my training log since 2007 so it's been a long time coming.

As usual, I was the biggest guy in class, but also the oldest. The instructor was super young, possibly still in his teens. He was also really quiet and it was hard to hear him at times. Worse, he was on his phone while we were doing drills instead of monitoring everyone and handing out tips. First impressions are important.

Started off with 3 rounds of 3 minutes skipping rope to warm-up and then moved into minimal contact sparring: only the shoulders and...knees???...could be punched. This was fun enough. Compared to the last time I sparred someone in Muay Thai, I was working angles a lot better and cutting guys off who kept trying to run. 

 For the next drill, one person held a punch shield and walked their partner down while the other moved backwards while striking. After a few rounds of this, the direction was reversed and the striker moved forward while the defender moved back. We had an odd number of people so I switched off between working with the instructor and just hitting the heavy bag. Everyone rotated partners each round and I kept asking to join with people, but for some reason I was relegated to either the instructor or the heavy bag the whole time. 

Ended with 1-2s that escalated up to 6-punch combos (1-2, 1-2-1-2, 1-2-1-2-1-2, then back down the pyramid) and then some push-ups.

The only advice I got the whole time was pivot directional changes faster and throw jabs off the pivot. In truth, my legs were sore but that's MY problem so it was a sound tip. Afterwards, I stuck around a little longer for open gym to hit the bag some more.

Definitely been to gyms with a better atmosphere. It felt like everyone was just in their own shell to get through the session instead of working with each other. Looking forward to working with a different coach this Friday.

Squatted 520x1, followed by 350x18, on Saturday. Did leg curls and ab work in the evening. 

Yesterday:

Bench press
365 x 1
385 x 0
320 x 4, 4
285 x 7

Banded chest-flyes, 13 dips, and a 48-second chin-up for biceps

On the 365, the plates hit my keg that was situated nearby, killing my momentum and throwing the bar path off, yet I still crushed it. Was really expecting to get 385 based off that, but it wasn't to be.

I will say that was some seriously good BJJ training, though.

Really relaxing weekend overall. Big lifts and eats.

Monday:

Squats
410 x 13

Back had been hurting and wanted to get something done for legs. Invariably works out that I get under the bar, feel pretty good, and that just continues the more I load up. Squatting is more pain-free than day-to-day life. Still feeling quad pain, but I notice an improvement from reducing barbell squat frequency and taking a break from daily burpees with a deep squat.

Wednesday:

Incline axle bench press:
225 x 3 x 8
205 x 10
Super-set with wide chin-ups: 15, 15, 15, 20

50 bar curls

Weighed myself mid-day and I was 225.7, more than I thought. Cool! I'm just letting my body do what it wants for now until boxing starts up.

Last night: shadowboxing practice and an easy jog to unwind after a 10-hour work day.

Went on a 2 hour hike yesterday at Castle Rock, an old favorite. Had a sushi dinner afterwards at this local spot that gives very thick cuts of sashimi. I usually have a problem with getting full at sushi places and have to constantly keep ordering new plates - not here.

Bench press 

370 x 1

375 x 1

315 x 5

285 x 8

Kroc rows

125 x 30

Lateral raises: 15 kettlebells x 20

Super-set with band pull-aparts: 20

The bar felt so light today it caught me off-guard. I've benched 380 in my past but it was a much harder rep and then I went on to fail 385. I would LOVE to beat that before I truly focus on boxing and end up losing weight because I just received an email that the boxing gym I'm on a wait list for has openings and I have to go in to meet them and sign-up next week if I don't want to get in the back of the line again.

 

I had time to do more this session, but separating out the heavy power portion of my workout with the more hypertrophy-focused incline bench work last week seemed to work so well that I'm going to keep trying that out. That has me lifting more frequently but via shorter sessions.

Had a great New Year and ate some amazing food in SF after walking through Chinatown to go see the fireworks by the water.

Breakfast was a soju Bloody Mary, cappuccino, and an incredible salmon omelet from a British pub.

Incline bench press

225 x 7, 8, 7

205 x 10

Super-set with wide chin-ups: 15, 15, 20, 20

Short, simple, and effective. Haven't benched 225 on incline in years.