Yesterday evening:

Swiss bar bench press

255 x 3 x 6

Super-set with dumbbell rows

115s x 10, 13, 12

Weighted dips

50 x 12

100 x 10

Lying dumbbell curls

35s x 12, 12

This was just what I needed during the week with limited time. Doing something else other than straight bar benching immediately felt fresh, and my left elbow didn't complain any. Was shocked at how light dips felt at first before I remembered how light I am. Upped it to 100 after that.

Did 40 band pull-aparts this morning and some Muay Thai shadowboxing. Been starting the morning off with high kicks to get my body limber as a form of dynamic stretching.

Friday night boxing was brutal. We were doing push-up variations for the majority of the hour and when we shadowboxed with weights, I put back the 3 pounders I initially grabbed and suffered with the 5s. 5 lbs sounds like nothing until spending a 10 minute round trying to punch FAST with it and holding the guard up. Eventually ended with intense rounds on the heavy bag with an emphasis on power. Very little technique analysis. My biceps were also a little sore the next day.

The way the days progress, Tuesday at the boxing gym tends to be the easiest with the most technique breakdown, Wednesday is a nice middle-ground, and Friday is mostly conditioning. It works out well, but because 1-on-1 work with a coach is so valuable, I tend to like Tuesdays the best right now. Smallest class size, too. I wanted to make it to all 3 this week but I received an email notification announcing there was a mistake in scheduling and Wednesday is full, so I'm signed for Tuesday and Friday.

Back hurt a little the next day from trying to gut through a 3-minute plank at the end of class. Always feels like my back is the failure point, not my abs, something I'm keen on rectifying by continuing to make overall improvements to my back health. I also asked about signing up for sparring and was given a form for my doctor to sign.

Noticed inner elbow pain on my left elbow recently, while last year it was my right that was giving me trouble. Will reduce the amount of push-ups and burpees I do in my free time and save that for class, for now, while finding other things to do at home instead (hello sled!). If the pain persists, I'll wear elbow sleeves and, if necessary, modify exercises. I was already planning on using the Swiss bar for a change. The reverse-grip board press and weighted dips were tw1o movements that gave me no pain last year when my other elbow was at its worst.

Let myself rest and have a dietary cheat day on Saturday. I ended up going to the mall after a Costco run, had a terrible chicken sandwich at the food court Popeye's, and then passed on trying something else out to instead go home and have a bunch of grass-fed steak instead. It felt like my craving for junk was destroyed after that sad little burger.

Hit squats on Sunday:

410 x 9

340 x 15

Reverse-hyper single leg extensions: 4 plates x 12

Reverse-hyper single leg curls: 4 plates x 3 x 15

I also worked out a superior way to do belt squats using my makeshift landmine apparatus instead of standing on two sets of stacked patio tiles like I'd previously been doing. This requires no more set-up than merely loading plates and because it affords a deeper ROM, I don't need to use a preposterous amount of plates like before. I'm super excited for this.

Because I'd woken up early on Sunday, I had plenty of time to train more later that afternoon. Did 2 rounds on the heavy bag for 3 minutes each and then went on a 20 minute run.

 Axle strict press

180 x 7, 6, 4

Kettlebell overhead press

50 x 12, 15

Chin-ups

12

50 x 10, 10

13 dips giant-set with:

15 dumbbell preacher curls with the 35s

16 standing alt dumbbell curls with the 35s

15 kettlebell hammer curls with the 15s

 Had a fantastic boxing session on Tuesday. Seems there's a new coach for Tuesdays. It was hooking day (not the kind you'd get a hotel for). We drilled the left hook, pivoting, left hook from that angle, then pivoting back. Soon added pivoting into a double jab. Very simple, but keeping everything fluid and without winding up to emphasize speed and spontaneity over power was the goal. 

Eventually partnered up and started by throwing nothing but hooks on the mitts. My partner didn't look super in-shape, but it turned out he has a good amount of Muay Thai experience. That's when I noticed he's the only other person I've seen here with MT gloves like me. He threw some impressive hooks with a style that really whipped his arm into it, but I definitely prefer to keep my arm a little tighter and lean my weight into it more. It was fun as hell to hold mitts for him, though. When my turn to strike was done, he commented to the coach that he wasn't trying to stumble around, it was my power moving him.

I maintained good speed and power throughout all rounds. My conditioning is among the top in the class from what I can honestly observe, although this is still the intermediate level.

I keep forgetting to ask about signing up for sparring. The gym's website states they require a clean physical on file, which is annoying.

Left shoulder was sore on Wednesday from so many hooks. Seems obvious but I need to remember to drill individual punches repetitively like this.

Wednesday morning, I did a 3-minute workout comprised of banded tricep pressdowns, preacher curls, and standing alt dumbbell curls.

This morning, I got in 3 minutes of shadowboxing followed-by 30 burpees.

On Friday night, I squatted up to 350x5 and then walked away. Back was hurting and I was just totally spent from the week. 

Went to a pool party on Saturday at the invitation of a coworker. Brought along some bison patties, but there was already tons of food and they didn't get made, so I brought them back for myself. The pool was unheated, which I welcomed as a cold plunge but ended up being 1 of 2 people even staying in at all. 

On Sunday night, I went to bed early and woke up at 6:15 Monday morning to train before work. After a quick mini meal of a little oatmeal, coffee, and sips from a protein shake:

Bench press

290 x 4

275 x 4

225 x 3 x 7

Dumbbell rows

115s x 3 x 10

Rested 2 minutes or less between all sets. That factor, coupled with this being first thing in the morning, yielded numbers that I wasn't surprised by, but the effort was there. It was really interesting: the weight felt like normal at first, but upon repping it out I found little in my tank. I do plan on making this a habit, but I'll also lift in the afternoon sometimes as well. Flexible enough that no schedule can defeat me. 

Came back in the same evening to do:

Squats

450 x 4 before stripping down to 410x3, 320x7, 230x7

20 single-leg curls with 3 plates

Kept some reps in reserve and trimmed the fat by ending the drop-down set at 230 in order to reduce muscle soreness affecting my boxing on Tuesday.

Trained under a new boxing coach yesterday. It was a good class. Lots of basics on the mitts but we polished things up, especially pivots. My partner holding the mitts had to leave 15 minutes early so by the time we were supposed to switch roles, I found myself striking again with a new mitt-holding partner instead of taking my turn holding them up, which was awesome. Ended with abs, which was hard on me because my abs were sore from the ab wheel and planks the night before. Coach walked up to me after class and asked me my name after he had asked me to demonstrate several drills he was introducing on the mitts earlier.

Came home, grabbed the 200 lb sandbag, and did 2 sets of 10 sandbag squats before finishing it with 25 single leg extensions with 3 plates.

Did some light shadowboxing this morning before work.

Also, I weighed 210 at night after a day's worth of meals in me several days ago. Weight loss progress has been coming along at a perfect rate.

My back is sore today from deadlifts and probably from the sandbag, but in a good way. Its pain status overall has been low lately. Things have gotten better.

Deadlifts

555 x 1, 3

Dumbbell Romanian deadlifts 

125s x 20 (shrug at top of every rep)

Ab wheel

10

Untimed plank while watching a DBZ AMV

Felt a little rundown and like I was lacking pop. The first single was a grind. Second set I dialed in and just berserked it up without much trouble. No missed reps either!

 Quite a few days to update about. First, RIP Akira Toriyama. Dragonball Z and Bruce Lee are THE 2 influences that got me into working out and martial arts as a kid. I remember a kid in my high school Japanese class telling me I should watch "real" anime, yet here I am 20 years later (after enjoying and favoriting plenty of other series) still watching and being influenced by DBZ.

Enjoyed an amazing 3-day weekend in Capitola for a friend's birthday getaway. Did this just before leaving Thursday:

Squats

320 x 20

Reverse hyper leg curls (single leg)

3 plates x 20

Skullcrushers

50s x 3 x 8-10

Seated curls with the 50s and 35s

Actually stayed fairly on-point with my diet, except allowing myself a cheat day on Saturday. Food throughout the trip was awesome. Aside from my hotel can of tuna, every meal was a 10/10. 

Breakfast on day 1: Ribs with shrimp and artichoke salad and a cappuccino

Once parked at the hotel, we didn't drive for the entire stay because the beach was about a 20-minute walk. Got a lot of walking back-and-forth done as a result.

Came back fairly early on Sunday and trained the bench press.

Bench press
Up to 340 x 1 
Switch to 2-board press: 355 x 2
315 x 4

Bench press
280 x 6
250 x 8 (close-grip)
225 x 10 (close-grip)

Lying dumbbell rows
115s x 3 x 12

Finally, this morning I hit 30 burpees before work.

 Had a crazy busy day yesterday but made time for a real quick night workout before bed.

Axle strict press

200x3 + 10 overhead shrugs

160x8 + 10 overhead shrugs

20 pull-ups

It's been awhile since I've put 200 on the bar to press overhead and I was honestly expecting to get 2, so this was nice to hit. I'd like to bring my press up after focusing on bench for so long. 

This morning: 50 band pull-aparts, 40 unbroken narrow push-ups plus 10 more after a rest-pause, and 22 single-arm preacher curls with a 25 lb kettlebell.

Leaving out of town this evening for a friend's birthday trip until Sunday. Will do some sort of training while away.

 Lunch pic yesterday: sliced lamb from the Google campus. 

Really felt the DOMS in my legs at boxing yesterday just from skipping rope, but no cramping. Was a little uncomfortable during the activity but it stayed at that level and I felt fine when we finished.

Class was pretty technicall and relatively low on the conditioning. Worked with partners the entire time, starting out with light no-contact sparring. My first partner is someone I want to work with more. He's around my height and while pretty skinny, shows a good level of skill. Really gave me a chance to utilize footwork and movement because he was very mobile.

Next drill had us switching partners and using mitts. We would throw a jab, hold it out in the long guard, then throw a cross, slip their jab and throw a right upper-cut, and pivot into a left hook. 

Ended taking turns on the bag while dodging noodles that the defender behind the bag would use to simulate hooks. Upon rolling under the hook, 4 alternating hooks are thrown. While the instructor was further clarifying for my partner how to get down low enough and roll I was already well into my Mike Tyson imaging. 

This morning before work: 5 minutes of shadow kickboxing. 

Whole body was sore yesterday but especially legs and glutes, so went on a low-intensity jog for about 12 minutes at night

Before work this morning I did another set of 30 band pull-aparts and 20 preacher curls for each arm.

Got boxing tonight and while I still feel a bit sore,  my legs aren't in the crippled state they were yesterday. Made sure I got to bed early last night for recovery. I tend to allow myself more calories and carbs when I'm extremely sore and have to stay disciplined by not slipping into eating like that full time again (I mean, eating to grow isn't a bad thing either, but I've been really seeing the benefits of losing 10 lbs for boxing and want to continue my progress).

Only boxing at the gym 1 day this week as Wednesday's class was full when I tried to sign-up and I'll be out of town on Friday. 

Sunday:

Squats

480x2, drop-down to 410x6, 320x10, 230x10, 140x10, 50 lb kettlebell goblet squat x 10

Got this done and then went to George's to watch some bad reality TV, with the highlight being Mountain Monsters (the crew got attacked by giant pterodactyls in a cabin). The weekend is just much more weekend-like if I take the time to relax away from home instead of just doing chores and training all day. 

Monday morning before work:

Hit 25 burpees, 20 single-arm preacher curls with the 25 lb kettlebell (it's what happened to be in my living room), and 30 band pull-aparts.

Bench press

315 x 1

335 x 1

345 x 1

355 x 1

320 x 3

275 x 7

250 x 8 (Close-grip)

225 x 12 (Close-grip)

Dumbbell rows

115s x 3 x 12

355 felt light, continuing a good trend and 5 lb increase from last week while I continue to slowly go down in bodyweight. 

Did this during rain and despite 2 layers of tarps above me the balcony had water dripping down. Was in a bad mood going in and got pestered by rain drops falling directly in my eyes at times, but coming out of the misery and into the house with a good session left behind has me in a different mood entirely, like I left my irritability out there.