My dad passed away last night. Been spending all day with him and family before he was taken away. I'll have more thoughts to jot down tomorrow.

First back squat session in over 2 weeks. Had belt squats in mind as a back-up, but I'm glad to report I felt healthy enough to load the bar on my back.

Squats

320 x 15

Dumbbell RDLs + shrug at top

125s x 10

Reverse-hyper

290 x 2 x 10

Felt great to squat something again. What's more, I didn't feel any extra pain in the middle of the night or waking up the next day. 

Been getting comments at work: "Rambo, you're so skinny now." That always gets thrown my way when I approach this weight. 6'0" and 200 lbs is not skinny people, I'm just not fat anymore.

Woke up at 8:30 on Saturday and went for a 40-minute fasted jog with a little bit of dry whey scooped in my mouth (for those curious, it clumps and forms a small protein candy ball). Started by jogging uphill for 3 rounds before continuing on flat ground. Very nice start to the morning.

No training the rest of the day, as I went to the San Francisco to see a friend, but there was plenty of walking all day, starting with a beach hike at a WW2-era coastal artillery site. Reading up on the history, it also became a missile launch zone during the Cold War. Went to Chinatown afterwards and, per tradition, chatted with a store owner about Bruce Lee and bought a Bruce Lee shirt before dinner. 

Sunday:

Bench press 

315 x 1

335 x 1

345 x 1

Paused: 315 x 2

Notes: 345 went up easier than I was expecting. 

Swiss bar bench press

225 x 8, 9, 8, 8, 8

Super-set with dumbbell rows 

125s x 8, 9, 8, 8, 8

Dumbbell flye press

50s x 12

Notes: Saw a Christian Thibaudeau article about these and tried for fun. It's basically a dumbbell press on the concentric and a chest flye on the eccentric. I enjoyed the movement, got a pump from just the one set. 

Dumbbell curls with Fat Gripz

50s x 3 x 12

Afterwards, went on a 3-hour walk around town, starting with a hike (gotta love the proximity of the mountains and downtown to each other). Great end to a great weekend.

 Felt seriously run down yesterday after work and thought about not training. Slept poorly the night before, allergies were flaring up throughout the day, and despite an evening cup of coffee I just wanted to go to sleep. Once I got downstairs and got moving, everything started to feel better. Almost no rest times; despite the written order, leg exercises were done between sets of upper-body work.

Dips

Bodyweight x 10

50 x 10

80 x 10

100 x 10, 10

Banded lat pulldowns

4 x 10

Single leg extensions

290 x 3 x 20

Single leg curls

290 x 15

Single leg Romanian deadlifts

50 x 10

Behind-the-neck press

50 x 23

Seated dumbbell curls

35s x 12

Super-set with kettlebell preacher curls

15s x 12

50-second chin-up

As I type this the next morning, I'm running on far better and deeper sleep. Felt like I went in a coma, waking up only once to use the restroom, and woke-up feeling rested 30 minutes before my alarm. 

Back continues to get a little better every day. Looking forward to Friday evening boxing.

Participated in what I would call my first real sparring session at this boxing gym yesterday. Officially I need a doctor's sign-off to engage in their dedicated sparring hours so I'm grateful that this coach had us spar during class regardless of that. First 2 rounds were with jabs only and then 1-2s only, but the third round was everything. Different partners each round.

As soon as the coach finished explaining, the tallest guy in class and I immediately turned to each other partnered up. Haven't seen him before but he looks to be around 6'4". I'm no giant at 6' but I'm taller than 80% of class and I have a long reach, so I genuinely got excited at the opportunity of being the smaller man for once. Pity I couldn't trade with him during the full round and we could only jab. We both landed good shots, and I had such an easy time tagging his body when I got low that I made a point to challenge myself and focus on connecting with his head more. Expectedly, I found my jab falling short a few times so I would adjust and see better success by not going into autopilot but actually calculating the distance better. 

Second partner was someone I've worked mitts with before. He throws hard but gasses out. His aggression allowed him to connect to my forehead and temple a few times but I blocked or parried everything coming to my chin. One right cross that hit my temple was particularly hard and he stopped to apologize, but I had rolled with the punch pretty well and told him I'm good. 

Third guy was a young dude about as tall as me. He was very cautious and I found myself adjusting my pace just a little so I wasn't the only one throwing for stretches of time. I was surprised at his lack of aggression because he's high-energy during drills and looks good while shadowboxing.

Did all this with an injured back, which has been slowly getting better. Movement is far better for it than laying or sitting around, and I actually forgot about it in the hour session. Legs also started to cramp from charging in and back, but I hid the pain from my partners and outlasted it.

We finished off with just the right amount of ab work to work the muscles but nothing crazy that strained my back. Got through the 1-minute plank with no issue.

Feels great to spar again. I'll be getting that doctor signature soon.

 My back had been feeling beat-up since deadlifts until yesterday, when it felt better. Was driving home from work looking forward to a killer squat session when all of a sudden my back injured itself just from shifting slightly in the driver seat. Nixed my barbell squat plan and did:

Single leg extensions

290 x 15, 15

Super-set with single leg curls

290 x 15, 25

Belt squats

380 x 8, 10, 10

Belt squats are lifesavers. So glad I set-up a way to do them.

Also, get a load of this. When I was training Muay Thai 5 years ago, I wrote in my training log "I'm saving up to get a Winning FG 5000 headpiece. Comes out to $340 on Rakuten". I'm going to start sparring in boxing and that headgear is now over $650. Should have pulled the trigger back then! 

2-board press 

335 x 2

Pause bench 

315 x 2

Super-set with dumbbell rows 

125s x 10

Bench press 

225 x 3 x 10

Super-set with dumbbell rows 

125s x 3 x 10

Crazy bells

190 x 2 x 8

Super-set with alt Fat Gripz dumbbell curls 

50s x 2 x 16

Tricep pressdowns 

30

Super-set with alt Fat Gripz dumbbell curls 

50s x 16

Preacher Hammer curls

15 lb kettlebells x 2 x 15

Collarbone pain is feeling better and seems to have migrated closer to the center of my clavicle. Back is also on the mend. 

Having a really restorative weekend.

Giant sets:

Incline axle bench: 160 x 8, 10, 15

Dips: 3 x 10

Chin-ups: 3 x 10

Tricep pressdowns: 25, 20

Hammer curls: 50s x 10, 10, 12

Single leg reverse-hyper leg extensions: 290 x 2 x 25

Single leg leg curls: 290 x 15

1 round of the wrist-roller for elbow rehab

Was feeling beat-up from deadlifts and dips were putting a lot of pressure on the sore collarbone. Nixed my plans to do them weighted and brought in light incline benching with no rest times except before the last set. 

I've been having a week of good, deep sleep until last night, when I kept waking up to use the restroom for some reason. I always use that as an opportunity to drink some protein or pop a ZMA capsule. My cat, who usually sleeps at the foot of the bed or on his perch, has been coming up to sleep on my pillow or in my arm lately, but he's quiet and usually doesn't wake me.

Collarbone still hurts but is less tender and I feel like I'll be fine throwing hard right hands in boxing tonight. 

 Went to the beach after bench pressing on Sunday (what a classic combination) and extended the bicep phase of the workout even more by opting to carry our cooler across the sand instead of pulling it from the handle. My biceps were actually sore until Tuesday, which rarely happens.

Good technical boxing sesh after work on Tuesday. I didn't get corrected on form, but after watching the coach demonstrate, I have a suspicion I'm not angling my upper-body enough when getting in low for a body hook. Something I want to practice and film.

Found time after waking up before my alarm to get in 30 burpees and 20 band pull-aparts before work Wednesday morning, and then moved some weight that evening:

Sumo deadlifts

570 x 1.5, 2

Fell forward just before lockout on the 2nd rep of the 1st set, so tried again and handily got it. Once again, I'm experiencing thigh chaffing from my thumbs, and they're digging into my legs enough that it's actually slowing me down at the top. Not mere friction, although my thighs are red from that too, but actually getting blocked by flesh. Never experienced this pulling conventional but the baby powder method makes sense now. For next time, I'll remember to wear some slick tights I originally bought for Muay Thai and see if that helps.

My right collarbone hurt a little afterwards from fighting to not fall forward and it's sore today. Doesn't feel too bad, but hopefully it's not something that lingers as it feels tender if I throw right punches. The last time I hurt this collarbone, I was 5 and broke it by falling off a playground jungle gym I was climbing to retrieve a Ninja Turtle sai (Raphael's weapons); I had the other sai in one hand and a beefstick in the other.

Beach shot from Sunday: