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.