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: