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: