Made time in a packed day to go on a 15 min jog followed by a 5 min round on the heavy bag on Monday. It was quite late in the day and normally I wouldn't head out to do cardio so close to bedtime, but I was actually craving it.

Yesterday:

Squats

340 x 5

390 x 5

440 x 5

Strip-sets: 405x3, 315x8, 225,8, 135x8, 50x

440 felt heavy, but manageable. I trained a little hungry with a shot of espresso which is usually a recipe for lightheadedness under pressure and I was feeling that during the walks to and from the rack. ]

Been making an effort to not stand at my desk so much at work and my right knee is feeling better as a result.

Bench press

235 x 5

255 x 5

285 x 6

Swiss bar bench

235 x 3 x 8, 185 x 7

Super-set with bent-over dumbbell rows

115 x 8, 8, 8, 10

Alt dumbbell side curls: 35s x 3 x 16, 20, 20

Super-set with kb lateral raises: 15s x 3 x 10

285 felt much lighter than expecting. Had a 7th rep in me if I wanted to struggle, but I'm just getting over being sick and opted to stop before the bar slowed down too much. Very pleased with how this felt in my hands, though.

The Swiss bar bench was brutal and the very last rep of 235 was a fight. Something about that bar makes me slow down my rep tempo, likely due to how the bar requires more balancing in my hands than a straight, and I was expecting more reps of 185 but I was spent after those first 3. Chest is sore the next day as a result.

Over the weekend I signed-up for a strongman contest in April, my first one since 2017 (I've done a few powerlifting meets since then, though). The events are nothing I haven't done before except for a Dinnie Stones hold. Otherwise, we're looking at log clean and press, sandbag loading, sandbag floor-to-shoulder, and a yoke walk + max deadlifts. 

I'll be replacing the axle press with the log for my main lift on press day and add sandbag work throughout the week, but training via 5/3/1 will structurally stay pretty similar. This will be the first strongman show I'm training for with my own log and crash pads at my disposal. Same goes for the sandbags. 

I also happened to get sick over the weekend, but managed to finish my deload week with a simple session:

Walking kettlebell lunges: 50s x 3 x 16

Super-set with axle Romanian deadlifts: 250 x 3 x 8, 8, 10

Had dinner with the family that night at a Persian restaurant to commemorate Dad's birthday, so food intake was high. Sometimes I don't have an appetite when sick, but on this day it felt like I couldn't eat enough. It was good seeing everyone and going to Farah's house afterwards.

 

 Tuesday:

Deload

Squats

225 x 5

255 x 5

305 x 5

225 x 10

255 x 10, 10

Thursday:

Deload

Strict press

90 x 5

110 x 5

130 x 5

110 x 3 x 10

Super-set with chin-ups: 3 x 10

Dumbbell curls: 35s x 2 x 10

Super-set with push-ups: 2 x 20, 15

I'm sick with a sore throat and slight headache. Nothing too bad but feeling less energetic than usual. 

Cervical injury to my neck and shoulder blade area is still present. Wasn't sure how I'd fare supporting the bar up, but it was actually fine. Injury is getting a little better, but still makes sleeping uncomfortable. I can usually fall asleep soundly for 4-5 hours, but the immobility starts to cause increased pain and I end up adjusting frequently for the remainder of the night.

Have been continuing the morning daily work. The past few days have been jump-rope rounds at 4-5 minutes each combined with burpees or kettlebell swings. Yesterday instead of swings I did 30 upright rows with a 30 lb kettlebell and today I nixed the rope to just do 40 upright rows.

Deload

Bench press

135 x 5

185 x 5

205 x 5

Incline Swiss bar bench

185 x 3 x 8

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows

80s x 3 x 12

40-second chin-up super-set with 35 lb alternating dumbbell curls x 16

Saturday was a successful night. Calling Ubers to and from the city was the right move. Dinner was a beef piroshki and beef goulash at a Russian pub after some interesting Eastern European-inspired drinks. Stayed out at The Rumpus Room until closing and then gave up on the search for a venue open past 2, which was fine in the end. 2026 has started off strong for fun events so far.

 Deadlifts
Work-up to 505 x 3

Romanian deadlifts
225 x 2 x 12

Man, this felt good. I haven't deadlifted heavy in awhile and I was starting to crave getting back into them. I came into this session after work feeling VERY  beat: some whole-body soreness was going on down into my bones, including my fingers, like when I'm sick or sleep-deprived. My neck is also tweaked, which I have a long history of doing from strict pressing, and it hurts to turn my head to the left side. For 500 to feel as easy as it did and then just call it at 3 was a welcome end to a rough-feeling night. The lighter weight on RDLs was the right call. My back was able to catch a break while I focused on maximally contracting the hamstrings.

There's a strongman competition 2 hours away from me in April that caught my eye, so I'll be reducing my calories to make weight for the 198 weight class. I weighed 205 this morning without a shirt.

 

Got (another) birthday celebration with George and Azzy in SF tonight. 

 Axle strict press

162.5 x 5

182.5 x 3

205 x 2

150 x 9, 9, 8

Super-set with chin-ups

Bodyweight x 10

15 x 10

30 x 10, 19

Giant sets

Behind-the-neck press: 110 x 2 x 10

Wide-grip chin-ups: 16, 12

Dumbbell alternating side curls: 35s x 2 x 10

Everything felt stupid light. Pressing 205 for 2 reps overhead is a 10 lb gain since my last press day. Bumping up the assistance press weight by 10 lbs rather than focusing on rep count increases and adding behind-the-neck pressing has helped.

Been slacking on the cardio, having only gone for a 2 mile run in 3 weeks. Yesterday and today, I've added back my morning rope skipping (3 minutes yesterday and 4 minutes today, both with a 30 second high knee burnout phase in the end of the round) and added kettlebell swings with the 50 for 30-50 reps, ending with crunches.

I've got a dream to report from last night and this one is a doozy.

In the dream, my sister threw an all-night house party with a bunch of strangers. I entertained them for a bit but started to get annoyed that they weren't leaving. Then I got a knock on my bedroom door and my mom was there in the hallway pleading to live here and that she can't afford housing by herself. Right after that, I went to an appointment informing me that our house was being foreclosed on and we'd be homeless soon, but as I was walking out of the office a lady came up and handed me a slip that said the process for repossessing the house will be delayed and we have more time to make a payment, temporarily saving the house. When I got home, the front door had been left open and Mirza escaped, which devastated me. Then my Dad called me over to under a bridge because he found something. I thought it was Mirza he was holding on the ground, but as I approached I saw that he was propping up a bloodied corpse of himself as a younger man. It had no skin, just his distinct mustache. It opened its eyes and lunged at me. I ran away from out of the bridge but was sick of everything going bad so I turned around to fight it. The Scorpion music video for the song Immortal by nu-metal band Adema from my Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance game started playing. Then I woke-up, lay in bed thinking about my dad, and went to the bathroom where Mirza was laying in the cat bed on the litter box so I pet him, feeling relief that he was here. When I went back to bed, Lucky crawled over to me and nuzzled my hand before going back to his spot at the rear.

Squats
385 x 5
435 x 3
485 x 1
Strip sets: 405x5, 315x8, 225x8, 135x8

485 moved well. Getting used to heavy weight again.

Our scale got lost in the move but I found it as we organized some things on Monday. I weigh 205 in the morning on an empty stomach.

Bench press 

247.5 x 5

280 x 3

315 x 2

Incline Swiss bar bench

185 x 3 x 8

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows

80s x 12, 15, 15

Dumbbell curls: 35s x 3 x 10

Super-set with lateral raises: 35sx10, 15s x 10, 10

Axle strict press

130 x 5

160 x 5

185 x 4

150 x 3 x 8

Chin-ups 

Bodyweight x 10

15 x 10

30 x 10, 10

Behind-the-neck press

110 x 8, 10

Super-set with wide chin-ups x 10, 15

Dumbbell side curls 

35s x 2 x 20

 Woke-up today at 5:20am to train before work.

Belt squats
4 plates x 10
6 plates x 10
8 plates x 10, 15, 15

Close-grip bench press
225 x 3 x 8
Super-set with dumbbell rows
115s x 3 x 8

Felt nauseous near the end of my workout, took a shower, and then came out feeling awesome. Going to make a habit of doing this more.

Squats: 295 x 20

Super-set with deadlifts: 295 x 20

Ab wheel: 8 reps

I had inhibitions about doing this since I was still a little sore from Saturday's squat workout, the squat assistance work on that day was heavier than normal, and my knee was wonky over the weekend, but the siren's call of how much good work this packs into so little time was too tempting on a busy weekday. Squats started to feel heavy by rep 8 but that stabilized and I was able to keep cranking out reps with roughly the same level of difficulty until 20. Deadlifts were nasty, though, and I had to go take a seat and recover after this was done.

Bench press

230 x 3

265 x 3

295 x 4

Swiss bar bench

230 x 3 x 8

185 x 10

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows: 115s x 4 x 8

Reverse-hyper single leg curls

6 plates x 10, 15

Super-set with dumbbell curls

35s x 10, 50s x 10

Solid effort, about what I was expecting. Still have an annoying cough, but otherwise feeling better. Kept me up hacking last night until I took a Zyrtec, cough drop, and hot water.

Knees both seem to be 100%.

 Squats
365 x 3
405 x 3
465 x 3
350 x 10, 10, 8

Called it here with the intention to do hamstrings and abs later, as I've experienced back pain in the past if I go straight to deadlifts or the reverse hyper after heavy squats. I think my back would be fine now, with as good as it's been feeling lately, but practiced an abundance of caution since I've been working my body pretty hard between the move and work labor.

Unexpectedly, my left knee start hurting quite badly after a few hours, to the point that I needed to slip an SBD knee sleeve on for walking upstairs. Bending down in particular caused a sharp instance of pain. I took it easy the rest of the night and it feels better this morning, although I'm still going to skip anything knee intensive.

And also, look at that. I'm making time on the weekend to update my log. I want to reduce the amount of multi-day recaps and record things as I do 'em more. It matters to make a statement of discipline and showing myself what my priorities are.

Been sick all week with a bad cough and sore throat. Haven't been feeling too crummy except for sweating out a fever overnight on Thursday.

Trained on Thursday:

Overhead press 

150 x 3

172.5 x 3

195 x 2

145 x 3 x 8

Super-set with chin-ups: 10, 15, 15

Heavy band chest press: 3 x 10

Super-set with dumbbell curls: 35s x 10

Didn't hit 3 like I wanted and I have an excuse with illness and the fact that I've been doing more labor at work, but I still don't want to be skating on thin ice with these numbers. I want to be able to hit the minimum on a bad day. I'm excited about changing the apparatus for this day to switch things up - maybe an axle clean once and press away, a Swiss bar, a log, or a push press.

Heavy labor weekend as we wrap-up the move. Got home on Friday evening and set-up to bench:

Bench press

215 x 5

250 x 5

280 x 6 (failed a 7th)

Swiss bar bench press

225 x 10, 7, 8

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows: 115s x 3 x 10

Band pressdowns: 15

Super-set with alternating dumbbell curls

35s x 20

After that, did some moving. Nothing crazy but there were some loaded carries with boxes of books that were a good workout all on their own. It's why I went easy on the bicep curls earlier.

Saturday:

Squats

335 x 5

385 x 5

435 x 5

320 x 18

After that, went out and moved a bunch more stuff. This one was a solo trip so I lifted what was possible with one person. More loaded carries back-and-forth over the course of about an hour and a half.

Sunday was the big one. All-day move with the heaviest items via 2 people. We managed to get everything out and into the moving van (which my work kindly lent me) except for a massive bed headboard. My girlfriend was just too small to help with that, even with shoulder straps made for moving heavy objects.  I had expected this and hit-up a friend the day before, but he was unavailable. We ended up scheduling a moving company to move this piece alone for $50 on Wednesday. 

Ended up finishing at 9:00pm and I felt like I got run over by a train by the end of the night. All "good" pain, though.  I'm elated that my lower back feels great. It's my upper-back that's sore as hell from pulling heavy items into myself when carrying, and that feels awesome. I feel like I should have paid to get an upper-back workout this good.

I'm also feeling a little sick with a sore throat and a light cough, but nothing too bad. Drinking tea and hot bone broth with eggs at work, and I have an entire frozen pizza from Italy in the work freezer for lunch. There are still some smaller items to move out this week but nothing heavy enough that they require two people or a moving van.

Wednesday boxing was a great session Wore a knee sleeve because of my tender knee, but it felt solid the entire time, including while skipping rope. Started with footwork drills via a rope ladder on the floor, switched to rounds on the heavy bag, and ended with light partner sparring where we could only use a jab. I appreciated this part especially as a way to help shake-off ring rust until I can get a new physical from my doctor and submit the paperwork to the gym in order to be sparring eligible again.

 
Was going to squat heavy yesterday, but I ended up erring on the side of caution because it was the first day I hadn't felt any knee funniness. Coupled with all the moving I'm doing, I made myself take a full day of rest.

Strict press

140 x 5

160 x 5

185 x 3

Against bands: 100 x 3 x 10

Super-set with chin-ups: 15 x 3 x 10

Barbell curls: 45 x 30

Not surprised by my performance, as I was quite worn coming into this. Did a lot of heavy lifting during the move on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Monday in particular had me move a massive dresser up three flights of stairs by myself which was especially shoulder intensive. Just did the bare minimum while falling short of 185x5, but I aim to tackle that again this cycle. Went especially light on my biceps as they took on a lot of work the past 3 days.

My right knee has been feeling funny since Saturday morning, before any of the heavy moving began. If I turned around in place, the torque on the knee made me feel a slight buckling sensation, but without pain. By Monday, it felt like there was sustained pressure on the knee and that it SHOULD hurt, but again, no pain. Today, that pressure sensation appears to be gone, but while on my lunch walk I took a hard step and felt a flash of slight pain for a moment. Because of all this, I've put a pause on my daily morning jump-rope rounds and at boxing today, I'll wear an SBD knee sleeve to be safe. Best guess: I stand a lot at work and have been skipping rope every morning at over 200 lbs, so it's probably just a matter of needing some rest.

Squats (high bar): 290 x 20
Super-set with deadlifts: 290 x 20

I am helping my girlfriend move in today (woo!) and needed something fast, challenging, but not body breaking so I'd be game to lift the biggest pieces of furniture at her place. This was perfect. The squats were easy, but I felt like death once I started repping out the deadlifts. Was wary about my lower back, which was feeling a tremendous pump and that can cause a tendency to lose tension, but I walked away feeling horrible but healthy, which is a good way to train.

Also, missed recording a deload bench day the day before yesterday, but worked up benching 205x5 followed by 150x3x10 JM press super-set with axle curls, ending with a 20-rep set of 80 lb dumbbell rows.

 Deload

Squats

225 x 5

255 x 5

305 x 5

225 x 3 x 10

Stood narrower just because it's harder to keep my interest going during the workout, but not hard to the point that it fucks with the spirit of a deload.

Left shoulder has been in a little pain ever since last week, starting with the bench press workout I did and continuing into the push-up marathon we did in boxing. Nothing major, just something to monitor.

 Deload

Squats
225 x 5
255 x 5
305 x 5
225 x 3 x 10

Stood narrower just because it's harder to keep my interest going during the workout, but not hard to the point that it fucks with the spirit of a deload.

Left shoulder has been in a little pain ever since last week, starting with the bench press workout I did and continuing into the push-up marathon we did in boxing. Nothing major, just something to monitor.

Friday boxing was an especially brutal session. We started with a classic Friday circuit: medicine ball burpees, plyometric push-ups, and lateral dumbbell holds. After burning ourselves out on this, we worked the heavy bag under states of fatigue, mixing in more push-ups along with mountain climbers and squats. It also happened to be the coach’s 50th birthday so we ended by him going around to everyone and giving 50 strikes to the midsection. While waiting our turn we had to do non-stop jumping jacks. Having done squats the day before, my quads, which had been on the verge of cramping all session, totally fell apart after about the first 5 minutes of jumping jacks and I had to stop myself from falling down in some moments. Just an absolutely brutal amount of bodyweight exercises and grinding push-up reps to failure for the better part of an hour.

That all made me feel like I got hit by a train for the rest of the night and Saturday. On Sunday, I got in my first deload workout of this cycle:

Strict press

95, 115, 135 x 5

Against bands: 95 x 3 x 10

Super-set with chin-ups: 3 x 10

Dips: 2 x 10

Super-set with dumbbell curls: 35s x 2 x 10

Reverse hyper single leg curls

8 plates x 3 x 10

Also made some more bone broth for the week, this time with beef. I’m surprised that the chicken tasted better. I believe I did a better job of salting it and the softer chicken meat scraps detached from the bones easier so there were quite a few meat scraps in the chicken broth. Still better than anything from the store.

 Two entries I need to catch up on:

 

Bench press
245 x 5
275 x 3
305 x 3
First set last: 245 x 10

SSB JM press: 180 x 3 x 10
Super-set with axle curls: 80 x 3 x 10

Lying dumbbell rows
80s x 20, 10

305 was tough for the final rep, but I locked out. Still marks a 5 lb gain. Upper back is still extremely sore merely from doing barbell shrugs and, surprisingly, my shoulders and pec-deltoid connections felt uncomfortable while benching, which tells me my upcoming deload is going to be here just in time.

My bodyweight continues to hover at 203 as of my last weigh-in, making this the most modest mass gain phase I’ve ever done. While I’m a bit softer than the summer, I still have defined abs and a fairly slim waist. That’s OK with me, as I’m still making progress under the iron and I’m not willing to cut back the cardio and boxing training. I’m also enjoying going carb free until lunch time and before bed too much; simplifies half the meals for my day.

 

Squats
375 x 5
425 x 3
475 x 1
320 x 17

I felt a little sluggish tonight, but conversely, the weight felt pretty light. Thought about hitting a second rep of 475 but found myself walking the bar to the rack.

 

 

Attended first boxing session of 2026 at the new gym location yesterday. Much bigger than the old spot, which is super nice. No more dealing with overcrowding when trying to skip rope or claim a heavy bag. Did rounds on the heavy bag, weighted shadowboxing, ab exercises with a med ball, and then partnered up to take turns parrying and blocking just the jab (high or low). Finished with more ab work.

I made my first homemade batch of bone broth overnight after running out of my Costco supply and I'm never going back to store-bought broth. This was stupidly simple to make and I got to use my leftover $5 rotisserie chicken carcass instead of throwing it out. Will definitely make some beef and lamb bone broth later, but the chicken broth is delicious.

Happy New Year. NYE was fun. Went to Ellie's and caught up with everybody, although like last year it was rather low key as a house party. And made sure to see George a couple days later. We played R.A.D., which was rather rad. A lot better than Fast and Furious 9 that we watched right after.

Over the break, I strict pressed 200x2 and failed a 575 deadlift. Just one of those days where couldn't break it off the ground. I've been neglecting rep work for my hamstrings and I always notice an immediate performance boost in the deadlift after doing RDLs or that 20-rep squat/deadlift super-set I tend to do, so I hit RDLs with 315 for 3 sets of 10 afterwards, followed by 2 sets of 10 barbell shrugs with the same weight. Rather than my upper traps getting sore, it's more my lower traps and general upper back area that still feel it 2 days later.

On Saturday I also did a 5-minute jump-rope round followed by a 1 mile solo run, a brief break while I waited for my girlfriend to gear up, and then a 3 mile partner run. Have also been getting in that 5 min rope round every morning before work.

Friday:

Squats
350 x 3
405 x 3
450 x 3
320 x 15

Felt a little rundown and my quads were surprisingly a little sore during squats. 450 felt like a ton as a result, but I'm happy I hit 3 deep reps without any back issues.

Sunday:

Bench press
225 x 3
260 x 3
290 x 5

JM press
170 x 3 x 10
190 x 10
Super-set with axle curls: 70 x 4 x 10

Lying dumbbell rows: 115s x 3 x 8
Behind-the-neck press: 95 x 3 x 12

Once again, felt a little rundown and places that I wouldn't expect to feel sore were lighitng up under the bar (triceps in this case).

Good weekend sessions, but I'll put extra emphasis this week on upping my sleep length and quality for recovery purposes.

 Bench press:

205 x 5
245 x 5
275 x 7

First set last: 205 x 15

SSB JM press:
200 x 8, 7
170 x 7
150 x 7

Super-set with axle curls:
70 x 4 x 10

Lying dumbbell rows:
80s x 3 x 10
Super-set with lat flyes:
20s x 10, 15s x 10, 10

Lifted on 4 hours of sleep, but didn't feel that tired. Modest but steady bench gains. JM press was a total tricep annihilator. My arms felt like jelly after each set and I had to go down in weight to keep rep count consistent.

Went to a holiday work party in the evening and had lots of good food: shrimp, meatballs, sausage, salad, and pizza. Played bocce ball, which sounded boring at first but got fairly addictive in no time. Unfortunately we had a directive to dress in certain colors for a theme, so I couldn't wear my "Abdominal Swoleman" Christmas sweater with a bodybuilding sasquatch on it.

Cardio and boxing training has been minimal since Thursday. Started feeling under-the-weather over the weekend so haven't been as active, but will change that soon.

Boxing was a good class yesterday. I'll have to remember to sign-up with this coach as much as possible. No nonsense guy, very loud voice, called out people for dicking around which was super welcome. Focused on footwork drills using a plastic ring and doing 3-step and 2-step body rotations in and out with a medicine ball. Partnered up and took turns throwing combos, and then we took turns ducking under our partner's outstretched arms for minutes at a time, which had my quads feeling it. Ended with ab work, including a 2 minute plank. The leg raises, flutter-kicks, and Russian twists are always precarious to do with my back, but they didn't aggravate it this time, which I was astonished by. My back health is really in a solid state right now. And sure enough, I didn't wake-up with pain.

That was the final session at the old gym. The new, larger location across the street is almost ready and is where my future classes in January will be held. The gym will be closed for the rest of the year. 

 Overhead press

137.5 x 5

157.5 x 5

180 x 6

Band-resisted overhead press: 95 x 10, 10, 10, 9

Super-set with chin-ups: 4 x 10

Giant sets

Dumbbell chest flyes: 50s x 12, 12

Lateral flyes: 35s x 10, 15s x 15

Dumbbell curls: 50s x 10, 35s x 10

Glad to be making gains on the press. Pressing against bands always seems to accelerate my progress. I'm using the purple bands, which are fairly strong but they're the only color I have an equal pair of.

Sleep was a bit better last night. Woke-up twice to use the restroom instead of 3 or 4. I'll plan ahead so I start and finish training earlier after work and therefore eat dinner + hydrate earlier before I go to bed.

 Yesterday was supposed to be a rest day, but I ended up filming some technical shadowboxing in my living room. I've been making a concerted effort to slow down a bit and emphasize form and flow over being explosive. My elbows are drawn in tighter, hands are higher, chin is locked down. and I'm practicing scenarios where I'm fighting in the pocket more at close range. It's been a huge hole in my game to get flustered when in-fighting and remedying that is a boxing resolution for next year.

Back continues to feel good.

Squats

325 x 5

375 x 5

425 x 5

315 x 20

Have all of these sets on video, which I’ll upload when I have a chance. Real happy with how my squat is progressing. 315x20 was actually an accident. I was going for 19 and miscounted. 

I need to get sleeping throughout the night figured out; I’ve been waking up 3 or 4 times a night to pee lately and it’s been killing my energy levels at work. Been holding off on coffee, which I know would help but is something I try to use sparingly despite my absolute love for it. Last night, I did a better job of spacing out my last huge meal to be earlier before bedtime and I didn’t drink too much, but I’ll try to restrict things further. High sodium before bed is a possible culprit as well.

Deload

Bench press 

135, 160, 190 x 3 x 5

Low incline crazy bells

140 x 10, 10, 10, 10

Lying dumbbell rows 

80s x 10, 10, 10, 10

 Squats

355 x 3

395 x 3

445 x 3

315 x 18

445 moved well. As part of my back-friendly approach to leg day now, that was all. No drop-sets, deadlifts, or even leg curls, since doing them on the reverse-hyper bends my back and was the point when I felt pain set in after doing squats one time. And I took a long rest period before doing 315x18, which was a 1-rep improvement from last workout. 

Was meaning to do this workout on Saturday, but ended up doing it on Sunday. My Saturday was thrown into complete flux by doing my own plumbing repairs under the bathroom sink. What started as a clog ended up needing to replace the drain line and there were a lot of back-and-forth trips to Home Depot. The upside is that one of those trips resulted in coming home with Christmas lights and I hung my first ever lights up this year.

Bench press

235 x 5

270 x 3

300 x 3

Close-grip bench press: 235 x 3 x 10

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows: 115s x 3 x 10

Keg curls: 160 x 25

Was running on fumes here. Sleep quality was poor due to the aforementioned gut issues and as soon as I got home from work I was dealing with a badly clogged bathroom sink that required some elbow grease (P-trap nuts were stuck). Work-up sets felt heavy but 300 felt pretty light. All 3 were strong, smooth reps. Crazy to think I haven't benched 300+ in almost a year; that's been unprecedented for me ever since I reached that weight 20 years ago. 

Ended up going to bed late because the sink required further attention due to a leaking angle-stop valve, and I'm even more tired today. And then work so far has happened to be the most hectic day of the week. Even had to cut my lunch break short by 20 minutes to help someone out. Fuck it, can't wait to go to boxing after!

Power cleans

110 x 5
160 x 5
185 x 5

Deadlifts
405 x 5
455 x 3
515 x 5

10 chin-ups

There were 2 conditions for victory here. 1 was moving 515 even once. 2 was remaining pain-free afterwards. Success on both fronts.

I did, however, wake-up this morning with my guts killing me. Not sure what I could have eaten to cause it. Possibly curry with tilapia, but I ate that the day before without problems, or maybe munching on too many almonds, but that hadn't been causing me any issues either. I'll choose to believe that it was fatal salmonella poisoning from one of the eggs I microwaved (I really need to stop cracking the shells on the side of my mug), and it would have killed anyone else but only gave me an upset stomach.

Overhead press 

155 x 5

175 x 3

195 x 2

Chin-ups: 10

Band-resisted overhead press

95 x 9, 10, 40

Super-set with chin-ups

Bw x 10

30 x 10, 10

Giant sets 

Dumbbell flyes: 50s x 10, 10

Rear-delt flyes: 15s x 15, 35s x 10

Dumbbell curls: 50s x 10, 35s x 10

Press was progressing for awhile but has lately remained the same while my bench climbs. Not too surprising considering how little weight I'm gaining; I've creeped up to a bodyweight of 202 as of this weekend, a 2 lb gain over about 2 months. It honestly makes my bench and squat gains all the more satisfying.

Over the weekend I went for a second Thanksgiving at Elizabeth's parents' house, but it was very low-key and late at night. Folks weren't too excited about my movie pick of Jingle All The Way, either, but they seemed to end up enjoying it.

Thanksgiving was great yesterday. Had a massive feast at Attossa’s. Lots of prime rib, smoked turkey, potato salad, Mac and cheese, and more. 

I keep hearing people talk about how turkey is the worst part of dinner and besides the fact that I hear that sentiment every year and it’s pretty old by now, I also just disagree. You will find no solidarity in me with that cliche small talk - smoked turkey is delicious and I will buy a giant turkey leg from the fair, beach boardwalk, etc. every given opportunity.

Going to a second dinner tonight at Elizabeth's parents 2 hours away so this morning to save time, I did:

Squats (high bar): 275 x 20
Super-set with deadlifts: 275 x 20

Pictures from yesterday:

Thanksgiving workout:

Bench press 

225 x 3

255 x 3

285 x 6

Close-grip bench press 

230 x 10, 10, 9

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows: 115s x 3 x 10

Giant sets:

Incline dumbbell flyes: 50s x 3 x 10

Incline dumbbell press: 50s x 6, 5

Plate spider curls: 45 x 15, 12

Felt strong under the bar and felt like I had another rep of 285 in me if I wanted to grind for it. 

Watched World's Strongest Man 2002 with my girlfriend before lifting and she's getting familiar with the athletes. Man, the production values from that era were so fun: lots of wacky camera angles, silly skits, and radical techno music.

 5 minute jump-rope round in the morning, followed by an uncounted number of crunches and reverse crunches.

Evening:

1 round, 3 minutes shadowboxing

2 sprints up Heart Attack Hill

8 minutes of HIIT on flat ground

.

Woke-up with my back feeling stiff, which was a surprise since it's been feeling good lately. Different pain from what was plaguing me until recently - this is more like when you're sitting down in a poor position for too long and you get up. Only theory is that I slept so deeply that I slept through a certain position instead of naturally shifting during slumber because I woke-up to use the restroom later in the night than I usually do, closer to my alarm time.

My lunch routine is normally a 5-10 minute walk followed by a 10-15 minute nap in a room at our warehouse before returning to the office. Instead, I went on a longer walk today to the pull-up bars on the trail and did a 1-minute dead hang.

Overhead press 

145 x 5

165 x 3

185 x 3

Giant sets

Overhead press: 145 x 3 x 8 + 8 overhead shrugs at end of each set

Chin-ups: BWx8, 30x3x10

Reverse hyper single-leg curls: 8 plates x 3 x 10

Dumbbell chest flyes: 50s x 3 x 10

Super-set with dumbbell curls: 50s x 10, 8, 

Shoulders were sore from low bar squats yesterday and I contemplated resting them until tomorrow, but I decided to knock this out on the weekend instead of after work. Didn't even attempt going past 3 with 185.

Squats (low bar)

325 x 5

375 x 5

420 x 5

315 x 17 (high bar)

Walked away after this, and there was an extended rest period between 420 and the set of 315 to allow my back to decompress and not slam it with too much weight in a short period of time. It worked: I walked away with no pain. Was beginning to forget what that's like.

Pleased with how light 420 felt.

Did a massive Costco haul last night. They have ground bison back in stock so I bought several to store in my freezer.

Bench press

205 x 5

235 x 5

270 x 7

Close-grip bench press

230 x 3 x 8

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows: 115s x 3 x 8

Spider plate curls: 45 x 15, 12

Super-set with dumbbell flyes: 50s x 10, 10

Decent session. Not much of an increase from last month, but I've also been undereating and have maintained a bodyweight of around 200 lbs. I can eat more in the mornings to remedy this. At work, I haven't been eating any carbs until 1pm except for a handful of almonds to go with my egg + bone broth mugs.

I've done spider curls whie lying chest-down on a bench with dumbbells before, but using a weight plate really put some incredible tenson on the biceps with such a light load. Similar feeling to preacher curls. Started out easy but by rep 10 my biceps were on fire.

Haven't been taking protein powder much lately. Had a couple nights this week where I made a casein shake before bed but otherwise I've just been eating whole foods. Took advantage of a Black Friday deal to treat myself to Metabolic Drive, so I'm looking forward to protein puddings before bed again and chocolate shakes at work. Might get some Superfood on sale as well since my multivitamins are running low.

Also, this afternoon during my lunch break I walked to the chin-up bars on the trail near my work and did a 1 minute dead hang. I like this set-up because the bar is high so I can hang with my legs fully extended, which feels great on my back (no pain today, by the way). Also did my usual 5 minute jump-rope in the morning after waking-up.

 Didn't partner up like usual yesterday at boxing. Instead, after skipping rope and shadowboxing, we did footwork drills using rope ladders, 2 rounds on the heavy bag, and then an easy circuit of various exercises like goblet squats, push-ups, medicine ball throws, and a few others. Ended with ab work and stretches. 

The ab exercises seem regressed my back a little, as I woke-up with the left side feeling pain, although nothing debilitating. It's anything that has me holding my legs low to the ground that treats me the worst, like flutter kicks and lying Russian twists.

Deadlifts

405 x 5

455 x 5

515 x 0, 0

Super-set with wide chin-ups: 2 x 10

30 second dead hang

First time in awhile that I've had to walk away after missing a deadlift rep, but I felt like I had no power today when trying to handle 515. However, this is also the first time in awhile that I've moved a decent amount of weight with my lower body and suffered no back pain afterwards, so my spirit was very high while cleaning up. I remember having crushed my last heavy squat workout but back pain had set in before I started gingerly putting the plates away and it was a lame feeling seeing the loaded bar I had just lifted 30 minutes earlier and knowing I couldn't do that now. It was a much more energetic, chipper clean-up session here.

I'm thinking it'd be a good idea to bring back power cleans before deadlifts again. They really primed me to break the bar off the ground and I had one of my most consistent deadlift runs while including them.

Bad and good news about boxing. I tried to sign-up for Tuesday sparring over the weekend, but the class was already full. Our gym is moving across the street to a bigger building in January, though, so hopefully class capacity will be bigger and sparring will be expanded.

Overhead press 

135 x 5

155 x 5

175 x 6

140 x 10, 10, 10, 9, 8

Super-set with chin-ups

Bodyweight x 10

15 x 10

30 x 10, 10, 10

Giant sets: 3 sets each of skullcrushers, chest flyes, and dumbbell curls for 5-10 reps starting with 50 lb dumbbells and dropping to 35s when I could no longer hold my arms up.

 Really got a lot out of boxing yesterday. After the standard 3 jump-rope rounds of 3 minutes, I used the mirror during shadowboxing to practice keeping a more exaggerated shell after watching an online tutorial and noticing during sparring that I tended to stay too upright when in-fighting. I'm still getting the hang of boxing real close instead of only relying on reach and assuming I'll have that advantage over everyone I face.

Fittingly, I partnered up after with the big dude who made me want to get better at close-range combat in the first place. Practiced countering the jab with 1-2s and other simple combos that started with a left hook.  After we took turns jabbing and countering, we each did a round of non-stop 1-2s rotated with non-stop upper-cuts in 30 seconds intervals. 

We changed partners after this entire medley and my second partner was skilled to the point that we were both a blur when it came to the non-stop 1-2s/upper-cut rounds and our coach came by to compliment us. At one point my red gloves were flashing over his black ones and it looked downright psychedelic, like a kaleidoscope of leather. After awhile of being in a rhythm like this you have to make sure you don't let yourself start thinking, thereby losing the flow.

Back has been feeling excellent, but I don't want to squander that. This weekend I'm scheduled for a heavy deadlift session and I'll be very careful about that to experiment what I can handle. After deadlifts, instead of split-squats I'll either do belt squats or I might just walk away and do the accessory exercises later in the day/the next day. Goal is to not wake-up in pain the next day.

Got a lot to catch up on. Started my deload over the weekend.

Friday:

Overhead press

95 x 5

115 x 5

135 x 5

115 x 4 x 10

Super-set with chin-ups: 4 x 10

Keg curls: 150 x 20

Saturday night: 3 mile jog followed by a 20 minute walk.

Sunday, after a 5 min morning jump-rope round and breakfast: 

Dumbbell Romanian deadlifts:

125s x 3 x 10

Super-set with wide-grip chin-ups: 3 x 8

Walking kettlebell lunges

50s x 3 x 16

Monday morning before work, another 5 minute jump-rope round. Evening was home boxing training:

8 minute jump-rope round

3 rounds, 5 minutes each on the heavy bag

20 minute jog

Tuesday evening was a combined squat and bench deload:

Squat

225 x 5

245 x 5

295 x 5

Bench press

135 x 5

165 x 5

200 x 5

Crazy bells bench press

145 x 4 x 10

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows: 80s x 4 x 10

40 second chin-up

Also, Saturday morning was another amazing breakfast at Mix Huevos with Elizabeth, except this time i went ahead and got a drink before my meal. Went and saw Predator: Badlands afterwards, which was Disney corny but still really good.

Never posted how Halloween went, either, but it ended up being a really good Halloween party. As soon as I stepped in the backyard, one of Elizabeth's coworkers asked me to arm wrestle. As Rambo, I could only accept with pleasure. My left arm crushed him in seconds, but my right arm (the surgery one) had to fight him a bit. I had also done Boring But Big a few hours earlier so I wasn't at peak strength. It wasn't hard, either, but it took a while of waiting him out in gridlock to finally beat that side. Had some good drinks and then spent a lot of time talking about snakes with someone else after. Weird but fun.

Also, played a bit of Tekken 4 this morning before work. Been liking it a lot. 20 years after playing Tekken 5, too.

 Squats

365 x 5

415 x 3

465 x 1

Drop-down to 405x5, 315x8, 225x10, 135x10

Reverse hyper leg curls

6 plates x 20, 20

I'd been putting this squat day off to let my back recover and it's been feeling excellent the past several days. Unfortunately this still took its toll. Everything felt fine until the last set of leg curls, funnily enough, and even then it was faint pain. No problem, I figured; I'm done now anyways. But as the night wore on, my back slowly began to feel worse and worse. Same problem spot that's been getting my attention lately: lower right side.

While recently reviewing my training log, I noticed that my back tends to like the softer side of my reversable mattress more when it's in pain. Sure enough, I flipped it to the soft side and when I woke-up to use the restroom, my back didn't hurt at first. Same deal in the morning. Eventually, back pain set in again, but that's a promising confirmation considering that waking-up is typically very painful after a back injury.

I have a scheduled deload coming up, and I will almost certainly replace the heavy deadlift day this week with something lighter. I also have belt squats in my arsenal for when it's time to lift heavy.

Bench press 

235 x 5

265 x 3

295 x 4

Close-grip bench press: 225 x 10, 10, 10, 10, 9

Super-set with dumbbell rows: 115s x 5 x 10

Incline chest flyes: 35s x 12, 50s x 10, 35s x 10

Super-set with alternating dumbbell curls: 50s x 20, 50s x 16, 35s x 20

I could have sworn I already did this workout and hit 290x3, but turns out that was last month. The passage of time was alarming but the gains up for that. Felt like I had a 5th rep of 295 in me, but Jim Wendler advises not going all-out on the top sets when doing Boring But Big. 

Halloween last night was as good as a low-key night could be. I had a dentist at 9:00 a.m. this morning so my girlfriend and I stayed in and watched Halloween episodes of King of the Hill, Simpsons, and The Office. King of the Hill won. We even managed to squeeze in a little roleplaying game time before bed with Champions of Norrath for PS2.

Edit: Ended up going to a Halloween house party the next night thrown by one of Elizabeth's co-workers and that was surprisingly awesome.