Overhead press 

145 x 5

167.5 x 5

190 x 4

Weighted dips

80 x 10, 10, 10

Super-set with weighed chin-ups 

80 x 8, 8, 8

Weighted push-ups

80 x 12, 10, 10

Super-set with dumbbell curls with Fat Gripz 

35s x 10, 10, 10, 10 (last set on its own, no super-set)

Knew I didn't have 5 in me after the 4th rep felt hard, but I was pretty happy with that.

I fill in on Fridays to do deliveries for my company and one of the routes took over an hour of lifting of had made a huge order from us. I moved 2 stacked pallets worth of Gatorade and protein shake cases by hand. The morning was compounded by especially bad nausea that I could tell had impacted my sleep based on how tired I felt. I noticed while warming up that my blood sugar felt crashed and when I held my hand up, it was shaking. 

I don't want to end on a negative note; I felt awesome when this was finished and it was a miserable blast to break out the 80 lb weight vest.

 Done on Sunday:

Bench press 

230 x 5

265 x 5

300 x 4 (failed a 5th)

Block press

335 x 1

350 x 1

Seated overhead dumbbell press 

80s x 9, 7, 7, 7

Lying dumbbell rows 

80s x 25, 20

Kettlebell lateral raises

15s x 30

Dumbbell hammer curls with Fat Gripz 

35s x 8, 10, 10

Came close to getting the 5th rep but couldn't lockout. Added some heavy block press singles so I'd end on a win.

Later in the evening, went on a 2 mile jog/run. It started off leisurely when after about a half mile I decided to run the rest of the mile and ended up finishing it at 9:50, at which point I slowed down again.

Bench press 

230 x 5

265 x 5

300 x 4 (failed a 5th)

Block press

335 x 1

350 x 1

Seated overhead dumbbell press 

80s x 9, 7, 7, 7

Lying dumbbell rows 

80s x 25, 20

Kettlebell lateral raises

15s x 30

Dumbbell hammer curls with Fat Gripz 

35s x 8, 

Yesterday evening: 

 

Mat pulls (6) 

550 x 5

RDL mat pulls 
365 x 8, 8

 

Sandbag squats
200 x 20

 

Strong performance, really ripped the weight up with uncaring brutality despite feeling some soreness in my hamstrings and low back from ABCs the day before.

 So screw that last update, I came home and did a kettlebell workout. SHOSHU!

ABCs

50s x 20 in 5:58

Push-ups: 30, 20, 20

Super-set with chin-ups: 15, 15, 12

Went on a walk with my lady and just got back. Feeling better and about to cook-up some pork belly and play Champions of Norrath together.

 Helluva day. Started work an hour early at 7am to get dropped off in Salinas to pick-up our truck that's been there since August. Ended up being a whole ordeal and when I finally got the truck off their lot, it started stalling at a gas station in Gilroy. I eventually got it going again and got back to work a little after 2. I'm feeling pretty beat now and since today is supposed to be a date night, I'm going to hold off on training until tomorrow. Didn't eat much all day and was really hungry but I'm filling up on fish curry and brown rice now.

 I dragged my carcass to boxing yesterday on some seriously sore legs from Saturday's squats, but I skipped rope and moved fine. Light sparred 3 rounds with 2 skilled people and 1 beginner. One of them had real good technique and we were keeping very busy with a high volume of punches until he started to slow down and breathlessly goes "This is supposed to be a warm-up??" Darn, I thought we were having fun and the strikes were light, but I eased up a little there.

Beginner was an overweight guy who comically waltzed around the whole gym as I chased him and practiced on cutting him off. He also made comical lunges and sways that looked straight out of drunken master. Nice guy though.

We partnered up after that to drill slipping 1-2s while moving to the end of the gym and then back, alternating who's punching and defending depending on the direction. Repeated this drill while ducking left and right hooks. I got my asked by partner to slow down in my forward movement twice. I was probably still formatted to be chasing down drunken master from earlier.

Next we donned the shield and alternated rounds throwing: jab, duck, left hook, left body hook. Next round was just blasting 1-2-3s.

Ended with 2 rounds on the heavy bag and then a plank that was unsatisfyingly short in time.

It felt great to be asked by different people to ease up on the pace. My conditioning is holding up well while going up in bodyweight and aggression is what I've been lacking before.

 Overhead press

155 x 3

175 x 3

200 x 3

Decline close-grip bench press 

225 x 5 x 10

Super-set with chin-ups 

Bodyweight x 10

30 x 4 x 10

Incline skullcrushers with Fat Gripz 

35s x 10, 8, 

Dumbbell curls with Fat Gripz

50s x 12 (alternating)

35s x 10, 10  (bilateral)

Making good gains on the press. Felt strong there.

It's quite possible that Dorian Yates and I are the only beings in existence who like decline bench. I'm doing some bodybuilding with it to develop my lower pecs.

Glad I dug out the Fat Gripz, I forgot how pumped they make my arms. Mid-workout picture:

 Squats

365 x 3

435 x 3

485 x 2, 3

Strip-sets of 405x4, 315x7, 225x10, 135x10, 50x10

Romanian deadlifts 

225 x 2 x 10

Kettlebell swings 

50 x 50

Ab wheel

15

Super-set with 15 crunches 

On the first set of 485, my belt felt so tight I couldn't get full breaths in my belly. I loosened it up a notch, hit 2, hesitated because the 2nd felt real heavy again, went for it and came up with a third rep that was stronger than the 2nd. Great moment of overcoming fear.

The belt felt a little too loose for my liking, but that was better than being too tight.

 Bench press

247.5 x 3

282.5 x 3

315 x 3

Seated overhead dumbbell press 

80s x 8, 9, 9

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows 

115s x 10, 10, 10

Dips

17, 12, 10

Super-set with dumbbell curls

35s x 12, 10, 10

Last two bench sets felt heavy, but that's no surprise. I just benched the day before yesterday and cut down on a rest day to hit this tonight and make time for George tomorrow after work.

Used one Fat Gripz on the dumbbell curls; couldn't find the other but I've been wanting to use 'em again.

Stomach is feeling much better this morning after not lifting last night. Will keep monitoring and noting further patterns.

Went on a partner jog yesterday evening but spontaneously decided to stop at Super Duper Burgers for dinner and got a chicken sandwich, garlic fries, and Coke Zero. Portions were small, but this time I mainly went in for the experience, which is how I treat fast food these days when I end up going once in a blue moon. Got to relax for the rest of the evening and even squeezed in some Champions of Norrath time together before bed.

 Deload

Overhead press

95 x 5

115 x 5

135 x 5

Decline bench press

185 x 10

205 x 3 x 10

Chin-ups: 20, 15

20 dips

Been feeling horribly nauseous and burpy in the mornings for a couple of weeks now. It persists until the early afternoon and seems to have crescendoed this week. After reviewing past patterns, my theory is it's from increased caloric intake paired with lifting too close to bedtime, so I'll make some adjustments there and see if I feel better.

 Monday was a slog. Despite 7 hours of sleep I felt seriously tired, but got through a deload super-set:

Squats

225 x 20

Super-set with deadlifts

225 x 20

Dropped the bar down and went straight to Costco after this. Picked-up ingredients to make a homemade weightgainer shake because eating 16 microwaved eggs every morning has been getting extreme old. I'm drinking my concoction this morning: organic A2 milk, oatmeal, almond butter, chocolate casein powder, cinnamon whey powder, and a banana.

 Returned from a weekend trip L.A. last night at around 8. I used the hotel gym on Saturday morning, just sticking with cable accessory exercises like flyes, pressdowns, and curls. Later, went to Muscle Beach for a quick hour before dinner at one of the best Chinese restaurants I've ever been to.

Didn't actually workout on the beach this time because it's $10 for a day pass when it used to be free and I didn't have enough time before we had to leave for dinner to make the experience worth it. It was a fun visit but I want to come back and make a day out of it. I did pick-up another Arnold Schwarzenegger tank top, though.

Deload

Squats
225 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 5
225 x 20

Good mornings
135 x 20

Kettlebell swings
50 x 50

No thigh pain, I'm happy to report. Knees and back also felt good while going beltless and without sleeves.

Leaving for a trip to Los Angeles today after work to visit with my girlfriend's family. I certainly don't feel the NEED to train since it's just Friday evening until Sunday, but the hotel may have a gym and if not, morning push-ups and bodyweight squats would be fun.

 Deload

Bench press

135, 185, 225 x 5 (1 second pause)

Seated overhead dumbbell press

80s x 3 x 8

Dips

18

Lying dumbbell rows:

80s x 30

Swiss bar curls

45 x 30

Also knocked out the following circuit this morning:

20 burpees

2 minutes weighted shadowboxing

20 kettlebell swings with 25 lbs (grabbed what was in my living room)

Got a surprise on the scale this morning: 209, a loss of 2 lbs. I've been eating a lot so I was expecting a gain, but notably, I've been going more nights without eating or drinking casein protein before bed. No biggie, I'm getting stronger.

Leaving for Los Angeles tomorrow for a weekend trip involving family.

 Mat pulls (8)

550 x 5

Mat pull RDLs

365 x 2 x 8

Sandbag squats

200 x 15

I am really liking how capping the reps at 5 is letting me pull heavy but walk away feeling fresh. I'm curious to see if this will keep week-to-week performance consistent as opposed to wildly fluctuating between getting a high rep count one week and then not even breaking the bar off the mats the next.

Zero thigh pain on mat pulls, but I felt it a little on sandbag squats. Luckily, my deload starts after this session.

 Overhead press

165 x 5

185 x 3

205 x 1

Decline bench press

225 x 8, 9, 9

Super-set with chin-ups: 12, 12, 20

A little later in the early evening, I went to the nearest 24 Hour Fitness with the intention to sign-up for a month because I've been wanting access to the pool and steam room. This location has been historically rundown so hearing that it was recently renovated lured me in. I ended up waiting at the empty front desk for several minutes before I just took out my phone, signed-up for an online free pass, and then walked in. I bounced around from various machines as I came across them. all done for 3 sets of 10: machine lat pulldowns, cable tricep pressdowns, cable chest flyes, leg press, and cable curls. 

I also had my bag gloves with me and did a light round on one of their punching bags. Finally, I did mostly 5 minutes (took some time to figure out how to adjust while I was using it) of max resistance on the elliptical machine.

This was all fine, but when I went to one section of the locker room I was hit with a smell so bad I just about turned away and walked out from there, while the bathroom was dirty and in disrepair (not the source of whatever that smell was, by the way). The steam room and jacuzzi also looked crowded so I actually did end up leaving then.

I'm now leaning toward forgetting the whole idea of a gym membership. The upsides are that it's cheap, using machines are fun, and it's just down the street from my boxing gym so I can kill time in the hour I have between work and boxing by using a massage chair or going for a swim, but that locker room was absolutely brutal.

 Squats
405 x 5
455 x 3
505 x 1

This was damn near miraculous. While squatting 405 I felt my mid back seize up. Not nearly as painful as a low back tweak because this was purely muscular, not disc related, thankfully. Cautiously proceeded up to 455, which felt fine, and then 505, which felt very light on my back but was still enough to rekindle the upper thigh injury I experienced last weekend. Was able to walk upstairs fine and the pain isn't bad. 

Boxing yesterday:

3 rounds jumping rope, 3 min each
3 rounds weighted shadowboxing, 3 min each
Partner combos: take turns slipping 1-2s and then 1-2-3s. 2 rounds each for 2 minutes.
Conditioning: plate crawls with push-ups
2 minute plank  

 Bench press 

260 x 5

295 x 3

330 x 2

260 x 9

Last set super-set with lying dumbbell rows: 115s x 10

Seated overhead dumbbell press 

80s x 9, 10, 8

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

Swiss bar curls

45 x 50

Felt sluggish in warm-ups tonight, but I got it together for the top set. Strong performance. I keep almost wishing for a string of poor bench sessions so I have an excuse to switch strategies and start block pressing just because I find it fun, but I'm not going to change up what's working.

Enforcing a full rest day tomorrow before Friday boxing. Thursdays are shaping up to serve that quite nicely.

I worked up to squatting 275x8 yesterday before shutting it down, as the pain in my thigh started getting louder and louder. It went away about 20 minutes after finishing and I had no issue walking up stairs like I did on Saturday when this first reared its head, thankfully. It feels like the bottom stretch of the squat is what exacerbates it so my next plan of attack are box squats. Belt squats should also be fine, since the way I do them off the floor has the ground stopping the weight. 

I always drag my feet about doing belt squats because they feel so unsatisfying compared to bar squats, but because I can do high reps with very heavy weight, they always seem to make my bar squat stronger. As I write this, I'm thinking I should take this as a sign to do them more.

In other news, I scored a TON of recently expired drinks from work. We have 3 pallets worth that we can't sell but taste perfectly fine. Took home a bunch of RTD grass-fed protein shakes and energy drinks, with more to come. I actually want to be mindful about moderating my intake of all this; I'm not a big energy drink guy since I prefer coffee and I prefer powder to RTDs with their gums and preservatives. Also don't want to be megadosing on artificial sweeteners everyday, either

 After a break from Monday boxing I returned yesterday and was reminded why this is one of my favorite days. After skipping rope, right away we took to shadowbox sparring. The coach doesn't stop us if we make contact so I usually end up sparring at 50% if I choose the right people, but both partners this time don't have that relationship with me and one of them was new to boxing, so it was indeed contactless for once aside from some blocks and parries. We then worked on simple 3-punch partner combos like a 1-2-3 and ended with medicine ball slams and push-ups.

 After a break from Monday boxing I returned yesterday and was reminded why this is one of my favorite days. After skipping rope, right away we took to shadowbox sparring. The coach doesn't stop us if we make contact so I usually end up sparring at 50% if I choose the right people, but both partners this time don't have that relationship with me and one of them was new to boxing, so it was indeed contactless for once aside from some blocks and parries. We then worked on simple 3-punch partner combos like a 1-2-3 and ended with medicine ball slams and push-ups.

 Overhead press 

145 x 5

165 x 5

185 x 5

Close-grip incline bench press 

185 x 10, 9, 9, 9, 10

Super-set with chin-ups: 12, 12, 12, 12, 20

Dumbbell skullcrushers

35s x 10, 10

50s x 9

Super-set with hammer curls

50s x 3 x 10

Another solid session. Got a big pump from the assistance work by focusing on muscle contractions. I historically tend to get stuck at 185x5 on the press so I'm looking forward to going past that next cycle.

Whatever I pulled in my upper thigh seems mostly healed. Just some fading pain if I flex that area. Squats today will be the real test.

Squats

350 x 5

400 x 5

450 x 5

405 x 3

315 x 1

Felt strong, but when I reracked I noticed that I had pulled something in my left inner thigh. I was started my strip-sets but stopped after the first rep of 315; it wasn't feeling like something I should ignore. It hurts a little but I can still move fine. 

Boxing last night was more bagwork, focusing this time just on the overhand right. Awesome, I've been wanting to train that more. After several rounds of incorporating that into different combos like double jab, overhand right, low left hook, high left hook, straight right, and double jab out, we did a quick ending workout: line-up and do 2 rounds of dragon crawls to a set point followed by crab crawls on the way back, doing jumping-jacks whenever it's not your turn. Afterwards, a 3 minute plank to end class with.

Friday boxing was a good session. Primarily did rounds on the heavy bag mixed with various calisthenics based on the coach's callouts. 

One drill he sometimes has us do is reacting as quickly as possible to dropping down on our stomachs or backs and standing up. This was a lot harder at this weight than before and actually made for a decent conditioning workout. Ending with a long plank after this was killer.

The next day, we went out for drinks and breakfast at Mix Huevos and then saw Street Fighter, which started off awesome but declined in quality a bit as the movie wore-on. M. Bison's depiction was just inexcusably bad. It was a fun watch overall, though, and it felt surreal to be watching Ryu vs Akuma on the big screen.

We meant to go out to the pumpkin patch later but ended up taking naps in the afternoon and staying in. I put on Conan for a little while to get some Halloween costume ideas. 

 Bench press

225 x 5

260 x 5

295 x 5

Seated overhead dumbbell press

80s x 4 x 8

Lying dumbbell rows

80s x 25, 15

Solid bench press effort. For the assistance work, I knew I needed to bring the intensity down as I was feeling beat-up. The dumbbell pressing and high-rep rows ended up making my shoulders and upper-back sore, but I felt peppy walking away from this workout.

Boxing the next day was a bit of a slog: my calves were sore from hill sprints and skipping rope had my legs feeling like lead. We focused mostly on bagwork at first before transitioning to partner combos, ending with ab work.

I'm allotting a full rest period when I get home from work today. No training. Tomorrow is a conditioning-intense boxing session followed by a heavy squat weekend and I also want to get in a run on Saturday or Sunday.

Mat pulls (9)

545 x 5

Romanian deadlifts

315 x 15

Sandbag squats

200 x 20

Heavy pulling in the past tended to make for really long sessions. Besides all the plate loading, there was the hype-up period to overcome injury insecurity for my back. No more of that: I blazed through this. Had plenty of more reps in me but I capped it at 5 to see how much better I recover because mat pulls days used to run me into the ground and I have the added variability of boxing now. I'll keep it at 5 reps all the way until I reach the floor.

The right side of my back started to hurt after RDLs, though. It's not bad and I can still move fine, but it has annoyingly broken my streak of a pain-free back. Next time, back off a bit after the heavy pulling; I should have done RDL sets of 8-10 instead. Luckily, I was still able to hold up the sandbag and squat with it just fine.

This morning before work I managed to squeeze in a couple of sprints up Heart Attack Hill before going back inside for breakfast.

Also, had a really good weekend. Played a bunch of Ninja Gaiden Black and PSO on the gaming front (finally beat the bone dragon boss and it was incredibly easy this session). Sunday, went up to SF for a lowkey birthday. Went to a Simpsons-themed bar and then Stooky's, which had some amazing beef broth cocktails.

 Bench press 

245 x 5

275 x 3

310 x 4

245 x 10ish (lost count)

Axle clean once and press

150 x 9, 8, 8

A few more things I didn't record.

Also squatted 480x3 in the session after this, followed by strip-sets. 

 Two deloads to record on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

Friday:

Log clean and press

97.5 x 5

117.5 x 5

142.5 x 5

Weighted push-ups: 80 x 3 x 10

Super-set with chin-ups: 3 x 15

Axle curls

40 x 36

Sunday:

Deadlifts

315 x 5

365 x 5

405 x 5

Sandbag squats

200 x 20

On Saturday I went on a 3 hour hike with coworkers. Much of it was uphill but I found it pretty easy. However, the next day deadlifting seemed to awake deep muscle soreness in my right thigh and the first rep of squatting with the sandbag was such agony that I set the bag down, assessed whether it was pain I could ignore or not, decided it was, and knocked out 20 reps without issue.

 Deload

Squats

225 x 5

275 x 5

315 x 5

Front squats

225 x 8

Sandbag squats

200 x 20

Good mornings

155 x 10

185 x 15

Been a while since I've done barbell front squats and I stopped at 8 due to wrist discomfort in the clean position. The grip shirt kept the bar solidly in position at least, so it was the starting position that started to hurt and not from the bar gradually sliding down like before. Arms crossed would work well paired with the grip shirt, but I suddenly remembered I really like sandbag squats and they work my upper-back and biceps as a bonus.

I have boxing class this evening. The heat wave we're experiencing doesn't make a huge difference to me; I'm always hot as hell in there.

 Deload

Bench press

135 x 5

185 x 5

225 x 5

Axle clean once and press

117.5 x 3 x 10

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows

80s x 3 x 15

Banded tricep pressdowns: 3 x 15

Super-set with dumbbell preacher curls: 35 x 3 x 10

Went to a pool party over the weekend and my friend brought Impossible burger patties while I supplied the bison. I assured him his good intentions weren't in vain with me and I'd have one of this burgers, but oops, I ended up only eating my own bison burgers. Since the Impossible patties were pre-grilled they took no time getting ready so everyone else was already full by the time mine were done.

I did a 20 rep squat set with 315 on Saturday to make-up for running out of time after the 500 squat single. Followed that up with 2 sets of 315 RDLs. 

Went out and saw Coyote vs Acme after lunch and coffee. Eli and I thought it was mid. Some good jokes, though.

Later that evening, I went on an untimed 2 mile run.

The next day, I hit 20 ABCs in 5:30, followed immediately by a 5 minute round on the heavy bag. It was the perfect short but intense workout to do before going to a pool party later. George grilled Impossible patties while I supplied the bison burgers. Spoiler alert: I ended up only eating bison.

Also did some solid advancing in Champions of Norrath and Tales of the Abyss and even got in a PSO session on Saturday. 

Block press

315 x 3

335 x 1

355 x 1

375 x 1

Bench press 

275 x 8

High incline dumbbell press

80s x 10, 9, 7, 8

 

Kroc rows
125 x 32

 

Single arm preacher curls
15 x 10
35 x 10
15 x 10 

 

This workout wasn't in the program. It's just what I wanted to do after getting home from work; I was looking forward to it all day. I've been wanting to block press heavy for awhile now. Immensely pleased at how light this felt in my hands. 

 

This is the height of the block I'm benching with. 

 

 Did some grappling training in my sleep the night before last. I dreamt that someone was trying to rob my garage so I grabbed him in a rear-naked choke. We fell to the ground with me choking him for a long time until I felt pressure on my back. In the dream I thought he was using some move to break my spine so I squeezed harder until I woke-up on my stomach squeezing my pillow with my cat sitting on my back.

Considering I only took 2 weeks of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, it's pretty clutch that I can pull off a submission literally in my sleep, even if it's the easiest one to learn.

Boxing yesterday started with shadowboxing and then light sparring. Both of my partners were teens who seemed like beginners so I took it very easy to give them a chance to throw. The second kid pointed to my arms and said "Don't hurt me" with a big grin. We did rounds on the heavy bag afterwards, and then to my initial dismay, stepped outside, which usually means sprinting. I was not looking forward to that with my left knee hurting lately, but at least I was wearing my SBD sleeve.

Sprinting was fine, although whether from being out of practice or from subconsciously not firing as hard as I could, for once I wasn't at the front of the pack. Next we had to do walking lunges all the way cross the large parking lot. Not only was my knee fine but it actually felt therapeutic, and had it not been for boxing I never would have thought to do lunges with a problem knee.

Squatted 500 lbs for a single tonight and then walked away, which is the first time I've hit that in quite awhile. My left knee has been feeling iffy when I go upstairs lately. If I shift weight on it wrong it'll hurt a little and buckle. Wasn't sure if I could squat heavy, but cautiously working-up took me all the way to the goal. Didn't bother with assistance work as it was way late and I've been sleeping poorly this week already. I also felt better not pushing the knee too hard after that.

500 felt pretty light despite the fact that I felt like crap waking up today. If I wasn't gunshy about the knee I would have gone for a second rep. 

Memory is weird. I did a long (for me) run last year and I could have sworn it was 8 miles, but I recently reviewed that log entry and found out it was 6 miles. It was one of the farthest runs I've ever done and the record-keeping gamer inside me is rankled by the high score demotion, so I now have a personal goal of running 10 miles just for the claim of having done so. It's been awhile since I've gone running so I'll start with my usual 2-3 miles and work-up from there. Since I'm currently 210 and expecting to get heavier, knee sleeves for joint health will be used.

I've got some catching up to do. Across my last two lifting sessions, I bench pressed 320x2 and deadlifted a single rep of 545 (went for 585 after and couldn't break the weight off the floor). I also did two boxing sessions last week that were very standard partner combo drills and heavy bag work.

Yesterday:

Log clean and press

177.5 x 5

202.5 x 3

227.5 x 1 (PR)

Close-grip bench press

240 x 10, 10, 9

Super-set with wide-grip chin-ups

3 x 15

The 445 deadlift was more of a grind yesterday than I expected and my back was feeling it today (standard muscle soreness and not anything injurious). As a result, my log clean was poor and my biceps did a lot more of the work than usual getting the log to my chest (on the positive side, I got to skip curls because the log already took care of them). 

227.5 went up halfway from leg drive and I strict pressed to get the lockout. On a second rep attempt, which was actually a pretty strong and snappy clean, I got the weight over my head but lost balance and literally threw the log forward onto the crash pads, which was a fun fail. Went for a third just for the hell of it and this time it was one of those reps where you barely get the log to your chest and have nothing left to press with.

Not being able to deadlift 585 was disappointing, but I have so many ways forward that the biggest challenge will be settling on one.

 Yesterday evening:

Log clean and press

142.5 x 5

175 x 5

202.5 x 8 (PR)

Close-grip bench press

240 x 3 x 10

205 x 7

Chin-ups

4 x 15, 1 x 12

In uncharted territory here and making log PRs every session. To be clear, these weren't all rapid fire reps and I rest-paused a little, but still reasonable enough to be a set. It'd be interesting to start going for time.

I would have liked to do curls but it was getting late so this morning before breakfast and work I hit a 15 rep set of kettlebell double cleans and presses (basically, ABCs without the squat portion) to get some bicep work in.

Currently listening Teddy Atlas' memoir as an audiobook and it's one of the most engrossing audiobooks I've ever "read". Just got to the part where he met Mike Tyson.

Squats
340 x 5
395 x 5
445 x 5
315 x 20

Reverse-hyper single leg curls
270 x 30

First weak-feeling day in awhile. I had actually set-up the evening before but saved this for the next day since my left knee was bugging me from standing still at work for a period of time in the morning while engrossed with something at my standing desk. Knee felt better after a night's rest, but only slept for 5 hours before I couldn't go back to sleep. Come gym time, I was tired and let out a big yawn just before the top-set while I was trying to excite myself. 445 felt incredibly heavy and I did the minimum 5. A good showing of "bad day strength".

I started to feel a little bit better later in the day. I planned to do some home boxing but ended up having to deal with a plumbing situation with our dishwasher leaking. Turned out to be the best-case scenario and it was just the P-trap coming loose so it cost $3 to get a replacement washer and tighten the pipes. But diagnosing it and researching dishwasher leaks ate into my evening time. I managed to get in a 5 minute round on the bag, which still felt awesome.

The leak turned out to be a blessing in disguise. When I went to Home Depot I randomly stumbled across some gym flooring and decided to ritz up my patio gym with them. Definitely going back for more. I still have plans to extend that indoors, but for now the free space is remaining as a memorial to my dad with his old desk still around so my siblings can visit and sit there.

 Bench press

225 x 5

255 x 5

290 x 6

Axle clean once and strict press

142.5 x 4 x 10

Super-set with  lying dumbbell rows

115s x 4 x 10

Dumbbell curls

50s x 10, 10

Super-set with lateral raises

15s x 10, 10 

Steady 5 lb gain on bench press every month, but notably, these 6 reps felt much stronger than 285 x 6 last go around. Last rep wasn't a total grind this time. My shoulders and connective tissue have just been feeling much better under the bar lately, too.

I really like the strategy of pairing different assistance work from the main lift. It has me benching and pressing overhead twice a week but with more variety per session and my joints feel better that way.

 Deadlifts

Work-up to 550 x 1

Sandbag squats

200 x 20

I missed the first few attempts at 550 but after tightening my belt, which was feeling loose, I had the mental confidence to fully commit and pull a strong rep. I thought about putting 575 on the bar but since it's been several months since I've pulled over 500 and I forgot that bumper plates quickly take up all the barbell space, I didn't feel like unloading and reloading that many plates after I'd already hit my goal.

Later in the evening I went on a 2-mile run.

 Log clean and press
167.5 x 3
187.5 x 3
212.5 x 5 (PR)
Last set super-set with 15 chin-ups 

Close-grip bench press
235 x 4 x 10
Super-set with chin-ups: 4 x 15

Band pressdowns: 20

Axle curls: 40 x 50

Pretty significant PR. The 5 reps went up far stronger than last month's PR of 207.5 x 4 and none of them were a grind; the weight just kept shooting up overhead.

Boxing was another good class on Wednesday. Didn't do sparring but did the shoulder touching drill, which I always find fun. Did partner combos the rest of the class based on what the coach calls out. Afterwards the coach gave me a fist bump and said it was good to see me, as it's been awhile since I've been here on Wednesday.

It's been a wild time since Thursday morning. At about 5:30 AM I woke to my cat messing around by my head and trying to get at the window. This was unusual because he’s on my sleep schedule and usually sleeps through the night until my alarm goes off. When I picked him up to to take him outside of the room, he immediately started writhing around in my hands, which is even more unusual because he always goes limp when I pick him up before settling in my arms as a perch. As soon as I set him down outside the room, he sprinted back in before I could close the door. Finally, when I closed the door fast enough to keep him out, he started yowling loudly from behind the door, which is completely unprecedented, and that’s when I realized something is in the room he’s fixated on.

That something turned out to be a bat that slipped in through a gap in the window screen. The cat ended up chasing the bat out of the room and I found it flying in circles in the kitchen. I quickly emptied the last remnants of a protein tub and managed to catch it after it stopped to rest.

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Animal control picked up when I rang them and said an officer would be out later to pick it up if I leave it outside, which led to this funny scene of a live bat trapped in a jar of protein left out on my porch.

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In my haste to get through all of this and make it to work, I realized I hadn’t even marked that there was a live bat inside. I joked that any porch pirates were going to get a nasty surprise… And then realized shit, that WOULD be really effing bad if the bat has rabies and we couldn’t test for it, which is the whole point of trapping it and not just releasing it outside. Luckily at around 3 PM an officer left a message on my phone that he was at my property and he wasn’t sure if the bat was in the protein case because dispatch hadn’t left detailed instructions: “I see a creatine or protein container and don’t want to steal your delivery by accident.” We got it cleared up and he ended up taking it for testing.

The next day we got the very good news that it was negative for rabies. The officer still wanted to meet with me on Saturday to fill out paperwork. Meeting him in person, I found him to be a very nice guy but holy shit, the process is wack! I ended up having to pay $130 for the county’s services, which one would assume is what tax dollars are for and and is a great way to encourage people NOT to undergo the proper process and report rabies exposure incidents. Throughout this whole conversation, the cat in question came next to me and the officer and sat down as if he was part of the meeting and he totally charmed the guy.

At least I got an interesting story out of it. The officer also mentioned that the bat was completely covered in protein dust when they took it out.

Also, kudos to my cat, who would not give up. If he hadn’t woken me up, I’d have been sound asleep with a possibly-rabid bat messing around in my bedroom. But what’s shitty is I found out they were on the verge of taking my cat away to quarantine him and “decided” not to, which is infuriating. How is that a decision after the test came back negative? The officer was real nice personally, but the process left a very bad taste in my mouth

 Squats

365 x 3

420 x 3

470 x 4

Strip-sets of 405x5, 315x8, 225x8

Reverse-hyper leg curls

270 x 30

Came into the gym feeling like crap (tired with a headache) and told myself I'd set-up, warm-up, and if I bailed after that then I really needed it. I was dragging during warm-ups and working-up to the 300s, but by 365 I got a burst of energy and sailed through the actual workout.

 Boxing was a big class yesterday. I notice that class size swells when the weather gets a little cooler. 

Although I don't log the 3 rounds of jumping rope every single class, I have to mention something really interesting. My back has grown from doing more strongman training this year while I've gained weight, and as a result my arms are further out from my sides. This is making me miss more from the rope not clearing my feet. I can easily adjust the handles to give me more rope to skip with, but it's an awesome problem to encounter.

We dove right into light sparring next. I had just watched a video of Dmitry Bivol so I practiced circling constantly while keeping distance control via a constant jab and an outstretched arm. This seemed to flummox people and they'd block the first jab or two only to get caught when another one landed. I'm also getting proficient at tracking people side-stepping or pivoting to my left and having them run into my left hook. And I threw more bodyshots this time because I noticed that I was headhunting last week. 

Rest of the class were partner combos. I partnered with a friend who's on the master's boxing team and he likes to drill hard and fast, which is great. My conditioning was getting tested during these drills, although I didn't gas out.

In work news, we hired a new driver so I will not be running deliveries except on Fridays. I'm back to being a desk jockey.

Bench press

240 x 3

275 x 3

305 x 4

240 x 13

Axle press (clean once to get in position)

140 x 10, 10, 10, 8

Kroc rows

125 x 30

Axle curls

40 x 30

I would have been fine with 3 reps of 305 given that I did an upper-body workout the day before yesterday and have been doing a lot of lifting at work, but 4 reps came strong.

I've been continuing to run the delivery routes at work in lieu of our normal driver, who's on medical leave, and it's eaten into my normal downtime at the office to write log updates. I see this as a positive: it spurs me to write during and after the workouts, which I'd fallen off from doing. We are interviewing for new drivers this week so this is a temporary gig, but I've been enjoying the screen break. 

On Friday I delivered protein shakes to an old-school bodybuilding gym about 2 hours away in Santa Rosa complete with framed pictures of Dorian Yates, Ronnie Coleman, Arnold, Mike Mentzer, and others on the wall. I offered a compliment about the gym to the lady at the front desk and she told me a bunch of their lifters just did a local bodybuilding show. I told her I'll come take advantage of their day pass next time I'm in the area.

I've been delivering to Gold's Gyms and they have pictures of Arnold and Franco on a mosaic of the front wall of every gym, which has been cool to encounter while working, but it's not quite the same: it looks corporate and samey. Still dope, but something about seeing framed pictures someone actually took the time to hang on a gym wall really appeals to me.

I've got boxing later in the evening today. Looking forward to the light Monday sparring.

Found my last log workout from Thursday in the Drafts section of my writing app without it being uploaded. It was a good workout, so here it is.

Log clean and press
177.5 x 5
197.5 x 3
217.5 x 3 (PR)

Weighted dips
80 x 3 x 10

Weighted decline push-ups
80 x 8, 7, 6

Kroc rows
125 x 30

Got to shadowbox spar or make spar with light contact in boxing on Monday across 3 rounds with 3 different people, the second partner being a complete beginner whom my gloves barely touched while the first and third were skilled and we let ourselves make contact. Blocked a few bodyshots with my lead elbow, which is always satisfying. My defense and in-fighting feels worlds better than last year, but it will take hard sparring to really test that. Rest of the class was standard partner combo drills, with footwork drills on the floor ladders and then some medicine ball work at the end.

Tuesday deload workout:

Bench press

135 x 5

185 x 5

225 x 5

Close-grip bench press

205 x 3x 8

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows

80s x 3 x 15

Reverse hyper

270 x 2 x 15

Carter curls

35s x 3 x 10