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.

Sparring on Thursday was undeniably a fun one, but a bit frustrating in that I once again started out too nice. I’ve sparred this guy before and he tends to go VERY light, to the point that I had to recalibrate my power because I’d just got done doing hard rounds with someone else. This time, it started out that way but he soon switched to harder shots that caught me by surprise. A few times my defense fell apart when he flurried as I fell back into that dumb habit of trying to parry multiple punches, but because his guard was always low, I caught him with a lot of jabs, crosses, and hooks as he was rushing in. We both ate a lot of shots to deliver our own.

My corner coach was the uncle of my previous Muay Thai coach so that was awesome. He advised between rounds to get low and dig to the body because his elbows tend to flare out. I ended up catching him with some hard body shots at the start of round 3. After taking a few of these he surged forward aggressively, some of which I blocked and others that I ate, but he slowed down a lot after this. I heard his corner coach yell out that the round is almost over and to make things count, but he didn’t really come alive after that early round flurry while I ended by peppering him with 1-2s.

My cardio held up awesome. Didn’t get tired and wanted to go more rounds. 

21 ABCs with 50 lb kettlebells in 6:03

5 minute heavy bag round

5 minutes of burpee chins

5 minute heavy bag round

Improved my time and added a rep on the ABCs. First go was 11 reps unbroken. Left shoulder feels better and I experienced no pain while pressing or hitting the bag.

Burpee chins have been excellent for gently decompressing my back. It was feeling great throughout the day, but sleep made it feel stiff again. Pain in my right side has diminished, at least. I've opted not to back squat until after sparring on Thursday - can't risk my back getting worse, and it's been feeling better overall from the break.

On Sunday I received a text from the sparring coach inviting me to spar one of his fighters on Thursday, so that just about made my day after going to sign-up for classes and seeing the announcement that there will again be no sparring on Tuesday.

Sunday after the press workout: 3 rounds, 3 minutes each of shadowboxing, using VR boxing sim Thrill of the Fight

4 hill sprints followed by a 15 minute jog afterwards.

Noticed my left shoulder was feeling a little achy.

Monday morning: 5 minute round of jump-rope

Evening: 8 minute jump-rope round

3.4 mile jog in 36:22

Tuesday morning: another 5 minute round of skipping rope before work. This is pretty much a daily ritual except on squat days.

Been enjoying mixing in the VR headset for training sometimes. It's like enhanced shadowboxing. 

Got set-up to deadlift on Saturday, but I worked up to 495 and called it a day after 2 reps. Every rep felt like a slow grind and I had a headache from poor sleep. I'm pleased that I didn't have any failed rep attempts, which used to plague me.

My brother was visiting from Seattle so I took him out to dinner with my girlfriend at our favorite local Italian spot. When I ordered the lobster fettuccine I was NOT expecting an entire lobster dwarfing the not-small pasta portion, so that was an awesome surprise when my plate arrived dwarfing everything else on the table.

On Sunday I hit a press workout:

Overhead press
150 x 5
170 x 3
190 x 3
140 x 3 x 10

Super-set with weighted chin-ups:
15 x 10
30 x 2 x 10

Keg curls
150 x 25

Kept the volume manageable, as I want to hit ABCs on Tuesday.

Boxing was a good technical session yesterday. Rotated through partners 3 times so got a good mix of people to work with. Simple combos were practiced while taking turns throwing, but my first partner was the big fella I spar so practicing my sense of distance with him was helpful.

Something I'm experiencing more in boxing than I did in Muay Thai was entering the mindless state where my body moves on its own without thinking. My accuracy with kicks was never great so I'd overthink things in Muay Thai, but in boxing I can just flow. Really experienced that with these partner combos, need to channel that in sparring. I still practice kicks and knees on the heavy bag at home, by the way; don't want to lose my technique on them.

I think if I deadlifted heavy today, my back will pay for it tomorrow. I will do some manner of lower-body training, but probably not heavy deads. Belt squats and leg curls are what I'm thinking. 

 20 ABCs with 50 lb kettlebells in 6:38

5 minutes of burpee chins

5 minute round on the heavy bag

Did 10 ABCs without a rest pause, followed by 5, 3, then 2. Wasn't pushing the reps or pace because of my back, which held up but has been in more pain on the lower right-side than usual lately. Burpee chins felt very  tonic for my back and I woke-up the next day feeling good, while yesterday there was morning pain.

Remembered this time to actually do 3 squats instead of just 2.

Sunday:

Overhead press

140 x 3

160 x 3

180 x 5

Last set super-set with 10 chin-ups

137.5 x 10, 10, 10, 10, 9

Super-set with weighted chin-ups

30 x 5 x 10

Giant sets

Dips: 2 x 10

Keg curls: 150 x 20, 15

Lateral raises: 15 x 15, 10

Steady progress with every session. Calorie intake is up, but carbs are low in the morning at work and late at night. I'm due for a weigh-in one of these mornings. Feels like I'm around 200 lbs.

Yesterday: 3.20 mile jog in 37.50. This morning was another 5 minute jump-rope round followed by 60 crunches.

Since last week I've been playing only Itagaki games to commemorate him in light of his recent passing. Dead or Alive 3 still kicks ass and I think I'm going to stick with Ninja Gaiden Black as the version for my playthrough. Found out the Switch version of Sigma is based on the Vita version and has downgraded graphics.

Squats

340 x 3

390 x 3

440 x 3

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

Reverse hyper single leg curls

4 plates x 20, 20

Good workout, feeling stronger. Had more reps of 440 in me but my back hasn't been feeling hot and heavy back squats even being doable was a question in my mind, but I'm feeling no worse for wear afterwards.

Went on a 1.5 mile jog Tuesday evening on top of my daily 5 min jump-rope round in the morning. Yesterday evening:

Bench press

215 x 5

247.5 x 5

280 x 6

Low incline bench press

205 x 10, 10, 8, 7, 7

Super-set with lying bilateral dumbbell rows

115s x 5 x 8

Giant sets:

Dumbbell incline skullcrushers: 50s x 6, 35s x 9

Dumbbell incline chest flyes: 50s x 8, 35s x 9

Dumbbell curls: 50s x 10, 10

Notable gains on bench. Creeping toward 5 sets of 10 on the incline. Forgot how much harder dumbbell rows are when performed bilaterally.

I will always love training this way, just concentrating on one region for an hour and hammering it to the point where it's hard to hold my arms up with light dumbbells by the end, roleplaying a bodybuilder while I picture Arnold or Dorian in my mind. Lonnie Lowery once shared the same sentiment on an Iron Radio podcast, how having a body-part theme each session is what really captivates his interest. 

 Deadlifts

405 x 5

455 x 5

515 x 0, 5

Bulgarian split-squats

80s x 8, 9, 9

The next morning before work:

5 minute jump-rope round

55 crunches

First attempt at 515 didn't break the bar off the ground. Went outside to meditate for a few minutes, came back, and crushed it after remembering to start with leg drive before the hinge.

Weekend was a couple of days of good food. Went to my sister's birthday dinner on Friday and had a turf and surf dinner at a Japanese restaurant. On Saturday I ended up having an unplanned date night where we saw the new Tron and then spontaneously hit up an old-school Italian restaurant next door for beef ravioli and pizza.

 Wednesday:

Overhead press

135 x 5

155 x 5

170 x 6

135 x 10

145 x 2 x 10

Last 4 sets super-set with chin-ups

Bw x 10

35 x 3 x 10

Keg curls

150 x 22

Thursday:

20 ABCs with 50 lb kettlebells in 5:36

5 minutes of burpee chin-ups

My schedule has been nutty this week. George had his car break down so he asked if I could drive him to a night class after work on Wednesday. When I got home an hour and a half later than normal due to traffic I scarfed down two Costco pizza slices and then hit the press workout 20 minutes later but felt like crap. Nausea came from the obvious source, but I also had a headache and felt sluggish and weak. Still, since my weight is on an upward trend I performed well with a top-set roughly equivalent to 165x7 last month but there was not enough time or gas for BBB, so I upped the weight to 145 and lowered the assistance press work to 3 sets.

Thursday was an errand evening with some time-sensitive things to take care of and I was all too happy to embrace an ABC workout with such limited time. Ever since I once heard Dan John describe ABCs on his podcast as being 2 squats I've been mixing up in my head what the original prescription was, so I did 2 squats up until rep 12 (which was the first rest-pause). Did a quick YouTube check at that point and reps 13-20 were 3 squats as intended. Usually, the press portion is not the tough part of ABCs but after boxing on Tuesday (mostly the heavy bag rounds after sparring) followed by a press workout on Wednesday, my shoulders felt more tired than usual and I actually had to grind out one rep with my left arm near the end. 

Have also been bringing back rope-skipping in the morning before work, as it increases my appetite for my pre-work eggs. Did a 3 minute round yesterday and a 5 minute round this morning, with crunches following both. 

Got a birthday dinner for Attossa 2 hours away in Berkeley to attend this evening after work. Saturday should be the start of a less hectic schedule.

Before sparring yesterday, I did something I've never done before and told my partner "I'd like to keep it technical if you don't mind." He agreed, and when we got to talking, we both had injuries we were recovering from - back for me, knee for him. He's the biggest guy at the gym and usually hits very hard. I got messed up the first time we went at it (had pain swallowing for a week from getting uppercut) and had much more success trading with him the time after, to the point where he got gassed and I was landing overhand rights in succession, but I really wanted to focus on practicing this time around instead of blasting each other. 

We ended up going TOO light for my liking, with him barely tapping me. I haven't sparred light in a long time and he's my only sparring partner with a longer reach, so I fell back into my old problem of not fully extending my punches in an effort to not hit hard and almost everything fell short while he kept touching me. He did a good job of maintaining distance while I chased him when usually I'm the one outfighting with the vast majority of people.

My cornerman told me stop twisting my head to slip, and to block with a higher guard instead. I've been told by another coach not to hold my hands up so high when I was employing a high guard against this guy, and in truth, this time I'd been watching some Canelo fights recently and had the way he leans back in my mind. I need to employ a better balance of blocking and dodging instead of getting stuck in one or another.

It was frustrating to leave the ring feeling like I did poorly but without the satisfaction of being tired like during hard sparring, so I was left wanting more rounds. Stuck around and worked the heavy bag afterwards in the hopes that the coach might call me up again, but no dice. They allow just enough sign-ups to fill the hour.

Good learning experience, all things considered. Came home and then did 4 hill sprints followed by a cooldown jog.

Squats

317.5 x 5

365 x 5

415 x 5

Called it a night there. I have sparring today and couldn't risk my back pain regressing to what it was last week, nor do I want to get sore from doing drop-sets.

Felt light. Night and day difference from the last several weeks of squatting now that I've gotten a little bigger. Much more stable during the walkout and descent. I look forward to pushing myself on the reps next time. My abs are blurrier but waist is still trim, and though this isn't consistent with my usual pre-breakfast morning weigh-in, the scale read 200 lbs the other day.

I had a good night of sleep up until 5am. I've been closing my bedroom door due to my sister and her dogs visiting to keep out the noise, so my cat ended up peeing in my bed. 100% my fault, as he had no way of going out to do his business and I was naive just because he usually sleeps through the night with me and goes pee in the morning. After putting out the soiled sheets and flipping my mattress over, I managed to get another 30 minutes of sleep before my alarm, but I woke-up with a bit of a headache. Not great circumstances on sparring day, but it won't hold me back. And if piss and vinegar make for aggressive energy, I've already got the piss part taken care of.

Bench press

205 x 5

235 x 5

265 x 8

Low incline bench press

205 x 9, 8, 7, 8, 7

Super-set with bent-over dumbell rows 

115 x 5 x 10

Incline dumbbell skullcrushers 

50s x 6

35s x 8

Super-set with dumbbell curls

50s x 8, 8

7 minute cooldown jog

Shoulders and chest were a little sore from an intense boxing session yesterday evening (nothing too technical to review, just a lot of calisthenics like push-ups and dragon walks hitting the heavy bag), but still made gains compared to last cycle thanks to eating more food.

Went to a favorite breakfast spot with my girlfriend and had a chorizo omelet with black coffee before training.

 Got a 3-day streak to record here. I started my deload on Friday, nixing the planned deadlift session because my back wasn't feeling too hot. The next day, it was feeling better so I gave myself permission to hit things out of order and do deadlifts.

Friday deload:

Bench press

135 x 5

155 x 5

185 x 5

Incline dumbbell press

80s x 4 x 10

Super-set with seated reverse hyper rows: 6 plates x 3 x 10

Keg curls

150 x 20

Saturday:

Deadlifts

445 x 5

505 x 3

565 x 1

Dumbbell split-squats

80s x 3 x 8

Felt strong. Most I've deadlifted in quite awhile.

Sunday:

3.02 mile run in 29:28. The first mile was 7:23, a significant improvement over the 8 minutes I've been averaging for a decade now. Quads started to cramp due to the split-squats I'd done yesterday but never progressed to the point of being debilitating.

My sister is visiting from out of town and brought her 2 dogs over. They started barking and growling at my cat so she's keeping them in a separated room, but I plan on taking them out for a walk when I get home from work and trying to gradually introduce them to one another. My cat is a gangster; rather than run away, he followed them upstairs with his tail puffed out because he was so curious and wasn't intimidated by their antics.

Overhead press

145 x 5

165 x 3

185 x 3

135 x 9, 10, 10, 10, 10

Super-set with weighted chin-ups: 30 x 5 x 10

Dips: 3 x 10

Super-set with alternating dumbbell curls: 35s x 20, 16, 18

Seeing some gains. Also looking bigger lately. Had someone comment on my arms being larger at boxing.

This morning, right after waking-up and before work, I did 10 ABCs with 50 lb kettlebells. Nonstop round, so no rest pauses. 

Got a decent amount of walking done at Great America on Saturday. Ice cream at Petals Creamery afterwards was a sugar bomb, but so worth it.

Squats (low bar)

360 x 5

405 x 3

450 x 1

(High bar) Drop-down to 405x2, 365x3, 315x8, 225x8, 135x8

Reverse-hyper leg curls

6 plates x 3 x 12

Continuing to climb back up. It's been interesting getting the hang of back squats again after spending most of this year front squatting. The weight has been feeling heavy, but as I squat out of the hole I realize the strength is definitely there to stand back up and it's not so heavy after all. I'm squatting slower than I used to, like Dave Tate's human crane analogy when talking about "strong" lifters vs "explosive" lifters.

Boxing Wednesday was a great workout. Majority of the class was drilling various partner combos with one person attacking and the other defending the whole round rather than trading off every combo. Ended with some light dumbbell work that torched the shoulders.

Thursday was a bench workout that I feel was impacted by the shoulder-intense dumbbell exercises from the day before, but my training maxes are light enough to more than account for that.

Bench press

230 x 5

260 x 5

290 x 3

Low incline bench

205 x 4 x 8

Super-set with dumbbell rows: 115s x 3 x 8, 1x10

Overhead tricep extensions

35s x 2 x 11, 9

Super-set with keg curls: 150 x 2 x 12

Sandbag carry: 200 lbs x 1 minute

Inner elbows are feeling tender but no real pain yet, if that makes sense. I'll approach barbell squats cautiously this week and switch to the curved Yukon bar if warm-ups don't feel good.

About an hour after this workout concluded, I noticed the right side of my back was hurting and it ended up getting worse in my sleep going into the next day, although it's not that bad and I'll still be able to make it to boxing today after work. I believe I wasn't bracing properly when carrying the sandbag. I was a bit tired at that point and it's been a minute since I've done sandbag carries. Lesson (re)learned, just glad I'm still mobile.

 At long last, got to spar yesterday. Up until my turn, everyone was paired with one other person, but I got called to the ring with 2 other opponents to rotate in and out with. Coach announced us as the "main event", which I got a kick out of.

I started out going 2 rounds against someone I've sparred with before. He's big and starts hot, but tends to slow down as time progresses. Right away I was landing jabs, but had some distancing trouble getting my right to land solidly. About 40 seconds in his groin guard came undone and I had to wait for his coach to reapply it. When we resumed, my right hand started landing a lot more, and I began to dig in a lot of body shots, more than I've ever landed in sparring. I felt him grunt when I landed a straight right to his stomach.

One left hook that he landed hit the back of my head and almost spun me around from throwing me off-balance but I managed to stop myself and using the momentum immediately recoiled with a rebounding straight right.

After round 2 was over, the coach announced I'm going to do 4 rounds instead of the usual 3 and he had the other boxer tag-in to face me. That felt really cool to get special treatment.

The second opponent for rounds 3 and 4 was a jacked dude who hit hard but was fairly slow. I immediately noticed that he wasn't going as hard as the first guy so I eased up on the power of my head shots, but still threw hard to the body. He did the same and while I don't recall him landing a single clean punch to my face, he landed some powerful body shots. Unfortunately, equipment malfunction plagued him too and twice we had to stop so he could have his coach reclasp his headgear.

Pros and cons of my performance:

+ Landed more body shots than ever.

+ Defense was the best it's ever been. Blocked numerous head and body shots. Didn't fall into the old rookie trap of trying to parry everything to the point that I end up reaching OUT to try and catch punches, leaving my defense a mess and tiring me out. 

+ Managed to balance aggression with staying relaxed.

- Feet are too jumpy sometimes, throwing me off balance.

- Left hook still falls short a lot of the time.

- Should have initiated in-fighting more for practice when I go up against the tall dude who wasn't here this time.

Deadlifts
415 x 3
475 x 3
535 x 3

Zero'd 530 the last 2 times I tried so I was very pleased to get this so easily.

Had to head out to Costco before they closed so I called it a night here, and then this morning I hit 15 ABCs with the 50 lb kettlebells.  My elbows have been feeling a little raw lately and my back was sore, but they didn't cause any pain.

I figured out what's been causing pain in my left forearm: leaning for long periods of time on my standing desk at work. Glad to have identified that.

 Overhead press

135 x 5

145 x 5

165 x 7

135 x 4 x 10

Super-set with neutral-grip chin-ups

Bw x 10

30 x 3 x 10

Banded tricep pressdowns: 2 x 20

Dumbbell curls: 35s x 2 x 20

Since I only hit 175x4 last week, falling short of 5 reps, I opted to make that session the 3 week and this session my 5. So for overhead press, it'll be a 3/5/1 this cycle.

Felt stronger across the board in this session and 135x4x10 was a marked improvement from last time.

Got a new phone and used the new camera to take a few shots mid-session.

Also wanted to add that my computer ate up an entry I was typing about going on a 2 mile run the other night. First mile was 8:06.

 Did a 5 minute shadowboxing round with the oxygen restriction mask. Halfway into the round, I grabbed a pair of 3 lb dumbbells to box with them. Following this were 2 rounds of 5 minutes on the heavy bag. Went on a nice, long evening walk with my girlfriend afterwards to grab a slice of pizza. Before leaving, I ate 3 eggs in bone broth and a charcuterie plate of salami and olives so I wouldn't be hungry enough to want more than 1 pizza slice. Just an example of how I'm controlling carbs even while gaining weight these days. 

I figured out what has been causing my right forearm to badly hurt: leaning on my standing desk at work. It hasn't actually hurt while doing it, but the other day when I changed position I felt the same pain intensified and it all clicked. On the other hand, my bicep pain is gone when I do curls, although I have not tested it with power cleans this week, which has been a bigger pain trigger.

Saturday:

Bench press
215 x 3
245 x 3
275 x 5

Low incline bench press
185 x 8
205 x 3 x 8
Super-set with bent-over dumbbell rows: 115 x 4 x 8

Overhead tricep extensions: 35s x 2 x 8
Super-set with alternating dumbbell curls: 35s x 2 x 20

---

Sunday

Squats (low bar)
315 x 3
385 x 3
430 x 4
Drop-down to 365x8, 315x8, 225x8 (high bar)

Romanian deadlifts
315 x 2 x 8

Reverse-hyper single leg curls
6 plates x 20

Getting used to heavier weight again for both the bench press and the squat.

 Had an excellent 2 days of boxing. On Wednesday we partnered up and worked on body shots, followed by shadowboxing with dumbbells. During stretches at the end of class, coach looked over at me and asked "Have you always been flexible" because I was touching my toes.

Thursday was a real grinder. We did calisthenics and dumbbell exercises for most of the class and he frequently announced that he's not starting the timer until everyone has started after many of us were already going. During the bit where we partnered up, it was nonstop reps of the same combo on the shield. After my first turn, my partner said "Nice, those muscles are functional!" We ended by throwing as many jabs at the shield as possible over the course of a round with our partner counting. He remarked that I got around 200.

I was planning to bench today after work but yesterday's class had a lot of grinding push-up reps and taking the 3 lb dumbbells to near failure. I'm thinking I'll do my roadwork instead and lift tomorrow.

 Saturday was largely a rest day at Capitola, but I did get in some great ocean swimming on an unusually waveless day. I swam out an appreciable distance (well past the point of losing ground contact) and it ended up being about a 10 minute swim. Since I tend to sink like a stone and have to power through the water to stay afloat, it was a good workout. Got a lot of walking in before heading home.

Sunday:

Overhead press

135 x 5

155 x 5

175 x 4 + 3

135 x 8, 8, 10, 8

Neutral grip chin-ups 

Bw x 10

15 x 10

30 x 10, 10, 10

Band pressdowns: 3 x 10

Super-set with keg curls: 3 x 10

Monday:

Deadlifts

375 x 5

445 x 5

505 x 6

Kettlebell split squats: 50s x 3 x 10

Super-set with reverse hyper single-leg curls: 8 plates x 3 x 10

The 6th rep of 505 came after a rest-pause and was a hard-fought rep. Felt amazing to hit.

On the other hand, my press performance was weaker than expected but it was my first time overhead pressing the Texas bar rather than the axle in awhile and I seemed to find my groove with it in the later sets of 135 by bringing in my elbows and feeling greater tricep activation.

Later on Monday evening, went on a 39:51 jog over 3.28 miles with Elizabeth. 

Also played a lot of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and was surprised to find that I'm already at chapter 9, near the end of the game. Since I trained hard the past 2 days, I'm making today a rest day and am looking forward to digging into the endgame with an edible when I get home from work. Just 45 more minutes...

Morning:

5 minutes of skipping rope with some high knee intervals

50 kettlebell swings with 50 lb bell

30 crunches

10 reverse crunches

Evening:

20 ABCs with 50 lb kettlebells (first 10 unbroken + 5 + 5)

5 minutes of burpee chins

So glad I did ABCs instead of a regular workout. Saved me a ton of time, made me out of breath, and proved that my bicep and elbows are healthy enough to handle ballistic swings of the bells. I found that really focusing on shrugging up the cleans spared a lot of strain on my elbows. Had a huge arm pump afterwards.

If I remain pain-free, I want to bring back ABCs at least once a week. They're great conditioning for boxing. Did not time them since just performing the movement was up in the air, but will next time.

Monday:

Bench press

190 x 5

230 x 5

260 x 7

One-arm overhead dumbbell press: 80 x 3 x 8

Super-set with T-bar rows: 4 plates x 3 x 10

Weighted push-ups

105 x 8

Dumbbell hammer curls

35s x 10

Keg curls

150 x 10

Left a rep in the tank with 260. Felt strong despite not straight bar benching in awhile. Shoulder pain has subsided.

Weight on the scale has not changed despite the calorie increase. Still 193.6 on an empty stomach.

Tuesday: 3 mile run in 32 minutes. Alternated between a slow jog, a moderate run, and a faster run.

Squats

405 x 5

315 x 15 (high bar)

Romanian deadlifts

315 x 2 x 8

Barbell shrugs

315 x 3 x 8

Reverse-hyper single leg curls

6 plates x 2 x 15

Getting used to heavy squats again. Weight felt very light when squatting up thanks to all those heavy belt squats I've been doing; it was controlling the descent that felt predictably rusty. Felt good to really blast my legs again, though.

As mentioned before, my body has been feeling beat-up so I'm shifting my iron goals back to powerlifting for the time being. Out of necessity I had already been winding things down by gradually doing away with log lifts, cleans, and most recently sandbag loading and carries. I'll still do loaded carries once my upper-back is 100%, which feels like today. Being able to do cleans without bicep pain will take more time, but when I'm able to, I'd love to position those ahead of deadlifts once again. 

My left forearm is feeling pain now, but only on particular movements. On Saturday, I went on a short jog near an outdoor gym that has battle ropes, and as soon as I whipped the ropes my forearm seared with pain. The other incident was double overhanding 315 for RDLs; forearm couldn't handle that. 

These 7 months of strongman training were invaluable. My shoulders and traps were more filled out than usual at this weight and I've learned a ton about being better at log pressing and platform loading. I'll have a solid foundation to return to when I can. In the meantime, I'm looking around for powerlifting meets in my area.

Shifting gears here, I eagerly opened up my boxing sign-up email to register for sparring only to again read that there is no sparring this week without further explanation. It's been really challenging to find opportunities to spar. I'm planning on talking to the sparring coach about his master's team, which I understand is on a different sparring schedule from the regular classes.

Giant sets:

Swiss bar bench press: 235 x 3 x 8

Lying dumbbell rows: 80s x 10, 12, 12

Belt squats: 8 plates x 10, 12, 15

Seated Arnold press

80s x 4 -> drop-down to 50s x 8

80s x 6

50s x 10

Super-set with reverse-hyper single leg curls: 2 plates x 2 x 15

Hammer curls

35s x 3 x 10

Already feeling a little stronger on the bench press from slightly upping my calories before training, but was too tired to do full sets of 8 overhead pressing the 80 lb dumbbells afterwards.

Curling 35 lbs was a victory. No pain. This amount inflamed my bicep tendon last time to the point I could barely move my arm the next day.

My left lat area has been injured since last week with varying degrees of regression and improvement. Another item in a long list of recent small injuries, but I'm glad it's muscle rather than disc, joint, or tendon. Quality of life is much better than a low back injury, but still experiencing difficulties bending down or finding the right sleeping position.

Right bicep has been feeling pain-free; it's only when I test it by doing known pain triggers like axle cleans that I feel anything.

Went to boxing on Monday. New coach for me, as I never come on this day. Young guy, very good session. We did shadowbox sparring with rotating partners, bagwork, and medicine ball training. The end was lame, though. The coach's friend joined him as an assistant coach near the end and he shouted at a kid who was slacking on the exercises, who grinned. After a moment, he then hurled something at the kid as a joke, who then doubled over in pain. It looked like it hit his groin. They both went over to comfort him. Seemed like they all knew each other, but it was a total distraction and ruined the disciplined vibe of the class. It reminded me of me and my friends in high school.

My left lat area has been injured since last week with varying degrees of regression and improvement. Another item in a long list of recent small injuries, but I’m glad it’s muscle rather than disc, joint, or tendon. Quality of life is much better than a low back injury, but still experiencing difficulties bending down or finding the right sleeping position.

Right bicep has been feeling pain-free; it’s only when I test it by doing known pain triggers like axle cleans that I feel anything.

Went to boxing on Monday. New coach for me, as I never come on this day. Young guy, mostly a good session. We did shadowbox sparring with rotating partners, bagwork, and medicine ball training. The end was lame, though. The coach’s friend joined him as an assistant coach near the end and he shouted at a kid who was slacking on the exercises, who grinned. After a moment, he then hurled something at the kid as a joke, who then silently doubled over in pain and stayed like that for the remainder of the class. It looked like it hit his groin. They both went over to comfort him. Seemed like they all knew each other, but it was a total distraction and ruined the disciplined vibe of the class. It felt like I was in high school again.

Power clean test
110 x 3
160 x 1

Deadlifts
410 x 0, 3
470 x 3
525 x 0, 0

Romanian deadlifts
315 x 3 x 8 + 8 shrugs after each set

Sandbag squats
200 x 2 x 10

Power cleans were done to test how my bicep felt. It hurt while doing 160.

Deadlifts had some misses due to a mental block. I've had a lot of little back tweaks lately and have been slacking on hamstring work so they kept involuntarily getting shutdown before the bar broke off the floor. When the bar moved, it moved well; 470 felt light. I'll have to build my confidence up again with some posterior chain base building.

High incline dumbbell press

80s x 5 x 8

Super-set with NG chin-ups 

Bw x 10

15 x 8

30 x 3 x 8

Giant set:

Heavy band chest flyes: 3 x 15

Overhead skullcrushers: 35s x 3 x 8

Kettlebell preacher curls: 50 x 8, 10, 12

Upper-back got wrenched while carrying a load of Costco groceries after it was already feeling iffy before, so I did this bodybuilding workout, which was fun as hell and super restorative. After a rough night of painful sleep I'm feeling loads better.

I'm slowly going to ramp up the calories and enter a gaining phase with quality calories and a more modest amount of carbs than years past.

Yukon bar squats

320 x 15

Super-set with kettlebell pull-overs: 30 x 20

Swiss bar bench press

235 x 8, 7, 7

Super-set with bent-over dumbbell rows: 115 x 3 x 8

Kettlebell curls

15s x 50

1 rep improvement on the back squats. My back held up, which was a win considering how many little tweaks it's gone through the past couple of weeks. Still doing high rep curls for bicep rehab. Bicep has been feeling better.

Did a 5 minute jump-rope round this morning, 55 push-ups, and 60 crunches before work.  

Home boxing workout:

3 minute shadowboxing round

3 rounds on the heavy bag, 5 minutes each. Greater emphasis on in-fighting.

Wore headgear and mouthguard for all rounds.

Went on an hour walk with Elizabeth to go and get Pizza My Heart afterwards. I was ravenous by the time we got there and it was delicious, but crazy expensive now. 4 slices for $27.

Ran out of eggs and bone broth. I am prepared. There's a huge chuck roast in the freeze that I thawed out and cut into steaks. Had some for breakfast and during my work lunch. Probably a good thing to cut down on store bought broth honestly. I've been thinking about all the extra microplastics and PFAs those cartons are liable to have.

Also, RIP to my Pixel 6 phone. It got crunched in a van door just now at work and it's totaled. My fingers as a 5-year-old held up just fine when that happened to me, however painfully, so it was clearly unworthy of being my phone.

Monday:

Axle press

140 x 5

160 x 5

180 x 4 + 3

Super-set with band pull-aparts: 3 x 15

Belt squats

8 plates x 2 x 10

Standing 1-arm dumbbell press

80 x 8, 8, 7

NG chin-ups

15 x 8

30 x 8, 8

Bw x 10

Kettlebell curls

15s x 50

Back was feeling stiff from weekend travel and sleeping on a bad bed, but is feeling great today. Been taking time in the evenings to do banded reverse-hypers, foam rolling, and stretching. At the time of this workout, though, I opted for belt squats based on how I was feeling.

180x4 is 1 rep less than 2 months ago, but my back was feeling better at that time and I weighed more. After racking the weight for a rest-pause, I went at it again and knocked out 3 more strong reps for a total of 7.

Tuesday was a much-needed rest day. Got caught up on meal prep, housework, and stretches that I didn't do over the weekend while out of town. 

This morning, I did a 5-minute jump rope round followed by ab work (crunches and reverse crunches).

Snapped a mirror pic last night. Getting close to a point where I start gaining again.

Swiss bar bench press

230 x 8, 8, 8, 5

Super-set with pull-ups

Bw x 8

50 x 8, 8

15 x 8

Overhead tricep extensions

35s x 2 x 8

Axle curls

40 x 30

Kettlebell curls

15s x 30

Back is feeling better, but still opted to do a bench workout while I'm healing. Bench is feeling stronger; 4th set is still a real killer. Shoulders are feeling good. Haven't benched with the straight bar in some time, but I'm enjoying my run with the Swiss bar.

Didn't do neutral-grip chins because the Swiss bar I normally balance high above to do them from was in use, so I did normal pull-ups. Bicep tendon did not like those with 50 lbs hanging from me. It actually felt more like dispersed forearm pain than localized to the tendon while still similar in sensation, but nonetheless, I lowered the weight to just 15 and got a much fuller ROM due to no pain.

Axle curls with 40 felt fine until rep 20, then very slight discomfort. No tendon pain with the kettlebells. Nothing that was endurance-pushing, but wanted to pump blood into my biceps for healing and the pump at the end felt fantastic.