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.