Tuesday:

Deload

Squats

225 x 5

255 x 5

305 x 5

225 x 10

255 x 10, 10

Thursday:

Deload

Strict press

90 x 5

110 x 5

130 x 5

110 x 3 x 10

Super-set with chin-ups: 3 x 10

Dumbbell curls: 35s x 2 x 10

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

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

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

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

Deload

Bench press

135 x 5

185 x 5

205 x 5

Incline Swiss bar bench

185 x 3 x 8

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows

80s x 3 x 12

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

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

 Deadlifts
Work-up to 505 x 3

Romanian deadlifts
225 x 2 x 12

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

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

 

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

 Axle strict press

162.5 x 5

182.5 x 3

205 x 2

150 x 9, 9, 8

Super-set with chin-ups

Bodyweight x 10

15 x 10

30 x 10, 19

Giant sets

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

Wide-grip chin-ups: 16, 12

Dumbbell alternating side curls: 35s x 2 x 10

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

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

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

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

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

485 moved well. Getting used to heavy weight again.

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

Bench press 

247.5 x 5

280 x 3

315 x 2

Incline Swiss bar bench

185 x 3 x 8

Super-set with lying dumbbell rows

80s x 12, 15, 15

Dumbbell curls: 35s x 3 x 10

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

Axle strict press

130 x 5

160 x 5

185 x 4

150 x 3 x 8

Chin-ups 

Bodyweight x 10

15 x 10

30 x 10, 10

Behind-the-neck press

110 x 8, 10

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

Dumbbell side curls 

35s x 2 x 20

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

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

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

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

Squats: 295 x 20

Super-set with deadlifts: 295 x 20

Ab wheel: 8 reps

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

Bench press

230 x 3

265 x 3

295 x 4

Swiss bar bench

230 x 3 x 8

185 x 10

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

Reverse-hyper single leg curls

6 plates x 10, 15

Super-set with dumbbell curls

35s x 10, 50s x 10

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

Knees both seem to be 100%.

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

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

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

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