No sparring in yesterday's boxing class, but still got some good work in by taking 30 seconds turns with a partner defending jabs, 1-2s, and hooks (separate rounds for each). I dig any kind of dynamic work with a partner like that. Mondays are a boon for it.

I am really feeling my weight gain while skipping rope. On the plus side, my first partner made mention of my size by requesting that I not knock him out. My girlfriend also commented later that night that my back "looks huge now, like a tiger", which was fucking rad.

 Deload

Mat pulls (4)

475 x 8

SSB box squats

290 x 3 x 5

Sandbag carry: 200 lbs x 40 seconds

Strongest-feeling touch-n-go mat pulls yet. Pushed up with my quads, then hinged as the bar rose. No blackout sensation, either. I was set to do more than 8, but the bar bumped my leg on the 8th rep in a way that it misgrooved and I lost balance. Instead of getting braced again, I remembered that this is supposed to be a deload week so I left it at that.

Ordered an 80 lb weight vest. First had my eye on a very swank Rogue Echo vest, but right as I was about to hit buy I noticed that its max capacity is 40 lbs. That should be fine for a walk, but I also want a vest for doing weighted push-ups and wish to go heavier than 40. Went with the cheaper CAP Barbell vest instead.

Played much Xenoblade 2. So much Tiger Tiger, but it's fun. Used the NES controller with it for authenticity and the d-pad is ace. I have screens now.

Got in more shadowbox sparring on Thursday, followed by some simple combo practice rounds with a partner and ending with medicine ball work and intense abs. I had taken a complete rest day the day before and the difference it made while skipping rope was huge - few misses and much more bouncy on my feet. Despite that, I just about keeled over when we did medicine ball squats - my previously fine legs suddenly revealed horrendous soreness from barbell squats 2 days prior.

I recently weighed 208 in the morning before breakfast, in all making it a solid 9 lb gain since April. Still looking pretty lean.

Friday evening:

Deload

Log clean and press

85 x 5

115 x 5

135 x 5

Incline dumbbell press

80s x 4 x 10

Super-set with chin-ups

4 x 12

Dumbbell curls

50s x 10, 10, 8

We went on a fantastic 3-hour hike through the woods at Sanborn (Walden West) the next day. Brought along Vietnamese sandwiches. Much uphill terrain. Only stopped because I was feeling nauseous from something and it was getting a bit late.

Played PSO before bed, enjoyed playing through Temple since we so rarely select it.

Squats

370 x 5

425 x 3

475 x 2

Strip-sets of 405 x 4, 315 x 8, 225 x 8, 135 x 8

Reverse hyper single leg curls

270 x 30

Yesterday I took a total break. Played a little Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and after training my party up a bit I tried to beat Malos the final boss again...but died. I'm having fun with the game at this late stage many years after purchase, though. Even just exploring the world doing nothing is a lot more fun now that my party is actually strong and I don't feel like I'm constantly failing at the game's mechanics. Eli was interested for a little bit watching me explore first-person around Gormott and Morytha.

Just found out: adding a dark orb to the boss will seal his reinforcement summons, hell yeah.

 Got in more light sparring on Monday. First partner was an older guy who tends to get tired and third partner was a short girl, but second partner I went up against was fairly skilled and a volume puncher who threw almost nonstop. He seemed skilled but tended to leave his body open so I took the opportunity to throw a lot of jabs and straights to his midsection, which interrupted his rhythm. Body hooks missed at first but once I found my range and committed to infighting, I was landing them (albeit lightly).

Ended doing some medicine ball slams. People were dying from this despite my medicine ball being 14 lbs vs everyone else's 8. I did downgrade to the 8 when we had to move around in a circle with directional changes called out and exercises like holding a squat stance for 30 seconds. 

 Bench press

250 x 5

280 x 3

315 x 3

Dumbbell press

115s x 8, 7, 7

Super-set with bent-over dumbbell rows

115 x 8, 8, 10

Incline dumbbell press

80s x 10, 7

Super-set with shrugs

80s x 12, 15

Alternating across-the-chest curls

50s x 20, 20

35s x 20

Very good session. It's been awhile since I've benched 315 and doing it for a triple is a longstanding personal standard I've always liked to have for myself. It's a "comfort number", if such a thing can even exist when you're fighting not to get crushed by several hundred pounds.

I'm willingly sacrificing a little bit of reps on paper by focusing on the dumbbell press chest contraction and not letting the bells go down too fast. 

I took the rest of the day pretty easy after this and went on a walk with Elizabeth to our favorite ice cream spot and back. It was early enough in the day where we had plenty of sunlight. 

Was originally going to do this on Saturday but I was recovering from a lack of sleep due to going out with George to The Ritz for Satori on Friday night. That was an alright time and George seemed to (mostly) enjoy it, but I worry about him. I think it would be beneficial to invite him out for non-drinking excursions: hikes and the like. 

Got to play Xenoblade 2 Saturday while I was resting, but died at the final boss despite doing well. Taking some time to travel around the world, train, and even just casually explore. After so many hours and years, knowing just WHERE the exact end goal is has me feeling more enthusiastic about wasting time, oddly enough.

Tragically lost a long write-up I had completed, but the top set of the workout was hitting 210x3 on log clean and press, which is a PR. I actually went for a 4th but I didn’t like the way my back felt on that 4th clean and the log ended up sitting low on my chest, so I let it drop. Wore my Cerberus grip shirt for the first time training the log and I couldn’t turn my belt around with it on, so I opted to leave it facing forward and it definitely contributed to the weak 4th clean rep - the log was further out on my legs than normal before rolling it up. In the future, I’d rather stick with the backwards lever belt and no grip shirt. I can always bust out the shirt in competition and have someone from my entourage clasp the belt from behind. I prefer not to wear it backwards under the shirt as the lever digs into my back.

Boxing yesterday started with partner shadowboxing, but this time it was without gloves so it truly was contactless and not light sparring like Monday. Traded some basic combos, did 2 rounds on the bag, footwork drills, and ended with ab work. Quite a lot of varied things in 1 hour.

Knees seem to be complete pain-free now, although the real test will be squat day. Have been doing backwards treadmill walks on a broken treadmill at work during my lunch break for knee rehab.

 Mat pulls (5)

475 x 8

Just hit this and called it a night, as I ended up training late and decided I could skip the squat assistance work to give my achy knees a break and since log cleans the next day will provide some squat movement. 

Started seeing stars and feeling light-headed around rep 4 but I held on. No acid reflux this time, thankfully.

Realized afterwards that I had been holding the bar a little further out than I should have; I should wear pants next time so I'm not subconsciously attuned against scraping up my legs.

This weight is light enough that I can move it while not paying attention, but I need to remember to start the pull with my quads and then hinge once the bar is high enough. Didn't really feel my quads working on this set the way I have in recent sessions.

 Went to boxing and managed to survive with my injured foot on the jump rope rounds. Went a little slow and gingerly, but I was even able to do high knees for the last 30 seconds each round. 

Spent the rest of the class doing light sparring. Ostensibly it was "shadowbox sparring" but everyone took it to the point of light contact. Since I "officially" can't spar until I get a new physical on file, I felt like I had hit the jackpot in picking this day to go to class. The first round was freestyle, but we soon changed it up by doing jabs only, then 1-2s only. Different partner each round. One of my sparring partners encouraged me to try a high jab, low jab, right body hook, and left head hook combo, which I'll continue to drill on my own.

Worked with the coach on the final round due to there being an odd number of people and having no partner. We had 30 seconds each to throw hooks at each other. I noticed how much better I am at throwing explosively but light. My hooks started fast but landed soft.

Ended with rounds on the heavy bag mixed with push-ups, mountain climbers, and jumping lunges. I was tired by this point, but not gassed. I was able to recover between rounds. A 60 second plank concluded class.

While walking out, I noticed the sparring coach sitting on the bleachers. I said hi to him and mentioned that I want to get back into hard sparring. He said good because they could use me.

Came home and had an awesome homemade dinner of Thai red curry with salmon and brown rice that my girlfriend cooked. She had also prepared 6 meal prep bowls of it for my week. I already made ground bison bowls to last me this week, so that makes a ton of good food ready to go in my fridge.

 Bench press

215 x 5

247.5 x 5

280 x 5

Incline dumbbell press

80s x 12, 8, 6

Lying dumbbell rows

115s x 3 x 8

Felt very tired and weak, like I was coming down with something. At one point during warm-ups my skin felt hot and tingly. I hit the minimum rep requirement on 280 and I don't think I had more in me than that for this session. My endurance was also shot while dumbbell pressing; 12 reps was easy on the first set, but it felt like I had no gas left on sets 2 and 3.

Went to lie down and watch the UFC White House event afterwards. Felt better after lying down. The fights were all excellent. I seem to have sweated a lot in my sleep, but it was good, deep rest.

Last night after work:

Squats
325 x 5
375 x 5
425 x 6
Strip-sets of 405x3, 315x8, 225x8, 135x8

Reverse-hyper single leg curls
270 x 25

Standing band crunches: 30
Full-contact twists: 45 x 20 (10 turning left, 10 turning right)

My knees felt a little achy tonight, but whatever overtraining that did that also made the weight feel stupidly light. I'm thinking of giving them a break by swapping out the narrow stance SSB squats I've been doing for sets of 10 after mat pulls for box squats with heavier weight for sets of 5.

Today was a good mix of activity and leisure. Went on a 1 hour fasted walk in the morning and actually found a new hiking trail close to my house. After coming back and eating a big breakfast of 8 eggs, 3 slices of Canadian bacon, oatmeal with berries, and coffee, I did a few rounds of shadowboxing with the Fist of the North Star boxing game and then swam laps in the pool.

I'm dealing with left foot pain from that barefoot run a week ago. I can run and skip rope, but I'm trying to let this heal up so I'm doing both activities a bit less.

Returned from our camping trip on Sunday. Lots of non-exercise physical activity done from carrying items and went on a beachside partner jog next to the water on Saturday morning. We ran a little under 2 miles in one direction, came across a dead whale, turned around after getting a good look at some distance while researchers took samples/cut up steaks to take home, and ran back for a total of 3.71 miles. Farthest I've run barefoot and wet sand is actually pretty hard and compact; I seem to be paying for it with pain on the side of my left food now. It didn't rear itself until the next day when I was carrying stuff from the campsite to the car while wearing sandals, but it feels like something that wouldn't have happened otherwise.

Ate a ton of grass-fed hotdogs and they taste so good prepped on my camping stove that I'm not tired of them after eating 3 packs myself.

Hearing coyotes howl and cackle close to our tent at night was beyond cool. Overall, this was the best camping trip I've ever been on.

Was still able to work my lower body yesterday:

Mat pulls (6)

475 x 5, 8

SSB squats

280 x 3 x 10

Reverse hyper single leg curls

270 x 25

The pressure combined with compression from my belt made me experience the worst acid reflux of my life on that first set of pulls. It got worse as I ignored it and caused me to lose tension from feeling like lava was about to burst from my chest. It reared its head again on a retry but not as severe. I usually prefer to lift an hour after eating, but for touch-and-go pulls, I'm finding that I need my stomach more clear.

Very pleased with how my back has been feeling. Left knee pain that I previously noted is also completely gone.

 Bench press
230 x 3
265 x 3
295 x 4

Dumbbell press
115s x 7, 8, 8
Super-set with bent-over dumbbell rows
115 x 3 x 10

Incline dumbbell press
80s x 10, 8
Super-set with across-the-chest curls
35s x 20, 16

Hit the numbers I expected. Getting reps of 4 across the board for this triples week.

Going on a 4-day beach camping trip today and will be back on Sunday.

Wrote this yesterday but neglected to post:

Squats
350 x 3
405 x 3
450 x 4
Strip-sets of 405x4, 315x8, 225x8, 135x8

Reverse-hyper single leg curls
270 x 20

Great session. 450 felt light and I left some reps in the tank, but still wanted 1 extra for my 3 week on 3/5/1. I haven’t done those strip-sets in awhile because there was one notable time when I had baaad back pain after doing them combined with bending over the reverse-hyper afterwards. The insidious part was the pain occurring an hour later, giving me no warning signs during the workout. I was cautious with the leg curls this time, keeping my torso more upright than when I do reverse-hyper extensions and only going for 1 set instead of 3. I also made sure to work my back with a massage gun during and after the workout. I feel great after all that.

Had a little bit of left knee pain once I started going over 225, but it was minor. I hadn’t felt it feels like it was caused by a week of squatting slow and narrow during my deload, both with the SSB and during front squats.

Also, before work I did a 3 minute jump-rope round, but I did high knees for the last 15 seconds at the end of each minute until the final third, which was 30 seconds of high knees. Did the high knees faster than normal, too.

Morning: 5 minutes of skipping rope, including 30 seconds of high knees at the end

40 decline push-ups

Home boxing: 2 rounds, 5 minutes each on the heavy bag

10 min jog

Using headgear and a mouthguard on the bag so I'm used to it when I spar again.

I'm currently drinking 7 eggs in the morning with bone broth and 7 more eggs with broth in the late morning again, meaning I've had 14 eggs by the time it's 10:30 AM at work. Putting on quality pounds and looking to compete weighing around 220 for my next competition. And boxing? I'll just be big but conditioned for awhile.

Log clean and press

155 x 3

177.5 x 3

200 x 4

Weighted dips

75 x 3 x 10

Super-set with wide-grip chin-ups 

Bodyweight x 20

50 x 10, 8

40 second chin-up

20 second chin-up

(Note that this is not 40/20 seconds of chin-ups, but a single chin-up rep)

1st and 3rd log reps were slow and sleepy. 4th was the strongest after really getting my head in the game. Love that anything with cleans keeps you honest.

Experimented with wearing my lever belt backwards and it was a win. Going to do this while log pressing from now on. Didn't think at the time to try my grip shirt with it, but I will next time.

Went to Fuel Fest over the weekend with George, which was fun but a little boring this second time around. Felt like I had seen everything after a couple hours. Afterwards, we played Ninja Saviors on Switch, which I'd gotten on sale for $7.99. It was badass but brutally hard, surprisingly. I did just find out there's a block button I knew nothing about so that's something to try again while using. We then watched Rage of the Wind, which was awesome. 

Been playing a lot of PSO with Eli, too. Currently at level 41 with my HUcast.