Axle strict press

200 x 3

165 x 10, 8 8

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

50 push-ups

100 Poundstone curls with 40 lb axle

Had a great Xmas Eve and Xmas. Also ate big. Had Chinese food for dinner after that bench workout, went to George's for drinks and movies, and then relaxed the next day before going on a Christmas night hike on a trail that was within walking distance from my place. Ended the night making enough bison burgers on my Foreman grill for dinner and also lunch the next day at work.

My quads have been getting painful again, which historically happens when I up my squat frequency. In this case, I think it's from doing burpees every morning and landing deep in a squat position. Couple that with how heavy I weigh and it's the most obvious explanation. I'll take it a little easier this week on the burpees; I'm thinking just one or two mornings rather than everyday.

Bench press

350 x 2 (PR)

315 x 4

275 x 8

First 2 super-set with dumbbell rows: 125 x 2 x 12

Last super-set with bent-over axle rows: 220 x 10

Swiss bar bench press

245 x 8, 8, 8 -> drop-down to close-grip bench of 135 x 10

Super-set with bent-over axle rows: 220 x 2 x 10 and 200 x 12

Kept having out-of-body experiences on the heaviest bench sets, almost like blacking out but being conscious enough to do the set. Felt so light and floaty that I can't believe I was putting out the force to PR 350 for a double. I find that happens if I'm a little hungry, have had caffeine, and hold my breath during exertion.

Going out for a Christmas Eve Chinese food dinner and then meeting friends for festivities after.

Last night:

Axle press

110 x 18, 12, 12, 11

Super-set with chin-ups: 17, 12, 15, 15

Swiss bar skullcrushers
45 x 30

Dumbbell curls
50s x 10
Alternating: 35s x 20

This morning: 30 burpees before work

Hit 50 consecutive burpees yesterday morning, which is a PR for "real" burpees. Because I first started doing burpees in Muay Thai and was performing them the way I learned, I'd been doing them without the push-up up until recently.

Went out in the evening and did 70 reverse-hyper leg curls with 5 plates each side for 70 reps, another PR, followed by 70 kettlebell swings with a 50lb bell, ending with a 40-second dead hang, a third PR. Biceps were actually pretty pumped just from holding onto the reverse-hyper handles during the leg curls.

Was short on time this morning so hit 51 push-ups instead of burpees.

Bench press
340 x 2
285 x 7
275 x 8
Super-set with seated reverse-hyper rows: 5 plates x 12, 12, 12

Swiss bar bench press
245 x 8, 9, 7 -> dropdown to close-grip 185x5, 135x8
1st was super-set with more RH rows x 15, last 2 super-set with dumbbell rows: 125 x 12, 12

340x2 felt surprisingly light. Likely had another rep in me. It's good days like this that keep me eating a lot and flirting with "permabulker" territory, but as Mark Bell says, strength is never a weakness.

Axle press
190 x 5
160 x 3 x 8
Super-set with chin-ups: 12, 12, 12, 15

20 dips

100 Poundstone curls with 40 lb axle

Did 10 kettlebell ABCs the day before yesterday and my back was hurting after. Thankfully it did not worsen the next day. Originally planned to incline bench but after training for a powerlifting meet, I'm getting bored of bench pressing. I still look forward to my heavy Saturdays but I had a strong itch to press overhead while also not worsening my back. I was able to make it work by wearing my belt on every set, including all work-up sets, and just being extra mindful to squeeze my abs and my glutes. If anything, this is good practice for doing those cues all the time. The gift of injury.

Came home yesterday after work and hit 10 ABCs with 50lb kettlebells in 4 minutes. Back did not like this and it started to hurt more and more as time passed afterwards. Went on a 22 minute run at night.

Back is a bit better today. It was wise to only do 10. 

Hit 50 push-ups in the morning before work.

Last night:

Reverse-hyper machine
180 x 3 x 20

50 reverse-hyper leg curls with 5 plates
Super-set with 60 kettlebell swings with 50 lb kettlebell

Uncounted number of weighted decline crunches with 15 lb kettlebell

Dumbbell curls

50 lb dumbbells x 3 x 12

#1 Captains of Crush gripper: 30 each side

40 burpees this morning before work. I've been wanting to bring back kettlebell ABCs in the morning, too. Thinking I'll hit those tomorrow. Had trouble squatting into and out of burpees at first because I smashed my knee into my squat stands last night, instantly disassociated myself from the intense pain and forgot about it, and then felt confused later that night why my leg was hurting so badly before remembering what happened. I'd forgotten why I was limping, too, since that's not uncommon around lower-body training, but this afternoon it's better. 

I welcome accidentally smashing my shins and knees into household objects and believe everyone interested in Muay Thai should pick furniture with the pointiest edges in as hostile an arrangement as possible when picking the layout of their home. It's something I never see on interior design shows surprisingly, although that could be because I've never watched an interior design show.

Squats

410 x 11
320 x 20, 10 (last set narrow-stance)

Between squat sets:

Lateral raises: 15lb kbs x 3 x 20
Band pull-aparts: 3 x 20

Left hip is mad at me and back has been hurting ever since the last overhead press workout. Maybe cleaning the weight is to blame? However, a previous week I pressed overhead from the rack and my back hurt the next day as well. If it's just the act of stabilizing the weight overhead that's the culprit, I could do weighted overhead carries to train my posture combined with some ab work to address that weakness and then monitor how I fare the next day. Turkish get-ups could be useful here, too.

Anyway, squatting 410 without a belt felt dicey on my back although it VERY easily could have been psychosomatic and I was just mentally waiting for something to hurt. Instead of going into the 500s like I planned, I opted to not go above 410.

Fairly certain 410x11 is a PR but these numbers aren't crazy for me or anything, yet I had to lie down afterwards from feeling like death. Been doing less cardio while getting heavier and it shows. Haven't neglected that completely; I've been jogging roughly twice a week, shadowboxing almost every night I don't lift, and have been doing 20-40 burpees on some morning before work, but those are all fairly non-intense activities versus death-defying conditioning workouts. Very often I'll come home from work, eat a big dinner, and then simply be too full for several hours to do any crazy conditioning before bedtime. It's a calculated and temporary choice, but if I wake-up just 15 minutes earlier I could get a lot done on that front.

I have a fridge full of goodness from Costco and Trader Joe's and plan to finish all that up and then probably start ramping things down for gradual weight loss, although I'm not on a strict timeframe about it.

Went to see Godzilla Minus One once I managed to get up onto my feed and eat some leftovers after the nausea subsided. The movie kicked ass. A little too sentimental too many times (almost every human scene) but I'm always in the minority on that; I'm just particularly sensitive to a movie browbeating me to be sad versus organically feeling it. It was also the coldest theater I've ever been to and they were selling blankets at the confection stand for $20, laughably. They couldn't break this Canadian, though.

Before and after going to see that, I rewatched Army of Darkness broken up into two viewings, which somehow gets better everytime I see it. Hail to the king, baby.

Bench press

315 x 4

Swiss bar bench press

235 x 11, 10, 10, 9, 8

Super-set with bent-over axle rows

200 x 5 x 10

Pec-delt tie-ins are feeling better.

Went to a work dinner party last night and ate a bomb steak dinner. While everyone else finished eating and were working on drinks, I laboriously kept at it until I finished the whole thing. 

Axle press: 130 x 5

Chin-ups: 5

10 rounds in 11:25

Dips

20, 20

Super-set with chin-ups x 15, 10

Behind-the-neck press

50 x 20

Band pull-aparts

20

Lateral raises

15lb kbs x 12

30 second chin-up 

Minimal rest times, just barely enough to muster the energy to go on. Sore all over from the crazy weekend training. Even lifting 130 overhead felt heavy.

Last night:

Reverse hyper leg curls

5 plates x 50, 40

50 Kettlebell swings with 50lbs

Hanging leg raises

15, 15

Dead hangs

15 secs, 15 secs

Jackknives

15, 15

Also forgot to mention: that night where I did 150 curls and 150 skullcrushers, I also busted out my old Captains of Crush grippers and mindlessly squeezed the Trainer (misplaced the #1 somewhere) for around 8 minutes while I watched TV and did a few partial reps with the #2. Blew up my forearms.

Should also document what I'm doing with the way I'm eating. I had it in my mind to go back down in weight after my meet - well, that didn't happen. I'd had my break from laboriously eating so much and I felt fresh, so I've been taking advantage of the holidays and eating to grow a little again. I think I'll be done living like this right after Christmas, but it's really up to whatever I feel like. I have my first doctor's appointment as an adult in January so it'll be interesting to see what my health markers are with this obscene diet.

I used to make a point to cut weight in winter and gain weight in summer as a personal form of social defiance. In 2005, the rep at GNC asked if I'm cutting weight "to get that beach bod" which started it all because I was an edgelord back then - scratch that, because I AM an edgelord - and I thought that question was lame as hell. But it's just way more manageable to eat this much when it's cold out. This past summer, all that laborious digesting on top of the extra bodyweight had me constantly sweating bullets in the office; conversely, it feels really good to be eating big and indulging in holiday traditions and foods when my weight goals align and the weather is cold. 

Squats

460 x 6
Drop-down to 

405x5

320x10

225x12

135x12

50x12

Starting from 225, my stance was narrow. This was at night with work the next day so with limited time I basically made the workout all one awful drop-set.

Interesting doing this after training with 20-rep squats. My drop-down reps are higher than they used to be when running this approach. My squat strength at that time was roughly equal, with a tested training max of 540, but my ability to crank out reps is better now.

Block press (equivalent to 2 board press)

315 x 2

345 x 3, 3, 3

Single board press

300 x 6

Super-set with dumbbell rows

115 x 10

* Pec-delt tie ins felt a little painful when benching, probably from a combo of heavy benching leading up to the meet and following that with heavy dumbbell presses. Wasn't so bad that I couldn't push through it but opted for reducing the ROM so it doesn't get worse. That's fine with me, block pressing has been good for my bench press.

Swiss bar bench press

235 x 10, 9, 9

Super-set with dumbbell rows

125 x 10, 10, 12

Came back at night and hit some arm work to take advantage of the fact that I'm eating a lot of food:

40 Swiss bar skullcrushers with the 45 lb bar

100 Poundstone curls with 40 lb axle

40 Swiss bar skullcrushers with 45 lb bar

30 curls with 40 lb axle

30 Swiss bar skullcrushers 

50 push-ups in the morning before heading to work.

Late evening: 

Incline bench press

180 x 10, 10, 10, 9, 7

Super-set with seated reverse hyper rows

3 plates x 12

4 plates x 12, 12, 12, 15

10 dips

Band pull-aparts: 3 x 20

Dumbbell curls: 35s x 3 x 10

Sidenote: I recently saw T-Nation promoting the Iceshaker shaker bottle and t3hpwnisher vouching for it with his experience. Went ahead and ordered one even though I'm reasonably happy with my current stainless steel shaker bottle and I'm glad I did. The Iceshaker is taller, has a rubberized bottom which makes a bigger difference to me than I thought it would, has a more pleasant opening to drink out of, a carrying handle, keeps drinks colder for longer, and no annoying wire ball. Now if only my favorite design wasn't a limited edition for $120 (Westside Barbell has a cool branded one for the normal price, though).

Squats

430 x 9

350 x 17

240 x 15

Leg extensions

5 plates x 20

Lying leg curls

5 plates x 30, 25

Hanging leg raises

15, 12

I would never admit this (just in case my weights are reading what I write), but this kicked my ass. Felt like I was delirious after that set of 350 and it never went away. 

2023 NorCal Powerlifting Meet Report

Signed-up for this meet one week out from the event date although it had been on my radar for awhile. A couple of sessions were needed to get reacquainted with the straight bar for squats vs my curved Yukon bar, which I had switched to earlier this year due to elbow pain. I did my first and last actual squat session with the straight bar the previous Sunday and it felt a little awkward and uncomfortable on my shoulders getting it into position, but tolerable. Took a little time during the week to practice positioning the empty bar on my back again and it felt better at that point.

I'd also been gradually going down in weight, although I wasn't super far into the process (roughly 13 lbs lost over a few months). A few weeks ago, I'd started taking creatine which made my weight shoot up again from the water retention. My natural bodyweight ended up being perfect for the 220 weight class at 218.3. After the water cut I did last year, I felt way less pressure this time around. 

Ended up being one of the first lifters to arrive at 7:10 AM because I was doing a late Saturday morning weigh-in. Energy-wise, I was dragging despite getting 6 hours of sleep, which is more than usual for me before a meet. I had several canned black coffee drinks but knew to space those out and make use of them wisely. People seemed to arrive pretty late and the rules briefing came over an hour after it was supposed to. Almost everyone was already warming-up by then, which I thought was bonkers as I chilled out sleepily in my seat, eating and feeling like I wanted a nap. There was even a coach competing with his client next to me going through a strenuous yoga session. The instructor showed him one position that was like a lunge and told him something about expecting it to hurt. Just insanity, but I bet a lot of people thought the same about me with my buffet line that I was chowing down on. The organizer came to call everyone out to the rules briefing area and noted, "Guys, the women are up first. You might not want to be warming-up so soon."

I watched some of the women go but ended up missing a lot of the show because I got too hot inside the space and spent my time outside instead, watching what I could. It soon dawned on me that the gym had no running water for competitors, but luckily there was a Safeway across the street. That's something I'd never run into before and a lesson to not assume there will be an accessible bathroom beyond just porta potties. By the time my flight was around the corner I did a basic warm-up for my knee health via some mountain climbers and light banded leg extensions before working up to squatting 315. 

Opened with 450 in the squat and it flew up. Getting into position was a little uncomfortable on my shoulders because I'd only had a week to get used to the straight bar again but it wasn't terrible. I followed that with 480, which was surprisingly a slow grind. Felt my hips hurt a little as I sunk in super deep. That was unexpected. Changed my plans of going for a PR in the squat and chose an extremely safe 500 based on how much my hips had hurt, figuring that I always have that on a bad day. 500 ended up feeling far lighter than 480 and I had none of the mechanical awkwardness or hip pain of the last lift.

There was a break at this point which I used to walk across the street for a water refill and to use the Starbucks bathroom. I wanted to walk to make my back feel good for deadlifting. I injured it last year during a meet which affected my deadlift performance and was trying to do everything I could to keep it feeling good here. I was surprised I didn't see anyone else hit either of these spots up considering there wasn't any running water at the event gym and ended up sharing my purchased gallon with someone in need.

Next, 315 on the bench felt like air and 330 felt fine except my back hurt a little from bridging too much, although my butt didn't actually leave contact with the bench. I've underestimated the pause element in meets before and have never completed a full set of bench attempts so I went with a calculated 353 for my final and focused on pushing my body into the bench to prevent back pain cropping up again, which thankfully had dissipated by now. That weight was hard with the pause, but like I said, I was expecting that this time. I got it up with a fight.

My back was feeling healthy by the time deadlifts came around. I'm surprised at how nobody rolls the bar along the floor to get a little momentum going before breaking it off the ground. A ton of people (I would say most who I watched) yanked the bar up without getting rid of the bar slack, too, and the jerkiness looks like it threw their form out of position a bit. They'd explode up, clang the bar, and then just lose a ton of momentum. 

Sumo deadlifts were allowed and were what most people went with. I was considering opting for that if my back was hurting, but since it wasn't I made a decision to lift conventional. I opened with 515 and seconded with 530. Really safe attempts. No pain so far. Things had gone so well all day that now was the time to gamble and take a leap so I penciled in 600, which I hadn't hit in 2 years. It also went up without much of a problem. My right arm got a little messed up though, starting from the wrist up through the forearm and bicep, which was definitely from not letting my arm hang straight enough. Nothing serious but I'm not sure I would have been able to continue if there were any other lifts after this; it hurt badly enough for me to think about preventing a bicep tear. Well, there WAS a strict curl for singles competition after deadlifts, which I didn't sign-up for out of disinterest and which I definitely could not have done at that point even though I rep some of the higher weights that were getting curled (around 150) for 20 reps on my keg. The bicep felt better the next day and now only hurts a little bit if I twist my forearm.

Deadlifting in a gym on a flat surface feels SO much easier than doing it with my outdoor set-up, which is just awesome for training. Also worth mentioning is that I had no grip issue holding onto the bar despite mostly training with straps. I wasn't even conscious of my grip on the bar during the lift. The bicep strain is a lesson to get more practice in with a mixed grip before meets, though.

The event concluded with me taking 1st in the 220 class and getting a second award for "Best Lifter" with a 1453 total. I more or less matched my first powerlifting meet in 2016 and did much better than last year. Soon found out that 2nd place wasn't even close to me and that lifter, who was being handled by the aforementioned coach doing the stretching routine, came up to me after the awards and flatly stated, "You're the one who beat me." I laughed and told him he put up a great effort. It was awkward because he came up to say that and then just stared, but I picked up that he was trying to be friendly and that's just how he communicates. He said he and his coach will be at a local strongman show in April and that I'd kill in it, so that's something to look into (it's actually the same event that I tore my bicep at in 2017, Beasts of the Bay).

My experience went a long way: reintroducing the mouth piece, bringing chairs and the right food, treating myself to a new duffel bag, knowing when to warm-up and how much, rolling the deadlift bar, and not forgetting to go to the table and pick the next attempt. I also need to share that hummus is magic food for meet nutrition or if you just don't like to eat breakfast. It's super easy to get down but filling at the same time. Getting a hotel through the weekend was also a good move so I could relax afterwards. I ended up going out to an incredible sushi dinner with my plus one who came with me to the meet and another friend we met-up with, then going back to his house for more sake drinks. We marathoned Running Man and Total Recall, which I count as training.

Since this was more of a "return to form" deal, I'm looking forward to going for PRs again at future meets.

Back has been hurting more than usual the past few days, which is funny timing. Not sweating it, I'll do the best I can and have fun. Feels like my back gets better as the day progresses so I may have been sleeping in disagreeable position.

Been feeling majorly nauseous these mornings from all the food. I'll go a little easy on the calories once this evening sets in. Since nausea usually means I've been eating a lot, it's usually when I'm strongest under the bar. I need a shirt that says "Nauseous but strong" with a jacked, sick-appearing lifter sitting miserably at a packed dinner table with his gut hanging out.

Going to be less training to report on this week as I maximize my recovery for Saturday's meet. Biggest challenge and prime objective is to keep my back feeling good. It was sore yesterday after squatting and deadlifting in the same session on Sunday but already feels better today. Sleeping on my back on the firm mattress side made a bigger difference than any amount of rehab exercises, although I'm still glad I bought a reverse-hyper with how many different uses for it I have.

I also haven't reported that I've been taking creatine for a few weeks now and I noticed a big change in how full I look from it. Never noticed this drastic a change in my youth, but I was never taking it while cutting carbs to the extent I have recently, either. Very interesting. I did a very unorganized loading phase, taking anywhere from 2-4 servings a day for roughly a week and a half. Studies show you eventually get to the same point by 30 days - loading just does it faster.

Keeping my cardio minimal this week. Just jogging and some light martial arts practice purely for fun. Those two activities are primarily how I listen to music and destress.

Ordered a new King Kong powerlifting bag. My old duffel is a cheapie off Amazon that's 12-years-old and coming apart. It'll be a good upgrade - it even has a place to store my belt on the outside.

Wrote my openers down:

Squat:
450lbs / 204kg

Bench:
315lbs / 143kg

Deadlift:
515lbs / 233kg

I've signed up for a powerlifting meet next Saturday. As such, I switched to the straight bar for squats today rather than the Yukon bar. I wouldn't call this a deload workout but there was definitely some backing off since I just squatted several days ago and I needed to get used to the joint discomfort of the barbell.

Squats

480 x 1

SSB squats

240 x 10

330 x 10

Romanian deadlifts

365 x 8, 8

.

10 hanging leg raises 

Bench press

330 x 2

280 x 8

Last set super-set with dumbbell rows: 125 x 10

Swiss bar bench press: 225 x 10, 10

Super-set with dumbbell rows: 125 x 10, 10

Incline Close-grip bench press

195 x 6

185 x 8, 6 - drop-down to 135 x 6

Super-set with seated reverse-hyper rows

4 plates x 10, 15, 20

Shoulder was in a bit of pain Thursday night after doing lights sparring rounds with a friend. I'm training. It was mostly better today and bench pressing didn't aggravate it. Very happy with where I'm at.

Last night did a full-body workout to keep on my light press session on-schedule and get in some extra leg work at the same time.

Log clean once and press away: 140x3

Chin-ups: 5

10 rounds in 7:08

Narrow high bar ATG squats: 240x10

Arnold press: 50s x 12

Push-ups: 25, 25, 20

Facepulls: 15, 20, 20

Leg curls: 50 plates x 30, 30

Leg extensions: 5 plates x 20

Poundstone curls: 130 (PR)

No rest times except to set-up equipment and take a moment to jot down what I did. Didn't have time to hit abs, but will today.

This morning before work I also got in 50 burpees.

Heavy bag work: 3 rounds, 3 minutes

Emphasized keeping busy and maintaining a high volume of strikes. Mostly boxing with a few Muay Muay Thai teeps and roundhouses.

Did a cyberpunk aerobics dance workout for about 20 minutes after for some low intensity, joint-friendly fat burning. This involves kicks and is just good for my body to do.

10 minute jog afterwards.

Food note: I've been throwing a whole pack of lamb chops from Costco in the slowcooker overnight and have been enjoying meat at work all last week and this. 

Bench press: 

315 x 3, 3, 3

275 x 8

Super-set with dumbbell rows: 125 x 4 x 10

Incline bench press: 

185 x 9, 8, 8 - drop-down to 135 x 7

Super-set with reverse hyper seated rows: 

4 plates x 12

6 plates x 10, 15

Dumbbell skullcrushers

35s x 9

Lying dumbbell curls

35s x 10, 12

Went to a very sad funeral for a relative yesterday. RIP auntie. Her gift was bringing our family together for a day and having us feast on lots of tremendous Persian food. Beef kabob, saffron rice, pickled eggplant, and more (I had 3 plates total):

Despite feeling emotionally drained by nightfall, the rest and feast day had me feeling physically primed today. Previously aching shoulders felt much better and I was able to bench press for the first time in several weeks. Very happy with my numbers as I've been losing weight and with how easy 315 felt - I didn't slow down on any of those reps and might have been good for 5 on the first set.

Deadlifts

505 x 3

Romanian deadlifts

365 x 2 x 10

SSB squats

240 x 10 (5 front squats, 5 back)

Kettlebell goblet squats: 50 x 20

Conventional deads tonight, not sumo. Elated that my back is healthy enough and how easy this felt.

Squats caught me by surprise; my legs felt pretty dead. 

Right after waking up before work: 50 push-ups

Evening:

Axle clean once and press away: 130 x 5

Chin-ups: 5

10 rounds in 13:25

Push-ups: 20, 20, 10

Giant set with chin-ups: 10, 10, 10

Band pull-aparts: 20, 20, 20

40-sec chin-up

 Woke-up 5 minutes before my alarm and got in a morning shadow kickboxing session randomly broken-up with 10 burpees. Nothing was timed, just turned on the music and flowed. Was freezing when I got out of bed and had to take my sweater off by the time I was done.

Submitted a request to be placed on the adult waiting list for a local boxing gym. I've had my eye on this spot since 2007. If I don't hear anything soon I'll sign up for my old Muay Thai gym that's about 5 minutes from my house. It's pricey but the proximity is worth it; I'm saving up for a car to replace the old van I'm driving and I don't want to take my current vehicle further than this if I can help it, especially not on the regular. My first choice would have been American Kickboxing Academy, which has more competition for me (local spot has a lot of suburban family folks going for cardio kickboxing and sparring partners can be hard to come by) and actually $10 cheaper, but that'll be my reward once I get a more reliable vehicle.

Realized my packed lunch was a little light today so I treated myself to a poke bowl with zuchinni spirals instead of rice. Despite the large bowl I was still hungry afterwards so had some of my bison hamburger meat with avocado afterwards.

Getting a little stricter with the diet as I inch further down in weight. Still holding on to my Saturday cheat day but no longer eating carby on Friday night or Sundays. Weighing around 209.

Squats
430 x 8
330 x 18, 10

Leg curls
10 plates x 30

Standing ab wheel
8 reps

Feeling the instability from a smaller waist. Going to increase the amount of ab work I'm doing and will hit some planks today. Overloaded squat walkouts are another idea but I'll have to be wise on programming them in and not overtrain my back.

Block press (equal to 2-board press)

320 x 5

Super-set with dumbbell rows: 125 x 10

Block press (equal to 1-board press)

275 x 9, 7, 6 - drop-down to 225x5

Super-set with dumbbell rows: 125 x 10, 10, 10

Keg curls

160 x 20, 10

Super-set with Swiss bar skullcrushers: 65 x 20, 10

Shoulders were sore and in a little pain so nixed my plans to bench press and reduced the ROM by going with block presses. The heavy shrugs on deadlift day are causing that and I'm not recovered enough by the time I train again. Heavy log pressing during the week compounds that. Going to keep the load light with no rests next overhead press day. 

Left off my elbow sleeves for the first time in while. Gives less rebound so things are a little harder this way but I have no reason to wear them all the time anymore with the healed state of my elbows.

Romanian deadlifts

365 x 8, 8, 8

10 shrugs at the end of each set

1:15 plank

Went easy on my back and opted for rep work over heavy singles. It's been feeling good with minimal pain but has been taking more of a beating using the log so I'm being smart about recovery.

Got a new pair of 45 lb bumper plates. Not nearly enough to fill the bar for deadlifts but yes for anything with cleans. And with health insurance for the first time in my adult life I'm keeping an eye out for strongman comps in addition to a powerlifting meet next month.

Got in 40 burpees and 50 jumping-jacks before work yesterday and at night, only about an hour and a half before bed, did one sprint up my usual hill (which I long ago named Heart Attack Hill after a racing track name I thought was awesome in the game Burnout 2 almost two decades ago), followed by a 12 minute jog.

This morning, I put on a shadowboxing video on YouTube and joined in, except adding kicks to make it kickboxing. I actually look forward to this morning ritual as it gets chillier because it makes me warmer in the cold mornings than huddling in bed does.

Log viper press

180 x 7, 5

Clean once and press away: 6

Super-set with chin-ups: 10, 10, 10

Dips

12, 12, 12

Super-set with chin-ups: 10, 10, 10

Behind-the-neck press

50 x 15

Super-set with lat raises: 15s x 15

Dumbbell curls

35s x 10

Squats

410 x 10

320 x 20

Leg extensions

10 plates x 25

Super-set with leg curls

10 plates x 25

Did this after a barhopping Saturday of Halloween-themed spots in San Francisco. Had plenty of Orgain protein shakes with me. Dinner was sushi.

Sumo deadlifts

405 x 1

505 x 1

525 x 1 + 10 shrugs

RDLs

315 x 10, 10 + 10 shrugs each set

Second week deadlifting without any pain. So far so good.

Block press

315 x 1

365 x 1

385 x 0

315 x 6 (PR), 4+1, 5

Last set drop-down to 275x5, 225x6 bench press 

Dumbbell rows

125 x 12, 12, 15

 

Came so close to lockout but failed the 385 so went for a rep PR on 315. Had the bar right near the pins and I fought with it for a good 10-15 seconds, no exaggeration. Really happy with how light 315 feels in my hands afterwards.

Deadlifts

Up to 500 x 1 + 10 shrugs

405 x 3 + 10 shrugs 

Kettlebell squats

50 lbs x 70

My back held up and I left with no pain, which is a win.

Axle clean once and press: 110 lbs x 5

Chin-ups: 5

11 rounds in 8: 48

Faster time and 1 more round than last session.

Dips

15

75 x 9

50 x 9

Super-set with chin-ups: 3 x 10

Loving the juxtaposition between this light, low rest day (only on the dips - next time I should do some band pull-aparts for no rest times period) and the weekend bone-crushing. 

Squats

320 x 17, 15, 15

Leg curls

10 plates x 30, 30

Kettlebell RDLs immediate after:

50s x 20

First real squat session in weeks. Probably going to be sore as hell tomorrow as a result. Back held up and has been feeling good as long as I spend the majority of my sleep on my back. 

Ended things here to make an appointment I had at the local park for a pedal boat ride across the lake. Had a weightgainer shake and then an Italian sub from a local sandwich shot that was on the way to the park before setting sale for the high seas.

Came back home, was still full as hell, and finish this at about 9:00 p.m.

Incline bench press

135 x 10

185 x 10

195 x 9, 7

155 x 6

135 x 7, 8, 12

High pulls

110 x 10, 10, 10, 10

Dumbbell rows

125s x 12, 12, 12

Keg curls

160 x 15, 12, 15

Block press

315 x 2

365 x 1

390 x 1

395 x 1

Bench press

290 x 7

275 x 8

Super-set with dumbbell rows: 125s x 10, 12

Going to do more accessory and bodybuilding work later but I'm elated to have hit this while losing weight. Been employing a tactic to start carbing up Friday evening and then having a massive cheat day all throughout Saturday lately. Surround the power workouts of the weekend with a ton of food and then bring it back down for weight loss during the week. It's been creating very steady, incremental weight loss changes while still letting me make progress so far.

Axle clean once and press: 110 lbs x 5

Chin-ups: 5

10 rounds in 10:30

Dips

10

50 lbs x 2 x 10

Super-set with chin-ups x 3 x 10

Band pull-aparts

3 x 20

Swiss bar tricep extensions x 20

Also, yesterday I was able to squat 315 up to 11 reps before I reracked it due to my back. Surprisingly though, I didn't wake up to any pain which usually happens if I feel anything the day before like that. I count that as a win. Going to hit squats again tomorrow or Thursday depending on how my body feels.

Block press

315 x 1

365 x 1

380 x 1

385 x 1

Bench press

285 x 7

Super-set with seated reverse-hyper rows

4 plates x 12

Incline bench press

205 x 7, 7 6 - drop-down to 135 x 8

Super-set with seated reverse-hyper rows

6 plates x 12, 15

6.5 plates x 17

Getting really used to owning the 380s and making them my everyday strength that I can feel confident about hitting when I get under the bar. For me, it's a different process than getting stronger on a calorie deficit when I can just keep recklessly rocketing up. In the past trying to do that on few calories is how I would suddenly get in a cycle of continued missed reps. 

Resisted the urge to do extra junky volume with plans to up my training frequency a little and hit upper body again soon, which always works better for me when losing weight. 

Block press

315 x 1

365 x 1

370 x 1

Super-set 

Block press: 315 x 4, 4

Wide chin-ups: 15, 15, 

Bench press

285 x 5

Giant set

Incline bench press: 205 x 7, 7, 185x7

Dips: 10, 10, 5

Chin-ups: 15, 15, 15

39 second chin-up

10 dips

A combination of weight loss, back injury, and recent 100 lb dips made everything feel heavy today, so I hit a grindy 370 and then added sets of 315 as a new challenge. I'm not afraid to fail under a press, but getting pinned with a back injury crosses into the realm of stupidity.

Speaking of which, yesterday was the second Saturday in a row that I hurt my back doing something innocuous - bending down slightly, in the most recent case. Very frustrating but my resolve is like steel. I'm mentally adapted to living in constant pain and can only go up from here.

So that cancelled any type of squats. Even did 25 bodyweight ones until I decided I wasn't liking the pressure on my lumbar and canceled them. 

Ended up going for a spontaneous hour and a half walk with the person I'm seeing. Started off as a walk in the park and then we decided to just keep going all the way to the next city through a nature trail that winds alongside the freeway. Reached a pub for our destination and I feasted on beer, ribs, and mac and cheese.

Workout from Thursday night:

Dips

10, 10

50 x 10

100 x 7, 7

50 x 12

-

Giant set with chin-ups

8, 12, 12, 15, 15

-

Giant set with kettlebell goblet squats 

50 x 10, 10, 10, 10, 20, 20, 30

Back was too painful to press overhead, which means there's a fantastic opportunity to do weighted dips instead. 

Today, after a couple of days of flipping my mattress to the firm side, my back is feeling a lot better. Going to carefully do a barbell squat workout today. Plan is to get to 320 for 3 high-rep sets, but if I'm feeling great I'll add more.

My diet is also become strict enough at this point that I'm making Saturday a carb-up day. Time to feast.

Block press

315 x 1

365 x 1

375 x 1

390 x 1 (PR)

Bench press

280 x 8

Incline bench press

200x 9, 8, 8 - drop-down to 185x4, 135x5

135 x 10 - immediately switch to decline dumbbell press with the 50s x 12

365 felt like an absolute TON and I wasn’t sure if I’d have to change course today so I did an unplanned set of 375 as a test increase, but I felt woken up by then and was on a different level. While there’s been a definite difference in how stable I feel while squatting, weight loss hasn’t slowed down my upper body progress yet.

Bodyweight squats

200 In 14:03 minutes

Leg extensions

5 plates x 30, 30

Leg curls

5 plates x 3 x 30

20 hanging leg raises

Tweaked my back while sitting down today which necessitated this. Have never done this many bodyweight squats in my life before so improving on this will be good for me. 

Axle strict press

200 x 4

160 x 8

150 x 7

130 x 9

Super-set with chin-ups

4 x 15

Shoulder medley 

Behind-the-neck press: 45

Lateral raises: 15s x 12

Band pull-aparts x 20

Triceps medley

Dips x 10

Swiss bar skullcrushers x 20

Band pressdowns x 12

100 poundstone curls

Any kind of cleaning from the floor would be a bad move with how my back is feeling. Pressed fairly gingerly as a result.

Found 2 praying mantises yesterday while lifting, each getting attacked by my cat. One of them came back today.

Deadlifts

Up to 515 x 1

405x12 + 10 shrugs

Barbell shrugs

405 x 15

Leg curls super-set with leg extensions 

8 plates x 25

* These were getting kinda stupid with 10 plates for 50 reps so I made a point to resist the eccentric instead of getting helped by the momentum of the machine. Less impressive numbers on paper, better training stimulus.

Yesterday did some back rehab and then two 3-minute rounds on the heavy bag, followed by a 10 minute run and some shadowboxing.

Back pain has been a struggle lately, but still have lots of rehab ideas to try and getting a laptop to stand and do work at the office is paying off. Been getting into the habit of having a “pre-deadlift day” wherein I’ll do the reverse-hyper, some light speed deads with 200, kettlebell swings, the sled and hanging leg raises. Should add the McGill 3 to that list. Will see how deads today go, most likely sumo.

I’m getting the idea to expand that back rehab workout to at least three days a week, irrespective of my training program. I need a pain-free back for more than just deadlifting. Writing it out and setting the days is the move to make.