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. 

 Injured my low back simply bending over to do a home chore yesterday morning before work. Felt it slightly give out but no pain, but then pain gradually set-in by the time I arrived at work. Not an especially bad episode but annoying after all the little injuries I've picked up and healed from the past couple of weeks.

Work has a broken treadmill so during my lunch break, I leaned forward to grab the handles and manually moved the track by walking, which is a good decompressor for the low back. Did the same while facing backwards.

Went to boxing anyways. Wore my Cerberus soft belt for support. Skipping rope was a stiff affair, as I had to brace my abs to keep my back protected, but I was able to handle it and making it a harder task is good training anyways. When we partnered up for combo work afterwards, I let my partner know I'll be moving cautiously if we have to duck under any hooks as a drill, but surprisingly, I felt really good once we were moving. When it indeed came time to duck, I was able to do so without pain. And mercifully, there was no ab work at the end of class. I could have done crunches but would not have attempted any type of leg raises.

Back felt worse again at night. Went on a walk and sent an email cancelling Thursday boxing. This morning, though, I'm wishing I hadn't, as I could handle it if I'm careful.

Sparred 3 hard rounds yesterday. 

For the first 2 rounds, went against the large fellow who has given me the biggest challenge so far and whose name I learned is Poojay. A tall heavyweight in the modern sense of the word who hits hard. Corner coach warned me as such and told me to focus on body shots. I did just that and made a habit of getting much lower than the last time we sparred. I made a lot of his shots miss overhead, others grazed me, and a few hard ones landed flush, throwing me off-balance for a second while I was in the middle of moving, but nothing caught me by surprise. He either didn't land anything as hard as last time or I was simply experienced enough to know what he could dish out. 

Had a plan of catching him with a rising left hook springing up from a crouch, and though his guard was open during the attempt the hook fell short each time. Moving forward with it is something to practice. On the other hand, saw success with my overhand right landing.

I also experienced my first clinches in sparring (besides Muay Thai). He'd move in close and it would just happen. It's definitely not something I ever look to initiate. I had just reread some of Angelo Dundee's book and was at the part where he described George Foreman pushing his opponents into position, and without thinking I started doing that in the clinch. Him being big and strong just drove me feral and wanting to pit strength against strength. Corner coach had to shout out at me twice "Don't push!"

Third round was against someone else who tagged in, the dude I sparred last time. He has experience but gets tired quickly. I myself was more tired than usual come the third round from losing my head a few times the previous rounds and either loading up on punches or engaging in wrestling. This guy came in aggressively (he told me afterwards that he wanted to take advantage of the fact that he was fresh and I wasn't - fair!) and I got tagged with shots I should have been able to avoid. One made me lose my right contact lens, which is the first time that's ever happened. Ignored that and after about a minute of finding my groove against him, I started making him miss and landed jabs and straight rights. There was a distinct moment the course of the round switched when  I saw one of his rights coming at me like it was in slow motion and I thought c'mon, you can dodge these.

Blew my noise afterwards and noticed a little blood. Front tooth and neck are also a little sore. Nothing too bad.

Going forward: I need to really train being better at in-fighting. I'm too comfortable being an out-fighter against people my size and shorter. I realized today I still tense up too much when throwing punches on the inside.

Circus dumbbell press (clean once)

100 x 2, 5, 4

Keg press (clean once)

150 x 5, 8

Dumbbell shrugs + walk 1 lap

125s x 3 x 10

Modified events day due to the little injuries that reared their heads last week and the fact that I have sparring the next day. Bicep was able to handle the amount of cleans this workout had. I felt an instance of pain on the third and final set of cleaning the dumbbell up, but it was gone by the end of it and I was able to get the keg up fine. 

The first set of keg pressing was done right after the last dumbbell set.

I didn't feel good about my back or my bicep doing heavy farmers' walks. If I didn't have sparring, I would probably have taken the chance. Instead I grabbed my heaviest dumbbells and did cleans followed by a walk around my yard with them before setting them down. Doing some extra trap work since I'm doing less clean reps in general.

Felt a light twinge in my lower back on the last round of dumbbell walks. Dropped the bells and felt fine. Can bend and twist my back with no issue. I'm navigating these shark-infested waters with a steady hand.

Ready for sparring today, light or hard. I no longer feel anxious in the lead-up.

Also, have to note a crazy dream I had that made no sense. I was in a Terminator movie sequel, and I could also morph like in Animorphs, and I could change into a hawk except it stopped working later when we were being chased, so the group I was teamed up with had to climb up ladders on the side of a house, and at the top there were people making breakfast biscuits for us, and the final boss spanned the entire level with a red body made of meat with an eyeless head and horrifying gaping mouth that looked like a boss from Contra. 

Went to boxing on Friday with debilitatingly sore calf muscles from sprinting  the hill. Coach noticed I was moving a little sluggishly and asked if I was OK when it was my turn to hit the mitts he was making the rounds with. Suffered through the hour and felt good for doing so at the end.

Watched part of a Van Damme movie, Double Impact, later that night, the inferior "Double" movie compared to the glorious Double Team.

On Saturday, while working up my weight in squats, I felt a minor back tweak on my left with 315. Switched to belt squats instead.

Belt squats

8 plates x 3 x 10

High incline bench press

160 x 4 x 8

Super-set with landmine rows

5 plates x 4 x 8

Axle curls: 50

Signed-up for sparring and two more boxing training sessions on Tuesday-Thursday. In the same evening, went out to the heavy bag with headgear on and did 3 rounds of 5 minutes, followed by a 15-minute run.

Watched Predator 2 Saturday night. What a goddamn classic.

Low back has been in minor pain since that tweak and seems gone this Monday morning.

Back from a weekend LA trip for Sonya's 21st birthday. Didn't have time to hit-up Muscle Beach, which wasn't surprising given how short an excursion this was. Went to the Porsche Experience racetrack for my niece's birthday and we all at and lounged in the restaurant while she learned how to drive on the track with the instructor. The food here was the best on the trip - had an excellent wagyu burger. Dinner at Lido Italian restaurant afterwards was good but not as amazing as that burger.

Diet was on point in general. I packed 5 tins of sardines in olive oil and brought an entire bag of whey powder. During breaks on the drive, I'd eat sardines and then scoop dry whey in my mouth, which soon forms into a ball and becomes a protein candy that slowly dissolves (been doing this for almost 20 years so way before the ill-advised social media fad of swallowing plain powder). I would have allowed myself burgers or tacos every now and then, but I knew there would be better food at the destination so I might as well hold off until that. 

New strongman gear arrived yesterday: Rogue throw bag. Going to fill it up with rubber mulch once I make a trip to Home Depot.

 Boxing class consisted of simple partner drills, starting by taking turns throwing 3 jabs of any pattern and consistency, then taking turns slipping 1-2s, then double jabs followed by a right hook, then adding to that combo with body shots at the end. Ended with playing shoulder tag. Partner commented after tag, "You're very fast!" which is nice to hear from someone lighter and younger at this age.

Did a 60-second dead hang after class and then noticed bright red stretch marks under my arm. They were so vivid I thought I was bleeding and tried to wash em off.

 Sparring yesterday went was fun, but opponent was out-of-shape. Big guy who could hit hard, but his strikes were slow. Corner coach told me before the match that he drops his hand after jabbing so counter with my right. Did that a lot, but also found I could land my right almost everytime without using it to counter. My jab had a near 100% success rate, as well. Practiced throwing more body shots than before, but I should throw those harder. They made contact but not as solidly as a body shot should. There were several left hooks and overhand rights I landed that seemed to stun him so I eased up, and in the last round he was very noticeably tired. After getting hit, he would slap his forehead and go "OOOORGH!" several times. His cornerman shouted not to do that and stay calm.

Had a chat with him afterwards while we watched the others go; nice guy. He asked me "You're one of the coaches, right?" and I found out he was confusing me with the Tuesday night coach, who went on to spar after us. That was a cool compliment.

In unrelated news, I'm going to LA on Friday for my niece's birthday and will be returning Sunday, so no boxing this Friday. Will see if I have time to hit up Muscle Beach in Venice again.

 Deload

Medley:

Sandbag floor to shoulder: x 0, 1

Keg press: 1, 1

Circus dumbbell press: 80 x 5, 5

Standing unilateral dumbbell press with Fat Gripz: 50 x 3 x 10

Farmer's walk: 125 x 1 lap

Sandbag floor to platform loading: 3

My brain seemed to completely forget what to do with the sandbag on the first attempt at getting it to the shoulder. Second attempt went up.

I'm ready for sparring today, but I'm aiming to not feel hyped about it and be more relaxed.

 Typed this workout up during downtime at work last week but later ran out of time to finish and didn't save it to the cloud to post it over the weekend.

Deload

Axle press

110 x 5

130 x 5

150 x 5

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

Front squats

135 x 5

185 x 5

225 x 5

Super-set with chin-ups: 3 x 10

Landmine rows

3 plates x 8

4 plates x 9, 10

Super-set with Arnold press: 80s x 7, 8, 6

Sandbag carry: 200 x 1 minute

Left wrist and right elbow are in a little pain. Nothing too concerning, but it's a good time to deload.

Friday evening was boxing. We mostly stayed on the heavy bag, working combos and drilling a high power jab with the wrist supinated almost like a cross between a jab and an uppercut. I commented to the coach after class that it reminded me of Razor Ruddock's "smash" punch.

Saturday was another deload workout:

Barbell shrugs

275 x 3 x 10

Romanian deadlifts

275 x 3 x 8

Bent-over rows: 100 x 3 x 8

Super-set with Swiss bar bench press: 205 x 3 x 8

Axle curls

30 x 50

I finally managed to get reserved for Tuesday sparring. On Sunday, I practiced two combos I want to employ:

Right uppercut - left body hook

1-2 while moving inside, then a left head hook followed by a left to the body

Drilled them across 3 rounds of 5 minutes on the heavy bag with headgear on.

Oh, and I went on fasted jogs first thing upon waking up on Saturday and Sunday with some dry whey scooped in my mouth. Roughly 45 minutes and I walked home about half of the time. Priority was enjoying the outdoor morning time versus maximizing fat loss and a walk home with a podcast playing was perfect.

 Wednesday boxing class: after skipping rope and shadowboxing, everyone lined up with one foot in a plastic ring and took turns throwing close-range combinations that were called out by the coach. After 3 minutes, trainees on one side moved left and trainees on the other side moved right so everyone would get a chance to throw hands together, although we ran out of time to make it completely down the line. One of the combos was a left hook followed by a right hook with the defender ducking both. Through my peripheral vision I was the only one nearby able to keep squatting under the hooks for the full 3 minutes. 

Next, we grabbed dumbbells and a medicine ball and did various workouts with those, my favorite being throwing the ball one-handed at the wall to train power jabs and straight rights.

I couldn't help but see the humor in the skinny coach instructing me to do lateral raises as veins were practically popping out of my ears but I say that in good nature; it was a big class and lots of people were out of shape. Excellent technical first half for me, at least. And some of the medicine ball exercises got a little challenging.

Yukon bar squats

410 x 3

320 x 14

Incline dumbbell press

80s x 10, 10, 9

Super-set with chin-ups: 3 x 10

Been half a year since I've back squatted heavy. Positioning was a little tricky, especially with this bar. 320x14 matches what I did when I was recovering from COVID but weighed over 15 lbs heavier than I do now. 

I realized I'm being a little TOO cautious with keeping reps in reserve because I tweaked my back several weeks ago while at the very bottom during front squats, but it wasn't a bad one at all and overall my back has been feeling great. Let's push squats a little more next time.

This morning: 5 minute jump-rope round and uncounted crunches before work. Boxing class tomorrow and Friday, and hopefully sparring next Tuesday.

Woke-up early for a Saturday and did this in the morning:

Medley

Sandbag floor-to-shoulder: 200 x 1, 1

Keg press: 150 x 1, 1

Circus dumbbell press: 100 x 1, 2

Seated Arnold press

80s x 7, 9, 5

Farmer’s walk

440 x 2 rounds

Farmer’s handles shrugs

440 x 8

Sandbag floor to platform loading

200 x 6

Replaced log training with that medley for the health of my bicep and it worked out well. The circus dumbbell is just a dumbbell with Fat Gripz but calling it that denotes the nature of the movement well instead of having to clarify the type of dumbbell press. The sandbag doesn’t bother my bicep at all, which is great. Getting the sandbag to my shoulder was easy this session because I felt fresh enough to move it up my body fast.

Went in the pool afterwards. Nothing resembling a workout, just R&R time. Played more Tales of the Abyss before and after, too, and advanced the story. I'm liking it a lot more than newer RPGs like Dragon Quest 11 and SMT 5.

On Sunday, after some manual labor fixing my backyard gate that had fallen off the hinges, I did:

3 rounds, 5 minutes each on the heavy bag

23-minute jog for 1.68 miles