@simo74 Thanks for checking man! Just been so busy. Was actually thinking this morning how I want to stay more on-top of daily updates rather than just lump several days together in one post like I’ve been doing lately.
Pause bench
305 x 3, 3, 2
2-board press
275 x 6, 7
Close-grip bench
225 x 10
Lying dumbbell rows
125s x 8, 8, 10, 10
Band-resisted dumbbell chest flyes
35s x 12, 10
Curl medley
Right shoulder started hurting on the 225 bench, so shut it down at 10. But even 10 at that point was a challenge, which took me by surprise.
Weighed 203 in the morning before breakfast. Roughly 20 lbs lost since January. Feeling small and weak, but LOOKING stronger in the mirror. I’m also always benching close to my most intense conditioning night at boxing and usually have some manner of shoulder soreness coming in to these sessions. What’s really nuts is that my traps got sore from doing a shoulder circuit with 3 lb dumbbells Friday night at the boxing gym. This isn’t one of those “you can make light weight feel heavy” anecdotes, either; it wasn’t even hard and I was just following the motions of the coach. Crazy.
Speaking of boxing, got a new pair of Rival bag gloves over the weekend. They feel amazing to wear: lighter but with more protection than my Muay Thai gloves. They’re most certainly not for sparring, as the ends feel you’d be on the receiving end of a rock getting hit by them, but once I get medical paperwork and start sparring, I’ll pick-up some 16 oz Winning or Onyx gloves.
Went to the hospital lab first thing this morning and did a kidney ultrasound to make sure death isn’t imminent from my slightly elevated creatine levels.
The lab technician: “Do you know what could be causing your high creatine level?”
Me: “I take creatine.”
Lab tech: “Oh, that would explain it.”
Technically I don’t take creatine NOW but I did when my blood test alerted the doc to this back in January. I’m waiting for this to be behind me before resuming creatine soon. It always works so well for me when losing weight, helping to get some of that fullness back.
The tech commented during the scan that everything appears fine to her, but we’re waiting on the radiologist report to confirm it.
Knowing that I could drop dead at any moment and I’d better do everything in life I’ve always wanted, I went to the boxing gym after work and had a decent partner-centric session where we took turns throwing combos while parrying, blocking, and slipping. Class size to room ratio was an annoyance again: kept htiting my feet against the guys on either side of me throughout the entire class, and then had to share a very light punching bag at the end that went flying in either direction when I’d hit it. At least I got to put my new gloves to use, which felt awesome to hit with.
Back has been feeling really good this week. I’ve been using the reverse-hyper a lot more, and I think I’m discovering that’s the key to it: consistency.
@simo74 Hah, I swear I’ll never get tired of hearing amusing lifter tales at the doctor’s office.
My doctor emailed me that everything looks fine with my kidneys. Nothing I wasn’t expecting, but it’s good to have this formally checked off given the amount of time I hadn’t been to the doctor’s until this year. Going to start creatine again today.
Squats
440 x 3
320 x 13, 10
Reverse-hyper after every squat set: 3 plates x 12-15
Continuing on with the narrower stance and keeping a relaxed grip on the bar. Really buried every rep. Despite the lower weight, it’s a powerful feeling to blast out of the hole using quad power instead of having more help from my hips when squatting wide. The Yukon bar kept slipping down my back and I had to adjust during the sets, probably as a result of having less meat up there to cushion it (weighed 201.2 this morning).
With nothing to lose and no powerlifting meet on the horizon, I may switch to the safety squat bar for awhile as I rehab my elbow.
On the dietary front, I ate 12 eggs yesterday in sets of 4, not counting added egg whites
@T3hPwnisher Absolutely, just something to check-off and put behind me.
Friday was exhausting. Got a lot of walking in the sun in and it felt like I couldn’t drink enough water, then had a hard conditioning session in boxing that evening. Felt like I was in recovery mode the whole weekend.
Had an awesome cheat day on Saturday, finishing the night with a 1/2 lb burger and fries.
Broke out the safety squat bar on Monday night and did 3 sets of 310 for 8 reps, super-setting reverse-hyper sets for 12, 15, and 20 reps with 250 lbs.
Since then, while waking-up to use the restroom at night, I’ve noticed my back hurting, but that became much better after turning over to sleep on my back while stretching my legs and back out and into the mattress to decompress.
While I’ve increased using the reverse-hyper to good results recently, I haven’t been stretching my hips and legs as much lately, which has been another piece to the pain-reduction puzzle. Going to make sure I do this after boxing, either at the gym or when I get home.
Boxing yesterday was combo-heavy mitt work with a partner the whole session. Got a decent sweat going but was definitely a conditioning break compared to last week. Also got a new jump-rope after my old Everlast one got stolen (I’ll have to check but it may have gotten hung-up in the other room at my gym, being mistaken for gym equipment). This one is easier to use because the handles are more ergonomic and easier to hold. Coming from strongman, though, I see value in awkward training equipment, but I had almost no missed skips in the 3-minute rounds we skipped rope for with the new rope so getting into a training zone with it was a good feeling.
Weighted dips: 50 lbs x 15, 20
Super-set with weighted chin-ups: 50 lbs x 3 x 8
Tricep pressdowns: 20, 15
Dumbbell curls: 50s x 15, 12, 12
Reverse-hyper unilateral leg extensions: 290 lbs x 20, 15
Super-set with reverse-hyper unilateral leg curls: 290 lbs x 20, 15
Reverse-hyper standard: 290 x 15, 12
Feeling good from the pump this gave me and ready for a max effort weekend, even with Friday boxing’s reliably tough conditioning. The leg extensions and tricep extensions in particular felt nice for my recovering knee and elbow.
Capped off the week with boxing on Friday. Form was really on point today. Felt like I could have gone all day skipping rope, my flow felt so smooth and natural shadowboxing, and the coach commented that my form looked good and he didn’t have anything to correct while he was making the rounds evaluating everyone’s body hooks to the bag.
Had the biggest cheat day I’ve done in a while on Saturday and hit my goal during squats.
Squats
450 x 3
320 x 15
Left it at that, as I was sore from the leg session day before yesterday and we did bodyweight squats in boxing on Friday.
Went to the beach after bench pressing on Sunday (what a classic combination) and extended the bicep phase of the workout even more by opting to carry our cooler across the sand instead of pulling it from the handle. My biceps were actually sore until Tuesday, which rarely happens.
Good technical boxing sesh after work on Tuesday. I didn’t get corrected on form, but after watching the coach demonstrate, I have a suspicion I’m not angling my upper-body enough when getting in low for a body hook. Something I want to practice and film.
Found time after waking up before my alarm to get in 30 burpees and 20 band pull-aparts before work Wednesday morning, and then moved some weight that evening:
Sumo deadlifts
570 x 1.5, 2
Fell forward just before lockout on the 2nd rep of the 1st set, so tried again and handily got it. Once again, I’m experiencing thigh chaffing from my thumbs, and they’re digging into my legs enough that it’s actually slowing me down at the top. Not mere friction, although my thighs are red from that too, but actually getting blocked by flesh. Never experienced this pulling conventional but the baby powder method makes sense now. For next time, I’ll remember to wear some slick tights I originally bought for Muay Thai and see if that helps.
My right collarbone hurt a little afterwards from fighting to not fall forward and it’s sore today. Doesn’t feel too bad, but hopefully it’s not something that lingers as it feels tender if I throw right punches.
Went on a long walk yesterday afternoon after a big post-workout meal, and ended up finishing with a jog. All untimed, just wanted to enjoy the weather.
Read this gem I have, as well: General Patton’s diary. It reads like The Art of War mixed with personal accounts and touches. Very captivating. Patton’s morning routine in 1942 are chin-ups and running in place for 480 steps (1/4 mile). He mentions on the first page fearing that he’ll get fat and that he finished reading the Koran, which he described as a good and interesting book.
One of my favorite movie lines is from the movie Patton. As the Nazis realize defeat for their regime is inevitable, one officer holds up a picture of him, their arch nemesis, and remarks, “He will be destroyed, too. The absence of war will kill him. The pure warrior…a magnificent anachronism.”
My back had been feeling beat-up since deadlifts until yesterday, when it felt better. Was driving home from work looking forward to a killer squat session when all of a sudden my back injured itself just from shifting slightly in the driver seat. Nixed my barbell squat plan and did:
Single leg extensions
290 x 15, 15
Super-set with single leg curls
290 x 15, 25
Belt squats
380 x 8, 10, 10
Belt squats are lifesavers. So glad I set-up a way to do them.
Also, get a load of this. When I was training Muay Thai 5 years ago, I wrote in my training log “I’m saving up to get a Winning FG 5000 headpiece. Comes out to $340 on Rakuten”. I’m going to start sparring in boxing and that headgear is now over $650. Should have pulled the trigger back then!
Participated in what I would call my first real sparring session at this boxing gym yesterday. Officially I need a doctor’s sign-off to engage in their dedicated sparring hours so I’m grateful that this coach had us spar during class regardless of that. First 2 rounds were with jabs only and then 1-2s only, but the third round was everything. Different partners each round.
As soon as the coach finished explaining, the tallest guy in class and I immediately turned to each other and partnered up. Haven’t seen him before but he looks to be around 6’4". I’m no giant at 6’ but I’m taller than 80% of class and I have a long reach, so I genuinely got excited at the opportunity of being the smaller man for once. Pity I couldn’t trade with him during the everything round and we could only jab. We both landed good shots, and I had such an easy time tagging his body when I got low that I made a point to challenge myself and focus on connecting with his head more. Expectedly, I found my jab falling short a few times so I would adjust and see better results by not going into autopilot but actually calculating the distance better.
Second partner was someone I’ve worked mitts with before. He throws hard but gasses out. His aggression allowed him to connect to my forehead and temple a few times but I blocked or parried everything coming to my chin. One right cross that hit my temple was particularly hard and he stopped to apologize, but I had rolled with the punch pretty well and told him I’m good.
Third guy was a young dude about as tall as me. He was very cautious and I found myself adjusting my pace just a little so I wasn’t the only one throwing for stretches of time. I was surprised at his lack of aggression because he’s high-energy during drills and looks good while shadowboxing.
Did all this with an injured back, which has been slowly getting better. Movement is far better for it than laying or sitting around, and I actually forgot about it in the hour session. Legs also started to cramp from charging in and back, but I hid the pain from my partners and outlasted it.
We finished off with just the right amount of ab work to work the muscles but nothing crazy that strained my back. Got through the 1-minute plank with no issue.
Feels great to spar again. I’ll be getting that doctor signature soon.
Hell yeah brother! I know the feeling. Even the little tippy-tap point sparring I’m doing these days has me feeling alive again. It’s an outstanding element to be in: so glad you’re back at it. Really hope your back gets sorted out soon: seems to be plaguing you a bunch as of recent. I remember your chair was a cause of the ache before: any potential your work chair is at play?
@T3hPwnisher You definitely know that feeling man, haha. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading your sparring and grappling summaries recently, and more than once I’ve gone further back in your training log to reread sparring accounts. Thanks for saying that. I’ve had chronic back issues since 2007. I even remember making a thread about it on T-Nation back then. I’ve always found ways to manage but never eradicate it. Sitting down was definitely a big pain trigger and investing in a high quality Herman Miller chair for my home computer helped a ton. I cycle between standing at work and sitting with a lumbar cushion, back massager, and hip supporter, so sitting at work is pretty comfy, but sometimes I’m driving a work vehicle that definitely causes back pain. Today I added a lumbar cushion to it for the first time and kicked myself afterwards for not doing it sooner, so I’m eager to see results from that. I was actually in a very minimal pain streak recently until jumping back into heavy deadlifts after reducing my deadlift frequency (funnily enough, in order to try and help with back pain) really did me in last week. I’ve also been wondering if I have an undiagnosed slipped disc or something and want to get it formally checked out for the first time ever this year.
Got to do more partner sparring in boxing yesterday, this time only with body shots. Something I need to be better about is to not reach far out for body hooks. Step in and slip to get in position.
Session ended with the coach giving everyone 50 punches to the body. When he got to me he commented, “Damn, hard as a rock.” I was acting like a lifter and doing the valsalva maneuver so he told me not to hold my breath.
