KRAKATOA: PowPowPunishment's Daily Ventures of Destruction

Training Training Logs
284

Returned from a family trip to Las Vegas on Thursday for my niece’s 21st birthday. Didn’t train for 3 days, but got a lot of walking done. I had trained hard prior to leaving and the rest period feels physically restorative.

Ate a lot of great food and I’d also brought a bag of protein powder + shaker cup with me for the hotel. It helped on the first few days, but I soon accumulated a collection of leftovers that I sadly was unable to finish before the trip was over.

Made it to boxing on Friday, which was a conditioning-heavy session. Coach reminded me to turn into my cross more while holding mitts and enthusiastically remarked on my power from making that fix.

Broke out the SSB on Saturday:

SSB squats
400 x 3

290 x 2 x 10

Belt squats
345 x 10

Single leg curls
290 x 2 x 15

This absolutely wrecked me, and the effect is only worse 2 days later. I feel the most sore I have in a long time. Back, traps, neck, and legs are all feeling it. Before I get ahead of myself, I also benched the next day:

2-board press
315 x 3
335 x 1
365 x 1

Paused 1-board press
275 x 7

Incline dumbbell press
80s x 12, 10

Chin-ups
10, 10, 12, 10

Swiss bar incline skullcrushers
45 x 50

Axle curls
30 x 50

It’s a miracle I was able to move 365 and 275x7 paused because my arms felt like they were moving through quicksand this whole session. Was shocked at how heavy 315x3 felt. Just lying down hurt my traps from the SSB the day before.

Went to see my dad at his resting spot afterwards for Father’s Day. Brought along his bottle of brandy and had a sip with him.

I was already absolutely wrecked with insane full-body soreness when I started to feel sick that night and came down with what felt like a fever and sore throat. Treated myself to a spa night at home with an epsom salt bath, went to bed feeling like death and fluctuating between hot and cold, and woke-up this morning feeling a lot better. Still dealing with soreness, fatigue, and a sore throat.

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Sounds like you really ran yourself through the ringer there. If you were a Saiyan this would be great to recover from, haha. Glad to hear you’re feeling better.

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@T3hPwnisher Thanks man, I love that analogy, haha. Definitely have thought about being one more times than I can count when feeling beat up.

Been sick this week. Had a fever Sunday night, woke-up feeling better Monday morning, felt more sick by mid-day, repeat for Tuesday and so far today. Trained hard over the weekend so I’m taking the week easy so far. Went on a jog Monday and cancelled boxing class yesterday to shadowbox and hit the bag at home instead.

I have an appointment this evening to tour a health club near my house. This is actually the second facility I ever lifted at, but it’s been renovated and sold to new owners who turned it into a bougie wellness center. I’m mainly interested in the sauna and steam room.

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Walked over to the health club yesterday evening and took a tour. Love the facility and equipment, but found the crowd and emphasis on “community” annoying - pretty much what I expected. Am going to try it for 1 week to see if it’s right for me and worth attending for the sauna and steam room. It also works so well that it’s a 5-minute walk from my home.

As I stepped out, I came across the devoured remains of a baby deer by the road (this town was literally named after all the mountain lions in the area). This has nothing to do with anything but it was metal as fuck.

Came home and did a couple of sets on the reverse hyper and shadowboxed and stretched. Still a little sick but much better than the previous day.

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Did this yesterday after work:

Overhead dumbbell press (seated)
80s x 8, 7, 7

Incline dumbbell press
80s x 8

Chin-ups: 4 x 10

Single leg curls:
290 x 15

Sandbag squats:
200 x 15

From here, I packed a bag and walked to the health club. I figured I got the basics covered at home so I wouldn’t be annoyed at lacking equipment or having to wait for machines on my first day there.

I hate to admit it but I had a fantastic time. Chin-ups aggravate my elbow a little by rep 7 or 8 and I haven’t been able to do them weighted for that reason, so I came here with a primary mission to use a back machine. I absolutely blew up my upper-back doing high-angle rows on one (practically a lat pull-down) but without any elbow pain, which was the best part. Also got in some cable chest-flyes, leg pressing, and curls for fun, and finished with 5 minutes on the elliptical.

From there, went to shower and then hit-up the steam room, infrared sauna, cold plunge (only got in partially to test how cold they kept it), and outdoor sauna in the pool area. Stared at the sunset through the sauna and muttered to myself “Dammit, I like this a lot.”

The outdoor sauna is by a row of bonfires and lounge chairs. The sign-up lady informed me there’s group happy hour here every Friday and invited me to the one happening today. My Friday happy hour involves throwing leather at the boxing gym but I said thank you.

The infrared sauna was interesting. The room felt fairly cool but the seats and walls were hot.

Sitting in the steam room and traditional sauna made me think of my dad the whole time. Was staring at the sauna rocks and remembered touching them when I was a little kid as my dad shouted “Don’t!” to me and how we’d always laugh at that story when I was older.

Even though I get a good deal of daily walking in as-is, walking to and from here also increases that. Came home feeling very refreshed and a touch nostalgic.

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That sounds like an excellent time. Restorative for body and spirit. No shame in liking the luxuries of the commercial gym too. I have a full membership to a VERY well outfitted one that, if I ever felt the need, I’d do exactly like you did: hit the hard stuff at home and the filler there.

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@T3hPwnisher Thanks man! I used to have an extremely unhealthy, antisocial approach to being out in public and contending with crowds at gyms that I’m mostly past. I just shake my head reading some of my old log entries.

Boxing yesterday was another conditioning-centric evening: dumbbell shadowboxing, medicine ball push-ups, plyo push-ups, dumbbell shoulder holds, and high-power rounds on the bag mixed with calisthenics that the coach would call out. Ended with planks.

Unfortunately, I hurt my back deadlifting today. I had 475 on the bar and was going to hit 5. The bar felt very light but I tweaked something at the start of rep 3 and had to shut the session down.

I had been sitting down relaxing for a period of time before lifting and knowing my body, that was a mistake. Staying in one position too long always does me in.

I got a pretty cool picture before the end. Currently weighing 195. (Thought I’d add don’t mind the USSE shirt, it says USSR boxing

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THE worst thing dude. Get better!

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Back is still in a painful state during and after bedrest but gets noticeably better later in the day. Switching between two different beds to see which yields the least amount of pain in the morning. I slept on the firmer one last night (memory foam unfortunately) and woke-up in the middle of the night astonished at how much pain I was still in. I have a Lumbair inflatable back rest that’s a lifesaver for sitting down that I’ll take home from work and experiment with while sleeping on my back.

My default posture seems to be rectifying itself. Torso was crooked and slanted to the left before. Using the Cerberus soft belt as a back brace during the day.

Unfortunately, had to cancel mid-week boxing for the second time in a row. Last week was due to being sick with a fever.

Got in a no-iron workout yesterday:

10 dips

10 band rows

10 Hatfield squats

Done in 10 rounds, making 100 total reps of each.

I was actually able to move pretty efficiently and do some light shadowboxing last night. Going to do a bench press workout this evening after cautiously testing if I can move the 45s around. If not, I’ll either do a push-up workout or go to the gym and use the machines.

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Was able to move the 45 plates around without additional pain yesterday, so hit the iron.

Paused incline bench: 205 x 5, 6, 4+1 (rest paused)
185 x 6, 6 → dropdown to 135 x 8
Super-set with wide pull-ups: 5 x 10

Axle preacher curls: 35 x 30

10 minute jog afterwards

Back is still in pain when I wake-up to use the restroom at night or in the morning, but improved enough that I can turn in bed or get up without extended agony. Switched beds in the middle of the night again and will go explore some mattress options this weekend.

I’ve been keeping up my lunchbreak walks all this week and yesterday was the first time I was walking with a normal gait. I’ll attend boxing tomorrow while letting the coach know I have to go easy on stuff like medicine ball throws, ab work, and bobbing and weaving.

Sharing a picture showing both my current body comp level at 195 and my slanted posture from a couple days ago. It’s corrected itself as the healing process has progressed and I’m able to stand straight again.

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Went to boxing on Friday and my back was able to handle everything except ab work at the very end. Skipping rope and medicine ball burpees felt fine, although I made sure not to move ballistically on the burpees. Coach asked me if I can duck and roll and after starting slow I had it down.

Unfortunately I left my Cerberus belt at the boxing gym. My next class is Wednesday but if I have time I’ll swing by and grab it today.

By the end of class my back felt great, but I still wasn’t ready for large amounts of load-bearing like heavy squats. Luckily, the onboarding rep who was handling my trial week at the gym extended my access period until Monday when she found out I wasn’t able to make use of it the past week. I was able to go on Saturday and had a fantastic machine session. Hit cable flyes, seated cable rows, preacher curls, leg press, and lying leg curls. Had a limp afterwards from pushing the leg curls. Went in the steam room afterwards, swam laps in the pool, and then the sauna before walking back home.

Sunday: 20 minute jog followed by untimed shadowboxing rounds.

Before work this morning I hit 20 burpees and 50 jumping-jacks. Going to cautiously squat 150 with the SSB today.

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Yesterday evening:

SSB squats
150, 200, 240 x 10

Ab wheel x 25
Super-set with reverse crunches x 8

Exceeded my goal of squatting 150, but made myself stop at 240. Back has improved by leaps and bounds from last week but under load, it feels tender at the bottom of the squat. Still, excited to have weight on my back again. The simple things in life…

Ab wheel was done kneeling rather than standing, also to go easy on my back.

Food note: I’ve been buying quail eggs to use with my morning bone broth and they suit this purpose better than big chicken eggs. Easier to drink down and they don’t get stuck to the bottom of the porcelain. I’ve avoided them before because they can be annoying to crack (rubbery shell) and require a high volume when pan frying to fill a plate, but for drinking, definitely going to keep buying them from Costco.

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I was curious what the hell I’d use quail eggs for after seeing them at Costco: that’s a great idea!

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I just recently got a Costco membership (first joint account with the fiancee lol). I am 100% making a qual egg omelette now lol

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It’d be the easiest way to do the Gaston challenge of 5 dozen eggs.

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@T3hPwnisher I had the same thought about the quail eggs after buying them as a one-off novelty from an Italian market. Someone tell Disney they should sell Gaston drinks with quail eggs at their parks.

Paused board press
315 x 3
325 x 1
340 x 1

Wide-grip bench press
240 x 2 x 8

Close-grip bench press
240 x 7
225 x 8

Lying dumbbell rows
125s x 3 x 8

Wide-grip pull-ups
20

315x3 felt heavy and the last rep was a grind, so I went up cautiously and suddenly felt like I was awake and locked in - everything after that felt light.

Weighed 198.2 this morning, slightly heavier than a few weeks ago.

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Felt drained going into boxing on Wednesday. The heat didn’t help after being in a hot office all day, but started feeling more energetic the more we trained.

3x 3-minute rounds of skipping rope
3x 3-minute rounds of shadowboxing with 4lb dumbbells
2x 3-minute rounds of freestyle heavy bag work
2x 3-minute rounds of footwork drills via jabbing in and out of the plastic floor rings and slipping to the side, eventually adding a hook
2 rounds of trading 1-2s with partner and slipping, eventually adding a hook
Light stretches

I also found my Cerberus belt sitting in the equipment area and I took that back home. Going to submit paperwork next week to get into the sparring classes.

Had a great 4th of July. Went to the beach in the morning and overpacked food so I didn’t hit up any of the quaint beachside restaurants as was planned, but that’s a good problem to have.

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Had a great boxing session yesterday with a substitute coach. Did some partner shadowboxing and got scratched in the face (sidenote: this guy happens to be the uncle of my old Muay Thai coach). During this, the coach singled me out and asked me to only jab so my partners could keep up. Donned gloves and did some rounds of trading simple combos with a partner, choosing to block, parry, or slip. One training partner who I’ve developed a good rapport with asked me to partner up in the ring and we spent the round pushing against each other trading upper-cuts and hooks.

Happy to report that my back has been doing well. Got in a squat session today.

SSB squats
330 x 7, 8, 7

SSB front squats
200 x 10

Romanian deadlifts
225 x 8, 10

Hanging leg raises
10, 15

Ab wheel
5 reps kneeling, 3 standing

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Walked to the gym yesterday after finding a copy of God of War Ascension sitting in my PlayStation 3 library and not remembering that I bought it cheap off eBay a while ago. Pregamed for the gym with it and raised my testosterone levels by murdering massive, screen-filling Greek gods and monsters with brute strength.

Arnold press: 80s x 7, 6, 5

Incline dumbbell press: 80s x 7, 6

Chin-ups: 12

Machine chest press: 185 x 3 x 10
Super-set with machine high-angle rows: 185 x 3 x 10

Cable chest flyes: 15, 12, 12

1-minute dead hang

Cable pressdowns:20

Machine preacher curls: 65 x 10, 10
45 x 12

I’m having a really fun time using the machines and getting a pump. Although my elbow aches a little using the dumbbells and during curls, I’m giving it more of a break than I would training at home with machine rows and pressing. Need to remember to make note of machine weight settings, though, as I don’t remember what I used with flyes and pressdowns but it was light weight.

Went in the steam room afterwards, doing a few stretches in there for my sore hamstrings. Then went to the pool area and sat in the sauna before sitting poolside reading a Michael Crichton novel with my protein shake. After my swimsuit got dry, I went upstairs to try out their cafe. Sadly, they don’t have much meat options which is such a missed opportunity, but enjoyed my “protein toast” with eggs, avocado, and balsamic vinegar on sourdough for what it was while fantasizing about a gym that sells barbecue and then vowing to make my home gym exactly that, except I get a VIP discount by making it free after I buy it from the store. Walked home and ate some lamb and rice after the cafe snack.

I also had elk for the first time that I can remember yesterday (I may have had an elk stick before but I can’t remember if it was actually venison, and it was processed and spiced to the point that it tasted like any beef stick). It was delicious just from pan frying with a rich, “dark” taste. The cat is also eating deer these days (see below) and I made ground bison bowls for my work lunch.

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Got in a lot of walking throughout the rest of the afternoon and a final one at night.

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Elk is absolutely delicious. So glad you got to enjoy some.

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