KRAKATOA: PowPowPunishment's Daily Ventures of Destruction

Training Logs
365

Damn, what a night. Was on my feet at work all day and was feeling tired, so I half-heartedly got set-up to squat at 8pm ready to post-pone it until the next day but the lure of the iron won out tonight.

Squats
440 x 3
Drop-down to 405 x 3, 315 x 8, 225 x 8, 135 x 8

This felt so much easier than 430 x 3 last time. Used low bar for the top set and high bar for everything else. Very interesting experience. Felt like I was going to fall forward when I switched to high bar. Low bar felt more secure than last time (no sensation of the bar about to fall off my back), but elbow still hurts when I walk the bar back and unrack. Trying really hard not to press my hands into the weight, which feels like the problem for my elbow, but to pull the bar down into me instead. Haven’t got it 100% yet. High bar gives my elbow a total break.

Very happy to be getting stronger in the squat again.

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366

2-board press
360 x 1

Swiss bar incline bench press
195x3x7, 1x6

Lying dumbbell rows
115s x 4 x 9

Incline skullcrushers
50s x 2 x 7
35s x 10

Spider curls
50s x 4 x 10

Pressing 360 was easy. I’ve been eating more carbs so I figured I’ve gained some weight this past week, but the scale says I’m the same. I haven’t been slacking on the cardio and it’s only been a week, but the strength gains are noticeable.

Haven’t done spider curls in awhile but they kick ass and feel a lot easier on my elbow.

Back to the boxing gym next week. For today, I’m about to hit the beach to end the weekend.

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Ended up having a total rest day yesterday except in the morning before work: 50 band pull-aparts and 5 Turkish get-ups. Also did some yoga and banded reverse hypers using the couch as an anchor for an exercise band in the evening. Just felt like I needed to rest and recuperate. I trained hard Friday night and Saturday morning, got little sleep over the weekend due to my internal clock not allowing me to sleep past 8am, and I’ve been experiencing headaches in the back of my skull as a result.

Went to bed early last night and got very good sleep, then went out in the gym at about 6:40 am.

1-minute dead hang
100 swings with 50 lb kettlebell
10 ab wheel reps (5 lying, 5 standing)

Feeling refreshed and ready for boxing.

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This update is basically going to cover the work week.

Returned to the boxing gym on Tuesday after a 1-week hiatus. After 3 rounds of shadowboxing, we partnered up for several drills. The one I remember: 1 person throws jabs, other defends and occasionally counters with a 1-2, original striker responds with 1-2-3 when that happens. I partnered with someone I have a good rapport with and has a powerful right hand. This hyped me up to really blast the mitts and later the shield when it was my turn. Felt tired but didn’t slow down.

Returned for Wednesday’s class, which was shadowboxing, rounds on the bag, and a fitness circuit including battle ropes, med ball slams, kettlebell squats, and more. No partner work.

Felt surprisingly sore in my hamstrings from those 100 kb swings earlier in the week. Back has also been hurting this week, but as of Friday it’s feeling a lot better.

Despite back pain, I was able to squat without issue last night.

Squats (high bar)
315 x 17

Kb pullovers
25 x 20

Incline bench press
200 x 7, 8, 7

Pull-ups
Bodyweight x 12
50 x 8, 8

Spider curls
50s x 3 x 12, 12, 10

Rewatched the Muhammad Ali documentary When We Were Kings afterwards before bed. Old favorite.

Also got some training stuff in the mail: 2 new bands and a couple of 3 lb hand weights for shadowboxing.

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(2) Mat pulls
500 x 5

Romanian deadlifts
315 x 2 x 8

Bulgarian split-squats
80s x 3 x 10

Ab circuit:
Russian twists x 25 x 30
Decline weighted crunches x 50 x 15
Hanging leg raises x 15

Video of the mat pulls:

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Strong pulls there mate and good to see you in the garage. Do you have it all set up yet.

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@simo74 Thanks man, it’s not a full-fledged gym yet but I’ve been moving my girlfriend’s car out to do deadlifts there and storing a few gym items on the shelves. Space with 2 cars is the biggest impediment, but I’m figuring it out as I go.

Monday:

Press
190 x 3
135 x 4 x 10

Pull-ups
Bw x 10
50 x 3 x 10

1-minute chin-up

20 axle curls (30 lbs) for elbow rehab

5 lb increase on that top set. Slowly getting stronger. Despite the increase in carbs, the scale says I haven’t gained any weight. We’ll see what these rib and ground beef Costco lasagnas have to say about that. I’m looking to gain for fall, but more slowly and with less sugar than last year. Whereas before I was eating 2 eggs in egg whites and bone broth for breakfast first thing in the morning and then 3 eggs in the same concoction for a mid-morning meal, today I had 5 eggs + added whites and broth and then 5 more eggs + whites and broth mid-morning at the office. Thank goodness for Costco.

Tuesday boxing:

Noticed one bigger guy being very intense during shadowboxing and throwing hard punches, so I asked him to partner up during drills. One person would stay against the wall and defend while the striker throws any 4 shots, pivots to either side, and throws a hook. After some variations on this, we held mitts and donned the shield. Dude had great power but slowed down very dramatically. Credit to him for not being one of those people who stop to catch their breath, though.

Afterwards he goes “Not gonna lie, your punches made my shoulders hurt from holding for you” and I told him “You say it, I’ll say it: mine too!” We had a laugh and he asked me how I “get veins to show”, which is something people fixate on far more than arm size.

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Squats (high bar)
325 x 15

Incline bench press
185 x 10, 10, 7, 8
Super-set with lying dumbbell rows
115s x 4 x 8

Spider curls
50s x 3 x 12

Drove a lot for work today and back was feeling stiff. I had plans to reach 315 x 18, but adding reps really tests my back stability so I opted to lower it down to 15 and increase the weight instead. I was feeling tired and just a few reps in I felt ready to shut it down if my back started hurting, but as usual, I was able to keep going.

My left shoulder has been hurting a little so I reset the bench weight down to 185 to go for higher reps and an extra set. I’ve been doing Turkish get-ups with 15 lbs that I haven’t been recording and they’ve been helping, but I should do dead hangs more consistently.

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I also have to say happy 20th anniversary to this training log, which started in 2004 on Xanga.com and has continued in various forms on Blogger and T-Nation. It was on 9/19, so even though I’m typing this on 9/20 the workout was done on the actual day. That’s a long time. So far, my arms are well short of the 30-inch biceps I should have with this amount of lifting. For the next 20 years, my goal will be much more realistic: 40" biceps to signify 40 years of training.

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Consistency is king! Happy Log-iversary!

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375

@QuadQueen Thank you for that! So true.

2-board press
365 x 1

Weighted push-ups
105 x 4 x 10

Kroc rows
125 x 25

Did this after a hike. Very happy with pressing 365, hard as it was. Left shoulder was aching in the work-up sets of full ROM bench pressing (when board pressing, I typically bench until 275 before switching to the partial ROM), so rather than a bench variation for the assistance work I went with push-ups.

Boxing on Friday went well. Practiced on pushing a close or clinched opponent away with a shoulder shove.

Saturday was a rest day. Felt crummy from bad sleep. I also spent this weekend dog sitting for a co-worker. The constant driving back-and-forth was annoying, but everytime I actually arrived at the destination I had a fun time with the dogs and got in some good agility training with the younger German shepherd.

The hike was at a wildlife refuge with lots of birds and wide open marshlands. Very different from a narrow forest trail hike. I felt all the stress from the week wash away during the trek.

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Squats
450 x 3 (low bar)
Drop-down to 405x3, 315x8, 225x8, 135x8 (high bar)

Single-leg reverse hyper curls
3 plates x 10, 15, 15

Russian twists
25 x 20

Hanging leg raises
15

Weighted crunches
25 x 15

450 went up easy. 405x3 with the high bar positioning was more of a struggle.

Did a good job with low bar shelving tonight after watching how Layne Norton squats. Figured out a configuration to relieve stress off the elbow by warming up with band pull-aparts and bringing my hands in close rather than farther out on the bar to get a really packed upper back. It creates a little more wrist strain for me so I wrapped my wrists up, but this is the first time I can remember that my elbow didn’t hurt at all from squatting low bar. Bar feels way more secure on my back with my hands in, too.

Switching to high bar on the fly continues to be interesting. I expected the sensation of falling forward this time and pushed back more from the start. Such a quad killer.

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Yesterday morning I upgraded to 25 lb Turkish get-ups for 5 reps. After work, I did a 1-minute head hang for my achey shoulder and then some brief misery training yesterday. Breath restriction mask, 3 lb dumbbells, and a 4-minute shadowboxing round. Couldn’t rip the mask off fast enough to get some air when the round was over and I stopped moving, although DURING the round I felt OK.

I debated for awhile before rebuying a mask and ultimately decided I benefit from it too much to ignore. I don’t pretend it simulates elevation training or has an effect on red blood cells; it simply trains me to stay calm and psychologically deal with being gassed, which is invaluable in sparring. One of my bad habits, especially when rusty, is overreacting to the opponent and getting twitchy instead of staying calm.

I looked like a Mortal Kombat wannabe with my ninja mask and neon blue “tonfas” (hand weights). My edgelord 17-year-old self would have been proud (and then snapped pictures for Myspace).

Had plans for more rounds but hunger hit me and since this is a season of gaining, I went to eat some steak and rice instead. Went on a 45-minute walk afterwards.

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Got to spar yesterday. Officially it was “shadowbox sparring” but 2 out of my 3 partners ignored that.

First opponent was a young guy about my height. Constantly circled to his left so my rights kept intercepting. When he’d try to react and switch direction, he walked into my left hook. I was barely touching him because he was going appropriately light, so this was basically point sparring.

Second opponent was the big guy I’ve worked with before who definitely did not point spar, but while he made contact more solidly than the coach instructed, I didn’t mind at all. They weren’t asshole punches but around what I expect when we’re supposed to go at 50%. He’s the tallest guy I’ve ever sparred at around 6’4 and I was having trouble landing to his head. His jab was long but my guard was tight. Coach instructed me to hit the body more, which was a reminder I needed. I was hitting his body so easily at first that I tried to be “fair” while also challenging myself to go for his head, but I’d be better served in that goal precisely by hammering the body. The goal is to find openings: exploit them, don’t be nice. I also need to extend my jab more when sparring, I have more reach to give.

Third opponent was another young guy who was my height, but more skilled than the first partner and someone who also connected at around 50% so I matched him. Same tactic - he kept circling in the same direction and I kept intercepting. Thought I’d shaken the bad habit of asking people if they’re OK but he totally ate a left hook that he moved into that prompted a check-up from me and I was conscious that we were supposed to point spar. He landed good ones of his own and kept a very good guard.

We switched partners after sparring to work on some simple drills: 2 hooks to the body, then a head hook that we ducked, and afterwards, ducking left and right hooks in succession.

Something that’s been really bothering me are my sinuses. I’m having to blow my nose every break we get. Will look into natural remedies, meds, and nose strips, probably in that order.

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Hey I remember that guy! Haha. Apparently Bas Rutten has marketed something specific for this. The “O2 trainer”

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Might be worth a look. I’m a fan of his “Body Action System” striking dummy.

He’s the tallest guy I’ve ever sparred at around 6’4 and I was having trouble landing to his head. His jab was long but my guard was tight. Coach instructed me to hit the body more, which was a reminder I needed. I was hitting his body so easily at first that I tried to be “fair” while also challenging myself to go for his head, but I’d be better served in that goal precisely by hammering the body. The goal is to find openings: exploit them, don’t be nice.

Though you don’t have quite the height disadvantage, this reminded me of my favorite boxing match: Jack Dempsey vs Jess Willard. Jack definitely found a way to get to Jess’s head

You keep striking the body and the head will eventually fall, haha.

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Watching this from a modern perspective is hilarious/terrible, the ref stops counting and allows it to continue when Willard isn’t even up, he’s just holding himself up by the ropes, crazy how the sport has changed, the speed at which they’ll stop fights now, is at times pretty frustrating.

I get trying to prevent serious and long term injuries, but let’s face it, it’s a sport where you’re actively trying to knock the other guy out, and you know going in that damage of some degree is almost guaranteed.

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@t3hpwnisher The 02 trainer looks really interesting, I’ll check that out. And that clip is a classic of classics. I’m glad to have it embedded in my thread, haha.

@alex_uk Yup, there’s a balance to strike between stopping the fight prematurely or letting it go on too long that even good refs don’t always nail. I find that the age of the footage and how zoomed out it is really masks the brutality of what’s going on, too. Bones and teeth are being broken.

I’ve been a little sick and rather nauseous, so I resisted the urge to lift on Thursday and Friday and just relaxed.

Saturday:

Incline bench press
205 x 7, 8, 7, 6

Lying dumbbell rows
115s x 8, 9, 9, 9

Incline dumbbell press
80s x 2 x 10
Super-set with lying lat flyers
35s x 2 x 10

Incline skullcrushers
50s x 7, 7
Super-set with alternating side curls
50s x 2 x 16

Seeing significant gains on incline bench. Was aiming for 6 reps across the board, with 5 as an acceptable fallback since I’m sick. Bar felt very light in my hands, but by set 4 fatigue finally set in.

Sunday:

Deadlifts
505 x 5

Romanian deadlifts
315 x 2 x 8

Single dumbbell split squats
100 x 3 x 10

Russian twists
35 x 30

Weighted decline twist crunches
50 x 10, 15

Super happy with how consistently I’ve been progressing on my heavy pulls with no back pain.

Went out to a pumpkin patch afterwards and had an awesome end to my weekend there. Shot mini pumpkins out of a rocket launcher and had an overpriced but delicious burger from a BBQ stand.

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Fantastic pull! I always dug you using the ROM progression approach as well, because we do it same but different. You’ve employed full stops with it, and still make it work for you.

It’s worth appreciating that they changed the rules of boxing BECAUSE of Dempsey. Dude was so vicious that they implemented the “return to your corner during knockdown” rule…and that’s what cost him his title, as he forgot he had to do that against Gene Tunney, giving him a much longer count than he should have gotten.

But just like how they banned Kaz from World’s Strongest Man to give others a chance: if they have to change the rules to make it fair for everyone else, it means you won for life.

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@T3hPwnisher Thanks man, it’s just such a great, timeless, and versatile method you layed out a dozen or so years ago. I have not found a deadlift progression method I like more yet.

Woke-up early to lift before work yesterday. Breakfast was 2 mini hummus cups with a few nuts on top, leftover protein shake, and coffee before training 20 minutes later.

Press
135 x 5
175 x 3
205 x 0, 0

Push press
205 x 1

Seated Arnold press
80s x 7, 8

Chin-ups
10, 15

Wow, 205 wasn’t even close! Could be the time of day and/or being in need of a deload. The real win was how much stronger that second set of overhead pressing the 80 lb dumbbells felt compared to the first.

A reminder that I need to do more 60-min-and-under workouts. The weekend was a great 2 days of hard, extended training, but I felt destroyed in the days following. A day of rest in-between would have made a difference, too.

Later in the evening, I resisted the urge to do more lifting and opted for home boxing training instead. Did 3 rounds of 4 minutes shadowboxing:

1st round: breath restriction mask, 3 lb weights
2nd round: 3 lb weights
3rd round: no equipment

Went on a 25-minute run with the mask on for half of it afterwards.

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Squats
330 x 16 + 4
Took about a minute of rest-pausing before knocking out 4 more.

Weighted dips
100 x 3 x 10
Super-set with seated unilateral reverse hyper rows
200 x 3 x 10

Alternating dumbbell side curls
50s x 3 x 20

Resisted the urge to do more upper-bod sets and exercises. I just pressed yesterday, I want to train boxing and conditioning at home tomorrow, and I want to go to boxing at least three times next week so I don’t want to feel run down for days on end like last week.

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