have you tried using a simple saline flush regularly
@simo74 I have not but am looking into it now. Appreciate the suggestion.
Incline bench press
205 x 8, 7, 7
Super-set with weighted pull-ups
50 x 3 x 8
Dumbbell shrugs
80s x 2 x 20
Spider curls
50s x 10
35s x 2 x 12
I’m looking bigger from doing shorter workouts more frequently compared to 2 long workouts on the weekend followed by a longer break from the iron. Likely just glycogen retention, but it feels good and I’m less rundown. STILL sore from Saturday’s squats, but it’s relegated to muscle soreness and not mental fatigue and malaise like last week.
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After shadowboxing rounds at the gym yesterday, coach asked if I could partner up with him during partner drills.
First drill was one person throwing two jabs while moving backwards, a left upper-cut, and then a 2-3-2. Idea is to lure the opponent in and then deliver the upper-cut as they’re coming forward. Really appreciated the 1-on-1 attention. As usual, he enforced me using the full range of my jab and stopped me from coming forward a few times. Very happy to report I had 0 shoulder OR elbow pain from whipping my jab out. Shoulder seems completely healed. Elbow pain is still present if I exert pressure at an odd angle or when straining with pull-ups, but less often when boxing.
Sinuses were an annoyance again. Had to breathe through my mouth frequently when I wasn’t tired and blow my nose every break. Zyrtec seems to make my symptoms worse if taken in the morning, but SLIGHTLY better if taken the night before. I’ve tried the advice about ingesting local honey but have never noticed a difference. Yesterday I ordered a saline rinse bottle off Amazon per @simo74’s suggestion.
Speaking of Amazon, I scored big on some Prime sales. Ordered a new pair of Ringside 16 oz sparring gloves to replace my old cracked Muay Thai Fairtechs, a bag of Metabolic Drive, another exercise band, some soup mugs for my egg and bone broth “shakes”, and a Ninja air fryer. Never had an air fryer before, although I’ve used one at the office.
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These are so clutch! Did you get a multifunction Ninja, or is it just a straight up air fryer?
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@T3hPwnisher I’m looking forward to it! I believe it’s a multifunction fryer since it advertises baking and roasting as well.
Squats (high bar, narrow stance)
405 x 5, 5, 4
Bench press
275 x 3 x 5
Super-set with unilateral reverse hyper rows
200 x 3 x 10
Dumbbell Romanian deadlifts
125s x 2 x 10
Super-set with alt side curls
50s x 2 x 20
I was DRAGGING today. Felt like my body just wanted to do nothing. Happy with the numbers but I was definitely not pushing the rest times.
The squats were a real quad killer. Alternating the bar placement on a weekly and monthly basis really shows me how different both of these squat styles feel.
Last set of bench was by far the strongest. Bar didn’t slow down on the last rep like it did on the first two sets. I approached that set feeling tired of feeling tired and pretended I was fresh and amped, gripping the bar tight and applying extra tension when setting up.
I’m leaving for a weekend camping trip this afternoon, hence the full-body workout. We’ll see how I feel upon returning, but I may schedule a week deload. I honestly never regret doing that, as boring as it is.
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Camping trip was amazing and also quite brutal. It was a hike-in spot and while it wasn’t terribly far from the parking space, it was completely uphill and there was a lot of gear to haul via the supplied wheel barrels at the foot of the trail. I got in hours of “sled” work that way on top of a 3 1/2 leisure hike up the mountain on Saturday. Legs were tired but didn’t cramp once. Ate lots of high calorie, high protein food via a portable propane stovetop. Also saw deer every day. I wanted to eat them but was also just appreciating their majesty at the same time. They’re particularly cool to come across at night.
I recently nabbed a Dakine hydro pack and it’s been a game-changer. Sipping on water without needing to slow down and reach for a water bottle is so great.
When I got home, I was quite worn and left my laptop open with my boxing registration pending to muse about how many days this week I wanted to sign up for. Probably 1 to give my mind and body a break after how rundown I felt this past weekend. Came back later and signed up for my standard 3. Started thinking about how much better my days are with class at the end.
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SSB good mornings
200 x 10, 10, 8
Swiss bar incline bench against bands
185 x 8, 6, 6
Super-set with lying dumbbell rows
125s x 3 x 8
Weighted dips
50 x 2 x 10
Super-set with side curls
50s x 2 x 20
Russian twists
45 x 30
Weighted decline crunches
50 x 20
Quads got a lot of work over the weekend between high bar squats and 3 days of uphill hiking, and I’ve been wanting to bring good mornings back for some time now. I’m also rereading Pavel’s Beyond Bodybuilding at work and the anecdote about good mornings increasing squat numbers got me even more anticipatory about them. While some has not aged well (“never go over 5 reps”), there are still a lot of useful nuggets in there.
The good mornings sucked far less than I thought they would/than I remember them. I’m actually conscious of what a hip hinge is now and I’m consciously sticking my butt out at the bottom, then per Pavel’s cue, driving my feet hard into the floor. Wasn’t miserable at all, but I stopped at rep 8 on the final set just because injury has completely snuck up on me the next day when doing these and I wanted to leave plenty left in the tank. Back feels great the next day, thankfully.
Benching against the bands was killer. Ton of tension on the chest. Using medium black bands from Dave Draper’s brand. Dismayed to find that the pair have different levels of tension and thickness, so the quality control isn’t there. One side was a little lighter than the other. Oh well, imbalances are good for strongman.
Quick little workout this morning before work just to get some movement in and stoke hunger:
50 band pull-aparts
10 ABCS with 15lb kettlebells (what happened to be sitting in my living room)
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Bruce Randall! My first ever exposure to that delightful lunatic. So incredibly inspirational: good to see you take a page from there.
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@T3hPwnisher Heck yeah! Everytime I see that name now I remember your “What would Bruce Randall do?” line and the crazy training associated with it.
Hard 2 days of boxing training at the gym. Primarily partner combo work, but at a high pace with few rests. On Tuesday I got more tired than usual and realized I was tensing my shoulders up. T he other main factor, shallow breaths, is because of my sinuses. Going to use a saline rinse I purchased before class next time. Need to remember to keep shoulders relaxed and tuck chin. Let the arms fall into their natural position with the hands up. Keeping the elbows tucked aids this. Very basic stuff but still easy to lose when dynamically moving and reacting, especially when you have larger lats pushing your arms out (something my Friday coach has commented on).
Hit the iron yesterday:
Bench press
315 x 2 (failed a third)
Close-grip bench
225 x 10, 10, 9, 7
Reverse-hypers
200 x 3 x 20
Kroc rows
125 x 25
Had an out-of-body experience while bench pressing. Similar to blacking out on heavy overhead press, but more conscious of what’s happening and mostly just feeling a disconnect from my body; I was aware that I was pressing the weight but I felt like I was controlling a videogame or a dream character. I’ve experienced this before when maxing out, but I completely gassed out on the third after the first 2 reps went up easily. I didn’t even hesitate going for a third, either. I just went for it like an automaton without any concern or regard for failure.
This was the fastest I’ve ever recovered from a bench failure. Tilted the bar to one side, rolled the half that was still on me down my torso a little, and did a weighted landmine sit-up with the 3 plates thanks to my bench’s leg anchors (bench is more or less a year old and I’ve never failed on it; did not have anchors on my old bench).
Considering how hard I worked my shoulders the past 2 days in the boxing gym, I’m very anticipatory of what I can do in the following weeks bench pressing while fresh on the weekend. I’m also pleased with how fast the bar went up for the first 2 reps.
This morning before work was another easy “just move” session:
50 band pull-aparts
10 ABCs with 15 lb kettlebells
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Squat (low bar)
475 x 1
Drop-down to 405x5 (low bar, rest were high bar), 315x8, 225x8, 135x8
Good mornings
135 x 3 x 10
Russian twists
45 x 2 x 20
Even with the low bar setup I’m standing narrower and going deeper than I used to. You can see me adjust my foot width before descending. No particular reason except I’ve just fallen into enjoying the strain that it slams on my quadriceps and less on my hips.
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Damn solid squat mate, I was trying to push the bar up with my legs just watching that.
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@simo74 Much thanks brother, I know that feeling from watching others’ videos haha.
Incline bench press
210 x 6, 5, 6, 6, 5
Super-set with dumbbell rows
80s x 5 x 12
Dumbbell skullcrushers
50s x 7
35s x 10
Super-set with alternating side curls
50s x 20, 20
35 second chin-up
Never ceases to amaze me the disparity between how light the weight feels at first vs how quickly I tire out with incline bench. Last 2 sets had some ugly final reps, but I’ve made good progress on this lift. I would like to switch to dumbbells soon.
Noticing a pretty decent bicep peak developing from my regimen of side curls, prolonged single-rep chin-ups, and the weight gain.
Work story: I was standing at my computer plugging away when the CEO’s wife walks by me, looks in my mug, and goes, “What is that?”
I answered “Eggs, bone broth, and kimchi.” [Also egg whites.]
“That looks disgusting.”
She’s a nice lady and meant it in jest, but I was surprised at how rude that was. Being in the iron game for a long time has made me take pride in doing and eating things normal people don’t, though, so it was easy for me to laugh it off. - it’s cool to be a freak. Additionally, I make these mugs so I can seamlessly consume my caloric needs without interrupting work for the good of her company.
Part of our business is distributing RTD shakes and some of those protein shakes are so nasty I don’t understand how they sell. I’ll take soup that tastes like eggy chicken noodle any day over a chemical bomb like MRE Vanilla.
I snapped a picture right after the interaction. It just looks like Thai tom kha soup:
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Boxing on Tuesday went well. Did a better job of relaxing and not burning out this time. I’m starting to suspect that coffee played a role last week. I also drank coffee before Friday’s session and my coach then told me I’m overreacting and too twitchy.
Trained a coworker yesterday at my home gym. Ran him through a basic bench press workout, since I know that’s the most likely approach to keep his interest piqued. Got in a 10 minute run for myself in the evening, but I needed the break anyway. My legs were sore up until yesterday from Saturday’s squats. Today, Thursday, is the first day they feel back to normal. I also got in some band pull-aparts and 5 Turkish get-ups with the 25 lb kettlebell in the morning, followed by a 30-second dead hang.
This morning I hit:
50 kettlebell swings with 25 lbs
55 push-ups (which might be a PR)
40 kettlebell curls
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Yesterday was an insanely busy workday amidst an already busy week, but I crushed the day and stayed on-schedule with tasks to check-off at home even after getting out of work an hour late.
Squats (high bar)
315 x 18
Reverse hypers
200 x 3 x 10
Weighted dips
100 x 10, 9, 10
50 x 12
Super-set with pull-ups
3 x 10
Hammer curls
35s x 3 x 10
Added one rep to 315 and had no elbow pain on the pull-ups. Great development. Did them unweighted, but really emphasized the shoulder blade squeeze at the top of each rep. Didn’t allow myself to strain to avoid aggravating the elbow. Same with the hammer curls: light weight but an extra intense squeeze at peak contraction.
Random boxing form cue I realized the other day: start the punch from the lat muscle, not the elbow or fist. Ensures a full extension that way and also makes for a more powerful jab. This way, the fist is launching like a spring from the torso, rather than the fist moving first and the arm following, which begets arm punching.
This morning:
100 kettlebell swings with 50 lbs
20 burpees
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Bench press
315 x 1
325 x 1
335 x 1
High incline dumbbell press
80s x 10, 9, 7
Chest-supported dumbbell rows
80s x 4 x 10
Kelso shrugs
80s x 3 x 10
Had exceptionally poor sleep the night before and wasn’t sure I would end up lifting today. After failing a bench press rep last week, I wanted to crush some singles with heavy but sub-maximal loads. Weight felt heavy but wasn’t a grind, either. 315 felt just as hard as 335.
Going light on the dumbbells was a good move. I got to work a harder-than-usual incline angle and was able to maximally squeeze my shoulder blades at the top of the rows to a degree that I don’t quite reach with the 115s and 125s. Experienced a strong upper-back pump.
Bodyweight is currently 196.5 in the morning, which is quite a bit lower than I expected. I gained 4 lbs from eating more calories and carbs and then stabilized. It explains my gradual but modest strength increase, a rate that I’m actually quite happy about if I’m still this light.
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Boxing was very low intensity yesterday,. Started off with partner shadowboxing, which I was hoping we’d do the entire session because with the right partner it “devolves” into light-contact sparring, but we just did it for 1 round and it was with a lower-skilled partner who asked me again to partner with him. We switched and just worked on simple in-fighting combos: taking turns throwing 1-2s to the body, then 1-2-3, and finally 1-2-3-2 with a slip to the outside. Ended with a full round of non-stop 1-2s and uppercuts per the coach’s callout.
I believe I tweaked something in my back while benching the other night, probably from slightly bridging without realizing it, and it’s been hurting since. Then last night my right glute started acting up while I was walking around the house. Glute is better this morning but back is still in pain. Will probably do belt squats and split-squats this evening instead of bar squats, but we’ll see how warm-ups feel.
I’m dressed as the Terminator for Halloween at the office. This is what the NSA agent or illicit hacker spying on me through my webcam sees:
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Halloween yesterday was uneventful except for dressing as Ahnold at work. Man, that marks 20 years of that costume. Old but not obsolete.
Halloween session:
Squats
Worked up to 405x5 and called it here.
Short uphill jog for 1 lap
I’m very pleased I was able to hit this pain free considering my back and glute had me walking painfully the night before. Plan was to test if I could even support 135 on my back and then perhaps do belt squats or split-squats if needed, but squatting felt better than walking.
Feeling better today, which always seems to happen when I manage to get a lifting session in and avoid pain. The iron is medicine.
As usual, I didn’t get any trick-or-treaters, which is a shame since I have 2 bulk boxes of cage-free eggs from Costco. Imagine kids’ joy upon getting a protein-rich egg dropped in their bag instead of more candy. Oh well, their loss and more for me.
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Deadlifts
455 x 1
505 x 0, 1
550 x 1
Felt gunshy about my back on the first attempt at 505 due to just recently getting pain free again, so I put my belt on and donned lifting straps. I know I can hold 600 fine in my hands so it’s not about grip; it was a matter of creating an environment where I FELT more secure and could focus on exploding up.
I found myself doing the Mariusz Pudzianowski face during the 550 by biting my lip. I don’t tend to do that so that was unexpected. Was checking for blood afterwards out of curiosity.
Bulgarian split-squats
80s x 3 x 8
Literally doubled the weight from the last few times by holding 2 dumbbells instead of using 1 hand to brace myself.
Pull-ups
2 x 10
Still pretty lean. This has been a very modest mass phase. It’s the first bulk I’ve done where I’m not drinking milk, and to be honest, I seem to have lost a great deal of my sweet tooth. I just don’t crave sugar much anymore so I’m not ending dinner with ice cream or cake. Occasionally, I’ll think a little ice cream sounds nice and will just take a few sips from a root beer Ollipop probiotic soda instead (they claim 2g of sugar in the whole can), which literally tastes better and more dessert-like to me than normal soda, and I don’t want anymore. Metabolic Drive is good for that, too. I’m also not eating carbs with every meal, especially my first 2 at work, and then of course there’s the boxing contributing to calorie burn. I’m eating higher carbs in 3 of my 5-6 meals, usually white rice, oatmeal with berries, or toast with nut butter.
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Very fascinating nutritional pivot. Definitely sounds worthwhile. Trade the sweet tooth for a “meat tooth”. And I completely get the straps too. When you remove the weak link of the grip from the chain, you can really tap into your full body’s strength.
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