This may be the coolest picture ever taken in front of a GMC Safari.
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@T3hPwnisher Definitely, and while I often have this experience of reduced sugar cravings when losing weight, it seems like not gorging on carbs for every meal like in past mass-gain phases has kept it going.
@BrandonCrawford Haha, I get offers to buy it fairly frequently. People like the color.
Had a really nice Saturday after that deadlift workout. Sister came over with my niece and we went out for pizza and gelato. They came back so my niece could hangout with the 2 cats for a bit, and after they left I went on a 40 minute run Saturday night.
Sunday afternoon:
Weighted dips
100 x 10, 8, 8, 8
Super-set with
Chest-supported dumbbell rows
115s x 8, 8, 8, 8
Incline dumbbell press
80s x 10, 9, 7
Alternating lateral curls
50s x 26, 20, 20
Right glute is still acting up at night, making it a little painful to walk before bed. Never had a glute injury before IIRC. I used the massage gun on it, which must have been a funny-looking scene.
I signed up for boxing 4 days this week. Hopefully my glute holds up today.
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During my usual lunch break walk yesterday, I went all the way to the trail’s pull-up bars and did a 60 second dead hang.
Day 2 out of 4 at the boxing gym yesterday. My body was hurting: lower back from tweaking it last week, right glute, and left lat which suddenly burst into pain when I was microwaving breakfast yesterday morning. On the upside, my elbow has been feeling MUCH better and my left shoulder is improving. I didn’t have any problems when it was time to perform. Worked with my partner on trading combos and did a good job of staying relaxed.
For bagwork, I took off my new Ringside 16 oz sparring gloves, which are comically big and pillowy even for 16 oz, to don my bag gloves and it was like I had super powers with the smaller gloves.
Before bed, I switched my foam mattress from the firm side to the soft side and sure enough, woke-up today with my back feeling like it was recovering. This seems to be the pattern that works: firm side for most nights, but when I have tweaks or injuries, the soft side makes me feel better for a few days before it starts to feel like my back needs the extra support again. Very interesting.
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Finished 4 days of boxing on Friday evening. Lots of bagwork mixed with calisthenics and little partner training, as is normal on Fridays. Noticed at night that my right hand was in pain from some hard power shots I threw. There were a couple of times I recall accidentally landing without a tightly closed fist, which is a stupid mistake.
Did a large Costco run on Saturday that included ribeyes and 2 different packages of lambchops (1 from New Zealand, the other local). Considered taking the whole day off due to feeling beat, but by the late evening when all errands were done, the iron bug bit me.
2-board press
335 x 2
1-board press
275 x 8
Incline crazy bells
145 x 10, 10, 10, 9, 7
Super-set with dumbbell rows
80s x 10, 10, 12, 12, 10
Dumbbell skullcrushers
50s x 5 → drop-down to 35s x 5
Various curls
Felt a little pressure on my injured hand on the 335 - nothing too alarming, but I left one rep in the tank just to be safe. Was pleased to hit 8 with 275.
I signed up for boxing only twice this upcoming week to let my hand heal. Tuesday is my first “intro to sparring” class. I have to attend 3 of those before I can spar, along with getting my physical on file (which is already done).
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Squats
450 x 2, 3 (low bar)
Drop-down to high-bar sets of 405x3, 315x8, 225x8
Reverse-hyper single leg curls
200 x 15, 15
That pulled lat muscle that suddenly reared its head while making breakfast last Tuesday is not completely healed and I felt the strain when supporting the bar on my back, but everything held up.
After racking the first set of 450, the whole “left a rep in the tank” didn’t sit with me this time for whatever reason, so I hit an even stronger, deeper set of 3 afterwards before proceeding to the strip sets.
Nixed the extra sets I usually do of 135 and then just the bar to try and reduce being sore for my intro to sparring day. Also used the massage gun on my quads, shoulders, and back, and did a few hamstring stretches before bed. This morning my legs feel pretty good. A little sore but nothing that has me walking funny.
Weighed 199 the other night with a day’s worth of food in me.
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Still strong as mate. Nice work
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@simo74 Thanks man, always appreciate kudos from you.
1st day of real sparring at this gym yesterday that wasn’t just partner shadowboxing. Also my first real spar since the pandemic. Went well, got to go against the coach for 3 rounds. He wasn’t fast but his timing was good and he was an effective counterpuncher.
Got told by another coach between rounds that I need to commit to my jab and not let it fall short so much. Bad habit of mine trying to be too nice and not hit hard because I’m used to being bigger and stronger than people. Again, it’s been 5 years since I’ve sparred and more practice knowing I’m SUPPOSED to hit people instead of just running drills will obviously fix this.
My jabs landed more after this but still fell short a few times. I threw a right uppercut that lightly landed as coach was moving laterally, which I’m real happy about.
My defense needs work and I ate a lot of shots. Inside of my mouth got cut up. HUGE difference compared to when I sparred in Muay Thai, though, is I’m not overly jumpy about getting hit and I remain calm under fire. Getting punched didn’t bother me. The Title headgear may also be more protective than my old Venom one because my nose wasn’t sore like it used to get in Muay Thai, although that may be due to the coach’s accuracy in aiming for the chin.
After round 2 was over, I felt a familiar sense of suffocation anxiety from breathing hard with the headgear on and I wanted nothing more than to rip it off, which I ignored. As round 3 went on, I felt fine again and was ready for a 4th. This is why I bought that breath-restriction mask.
Can’t wait to go more rounds.
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Yesterday at boxing, after rope and shadowboxing rounds, we switched between various kettlebell exercises and dumbbell shadowboxing. I didn’t get a lot out of this except active recovery as 30 second rounds was too short to be challenging.
Next, we partnered up and took turns slipping 1-2s. My partner was obnoxious. This guy tends to drift around during shadowboxing and stray in peoples’ personal space. One of his gloves’ velco straps was dangling; I’m guessing he had some equipment issues there but I had to deduce this on my own because it slapped my face close to my eye a few times and he never said a word about what was going on. He also kept sighing out of frustration and stopping to reset after he’d throw, no idea what that was about either. He was also throwing pretty hard for a drill and kept coming in close to in-fight so there wasn’t much room to avoid his 1-2s, I had to block his hard shots each time. I played nice for a while and then started bopping him on his head harder when he wouldn’t let up (still light enough to not be a dick, but hard enough to have considerable impact when that wasn’t really the point of the drill).
I thought my right hand was healed, which is why I did some bagwork on Tuesday to warm-up for sparring, but right before bed my upper wrist area suddenly burst into pain. There is no lingering pain, but I’ll have to be careful about that.
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I ran into this issue a ton when I was doing harder sparring. It’s really hard to overcome decades of being programming to be “civilized” and actually put force to people.
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@T3hPwnisher That’s so true. I’m giving myself permission to think more aggressively because I need that. Got to implement it when someone was throwing hands pretty hard during partner drills the other day and it felt awesome.
SSB squats
150 x 5
240 x 5
290 x 5
330 x 5
380 x 5
SSB hise shrugs
330 x 10
380 x 10
Reverse hyper single leg curls
200 x 15, 15
Weighted dips
50 x 5
100 x 10
110 x 10, 10
Pull-ups
3 x 10
Axle curls
40 x 60
This was my midweek, moderate intensity workout before the grueling weekend where I get to enjoy longer workouts, so I’m quite pleased with how light these loads felt. Didn’t even wear knee sleeves for the first time since I can remember. Total 180 from feeling rundown last Thursday and still left plenty more in the tank. Did everything as giant sets so there were few rest times.
The one exception to my body feeling great is my right hand and wrist pain. At one point during the night I took my Loop earplugs out and the act of pinching made my wrist suddenly hurt. Felt waves of pain after that. Feels fine again this morning, but I’m thinking I shouldn’t strike with it at all throughout next week.
Also had gut problems this morning. For dinner I airfryed a package of New Zealand lamb from Costco and it smelled a little, but it still seemed fine and was well before the expiration date. My stomach started feeling bloated right after eating it so I’ll be tossing the leftovers out, unfortunately.
No boxing gym tonight because of my hand. Will probably shadowbox and run instead, or just treat myself to a rest day and root for Mike Tyson.
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Bummer on the BAA-d lamb!
Sorry, I couldn’t let that opportunity pass. lol
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@QuadQueen No worries hahaha, at least my dinner’s sacrifice went toward the cause of a good pun.
Saturday night:
Overhead press
135 x 5
155 x 3
185 x 3
155 x 8
High incline dumbbell press
80s x 8, 10, 9, 9, 9
Super-set with pull-ups
5 x 10
Incline dumbbell skullcrushers
35s x 10, 10
50s x 6 → drop-down to 35s x 5
Dumbbell lateral raises
35s x 3 x 10
Axle curls
40 x 50
Shoulders felt unexpectedly sore from weighted dips the night before last. 185 was a smooth effort without any grinding, but I don’t think I had another rep in me, either.
Had fun doing lateral raises. Haven’t done those in a minute.
Big steak and rice dinner afterwards.
Watched both the Tyson fight on Friday and the Jon Jones vs Stipe match on Saturday. Both went how I expected, but it was really awesome thinking that I got to watch Mike Tyson fight live for the first time. No regrets tuning in.
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Last night:
Romanian deadlifts
315 x 10 (double overhand)
365 x 8 (5 reps double overhand, 3 mixed grip)
365 x 8 (straps)
Bulgarian split-squats
80s x 3 x 10
Decline weighted crunches
50 x 20
This morning, 10 burpees to get warm and 5 standing reps on the ab wheel.
Left hip is bothering me ever so slightly. Felt it on the split-squats and again on the ab wheel. Nothing debilitating, just something to watch out for.
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Trained a co-worker at my home yesterday evening and then spent some time moving equipment indoors in anticipation of upcoming storms. My traps have been getting some work lately between deadlifts and shrug-holding the dumbbells for Bulgarian split-squats, but it seemed that merely carrying the 160 lb keg and 200 lb sandbag from the yard to my garage finally reached the tipping point - my traps and the center of my upper-back are suddenly very sore today, and lower-back is feeling a little pain on the right side. I would love to fit in regular loaded carries more often when I’m not already feeling fatigued from deadlifts because this was a reminder of what a back builder they are.
Also moved my strongman log under the patio while I figure out a permanent indoor placement for it. It’s already gotten rust after a year of outdoor use, but I’d like to prevent that further.
After all that, went to Heart Attack Hill and ran 3 sprints up it, followed by a 10-minute jog. Ran into my girlfriend getting gas as I passed the gas station so I hopped in and we drove home together.
I’ve got boxing today after work, which I selected out of being the class least likely to have intense mitt and heavy bag work in order to let my hand heal. Yesterday I felt an ever-so-faint sensation when I made a sudden opening motion with it, but it’s been feeling pain-free since the weekend.
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Interesting aside: I find that, whenever I’m experiencing trap and lower back soreness, it tends to be a sign that I’m pushing into the realm of overreaching. Not overtraining, but definitely dipping too deep into my recovery well. Forearms are another one of those. Just muscles that generally don’t get sore. Wondering if you might be seeing the same.
That said, there is no greater workout than moving the gym, haha.
My inner fat-kid initially read this as “The Heart Attack Grill” and I was so excited about being able to read you tackle the quadruple bypass burger. Maybe if you and I are ever in Vegas at the same time.
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Very interesting note about recovery and soreness there and it’s definitely possible. I had just convinced myself NOT to do a bench workout because of how fatigued I felt after deadlifts and split-squats the night before and to go running instead, but ended up having to do those loaded carries anyways.
I named Heart Attack Hill after playing the racing game Burnout 2 on Gamecube 20 years ago and thinking one of the track names was perfect for my hill. That said, I’ll definitely remember that for the next time I have a Vegas trip coming up!
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Boxing last night was a good session, but we did end up using the heavy bag when we typically focus on partner drills for this class. No matter, my right wrist held up fine even with power shots.
Coach let me know that my elbow is coming out too much when I jab sometimes, keep it in.
My left elbow seems all but healed. I haven’t needed to sleep with an elbow sleeve for awhile now and I haven’t felt any pain while punching or doing pull-ups and pressing exercises. I’m still avoiding known triggers like kettlebell ABCs for the time being, as the stabilizing demands of the 50 pounders were the most surefire way to make it hurt before (simply pressing dumbbells overhead doesn’t hurt; it seems to be the weight disposition combined with the cleaning motion of the kettlebells that was the problem).
Noticed in class yesterday that my arms looked huge in the mirror. Really starting to fill out now, yet I still have abs.
I’m going to play lifting by ear tonight. I could use the rest and a break from rushing to get everything done on a work night, but as of today I’m feeling more recovered. Upper-back and traps are still sore but not as much as yesterday.
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Bench press
300 x 4
Close-grip bench press
230 x 10, 10, 10, 7, 9
Band pull-aparts
4 x 10
Kroc rows
125 x 30
I was going to do some curls after this but after those Kroc rows, I was done and my biceps were screaming anyways. There’ll be enough time for curls later; weekends are for bone crushing barbell training.
Benched in the garage for the first time since it was stormy. Took a few posing pictures and I’ve definitely gotten thicker lately.
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Squats
465 x 2
315 x 20, 13
Had a another rep of 465 in me, but this time I really did feel satisfied with leaving it at 2. My back wasn’t feeling too good this morning (identified the culprit being my couch that has no lumbar support) so I was cautious. The weight felt extraordinarily heavy going down, but when I squatted out of the hole it felt light. While my waist has gotten a little thicker during this bulk period, I’m still walking around at under 200 lbs and am still lighter and slimmer than before, which makes a big difference in how stable the walkout and eccentric phase feel.
Finally back to 315x20. It wasn’t too hard until the 20th, which was the rep that felt like my back was about to fold over (previously, that was rep 17).
Will do hamstrings and abs either later tonight or sometime tomorrow.
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After squats yesterday, I spent the whole afternoon cleaning the kitchen and throwing out old pots and appliances. Took a break to go on a 45-minute walk, then hit this at night:
Reverse hyper single leg curls
200 x 2 x 20
Weighted decline crunches
50 x 20
Hanging leg raises
15
Hips were sore after squats so the walk did a lot of good. They feel better this morning. Experienced some wrist pain again in the morning, but not as bad as a few weeks ago. Going to look into non-lifting wrist support wraps for sleep.
Visited one of the Google campuses today at work and made off with a good haul from the cafeteria. Spicy shrimp, garbanzo beans, salad, and pumpkin cheesecake. Paired this with lamb vindaloo from Trader Joe’s and ate everything as one huge lunch, followed by my usual 10-minute walk and 10-minute nap before returning to my desk.
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