KRAKATOA: PowPowPunishment's Daily Ventures of Destruction

Training Training Logs
447

Had a super fun sparring day yesterday. Second time at this gym when not counting informal spars on the ground floor in the middle of drills. It definitely feels different stepping into the ring with gear, a cornerman, and the gym gathered to watch. The only downside was how short it was: just 3 rounds for 2 minutes.

I went up against a shorter stocky guy who I only learned afterwards is one of the coaches. I’ve seen his name on the weekly class sign-ups as Coach Gabriel but his class conflicts with my work so I’ve never trained with him. Coach Eric was my cornerman this time (he was my sparring partner last time).

The biggest change compared to last time in round 1 was not being overly nice and actually hitting with an appropriate amount of power. Coach Eric advised me to use my reach and spar on the outside, and sure enough, his swings often fell short while my jab and cross landed over and over again. A real success was a jab followed by a lightning left hook. I don’t see a lot of guys in the intermediate classes throwing this, or many combos from the same arm in general, but I’ve been working on this for some time now and my hook comes really fast after jabbing from the same arm. I also landed a lot of jabs and crosses to the body, but next time I’d like to practice body hooks more.

When he’d rush in, I would meet him with an uppercut while circling out. He didn’t land anything significant until the end of the round when he caught me with a big left hook that adjusted my headgear. Didn’t hurt, but it was a great shot.

After round 1, Coach Eric told me he likes the punches I’m choosing and my jab is landing, but I can get even more reach from it because he sees my arm not fully extending. Very old issue of mine.

Round 2 went much the same: I landed clean the vast majority while almost all of his smaller strikes were falling short, but that leaping Frazier-style hook got me one more time again.

After round 2, I felt that same feeling of a panic attack that occurred last session, which was also after round 2. It felt like I couldn’t get enough air through my mouthpiece while I was resting and that was causing my heart to race, but I ignored it. I probably need to do a better job of taking full breaths as the action progresses, but in truth, I was 100% fine and I knew that. The breath restriction mask helped a lot with mentally managing this feeling. Funnily enough, same with 20-rep squats.

As soon as round 3 started, I felt fine again, as I expected. This time, he ended up standing in one spot and telling me to hit him harder, which I did but not enough to rock him. In the moment I thought he might have been having an ego trip to show-off and didn’t know he was a coach. Round 3 ended up being slower as a result of his relative inactivity.

I was a little bummed round 3 was the end. I watched the rest of the spars where the same coach went at it with two other trainees, which made sense why he had periods of energy composure with me and probably why he got hit more than I expected since he was going way more rounds. When everyone was done I did a 4-minute sesh on the heavy bag.

Hopefully I get more rounds in next time. Even though I wasn’t going against a fresh combatant, I’m stoked at the changes I made with regards to aggression and landing uppercuts.

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448

Sounds like value added for sure! I have the same issue with stuffing punches. Years of solo training on the heavy bag created that bad habit.

Bas Rutten is big on same side combos for the reason you bring up. It’s too logical to switch up hands each punch: people don’t expect that follow up. Just like Tyson’s bodyhook/uppercut combo.

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449

@t3hpwnisher I’ve had that exact discussion about same side combos with one of the coaches before. So simple yet so novel. It really dawned on me one day years ago watching old Ultimate Fighter episodes and one of the trainees was stumped about how to throw two right crosses in a row.

This workout was an idea I got from @t3hpwnisher several years ago, who got the idea from Jon Andersen.

Squat
300 x 20

Upon which I walked off the patio with the bar on my back and onto the dirt, dropped the bar behind me, and then:

Deadlifts
300 x 20

Ab wheel: 10 standing reps

Some disclaimers:

After squats, when trying to walk forward onto the soft ground the bar had trouble clearing one side of the squat stands so I reracked, took a few breaths, got it on my back again, shrugged high, and made it. Next time I can take comfort that the bar can definitely clear them and just shrug up more if needed.

Left the bar on the ground and took a standing rest-pause after rep 10 of the deadlifts before cranking out another 10. Would like to rest-pause while holding the bar next time and see if that’s sufficient, with no rest being the ultimate goal (and while I’m at it, doing all that with 315).

Had some hesitation about even continuing those last 10 reps due to concern for how my back was feeling (not painful, but a similar sensation to when pain crops up later), but took the calculated risk and went for it.

Strapped up for the deadlifts and reps were touch-n-go.

All that said, this was brutal. The squats were the easy part, since I’ve been running heavier weight for 20 lately; it was following them up with the deadlifts that wrecked me afterwards and gave me a headache.

My back is completely fine the next morning. I’m glad I’ve been able to push it further and further. There have been countless times when I take some new measure for it that works in the short term only for pain to resurface, but so far, the daily foam rolling has been doing wonders. I’m also opting for my ergonomic Herman Miller chair 100% when I sit at home and absolutely zero couch time.

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450

Oh man, you totally made me remember and miss that workout. It became the start of something ridiculous in my training, where I just kept stacking on more and more movements, but I think Jon had the right idea to just keep it at those two. It’s amazing how such a “light weight” on the deads will feel like absolute murder. And yeah: the back pump is absolutely ridiculous.

You got me thinking about maybe giving this one more run on my final workout before I start my cruise. I’d have to go lighter than before with my changed squat style, but that’s probably for the best, haha.

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451

@T3hPwnisher I’d be thrilled to see you hit that again. There are so many great bad ideas in your ebook that I find myself thinking about. I feel like your super narrow squat style would go great as a contrast to the deadlifts.

Going to be replacing some of my standard powerlifting-style strength training with more strongman-centric workouts due to having my eye on a strongman contest next month. With boxing as my focus now, though, I don’t feel excited about spending the money and energy toward it unless I’m strong enough to feel competitive, so I’ll run this training block and see how I feel. Back health is a major factor, too.

Last night was focused on circus dumbbell training. The starting dumbbell weight in the contest is 110 for open and 100 for masters. The last time I trained for this event, I didn’t have fixed dumbbells and my Fat Gripz didn’t fit my adjustable dumbbell handles. That’s all changed now.

However, I couldn’t get the 115 bell up with Fat Gripz. The dumbbell handle is already thicker than a barbell so the Fat Gripz didn’t close all the way around, making it even bigger than normal. I think that’s even better, but it was too much for my current level so after a few failed reps I took it off for the topset.

Dumbbell push press (all with Fat Gripz except 115)
50 x 2
80 x 2
115 x 1

Unilateral landmine press
115 x 3 x 10

Pull-ups
15, 12, 10, 10

Barbell shrugs
300 x 10

Several missed attempts with the 115 dumbbell before I locked out. The landmine press was easy on the joints and something I’ve been meaning to bring back for boxing. I made this lift a lot harder by really letting the bar sink down at the bottom to the point where I had to twist my torso to accommodate it, which added some ab work in and somewhat mimics throwing a cross in boxing.

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452

Brutal Friday night at the boxing gym. Lots of calisthenics mixed with hard rounds on the bag. Left shoulder was feeling serious fatigue from ending with entire rounds of just jabbing our partner while moving backwards, but unlike my partner, I didn’t need to take rest periods.

It’s interesting how my mindset has changed. Before I used to hate any kind of exercising at a martial arts class because I could just do that at home and it would interfere with my weightlifting. Now, I appreciate it. Every bit helps with being a better fighter and a coach will prescribe things I wouldn’t normally do on my own. Part of it is maturing and part of it just plain attending more days than in years past so I get a mix of everything.

Saturday was a rest day, but got a lot of walking done at a holiday fair.

Sunday evening:

Squats
445 x 4
Drop-down to 405x5, 315x8, 225x8, 135x8, 45x8

Reverse hyper single leg curls
200 x 2 x 20

Weighted decline crunches
50 x 20

Hanging leg raises: x 15

Had more reps in me with 445, but didn’t want to push it with my left hip so I upped the reps with 405 (was previously hitting that for 3 after a topset) instead. Went on a 10 minute jog afterwards.

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453

Christmas Eve:

Overhead press
185x5
Super-set with pull-ups: 15

Overhead press against bands
107.5 x 4 x 10
Super-set with pull-ups: 4 x 12

Barbell skullcrushers
120 x 2 x 10

Hammer curls
50s x 3 x 10

Fought very hard to get the 5th rep, but that’s an improvement. Shoulders felt sore in warm-ups from low bar squats 2 days prior.

Christmas day: went on a 3.25 mile run.

I’m taking it upon myself to do more road work for boxing. Downloaded a couple of running apps to track my progress on that.

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454

Today was interesting.

Bench press
275 x 1
320 x 1
340 x 1
350 x 0

Went into this workout hungry and having drank too much coffee, which made me depleted and shaky. 350 was still close and I knew I could get it if I had a little more fuel in me.

I left the barbell on the floor and went upstairs to eat, then headed out for a Costco trip only to find out they had absolutely no eggs. It was just a big, empty section. Bulk eggs were the main reason I went here instead of Trader Joe’s. Still made off with some items that made it a worthwhile visit: liquid egg whites, new running shoes, plenty of meat, and cat food.

Ate again when I got home and started a revenge workout at 9pm:

Bench press
275 x 1
315 x 1
335 x 1
350 x 1

Incline Swiss bar bench
180 x 10
190 x 8
200 x 6
165 x 12 → dropdown to 135 x 3
Super-set with lying dumbbell rows
115s x 4 x 10

Lying lateral flyes
15s x 3 x 15
Alternating lateral curls
50s x 20, 20
35s x 16

After having done so many singles in a few hours, 350 didn’t come easy, but I physically just felt rock solid this time despite some shoulder fatigue.

I lowered the normal 170 on the last set of incline bench down to 165 to try and ensure I got 15 reps but at that point, I was understandably spent. When I unracked 165 I couldn’t believe how heavy it felt.

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455

Squats: 300 x 20
Super-set with deadlifts: 300 x 20

Took frequent rest-pauses for my back during the deadlifts, but it’s been awhile since I’ve had a pain episode (regular foam rolling has seemed to do wonders for it). I feel good enough to try and push it more next time. I’m also making this harder by that careful walkout with the bar on my back to the dirt. Next time I’ll try to be quicker about transitioning to deads.

After this, I went out to visit my aunt who just returned from a long stay in Iran and ate homemade lamb and eggplant stew at her house. After returning, I went on a 2-mile run that included a sprint up a hill.

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456

Seated Arnold press
80 lb dumbbells x 10, 9, 9, 8
Super-set with pull-ups: 15, 12, 12, 12

Dumbbell skullcrushers
50s x 10, 8, 8
Super-set with hammer curls
50s x 10, 10, 8

Tate press
50s x 8, 8
Super-set with concentration curls
50s x 10, 10

First I tried to barbell overhead press and my shoulders felt painful once I worked-up to 95 lbs. I really ran them through the ringer on Saturday with that max bench press workout. It wasn’t that bad and I could have worked through it, but when I tried dumbbells and found them more comfortable, I opted for the Arnold press, which I’ve made good gains on since the last time I hit that.

My shoulders were done after the 4th set so I went pretty tricep-intensive after that. I had also just read an early arm workout that Bruce Randall did in his heyday with multiple sets of extensions and curls and I was in a bodybuilding mood afterwards.

Since I’m on my second week of no boxing gym (they were closed last week and are on a reduced schedule this week), yesterday I donned my breath restriction mask, a wool beanie, and two layers of sweaters to shadowbox in my living room with 3 lb weights. 2 round for 4 minutes. Went outside afterwards and hit the heavy bag also for 2 rounds, 4 minutes, then went on a 1.8 mile jog afterwards.

I’m making my minimum round time at home 4 minutes, so 3 minutes for drills in the gym and 2 minutes for sparring feel easy.

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457

Yukon bar squats
460 x 3
Drop-sets of 410x5, 320x10, 230x10, 140x10, 50x10

Reverse hyper single leg curls
200 x 20

Good mornings
140 x 10
190 x 8

Crushed this and only stopped at 3 reps because of my hip, but it was feeling better this session than last. I brought my massage gun down to the gym and used it on my hip between sets.

Done at 10pm, felt tired and hungry, and during the work-up sets, I actually walked away after loading up 405 because I figured I should come back the next day when I was well-rested and with more food, but then turned back around because I’d already come this far. Was pretty surprised at how light everything felt once I got under the bar.

Back has been feeling excellent. Foam rolling regularly has made a world of difference.

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458

Some excellent work Powpow, glad to hear the back is back to normal.

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459

@bigpappafrance Thanks very much. Doing everything I can to keep feeling my back feeling like this.

Bench press
Work-up to 225 x 3

2-board press
315 x 1
370 x 0
335 x 2
345 x 2

Incline Swiss bar bench press
165 x 10
185 x 8
205 x 6
165 x 13

Kroc rows
125 x 30

Lying rear-delt flyes
15s x 20, 20, 15
Super-set with dumbbell curls
50s x 8, 8
35s x 10

Hammer curls
35s x 3 x 10

Switched to board pressing because my shoulders still feel fried from that max effort bench press workout last weekend. Got up to 225 on the bench press before I switched.

Just barely missed pressing 370. Bar got stuck for a few seconds just before lockout before it came back down. I would have had it if my shoulders felt fresher.

With that said, there has been a lot of max effort grinding the past few weeks during these feast-heavy holidays. It’s been fun and I’ve gotten stronger, but I’ll be scaling that back. Returning to the boxing gym this week. Speaking of boxing, I missed recording a couple of home training sessions, but one involved 4-minute rounds of shadowboxing with 3 lb weights when I should have been giving my shoulders a break, haha.

This week will be a deload. Body needs it.

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460

Deload

Squats: 225 x 20
Super-set with deadlifts: 225 x 20

Standing ab wheel: 8 reps

Just squatting with 135 during warm-ups made me feel soreness in my quads from Friday that I wasn’t aware was there, as I’ve been walking and running fine. 225 was uncomfortable as a result, but just the right weight for a deload. Used a mixed-grip with deadlifts, no straps for this.

Because I hit this soon after I got home from work, rather than eating first and then waiting, I had more time than usual the rest of the evening. Definitely going to make eating BEFORE I leave the office more of a habit. I was able to easily do that this time by making twice the amount of ground bison that I usually do, giving me extra meal prep bowls.

Aside from chores, I spent the rest of the evening doing stretching and soft-tissue work via my massage gun, foam roller, and Rolflex (compression device for elbow pain). Just cycled between them all to treat my shoulders, IT band, lower back, and left elbow while I watched TV. Also stretched out my hamstrings on the kitchen counter and the floor. About 2 hours before bed, I also went on a 30-minute night walk while listening to a Dan John podcast.

I mentioned my IT band: the upper area of that is what’s been bothering me when I squat and sit for extended periods of time, rather than my “hip”. It’s been an on-and-off annoyance for the past few years.

Finally, this morning I did a 30-second dead hang and then foam rolled my lower back some more.

I feel INCREDIBLE today as a result of all that, like the feeling right after a big stretch in the morning but extended. I think putting all that together in a written list with timed intervals as a routine will make sure I cover everything on a regular basis without having to think about it, especially on busier nights.

Got boxing on the agenda today but my shoulders feel up for it.

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461

Went to boxing on Tuesday and Wednesday. After skipping rope and 3 rounds of shadowboxing, we did simple partner combos. When we ended with heavy bag work, I couldn’t help but blast the power shots despite my sore shoulders.

On Wednesday, I was doing awful when skipping rope. Kept messing up every 20 or so seconds. Shoulders also got tired, so likely a recovery thing. Unfortunately, we started shadowboxing rounds with dumbbells, and by the time I got to pick, only the 5 pounders were available, which is heavy for shadowboxing. Made it work fine, but my coach went to another room and got out 2 pounders to use mid-round. Also did front and lateral raises. I’m not going to brag about beasting 2 lb front raises, but while other people looked like they were dying and had to take breaks, they felt very nice as relaxed active recovery for my shoulders.

Alternated rounds between partner combos and heavy bag work. Ended with abs, which wasn’t hard until my abs suddenly cramped and I had to hold my hand against my stomach in order to keep moving. Ended with stretches.

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462

just catching up, you are a sick man, happy new year mate.

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463

@simo74 Happy New Year brother and the feeling is mutual, haha.

Couple of workouts to log from over the weekend.

Saturday deload

Swiss bar overhead press
135 x 3 x 8
Super-set with pull-ups: 3 x 10

Swiss bar incline bench
175 x 3 x 8
Super-set with pull-ups: 3 x 10

Dumbbell curls:
50s x 2 x 8

Shoulders felt a little painful warming up with the straight bar. Swiss bar was a marked difference. It really wasn’t worth bench pressing heavy twice in one day that one Saturday a couple weeks back to hit a 350 bench the same night, but I don’t regret it, either. I had a goal that day and did whatever it took to reach it. Every once in a while, that’s good for one’s being.

Sunday

Yukon bar squats
420 x 8
Strip sets of 320 x 8, 230 x 8, 140 x 8

Good mornings
190 x 2 x 8

Ab wheel: 10 standing reps

Later in the evening:
2 rounds of shadowboxing with breath-restriction mask, 4 minutes each
2.80 mile jog in 38 minutes.

Some IT band pain when squatting. Reviewing footage, I was going to parallel for most reps. Will go back to squatting a little narrower and deeper next time to see if that helps, knowing my rep count will drop a bit. Doing more foam rolling on the adjacent areas around the IT band.

Monday was a rest day, aside from 20 burpees in the morning to warm my body up after waking up. On top of my daily 10-15 minute lunch break walk, I got in a 30 minute walk in the evening.

Still foam rolling my back every morning when I wake-up and every night before bed, against the advice of everyone online. It has made a huge difference. I watched one popular video explaining why this is bad and the influencer demonstrated by loosely draping his lower back over the roller and explaining that this puts you in extreme extension. I’ve used a foam roller since I was a teenager and always kept my abs flexed when foam rolling my back so that I’m essentially doing a reverse plank. I’m admittedly perplexed that this isn’t the norm in these circles.

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464

This week has been hectic at work. We suddenly ended up shorted a delivery driver so I went from my office desk to taking over driving the truck and unloading pallets. By sheer coincidence, I brought a homemade weightgainer shake (milk, chocolate whey protein, almond butter, a banana, and pre-cooked oatmeal) in a thermos the first day, which was indispensable during my time out in the afternoon. Repeated that the next day, this time knowing I’d be out on the road for much of the day.

On the second day, I had a driver I was training and we were delivering to Gold’s Gym locations all day. They are pretty nice gyms inside compared to 24 Hour Fitness. He used to be a gym rat before falling off the train, but we had plenty of meathead talk to trade, which was a fun change of atmosphere from my very non-meathead office colleagues. He also used to box as a teenager,

My back was a little sore from lifting and carrying cases of protein shakes and Gatorade while bent-over, but nothing too drastic.

Went to boxing on Tuesday and Wednesday - very standard sessions doing partner combos. Hoping next Tuesday is a sparring day I can sign-up for.

The combination of manual labor at work and boxing back-to-back, combined with poor sleep on Wednesday night, had me feeling beat yesterday, but I still got something done despite the temptation to skip it and rest.

Swiss bar bench press
245 x 8, 8, 7
Super-set with dumbbell rows
125 x 3 x 8

Incline dumbbell press
80s x 8, 10
Dumbbell hammer curls
50s x 8, 10

Had a headache by the end and felt like I needed to go lie down, so called it here. Happy with the workout.

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465

I did the thing again. The bad thing.

Squats: 305 x 20
Super-set with deadlifts: 305 x 20

5 lbs heavier and less rest pauses. Only took a breather once after 10 reps on deadlifts while last time I paused after only 5.

Shadow boxed immediately afterwards. Pretending I’m fatigued in sparring.

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466

Idk why I found this so funny, but I spent a solid 30 seconds just laughing to myself on my couch over this. Feels so damn relatable lol

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