@simo74 @SvenG Thank you warriors!
Tuesday:
3 rounds on the heavy bag, 5 minutes each (oxygen-deprivation mask on the first round)
3 sprints up Heart Attack Hill + shadowboxing at an incline at the top of each round
10 min jog
I have also been doing 20 rapid Muay Thai kicks for each leg every morning after waking-up and sometimes doing 20 burpees afterwards.
Log clean and press
AMRAP for 70 seconds
192 x 5, 6
Farmer’s walk
220 lbs each x 2 x 40 seconds
Floor-to-platform loading
200 lb sandbag x 8
5-min round on heavy bag with oxygen-restriction mask
I brushed up on my log technique for the first time in a few years and watched a recent log training video with Mitchell Hooper getting tips from Martins Licis. Had a much stronger performance than last attempt with 200 lbs, where I only got 1 rep. Squat down with the log, just don’t stand too narrow (which was causing me to lose balance). Elbows to the sky. Don’t be afraid to pause in that position if needed. Then roll it up while pulling it back.
Farmer’s walk felt nasty upon pick-up. I’d forgotten what they feel like. Once I was moving and already in the thick of the suffering, though, it was familiar territory.
This was a good third week of strongman training. Things got figured out and I was able to train with minimal shoulder pain. I’m due for a deload according to the program, and the author recommends swapping in the standard 5/3/1 barbell lifts for this week, which is fine by me. I was also glad to read further into the program comments and see Wendler lend his support for the author’s strongman take on 5/3/1.
Went on a 3.35 mile run yesterday for 45 minutes after getting home from work. Hadn’t eaten since lunch and only had casein protein in me.
Played a little mind game with myself when a coworker brought donuts in this morning: I pretended I already ate one and all that was left was the memory of it, just like any time I actually eat dessert and wished it lasted longer.
I remember, deep in a diet, I’d have these “nightmares” where I violated the diet and binged on junkfood. They used to be awful. Now, I’ve actually learned to appreciate these dreams. I can actually TASTE the food in the dream, experience the mouthfeel, etc, and then I wake up, and I realize I basically had a 10000 calorie binge for free.
@T3hPwnisher That’s pretty cool what used to be a nightmare has turned into a treat. Says a lot about how your relationship with food has changed. I’ve always had a sweet tooth and nihilism has been the best craving destroyer: the experience of dessert is going to be over in a couple of minutes and I’ll still want more, so what’s the point?
Saturday was a deload:
Axle clean once and press away
110 x 5
130 x 5
150 x 5
Super-set with Band pull-aparts: 3 x 15
Front squats
185 x 5
225 x 5
275 x 5
Super-set with pull-ups: 3 x 12
Incline dumbbell press
80s x 4 x 10
Super-set with lying dumbbell rows
115s x 4 x 8
Loaded carries
200 lb sandbag, 45 seconds
160 lb keg, 45 seconds
Ended with a 5 minute heavy bag round with oxygen mask
Sunday was home boxing training.
1 round shadowboxing with oxygen mask, 5 minutes
3 rounds on the heavy bag, 5 minutes each. First 2 rounds with oxygen mask, last without.
I should add I’m wearing my sparring headgear everytime I box at home lately. I want it to feel like a second skin. That’s putting it OVER the oxygen-restriction mask. Feels horrible and suffocating, but that’s the goal.
Later in the evening, went on a 2.25 mile jog.
Did a deload workout on Monday that I neglected to record, then did a 2.25 mile jog on Tuesday. Felt a bit under the weather and was going to rest, but when I got home I felt like going on the jog.
Wednesday boxing was with 2 coaches, which is a change. I haven’t worked with coach Dominic in a few weeks, but he seemed extremely enthused to see me, which I wasn’t expecting and was very cool of him. My group within the class started out with drilling jabs and straights using an empty barbell set-up like a landmine press.
I’ll be honest, it was starting off like this and then waiting for awhile for the bell to start to do an exercise that I knew wasn’t going to challenge me or develop much power when I started to think that there’s a reason I prefer coming in on Tuesdays versus Wednesdays lately. And I was right, there was nothing to popping up an empty bar for 3 minutes. But we rotated with the other groups to doing it with exercise bands that were tied to the punching bag posts and because everyone avoided the thick purple band, I got to use that one. That was a decent workout punching with it for 3 minutes.
Final rotation was pairing with partners to practice pivoting out of a clinch. Everyone immediately paired up with someone, leaving me out - which I took as a great compliment. I worked with the coach, and instead of two partners trading off, I did several rounds of being the only striker. Double jab - clinch first round, lunging body jab - clinch second round, and third round a mix of both. Having to keep jabbing and lunging forward for 3 rounds was another good workout and I worked up a sweat by the end.
Deload
Log viper press
155 x 3 x 5
Incline crazy bells
145 x 3 x 10
Super-set with bent-over dumbbell rows
100 x 3 x 10
The program suggests doing the standard 5/3/1 barbell lifts for the deload week. I kept the log for the main work but replaced the events training with the incline bench press, hanging 50 lb kettlebells off each end. I previously mentioned how crazy bells feel great for my shoulder pain so this is a good opportunity to bring them in.
I’ll evaluate my shoulder health and strength levels closely the next few weeks to determine contest readiness. Between my 2 goals of getting better at hard sparring with Gabriel at the boxing gym and getting strongman ready, boxing still takes priority. I’ve got sparring again next Tuesday. Still, this deload has been incredibly invigorating and I went far too long not doing scheduled deloads. I’m super hungry to train heavy again.
Physique right now is in a good place after a month of a calorie deficit. I’ve lost bloat and midsection fluff, and though not ripped I have visible abs at rest.
Friday night boxing was hard conditioning, like usual. After rope skipping, we did dumbbell shadowboxing with a short supply of light dumbbells. As a result, I ended up boxing with a 4 pounder in my left hand and a 5 in my right. Striking was slow as a result, but there was a fun Dragonball Z effect of putting them down and feeling super fast with empty hands.
Did 3 rounds of medicine ball burpees, plyometric push-ups, and dumbbell lateral holds. Immediately went to the heavy bags afterward and did power rounds on those mixed with push-ups, mountain climbers, and high knees. Ended with ab work.
Stayed after class to hit the bag for some extra time and watch a couple of my coaches spar. They went pretty hard. Inspiring.
Fast-forward to Sunday and my shoulders are still torched from Friday at the boxing gym. Traps are sore from the dumbbell holds, too. This coupled with having hard sparring scheduled for Tuesday drove me to leave a little more in reserve than I otherwise would have under the iron.
Axle clean once and strict press
130 x 5
150 x 5
170 x 7
Super-set with band pull-aparts: 3 x 12
Front squats
240 x 5
275 x 5
315 x 3 + 1
Super-set with neutral grip pull-ups: 3 x 15
Incline dumbbell press
80s x 3 x 10
Super-set with bent-over dumbbell rows
115 x 3 x 10
Sandbag carries
200 lbs x 2 x 1 minute
Shoulder pain is feeling better under the axle press, although sore shoulders posed an entirely different level of discomfort. Left a rep in the tank, didn’t want to grind.
I’m employing the barbell clean grip with front squats now rather than using the SSB and am finding them harder as a result. Feels like the weight is a little more in front of me and makes it more quad intensive, but I ran into trouble from sweat causing the barbell to start sliding down my chest, even with chalk. I will have to be very vigilant about watching out for wrist pain, especially with boxing in the mix. It felt fine until the bar movement started increasing the wrist strain. A grip shirt would be a good idea if I want to keep squatting this way in warm weather.
I will definitely have to lower the weight on front squats using the clean grip. I managed to squat 315 for 3 before I had to rerack and reset my grip, and then squatted one more after a brief rest pause. My quads are actually a little sore just from this the next day.
Went out to Costco afterwards and had a really good grocery run. Got lamp chops for the fryer, lots of steak, salmon, chocolate whey, creatine, and 10 dozen eggs.
In the interim, if you’re ok with gumming up your bar a little, the old school solution was to wrap athletic tape around the center to increase the grip.
@T3hPwnisher Appreciate the tip, I will definitely be giving that a try.
Outstanding dude! That was a great grocery haul as well. The leg of lamb at Costco is a crazy good deal.
Just a thought, have you tried the cross-arm bodybuilder style grip?
@BrandonCrawford I did try that, as I used to front squat that way as a teen, but the bar kept slipping down my sweaty shoulders and because I hadn’t front squatted that way in over a decade, I went back to what I’d already been practicing with the clean grip.
Sparred yesterday. Class spans from 6:15-7:15 and I was waiting around in my gear for over an hour for my name to be called. A couple of people had their name called twice to step into the ring during that time, which annoyed me. Around 7:18 my name was called along with the one other dude who had been waiting, a tall older guy who swung wild. I got caught by his right several times in the first round but hit him with many more of my own. He started to significantly slow down as he got tired and eventually it was easy to just lean back and let him miss before tagging him. He did a good job keeping his right hand up in guard, blocking my straight rights, but my jab must have had something like a 99% success rate.
My corner coach offered me nothing but compliments, saying I was throwing good 1-2s and nailing the basics, but I felt very ring rusty and was miffed that I ate shots in the first round. I can tell I was too tense again, but my cardio held up anyway from all the home work I’ve been doing. But I definitely need to spar more. I’ll do my part by not missing a sparring session, infrequent as they already are, but I’d also like to ask if the beginner sparring sessions are open so I can at least get some light sparring mixed in to up the frequency. That way, I would at least be able to spar every week rather than once every 2 weeks (the beginner and regular classes rotate weekly).
Reading my write-up back to myself, I sound pretty negative, but I walked away more excited than anything and wanting to go again right away to employ the things I didn’t do in the ring, so my headspace is good and positive.
Well before I went up, two women sparred and one walked away with her face splattered with blood. The coach I had previously been sparring, Gabriel, went against a bigger opponent who was very skilled and Gabe also walked away with a bloody nose.
Axle power cleans:
150 x 5
172.5 x 5
195 x 5
Deadlifts:
365 x 5
425 x 5
477.5 x 6
Close-grip, neutral-grip chin-ups: 5 x 10
Super-set with weighted dips: 65 x 5 x 10
Reverse-hyper leg curls: 380 x 4 x 10
Super-set with dumbbell curls: 35s x 2 x 10
Swiss bar curls: 45 x 2 x 10
Felt strong on everything. Power cleans felt light, deadlifts felt light, and I handily hit 5 sets of 10 on dips with 65 lbs. Only had to drop the weight on curls once my biceps started getting toast from shrugging the weight up and continuing to extend the dumbbells up and over my shoulders at the top peak of contraction, something I picked-up from Paul Carter.
Got very good sleep last night and woke-up before my alarm, so I hit 25 burpees and 8 standing reps on the ab wheel before work this morning.
Saturday:
Log clean and press
200 x 1, 3, 4, 5
Medley: 280 lb sled drags, 220 lb farmer’s walk, 200 lb sandbag carries x 3 rounds around the backyard
Sandbag floor to platform loading: 200 x 10
The log press really came together at the end. Once I got form dialed in, the log started to fly overhead, and I was able to grind out some extras using pressing power to top it off. Ended up tying my PR of 200 x 5 from 10 years ago, which was with a skinnier log in competition.
Got some cool bruises on my abs from the log in time for beach day the next day, but it was so crowded we just parked at a site away from the boardwalk and went for a walk by the water.
Monday:
12 ABCs with 50 lb kettlebells
5-min round on the heavy bag
Was short on time, so knocked this out in less than 10 minutes. Got the ABCs done in 3:20, so plenty of room to improve if I keep them up as an alt workout when I need to get training done fast.
Boxing yesterday didn’t start out great, but got better. Class sizes have ballooned in size lately and they have been restructured with 2 coaches at a time, often splitting the class in 2 separate groups. There was no room for everyone to skip rope so some of us went outside, where I joined a group of teenagers goofing off as they lazily skipped rope. As I was doing the rope work, one of them goes, “First person to trip is gay!” I was kind of fascinated in the moment how that’s still used just like when I was in school, but vowed that if I heard that again I’d say something to them. We finished without incident and luckily the rest of the class was a decent workout in the vicinity of the coach and with more adults around.
Axle clean once and press
140 x 3
160 x 3
180 x 5
140 x 12
Super-set with band pull-aparts: 4 x 15
Front squats
225 x 5
255 x 5
285 x 6 + 2
Super-set with neutral grip pull-ups: 3 x 15
Incline dumbbell press
80s x 10, 10, 10, 10, 9
Super-set with dumbbell rows
115 x 3 x 10
100 x 2 x 10
Sandbag carries
200 x 3 x 1 minute
Pressing 180 was smooth. Kept a rep or two in reserve and stopped before the bar speed started to noticeably slow down. Shoulders have a little discomfort when strict pressing, but nothing too bad. They’ve gotten much better but are taking a while to get to that last bit of 100%.
Using the clean grip with front squats again, I tried to position the bar higher while keeping my head raised. Helped a little, but still had to rerack and reposition after 6 reps. Will either have athletic tape or sandpaper on the bar for next time.
Went to boxing on Thursday and Friday, which were both grueling workouts. I was feeling very burned out on Friday and kept messing up while skipping rope. The next day, I was dismayed to find an email that there is no sparring this week, which I was looking forward to.
Axle power cleans
160 x 3
182 x 3
205 x 3
160 x 12
Deadlifts
405 x 3
455 x 3
505 x 3
T-bar rows
205 x 4 x 10
Super-set with weighted dips
50 x 10
70 x 10
80 x 10, 10
Single leg curls
290 x 3 x 10
Super-set with dumbbell curls
35 x 3 x 10
Previously I’ve been doing cleans with the axle resting on the crash pads, but today I put some patio pavers under my feet so I’m actually doing a full clean. 3 reps with 210 went up easy, but afterwards, I just couldn’t keep 205 up on a 4th and 5th rep attempt.
Went on an Easter day hike afterwards at Alum Rock, where we came across deer, a skink, and a bunny who had no eggs I could steal.
Assuming that’s a skunk you encountered the cast of Bambi
Alas, skink as in the lizard. Tiny legs and long, snake-like body. Only off by 1 letter, though, so I’m counting it still haha.