It was Temu Bambi
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Came home on Monday and gave myself permission to rest, as I was quite tired from poor sleep. Took a 1-hour nap as soon as I got home and still felt tired the rest of the afternoon and the next day. I believe now that it’s because of nausea from taking a Sports Research Triple Strength Fish Oil capsule from Costco at night, which has me waking up feeling queasy. I made this same observation last year but wasn’t sure if it was a bad batch or rather because of sheer excess food from bulking at that time. I seem to be alright if I take it during the day, but I’m definitely returning to Flameout next time.
Original plan for Monday was to run 5 miles because I should be doing more roadwork. Will make sure to fit that in within the next few days, possibly Friday.
Tuesday boxing was an excellent technical session, something I missed last week when this coach was out for a day. Practiced jabbing while leaning the head way off the center line and framing the opponent with the left arm to deliver body strikes. My partner indicated that the straight right I was hitting the pads with hurt, so I started throwing lighter. While my gloves were 16 oz, my partner had tiny boxing gloves that looked a step above MMA gloves. It was comical. He also chose the thinnest shield in the gym for us to wear and then started ripping body blows on me. I took it as some good training, but definitely not even treatment there.
While we were shadowboxing, a coach came by and said he wants to borrow one of the shadowboxers for a minute and pulled me aside, where he told me one of the masters boxers has a fight coming up and they want me to be a sparring partner, which I readily accepted. He took my number down and said it’ll usually be Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings, which works fine for me. More sparring!
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Sadly, a LOT of fish oils on the market are rancid. Sounds like that’s exactly what happened to you.
Dude: what an exciting development getting picked as a sparing partner! Can’t wait to hear how that goes.
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@T3hPwnisher Thanks so much! I’m quite stoked about it. And yeah, I’ll be tossing this bottle out.
Went down to my gym very hungry and with coffee in me yesterday, which I’m realizing is a surefire recipe for me to suck at pressing overhead. Blacked out when lifting 215 on the log overhead and fell backwards with it just before lockout. Couldn’t even get it off my chest on a second attempt.
Transitioned instead to doing 18 ABCs with a pair of 50 lb kettlebells, done in 5:26. So glad I can do these again without elbow pain. I was winded at the end and felt like it was a very good way to spend 5 minutes.
Going to repeat the strongman workout on Friday with 210 on the log and more food.
A day after Tuesday’s boxing class, I received an email saying that same coach is leaving the gym to focus on his family. Very glad I got one last lesson on Tuesday, as he’s been my favorite coach. His twin brother is probably the best fighter at our gym, a Golden Gloves winner who also coaches the advanced class on Monday which is during my work period. I have a good rapport with them both and they always say what’s up whenever we see each other outside of Tuesday’s class. Eventually, I will get into the advanced class one way or another.
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Another good boxing session yesterday. Thursday’s coach has really been upping the ante lately in terms of what I want most out of class and focusing on technique over random exercises that are done too quickly to be challenging. After skipping rope, we did weighted shadowboxing for 3 rounds, followed by partner drills that had us slipping hooks and then countering with our own hooks. We then took turns walking our partner across the gym while throwing an upper-cut from each side. Ended with ab work.
Got interrupted sleep last night because one of our 2 black cats came and napped on my chest, then left to bring back a toy mouse to drop in bed so he could play. Then he started prodding and trying to wrestle the other cat sleeping by my side. Adorable, but had to kick him out of the bedroom. In the morning I woke-up to find that he had been quietly sitting and facing the closed door all night, waiting for it to open.
No nausea this morning after not taking any fish oil yesterday, so with my suspicions confirmed I’ll unfortunately be tossing out that not-cheap bottle.
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You got it from Costco right? You might actually be able to return it and get a refund. They have really good refund policies, and if you’re able to argue that the fats in it are rancid and causing a reaction, it’d be no different than if they sold spoiled food.
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Good thinking! It’s definitely worth a try, even if I don’t have the receipt.
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Yeah, if you have the app, it may be linked there. Might be associated with your membership card too. We had them pull up a receipt for us before.
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That’s handy to know, I’ll download the app and give it a go this weekend. Thanks man! The Brotherhood of Costco strikes again.
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205 log clean and press + 100 dumbbell push press:
205x1, 100x1, 205x1
205x1, 100x1, 205x1, 100x1
205x1, 100x1, 205x1, 100x1
205x1, 100x1, 205x1, 100x1
215 log x 0, 0
215 log x 1 (PR), 100 db x 1, 1
Moving medley: 400 lb farmers walk, 275 sled, 150 lb keg carry x 2
200 lb sandbag to platform loading x 8
Just a great example of getting better as the workout went on. 205 with the log flew up much stronger on the second set than the first, and I was feeling good enough by the fifth set to have a redemption arc with 215 that I failed at so badly the day before yesterday. After two misses, I really tightened up and took a slightly wider stance for stability and 215 went up easy.
I also did this with quads sore as HELL from the 18 ABCs I did combined with a bunch of bodyweight squats we did in boxing yesterday, and my left shoulder sore from doing partner rounds of only jabs yesterday, working up to a pyramid of triple jabs before going back down and repeating.
It may be too little too late at this point, but I now am confident I wouldn’t zero the 225 log in competition at least. Whatever happens, it’s been great getting back into strongman again and a competition is in my near future. It feels like I have a ton of potential to unlock by dialing in the consistency of my log press form.
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Feeling wrecked today. Whole body is sore. Went on a 6-mile run up to the reservoir and back, with a couple of brief pauses to use the restroom and walk along the water.
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Axle clean once and press
150 x 5
170 x 3
190 x 3
Super-set with band pull-aparts: 3 x 15
SSB front squats
260 x 5
290 x 3
330 x 5 (PR)
260 x 10
Super-set with neutral-grip pull-ups: 3 x 15
Incline dumbbell press
85s x 8
80s x 10, 10
Super-set with bent-over dumbbell rows: 100 x 3 x 10
1-min 200 lb sandbag carry
Pressing 190 for 3 was very smooth. Paused for a second after the 2nd rep, but the lack of momentum didn’t hurt performance and the bar shot up for the third rep.
Went back to front squatting with the SSB, as it just feels better on my joints and I can focus more on squatting and less on my wrists. Gives the biceps a big pump, too.
I attached two 5 lb plates on the ends of my dumbbells with bands to make them weigh 85 lbs. One of them held, but the other fell apart and the band + plate snagged around my elbow. I kept lifting unabated and got the idea to just start that way next time by dangling plates from my forearms, as silly as it looks. It felt like lifting through quicksand.
I’m bummed that there are no more Tuesday boxing classes, as that was my favorite day and coach. Going to do bagwork at home today with a run on top of it.
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Yesterday was a great home boxing day. Put on my sparring gear and did 3 rounds of 5 minutes on the heavy bag. Really focused on pretending there was a live opponent in front of me and doing things I train outside of sparring but rarely implement in the ring, like body shots and pivots.
Saw a combo from Sugar Ray Leonard recently that I practiced: jab, right body hook, left body hook, left hook.
Afterwards, I jogged to the high school track, saw that it was open for once, and did a mile around it while sprinting some of the straightaways before running back. Total run was 2.13 miles in 21 minutes.
Finally, this morning before work, I had time to knockout 8 double-press ABCs with the 50 lb kettlebells. I heard Dan John on a recent podcast mention 2 presses and since I just got back into ABCs, I thought I’d been doing them wrong by pressing only once so I pressed twice per round this morning, but upon review, the original prescription was indeed one press. Good “problem” to have.
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This is a minor issue with Dan on his podcasts, but one worth discussing: his brain tends to get ahead of his mouth, and he’ll often misspeak during the podcast. He’ll call things by the wrong name, mix up terms or numbers, etc. It’s one of those things where you have to know what he means BEFORE he says it, which really just comes with frequent listening. Otherwise, he might say something and have you go “Crap: I had it ALL wrong!”
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@T3hPwnisher Good to know even though I don’t mind that he made me do extra pressing, haha.
Boxing yesterday started out by going out to the parking lot and racing in teams. Had to side-shuffle halfway down and sprint the remainder before tagging our partner in. Despite being bigger and older than everyone in class, I smoked everyone in the sprints by a wide margin every round. I was actually fairly surprised at how much ahead of everyone I was. After coming back in, we did 3 rounds of shadowboxing followed by partner sparring using only feints and jabs, then more rounds that included body hooks.
My hip flexors and glutes were absolutely nuked afterwards. Weekend running, Monday running, 2 squat workouts, and the sprints have added up. Instead of burpees this morning, I hit 55 push-ups in one set.
Currently rereading The Iron Samurai: The True Story of Westside by Louie Simmons, which I’ve wanted to pick-up ever since reading @T3hPwnisher’s review of it. What a wild book so far. I like the format of, “Here is one story. [Insert insane story about insane weightlifter doing insane thing here.] That is a true story, by the way.” Then repeat. I love it so far.
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Damndest thing happened. Aside from the morning push-ups, yesterday was a recovery day. Ended up going on a walk, doing some light reverse hyper sets, stretching, and foam rolling. Slept very well and woke-up feeling great, then lay down for a few minutes right before I was due to head out for work, and when I stood-up my back seized up. It’s now in some pain and I definitely won’t be able to deadlift or do weighted carries this evening like I had planned. Theory is because my hips and glutes have been so wrecked, I haven’t been able to move fluidly (legs hurt when I raise them) and I tweaked something getting up from a lying position.
Going to pivot to a bench press workout this evening instead. I haven’t flat benched in over 8 weeks, which I actually think is a record for me ever since I started lifting.
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Back pain persisted throughout the weekend but is better to the point of increased mobility just in time for work today. Did a bench press workout of 225x3x8 followed by JM presses of 135x2x10 and a bunch of pull-ups Friday night. Couldn’t use leg drive and upper-back wasn’t kept as tense as usual due to irradiating discomfort, so reps were slow and deliberate.
Did another upper-body workout on Sunday. Saw a video of Matt Wenning demonstrating the JM press with a safety squat bar and got the idea to try that out for fun.
SSB JM press
150 x 2 x 10
170 x 1 x 10
Incline crazy bell bench press
145 x 2 x 10
Band-assisted pull-ups: 4 x 10
Came away impressed with the SSB JM press. Felt a lot of pressure in my triceps and none in my elbows. It just felt good to do.
Back was feeling a little better by Sunday evening. Pushing a heavy shopping cart around for a Costco trip felt like rehab. Went on a short jog up Heart Attack Hill when I got home, alternating facing backwards and forwards.
Got a text from the boxing gym coach asking if I can spar his fighter next Saturday. I’m going on a beach camping trip from Friday to Sunday so he then asked if Thursday will work, which I confirmed. Can’t wait. Back is good enough to go running today.
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Exceeded my training expectations yesterday. Figured I’d be able to handle a light jog and set out to do that, but found my back was feeling really good by the time I was out of the office and I was able to mix in some actual running with the jogging. Went 3.66 miles in 44 minutes. Came back, put on the head gear and mouthguard, and followed that up with 3 rounds on the bag, 5 minutes each. Couldn’t practice weaving low, but was still able to utilize head movement.
Today is the first day I’ve been able to get up from sitting and just walk away normally. Yesterday, although I was feeling much better than Sunday, I would still have to take a few minutes for my back to straighten out after standing and I’d be walking funny until then.
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Found a corner of my garage with a high enough ceiling and enough clear space to jump-rope. Did 2 rounds of 3:30 for warm-up. I noticed that the combination of no hand wraps and running shoes instead of boxing shoes made skipping rope much more effortless compared to the gym. I’m probably getting easier wrist flexion without wraps, but I’m also wondering if balance is an issue with my boxing shoes.
Good and bad news on the injury update front. Yesterday I was able to do 8 ABCs with 50 lb kettlebells with no back issues. However, when coming up for the 7th, I felt a twinge in my upper-left thigh near the groin, an area that’s been tender from all the sprints I did last week. It was mild enough to where I did an 8th rep to assess and decided that while I could keep going, it’d be better to stop there. The 8 reps came with no break and I was on my way to break 10 reps non-stop.
Did a 5-minute round on the heavy bag afterwards and twisting caused the area to hurt. Although limiting, I actually found value in practicing what I could do under this condition as it forced me to stay loose and expend less energy..
Area feels better the next day and I can walk fine, including up stairs.
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Sparring today was a short 3 rounds, but went well. I told the coach I’d be there 15 minutes after I’m off work, so I ran out of the office, rushed to the gym, quickly changed into my gym shorts as soon as I parked, and walked in just in time.
Both my sparring partner and I took a lot of heavy shots. I did more head turning for defense than I’ve done in the past, and almost everything that landed was on the side of my head as a result.
My headgear became dislodged far more than last time. It either became loose on its own or I don’t remember adjusting it one day during bagwork. Spent too much attention constantly adjusting it so I wasn’t blind, which hampered my flow.
I landed more body shots than I have before by doing more level changing, which was good, but now I need to add weaving on top of that when I’m down low. Really, there are just so many more things I want to showcase that I’ve practiced on the bag or in partner drills but haven’t successfully brought out in the heat of the spar yet. I’m far more excited perpetually for “next time” every sparring session than I am frustrated, which is a good sign.
My cardio felt notably improved. Even if it was only 3 rounds, I felt fresher than previous 3-round spars.
The coach let me know that was exactly what his fighter needed and that he’ll invite me to more sessions. Hopefully the Saturday morning ones are longer.
My back felt mostly recovered and didn’t hamper my movement; same goes for my groin area.
Came home and had a snack, then lifted:
Bench press
135 x 3
185 x 3
225 x 3
275 x 3
300 x 2
315 x 2
SSB JM press
200 x 8, 8, 7
Dumbbell rows
115 x 3 x 10
Super-set with Band pull-aparts: 2 x 10
Heavy band pressdowns: 2 x 10
Dumbbell curls: 35s x 10, 8
First time bench pressing in months. Glad to report that there was no shoulder pain.
Upping the weight on the JM press really had me feel it in the triceps. Because my grip is narrow, I also feel a lot of inner chest tension when I’m at the top of the concentric and stabilizing the safety squat bar. It’s my new favorite exercise - I love the way it feels when doing it.
Great training day. Next few days are for camping.
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