KRAKATOA: PowPowPunishment's Daily Ventures of Destruction

Training Training Logs
587

Axle clean once and strict press
155 x 5
175 x 3
195 x 2
Super-set with band pull-aparts: 3 x 15

SSB front squats
270 x 5
305 x 3
345 x 3 (PR)
270 x 10 (PR)
Super-set with pull-ups: 3 x 12

Incline dumbbell press: 80s x 5 (stopped due to shoulder pain)

Swiss bar bench press
235 x 3 (stopped due to shoulder pain)
225 x 6, 7, 7

Good night despite injuries. My press is getting a little stronger. 195x2 went up stronger with an achy left shoulder than 185x3 pain-free last week.

Incline pressing even light weight hurt the most and I opted to shut that down rather than ignore the pain, even though the weight was moving quick.

First set of bench press hurt. For the second set, I stripped off the 5 lb plates to bring it down to 225, and then focused on pressing in more of a downward trajectory than normal, almost as if I was decline benching. It worked, and by the third set I was bench pressing with minimal pain.

Real happy with how my front squats are progressing. I’d like to try the snatch grip with a straight bar again sometime with a silly idea to prevent the bar slipping: double-sided cat tape wrapped around it. It’s designed to make cats’ paws stick to surfaces they shouldn’t be on, driving them to avoid it. I have some in storage somewhere.

Bicep is about the same: there’s pain but it’s manageable. I will have to say goodbye to log cleans for awhile, but I was able to do unassisted pull-ups this time and they felt good.

5 Likes
588

Axle power cleans
175 x 5
200 x 3
225 x 1

Deadlifts
435 x 5
485 x 3
545 x 1

Bent-over dumbbell rows
100 x 10
115 x 10, 10
Super-set with weighted dips
50 x 10
100 x 8, 8

Romanian deadlifts: 315 x 2 x 8
Super-set with dumbbell curls: 35s x 8, 10, 10

Doing cleans and heavy deadlift reps before the final deadlift set has been great, I’ve found. The top set moves slower than it normally would, but my back feels so strong and warmed-up by that point.

6 Likes
589

Had a good, technical boxing session Tuesday night. Shadowboxed with dumbbells and only the 4 pounders and up were available (being the biggest guy I let everyone else pick the lighter ones first), but I was careful and didn’t have any shoulder pain. Took turns with different partners practicing bodyshots.

Yesterday after work:

Axle clean and push press
200 x 1, 3

Incline bench crazy bells
145 x 2 x 8

150 lb keg + 200 lb sandbag carry super-set: 35 seconds each

Sandbag carry: 1:05

Sandbag floor to platform loading: 8 reps

Came into this with sore shoulders, traps, and upper back. Cleans were giving me trouble as a result; whole upper back just felt fried and I had several missed attempts as a result before I finally got the 200 lbs to my chest. The next set came easier.

Crazy bells made my left shoulder hurt, the opposite intended effect of doing them for rehab. I got through the 2 sets but pretty much need to avoid incline benching of any kind until my shoulder’s healed.

Keg was spilling water so I went with just the sandbag for a second round of loaded carries. It’s been 10 years since I bought and sealed the keg and it’s time to perform some maintenance repairs.

This morning: 5 minute jump-rope round in the living room before breakfast and work.

Snapped a mirror shot last night a couple of hours after lifting. I’m bigger than I usually am at 198 lbs - credit to strongman training.

PXL_20250612_045127012
PXL_20250612_045127012400×489 235 KB

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590

looking dangerous mate. Quality

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591

@simo74 Appreciate that my man, that’s always good to hear.

Saturday deload

Axle clean once and press
90 x 5
110 x 5
130 x 5
Super-set with band pull-aparts:

Front squats
135, 185, 225 x 5
Super-set with chin-ups: 3 x 10

Bent-over barbell rows
185 x 3 x 8
Super-set with weighted dips: 50 x 8
75 x 8, 8

1 minute sandbag carry

Went on a 3-hour evening walk with my girlfriend in the evening to our local park and back. Way restorative.

Sunday morning:

1 round, 10 minutes jumping rope (PR)
Band-resisted striking drills: jab and straight right

Bicep rehab: 70 axle curls with 25 lbs

Evening: 4 hill sprints, followed by a 12-minute jog afterwards.

Monday was a rest day, and then this morning before work I did a 7-minute jump-rope round.

Biceps got surprisingly sore from those light axle curls. It’s been a minute since I’ve done Poundstone curls.

STILL no sparring available for weekly class sign-ups and haven’t been asked by the coach to come spar on the side, either. I might ask him if I can train with their masters team on Wednesdays to hopefully get more sparring in.

6 Likes
592

Deload

Axle power cleans
110 x 5
130 x 5
150 x 5

SSB squats
270 x 3 x 5

Lying dumbbell rows: 80s x 3 x 10
Super-set with SSB JM press: 170 x 3 x 8

Dumbbell stiff-legged deadlifts
80s x 2 x 8

Still weighing 198. Reducing calories at lunch and my post-workout meal are 2 easy tweaks because those are currently my largest meals. I’m in no hurry.

Jump-roped for a 7-minute round this morning, along with some external band rotations for my left shoulder which has been gradually feeling a little better.

7 Likes
593

Really good boxing session yesterday. More technical than usual for Wednesdays. After rope rounds, we did a round of dumbbell shadowboxing, normal shadowboxing, and then partner drills. Got advised to throw my right uppercut more vertically and less like a shovel hook. Partner was pretty skilled so we went pretty fast, which was a good workout in the end. We partnered-up on the heavy bag, too, having to throw nonstop 1-2s at the same time on opposite ends, but then ended with everyone having their own bag and doing rounds on it.

I’m looking into getting my first ever weight vest. Got my eye on the Rogue Echo.

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594

Boxing workouts are amazing. If Kenneth Cooper is spot on, 10 minutes of skipping rope is equivalent to a 30 minute jog.

A good heavy bag session is an upper body complete workout in itself.

Good Job!

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595

@Friedrich That it is! I’m still making myself go out for runs, but making space in my living room to jump rope has replaced a lot of my jogging sessions now. Thanks for the kind comment.

Axle clean once and press
140 x 5
160 x 5
180 x 5
Super-set with band pull-aparts: 3 x 15

Barbell front squats
225 x 5
260 x 5
290 x 7
Super-set with chin-ups
Bodyweight x 10
15 x 10
30 x 10

Seated dumbbell Arnold press
80s x 7, 7, 6
Super-set with T-bar rows
4 plates x 8, 8, 8

Sandbag carries
200 x 2 x 1 min
x 35 sec

Felt great going into this session and had a strong showing as a result. Yet another reminder to not skip deloads if the program calls for it.

Strict press went from 175x4 a month ago to a smooth 180x5, and those were some of the best front squats using a barbell clean grip I’ve ever done. Felt more comfortable keeping the bar in place.

Had a fun experience in San Francisco’s Chinatown over the weekend. It’s my tradition to buy a new Bruce Lee shirt everytime I visit from any number of the souvenir shops lining the street. One store caught my eye this time due to the life-size Bruce Lee replica they had and the shopkeeper began to excitedly chat me up not long after I entered, telling me I “look very dangerous” because I’m “so calm” and due to how I carry myself. I was already planning on buying, but as a sales tactic it was very good, haha. He asked me what martial arts I do and when I answered that I previously took Muay Thai but am doing boxing now, he feigned intimidation and said he KNEW I was a dangerous man. When I asked him if he did any martial arts, he said yes: a .45. Turns out his son did Muay Thai as well. This conversation was framed in some of the most animated mannerisms I’ve ever come across. The guy spoke like a character in a kung-fu movie. Anyway, ended up walking out with a new shirt and a wall tapestry showing a scene from Enter the Dragon.

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596

This story brought a genuine smile to my face!

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597

ha ha sounds like he was a master

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598

^ Glad you guys got a kick out of that, haha.

Felt pretty tired on Monday from poor sleep quality the night before. Did a 5-minute jump rope round in the morning before work and went on a 1.79 mile jog for 20 minutes in the evening.

Didn’t sleep great that night (tons of weird dreams that kept waking me up, including one where I “killed” a ghost with a flamethrower and then remarked “Mmm, barbecued ghost” like I was Duke Nukem), but felt more alive yesterday.

Axle power cleans
155 x 5
180 x 5
205 x 5

Deadlifts:
375 x 5
440 x 5
500 x 5

Bent-over dumbbell rows: 115 x 8, 10, 8
Super-set with Swiss bar bench press: 205 x 10, 9
215 x 7

Romanian deadlifts
315 x 8
275 x 8
Super-set with hammer curls: 35s x 3 x 10

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599

Nice pull(s).

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600

Strong pulling mate. You got that garage set up properly yet ?

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601

@Friedrich Thanks dude!

@simo74 It’s a hybrid indoor/outdoor space and it’s pretty much set-up. Storage areas have been installed along the walls and the allocated training area inside is shared with my girlfriend’s car (she can’t park outside because the space right in front of my condo is for guest parking and our wonderful HOA is strict about enforcing that). When I want to lift inside, I either do it when she’s at work or I’ll move her car out.

I used to have the intention of making it a 100% garage gym, but I got more serious with my girlfriend and started inviting her to stay over/park her car indoors. :slight_smile:

By the way, for those outside the United States who have never dealt with an HOA, consider yourselves fortunate. As a Canadian national there are an overwhelming amount of things I love about my adopted country, but the prevalence of HOAs isn’t one.

Had a good home boxing session on Wednesday. After a 9-minute jump rope (which is a PR), I did a 5-minute round of shadowboxing followed by 2 rounds of 5 minutes on the heavy bag, both with headgear and the first round with an oxygen-restriction mask.

There was sparring this Tuesday…and it was full by the time I tried to sign-up on Saturday. Really sucks. I’m going to have to set a weekly alarm for 4pm every Saturday so I can sign-up as soon as the email goes out. Most of the other classes that work for my schedule were all filled up, too, so it’s just home training this week.

Yesterday:

Log clean and press
167.5 x 5
187.5 x 5
207.5 x 3

Keg carries super-set with sandbag carries: 3 rounds

Sandbag floor to platform loading: 8 reps

Shoulders and upper-back have been sore and I didn’t want to do this workout, but once I was lifting, things were moving well. Wasn’t going to do log pressing because of my recovering bicep and the clean portion has tended to aggravate it, but made a deal that I would start light and see how it feels since it’s been better lately. Had no pain, but didn’t want to push things so I avoided any grinder reps.

This morning: 5:30 jump rope round before work

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602

Got poor sleep on Friday and woke-up with a gnarly migraine (I think my first ever?) on Saturday that lasted all day. Took it easy for the day and livestreamed the Jake Paul - Chavez fight in the evening because I wanted to make my headache worse, then went to bed early.

Woke-up feeling better, if a little fatigued, and knocked this out on Sunday:

Axle clean once and strict press
145 x 3
170 x 3
190 x 3
Super-set with band pull-aparts: 3 x 15

Barbell front squats
240 x 3
275 x 3
315 x 1

Felt back pain coming out of the hole on 315 so I racked it there. Surprisingly, I felt OK walking away and didn’t have to cancel a day at the beach I had planned. A little bit of pain but nothing too bad and I had full mobility. I haven’t had a debilitating back tweak since implementing some strongman training and I feel like it has definitely added armor to my back.

My headache creeped back later that night and I’ve been feeling it in the PM every day since Saturday. Not as bad but something’s still there.

Did a 5-minute jump-rope round followed by 5 minutes of crunches and reverse crunches this morning.

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603

Did a quick back squat set before leaving for a trip to Santa Rosa on Friday since a back tweak prevented me from finishing my front squats earlier in the week. So I knocked out a set of 275x15, which actually made me sore over the weekend.

Had a fun 4th of July up north. Friday night was a fireworks show at the local fair. I’m not usually thrilled by fireworks but this was a great show - the explosions were huge and we had a front-row seat on the park lawn.

Saturday was very busy with a family outing and by the time I dived into my email in the evening to sign-up for boxing classes, sparring was already full again. I will really have to be disciplined about setting an alarm and signing-up at 4:00pm sharp, no matter where I am.

After 2 days of rest, I came home from work and banged this out:

Axle clean once and strict press
160 x 5
180 x 3
200 x 1
Super-set with band pull-aparts: 3 x 15

Barbell front squats
260 x 5
295 x 3
335 x 1 (PR)
Super-set with NG chin-ups:
Bw x 10
30 x 8
50 x 8

Landmine rows
4 plates x 3 x 8
Super-set with one-arm dumbbell press
80 x 3 x 7

Sandbag carry
200 x 1:15

Also, yesterday and today’s mornings I did a 5:00 jump-rope round followed by uncounted crunches and reverse crunches.

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604

:bangbang:

Awesome work!

605

@SvenG Hey, thanks! Like in the past, one day the positioning of the bar just clicked.

On Wednesday, I finished a set of 180x5 axle power cleans, and then had to stop at 200 because my right bicep was hurting. I had loaded a heavy machine earlier in the day at work and that was enough to carryover to power cleans later in the day.

I’m going to take a break from cleans and will be axle pressing from the rack instead.

I came back yesterday and hit:

Deadlifts
445 x 5
500 x 3
550 x 0 (bicep started to hurt and concentration was lost)

Swiss bar bench press
225 x 3 x 8
Super-set with lying dumbbell rows: 80s x 3 x 10

I probably could have done 550 on a second attempt because the bar broke completely off the ground and then I fell forward with it, but repeatedly trying and failing deadlifts is the worst training feeling. Better to just leave it at that and come back another day feeling healthy.

Happy to report that my bicep feels fine today.

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606

Woke-up early for a Saturday and did this in the morning:

Medley
Sandbag floor-to-shoulder: 200 x 1, 1
Keg press: 150 x 1, 1
Circus dumbbell press: 100 x 1, 2

Seated Arnold press
80s x 7, 9, 5

Farmer’s walk
440 x 2 rounds

Farmer’s handles shrugs
440 x 8

Sandbag floor to platform loading
200 x 6

Replaced log training with that medley for the health of my bicep and it worked out well. The circus dumbbell is just a dumbbell with Fat Gripz but calling it that denotes the nature of the movement well instead of having to clarify the type of dumbbell press. The sandbag doesn’t bother my bicep at all, which is great. Getting the sandbag to my shoulder was easy this session because I felt fresh enough to move it up my body fast.

On Sunday, after some manual labor fixing my backyard gate that had fallen off the hinges, I did:

3 rounds, 5 minutes each on the heavy bag
23-minute jog for 1.68 miles

6 Likes