5 minute jump-rope round in the morning, followed by an uncounted number of crunches and reverse crunches.
Evening:
1 round, 3 minutes shadowboxing
2 sprints up Heart Attack Hill
8 minutes of HIIT on flat ground
.
Woke-up with my back feeling stiff, which was a surprise since it’s been feeling good lately. Different pain from what was plaguing me until recently - this is more like when you’re sitting down in a poor position for too long and you get up. Only theory is that I slept so deeply that I slept through a certain position instead of naturally shifting during slumber. A clue in that direction was that I woke-up to use the restroom later in the night than I usually do, closer to my alarm time.
My lunch routine is normally a 5-10 minute walk followed by a 10-15 minute nap in a room at our warehouse before returning to the office. Instead, I went on a longer walk today to the pull-up bars on the trail and did a 1-minute dead hang.
Close-grip bench press
230 x 10, 10, 9
Super-set with lying dumbbell rows: 115s x 3 x 10
Giant sets:
Incline dumbbell flyes: 50s x 3 x 10
Incline dumbbell press: 50s x 6, 5
Plate spider curls: 45 x 15, 12
Felt strong under the bar and felt like I had another rep of 285 in me if I wanted to grind for it.
Watched World’s Strongest Man 2002 with my girlfriend before lifting and she’s getting familiar with the athletes. Man, the production values from that era were so fun: lots of wacky camera angles, silly skits, and radical techno music.
UK now. I took a liking to the commentators, although I grew up with the US broadcast and Kaz being a part of that was awesome. I don’t know his name but the petite Brit who’s onscreen in the old BBC production is funny and the athletes sometimes playfully bully him around.
Thanksgiving was great yesterday. Had a massive feast at my sister’s. Lots of prime rib, smoked turkey, potato salad, Mac and cheese, and more. I keep hearing people talk about how turkey is the worst part of dinner and besides the fact that I hear that sentiment every year and it’s pretty old by now, I also just disagree. You will find no solidarity in me with that cliche small talk - smoked turkey is delicious and I will buy a giant turkey leg from the fair, beach boardwalk, etc. every given opportunity.
Going to a second dinner tonight at my girlfriend’s parents 2 hours away so this morning to save time, I did:
Squats (high bar): 275 x 20
Super-set with deadlifts: 275 x 20
Band-resisted overhead press
95 x 9, 10, 10
Super-set with chin-ups
Bw x 10
30 x 10, 10
Giant sets
Dumbbell flyes: 50s x 10, 10
Rear-delt flyes: 15s x 15, 35s x 10
Dumbbell curls: 50s x 10, 35s x 10
Press was progressing for awhile but has lately remained the same while my bench climbs. Not too surprising considering how little weight I’m gaining; I’ve creeped up to a bodyweight of 202 as of this weekend, a 2 lb gain over about 2 months. It honestly makes my bench and squat gains all the more satisfying.
@Friedrich Is that possible?! Guess they don’t want us getting too sappy here, haha.
Power cleans
110 x 5
160 x 5
185 x 5
Deadlifts
405 x 5
455 x 3
515 x 5
10 chin-ups
There were 2 conditions for victory here. 1 was moving 515 even once. 2 was remaining pain-free afterwards. Success on both fronts.
I did, however, wake-up this morning with my guts killing me. Not sure what I could have eaten to cause it. Possibly curry with tilapia, but I ate that the day before without problems, or maybe munching on too many almonds, but that hadn’t been causing me any issues either. I’ll choose to believe that it was fatal salmonella poisoning from one of the eggs I microwaved (I really need to stop cracking the shells on the side of my mug), and it would have killed anyone else but only gave me an upset stomach.
or maybe munching on too many almonds, but that hadn’t been causing me any issues either.
So that’s the thing: it hasn’t been causing you any issues, which means you’ve been doing it with some degree of regularity (I imagine). So here’s my almond story.
I fell in love with some raw almond butter, and was eating it by the spoonful. I did this for weeks. At first, zero issues. Then, I noticed some GI discomfort. Then, I noticed that, as soon as I’d eat it, I’d have to race to the bathroom within minutes. Finally, one day at work, I took a big spoonful and had to drive to the drugstore and get some antihistamines because I was struggling to breathe.
It’s a slow accumulation of toxins, similar to heavy metal toxicity. Things are fine until they’re not. In the case of almonds, you can run into things like aflatoxins/mold, oxalates, lectins, or you could simply have an intolerance you’re unaware of and could have reached the threshold.
For me, I had to take a break from the almonds before switching back, and then I could feel the build up accumulate again. It may not be a bad idea to switch to like a Macadamia nut (Costco sells them and they are divine) in the interim.
Also, congrats on smashing that 515 deadlift dude!
That makes a LOT of sense, thanks for laying that out! I’ve been avoiding weightgain powders and milk during this gaining phase so I’ve been eating more almonds than usual. It’d only help things by taking a break and getting some dietary variety in. And thanks for the deadlift kudos!
Close-grip bench press: 235 x 3 x 10
Super-set with lying dumbbell rows: 115s x 3 x 10
Keg curls: 160 x 25
Was running on fumes here. Sleep quality was poor due to the aforementioned gut issues and as soon as I got home from work I was dealing with a badly clogged bathroom sink that required some elbow grease (P-trap nuts were stuck). Work-up sets felt heavy but 300 felt pretty light. All 3 were strong, smooth reps. Crazy to think I haven’t benched 300+ in almost a year; that’s been unprecedented for me ever since I reached that weight 20 years ago.
Ended up going to bed late because the sink required further attention due to a leaking angle-stop valve, and I’m even more tired today. And then work so far has happened to be the most hectic day of the week. Even had to cut my lunch break short by 20 minutes to help someone out. Fuck it, can’t wait to go to boxing after.
445 moved well. As part of my back-friendly approach to leg day now, that was all. No drop-sets, deadlifts, or even leg curls, since doing them on the reverse-hyper bends my back and was the point when I felt pain set in after doing squats one time. And I took a long rest period before doing 315x18, which was a 1-rep improvement from last workout.
Was meaning to do this workout on Saturday, but ended up doing it on Sunday. My Saturday was thrown into complete flux by doing my own plumbing repairs under the bathroom sink. What started as a clog ended up needing to replace the drain line and there were a lot of back-and-forth trips to Home Depot. The upside is that one of those trips resulted in coming home with Christmas lights and I hung my first ever lights up this year.
Have all of these sets on video, which I’ll upload when I have a chance. Real happy with how my squat is progressing. 315x20 was actually an accident. I was going for 19 and miscounted.
I need to get sleeping throughout the night figured out; I’ve been waking up 3 or 4 times a night to pee lately and it’s been killing my energy levels at work. Been holding off on coffee, which I know would help but is something I try to use sparingly despite my absolute love for it. Last night, I did a better job of spacing out my last huge meal to be earlier before bedtime and I didn’t drink too much, but I’ll try to restrict things further. High sodium before bed is a possible culprit as well; last night I had some olives with my pre-bed cottage cheese.
Band-resisted overhead press: 95 x 10, 10, 10, 9
Super-set with chin-ups: 4 x 10
Giant sets
Dumbbell chest flyes: 50s x 12, 12
Lateral flyes: 35s x 10, 15s x 15
Dumbbell curls: 50s x 10, 35s x 10
Glad to be making gains on the press. Pressing against bands always seems to accelerate my progress. I’m using the purple bands, which are fairly strong but they’re the only color I have an equal pair of.
Sleep was a bit better last night. Woke-up twice to use the restroom instead of 3 or 4. I’ll plan ahead so I start and finish training earlier after work and therefore eat dinner + hydrate earlier before I go to bed.
Boxing was a good class yesterday. I’ll have to remember to sign-up with this coach as much as possible. No nonsense guy, very loud voice, called out people for dicking around which was super welcome. Focused on footwork drills using a plastic ring and doing 3-step and 2-step body rotations in and out with a medicine ball. Partnered up and took turns throwing combos, and then we took turns ducking under our partner’s outstretched arms for minutes at a time, which had my quads feeling it. Ended with ab work, including a 2 minute plank. The leg raises, flutter-kicks, and Russian twists are always precarious to do with my back, but they didn’t aggravate it this time, which I was astonished by. My back health is really in a solid state right now. And sure enough, I didn’t wake-up with pain.
That was the final session at the old gym. The new, larger location across the street is almost ready and is where my future classes in January will be held. The gym will be closed for the rest of the year.
Bench press:
205 x 5
245 x 5
275 x 7
First set last: 205 x 15
SSB JM press:
200 x 8, 7
170 x 7
150 x 7
Super-set with axle curls:
70 x 4 x 10
Lying dumbbell rows:
80s x 3 x 10
Super-set with lat flyes:
20s x 10, 15s x 10, 10
Lifted on 4 hours of sleep, but didn’t feel that tired. Modest but steady bench gains. JM press was a total tricep annihilator. My arms felt like jelly after each set and I had to go down in weight to keep rep count consistent. It was brutal enough that I backed off on the dumbbell rows and went with the 80s to emphasize a good squeeze at the top versus my usual 115s.
Went to a holiday work party in the evening and had lots of good food: shrimp, meatballs, sausage, salad, and pizza. Played bocce ball, which sounded boring at first but got fairly addictive in no time. Unfortunately we had a directive to dress in certain colors for a theme, so I couldn’t wear my “Abdominal Swoleman” Christmas sweater with a bodybuilding sasquatch on it.
Cardio and boxing training has been minimal since Thursday. Started feeling under-the-weather over the weekend so haven’t been as active, but will change that soon.
@BethB Thanks, haha. I have a thing for funny Christmas sweaters.
Power cleans:
150 x 3
172.5 x 3
195 x 3
Deadlifts:
425 x 3
485 x 3
545 x 3
Couldn’t budge 545 on a first attempt, so I walked away for a second, came back, stood a little narrower, and got 3 with no problem.
Power cleans before deadlifts continue to be an asset, and they’re helpful sets for strongman training too. I was particularly struck by how fast my elbows were whipping under the bar tonight. Seems like this year I’ve really made a turn in bettering that part of the movement.
