Log clean and press
147.5 x 3
167.5 x 3
187.5 x 8 (6 in 1 minute)
Axle clean once and press away
150 x 8, 7, 5
Super-set with wide-grip chin-ups
10, 12, 12
Giant sets
Behind-the-neck press: 112.5 x 9, 8
Lateral flyes: 15s x 10, 10
Band pull-aparts: 12, 12
Sandbag floor-to-shoulder
200 lbs x 3
Log performance felt strong. 10 lbs heavier than last week for the same amount of reps. I’m shelving the log higher than ever, to the point that I’m leaning my neck back more to accommodate it. I’m also experimenting with flaring my elbows against my better powerlifter instincts in order to allow my upper-back to pull it closer into me. It feels more stable and like there’s less of a chance of letting the log drift too far in front of me as I press up.
The work-up sets were all strict press and then I automatically strict pressed the first rep of 187.5 before remembering to use leg drive.
Shoulders were dying on the axle press but I was expecting that because I cut my rest times down compared to what I’ve been allowing myself before. The effort was mighty and there were some real grinders on the 2nd and 3rd sets.
Sandbag shouldering was originally going to be saved for later in the day when my back was fresh, but my girlfriend came down and I helped her do a 10-minute upper-body workout and then I felt game to practice with the bag a bit. 3 good reps with no misses, and although I’ve been having some back pain the past 2 days (seems to happen if I sleep on my side for too much of the night vs my back), I walked away feeling better than going in.
Experienced the worst food poisoning episode of my life yesterday from bad rotisserie chicken bone broth. Violently threw-up twice in the men’s room at work and then a third time at night after a bath. Came home with a fever and the sweats, too. We’re going through a heat wave here and while pumping gas after work I stood in the shade and started feeling cold.
Feels like the worst is over, although I still have some queasiness and a loss of appetite. Have mostly just been sipping on casein shakes and this morning I made a new, very light batch of beef bone broth with a couple of rib bones and no seasoning.
@BethB Thank you for the well wishes, they’re much appreciated reading while I’m struck down.
Feeling a little better but still very queasy. No more danger of throwing up, just perpetually uncomfortable and burping constantly. The thought of eating straight meat is actually disgusting to me right now, a sentence I have never written before, but I’m sneaking it in via a Persian stew with tilapia, eggplant, and chickpeas. Will probably be freezing all the awesome meat I got from Costco so I can return to steaks and ribs in a few more days. Pesto pasta salad with mozzarella has been hitting the spot, supplemented with protein shakes. Managed to force down 3 eggs with light beef bone broth this morning.
Yesterday I did a set of 50 push-ups and then went on a 45 minute walk. Today I have boxing class after work. Tomorrow I hit the weights again. Boxing is going to be a real grind with my energy levels down, but I didn’t want to cancel and I’m looking forward to the challenge.
Went to boxing yesterday not feeling 100% but with a hunger to attend. It’s been over a month since I’ve been to the boxing gym. I’d neglect to sign-up for class knowing I would have a packed week ahead of me with the intention to walk-in to open gym, but life things like plumbing emergencies and house organization left to do after the big move-in kept getting in the way. Right away, we walked outside in the 90 degree heat and started doing shuffles and sprints down to a wall and back. I ended up finishing first for the first several times despite being the oldest and biggest in class and feeling like I was about to pass out. I’d finish the exercise, tag-in my partner, and then stare upward with my head spinning. But it took no more than 45 seconds or so for me to mostly recover and be good for another. About half-way in my recovery did fade a bit and I was no longer sprinting full pace to come in first, instead finishing near the middle of the pack.
Went inside and did 2 rounds of jump rope, which I was struggling on, and then partnered up for some simple combos working the high and low jab, then adding a straight to that, and then finally a hook at the end. Reset the combo to just take turns throwing any number of jabs. Finally finished with non-stop 1-2s and uppercuts with our partners.
After I came home and washed up, I felt energized enough to finally get to a plumbing project I meant to do on Monday before falling ill and I replaced the stem in one of our toilets’ shut-off valves to stop it from leaking. While an easy repair, it was a good test of whether the brain fog had cleared as I was having trouble concentrating at work the past few days.
Also made it a point to eat some kimchi, sourdough, and Grillo’s pickles after getting home from the gym to get some probiotics and sodium in.
Bench press
250 x 5
285 x 3
320 x 2
250 x 8
Called it a night here as it was getting late. Probably for the best so soon after illness. Really happy I still repped 320 after feeling so weak due to not eating. Everything felt heavy but I also felt strong and explosive at the same time, which was interesting.
Came back Friday:
Swiss bar bench press: 235 x 3 x 8
Super-set with lying dumbbell rows: 115s x 3 x 8
Giant sets
Dumbbell curls: 35s x 3 x 10
Kettlebell lateral raises: 15s x 3 x 10
Band pull-aparts: 3 x 15
4-min jump-rope round in the morning with high knees burnout in the last 30 seconds
Evening:
Squats
365 x 3
415 x 3
465 x 1, 2
Strip-sets of 405x3, 315x7, 225x8, 135x8, 50x10
Felt EXTREMELY heavy, but after racking the first single of 465 I decided I had more in me so I went for another set.
Held off on doing anything more to gauge how my back would feel. It started hurting about 20 minutes later, but in a way that feels like the muscles are wrenched vs the previous chronic low back pain I’ve historically had. Haven’t trained legs or abs in more than a week since getting food poisoning.
Yesterday morning before breakfast I jogged out to Heart Attack Hill and did 1 backwards uphill run and then 1 sprint to the top before jogging back home and getting ready for work.
Came back in the evening to train log press. Back had some fading pain but was on the mend. I had to clear the sandbag out of the training space and I saw that as a good test for whether I could handle log pressing today. Well, moving the bag came easy during the task, but after setting it down my back started to hurt. Decided not to chance doing any kind of cleans today and instead set-up to axle press from the rack, but I stopped mid-rep of 155 because it didn’t feel right. Pivoted from there to incline benching.
Incline axle bench
200 x 1
230 x 1
250 x 1 (PR)
260 x 1 (PR)
200 x 7, 7, 5 (last set wide-grip)
160 x 10
Wide-grip chin-ups
3 x 15, 10
Lateral curls
50s x 2 x 20
Super-set with kettlebell lateral raises
15s x 2 x 10
Did a 4 minute round of weighted shadowboxing yesterday before work.
Came home and went on a 3.31 mile run, interrupted midway with some training at the bomb playground gym I’ve mentioned before. Cycled between ring hanging leg raises while holding myself up at the top like a gymnastics L-sit just to strain the biceps, ring chin-ups, battle ropes, and calisthenic chest flyes from some rope handles that were hanging low to the ground. Tried to do rope climbs but the rope was way too slick; I won’t be able to hold on without chalk. Back felt so much better during and after the run. The hanging leg raises and L-sits also felt therapeutic.
This morning was a 5 minute round of jumping rope with the last 30 seconds being high knees, followed by a set of 51 push-ups.
Yesterday was an active rest day besides the 51 morning push-ups. I snatched up Fist of the North Star Boxing for Nintendo Switch in a sale and did two rounds of the game, which has you shadowboxing with the controllers to match onscreen cues, along with some guided stretching.
For those not in the know, Fist of the North Star is an early manga and anime from the 80s that has a reputation for just being awesome and a dead ringer for something in that era. Think Mad Max but everyone is a bodybuilder. Suitably, this game begins with an intro that states in the future nuclear apocalypse, of course everyone works out.
Squats: 300 x 20
Super-set with axle deadlifts: 320 x 20
Was ready to cut this short at the slightest sense of things feeling wrong, but back held strong. Will see how I feel in a few hours and tomorrow, of course.
Immediately after, went on a 15 minute walk with my lady, which was really nice and brought my heart rate down a bunch.
Yesterday before work, I went down to my gym with the intention of doing ABCs, but my back just felt too tender after sleep to get the swings done efficiently. I did 1 slow one and set the bells back down. So instead, I went back upstairs and knocked out 60 push-ups, which is a PR for one set.
Came home after work and found that I was able to do the ABCs quite handily by then. Did 20 using the 50 lb kettlebells, followed by 2 sets of 15 hanging leg raises.
This morning before work was a 5 minute jump rope round, ending with 30 seconds of high knees.
Currently weighing 207 at night with belly full of a day’s worth of food and drink, while this morning I was 204. Gotta get to 198 by weigh-in day on April 18. I stopped taking creatine a few days ago to offload some water weight and reduced my morning bone broth mug from 4 eggs to 3. Lots of little easy cuts I can still make.
Yesterday was my final workout of the deload week:
Reverse hyper single leg curls
4 plates x 15, 15
6 plates x 15, 15
Sandbag front squats
200 x 12, 15, 15
200 lb sandbag floor to shoulder: 1 rep
Standing ab wheel: 8
Crunches: 50
Very pleased with how shouldering the bag went. No fumbles or hesitation, it just clicked and I easily got it up. I wanted to do more, but the last time I even picked up a bag my back hurt afterwards, so I treated this more as a test of how well I have the technique down.
Since that session, I’ve run into 3 instances of bending down for something and feeling a back tweak in my lower left side that soon dissipates, so I was right to be careful. No pain at present, though.
