Training heavy, hard, and keeping it simple.
We love to see it Pow Pow!
Great Sets!
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@tlgains Thanks so much man! My timing to fail is truly impeccable.
I was SO close, but failed a 385 bench press. Just before that, I killed 365 after the bar hit one of my kegs and I powered it up from a dead stop after having to rebalance it mid-lift. That was so kickass that I thought for sure I’d have 385.
I know how to safely get out of a barbell pinning me so no big deal. Was trying to slide the plates off but they were stuck so I used the alt method of sitting up.
I’m in a great mood after that. I appreciate the battle and always think it benefits me to be fighting a max weight for all those seconds in a unique way that smoking a single up doesn’t, even if it’s purely psychological. It’s also great jujitsu practice.
Edit: Continued on with:
320 x 4, 4
285 x 7
Super-set with dumbbell rows: 125 x 10, 10, 10
13 dips, uncounted banded chest flyes, and a 48- second chin-up for biceps
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First session at the new boxing gym yesterday. It was disappointing. Coach was rather unengaged and on his phone while we were doing drills and everyone in class was very introverted. Probably the quietest class I’ve ever been to. The only advice I received was to pivot quicker during directional changes.
I’ll give it the month I signed up for and evaluate from there.
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I’ve seen that a bit with boxing gyms and group classes. Often they’re just there to subsidize the club’s fighters. Basically just run folks through a cardio boxing class. It may help to express to your coach you wanna fight in a smoker: that you’re there to fight for the club. Assuming, of course, you haven’t already expressed that.
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@T3hPwnisher That’s a good idea. Doing that this week.
Got the past 4 days to cover.
Friday: Went to the doc’s for the first time since I can’t even remember. Purposefully chose a doctor that made mention of physical activity in his or her bio. I did well, he was fantastic. Commended me for hitting the weights and wasn’t worried about my weight or overeating, but he did suggest blood tests after I said that. Blood pressure is good. The staff member who drew my blood seemed to have trouble and a bump formed on my arm that got pretty swollen and red. I kept saying I’m fine when a more experienced nurse took over and asked if I’m OK. My bicep also made the tourniquet pop off twice.
Boxing went much better than Tuesday. More experienced, more engaged coach. Had a sore left shoulder from shots and a painful, bandaged right forearm from the botched blood draw, which was just another training obstacle to me. Drills were very simple and consisted of jabs and 1-2s mixed in with free rounds via shadowboxing and bagwork. Also took turns of jabbing while moving backwards down the length of the gym and back.
Coach commented that I might find it harder keeping guard as tight as other people because of how thick my upper-body is, which was kind of rad to hear, and to just do my best. I don’t walk around with invisible lat syndrome but they definitely push my elbows out more than normal.
Got a welcome reminder to step out at an angle more when coming forward. He held me after class to drill stepping in while ducking, then pivoting while throwing a jab or cross. We added a strike during the step-in, too.
One annoying thing about this place: the heavy bags are clustered together. It’s basically impossible to move and throw punches at range; have to stay very close to the bag and they hit nearby people sometimes. It’s also hard for the instructor to see you when you’re in the middle of a small punching bag crowd.
Saturday: Squatted 450x7, 410x3, 320x8, 230x8, 140x8, and a 50 lb kettlebell x 10, done in one strip-set. Afterwards, I felt like I got hit by a truck and this feeling persisted for the rest of the day. Possible I was feeling extra fatigue from the prior day’s shots or maybe just the extra work from boxing.
Sunday: Felt rundown. Benched 315 x 4, 3, 3, then 275x7, super-set with 125lb dumbbell rows x 10.
Monday: Did some single-leg curls on the reverse-hyper and not sure why I’ve never tried that before, they’re great and I don’t have to overload the machine with a ton of plates when I want to save time. Super-set 2 sets of 15 with 20 kettlebell swings, went on a jog, then used the ab wheel and Captains of Crush gripper.
Results of my bloodwork are mostly great. Only point of concern is cholesterol being at an elevated risk but before high risk. Will see how the change in diet and weight play out. It was fantastic to find all this out.
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Awesome update mate, glad your bloods came back good. Sounds like the boxing session was way better than the first one. Always nice to be told you are too Thic.
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@simo74 Thanks brother, and yep, that’s always a welcome comment to hear, whether or not it’s meant as a compliment.
I’m due to go back in for more bloodwork because of my elevated creatinine levels. Many of us already know the deal about how intense training can throw those off, so to make sure it’s just a temporary reading I’ll rest a few days before going back to the lab. I also forgot to mention to my doc during the visit that I was supplementing with creatine mono up until a few weeks ago.
Wednesday boxing was a good session. Young coach but he at least had a pulse and was attentive to the class. Just gotta avoid the Tuesday class. My blood sugar levels felt drained halfway through class and I became fatigued and shaky. It’s a familiar feeling so I calmly rode it out until my body switched to a different fuel source (hopefully fat). Happens if I drink a sugary post-workout shake and wait too long to eat solid food, but I’ve also noticed it if I’m underfed and go on a run. Took the feeling of being drained as a good training challenge and I felt much better by the end of class.
Yesterday morning before work I hit 40 push-ups paired with 30 heavy band pull-aparts. That night I did a full-body workout with minimal rest times. Worked up to squatting 320x5 with the SS bar using a close-stance, ATG, no knee sleeves, and in sneakers - I take the time to detail that because it feels like such a different beast compared to how I squat on the weekend. Followed that with a couple 15-rep sets of single leg curls with 3 plates, then 160x5, 7, 5 axle press super-set with pull-upsx10-15, and ended with a super-set of dumbbell curls with light kettlebell hammer curls. It’s amazing how you can make light weight heavy by tweaking some small things, reducing rest times, and focusing on the muscle contraction.
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Bench press
315 x 1
335 x 1
350 x 1
355 x 1
315 x 4
285 x 6
275 x 7
245 x 8
225 x 8
- Last 3 sets were close-grip. Was expecting to feel a lot weaker than this given my weight loss and extra calisthenics from boxing the day before yesterday, but after a hideously dirty cheat day yesterday that involved Costco pizza, gourmet hot dog from the mall, and an eight bucket chicken meal from KFC, I was feeling bloated and strong today. Definitely could have gone past 355 if I came at it fresh but after getting pinned recently, I was going up fairly carefully. None of the singles were a grind.
Reverse hyper unilateral rows: 3 plates x 3 x 10
Super-set with wide chin-ups x 8
Dumbbell rows: 125 x 3 x 10
Super-set with wide chin-ups x 8-10
Various dumbbell curls drop-sets, heavy band pressdowns
- I’m still using this ultra thick powerlifting band from a brand called Iron Woody that I got around 2007. Its twin ripped well over a decade ago. Definitely weeded out the weak.
Thought this was a good shot:
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That is a great shot! Hope you don’t mind if we post it on T Nation’s twitter and share a link to your log. 
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Thanks so much - I’d be totally honored!
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Agree with this, looking jacked and staked mate.
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Last night:
Squats
480 x 1, 2
410 x 8
Was going for a minimum of 3 reps with 5 being extra credit, but it was just feeling really heavy for me tonight. Second set definitely felt better. Worth noting this is the first time I’m doing a heavy squat session after a work day rather than the weekend and because it was about an hour and a half before bedtime, I was feeling sleepy.
Quads are feeling better and this is the most consistently prolonged period my back has felt decent in a long time so I’m very happy overall. Powerlifting is playing second fiddle at the moment to boxing and just being healthy.
I also haven’t deadlifted in quite awhile, mostly because of my back. I’m thinking this Thursday I’ll reintroduce them with a Dirty Double: 20 reps of squats super-set with 20 reps of deadlifts.
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This is just classic.
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@T3hPwnisher Gotta thank you and your ebook for that good bad idea.
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Full-body session in the rain last night.
Axle strict press
190 x 4+2
170 x 7+1
150 x 10
Super-set with chin-ups: 3 x 12
Notes: Goal was 6, 8, 10, but picked weights a little too heavy and had to rest-pause. Shoulders take a lot of beating on weekdays from boxing and calisthenics so I had the idea of not grinding reps too hard in mind, but I totally ignored that and fought to get some of those final ones.
Squats: 185 x 20
Super-set with deadlifts: 225 x 15
Notes: Legs were very sore so went light, but quads still ended up being the weak point on the deads and since they’re on the mend I stopped at 15. Next time, I’m thinking just switching straight to RDLs mid-set is the answer if that happens again.
Romanian deads: 225 x 10
Rushed back in and made bison burritos for dinner, as well as next day lunch AND pre-boxing dinner while at the office tomorrow. Boxing days amount to 12-hours being out so meal prep is extra work, but I killed it with food planning. Bison burrito was incredible, everything I want Taco Bell to taste like in my imagination when I order but never get, and I wanted to eat more.
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Saturday:
Block press (equivalent to 2-board press)
345 x 3
315 x 5
Bench press
285 x 5
275 x 6
245 x 8
225 x 6
Dumbbell skullcrushers
35s x 10
Heavy band tricep pressdowns x 10
To recap, I did a press workout the day before yesterday and then a bunch of push-ups, medicine ball burpees, dumbbell lateral raise holds, and shadow boxing with 3 lb dumbbells yesterday. While I don’t have any crazy DOMS, I was planning for today to be a day of rest but the timing to lift heavy was just too perfect: a rare break in rain during this week-long atmospheric river, nothing on the agenda for the day, lots of food…ended up letting the intrusive thoughts win and gave my shoulders a little break by using the bench block on the heaviest sets. 345x3 was perfect - pretty heavy, but nothing that destroyed me.
Surprisingly, the body part that’s most sore is my upper back from doing deadlifts for the first time in awhile. And only with 225! Sign from the universe to never break-up with deadlifts again.
Was going to do Kroc rows at the end but I want to deadlift heavier tomorrow and got the idea to add rows and curls in that workout.
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Lifted outside Sunday during the worst of a bad storm. There was a weather advisory to not drive, but they didn’t mention anything about deadlifts.
Sumo deadlifts
505 x 3
Romanian deadlifts:
365 x 2 x 8
SSB squats
240 x 2 x 8
Notes: Left hip is pissy at me.
Kroc rows
125 x 25
Dumbbell curls: 35s x 10
Supet-set with kettlebell hammer curls: 15s x 15
I’ve lifted in the rain before but the wind speed was a new challenge. It meant that there was no dry spot, even under the balcony. Definitely the stormiest I’ve ever lifted in.
Had a vet appointment for my panther right after this and while I was gone the power went out. Luckily, it came back on about 4 hours later. Picture of said panther at vet:
Got in a 3-min round of rope skipping and another 3 min of shadowboxing this morning before work.
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Umm Achtually…you drove the bar up and across your thighs
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This reminded me of a burpee workout I did a couple of years ago when a storm blew in, had to move under the veranda but still got wet.
Start really coming down aroudf 14 mins,
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@tlgains Dammit, I’m an agent of chaos even when trying to follow the rules (actually that’s not even true, I drove to the vet for an appointment during the storm right after).
@simo74 Kickass brother! I love any manner of training in rough weather.
Doctor wants me to come in and do an ultrasound on my kidneys in about a month, just to be safe. My creatinine levels came back even higher than the first time, haha. I made the attempt to not lift heavy several days prior but I’d done squats at the beginning of that week and there were some calisthenics in boxing on Wednesday before going to the lab on Thursday.
Yesterday was busy, but got in 3 hill sprints, ran a 4th halfway up, and did some stretches afterwards. Wanted to skip rope this morning but ran out of time despite getting up earlier.
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