The Inevitable Return of the Great White Dope... Part Deux

[El Exorcisto]

Two years is a long damn time not to pick up a chunk of iron in any meaningful way. I took a left turn down a career path that stuck me working night shifts for the last couple years, although with the silver lining of getting fuckin' paid, yo! I digress... So after a couple years of lucrative hell, and an existential crisis or twelve, I decided to quit my job in favor of something way less stressful. I also picked up karate last year and made seventh kyu in June when class wrapped for summer break. As soon as I hit cruise control on the work front I couldn't help but get everything else squared back away. My gym, covered in a shameful amount of dust, got blown out and I made some noise last week. Since it seems like this is going to be a repeat thing again, at least for a while, why not drop a log back on here?

 

Last night (September 10, 2018)

First karate class of the season. The night was mostly just meant to knock the rust off and get us remembering the basics. I did get introduced to the spinning back kick but by the time we got there my hips were fried and I couldn't get them above knee level. My class includes myself at the lowest rank, three fifth kyus, a couple fourth, and a couple third kyus. The class is too small to break us up so I usually end up punching WAY up at times. It's fun. Karate has kind of become my focus with my fitness goals, which brings us to:

 

Tonight

Bench press 5s night

Bench press up to a set of 8 @ 135 (fuck me, right?!) superset with DB rows, 5x8 @ 50

DB incline 3x12@25 SS with EZ-bar curls 3x12 @35

Single axle DB press 3x12 @ 15 SS with fat axle hammer curls 3x10 @ 20

Face pulls 3x20 with EFS red band

Thigpen Pushdowns 3x20 with EFS red band

 

Wall kicks 2x5 roundhouse chamber and 2x5 side chamber, 20 second hold.

 

"El, wtf?!" you may be asking, "where are the squats and deadlifts?!" That's a great question. The big lower body movements wreck my hip mobility. Since being able to throw a good side kick is on my short list, the squats, deadlifts, and good mornings are gone. I might pick up my trap bar some but that's about it. I should be getting a swiss ball for the GHR soon. As soon as I do, I'll do them a couple times a week. Between riding my bike a couple times a week, class twice a week, and bag work my legs are pretty much always sore anyway. There's no use beating on them any more. I never did spend much time trying to actually get big so this will be a little different. I'm using 5/3/1's progression on bench, strict axle, and log jerk/PP and doing a decent amount of volume on chest, back, shoulders, and arms.

 

Tonight was good. Last week I hit 7 at 135 and this week got eight, so progress. I'm gonna add five to my DB incline and single DB press. I'm not nearly as torn up as last week with a similar workout. Hopefully I'm through the brutal DOMS already.

[El Exorcisto]

5s Strict Axle

 

Strict axle press, 11@95 and 12@65 (FSL) superset with 5, 5x3 ring chins

DB flat bench 3x10 @ 35 SS with BB curl 3x10 @ 45

Circuit: Trap bar shrugs 3x15 @90, incline curl 15,12,12 @ 10, and triceps pushdown 25,20,20 with EFS red band

 

Some good old fashioned pump work...

[El Exorcisto]

Friday karate night

 

The first hour is done with the kids and we ran through the basic basics again to clean things up after the summer off. We finished up with some self defense. The last couple hours is the adult class. After a warm up with a bunch of wall kicks we ran through beginner kata, Taikyoku Shodan and Blocking Set Shodan. We wrapped the night up with similar self defense from earlier but taking it to the point of finishing with a lock and putting our partner on the floor.

 

It was hot as balls in the gym, otherwise it was a pretty uneventful but fun night.

[matty_mcfly]

What the fuck am I seeing here??

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