Shoulders + Boxing

     I had such high hopes for today; I was going to kill my midterm, kill my shoulder workout, and kill the cardio session. All of these goals were accomplished. Then I managed to slip onto a piece of gardening equipment and slice my shin open. The cut is about 0.4-0.5" deep and I was able to see my bone if I moved it around. I've since cleaned it out and glued it shut. Hopefully it heals quickly. I generally don't have a problem with infections since I do a thorough initial cleaning with isopropyl alcohol. I find that alcohol does a better job at preventing infection than peroxide. The two used in tandem do not seem to produce any noticeable benefits.
     Anyway, today's shoulder workout was fast-paced and intense. My shoulders have really had it as of late so I didn't want to stress the rotator cuff too much. I took it relatively easy on dumbbell press and did not go about 135 lbs. on military press. Today's workouts are separated into two chunks below.

Workout 1 (shoulders):
-Always warm up your rotator cuffs with either cable movements or light plates/dumbbells. I prefer to use 5 lb. plates in order to do rotational warmups.

1) DB Shoulder Press
-1x15 w/ 50 lb.
-1x10 w/ 65 lb.
-2x10 w/ 70 lb.
-3x8   w/ 80 lb.

2) Military Press
*I do not perform a full ROM on this exercise as it aggravates my entire shoulder group. Instead, I come down to a little below 90 and lift almost to lock out. I do not lock out on this movement.

-4x10 w/ 135 lbs.

3) Cable Raises
*Perform both a front raise set and a lateral raise set for each superset shown below

-2x12 w/ 20 lbs.
-2x10 w/ 30 lbs.
-3x10 w/ 20 lbs.

Workout 2 (boxing):
-My buddy Jordan F. and I did a boxing workout centered around the heavy bag (80 lbs.) We added in the ab wheel and jump rope in between rounds. We alternated between doing power rounds and speed rounds. For the latter, we used each other as moving targets and concentrated on speed, agility, and reaction time.

Round 1:
-1.5 min power combos
-1 min speed combos
-Ab wheel to failure

Round 2: 
-2 min power+speed combos
-25 reps ab wheel
-40 reps jump rope

Round 3:
-1.5 min speed and reaction drills
-1 min power combos

Round 4:
-3.5 min power combos

     Somehow Jordan had the energy to do the equivalent of two round 4's. I don't know where he mustered the energy to go at it, but it was impressive. Boxing is an incredible workout that involves the use of the entire body. I definitely felt some lactic acid buildup in the shoulders since we concentrated on that muscle group earlier. It was not too detrimental and the workout was still great. Toward the end I was really feeling it in my core as I tried to concentrate on bringing my legs and core into various movements.
     If you find some cool music and have the right environment boxing can be very entertaining. Despite the fact that I enjoy running, I find it boring on occasion and stop for this very reason. This is not so with boxing. I'm into it the whole time. Give it a try!

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Diet of the Day:

Meal 1:
-3 Aidell's chicken teriyaki meatballs
-6 eggs' whites
-27g whey protein shake w/ 2% milk
-Raspberry, blueberry, and banana smoothie

Meal 2:
-8oz grilled chicken breast
-3 cups broccoli, carrots, cauliflower

Meal 3:
-27g whey protein shake w/ chocolate almond milk
-Banana slices w/ natural peanut butter, semisweet chocolate morsels, and honey
-Chocolate quest bar

Meal 4:
-6oz grilled chicken breast
-4 cups broccoli

Meal 5:
-4oz grilled chicken breast
-1 cup broccoli, carrots, cauliflower