Have done that and will!
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6/26
Hotel room
100 bss per side and 100 pushups. Started on some more but baby woke up.
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Was that due to this:
Good to see you still smashing it, caught up on the journal a little bit, got to say a bit disappointing though, I can’t see any progress pics despite you cutting down for holiday! (Disclaimer I’ve not looked that far back, I’ve missed a lot!).
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Im glad you’re back! Haven’t seen you in a while.
Didn’t post pics. Haven’t in many months. The vaca cut wasn’t as deep as you might have thought.
Have had some body epiphanies lately, will share when im at a real keyboard.
Lol if baby could sleep thru 100 BSS!
But in fact im at tge airport now and just used him for a bunch of arnold presses, curls, and some BSS. But he is very much awake!
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6/30/2022 Thursday
Back home, getting back to normal. Decided to do 3x3 in all the big lifts.
Bench press, 3x3 175, 195, 215
Deadlift, 3x3 225, 275, 315
Press, 3x3 85, 105, 125
Squat 3x3 225, 245, 265 - video of top set
Then did some arnold pressing and triceps extensions.
The deadlift top set wasn’t maximal, but the bench press, press, and squat were all pretty close to the top end.
Here’s the video of the squat. I felt like they moved well, and depth was good. A man appears in the background watching me - that’s at my request. He has been very helpful over the past year, and watched my squat grow, albeit painfully slowly.
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@alex_uk was thirsty for my new Grindr profile pic so here ya go
It’s clear to me that I’m nowhere near as lean as I was when my baby was born, 14 months ago. But ya know what, I gained 20lbs in 8 weeks working on the squat, then dropped about 10 in 4-5 weeks pre-beach, stayed flat or went down during the week away, and I’m really not worried about it. I had some epiphanies, which I’m going to rant about next.
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6/30/2022
JDM’s vacation realizations, in no particular order.
-I’m a really good dad. I was watching a guy play with his kids at the beach, and I just wanted to run up and thank him, call him a hero, for being so involved with his kids, because it’s so rare to see parents actually engaging (teaching about shells, building castles, whatever). Then I realized I was doing exactly that, times 4! And I do all the time! I always feel I’m not doing enough (see “can’t please everybody” below) but from now on I’ll try to maintain awareness that I’m actually doing a great job.
-You can’t please everybody. Mom wants to leave the waterpark for the beach. Great! Oh, but that breaks #1’s heart. No problem, I’ll do the slide with you one more time! Oh, now #2 feels left out. Why can’t you do the slide with ME, I’ve been waiting!! OK, no problem. I’ll go again with #2. But then I’ve left #3 out, she can’t be the only one that doesn’t get to race daddy. Oh, now I’ve disappointed mom because she was ready to move on 15 minutes ago and has been waiting… Oh and now the baby’s cranky again… The point is, you can’t make everybody happy all the time. If I keep this crap up for a week I’ll get cranky myself, and then nobody’s happy. So sometimes you just have to accept that some of the kids are miffed, and that’s life; they are happy enough on average that if every single moment isn’t about THEM, they will be OK.
-Social media is a disease
-Body image stuff
These two are related, but social media first: Holy crap people are spending their lives taking effing selfies. It was honestly bizzarre to watch… people just living in selfie mode, ridiculous poses, ignoring others/family/the experience, and either taking photos/vids or editing them when you could be enjoying life. I think the “likes” are addictive, to where people just keep chasing more and more of them.
Meanwhile, these feeds are full of the top 1% of perfectly filtered pictures out of hundreds each person took; creating a totally false idea of how “normal” people look. Getting that warped perspective creates a lot of body image issues. Segue:
Body image stuff, for me and my wife. I guess I won’t rant about this right now…OK briefly… On the one hand, satisfaction that we were among the best looking people in any group (her in particular). On the other, the futility of that comparison - literally nobody gives a shit how you look. They only care about their perfect selfies. And the need for balance: A little diet control and exercise pays off big-time in aesthetics. A lot more diet control and training pays off a little more. And at some point, an insane amount of diet control and training pays off a tiny bit and moves you from top 2% to top 1%… and even THEN someone will show up who looks twice as good. Aesthetics are a bullshit goal.
I could go on. Better things to do. Suffice it to say I think I found some inner peace and balance. I need to find a path forward training-wise and eating-wise, and that is still TBD. But I had a great vacation!
Oh and @Bagsy we got my daughter a dog. Pictures will be forthcoming. Everything is going GREAT in that (emotional/mental health) department, except for some learning issues which I think are much less important right now.
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That made me smile! Can’t wait to see photos of her dog. I was wondering how things have been going lately, so I am glad to read that things are going well.
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It is not just how people it is also how happy they are. I have many friends who’s online profile shows a happy family like were everything is always fun and exciting but the reality is very different. Multiple couples on counselling, multiple friends on medication and lots of couples who are not at all happy. My socials tend to be mostly training shots so I can share them here or with coach. I still find it really odd when a stranger likes, comments or follows me. But people are weird and it seems most people would rather experience things through the eyes of someone else rather than do the work to exoerience it themselves.
Good on you for being a great dad, and thankyou for sharing your thoughts.
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Great post!! It’s honestly refreshing to see someone writing postively about themselves. You certainly deserve it
OMG YES!!!
From what I’ve seen (mum works in uni consulting), many parents (especially dads) tend to think that just putting food on the table and money in the bank and being chauffer are sufficient for being a “good parent”. None of those are exactly easy to provide, but once a basic needs are met, I’d hazard to guess that a lot of children would probably want more time with parents or wish they had more time with parents when they were young. At least this seems to be true for the kids of mum’s clients. It was trippy to hear stories of teenagers wishing they had more time with their parents.
Aww 
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I will be starting a new training block Monday.
I have the weekend to figure out what it will be.
Some principles:
-BSS and abs must occur regularly. They are the missing link.
-Have met my press goals, but overhead work is awesome and bigger shoulders are also awesome. Overhead work will be included.
-Have technically met my bench goal but I want 225 to be easy. Train accordingly.
-Deadlift is close to the goal. Keep progressing.
-Squats are not where they should be. Keep progressing. I’m willing to not be as obsessive about them for a while; but I still think they should occur twice per week.
-Bodyweight goal is TBD. I gained a lot march/april/may, lost weight in June, not looking to Yo-Yo at this point. But need to be intentional whatever I do.
-Conditioning is key, of course. I had a lot of fun doing EMOMs for a couple weeks, may be nice to keep that in the rotation.
-The sandbag is good too. I helped carry a 200lb+ man on the beach the other day, he was injured and his poor wife was buckling under his weight… I felt like the bag training has prepared me to handle situations like that. But no real goals with the bag at this point. It’s a tool, not a destination.
What program, what plan… Still don’t know. I’ll flip through Forever in a bit.
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7/2/2022
Started at 6am with a 3 mile walk. Pushing baby in stroller this time, occasional runs but mostly walking. Last half-mile I had to carry him because he was so cranky.
Lifting: Some abs, some BW BSS.
Power cleans, worked my way up in triples to 175, then got 2x185 and failed the third rep.
Also 3x8 incline press 135.
Going to start Morning Star on Monday. Excited. More later!
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7/3/2022
Tomorrow I’ll start The Morning Star, from 5/3/1 Forever.
Lifting Mon,Wed,Fri. I can do any of the sessions at home if necessary because it’s very minimal, just Power Clean, Squat, and Press every session. My preference will be to go to the gym on heavier squat days, because my rack at home sucks.
My TMs to start will be:
|Squat|265|
|Press|125|
|PowerClean|175|
I did each of these for a confident triple over the past few days, so I think they’re an OK starting point.
The program also calls for more work:
Warmup and jumps/throws at the start of each session: Oh boy. I’m always pressed for time and like to go straight to the good stuff… Not sure how I’m going to approach this, or if I’ll be reprobate and skip it.
Assistance work: 0-50 reps of Push and of Single Leg/Core; 25-50 reps Pull; and conditioning.
On which, more below.
How does this program work for my goals?
Squat: The program includes tons of squat volume, 3x/week, with a combination of lower and higher weight. Good enough.
Deadlift: OK, so there’s no deadlift in this program, and JW specifically says “You’re going to want to add deadlifts. Don’t.” I’m willing to wait to make progress on my DL. And maybe all the power clean volume will make my deadlift start position more bulletproof. And maybe I’ll do some low volume deadlifting on weekends?
Press: There will be lots.
BSS and abs: As stated before, these are ESSENTIAL in the next block. JW calls for 0-50 reps total 1leg/Core. I suppose I’ll require a minimum of 3x5 BSS and some abs every session, and add to that by feel each time. Go-to should be ab wheel and HLR.
Bench: The program requires no bench press, but allows 0-50 reps total as assistance. I intend to use that for bench press, but I’m free to do whatever I feel like each day. Flat, incline, DB, nothing - this will be flexible. If I hit 50 total reps per session I’ll make progress, I’m sure. But it’s not the focus.
Pull: 25-50 reps per session of pulling. I believe BPAs and similar upper-back/rear-delt stuff should be the emphasis here. BB rows not so much, because with all those powercleans I think I’m hitting those muscles, right?
Conditioning: 3-5 easy sessions and 0-2 hard sessions.
Not sure what this will look like. At the moment I plan to use Tuesday and Thursday to do either a long walk or a short run with the baby (which will be determined by his mood as much as mine; when he rejects the stroller, it’s non-negotiable). But perhaps the accessory work, and/or warmups/jumps/throws, could be rolled into some kind of conditioning sessions? IDK!
OK that was longwinded, but I needed to write everything down. I rarely have time to think as regular readers know.
@boilerman @Bagsy @dagill2 all of you have done a lot of 5/3/1, right? Any of you run Morning Star? Or tag anyone who has? Guidance would be most welcome. And I have a specific power clean question: do any of you use a belt? I tried the other day and absolutely failed. The bar caught my belt. It did not feel good. I figure I’m better off without it but if y’all have different experiences I’m open to experimenting.
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I’ve run Morningstar, and loved it. Excited to see you run it.
I don’t think extra assistance is needed, but i don’t think you’ll break anything by doing it. I would probably do it as low impact stuff that can be done in rest periods though as these can be long, tedious sessions. You’ll be grateful for something to do to break up the 10 x 5s, and i personally think this is the perfect time to fit your pull ups, push ups and walking lunges.
I don’t use a belt for powercleans, but i also don’t use one for deadlifts. Also, my clean technique is absolutely awful, so take what i say with a pinch of salt.
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I haven’t run Morning Star, but I look forward to reading how it goes for you!
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7/4/2022 independence day, Monday
5/3/1 The Morning Star c1w1d1
Warmup: swings, fire hydrants. 10 long jumps. 5 minutes.
Power Cleans: 10x1 EMOM 175lb
Squat: 5x5 E2MOM 195lb
Press: 10x5 EMOM 80lb
BPAs and upright rows with band: 3x10 each, done between power Cleans
AB Wheel: 10x2 between Presses
Bench press: 4x10 135lb, between BSS
BSS: 5x5/side. Bw.
The whole session was about 45 minutes total, which ought to count for conditioning because i was MOVING.
Very happy with this session. Weeks 2 and 3 are going to suck i can tell.
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7/6/22 Wednesday
Morning Star C1W1D2
Warmup: swings, fire hydrants. 10 long jumps.
Power Cleans:
Work up to top set of 5x175. Heart was pounding out my chest after the last rep! Whoo!
BPAs 3x10 between sets.
Squat:
10 singles at 265. I did these every 70 seconds EMOM-style (E70SOTS?). Was tougher than I expected.
E2MOM 5 rounds:
Press: 5x5x95
BSS: BW, 5x6
Band Face Pulls: 5x10
5 rounds, no rest:
CGBP 5x5x135
Hanging straight-leg raises 5x5
Once again the pace I kept was conditioning on its own. So far this week I’ve also done three 1.1-mile walks.
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Hey dude, sorry for the late reply, I’ve run only a few 531 templates. Recently it’s just been BBBB. I’ve never run morning star
I do wear a belt sometimes, but I wouldn’t call what I do a powerclean. My form is atrocious. I think if you find the belt prevents you from doing the movement in the natural way your body wants to move, ditch it
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Muscle cleans ftw!!
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7/8/2022
Morning Star C1W1D3
Warmup
10 long jumps
Power Cleans: 3x5x135
SS 3x10 BPAs
Squat: 10x5x175 EMOM. Which was really tough. Stayed within the minute windows but got later starts every round after 5. Actually felt my glutes during the squats, maybe for the first time ever, woohoo!
Press: 10x1x125. EMOM.
Superset ab rollouts 10x2.
Kelso shrugs 2x10x125. I think I finally got the hang of these, after @FlatsFarmer recommended them. Using the little plates I got a long range of motion and it felt right. Will do more.
Reverse grip bench press 5x10x95. Just trying something different. No idea if it’s valuable.
Superset with BSS, 5x6/side BW.
That’s the first week of The Morning Star in the books. It feels great! A LOT of work, whole body every time. I’m also keeping up with what you might call conditioning, in the form of tons of long walks. I don’t log all of them but they happen. I’m in the ballpark of 9-14 miles per week.
Next week is going to be tougher, with the second-week percentages for FSL/SSL work. Also I’m traveling for work and going to have to flex the schedule or skip a day. Will see.
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