Should have known that’d be the answer, they fill me with dread, they are such a mind over matter endure the suck move, it’s the perfect solution, I have zero desire to do this, it will be done, regularly.
Poundstones definitely achieve this too!
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0630 prayer meeting, alarm 0545, 5 hours sleep split into two by the pager.
Run: 1.18 miles in, have a horrible thought about the route back, doubling it and making it the longest possible uphill stretch (it’s in the opposite direction to the shop I want, hence doubling it), immediately reject the idea, then realise that means I have to do it, run half way up the hill get intense cramp in the bridge of my foot, continue, finish 2.37 miles to the shops, load in a few kg of shopping and run the 1.05 home, agonising 4.6m of fasted running, hated it, excellent.
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Cramp in my foot screwed me, probably need to sort out running technique and shoes if I’m going to continue chasing mental toughness through running (alongside other things), so sorta limped up to the garage on my lunch break, did my poundstones.
I’d take running a couple of miles over poundstones any day, there is no get out on poundstones, running there’s hills and downhills, I can slow my pace or shift weight to different parts of my legs and feet, poundstones doing the curls hurts and holding the bar when you’re not hurts. Still got 100 reps with 20kg axle, first 30 unbroken, in groups of 10 after that, after 70 was agonising, momentum in the last few groups, but poundstones are not about pristine form.
Winning the battle with the mind!
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Switching up the suck, didn’t get a chance (i.e. wasn’t woken up by babies or pagers) to train early, work was too busy to do it on lunch, then helped the Mrs build a load of flat pack (torture right there!), So 2030 training.
Conditioning:
Burpee pull ups:
10, 1, 9, 2, 8, 3, 7, 4, 6, 11. 10 mins dead.
All my burpees have a jump, not a full squat jump, just feet leaving floor.
Gs1:
KBS: 24kg X 3 X 5 sets
1.5 inch deficit deads: 60, 100, 120, 140, 160kg X 3
Ab rolls: 6 X 5 sets
Burpees: 6 X 5 sets
Gs2:
As above
DD: 130kg X 9, 8, 8
As above
Burpees: 6, 6, 10
Just blasted the end Burpees as fast as possible and added a few more just to challenge myself.
Pushing DE to tomorrow to see the wife and eat some food!
Elbows felt decent today, biceps are feeling some DOMs Reckon some more poundstones tomorrow will sort that out 
Conditioning is improving, no sweat Turin’s, not because I’m not sweating, probably am more than ever, but because I don’t collapse after hard sets I can stand or sit and I recover better, love that.
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Ran chores all day and friends over tonight, arriving earlier than planned so unfortunately pushing my usual Saturday session to Sunday, probably should have trained at 0400 after coming back in from 0330 callout, but figured I’d have time, nevermind the work will be done, and I did have time to squeeze in poundstones:
20kg axle X 105 curls, pushed hard on this, might actually have been 110 but not 100% sure so went with the lower #, first 41 unbroken.
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Making up for yesterday:
Tired and fatigued, drank an energy drink and had a nap (not intentionally) and absolutely zero motivation to do this, but had the discipline, hated almost every second of it, but got it done.
Conditioning, I wanted to switch up a little give the joints a rest, but man I hated it:
Rowing: 2300m 10mins
Gs1:
Lat pulldown: 80kg X 10 X 5 sets (one of the few things I didn’t hate during the session, used Meadows hints to get this hitting the right spot)
Ohp; 40 X 5, 50 X 3, 60 X 1, 70 X 1 - had a lot of doubt about getting anything heavier, thought about checking out here and using the back off sets for going hard, realised I was allowing my mind to get her better of me and trying to get me to take the easy route, thought you know what screw that I’m going again even if I strike out, anyway went 75kg and ground out the slowest rep of my life, like a 9.5 on the Simo scale, but I got it and it’s pretty close to previous max territory, glad I shook off my weak attitude.
Cable crunch: 80kg X 6 X 5 sets
KBS: 24kg x 8 x 5 sets
Gs2:
As above plus
Ohp: 60kg X 8, 5, 5
That 8 was a really solid effort as well, between that and the top set I salvaged the session.
D/E:
Box squat - 60kg + black bands X 3
S/s bench - 60kg + red bands X 3
Emom x 10 mins.
Endured the suck, won against the mind, now time for a shower, with a cold (not happy) ending, deep joy.
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good to see you are getting in a good RPS rep, that’s where all the gainz are. LOL
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Haha for sure, it was right on the cusp of failure, got to love a grind against the iron!
Yesterday’s rowing made me realise how much I hate LISS, it’s dull, like paint drying dull, so this morning I decided I needed more, no headphones no music, no distractions from the effort or boredom, nothing to drive me or motivate me just a slog a meaningless slog against the rower:
The first twenty were pretty steady, nigh on meditative, I came off and wrote something I was going to post here, but my laptop died almost immediately on finishing and it’s gone. I may re-write it, see how he day goes.
Last 10 I pushed to get myself over 6500m.
It sucked, I did it anyway.
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The self loathing in here is palpable!
On the contrary, hopefully the next post will illuminate my reasoning (I re-wrote the thing).
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tyrant, n.
A king or ruler who exercises his power in an oppressive, unjust, or cruel manner; a despot
A hidden tyrant
There lurks in our midst a hidden tyrant, one who is devious, deceptive, who works in insidious ways, who works to oppress you, to make you fail, who tells you he wants to make you happy but works to secretly to make you miserable, to ensure your existence is pathetic.
He is the one who makes you waste hundreds of hours of your life on screens, but his name isn’t Google or Netflix, he is the one who makes you head through the drive through ordering thousands of junk calories that you never needed, that de-rail your diet, that ruin your health, but his name isn’t Ronald McDonald, he is the one that causes you to reach have “just one more” drink and wake up poisoned in the morning but his name is not Diageo, he is the one who ensures you don’t get the promotion at work, but he is not your co-worker.
The tyrant’s name is Comfort.
You wake up in your comfortable bed, pick up your chosen screen, your adult pacifier, you take your nice warm shower and get dressed in your clothes designed for comfort, you eat a breakfast that gives you sustenance, subsistence, but not nutrition but my goodness it’s tasty and convenient. You drive to work (that sentence could just end there), in your luxury car, with its climate controlled carefully to ensure you never get uncomfortable, you go to work; it’s probably not a job that challenges you or stretches you, you probably don’t seek out additional things within your work day that do stretch or challenge you. You break for lunch and hear the siren song of the fast food truck, you succumb, you return to work and finish your day and drive back home in an armchair on wheels. You arrive home and convince yourself you’re tired, you’ve had a hard day, so you need to relax, you sit in front of the TV, you eat comfort food, you need to unwind, you have a glass of wine, you crawl back into your comfortable bed, in your comfortable pyjamas and your day ends. Congratulations you’ve managed to avoid all discomfort, all day long, for weeks, months, years, decades.
But what if discomfort is the very thing that will move you forward, discomfort is the path you need to take, to achieve whatever it is in life that you say you want? What if discomfort is the route to growth: growth in the mind, growth in the body, growth in the bank, growth in life and health span?
What if the comfort you seek, consciously or subconsciously, is the very thing that is destroying your life?
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Alex, thank you. I needed this.
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@jdm135 glad to hear it, just the musings from my rowing!
Rest of the day: 1 mile walk pushing the buggy, just some family space.
DH W7 D1 - squat - 5s
Conditioning: odd/even mins 10 mins emom
Sbos: 50kg X 5
KBS: 24kg X 10
Gs1:
KBS: 24kg X 3 X sets
Front squat: 60, 70, 80, 90 X 5, 100kg X 2.5* & 5
Ab roll: 7 X 5 sets
Banded jumping jacks (red): 15 X 5 sets
*Bar pressed hard on my windpipe, didn’t control my headspace and rushed the first two, racked to reposition and just bombed it. Took a couple of minutes to breath and get my head right and smashed it even when the last rep went wrong (windpipe and ended up swallowing air instead of breathing) and the panic started to creep in again.
Gs2:
As above X 4 sets
FS: 60kg X 12, got to this went for it then had the horrible realisation… This is supposed to be 80kg, my legs are ruined by this point. Man up time.
80kg X 10 (5/5 rp), 10 (5/5 rp), had every intention of leaving the garage here did my 3 back off sets, so done right? Well my newfound voice in my head told me I hadn’t done the prescribed 3 sets, I hate that voice so much because I know I have to listen if want to live out that self-aggrandising narrative above, I’ve named the voice bad idea puppy. 80kg X 10 (5/5 rp)
Steps down to the house sucked. I picked front squats because I hate them more than almost any movement and today is my highest rep day, and if there’s one thing worse then front squats it’s “high” rep front squats, then my stupidity or subconscious gave me the opportunity for more suck! Absolute suckfest.
Bumping d/e to tomorrow.
Gross session.
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Damn this made me laugh.
Such a well written piece and 100% true mate. I always get people ask me how I manage to train and do the things I do and my answer is always the same ‘Mate it is only 3, 60 min session in the gym a week and 10-20 mins of conditioning at home’ ‘anyone can do it’
I always tell my kids that we are becoming like the people on the space ship in the Disney film Wall-E. Obese people who cant walk, who sit in chairs all day looking at screens, with no human interaction.
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did you write this?
It’s brilliant
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@simo74 yup surprisingly and painfully close to the truth; mobility scooters for obesity, and a screen to distract and entertain at all times. Like you say just enduring 3-4 hours of minor discomfort in a 168 hour week, makes you stand out so much that it makes other people feel uncomfortable, so uncomfortable that they feel the need to comment on it. Being genuinely stand out different or impressive is ludicrously easy these days, because the bar is so low!
@anna_5588 Yup an original Alex_uk, lots of ideas that ruminate on from this forum though, funny what your mind does when you’re unplugged from the devices and forced to be with your thoughts, like active meditation.
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Catch up:
D/E
Deads 70kg + red bands X 3 X 10 sets emom
Medicine:
Poundstones: 20kg axle X 113, first 72 unbroken but the fatigue caught up real quick!
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Conditioning for today
Battling the sea (surfing badly) been years since I surfed, forgot how hard paddling was, might make my bench session a bit harder!
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Dark horse W7 D3
Fatigued.
Conditioning:
E/O mins: burpee chins X 6 / sandbag over shoulder 75kg X 3 (that extra 25kg makes a stupidly big difference)
10 rounds/mins
GS1:
BB rows: 60, 70kg X 5, 75kg X 5 X 3 sets
Low Inc bench: 60, 70, 80, 90, 100kg X 3
Cable crunch: 80kg X 7 X 5 sets
KBS: 24kg X 8 x 5 sets
Gs2:
As above
Low Inc bench: 80kg X 12, 8, 8
D/E:
Ohp: 40kg & red bands X 3 X 10 sets E30SO30S
Dragged myself through another one!
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