Love the big update post dude. Thinking about it some more, I might be a touch too negative on the CSCS- there might be some value in that. Would hate my opinion to be what deters you from it, especially if you’re fired up to do it. There is also probably a lot of stuff that I just missed when studying for it, as I was more “test prepping” than really trying to absorb and apply everything
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Drugs, lots and lots of drugs.
Awesome work, excited to see how your training pans out over the coming year, make sure to get some good starting photos!
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Amazing! Followed by:
Amazing!
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15oct24
Press: 45x10, 95x5, 115x5, 135x3, 155x1, 165x6, 185x1, 135x12 (not a PR, but a ship PR)
CGBP: 135x5, 165x5, 185x5, 195x5, 200x4
Seated Db press: 60x14(+), 60x9
V bar pushdown: 70x15, 70x14, 70x12, 55x16
Overhead rope ext: 40x15, 40x15
Conditioning: 40 min run, 5.3 mph
Notes:
- 10lb jump on the press weights is no joke. Program calls for 10lb jumps for both bench and press, but damn that’s a pretty decent jump percentage wise on press. Still hit the 6, but fought for them. PR for 165 is 7, done on land when pressing frequently, so feeling close to peak territory right now.
- Rocking of the ship really affects this day the most. Kills my overhead stability, and then just the imbalance on CGBP is hard to align. Feel like I’ll be dangerous on this day when I touch solid ground.
- Db press felt good today. Really good. Not sure why.
- Run felt easy, was very upset my movie cut out midway because Amazon timed out at sea.
Doing one more lift tomorrow, moving up my back day to before my surgery because I want to get in as much as I can before going under.
@simo74 the run is one of the few ones I feel confident on haha. I’ve gotten to the point of pretty easy 8 mile runs at multiple points in my life, and if push comes to shove I’ll just hop on a treadmill and say “run or fall!” Haha. The difficult thing is definitely just balancing the running and the lifting, but it wouldn’t be impressive if it wasn’t tough!
@throwawayfitness thanks!
@Traditionalelk dude, I’m very glad you gave me the perspective you did. I actually bought the book to study for the CSCS last night, because I’m still interested in what it has to say. If I like it? Maybe I’ll do a cert. BUT, you let me know it may not be the end all be all for strength, so I also picked up a few other references to better cover my bases, and I’m super glad I did so. Seriously, I appreciate your thoughts on it.
lol, I’d be lying if I said the idea hadn’t crossed my mind. But have a few things holding me back. One, I just believe I’ve got more in me naturally, and I don’t want to run anything until I’ve “earned it.” If I’m not strong enough naturally, then I’m doubtful to get that strong enhanced, and it seems like the worst of both worlds to run gear for mediocre gains. Secondly, I may still have some years of government work ahead of me, and don’t want anything that would mess with a clearance or interview. It’s tempting though…
@SvenG thanks man!
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I read the entire manifest you laid out and absolutely loved it. There’s too much good stuff, so I’m just going to highlight one thing.
I’m sure you’re well versed in this, but this is exactly what Dr. John Berardi laid out as “G-flux”
We know that exercise is a poor lever for fat loss, but it’s an EXCELLENT lever for allowing us to eat more food, which means, just as you noted: more macro and micro nutrients. And then it’s self-perpetuation: we have more/better fuel in our system, so we can train harder, which means we burn more fuel, which means we eat more of it.
I’m no joke watching this happen with my boxer puppy right now. The more she eats, the harder she plays, the hungrier she gets, so she eats more, and this whole time she’s just growing and growing.
I’m excited to see how this all pans out for you.
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16oct24
Lat pulldown: 205x7, 160x12, 145x12, 145x9
Overhand grip MAG cable row: 145x12, 145x12, 145x9
Straight arm lat pulldown: 50x13, 50x12
Face pull: 50x15, 60x12, 60x12
Barbell curl: 60x12, 60x12, 60x12, 60x10
Endurance: 40 min LISS bike
Notes:
- this workout brought to you by 0330 gym times and copious amounts of coffee
- Lat pulls felt good
- Really liked cable rows today. I switch handles on the almost weekly, because this is a very popular machine, so I’m always asking a group or 3-5 19-22 year olds if I can work in.
- I should do more face pulls. Don’t know why I stopped. They feel great.
- was trying to do laundry this AM, which lead to some unexpected time struggles due to freaking dryers being broken, so I had a nice 40 minute pause between strength and endurance as i waited with my wet clothes. Very frustrating, from start to finish just doing one load of laundry with wait times became a 4 hour process, which is time I don’t have.
- Just hit the bike instead of running today, because laundry had me so behind and we have a few bikes right outside Laundry.
- Physique update: no idea, still no real full mirror to see myself, but I used belt loop 17 yesterday, which is the lowest I’ve used it in I can’t remember when, so waist is getting trim. (And yes, I did bring my prong belt vice lever belt solely so I could use it to track my waist lol)
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Alrighty, surgery in the morning, so won’t be present much the next couple days. (Mando stuck in room, have no internet access).
Bought a bunch of books to read while I’m laid up.
- The science and practice of strength training by Zatsiorsky, Kraemer, and Fry
- essentintials of strength and conditioning by Haff and Triplet
- Scientific Principles of Strength Training by Israetel, Hoffman, and Smith, which led me to also get scientific principles of hypertrophy training, how much should I train?, recovery from training, and the RP diet for endurance all also by the RP crew. I really liked juggernautai, and I really like Israetel, so I’m excited for these books.
- Also picked up Powerlifting Basics, Texas Style because I honestly can’t justify at this point having not read it lol.
I’m very much reluctant to get this procedure done, just because training is going so well, and I want to continue that train. But, it’s happening, so just planning to heal up quick and get back to work
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Hell yeah!
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recover quick. best wishes.
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Sending lots of prayers and positive healing vibes!
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Hope the surgery goes well and you recover quickly and fully.
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Surgery update
BLUF: this surgery was a joke and doctors orders are the only thing keeping me from hitting the gym today. Will be back in business Monday.
Longer story:
- Let’s start with Wednesday. I know I have surgery the next day. I’ve stopped my cut for a few days, to get some more nutrients in me. Wednesday though? Oh I had full on football carb loading flashbacks. My dinner was 3 plates of pasta and meat, went to bed so bloated I could hardly roll over. Fueled for success.
- Had my surgery at 1030 yesterday. I had watch from 0130-0630, which is pretty routine for me. But, no food or drink after midnight. No problem. Ate enough food for a week, and purposely set an alarm for 2350, so in the last 10 minutes of allowed drinking, I could slam 32oz of LMNT water and keep myself hydrated for the next day.
- Thursday comes, I go in, we do the thing. Not a whole lot to say there. I showed up, made some butt jokes, then went to sleep.
- EVIDENTLY, going to sleep wasn’t the problem. Coming out of it was. Two events transpired.
- First, there was when I was being transported from the little wheeley bed to the recovery bed where I was going to hang out until I was clear of all drugs. I am OUT OF IT at this point, so pretty routine. They put the beds next to one another, and a few people come to help roll my fat ass. Well, one of them is the ships nurse, a LCDR who I know very well. Allegedly (according to another doctor and a corpsman, I say this because I have no recollection and thus do not fully own this slander), when she came to help me move, I became suddenly lucid, looked at her and said “you’re very pretty, but I’m married” and then launched myself with my arms from my rolley bed to the recovery one, then curled up and passed back out.
- I also got woken up by a young corpsman who was freaking out that my heart rate was 47. The doc came in, compared it to my history, and said that was pretty normal for me. I know that’s not super low, but evidently it’s low enough for a guy my size that the girl thought I was in trouble, which I find funny and mildly complimentary.
- Once I ACTUALLY woke up, I felt great. I can’t remember the last time I slept that deeply. The corpsman said “when you’re ready, you can try to sit up.” Which I took as permission to swing my legs over and just stand up. He got frustrated with me, but the doc laughed and said “well evidently he’s doing alright”, so they let me stay up and then cleared me to leave after a few minutes.
- Went to my room, slammed a protein shake, 3 uncrustables, some ibuprofen, (note: not using the Percocet), then hopped into my bed and slept from 1400 yesterday until 0500 today.
- Woke up today. Feel fine. I can’t sit, but honestly I think that’s half due to all the bandages on my ass. They also cut like in between the cheeks. Im boasting a bit of a dump truck back there, there’s not a whole lot direct contact with anything that deep into the crack with all the man made cushioning it has to get through first. Walking around like normal, trying to convince my boss to cut my recovery time short, already more worried about boredom and loss of gains than anything with this surgery.
- Yeah, it hurts. But… normal hurt? Idk how to explain that to people who haven’t spent a lifetime making reckless physical decisions, but this is just normal pain. No nerve damage, no bones broken, nothing torn. I’m “hurt” but not “injured” if that makes any sense. Like when you got cleated in football and it shredded your calf. It hurt, but that was just something you acknowledged and moved on from. That’s very much my thought with this, which is relieving and somewhat irritating, because everyone was making me think this would be a lot bigger deal than it’s turning out to be.
- I’m technically not supposed to leave my room, so sending this update during my brief glimpse of WiFi as I run to the head lol.
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These stories crack me up! Glad you’re on the mend, brother—you’ll back at it in no time.
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Some updates:
- had my follow up today. Managed to talk the doc from having me limited duty for the next 4 weeks, to being free and clear on Monday. I’m happy, my boss is happy, everyone wins.
- Still minimal pain to speak of, though it does itch.
Been reading pretty much every moment I’m not asleep. (Which to be fair, I’ve been sleeping a lot). Worked my way through
- Scientific Principles of Strength Training
- The Hybrid Athlete
- Powerlifting Basics a Texas Method
- Recovering from Training
- And about 15% through Science and Practice of Strength Training.
Notes to follow on my thoughts later, limited time now. BLUF, I dig the books
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Work for today:
60 min incline treadmill walk: 3.3 mph, 5 incline
Notes:
- just kind of testing the wound here. Went well, minimal bleeding, minimal pain. Gonna get to the gym tomorrow.
- Been eating as much as I can to fuel some recovery, going back to my normal underway diet starting today.
- still can’t really sit down, but otherwise feeling good
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21oct24
RDL: 45x10, 45x10, 45x10, 135x5, 225x5, 275x3, 315x5, 315x5, 315x5
High bar squat (no sleeves): 135x5, 135x5, 185x3, 225x3, 255x5, 255x5, 255x5, 255x5, 255x5
Single leg ham curl: 40x15, 40x8
Face pull: 50x15, 50x15, 50x15
Cable crunch: 50x10, 80x15, 80x15
Conditioning: 50 min incline treadmill walk, 6inc, 3.3mph
Notes:
- back to the gym. Lower back was hurting quite a bit. They gave me a few injections into my spine that honestly have bugged me as much as the surgery. Doesn’t feel right. Weird.
- Didn’t go for a rep max today, just getting some more reps in with good weight.
- Hack squat and belt squat pressed up against my wound, so went with high bar. Should of brought my sleeves, my knee gets very cranky with raw squats. Felt better as I did more sets.
- Stability on the ship is tougher high bar than low. I’m blaming increased movement arm, and the fact I use a more narrow stance. That felt weird. Not bad. But weird. I think I may incorporate some more high bar, helps bring up my quads a bit.
- I really want to dive bomb my high bar squats. I also pitch forward like crazy if I do that. Idk why that feels so natural to me, it doesn’t work out well lol.
- Actually after 7 seconds of thinking about it, that is how I squatted for approximately the first 5 years of my training career. No wonder my squat sucked.
- Can’t ruck for a bit, the weight digs straight into the top of my cut, so just normal incline treadmill walks.
Miscellaneous updates:
- Good news, heard back from the realtor today, we got an offer accepted on a house. My wife loves this one, and I am claiming the full two car garage haha.
- Bad news: owners want to do a rent back until Dec 20th, which isn’t terrible, but does mean I’ll be couch surfing for a few weeks.
- Good news: my best friend is also stationed in DC, with a house 17 minutes from my new one, so nice got a ready spot
- Reading all the references on strength training, I’m realizing I could write a book on the things I’ve done wrong, the things I have misapplied (and my high school coaches lol), the things I have done right for reasons I didn’t mean to do, and the things I need to start doing. That all being said, I think my current level is a pretty good example of how much blind effort and time will get you.
- I want to start implementing all the things immediately. But I’m not going to. Because I’m making gains right now, and my golden rule for training (and really life) is don’t fuck with what’s working well lol. I can only ride this for so long, and when I’ve gotten the juice out of it, then I’ll switch it up.
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22oct24
Bench: 45x15, 45x15, 135x5, 135x5, 165x3, 185x3, 205x1, 215x6, 250xfail, 185x5, 185x5, 185x5
Db inc bench: 60x10, 60x10, 60x10, 60x11
Assisted dip: 105x10, 105x10, 105x10
Db lat raise: 25x10, 25x10, 25x10
Rope extension: 45x12, 45x12, 45x12
Conditioning: 40 min run, 5.3 mph
Notes:
- one of the things my studying has made me realize. My bench form is shit. My narrow grip bench I used to use was alright, but now that it’s pinkies on the rings, I’m letting my elbows flare entirely too much. Couple that with no arch and nothing close to leg drive, it’s not pretty. Spent a lot of time focusing on that today. Hard watch setup, essentially doing a neck bridge to get into position. Still a pretty small arch, I’m just not too limber there, but will work to improve that. Focusing on tucking my elbows for the first time in… idk how long. Results were interesting. I felt awkward with the weight, and then was consistently surprised how the concentric moved. Almost like it felt heavy in my hands, and then I was surprised by my lower body pitching in a little. Still have work to do, but form is going to be a focus here.
- Think it’s time to ditch this program. I think it’s just written for people stronger than I, but the jump between work and final set is basically putting me at my max. Actually I’m already short changing the jump, by the program written as is, that top set should have been 260, which I definitely didn’t have.
- To be fair, I am still recovering from the surgery, and it does hurt like hell to lay on the bench, so maybe I’m not at the top of my game.
- Regardless, another realization of mine is I have been training bench too heavy. Longer post to follow on some lessons learned, but I’ve realized my best squat, deadlift, and press gains always came when I did a lot of work between 70-80%… which I somehow never do for bench. It’s always 85%+, or lower than 70 for a bunch of reps. Idk how I never realized this.
- That’s actually another thing I have realized. The more I read and learn, it reminds me of principles I know and believe in. I then look back at my training logs and think to myself “what the hell?” If I believe in this principles, wtf am I doing here disregarding half of them? Makes me realize why coaching is helpful, easy to get caught up in your own head and not really be reflective.
- Okay, this is about to become my lessons learned post, enough pontificating
- Run moved alright. Could definitely feel all the junk I’ve eaten the last week. Still glad I did, believe it supported the healing, but ready to tighten up.
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No training today, but I did talk my O6 into getting a tattoo with the Junior officers at our next port call, and I consider that a success worth mentioning.
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Work for today: 24oct24
Squat: 325x3, 325x3, 325x3, 325x3, 325x3, 325x3, 325x3, 325x3, 325x3, 325x7 (3+RIR)
Single leg curl: 40x10, 40x10, 40x10, 40x11
Fade pull: 60x15, 60x15, 60x15
Conditioning: 47 min treadmill walk. 7inc, 3.3mph
Notes:
- belt loop 17, lowest it’s been, happy with that since I’ve been adding carbs back in the being a little pseudo velocity. If I’m hungry, i do velocity. But if my body feels tired? Getting some actual grub in. Intuitive approach seems to work well.
- Added 10lbs to my squat sets because it’s my first time since the surgery and my spite is strong.
- Honestly, I might have miscounted my squat sets, so it may have been 10x3 vice 9x3, then the +reps set. Or maybe not. Don’t think it rightly matters much either way.
- Really enjoying the 10x3, enough that I may implement it on some other lift. I DONT believe it’s doing much for size, but I do think it helps strength, and with my running goals, stronger but not bigger legs is fairly ideal. That’s actually my only holdback from using it for bench. I think I need to add some upper body mass, not sure if 10x3 is the best way there. It is interesting this comes out to a little under 75% of my squat max, and it’s given me the best gains of my life. A lesson there.
- Still loving face pulls
- Sleep a little erratic the last few days. Been able to get back to watch, which is good, but also just because I’m the most senior guy in my position, means I’m running around a lot filling in when needed.
- Surgeon reminded me yesterday that “there is no award for healing the fastest” to which I say, only because no one’s made one yet. But she does have a point, I did make it a bit of a pride point to be working again as soon as I was. But then again, I’m deployed. My cousin got shot in Iraq and was only down for like 2 days. I can’t really justify my place at the thanksgiving reunion if I start moaning about not being able to do my desk job due to a sore ass.
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