I might need more in detail cooking instructions when you have a minute because this sounds like an amazing idea!
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ā¦. If you count the time I spent scrubbing the pot, it took longer than my usual pan and rice cooker lol. But the potentials there!
Alright, so hereās the deal. I can tell you what I did. However, I freaking burnt a rice cake to the bottom that took 30 minutes to scrub off. Google tells me I need to add more broth, but I havenāt tried it yet, so I canāt promise results. My mash still came out well, but the burn was real. Also note that this definitely makes a āmonster mushā lol, but itās good.
- coat instapot in nonstick spray.
- add 1.5 cups uncooked of rice
- add 1.5 cups chicken stock (next time Iām adding 2 cups to try to prevent the rice burn, but I did 1.5 this time)
- add 3 lbs 93/7 ground beef
- pour seasonings over meat. Use your hearts judgement here.
- throw in a shit ton of spinach to prevent @QuadQueen from showing up in your kitchen like Bloody Mary.
- pressure cook on high for 13 minutes
- divide into 6 servings.
Macros breakdown:
527 calories
54g protein
17g fat
37g carb (plus whatever spinach is, but if you are counting calories from spinach that life has gotten to a very dark place)
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Well done, sailor. Well. Done.
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Love you
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Update:
Started working with Dr. Seth Albersworth as a coach. Not direct one on one coaching, more like tips and guidance, heās got a team he does that is pretty awesome. Lots of good advice, and his insights from sending him videos of my lifts have been fantastic so far.
On my squats, he thinks I have weak adductors, which is why Iām having a hard time keeping my knees spread and is limiting my quad engagement. Gave me some stuff to work on that.
BUT, really I tell that story to tell this one. While telling my wife about this today, she just looks me dead in the eyes and goes āyou paid a man to tell you that you canāt keep your legs closed? I could have told you that from the first time I met you.ā
I am wounded to my core
11 Likes
This may be pedantic, but I would try putting the meat on the bottom or at least stir it all together before cooking.
Your wife sounds awesome, I like her.
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18mar24: cycle 3 week 1 day 3
Seated press:
140x6 RPE6
140x6 RPE 6
145x6 RPE 7
145x6 RPE 7
Raw hi bar squat:
225x5 RPE 6
225x5 RPE 6
225x5 RPE 6
225x5 RPE 6
Sumo Block Pull: 4 pavers
315x6 RPE 5
335x6 RPE 6
355x6 RPE 7
Superset:
Flared DB Bench:
60x8, 60x8, 60x8
Wide grip Lat pulldown:
150x10, 150x10, 150x10
Db 45 back raise:
25x10, 25x10, 25x10
Lat raise:
25x12, 25x12, 25x12, 25x12
Conditioning:
Rower intervals
250 meters, 1 min rest, 5 rounds
Notes:
- seated press is new to me. I had to lower the angle of the pad to 75 degrees, completely vertical and I could not find a path to lower the bar without hitting my head lol. Felt strong, have some room to move here.
- No belt or sleeves for hi bar. Really just focusing on pushing my knees as far over my toes as possible on these. Good quad engagement.
- First time really ever trying sumo. Using it for adductor development. Honestly? Surprisingly easy. I went into 315 expecting it to be much for difficult than it was. Even with 355, while my form felt strange, I could definitely just keep on repping it out no problem. Maybe the higher starting point.
- @T3hPwnisher I got the patio pavers you mentioned in some long ago post, they have been saved on my Loweās Shopping cart for like the last 3 years haha. Worked great.
- Purposely doing a new style on db bench. Coach wanted me to try flaring more, thinks my overhead to flat ratio is due to some clavicular pec overpowering the sternal pec, so wanted me to try this. I can say, doing elbow out at about a 90, rather than tucking hard like every football coach preaches to you, made it feel like my pecs were about to rip out of my chest lol.
- If you want to smoke yourself in under 8 minutes, try this conditioning. It looks easy, but if you actually push the intervals? Each comes out to about 45-50 seconds for me, which is just long enough to suck for a āsprint.ā Pretty gassed at the end.
- Full body feels more fun
Yeah, I think Iāll keep her around haha
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Work for today:
30 minute LISS run, 5.3 mph
Felt good, felt easy, knees didnāt hurt, was upset when I hit 30 because the show I was watching was really good
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Hell yeah brother! My father-in-law came up with that idea like 18 years ago and I owe him SO much for it. Theyāre the simplest investment in training ever, and SO valuable.
Also, I totally responded in my head to your brazilian steakhouse experience and forgot to actually reply, but you demonstrated the EXACT reason why I waited until my wife was away on a business trip before I took on that burger challenge AND before my first two visits to Texas de Brazil. I needed to keep some of the āmysteryā alive in our relationship: I didnāt need her to see me in my ātrue formā, haha. You and your Mrs have reached a new level of intimacy there!
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Great idea by the father in law. Actually picked up a few extra to fill out that last little bit of gym flooring I was too lazy to cut another horse stall mat to fit haha.
My wife met me at a wedding, where, as the best man, showed up to the reception arm in arm with another groomsman, standing out the sunroof of a minivan, blasting āred solo cupā by Toby Keith, and launching beers to other attendees as we pulled up. I then proceeded to rip the ass out of my choker dress whites while giving the bride a lapdance. My wife knew what she was getting into haha
5 Likes
20Mar25: cycle 3 week 1 day 4
CGBP:
170x6 RPE 6
170x6 RPE 6
170x6 RPE 6
170x8 RPE 7
Deadlift:
365x6 RPE 6
365x6 RPE 6
365x6 RPE 6
365x6 RPE 6
Incline rolling DB extensions:
20x15
30x12
35x12
40x8
Chest support db row (hole 14)
55x12
55x12
55x11
Lever belt squat: (standing on 1.5 inch pavers)
142.5x10
142.5x10
142.5x10
Superset:
Rope pushdown: 50x15, 50x15, 50x15
Face pull: 50x15, 50x15, 50x15
Superset:
Banded hamstring curl: Gx12, Gx12
Side bend: 60x10, 60x10
Conditioning:
1.5 mile run, 11:54 (not a PR, or a max effort for that matter, but my first 1.5 mile in a long time, so my base number to work off of)
Notes:
- CGBP felt good, hitting some triceps here. Bumping weight next week
- First time doing any sort of straight bar deadlift since I pulled 500ā¦ 8 months ago? Something like that. Went with 365, seemed to be around 70% of where I think Iām at. No straps, but Iāve never really had a grip issue anyway. May use straps if I do a high rep PR set, but thatās mainly for sweat mitigation.
- Either way, deads flew. Was a little worried how they would feel with all my time away from straight bar, but knew the moment I hit a warmup at 315 that I had some strength in my pulls. Bar speed was great, i definitely had at least 10 reps for every set; just a strong day. Counting on a few lbs of gains just from neural adaptation since Iāve been away from the movement for so long, but either way Iām feeling strong.
- User my rep lat pulldown seats adjustable angle to do the chest support rows, and liked it a lot. Much better than using a bench.
- By god I will find a way to make the belt squat work well for me.
- Coaching is making me realize I can really throw some more volume into accessory work. Lots of these guys Iām seeing run 8-9 lifts a workout, less sets per lift, but hitting more angles overall. I like it.
Changing my goals up a little bit.
The plan was a 10 mile at 8 minute pace by Nov 8. Honestly, I still think I could do it. 1.5 mile at this pace was fairly easy, and I felt I could sustain it for a decent clip longer already. Another 8 months? I think itās doable.
BUT, Iāve been looking into my career opportunities coming up, and have realized that a vastly extended hiring process means I may need to do some fitness tests earlier than expected. Maybe not soon, but early 2026. Now, none of those involve a 10 mile run lol. Most have me at either a 1.5 mile run, or a 2 mile run. Iād consider just still going for my 10 mile goal, trusting the process would make me pretty speedy at 1.5-2 miles, EXCEPT many of these tests also have a 300 meter sprint, or similar sprinting type event. Now sprints require some different training, and I donāt think the endurance would give me much of any help there.
So, shifting around my conditioning goals. Keeping the ruck as is, and will still do the 10 mile race, but not focusing on it as seriously. Instead, I will focus on 1.5 mile times, and sprints. Trying to get my scores competitive, if not maxing.
1.5 mile run: 9:30
300 meter sprint: 44 seconds
The 1.5 mile is doable. 11:54 today was pretty easy. I could shave 30 seconds off just with actual pacing, instead of my usual āstart super slow and grow into speedā, and then historically I shave another 20-30 seconds off on race day just due to really pushing intensity. Still, I havenāt hit 9:30 since college, so it will be a challenge.
As for sprints? I have no idea tbh. Who the hell runs a 300meter? I really have no concept of how fast that is. I remember regularly clocking 400m intervals at between 70-75 seconds in college, but that was as part of workouts doing 10x400m with 60 seconds rest, which seems pretty different from a true sprint. Still, making 44 seconds my goal, just because that corresponds to a score Iād view as āacceptableā for most of these jobs.
Honestly, this may compliment my lifting a little more than the long endurance work. Probably going to do 1 long run, 1 medium run, 1 interval day. Use the ruck for more LISS work, and learn some skips/drills for sprints. Going to focus on 1.5 mile mainly, feel I can peak sprints a bit more in less time compared to building the good cardio base for a longer run.
13 Likes
Good to see other people trying to run long and run fast on top of strength training. I will for sure follow your journey and pick some ideas from it.
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Work for today:
EZ bar curl:
70x10, 70x10, 70x11
Incline DB curl:
20x12, 20x11, 20x11
Alt Hammer curl:
30x10, 30x10, 30x12
Reverse EZ curl:
55x12, 55x12, 55x10
Notes:
- this took around 20 minutes, going to start throwing this in once a week on a ārestā day. Iāve ignored biceps forever, but Iāve got a wedding to prepare for haha.
@Hugo_Fillion I actually credit TB with getting me back into running shape, I ran the base building program a little over a year ago, and the results were amazing for me.
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Good hell you are fast.
I was going to suggest keeping a long run in, maybe every 10-14 days. But you are way ahead of me. Building that endurance and slow twitch fibers at an easy, zone 2 pace, still helps building a base and speed.
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Iām also not doing the 2+ hour runs you are doing haha, very different training styles. But also, for 4 years not long ago, I had to run 1.5 miles in under 10:30 or risk getting kicked out of college, and really anything over 10:00 meant you were on probation. I got good at moving quick, even when Iām walking around at 230s lol
2 Likes
To continue the discussion from @alex_ukās logā¦
If you have free time, these were the two videos I was kinda referring to that got me thinking about the topic of food and logistics. Very interesting.
This one is completely unrelated but Iāve been looking big into the Mongol Empire lately and to see the structure here is actually pretty fascinating, I think youāll find it very cool.
The amount of pasture that they needed to sustain the amount of livestock they had is insane. 6 Horses per man.
They were also exceptionally skilled archers. I thought the idea of Mongol Calvary Men returning fire backwards on a horse was overblown but itās true. Theyād essentially charge front first, fire, and then reverse, firing behind them. Absolutely commendable skill.
I havenāt looked enough into Tank Tactics of the 20th century but the soviets would essentially fire while on the move to close the distance with the germans. This gave them terrible accuracy at the expense of neutralizing the air superiority that they had enjoyed for a majority of the war in the East.
Obviously a horse is different than a tank, but I feel like thereās enough similarities to compare the two. I know when the Mongols entered Eastern Europe, I think it was the Hungarians who wisened up, much like how the sovietās hunkered down at Stalingrad, Leningrad, Kursk etc. and used their numbers and fortifications, they started prepping before they even came. The Mongols had some pretty serious difficulty overcoming that. Also they made the same mistake the Germans did which was being lightly equipped for a short campaign.
Itās super fascinating to see the differences between the armies pre 20th century and after, I reference the Mongols because I think thatās the closest weāll get to a modern āblitzkriegā style comparison of WW2. The soviets really modernized that with the deep battle doctrine. Occupy the operational depth of the battlefield and ignore the strategic strongholds. Which forced the Germans to try to build a defense in depth. We know how that turned out.
I love this stuff man I could talk about it for hours lol
4 Likes
Thereās a trend I noticed that I get long interesting reads the moment I start road trips lol. I owe you a better response, but it will be a few days!
5 Likes
24Mar25: Cycle 3 Week 2 Day 1
Squat:
315x6 RPE 7.5
315x6 RPE 8
315x6 RPE 8
315x6 RPE 8
RDL:
205x8 RPE 7
205x8 RPE 7
205x8 RPE 7
DB BSS:
30x10 2 RIR
30x10 2 RIR
30x10 1 RIR
Superset:
Decline sit up: 9, 9, 9
Face Pull: 55x12, 55x12, 55x12
Conditioning: sprints training:
2x A skips
1x long A skips
2x alternate leg bounding
10 short dual leg jumps
10 left leg jumps
10 right leg jumps
5 sprint starts (10 yards)
6 sprints (40 yards)
Notes:
- hit squats 15 minutes after finishing an 8 hour car drive. Feeling a little stiff is an understatement.
- As an aside, did my wedding tasting with the Mrs in Vermont this weekend, had a ton of fun exploring the area.
- Tried a somewhat closer squat stance as part of coaching recommendations. I feel like it gives me a bit less ābrute strengthā but a bit more āsquat formā with an end result that my forms a bit better using the same weight. Makes me focus on the form a little more; but makes the weight move well if I stay tight.
- RDLs moved well.
- Fuck BSS
- Gotta explain the sprint work. I have (almost exactly) a 40 yard strip of street in front of my house, at probably a 15% incline. I went out into the road, and would do the skips uphill the 40 yards, then walk back down. The skips felt good. I think they are called A skips, itās what my football coach called them anyway. Then did some bounding, which felt a little odd, but not bad. One strip where I just did hops, then moved onto sprint starts. Giving everything I had for those 10 yards, just making myself tight in the start position and exploding out. Those felt good, felt fast. Then moved onto the actual sprints. Did the whole 40 yards, then walked back down, took maybe 5-10 seconds to shake out my limbs and get ready, then went again. Wasnāt trying to make it a āenduranceā session, wanted to be relatively fresh for each sprint and focus on just FLYING up the hill. All toes, never letting the ball of my feet touch, working to just maintain that acceleration as long as I can. Itās been a LONG time since I did a workout like this, but it felt good. Felt athletic, think Iāll keep it in rotation. Not sure itās the ideal way to train for a 300m, but it gets me doing some sprint work, and the rest of my stuff is over 300m, so I figure itās moving me in the right direction.
13 Likes
Now youāre talking!
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you know you love them and you are lucky you have so much room to progress the weights. 
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