Atlas13 Burning the Boats

Training Training Logs
3145

@Friedrich thanks! I’m slowly (very slowly) learning the value of submax work, and rep PRs that still keep form. It’s been going well.

@freshyfresh lol it must be a sign!

And I’ve seen that recipe! Done it a few times actually, it comes out well, but I agree super bland. Didn’t work well when I was trying to manipulate things to have less rice, but still pretty solid. I ended up kinda abandoning that “one pot” deal, instead each week I’m just cooking up a ton of ground beef (always with spinach because it’s free veggies lol), that I put into containers so I can put the meat with different foods. So some goes with rice, some potatoes, some veggies, etc. makes the protein part of my meals a literal no brainer, so then I just get to pair it with whatever. Works well, makes prep easy.

Work for today:

Lunchtime workout:

Conditioned: Rower intervals

400m row, 2 min rest. 5 rounds. Goal for first 3: sub 1:45/500m pace. Goal for last 2: sub 1:50/500m pace

PM workout:

10 min stretching

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Notes:

  • this rowing workout absolutely sucked. I’m strong for about 45 seconds, but the the last 40 seconds just KILLS. Absolutely smoked on these. Definitely keeping in rotation, big fan.
  • hit a bit of a wall on seated press. 165x6 was near/at a max for me. Dropping back down to 150 next week and building back up. Feeling strong overall, just think that the 5lbs each week caught up to me, too high a % for 4x6 work.
  • CGBP felt great, will push the reps on last set next week. Rows felt good too.
  • cut this lift a little short, because the Mrs got some new gym leggings that look great and… well we’re newlyweds
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Notes:

  • RDLs moved well
  • Did pause squats were completely raw, hamstrings resting on calves, long pause at the bottom. Not so much a strength thing as just greasing the groove on squats
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3147

You gonna watch the game today? I think they are playing it on the ship. Go Navy Beat Army. Just got selected to be the CFL gonna have to come up with some creative stuff to help these guys lose weight.

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3148

Oh yeah, at a sports bar in DC with the Mrs. Never miss it lol. Planning to get the family together for it next year, should be fun!

CFL should be fun. Indian runs around the flight deck?

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3149

Work for today.

4ish mile hike

Went out to a trail about an hour from our house. Snowed yesterday, was hi 20s outside, pretty good conditions. Found a route that was supposed to take about 2.5 hours, but the Mrs and I finished it in a little under 90 minutes. Still a good hike, but we were hoping to do something that would take a bit more time. Definitely gonna try to find something a little longer next weekend, hoping for one longer hike every weekend until we head out for the big trip

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Notes:

  • cutting a little bit of volume out. Can tell recovery is getting a little rough, and the Mrs and I are really cranking up some mileage for the climb, so cutting out some fluff exercises.
  • bench moved well. 205x10 isn’t a PR or anything, but this also wasn’t a max effort for me, just a tougher set done after 4 already decently heavy sets, so I was pretty pleased with it.
  • my DBs only go to 80, so going to start adding reps on Db incline. At some point, I’ll reward myself with heavier DBs lol.
  • I have no idea why, especially since I’ve never run the program, but WS4SB has been in my head a lot the last couple days. Kinda want to give it a run, kinda remember my failed previous attempts at conjugate lol
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3151

Work for today:

1 hour incline treadmill walk.

11incline, 3.2mph

15 minute stretching session

Notes:

  • pushing these a little bit longer the last few weeks. Not trying to make it “hard” but some more volume.
  • insanely hungry today, probably because of the longer cardio. Baked potatoes may be bland, but they are filling lol
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Work for today:

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Notes:

  • alright, game plan.
  • traveling next Tuesday-Sunday to see family. Then one week back from Dec27-Jan3, then it’s honeymoon/kilimanjaro time.
  • it’s been too long since I’ve done a deload. Starting to notice the fatigue building up (ironically, my insomnia gets worse when I’m fatigued?). Was planning to treat next week as a deload, and then just do a light week before kili. Seeing the Mrs and I lift today, I could tell we just needed a deload. Not even touching the weights yet, just how we were moving as we were warming up, both of us just a little drained.
  • so, deloading this week.
  • next week, it’s only gonna be lifting Monday and Tuesday. The Mrs really, really wants to hit a 135 bench, and I haven’t let her go off program, so that’s what we’re doing. Monday, work up to a heavy bench. Tuesday, work up to a heavy squat. Idk about true “max”, but I expect some PRs.
  • calling my shots here. I’d be happy with a 265 bench, and freaking ecstatic with a 275 bench. For squat… I’m honestly not sure. I’ve done 385 hi bar, but the form was shit. I think I might say id be happy with anything over 365 with solid form. (Also mildly considering just doing a heavy low bar single to see how it feels).
  • once we are back from Xmas, that last week I am keeping super easy. Some light sets of 5, some full ROM db work. I’m not trying to build anything, more just moving the body through weighted motion.
  • and then I leave for my 3ish week honeymoon. No training during that time. (Well, unless you count climbing Kilimanjaro, but that’s different lol).

So, now I’m spitballing my 2026 game plan.

Training:

  • largely as outlined above. 12 weeks or so of pushing hi bar squat as hard as I can. 2x per week squatting, lots of work in the 70-85% range. Then run a deadlift ROM progression deal. Then go into 6-8 week or more rounded athlete jumps, sled drags, lots of OLY. I’ll include power, strength, and hypertrophy stuff in all the programs, more just adjusting dials for different “seasons” of training
  • Also on that note, 2026 is the season of bench for me. Hypertrophy work is the name of the game there, lots of pressing and upper back work.
  • for cardio, honestly I just want to crank my V02 max as much as I can. Spent the last 4-5 months just slogging through zone 2, I really wanna work on the top end. Planning to do a lot more rowing, because rowing is awesome.

Nutrition:

  • and here’s where I’m pretty immediately getting over my head haha.

  • @QuadQueen I’ve got some thoughts I’d love your take on.

  • I’m planning to cut relatively aggressively when I get back from the honeymoon. I tend to do better when I’m following some strict guidelines on cuts, just mentally jives with me better.

  • I’d like to do a 12 week Keto diet after the honeymoon. I’ve never done Keto before, and never really given any sort of low carb diet an honest chance. Even my last big cut, I kept carbs pretty stable throughout.

  • Now, I’m not trying to spend the rest of my life Keto. I want to try it, partly just for experimentation purposes, partly because carbs hit me like a brick wall which makes me suspect my insulin sensitivity isn’t the best, and maybe some time doing keto would help with that. But, for both lifestyle reasons and just some general health beliefs I have, I don’t see it something I do forever. Which is why I want to do a strict 12 week diet. 3 months, give it an honest shake, and then move on.

  • after the 12 weeks Keto, I think I’d move on to some sort of Carb Cycling program. Seems a smart way to reintroduce carbs after limiting them so much. I’ve heard the name Justin Harris thrown around a lot in that regard, but it’s honestly not something I’ve looked much into. (Side note, but the carb cycling would begin right when I go from lots of submax squats to the deadlift ROM progression cycle, largely because I want to be carbbed up for heavy deads lol).

  • after carb cycling…. Well idk. That’s prolly halfway through 2026, and I’m not planning that far ahead lol.

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I recently wrote in my blog about how, if I had to do it all over again, I should have just stuck with rotating between this and Pavel’s 3-5. I think there’s a lot of good stuff in WS4SB, and then Pavel could laser focus you.

I’m excited for your keto into carb cycling experiment! Carb cycling definitely had my attention. Justin Harris is a great resource for that. He’s got 2 e-books that are easy reads on the subject: Comprehensive Performance Nutrition 1 and 2. Worth diving into.

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God dang it that’s it’s! I’ve legit been thinking to myself “why am I thinking about this program so much lately” I totally forgot that I was reading about it in your Ebook last week lol.

I’ll have to pick up those books by Harris!

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So, my thoughts on your plan…

I think it sounds great in theory and if you feel good and can still train the way you want to and you’re recovering well - then AWESOME. But… if after 2-3 weeks on keto, if you still feel like @$$ and you’re not sleeping, recovering and/or you’re just completely miserable, then give yourself permission to abort the mission and reconfigure the plan. If you want to talk before or during this adventure, you know how to get a hold of me. Just shoot me a text and we’ll hash this all out.

On another note, I am SO excited to hear all about the Kilimanjaro trip! I’m a big climber, hiker and backpacker and have this one on my list for a long time. Have SO much fun and take lots of pictures!!!

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@QuadQueen honestly, the “give myself an out” is probably something I needed to hear. This is a total experiment in my mind, but with that mindset, I could definitely see myself going “well, I feel like shit after 3 weeks, guess it’s only 9 more weeks of feeling bad until I can stop this” rather than use a bit of common sense and go “stop this.” Im a bit of skeptic of keto TBH, but it’s become so big and I’ve got some (admittedly amazingly athletic) family that swear by it, so in my head I gotta at least TRY it lol.

And I’m so pumped for the trip! I’ve never done any summit higher than some 14s in Colorado, and this is will be my first time in subsaharan Africa, so lots of firsts all around! Highlights definitely the climb, but I’m also pretty pumped for the safari. I told the Mrs I wanna pet a lion. She just rolled her eyes….

Work for today:

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Conditioning:
45ish min ruck, 55lbs pack. Just a nice easy pace walking around the park with the Mrs.

Notes:

  • the deload continues. Nothing special, feeling solid.
  • had some severe insomnia issues earlier this week. Last night was solid, hoping that continues.
  • I got an unexpected $1776 Christmas bonus…. Which, I had no idea what to do with. Well, I did. S&P 500, like all the rest of my spare cash. But the Mrs reminded me I had budgeted for some new adjustable DBs literally like 6 months ago and just kept putting off purchasing (I’m great at buying for others, bad for me.) and the DBs plus cart come out to right around $1800…. so I’ve got some Rep Fitness 125lb adjustable DBs coming my way, and I’m stoked
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3157

Hooray for new toys!

Regarding keto: don’t forget to use supplemental electrolytes to stave off the keto flu.

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I have a friend who can’t keep her hands off of wild animals and wants to pet an orca while swimming with them. I told her she is going to get eaten by one and she said “then I will die doing what I love.” :rofl::rofl: I feel like she has a better shot at survival with the orca than you do the lion. Lol

My cousin did that climb last year. He said he really enjoyed it. I hope you have a great time!

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Always a good day haha

So in this regard, I didn’t even think to ask you. I didn’t know if ketogenic and Carnivore were too different animals, especially given how much protein it seems you are generally getting. Any recommendations for when I start this? (Other than the electrolytes which I will 109% take you up on)

Some of us are just built different

That’s so cool! I feel like I’m seeing a lot more people doing it in the last 5 years or so, not sure why it’s gaining popularity but I’ll definitely hop in on it

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Hey no sweat man. You’re not wrong. You CAN eat in a ketogenic manner with carnivore, but you can also stay out of ketosis. I, most likely, bounce in and out of ketosis. I never take the time to track ketones, but just going off of indicators.

The big 3 are magnesium, sodium and potassium. People tend to just focus on sodium. But because your body will flush a bunch of water due to the lack of carbs, electrolyte imbalance is pretty common, and it results in that “keto flu” feeling. It’s also why people advocate aggressive fat consumption in the early stages: you’re basically trying to teach the body how to use fat as a fuel source. You take away the carbs, and then you keep loading up on fat until the body learns how to make the switch, and then from there it can get a little less aggressive. It’s why you hear about “bulletproof coffee”, with people mixing butter into coffee, and other such fringe eating habits.

If you really wanna go about it with a physique perspective, I’d consider checking out Robert Sikes “Ketogenic Bodybuilding” e-book. I’ll confess that it’s terribly dry, but it’s also very informative in how one would employ a ketogenic diet as someone that lifts heavy weights. It’s numbers based, so someone with experience counting/track macros will have an easy time with it.

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It’s definitely not going to do you any favors wasting time feeling crappy longer than you need to just because you said 12 weeks. Life’s too short. It’s not worth it!

These are pretty awesome, I’ve been to the top of all them at least once and there’s only a couple that I wouldn’t do again. I’m interested to hear how a beast like Kilimanjaro compares, I’m guessing it’s going to be epic. I’m SO excited for you guys!! I’m with the wife on the lion thing though, Your hands and arms are super useful for lifting heavy $h!t. You might want to hold on to them… lol

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3162

22Dec25:

Testing day:

Bench: 45x10, 95x8, 135x5, 165x3, 185x2, 205x2, 225x1, 245x1, 260x1 (post labrum tear PR, most I’ve benched in easily 18 months), 275x0 (F&$@)

  • WW: 45x10, 55x6, 65x5, 75x3, 90x2, 100x2, 115x1, 125x1, 135x1 (she got her plate!), 145x0 (miss)

Db Inc bench: 50x10, 65x8, 80x8, 90x6

Lat Pulldown: 120x10, 150x10, 180x8, 195x8

DB Shrug: 80x15, 80x15, 80x15

Tricep extension: 50x10, 60x10, 70x10, 80x10

Conditioned:
Ruck around park

Notes:

  • alright, mixed feelings here.
  • So bench. I’ve since I tore the labrum, I’ve been hitting a HARD wall at 250. Doesn’t even feel that heavy, but any heavier any I just can’t “strain” with my right shoulder. I’ve been pushing 75%ish work for a while to try to get some good reps without straining. So, test today. 260 MOVED. No strain, the weight just went smoothly, prolly could have hit a double. So, that’s good. That’s more than I’ve been able to do, and it moved well.
  • Went up to 275 thinking it would be fairly solid, and just couldn’t get it. Got about 3 inches off the chest, started to strain, and just had no push from my shoulder. It was close. 265 was DEFINITELY there, and 270 likely was, just barely didn’t get this.
  • So, on the one hand, I’ve figured out how to strengthen bench with my shoulder. Less strain, more moderate work, hammer accessories. That’s good. On the other hand, I feel that 260 (even 270) is pretty low to max given my rep strength.
  • So I’m conflicted, because I really wanted to use this workout as a bit of a gauge as to weather or not I should get surgery. Last time I talked to a PT, they told me it was 50/50 healing on its own, and about 50/50 for surgery. If I couldn’t break 250, I was gonna go surgery. I broke 250… but man, I can just TELL that I can’t strain with my shoulder. Not like “I’m pushing but it’s not strong enough” but rather “my body is just not letting my shoulder push as hard as it’s capable” if that makes any sense
  • So, I’m conflicted. On the one hand, I’m pretty confident I’ve (finally) figured out bench enough to utilize this training style to keep on making gains, and I can probably keep raising the threshold of how heavy I can hit an “easy” single. On the other hand, I know I’m limited by my ability to strain, and even if I keep gaining on “easy strength” I still won’t be hitting what I should…. So honestly, I’m not sure where I stand with surgery at this point. I may keep up this training style for a while and see how much my “easy” maxes grow. I don’t have any reason than pride for wanting to be able to hit 315, but dammit I do.
  • Anyway. The Mrs hit 135, which was pretty awesome. It was tough but decent bar speed, I recommended 140 but she wanted to try 145, and it was just a bit too much for her. Still super proud of her, and she was excited to hit a 45 on each side.
  • My Rep Pepin dumbbells came in today, and I dig these things. Super solid, feel great in hand. Not as “db” feel as the nuobells due to the railing, but much sturdier and more compact, and still more of a “DB” feel than say powerblocks.
  • Easy ruck after, not really trying to gain anything at this point, just getting in steps and maintaining

@T3hPwnisher I generally drink at least one electrolyte packet a day, maybe I’ll bump that to 2 if feeling crappy. Thanks for the tip, didn’t realize that was an issue with keto! I’ll definitely snag those books before I give it a run.

@QuadQueen it’s definitely higher than I’ve ever done, so I’m excited! My uncle climbed it for his 70th, which makes me feel it’s definitely achievable, but my uncles also a stud lol. I’m not worried at all about the climb, the altitudes gonna suck but I’ll push through that. Honestly, I’m a southern boy. Me and the cold are not friends, so the biggest “challenge” in my mind is just not freezing my little Atlases off on top do that dang mountain lol

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23Dec25:

Hi bar: 45x10, 135x5, 185x3, 225x3, 255x2, 285x2, 315x1, 345x1 (definitely the cleanest I’ve ever hit this hi bar by a VAST amount), 365x1 (same form as 345), 385 (okay, I may be learning how to grind on hi bar. Wasn’t PERFECT by any means, but I pushed through without completely low barring it), 405 (PR, but form fell apart a bit here)

Low bar squat: 405x1 (just wanted to see)

DB RDL: 80x10, 80x10

Notes:

  • happy with my hi bar. That’s a 20lb PR on my max, and I also was able to maintain MUCH better form, whereas before I was shifting to low bar patterns anytime I tried to hi bar over 315.
  • Was it smart to randomly low bar 405 after not doing low bar in 6 months? No. Did it feel all sorts of awkward? Yes. Did it still move just fine even after maxing on hi bar? Yup. Think I’d have something good there if I did a dedicated low bar cycle, which is good to know if I ever wanna do another powerlifting meet. Until then, I’ll keep hammering hi bar.
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3164

Identical story to my bench. I almost think 275 is a mental block. I need someone to load on random plates and not tell me, haha.

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