Sorry to hear this. I hope you find there is a better opportunity coming along for you and this shut down ends up being a good thing.
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Gutted to hear this, but love how youāve pivoted from it. I appreciate Josh so much, and his programs just never clicked with me, so itāll be cool to watch you from afar and see how it goes.
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Work for today: Bryant XXL
Squat: 285x5, 285x5, 285x5, 285x5, 285x5
Front squat: 200x2, 200x2, 200x2, 200x2, 200x2, 200x2
Barbell Walking lunge: 2x75x20 yards
Superset:
Single leg curl: 65x6, 70x6, 80x6
Leg extension: 50x30, 55x30, 60x30
Banded clam shell: 3xredx12
Front squat Static Hold: 285x15seconds, 285x31seconds (counting time in my head, trying not to rush itā¦ overcompensated this time)
Standing calf raise: skipped. Iām sorry, but I just canāt care about calves. My calves are big anyway.
Conditioning: 38 min LISS elliptical
Notes:
- program has some directions on CAT reps, RPE, percentages, and some fun with rest intervals, but I also paid for this program, so I donāt want to give everything away. Just know thereās some nuance to how I execute this, that I actually find really fun.
- squats and front squats felt great. Perfect weight to rest ratio where I felt like I was throwing the weight, while still working hard.
- front rack static holds sounded dumb, then felt awesome. Harder than I expected to just hold at the top.
- definitely doing some things Iād never program for myself, but itās fun
- first real cardio session since Covid. Went alright, I feel generally fine but still have this annoying hacking cough, didnāt seem to bother me much today, but purposely easing my way back into conditioning with my lungs not at 100%
@unicornsandrainbows appreciate that. I remained reserved in my hopes, just because my job is pretty notorious for really doing everything they can to prevent people leaving, so itās not entirely unexpected. Still, I have some great opportunities ahead of me, and right now my biggest issue is just figuring out WHICH one of those I want to take lol. 4 routes im considering right now, and I go back and forth multiple times a day lol. Iāve never had the issue of āI donāt know what I want to doā with my life, itās always more āI want to do all this shit and have to pick one.ā Which truthfully, seeing as I do have those options available, Is an incredibly fortunate position to find myself in.
@T3hPwnisher if we ever connect offline Iāll tell you the entire story, I can guarantee it would get some strong opinions. But the battles lost so moving on, no use being bitter. As for Josh Bryant, I am a massive and somewhat bemused fan. I sort of consider him the āanti-Rippetoe.ā Not due to anything about his programming, but because of him lol. Rippetoe knows how to right a book that sounds legit, when he speaks he very much gives the impression he is a seasoned expert on all aspects of lifting, and in the end he really just does super basic programming without making any real athletes of note. On the other hand we have Bryant. I have never read an article from him that I found persuasive. Watching videos of his seminars, they are incredibly unfulfilling. āDo this, it helps your squatā with zero explanation haha. And then you look both at his resume, and the long, long list of people he has coached, and realize this guys makes champions! I do like his āstyle,ā because blue collar lifting has always been my roots (thank you Wendler). So far, the program seems legit. I am purposely not looking ahead. I will look at the week Iām doing, but not more. I donāt want to analyze the logic or try to see his programming, I like the simplicity of āI walk into the gym, I do x,y, and z that my coach laid out, I leave.ā Will see in a few months how it pays out for me!
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The only people that say that, are also people that say this:
@Cyrrex will not like this.
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Honestly, I have a secret that is no joke guaranteed to build big calves.
Get super god damn fat.
Not chubby. Not dad bod. Iām talking beached whale.
You ever met a fat guy with small calves? Nope. Those puppies are working overtime to carry around essentially a small childās extra amount of weight 24/7.
Lose the weight, and the calves stay. They are pessimistic bastards, and believe your gonna get fat again, so they stay jacked just waiting for that next Twinkieā¦
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My secret was running 40KM a week for 6 years. Yours sounds more enjoyable. LOL
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Sorry they cockblocked you switching services. I feel like there should be an appeals processā¦
Anyway still looking forward to hearing where you end up.
Meanwhile enjoy the school, dont fail it out of spite (we had a guy do that, he told me the wardroom basically shunned him after that), and keep on keeping on!
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Also, cycling. I ran for years then road cycled then moved to mountain biking. If you do a proper pedal stroke, the outside of the calf gets worked and they get nice and wide.
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While the spite is there, this is still my job until itās not, so Iām going to try and do well. That being said, we have had a large string of failures recently. Our training program kind of ignores this, and we arenāt given much time to prep, but I think Iāll do okay. Everyone has passed on the second to around 
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Life update:
Selling my house. Not too long left in the area, and at sea for most of that, so howās a good time. Put it in the market 32 hours ago, and just got under contract for over asking, which means a nice little chunk of change coming into my pocket!
Sad news, moving into a little apartment for the rest of my time here, and then probably wherever I go next as I do grad schoolā¦ so no garageā¦. So itās time to sell the gym. Itās been good to me, even if I do go to an actual gym half the time.
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Absolutely gutted to hear the home gym news, but a welcome celebration on the house sale.
There is a part of me that actually celebrates scrapping a home gym and starting over. A time to re-evaluate and assess, or learn how to operate more simply. Perhaps the next location can still find a home for a barbell and some squat stands, or even just a set of kettlebells.
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If anything, I consider this a great āpracticeā home gym. I love it, but thereās some equipment Iād never buy again, some equipment I realize Iād use a lot more, and a few brands that I am just going to avoid altogether! I think I will keep a few things that I can throw in the apartment, and some of these modern apartment complexes have halfway decent gyms! Thereās one Iām considering solely for the power rack and rogue urethane plates lol.
My girlfriend lives out on the west coast, so trying to make my way over there next. Likely moving in with her if I can swing the location, and her townhouse doesnāt have much space for a gym lol. Looking ahead at my career and school options, Iāve probably got a good 5-6 years until I am done moving around, so I donāt mind being flexible with stuff until I settle down.
When I do settle down though, I legitimately want to get a detached garage and just build my own strongman/powerlifting paradise. Iām a pretty thrifty guy with a good salary, this will be my guilty purchase lol
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I TOTALLY get that āpractice gymā idea. Iāve had to move my gym 3-4 times, and each time I learn SO many lessons on what equipment matters, what doesnāt, better space management, etc. Definitely a great perspective here. And I hope I can help you christen your Valhalla when itās fully constructed.
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Brother, I may not know where the hell im going, but there will thereās always a seat at my table for you wherever I end up. After this tour Iāll hopefully get some time to visit family, and I will Definitely be reaching out should I make it back to Nebraska!
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Hell yeah brother! A seat at the table and a room for you to rest will be here, along with a training space to be reborn in, haha.
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I ran my home gym out of a storage unit when I was in an apartment. Just throwing that out as an option. Stored more in there than just the gym, so it was worth the cost.
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Plenty of room down here mate. The world is a small place.
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Hell yeah man looks like some solid programming.
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Work for today: Bryant XXL
Press: (45 sec rest between sets) 135x2, 135x2, 135x2, 135x2, 135x2, 135x2, 135x2, 135x11
Superset:
Sir Charles Lat Raise: 3x20x12
Db bench: 3x65x12
Reverse pec deck: 3x95x12
Superset;
Lying Dicks Press: 75x12, 95x10, 75x12, 75x12
30 sec push-ups: 26, 20, 17
Conditioning: Fobbit Intervals
20 min, 5.4mph
20 53lb kb swing
20 40lb db snatch
Notes:
- Pressing like this was fun. 135 is pretty light for me, 2 reps is a joke, but the quick periods kept me āonā the entire time. Really focused on being super strict with the rest, as in the bar was unracked already and started moving right at 45 seconds, and made sure these reps were explosive. Happy to still hit 135x11 at the end of all these, pretty solid set for basically being at the end of some massive rest pause conglomeration
- sir Charles lat raise feels awesome.
- lying dicks press took me a while to figure out. First set was impossibly difficult, until I realized I was going way to far on the extension part. 2nd set was just too heavy. 3rd set was too easy as i overcompensated for going too far by really short changing the extension, but I think I found my Goldilocks on the 4th set. Humbling exercise, I thought Iād be stronger on it.
- push-ups weāre brutal. For reference, I can normally drop and bang out 100 push-ups in 2 minutes. After all the pressing earlier in the session? I was struggling to eke out reps by the end of the 30 seconds. Great way to finish the workout.
- these workouts are pretty short overall, total lifting about an hour, as opposed to the 90ish minutes I normally do. Appreciate that lol.
- first run since Covid. It went fine, kind of an odd feeling. My cardio feels both good and degraded. Body felt good overall, and lungs felt strong, but also like they were strong while they still had water sloshing around (itās the only way I can describe the feeling). Steady mucus layer in the back of my throat didnāt help any either. Not enough to really impede me, but enough that I could tell and be annoyed by it.
@simo74 no family down under lol, but I can always find some other excuse for a trip. We did just do that nuclear deal with yāall, maybe I could get onto some consulting deal down the road lol.
@taylortooswift thanks! Iām really enjoying it so far
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Iām quite immature sometimes.
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