Week 2, Day 4 Barbarian Day
Preparation Cycle 1
Shoulder halos 3x10
*Trap bar carries 105lbs, plus weighted vest @ 5x1000 feet AND 1x300 feet
Shoulder halos 3x10
Terrible, wet weather this week. No dry fields to drag a sled. So, I combined the sled weight and kettlebell weight, put it on a trap bar, and did laps in my driveway.
I’d put the suck factor at an 8.5/10. The metcon days I created last winter and those in Fiready probably sucked a tad more, but were shorter in duration.
Anyhow, this modified long carry seems to, at a minimum, be scalable and true to the spirit of the program. I honestly have no idea how different the experience would have been carrying 40lbs and pulling a 60lb sled.
Weight: 177lbs
Cals: 2200ish
Steps: 2000, not counting the 2500 in the driveway, but there’s still time.
Prep Circuit x 1
Squats, even slower eccentric 4x4 @ 215lbs (rest-pause to get last reps on sets three and four)
Assistance Circuit x 3
Cardio Circuit x 3
Loaded split squat stretches x 2 min
Slow eccentrics are HARD. Kinda fell out of the groove the third set, quads cramped from all the prep work, and didn’t want to take a gamble on having to dump a squat, giving my wife a heart attack, so I rest-paused to get the final reps in.
I’ve been sleeping incredibly well, better than I can ever remember, but still feel some lingering fatigue. Gonna focus on getting to bed a bit earlier for a while to see if things improve.
Eternal Warrior–Week 3, Day 2
Prep Circuit x 1
Bench even slower eccentric 4 x 4 @ 185lbs **
Assistance Circuit x 3
Cardio Circuit x 3
Eternal Warrior–Week 3, Day 3
Prep Circuit x 1
TBDL, even slower eccentric 4, 4, 4, 4@ 255lbs
Assistance Circuit x 3
Cardio Circuit x 3
Loaded pullup stretches x 2 min
**Whew, this is getting tough! Had to rest pause some bench press sets earlier this week as the incredibly slow eccentrics are catching up to me.
Deadlifts with slow eccentrics are horrendous. Got kinda light headed and stumbled around at the end of each set today, but… I recover pretty quick. I’ve noticed that overall, I’m able to gather myself between rounds of exercises a tad faster each week.
Excited that I saw 174 on the scale a couple of days ago.
Week 3, Day 4 Barbarian Day
Preparation Cycle 1
Shoulder halos 3x10
*Sled drag w/60lbs, plus weighted vest, plus 20lb DBs @ 1x1740 feet, 1x2400 feet, 1 x 1200 feet
Shoulder halos 3x10
Took a while, probably 45 minutes in all. Suck factor was about 8.5/10. The experience was not really a whole lot different than loading the trap bar vs using the sled and DBs.
Prep Circuit x 1
Squats, SLOWEST eccentric 4x4 @ 215lbs (rest-pause to get last reps on all sets)
Assistance Circuit x 2
Cardio Circuit x 3
Loaded split squat stretches x 2 min
The program called for a slight deload–one less round of the accessory circuit–boy, was I happy to oblige.
Besides the god-awful slow squats, this sesh seemed way more intense than the last. By the end, I was pouring sweat, a grotesque mix of man and red, huffing monster. This happened partway through Fiready as well–I started sweating in obscene quantities. No idea why. Am I unleashing my inner CrossFitter? I guess only time will tell.
Weight: 174.8 (Nice!)
Calories: 2300 (took kid out for spring break lunch, only ended up 100 cals over target… very pleased)
Steps: 8000+
Eternal Warrior–Week 4, Day 2
Prep Circuit x 1
Bench SLOWEST eccentric 3 x 4 @ 185lbs **
Assistance Circuit x 2
Cardio Circuit x 3
Loaded DB Press stretch x 2min
Had to rest pause the bench press sets. Slow eccentrics make everything harder, I guess.
A bit of a deload this week with one less set of the main lift and one less accessory circuit. I made up for it by killing myself on the cardio circuit, again a hot, sweaty mess by the end.
Prep Circuit x 1
TBDL, SLOWEST eccentric 4, 5, 5 @ 255lbs
Assistance Circuit x 2
Cardio Circuit x 3
Loaded pullup stretches x 2 min
Made up for the deload by pushing a bit more intensely on the circuits. Didn’t run quite as hot this time–I still find it weird that this happens–but still smelled like a dirty gym sock by the time it was over: I disgusted myself.
Saturday will be Barbarian Day. The weather has been wet and cold–figures as this is my spring break–so I’ll have to make it work, somehow, in my driveway. My poor neighbors.
Added 2000 steps/day. Going to let that ride for a couple weeks and see where I land. (Hopefully sub 172).
Steps: 10,500
Cals: 2200
Weight: 175.2 (been 174 the past two days)
Prep Circuit x 1
Squats, paused 4x4 @ 205lbs
Assistance Circuit x 2
Cardio Circuit x 3
Loaded split squat stretches x 3 min*
These workouts run long, so I skipped the loaded stretches. It’s unfortunate, but I have to eat, cook, sleep…and go to work. I’ll find a place to add the stretches in over the next few days.
I thought paused reps would be slightly easier than slow negatives. Guess what?
I couldn’t have been more wrong. They were way harder and I had to use less weight than the 225 I had planned, imagining how awesome I’d look dominating two plates per side. Eh, not quite there yet.
Did some eclipse stuff over the weekend. Stayed on track with food.
Eternal Warrior–Week 5, Day 2
Prep Circuit x 1 w/weighted vest
Bench paused 4, 4, 5, 4 @ 175lbs
Assistance Circuit x 2
Cardio Circuit x 3
Loaded DB Press stretch x 3 min
The assistance circuit was pretty awful but the cardio circuit was horrendous. It included a minute straight of thrusters followed by a minute of shoulder roks (plate halos) on each side. I couldn’t complete the thrusters, failing around 50 seconds on rounds two and three.
Benching with a pause, like squatting with a pause, is more difficult than performing a very slow eccentric. The weight today felt about right.
Prep Circuit x 1
TBDL, paused 4, 5, 4, 4 @ 245lbs
Assistance Circuit x 3
Cardio Circuit x 3
The assistance work changes each block. The assistance circuit seemed easier at first; however, I ended up a sweat disgusting mess, huffing and puffing by the end.
Paused trap bar deadlifts are surprisingly hard on the quads, the final pauses leaving me on Bambi legs before each descent.
Prep Circuit x 1
Squats, longer pause 4x4 @ 205lbs
Assistance Circuit x 3
Cardio Circuit x 3
Loaded split squat stretches x 3 min
I don’t have much to say about this. The negative part of me, the guy who hates exercise and wants to sit on the couch and drink beer all day, just started completely shutting up. I acknowledge the paused reps and circuits will be awful, then my brain shuts off for a while. Then I notice I’m farther along than a coupe minutes before and increasingly eager to get it done with.
My weight has tracked up, about 1.5lbs, after keeping cals constant but adding some walking. Fat loss is weird. If this continues, I’m going to try a carb-heavy refeed Fri or Sat to see what happens.
Eternal Warrior–Week 6, Day 2
Prep Circuit x 1 w/weighted vest
Bench longer pause 4, 4, 4, 4 @ 175lbs
Assistance Circuit x 3
Cardio Circuit x 3
Loaded DB Press stretch x 3 min
I keep plugging away at this program, reaping the rewards of all the cardio. The other night, as my cat lay purring on my chest, my resting heart rate measured 43.
Despite my dramatically improving conditioning, I still see myself facing a choice I don’t want to make: do I get up earlier and walk an extra 2,000 steps per day, or do I cut some cals in the pursuit of abs? Both options sound terrible.
Prep Circuit x 1
TBDL, longer pause 4, 4, 4, 5 @ 245lbs
Assistance Circuit x 3
Cardio Circuit x 3
This morning I hit a six-month low on the scale: 173. I’m down about 7lbs from the beginning of the challenge and I’ve only made a small adjustment to calories and I HAVE NOT cut carbs. Weight loss, at least for me, is mostly witchcraft, I think.
I’ve been skipping the loaded stretches because they take sooo long when broken into multiple sets and these workouts, due to setup, warmup, and cardio, already push 90 minutes.
Otherwise, this was another standard Eternal Warrior workout–long, strenuous, and exhausting. Paused deadlifts are pretty terrible, but I don’t even really dread them anymore.
Regardless, much like Fiready, this plan is starting to grow on me.
Week 6, Day 4 Barbarian Day
Preparation Cycle 1
Shoulder halos 3x10
*Sled drag w/70lbs, plus weighted vest, plus 30lb DBs @ 1 mile w/three stops
Shoulder halos 3x10
Still terrible, still takes forever, but also getting easier. Probably time to add another 10lbs to the sled or 3-6 to each bell.
I set my new daily goal at 12,000 steps. It’s a lot–roughly two hours of walking… I can see, maybe, working up to 14k if I wake up early and walk before work, but that would be the absolute limit.
I heard an influencer say how hitting 18,000 steps really wasn’t “all that much.” Later, he mentioned his schedule… the point he seemed to forget with “how easy” it is walking 18k steps daily is he doesn’t have anything approaching a real job; he literally gets paid to walk 3+ hours a day.
Anyhow, I’ll milk my paltry 12k steps per day for all they’re worth before adding anything more output. I am shocked, however, that I’m probably as lean as this time last year, eating 7-800 cals more per day and feel a million times better.
