Becoming Canis dirus - SvenG's Training Log

Training Training Logs
2734

Travel Deload - d1

Sunday - 25 September 2022
Workout: No training

Nothing today, not even bodyweight exercises—it was all I could do to make it this late in the evening without falling asleep. The plane was absolutely miserable and I slept all of zero minutes during the entire 7-hour flight.

I did walk a whole lot today, just to keep moving: it’s hard to fall asleep in an uncomfortable airplane seat, and it’s hard to fall asleep walking around town all day!

Anyway, I’m hoping to get in some bodyweight stuff tomorrow morning before the work day begins, but I’m going to let myself sleep as long my body wants, so we’ll just have to see what happens!

11 Likes
2735

Travel Deload - d2

Monday - 26 September 2022
Workout: No training

Slept until almost 0800 today, which was awesome, but just got in after spending 12+ hours with my team, which is significantly less awesome—but only because it meant no time for training. I did walk a few miles getting to/from the office and to/from lunch, so at least I wasn’t literally sitting all day.

And besides, Day 1 of these sorts of things is always crazy, so maybe things will settle down tomorrow?

Fingers crossed, anyway…

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2736

Hope you are enjoying my home town. Where are you staying ?

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2737

Well, so far the inside of this office building at Victoria Square is quite nice, haha!

I am enjoying it quite a bit, actually. The Cathedral is impressive, I’ve found some good food in and around the city centre, and the hotel (The Samuel Ryder) is comfortable.

1 Like
2738

Travel Deload - d3

Tuesday - 27 September 2022
Workout: No training

Rinse and repeat.

I’m beginning to see a pattern here.

But I remain ever hopeful: perhaps TOMORROW I’ll get something besides a few miles of walking in.

7 Likes
2739

Travel Deload - d4

Wednesday - 28 September 2022
Workout: No training

Been there, done that.

Luckily I like my new team, and we all seem to be getting on pretty well, but even so…

I’m ready to get home and get back on track. One more full day here, then a day of travel for the return trip, so worst case is no work until Saturday, perhaps?

11 Likes
2740

Travel Deload - d5

Thursday - 29 September 2022
Workout: No training

Jet lag found me.

Or something like that: I didn’t fall asleep until nearly midnight, wide awake at 0300, then dead tired just in time to actually start the day. Lots of coffee to power through the late-morning/early-afternoon brainstorming. Luckily the local office and lunch/dinner options didn’t miraculously get closer: I still got in a few miles of walking, just because I had to.

Up and out early tomorrow to catch a series of planes, trains, and automobiles (though not in that order) to find my way home. Not sure what my internal clock will be doing by the time I make it there, but I’m pretty sure my body’s not going to say, “Hey, let’s do a workout!”

Oh, and I also learned I may be taking a road trip to my sister’s on Saturday, so that’s a new twist. But unless the sky is falling, I’ve got 139 unbroken BB curls to look forward to, and there may be time/energy for more.

Final thought: I recently realized I never edited that c17w3 summary post, so I never really processed the last week of Hardgainers or put down goals for this week.

The summary part is pretty easy: The week was hard, Hard, HARD, and every workout was a real slog, but in the end I crushed 100 reps of each assistance category 4 times that week. I wasn’t sure I could manage it, but I did.

On the whole, 5/3/1 for Hardgainers is absolutely awesome. Period. Full stop.

However, tackling it while:

  • bootstrapping myself into a new job;
  • shifting to a new, very early lifting schedule; and,
  • pushing dips and chin-ups/pull-ups to an unprecedented 100 reps per workout

may have been a bad idea.

At the same time, I’m looking at myself in the mirror here in this hotel and I’m thinking maybe it was actually a Really Bad Idea: My whole upper body—and my lats and shoulders in particular—look frikin’ huge. I’m also way leaner than I’d expect after eating out for every meal since last Saturday afternoon.

In reality, it’s probably just anabolic lighting in an unfamiliar environment… Who knows?

And maybe the lack of goals for this week’s travel deload is a good thing, because really all I’m aiming to do at this point is make it back home and regroup for whatever’s next…

20 Likes
2741

Bet it’s nice to be home. Hope you enjoyed your brief stay in my home town.

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2742

Sounds like you had a great trip!

ahh… the joys of jetlag

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2743

Just wanna let you know that seeing you do 10 sets of pullups the day before 10 sets of chin-ups confirms I’m a chump.

I was thinking I messed up by having 3sets of seated DB rows the day before chin-ups. Bah. I’m aiming to add a set to my chins every week for a while. Hopefully this won’t interfere with any recovery!

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2744

@simo74 - It is nice to be home, but I definitely enjoyed my time over there! And with so many new colleagues in and around that area, I’ll probably be back sooner rather than later.

@anna_5588 - Lack of training aside, it was a VERY good trip. Video conferencing is great and all, but nothing beats putting 17+ smart dudes in a big room and nerding out for a week. We accomplished a lot in a relatively short time, and I think we actually feel like a team now.

@cdep89 - Thanks for the props, my man. The individual sets were definitely hard, but chin-ups and pull-ups don’t seem to affect my recovery very strongly, so doing those 100-rep days back-to-back went alright for me. And I swear my lats blew up quickly, so that’s pretty cool too!

2 Likes
2745

Travel Deload - d6

Friday - 30 September 2022
Workout: No training

Travel day.

Made it down to London, then out to the airport, then across the ocean, and eventually home. I was simultaneously exhausted and all amped up when I got there, but mostly I was just glad to done with the trip.

8 Likes
2746

Travel Deload - d7

Saturday - 01 October 2022
Workout: No training

No, the sky wasn’t falling. I just didn’t train because… Well, because Pwn’s right: we do what we want to do. And in this case I wanted to “not train.”

9 Likes
2747

Travel Deload - summary

Not much to say, because zero training took place. I could’ve pushed harder and done SOMETHING. I just didn’t. But it was a welcome break: The last week of Hardgainers left me pretty wiped out physically, and the intensity of the work meetings all week left me pretty wiped out mentally.

I’m gonna need an actual plan if travel becomes a more regular thing in this new job, though. That doesn’t appear to be the case now—this past week was kind of a one-off—but I can see that changing easily enough.

Right, so: It’s already Sunday morning and I’m still not sure what I’m doing this week. I’ll probably run the 7th Week Protocol, TM Test to see where I am after two cycles of Hardgainers and a week off. To complicate matters, we’re heading out for a late 10-day “summer” vacation in less than three weeks, so I won’t be able to finish a full 5/3/1 cycle even if I started it today…

Alright, then—that’s the decision made: 7WP TM Test. My goals are:

  • Complete all 4 lifting workouts to establish correct TMs
  • Complete 3 days of easy conditioning
  • Do 50 burpees + swings every day
  • Get eating back on track

Beyond that, I’m thinking some kind of crazy Fly-by-the-Seat-of-Your-Pants collection of workouts will carry me to vacation, and then I can kick back into full 5/3/1 Beast Mode after that.

If that’s really how it goes, either I’m going to love it or I’m going to hate it. There will be no lukewarm, “Yeah, that was alright,” kind of feelings… It’ll either be a fun break from the deliberate, disciplined monotony, or it’ll be a big waste of time.

Come what may, hard work will be done. And THAT’S what matters.

So, folks, let’s see where we end up!

11 Likes
2748

I’m leaning more towards you being absolutely jacked and extremely modest, haha

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2749

Thanks for that, my dude! I certainly appreciate the sentiment.

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2750

7WP, TM Test - d1

Sunday - 02 October 2022
Workout: Easy conditioning & daily work + BB curls, 0825-0920 + 1435-1445 (55 + 10 minutes)

1-pump burpees + 28-kg KB swings - 2x(25 + 25), 25-second rest between
Bike@120-140 bpm - 10 minutes
Weighted vest walk - 30 kg - 15 minutes

1-pump burpees + 28-kg KB swings - 2x(25 + 25), 25-second rest between

BB curls - 139 (rep PR)

Fasted.

I admit: it felt good to sweat a little.

With that done, I’ve just got yesterday’s BB curls, which I’ll edit in once they’re complete.

Edit: That’s BB curls done: 139 in 6:22, no pausing at the top. Slow and steady again today, with more biceps pump than forearms. Progressing!

13 Likes
2751

6:22? Jesus, that’s insane for one set. Hell, I imagine there are some workouts where I barely break 10 minutes of actual lifting in the whole workout.

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2752

If nothing else there’s always the option to pack some bands in your suitcase as a lightweight option.

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2753

7WP, TM Test - d2

Monday - 03 October 2022
Workout: Squat & daily work, 0525-0650 (85 minutes)

Indigo-3G - 0500
Surge - 0530-0631

Warm-up
Throws
Box jumps - 30 in - 10

1-pump burpees + 28-kg KB swings - 2x(25 + 25), 25-second rest between

Begin: 0557; End: 0647; Duration: 50 minutes
Squat - 130x5, 165x5, 195x5 | 230x5, 260x5, 295x5, 325x1
Dip - 75 - 10, 10, 10
HLR - 10, 10, 10
Chin-up - BW - 10, 10, 10
Push-up - 30
Good morning - 135 - 18, 12
BPA - red - 10 high + 10 mid + 10 low

Assistance totals:
Push - 60 reps
Pull - 60 reps
Single-leg/core - 60 reps

Semi-fasted: black coffee upon waking, then Indigo-3G and Surge as above.

Maybe I just have to accept the fact that early-morning me is weaker than late-morning me: I failed the second rep at 325 today. Came out of the hole, moved about 1/4 of the way up and BAM! back down to the pipes. Awful. Just awful!

At 325x1, JW’s formula puts my 85% TM at 290, but that’s obviously not quite right given that I hit 295x5 just one set before the top set. Doesn’t really matter too much, anyway, because this TM Test week is just about seeing where I am after the week off, rather than about actually determining TMs for the next 5/3/1 cycle.

Looks like I’m still moving kinda slowly, too—nowhere near the volume of what I was doing just two weeks ago with Hardgainers, and yet I STILL took 85 minutes to get through everything today.

Warm-ups circuits of squat-dip-HLR-chin in 22 minutes; main work in 23 minutes, with 230-push-ups, 260-BPAs, then 295 and 325. I finished out with the two sets of good mornings and that was that.

On the plus side, I hit ten 30-inch box jumps without issue. That’s a pretty big six-inch difference, but they were a bit easier than I expected.

That’s it for today. Overall not bad considering where I am these days, but my mind is still flirting with frustration… I’m trying to remain objective so I can just keep my head down and do the work.

16 Likes