Becoming Canis dirus - SvenG's Training Log

[SvenG]

5/3/1 BaBY - c27w3d3

Tuesday - 22 August 2023
Workout: Deadlift, 0520-0625 (65 minutes)

Indigo-3G - 0500
Alpha Male - 0500
Surge - 0530-0614

Warm-up
Throws + jumps

Begin: 0537; End: 0620; Duration: 43 minutes
Deadlift - 155x5, 190x5, 225x5 | 255x5, 290x5, 325x5
Front squat - 175x5, 175x5, 175x5
HLR - 12, 12, 12, 12, 12
Neck flexion - 7.5 lbs - 50
Neck extension - 7.5 lbs - 50
KB swing - 32 kg - 80, 20

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

Warm-up sets in 11 minutes, main work in 20 minutes, supplemental front squats in 12 minutes, assistance super-set throughout.

Right back on track this morning, and I crushed it!

My alarm shocked me awake about 0430 and I was feeling groggy, so I wasn’t sure how things would be this morning. But I stepped in the weight room, found the gear I needed, and I crushed it!

I don’t know if you’ve experienced this phenomenon or not, but that top set was heavy but I felt strong: It moved well, my body was acting in unison, and the weight came up nice and smooth across all 5 reps. I did use straps for that set, but only that set. I’m also pretty happy with how the HLRs are coming along, and 80 unbroken swings at 32 kg is yet another rep PR!

Planning to do “Cindy’s Ladder” as I intended to run it last week. Hopefully I can follow my own (unnecessarily complex) rep scheme this time around, haha!

[anna_5588]

Whelp… there goes my excuse to slack today….

[SvenG]

Hm… I’m not sure what my workout has to do with your today—I’m here doing the same thing pretty much every day!—but if your statement somehow reflects a good decision, then I guess I’m glad for that.

[SvenG]

5/3/1 BaBY - c27w3d3

Tuesday - 22 August 2023
Workout: Extra conditioning, 1650-1715 (25 minutes)

Alpha Male - about 1145

Cindy’s Ladder - AMRAP, 15 minutes:
1-2-3-4-5 ladders
1x chin-up/pull-up (strict, various grips)
2x push-up
3x air squat
Rounds: 4 + 12 reps (5 full ladders in +3:23)

Okay, that’s the scheme I meant to do last week, and that’s the scheme I actually did do this week. Didn’t get as many ladders in overall, but that’s to be expected I think.

Even so, if we assume my math is right, I did get 63 chins, 126 push-ups, and 183 air squats within the 15-minute window, and 75 chins, 150 push-ups, and 225 air squats total in just less than 18.5 minutes, so I guess that’s cool.

[SvenG]

5/3/1 BaBY - c27w3d4

Wednesday - 23 August 2023
Workout: Easy conditioning, 0525-0630 (65 minutes)

Alpha Male - 0500

1-pump burpees + 32-kg KB swings - 2x(25 + 25), 25-second rest between
Bike@120-140 bpm - 10 minutes
Weighted vest walk - 30 kg - 15 minutes

Neck extension - 15 lbs - 35, 15
Neck flexion - 15 lbs - 35, 15

Fasted.

And I’m already dreading this afternoon’s hill sprints.

But I’m just gonna have to put it out of my head, because there’s a lot to do between now and then!

[antiquity]

Wow, awesome work! I see lots of workouts done fasted. Is that part of a strategy or more of the reality of when you are choosing to train?

[SvenG]

@antiquity - Thanks for dropping in! And great question.

The morning workouts are purposefully (semi-)fasted: Indigo-3G is best on an empty stomach, and I like to use it before the serving of Surge I drink during the lifting workouts. Likewise, the easy conditioning work just seems more effective on an empty stomach!

By contrast, if an afternoon workout is fasted, it’s only a reflection of my day: I am full-time WFH now, but even so I sometimes find it very hard to get breakfast or lunch—and sometimes both—these days! If I make it so far as 1600 or later truly fasted, I typically finish up my training for the day in that state so that I don’t kill my appetite too late in the day and can enjoy a solid meal when the family sits down to eat dinner together.

[SvenG]

5/3/1 BaBY - c27w3d4

Wednesday - 23 August 2023
Workout: Hard conditioning, 1725-1750 (25 minutes)

Alpha Male - ???

Hill sprints - 110m - 6 rounds, for time:
Time: 12:33

Okay, we’ll get to the hill sprint time in just a minute, but first: Talk about “reflection of my day,” haha! I ate breakfast this morning, so that’s cool. But I did not get lunch. And I don’t remember taking my second dose of Alpha Male… It wasn’t marked down in my notebook, but I really just can’t remember that long ago in the day clearly enough to know if I forgot to mark it or forgot to take it. I’ve even counted the number of tablets remaining, but by that calculation, I haven’t taken any today—and I know that’s not true. Anyway, I’m “skipping” it now, just to be safe.

So, hill sprints… WTF happened there? By the look of it, I only did 5 sprints—but I mark each sprint clearly on the road just past the finish line with some chalk, and there are 6 fresh marks today.

Here’s the only thing I can figure: My goal at the outset was to start a new sprint every 2:30, and that meant hustling down the hill during the reset a little faster than I normally would. But I found that everytime I got down there—even though I had plenty of time before the next 2:30—I just went again. And again. And again. And… You get the idea.

Honestly, I probably wasn’t pushing it on the uphill as hard as I have been in the past, but these were definitely “runs” and not just “trots” or “jogs” up the hill even if they weren’t my typical puke-your-guts-out sprints (or as close as this 45-year-old body can get these days). I didn’t track them carefully, but I’d say my pace was pretty even between 40-50 seconds for all 6 rounds.

So do those things together—slower but steadier uphill sprints, significantly faster downhill resets, and near-immediate turnarounds at the bottom—really add up to nearly 2.5 minutes off my best time?

You be the judge!

[SvenG]

5/3/1 BaBY - c27w3d5

Thursday - 24 August 2023
Workout: Bench & extra conditioning, 1540-1720 (100 minutes)

Indigo-3G - 1520
Alpha Male - 0720, about 1400
Surge - 1550-1624

Warm-up
Throws + jumps

Begin: 1558; End: 1646; Duration: 48 minutes
Bench - 110x5, 130x5, 155x5 | 180x5, 200x5, 225x5
Incline press - 115x5, 115x5, 115x5
Kirk K. row - 115 lbs - 15, 15, 15, 15, 15
BFP - black - 25, 25, 25
(Short) BB front raise - 40 lbs - 12, 12, 12
Neck flexion - 15x20, 27.5x20
Neck extension - 15x20, 27.5x16

Bike@120-140 bpm - 6 minutes
Tabata burpee-box jumps - 30-inch - 8x20/10
Bike@120-140 bpm - 6 minutes

Semi-fasted: nothing but black coffee and Alpha Male until Indigo-3G and Surge as above.

Warm-up sets in 9 minutes, main work in 14 minutes, supplemental incline sets in 13 minutes, assistance super-set throughout.

I’m no @atlas13, but I did today’s work after a long intense day yesterday, a short night’s sleep, and another intense (if not quite so long) day today.

Happy with how things went, especially for a marathon session. Everything moved really well, except for the neck extensions, maybe: Getting 16 on the max effort set was tough!

Oh, and in case future-me wonders: Tabata plate ground-to-overheads? Awesome! Tabata burpee-box jumps? Significantly less awesome. I’m just not fast enough to get any real work density with those on a 20-second clock: I only managed two solid reps per round, and if I tried to push for more, they got really sloppy. Still managed to get my HR up a bit, and the bike on either side served it’s purpose, but I’m sure there are more effective combinations when I’m looking for something like that again.

Okay, I’m very glad today is behind me. It’s time to eat and then sleep, because we do it all over again in about 12 hours!

[SvenG]

5/3/1 BaBY - c27w3d6

Friday - 25 August 2023
Workout: Clean & squat, 0510-0635 (85 minutes)

Indigo-3G - 0500
Alpha Male - 0500
Surge - 0530-0627

Warm-up
Jumps only, no throws

Begin: 0530; End: 0630; Duration: 60 minutes
Squat - 165x5, 195x5 | 225x5, 255x5, 285x5
Hang power clean - 75x5, 85x5 | 100x5, 115x5, 125x5
SLDL - 220x5, 220x5, 220x5
KB swing - 32 kg - 85 (rep PR), 15
Neck extension - 15 lbs - 35, 15
Neck flexion - 15 lbs - 35, 15
Ab wheel - ramp (19) - 12, 12, 12, 12, 12

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

Warm-up sets in 10 + 10 minutes, main work in 18 + 16 minutes, supplemental SLDL work in 6 minutes, assistance superset throughout.

Felt like I was moving very slowly this morning, but I guess it wasn’t any slower than usual. Regardless, my body was just working right today: Everything felt super solid, it was all just clicking perfectly. Not bad for 1s week!

I’ve got the throws I skipped this morning because of weather and Juarez Valley deadlifts with plate ground-to-overheads planned for this afternoon, then we wrap up this run of 5/3/1 BaBY tomorrow!

Edit: I’m marking that set of 85 unbroken swings at 32 kg as a bolded “rep PR” because that’s as far as I was able to carry it in this run of 5/3/1 BaBY. I’ve been purposefully limiting my session-to-session rep increases to 5 since the first time I hit 100 in 2 sets, but I was going to allow myself to hit 100 unbroken reps today if I could… And I could not. I realized that early enough in the set—it was somewhere in the early 50s, I think—so I switched gears mentally and stayed focused on super-solid reps through to the end. No reason to get greedy, be sloppy, and still fail, so +5 to 85 unbroken and a “final” rep PR was sufficient. Anyway, I’m eyeing another run of 5/3/1 BaBY after a 7WP Deload and some kind of anchor, and I’ll start that 6-week block far closer to 100 unbroken than I did way back in at the beginning of this block.

[atlas13]

Man, if I wanted to have a “thing” I was known for on a weightlifting forum, I never would of wanted it to be work hours lol

[SvenG]

Trust me, dude, that’s not the first thing that I associate with “@atlas13”.

But when I find myself whining or complaining, I try to keep things in perspective—and let’s face it, my one night of working late is absolutely nothing!

[SvenG]

5/3/1 BaBY - c27w3d6

Thursday - 25 August 2023
Workout: Extra conditioning, 1755-1825 (30 minutes)

Alpha Male - about 1145

Juarez Valley with 5 plate ground-to-overheads (45 lbs) after each round
10, 1, 9, 2, 8, 3, 7, 4, 6, 5, 5
Deadlift - 255 lbs
Time: 19:09

Nice! That’s a little better than BBB volume at this week’s FSL on deadlifts. And I managed that, together with the ground-to-overheads, in less than 20 minutes.

Let’s eat!

[wardog2k]

@SvenG

10, 1, 9, 2, 8, 3, 7, 4, 6, 5, 5
Deadlift - 255 lbs

Nice work! That sounds barbaric!

[SvenG]

@wardog2k - Thanks, my man! “Barbaric” is… very apropos. At the very least, it was certainly “not easy,” haha.

[SvenG]

5/3/1 BaBY - c27w3d7

Saturday - 26 August 2023
Workout: Easy conditioning, 0640-0735 (55 minutes)

1-pump burpees + 32-kg KB swings - 2x(25 + 25), 25-second rest between
Bike@120-140 bpm - 10 minutes
Weighted vest walk - 30 kg - 15 minutes

Fasted.

Phone died overnight, so no alarm, “overslept” by about 45 minutes. No real harm, though, and maybe even some good: It was as solid a night’s sleep as I’ve had all week!

[SvenG]

5/3/1 BaBY - c27w3d7

Saturday - 26 August 2023
Workout: Hard conditioning, 1435-1510 (35 minutes)

Pwn’s The Last Castle - 5 rounds
a) Sled push - 25 yards, 170 + sled = 257 lbs
b) 21 BPA - black - 7 hi + 7 mid + 7 low
c) Sled push - 25 yards, 170 + sled = 257 lbs
d) 15 Overhead triceps ext - 2x25 lbs
Time: 21:38

Man! My effort and performance was pretty much how it has been lately, but the air is so thick today I was having a hard time finding enough oxygen—that was not awesome!

So ends 5/3/1 BaBY—that, at least, WAS awesome!

[SvenG]

5/3/1 BaBY - c27w3 - summary

Awesome week, awesome template.

I mentioned it a few times already, but my body was just working right on all the lifts this week. I actually felt like I was fighting the weight, not some lagging body part or lack of bracing or my mentality—everything was just clicking, and I was firing on all cylinders!

And I’ve already said that 5/3/1 BaBY was awesome, but here it is again: 5/3/1 BaBY was awesome! I don’t know if it was the yoke focus, or the different supplemental movements, or what, but the past 6 weeks just flew by, and I felt like I bounced back from my 3-week break quite well.

In fact, here’s what I looked like just a week after our return from Europe:

Now here’s me 6 weeks later, shortly before my workout this morning:

And flexed, under anabolic lighting:

Not the best you’ve ever seen me, but it’s a far cry from how things were at the start of the template—so I’m gonna say that’s decent progress.

More importantly, however, I’ve been able to re-establish the daily habits that have me working hard and feeling good, and that’s a win no matter how you slice it.

Today, I start a 7WP Deload week. My goals are simple:

• Complete all 4 lifting workouts
• Complete 3 days of easy conditioning
• Do 50 reps each of neck extension and neck flexion every day
• Eat well

After this deload, I’ll do a 3-week anchor in Cycle 28, and follow that up with either a 7WP TM Test week before Cycle 29, or—if I’m feeling strong—I may just cycle up my TMs and head right into Cycle 29… But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

For now, I’m just planning to keep on keepin’ on… Off we go!

Edit: Not sure why those images are such different sizes, and this morning’s picture of my back is ridiculously fuzzy, but hopefully you get the idea!

[SvenG]

7WP, Deload - d1

Sunday - 27 August 2023
Workout: Easy conditioning & daily work, 0605-0705 (60 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

Neck flexion - 15 lbs - 30, 20
Neck extension - 15 lbs - 30, 20

Fasted. In and out in decent time this morning, and so that’s that.

[wardog2k]

You are looking awesome dude! Keep up the fantastic work!