Becoming Canis dirus - SvenG's Training Log

[SvenG]

God Sven is a Beast - 2025.c5w3d4

Wednesday - 17 December 2025
Workout: Deadlift, 1200-1300 (60 minutes)

Jumps/“throws”

Begin: 1211; End: 1251; Duration: 40 minutes
Deadlift - 225x5, 260x5, 295x5, 245x5, 280x5, 315x5
Incline DB press - 2x75 lbs - 10, 10, 10
Ab wheel - ramp (14) - 10, 10, 10
Wide-grip cable row - 100 lbs - 10, 10, 10
Rope pushdown - 35 lbs - 10, 10
Neck flexion - 30 lbs - 10, 10
Kelso shrug - 2x65 lbs - 10, 10

Assault bike - 5 minutes

Assistance totals:
Push - 50 reps
Pull - 50 reps
Single-leg/core - 50 reps

Main work in 22 minutes, assistance superset throughout.

I have thoughts, just not time… Will try to come back and edit this once I do.

Edit: Okay, I’m very nearly through crunch time: I’ve got a week left, but most folks start filtering out over the next day or two. In fact, I am working until Christmas Eve precisely because most folks aren’t—that means no meetings, and THAT means getting actual work done.

I am worn out, though: Training motivation was low today. (I mean, it always kinda low, I guess—there are a million other things I’d rather do—but today’s was low-ER than usual?) I say that because I surprised myself with the effort: The deadlift strength weights were lighter than in Week 1, but everything after 260 actually FELT lighter today—winning!

The rest of it was good, too: Maybe I didn’t challenge myself with the assistance selection, but it was a pretty typical deadlift day arrangement and everything felt much easier than I expected. I’m gonna chalk that up as progress, too.

Oh, and: Thanks to a recent discussion about shrugs that @anna_5588 and @T3hPwnisher were having, I’ve learned that what I’ve been stupidly calling “incline scap/trap” due to lack of a better name are, in fact, Kelso shrugs!

Beyond that, the driveway is finally clear, but it was still wet—“throws” inside should become actual throws outside tomorrow, and I should be able to push the sled on Friday. (Though I’ve just discovered they’re now calling for rain over the next 48 hours hours—ugh! Guess we’ll have to see how things play out…)

Anyway, I think that’s it for my thoughts today. Onward and upward!

[SvenG]

God Sven is a Beast - 2025.c5w3d4

Wednesday - 17 December 2025
Workout: Easy conditioning, 1920-1950 (30 minutes)

Walk - 30 minutes

Done.

[SvenG]

God Sven is a Beast - 2025.c5w3d5

Thursday - 18 December 2025
Workout: No training

I think I experienced my first, full-fledged migraine headache today.

I’ve had symptoms before—maybe 3-4 times over the past year, give or take—but today was different.

And scary, if I’m being honest.

It was super-intense for a period of about 90-minutes or so this afternoon, and—after reasoning through things with Mrs. SvenG—we think related to the (partially) self-induced work stress over the past week or 10 days: The onset came within about 30 minutes of my last official meeting before the holiday break, and yet another one in which I was stretching myself in my role on the team.

Like it or not, I think my body just crashed.

In any event, I’m now feeling the best I have in about 5 hours. Things were scary enough, though, that I’m not training—and I’m logging that here as additional impetus to stick to that decision.

This obviously throws a wrench in things, but I’ll figure it out: I suppose I won’t feel “behind” if I am able to at least complete the Week 3 lifting workouts before the week is through. Guess we’ll find out, one way or the other…

As you were, team!

[shaneinga]

Sorry to hear about the migraine. Glad to hear you are feeling better though.

[alex_uk]

Sorry to hear about the migraine.

I used to get them (haven’t had one since starting trt nearly a decade ago - most unexpected but delightful benefit ever), did you get visual disturbance? You’ll know tomorrow because you’ll get a kind of migraine hangover, wouldn’t recommend lifting tomorrow either.

Triggers for me were always stress, lack of sleep and caffeine.

[SvenG]

@shaneinga - Thanks, my man!

@alex_uk - Thanks to you as well!

@alex_uk

did you get visual disturbance?

Today, and in the 3-4 other instances of symptoms—but in those cases, visual disturbance was the only issue. Today’s was also accompanied by an actual headache, tightness/stiffness in my neck and traps, and extreme brain fog.

@alex_uk

Triggers for me were always stress, lack of sleep and caffeine.

All of these apply here, but have been present at other times, too.

It might’ve just been a perfect storm of badness, but I’ll be on the lookout for the hangover: I definitely didn’t experience that in the earlier instances of symptoms.

@alex_uk

haven’t had one since starting trt

Interestingly, I’m getting some labs—including free test!—done in the morning. That’s on the docket for other reasons, and I’m generally expecting it to be “normal,” but after reading that low test can be a cause of migraines, I’m very interested to see what the results say when they come in.

In any case, thanks for the info! As I say, I’ve got no real experience (thankfully!) with these before today.

[george220]

Sorry to hear about the migraine man. Headaches suck!! Just make sure you get enough electrolytes and fluids, it’ll help out alot. Maybe you need to take some time off from the gym. Most of the time a week or so off isn’t going to hurt the gains any

[Friedrich]

Get better!

[anna_5588]

Oh no!

Hope you feel better soon.

@SvenG

self-induced work stress over the past week or 10 days

oof, will work calm down for the holidays at least?

[SvenG]

@george220, @Friedrich, @anna_5588 - Thanks for the comments, folks! I appreciate it and am happy to say I began feeling much more like myself throughout the evening and into today.

And, yes, things slow WAY down at work until after the New Year, and I am very grateful for that.

[SvenG]

God Sven is a Beast - 2025.c5w3d6

Friday - 19 December 2025
Workout: Press, 1330-1430 (60 minutes)

Jumps/“throws”

Begin: 1338; End: 1418; Duration: 40 minutes
Press - (105x5)x10
DB squeeze press - 2x55 lbs - 10, 10, 10
Bulgarian split squat - L/R - 2x40 lbs - 10, 10, 10
BB row - 175 lbs - 10, 10, 10
Rear delt flye - 2x20 lbs - 10, 10
Cable crunch - 70 lbs - 10, 10
Pull-up - BW - 10, 10

Assault bike - 5 minutes

Assistance totals:
Push - 50 reps
Pull - 50 reps
Single-leg/core - 50 reps

Main work in 31 minutes, assistance superset throughout.

I gave myself permission not to kill myself in the name of training today, but that really only came into play for the last few pull-ups! As it was, I managed to get 10 in each set anyway, and I actually felt really good all throughout today’s work.

It did end up raining yesterday, and that’s turned to snow here today. I am planning to walk after dinner this evening, and I’ll definitely get in as much conditioning as I can tomorrow—I’m just not sure what that’ll look like, exactly. Come what may, I’m not derailing or even getting off track or anything like that: Just gonna keep moving forward!

[george220]

Happy to hear that bud!!

[SvenG]

God Sven is a Beast - 2025.c5w3d6

Friday - 19 December 2025
Workout: Easy conditioning, 1835-1905 (30 minutes)

Walk - 30 minutes

Oh, the weather outside is frightful…

[antiquity]

@SvenG

I gave myself permission not to kill myself in the name of training today

I also have a relatively stressful career, a family, and am in my 50’s. Over the last ~6 months, I had a big shift in mentality. I had been doing Crossfit workouts, which are great but also “pedal-to-the-metal” most of the time. Doing thrusters, burpee box jumps, and other taxing movements as fast as possible was just too much. One day, I just thought - why am I doing this? I totally and completely lost the desire to train this way.

As an example, today’s CF workout (which I didn’t do, but see it on the app) was:

For time:
21 pull ups
42 double unders
21 thrusters @ 95 lbs
18 chest to bar pull ups
36 double unders
18 thrusters @ 115 lb
15 muscle ups
30 double unders
15 thrusters @135 lbs

I used to think “hell yeah”; these days you couldn’t pay me to that workout. I’ve gravitated to Dan John’s Armor Building Formula, Easy Strength, and been very deliberate about walking, resting, and mobility.

Surprisingly, my body composition has gotten better, my nagging injuries have healed, and I am excited to get into the garage and train. I still like going to the CF gym for the Hyrox days (which are just a bunch of varied, conditioning-focused workouts); mostly to see friends and be part of the community.

It really showed me a lot, and makes me think this fella Dan John knows a thing or two. Sorry for the long post on your log. I just resonated with some of your feelings - and saw your recent migraine - and thought I’d chime.

[SvenG]

@antiquity - Not at all, my friend! I always appreciate when you drop in, and who better to talk about than Dan John? (Haha!)

It’s been exciting to watch your log, see your shift, and realize your progress—there’s nothing better than hitting that groove and just riding the wave!

[SvenG]

God Sven is a Beast - 2025.c5w3d7

Saturday - 20 December 2025
Workout: Conditioning + calves + easy conditioning, 1040-1155 (75 minutes)

Seated calf raise - 140 lbs - 3 minutes
Reps: 104

Tabata American KB swing - 24 kg - 8x(20 on/10 off)
Reps: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 (80 total)

EMOM - 15 minutes
Push press - 135 lbs - 5

2 rounds of:
Thruster - 2x35 lbs - 8
Chin-up - BW - 6
1-pump burpee - 6

Weighted vest walk - 30 kg - 20 minutes

I didn’t really want to do Friday’s and Saturday’s workouts back-to-back, but that’s the only way I could make it work!

I am planning to walk after dinner tonight, but we’re out for the afternoon, so that’s it for now. (It was plenty, though—haha!)

[SvenG]

God Sven is a Beast - 2025.c5w3d7

Saturday - 20 December 2025
Workout: Easy conditioning, 1855-1925 (30 minutes)

Walk - 30 minutes

That’s Week 3 done—all of it!

I schedule my training the way I do on purpose, but it’s nice to know that I can still get everything in, even with a lost day…

Tomorrow we squat!

[SvenG]

God Sven is a Beast - 2025.c5w4d1

Sunday - 21 December 2025
Workout: Squat, 1225-1335 (70 minutes)

Jumps/throws

Begin: 1223; End: 1322; Duration: 49 minutes
Squat - (220x5)x9, 10
HLR - 10, 10, 10
V-grip cable row - 140 lbs - 10, 10, 10
Incline DB press - 2x75 lbs - 10, 10, 10
Back extension - 25 lbs - 10, 10
BB curl - 75 lbs - 10, 10
Dip - 45 lbs - 10, 10

Assault bike - 5 minutes

Assistance totals:
Push - 50 reps
Pull - 50 reps
Single-leg/core - 50 reps

Main work in 39 minutes, assistance superset throughout.

So I can’t count reps, we all know that. Apparently I can’t counts sets, either: That could’ve been anywhere from 55-62 reps total over anywhere from 10-12 sets. I think I forgot to mark down the second set, so I did an “extra.” Then I lost count in “Set 9,” so I did an “extra” two reps. That made me realize it’s been a really, really long time since I’ve done 10 reps of anything—except maybe curls—with a barbell, so I decided to got for 10 on the last set. I was sucking wind at the end of it, but I was pretty happy with how it felt, particularly given how late into the work it came.

Oh, and something bit me on the bike, because I managed 67+ calories and 3.1+ km in the 5 minutes I was on the thing today.

It was a good day in the weight room!

I’ll walk this evening, and that’ll be it for today.

[BrandonCrawford]

@SvenG

Begin: 1223; End: 1122;

You lifted with such force that you time traveled! Impressive!

[SvenG]

@BrandonCrawford - Genuine LOL there!

And nice catch, BTW. Now corrected.