My grip was challenged during the 50-rep sets again today, particularly during Rounds 2 and 5—probably some accumulated fatigue from yesterday’s swing & chin work, not to mention the extra rounds before dinner.
Oh, and it’s funny what a nice distraction the strength movements are: Just swinging is pretty boring, and I was probably far more aware of my grip fatigue because I wasn’t lifting something heavy between rounds today.
Anyway, I’ll walk tonight, and then we’ll have to see what tomorrow holds: We leave for Orlando as soon as the kids are done with school, and I’ve still got work breathing down my neck!
I was expecting it to get messier after each set as fatigue sets in. Coudos on getting your mojo back, and fully back into your regular movement and programming fella.
@Friedrich - I forget when exactly, but at some point I discovered that the mats on my weight room floor are almost perfect chalkboards—they even “erase” quite nicely with just a few drops of sweat and the palm of your hand, haha!
@EmilyQ - It was a super-nice change of pace, and given the nature of the work, it pairs nicely with PSMF for calorie reduction and can slot in nicely just about anytime—like now, between the end of a long 5/3/1 template and vacation. I can also tell you that if I were to target the full 10K swings again, I’d do it like I did last time, and compress it into as few days as possible: I feel like I have a high tolerance for boring workouts—I mean, I’m a 5/3/1 fanboy, aren’t I?—but I can’t imagine doing that routine 4-5 days a week for an entire month… Ugh! Give it to me short and sweet, please!
@raven78 - Thanks! I attribute that skill to my professor days—and, yes, that was far enough in the distant past that I still taught on a chalkboard (occasionally)! re: mojo—the past several months on 5/3/1 have been good for me, there’s no doubt about it! Thanks for saying so.
I can only speak from my experience, but: I didn’t warm-up here at all. I just setup the lifts, grabbed the kettlebell, and started swinging—the first several sets in the first round could be considered warmup, I guess.
Buyer beware: I don’t really warm-up for much of anything these days—even when I lift, I really only do the 5/3/1 jumps/throws and then jump right into my working weights.
Friday - 06 March 2026 through Sunday - 08 March 2026 Workout: No training
Once again, not training on purpose.
Picked up the kids from school on Friday afternoon, and headed straight to the airport. Work was a race to the end—I was finishing up from the gate—but I left everyone in good shape for the week ahead. We made it to Orlando, exhausted, but in one piece.
Here’s what I looked like on Friday morning, shortly after waking:
I weighed in at 198.3 lbs, which is down 13.2 lbs since the first of the year and the start of T-ransformation 2026, and down 21.3 lbs since the start ofGod Sven is a Beast in early October—there’s no question 5/3/1 just works for me.
'cause it’s my log and I haven’t see my quads pop like that in years!
I’m pretty happy with my current progress—at least I won’t be embarrassed at the water park later today—but I’ve still got a lot work to do: I’m excited to finish out T-ransformation 2026 as well as I’ve started.
For now, though, I’m focusing on enjoying my family while we’re here: The kids are getting older, we know it won’t stay this way forever, and we’ve already started talking about how things might look over the next few years as my daughter is looking to college and my son to high school…
For now, though, it’s all about good food, great fun, and just being together to enjoy it all!
I confess I was pretty happy with how I was looking heading into this vacation: Definitely feeling more like my old self again, especially with the consistency over 21 (calendar) weeks of God Sven is a Beast and those recent PRs.
And now here on the other side of the break, I’m already feeling a bit frustrated that my schedule will be weird for another two weeks. I’ll have some filler workouts of some sort, but I won’t really be able to dive back into 5/3/1 until late-March.
Monday - 09 March 2026 through Thursday - 12 March 2026 Workout: No training
Continuing to just enjoy the break: It was several more days of fun at the Orlando-area parks, with a change of pace on Tuesday to celebrate my son’s 13th birthday—sleeping in, lounging at the pool, a special dinner out, and 36 holes of late-night mini-golf!
Oh, and here’s a shot with Mando from Hollywood Studios:
And speaking of fun, here’s a sequence of me being the gorilla on the wall behind me in the line at Mine Cart Madness, one of the rides in Super Nintendo World at Epic Universe:
