I think this might be my favorite “blog” style post you’ve ever written. Outstanding
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That really means a lot dude: thanks so much for writing it. This has been an enjoyable labor of love. So much of what I’m writing is going to just be “annexes” at this point, as they’re just kinda asides and tangentially related, but it’s been fun exploring all the elements tht would go into a program.
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Do you feel like Less sand ended up in the car because you weren’t worrying about it?
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Pwn, i have a new log title coming up because of you.
So many changes in my life the past few weeks, it’s basically unrecognizable from a month ago. And im going to lean into that and change my training (not that it was terrible) and my eating (which… well there’s a low bar.)
I love this Ebook. Pure gold.
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Dude, that no joke brings me legit, unbridled joy to read. You just made my weekend. I am so delighted to hear that I could have a positive impact in any way like that. You are leading a fantastic charge and serving as an excellent role model for your children. Get after it!
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Whilst that may have been said in jest, I actually do think there was less in there when I cleaned it.
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More proof your thoughts become reality!
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Major props to @Chris_Shugart and the T-Nation team for featuring this in the daily e-mail
So cool for this to go “live”
I’m still building content for this, so keep watching for updates. In the interim, here’s a great example of some of the “meat and eggs” once can eat.
That’s a full rack of pork ribs and 5 bone-in lamb chops that I air fried to make 2 lunches for work this week, which I’ll eat alongside some whole eggs and egg whites.
To air fry the ribs: 380 for 25 minutes, spray them with duck fat beforehand and given them some salt. For the lamb chops: 380-390 for 3-4 minutes per side.
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Did you previously cook a duck or is this something you sourced separately?
The latter. It’s honestly pretty cool: a Nebraska based company makes this.
I actually wonder if we could get a T-Nation affiliate link with amazon now that you mention it…
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Tremendous post, and I enjoy everything you contribute here. I love the catfish training principle - while I love the big 4 and 5/3/1 is my bread and butter, sometimes I want to do something different. I still recall how my body felt after I carried my bass amplifier five or six blocks downtown, back in 2004. It was just a different kind of loaded carry where I felt so good the next couple days. I’m finishing up Even Easier Strength, and hitting PRs at age 47. In between weeks I was a bit tired, but still wanted to train, so I did the Eagle workout and felt temporarily smoked but great afterwards.The EMOM heavy-ish singles looks fun, or maybe something like single-arm clean and press with goblet squats, alternating each arm on the minute. So many ways to keep things fun!
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Awesome thread and some important reminders.
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@aclaar877 Glad you dug the Catfish principle there dude! I’m a fan of it as well. There are SO many historical examples about the value of introducing a little chaos into the system so that it can’t get TOO comfortable or settled. Nietzsche’s “Will to Power” speaks to that as well. And Crossfit tried to be almost ENTIRELY that. John Meadows and Jon Andersen both talk about never doing the same workout in a row, Dan John talked about being intentionally inefficient in cardio, it’s definitely one of those “adaptation is death” sorta things.
@MightymightyHilltop I really appreciate you saying that dude! Hoping to make this into a quality product some day.
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Alrighty, I’m putting my money where my mouth is now
I just came back from a 4 night cruise wherein I was able to fully implement “meat and eggs when hungry until not” to a VERY grand scale, and found that the more I ate, the better I looked. The missing element was putting weights over my head, but I did make a pretty successful go at getting 15-20k steps a day and typically 300 push ups and 300 bodyweight/prisoner squats among some other bodyweight training (I intend to detail that elsewhere) and even managed to successfully navigate the NYC Streetfood scene to keep with my meal suggestions
And now I’ve returned with ANOTHER cruise on the horizon in 9 weeks and nothing else on my schedule, so why not actually implement this? I’ve also rediscovered my love for Rob Howard and the Hyborian universe of Conan the Cimmerian, so I’m styling this training block in that manner. Get ready for some LARPING and self-aggrandizing.
I’ve boiled it down that I want to lift 5 days a week, so that allows for 4 35 minute workouts and 1 40 minute. My rough skeleton of a plan is to have a day where I do 5x10 for supplemental and a day I do 10x3-5, both with a 5/3/1 style opener (so effectively 5/3/1 BBB and 5/3/1 BBS). That would be Mon-Wed. Fri I’m thinking making more Deep Water esque and going 10x10 with strict rest times, or perhaps a stupidly heavy day. On each of those days, I’m going to conclude with some manner of 20 breathing heavy lifts (squat, trap bar or good morning), because I’m not gonna get that Conan build without some hypertrophy. I’ll flesh out thoughts even more some time in that regard. Tues and Thurs will be more WOD-esque overhead work. I’ll be rotating all manner of implements as well.
I’m not going to post every training session here (you can check my training log for that), but I may do some weekly updates on how things are going. I may actually go a little further into detail on that log as well regarding nutrition, bodyweight changes, etc, as this seems pretty nifty right now, but often I generate a headfull of steam and then run out of energy, so we’ll see how that goes. But for this topic, I may do some weekly check-ins, if nothing else but to share some examples of how a training day can break down.
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First week down, and a smashing success I’d say.
It was my birthday this weekend, so I really got to put the “meat and eggs” to the test with a visit to “Texas De Brazil”, where I ate for 90 minutes…and STILL had a little more space in me if I were so inclined, haha.
I’m starting a 2 week famine block of nutrition while keeping the training as “Chaos is the Plan”. Instead of equal time workouts, I’m going to do 4 40 minute workouts and 1 20, using that 20 minute workout as a “Dealer’s Choice” avenue to attack some missing elements, but so far this has been a great pivot, and I foresee it continuing until Christmas, after which point I’ll go on another cruise, come back and re-evaluate.
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WHEN IN DOUBT: STEAK AND EGGS
In previous writings, as a nod to both Dan John and, surprisingly, Paul Carter, I espoused the value of PBJs (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches) as staples of nutrition and an analogy for training as well, in the instance of a “high speed/low drag” approach to the question “what am I going to eat?” But, of course, there’s no room for PBJs in “Chaos is the Plan: The Plan”, so allow me to give you the equivalent: steak and eggs. And, in turn, along with “Chaos is the Plan”, we have another rallying cry: “When in doubt: steak and eggs”.
I have replied with that very response in SO many instances when questioned on nutrition, because, ultimately: it answers pretty much EVERY question.
“What do I eat for breakfast?”
“What do I eat for dinner?”
“What can I bring to work/school?”
“What do I buy at the grocery store?”
“What do I order at the restaurant?”
“What do I meal prep for the week?”
“What do I make for my family to eat?”
“What do I eat to gain weight? To lose weight?”
You can see how the possibilities are limitless. It’s like having a magic 8-ball with only one response, and it ALWAYS works. When in doubt: steak and eggs.
Certainly won’t run into THIS issue…
What’s so magical about steak and eggs? Truthfully nothing of course: it’s simply a source of protein and/or fat (more on that later), but the pairing of the two is a time honored tradition and consistent winner that allows it to be a simple default answer to all questions as needed. Much like the aforementioned PBJ, it’s not the PERFECT answer, but it’s a pretty good one, and pretty good is pretty good.
Steak and eggs is breakfast AND dinner. I’m honestly not one for nutritional norms (on the first day of my undergrad nutrition course, I had leftover Panda Express orange chicken for breakfast), but if you do find yourself hamstrung by that notion, steak and eggs is a classic breakfast. In fact, I still have an imprinted memory of watching an “Surviving the Cut” where young United States Marine Corps recruits, having survived the final phase of boot camp known as “the crucible” and graduating from recruit to “Marine” were greeted with a “warrior’s breakfast” of steak and eggs upon their return. So really: steak and eggs is an outstanding breakfast. And breakfast for dinner is an outstanding dinner, and steak is in and of itself a traditional “dinner food”, so you’ve got that covered. And then, if we wanna go with more norming: leftovers are a VERY traditional lunch, so if you have any leftover steak and eggs, you can have it for lunch. So now we have an answer for your 3 traditional meals-when in doubt: steak and eggs.
Leftovers don’t ALWAYS work for lunch…
And, of course, that’s all assuming you are confining yourself to norms and “need” 3 meals a day. If you’ve fully embraced the “eat when hungry until not” portion of the plan, then you can simply say “I’m hungry: what shall I eat? Ah yes: steak and eggs”.
And though “Chaos is the Plan: The Plan” is not specifically about fat loss or muscle building but, instead, letting the body naturally determine its own trajectory based on demand (we hammer it with training, we feed it good nutrition, and we “become that which does”), it’s worth understanding that there are precedents for steak and eggs to achieve both fat loss AND muscle building. In the instance of the former, we have Vince Gironda’s own “steak and eggs diet”, which was a 5 day on/1 day off approach wherein a trainee would eat two meals a day of 4-6 eggs and .75-1.5lbs of steak. Vince had a reputation for being able to get bodybuilders in OUTSTANDING conditioning in an era before abuse of diuretics and insulin manipulation, so the proof is in the pudding there. Do I have a matching example of a trainee that was able to grow in size and strength on a diet of JUST steak and eggs? …no. But let’s just apply the common sense on that one: if you eat a lot of protein rich foods and lift weights, you’re bound to get bigger.
This is an AMAZING physique by TODAY’S standards.
But now comes the question: how do we make this fit “the plan”, when the third sentence is to not repeat the same meal twice in a row? Once again: this is where steak and eggs shine! There are SO many different cuts of steak out there to partake in. Ribeye, sirloin, tri tip, t-bone, filet, picanha, flank steak, skirt steak (this is becoming like the shrimp scene from Forest Gump), London broil, chuck, top/bottom round, cube, “chopped steak” (honestly, it’s hamburger), New York Strip, etc. And each cut has its own unique protein to fat profile, meaning unlimited possibilities to scale leanness as needed, to say nothing of if you decide to go with grassfed vs grainfed, piedmontese vs angus, etc. To say nothing of HOW the steak is cooked, both in terms of doneness AND method (smoked vs grilled vs pan fried in butter vs sous vide, etc etc). And oh my goodness what about eggs? Poached, hard/soft boiled, over easy/medium/hard, sunny side up, boiled, omelet, frittata, raw, baked like a muffin, etc. And can we eat just the whites and still call that “eggs”? Absolutely! Can we do the same with just the yolks? You bet we can!
Honestly, with just these two food items, you could have a unique meal every single meal of your life until you die. And that will be in a LONG time, because you’re fueling yourself with some pretty awesome nutrition.
Eggs
Steak
Still out there being awesome
I talked about tying this to training, but I will say that’s going to be a bit more personal: YOU need to find your “steak and eggs” for training. “Chaos is the Plan: The Plan” gives you the foundations there: put stuff over your head, have harmony disrupters, and employ level changes. For me, my steak and eggs is this: the Kalsu WOD. Kalsu proper is 100 thrusters w/135lbs, but Every Minute on the Minute you do 5 burpees. I don’t always do the EXACT Kalsu WOD, but I absolutely steal that layout for my workout: have a running clock, put something over my head, change levels, and have my harmony disrupted on the way to my goal. I KNOW that, if I do that: I will be challenged, and I will be smoked, and I’ll achieve my goals. And, much like steak and eggs: there are SO many ways to put something over my head and change levels that I could come up with THOUSANDS of different workouts for that and never repeat the same one twice.
When in doubt: steak and eggs. That’s the answer.
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picked up this book a couple weeks ago when it came out. Haven’t cracked it yet but looking forward to the read.
I have the OG cover without the bestseller moniker…
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Hope you enjoy it dude! We, as meatheads and just people in general, owe Arnold SO much. I know people have opinions on certain things said and done, but seriously: he’s a “net positive human”. We don’t deserve him.
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Another week down. I mixed it up this week by going for 4 40 minute workouts and 1 20. Mon and Fri were pretty similar to last week, so I won’t post that, but Tues-Thurs switched up, so I’ll share what those looked like
TUES
For this one, I used an EMOM approach with a buy in. EMOM, I’d do 5 prisoner squats and 5 push ups, then spend the remainder of the minute carrying a 100lb keg from point to point, pressing it overhead each time I reached my destination. With this being a 40 minute workout, that means 200 prisoner squats, 200 push ups, and then however many keg presses I got (2 per round was about average, so 80 presses)
WED
This was my new 20 minute workout, which I made into a “Dealer’s Choice” to pick up some slack. So instead of opening with the 20 minutes directly, I started with some heavy axle mat pulls, then did 20 minutes of Dan John’s ladder (2-3-5-10) of KB clean and press away w/20kg bells. In between each set, I’d do a chin up of some variety. I ended up getting 115 reps in 20 minutes this way, which is solid density. I finished up the day with breathing squats. I had originally planned for breathing good mornings, but my lower back was absolutely fried at that point, so I had to call an audible.
THURS
THIS was the crown jewel of the week. For anyone reading along: you NEED this workout in your life.
Hang from a bar for as long as possible. For every 30 seconds of hanging, so 1 chin, then return to hanging. Once you can no longer hang, do a bear complex (clean into front squat into press overhead into back squat into press from behind the head) w/95lbs. Return to hanging. Add a bear complex each time you drop (so 2 complexes the second time, 3 the third, etc). I managed 71 bear complexes with this approach.
This workout is downright diabolical. Hanging from the bar is suffering, but hanging is the ONLY way to save yourself from those bear complexes. The more times you drop, the more complexes you have to do. However, when you have to do a lot of complexes, your grip gets longer rests, which means you can hang longer…which is agony. You’re always being punished, haha. I picked the bar complex specifically because it contains 2 presses in it and I wanted to emphasize the overhead portion of this, but anything can slot in there (and I feel like Devil Presses would be VERY effective there).
I polished off this workout with 170 prisoner squats and push ups, using Dan John’s ladder again.
Nutrition has been famine based, so lots more egg whites than whole eggs, and lots more piedmontese grassfed steak tips vs grainfed ribeyes, but we’re still making it work.
I’m excited to keep this going. I feel like this really has some wings.
This is one of my favorite ways to rest between sets. Either hanging while you’re gasping for air or holding something exceptionally heavy. At some point returning to the actual work is better than another second of hanging there.
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