Coach Thib's Training Log #1

Training
102

Hi Christian,

a few questions regarding diet and timing because I´m in the same position because of my job.

how much time do you typically give yourself between waking up and getting after it at 4.30 AM or when you train that early in the morning/night?

Do you have a pre workout meal or shake, some supplements etc. or do you train completely fasted on empty stomach?

When you train that early what do you eat for dinner?

Do you eat more for dinner if it´s your “pre workout” meal?

When do you eat dinner and when do you go to bed and do you have a snack before bed etc.?

I know everyone is different but In general, with all your experience, what do you recommend regarding eating before bed for optimal sleep and recovery, hormone optimization and so on. how many hours before bed should I eat the last meal or snack when the goal is maximum muscle mass.

Sorry for so many questions

thank you

103

Normally I wake up at 4:30 and train at 5.

If I wake up at 4:00, I’ll train at 4:30.

If I wake up at 5:00, I’ll train at 5:30.

So basically 30 minutes

104

I take half my serving of Surge Workout Fuel 20 minutes before and the rest during the workout. I have breakfast after my workout.

105

Dinner is around 6:30 and I typically go to bed at 8:00 - 8:30 and don’t have any snack before.

106

thanks for the quick response.

I knew that it is probably a bad idea to train on an complete empty stomach… damn. But I can´t eat anything because otherwise I can´t train. I hate this feeling when something is in my stomach before I train

Unfortunately I don´t have access to Surge Workout Fuel here in Europe.

Can you help me please to find a alternative or is this personal coaching? If not, what do you recommend when I want to make my own pre/intra workout drink?

What is more important, protein or carbs before/intra workout? What are good options? Fruit juice or bcaa´s? Or which ingredients are good in a supplement when I decide to buy one?

From your test Im neurotype 2b and 3 if thats important

thank you

107

Honestly, I really think that it’s minutea that won’t make a big difference either way. Especially on the hormone optimization part. My only advice is to make sure that the meal, or lack of meal, in proximity to going to bed doesn’t affect the quality of your sleep.

108

at least something I do correct. Do you eat more for dinner or do you have more from one macronutrient, like more carbs for energy to fuel the morining workout? Or low carb and more fat?

thank you

109

Monday, July 11th

My hip flexor flared up a bit again today. MAYBE because I was a tad excessive yesterday, essentially walking all day (over 15 000 steps) wearing a 30lbs weight vest the whole time. But it was mostly for a good cause, lots of playing with the kids.

Anyway, my traps are completely fried and I feel like Goldberg (good thing) but my hip flexor is angry again (bad thing). It didn’t affect my training but I skipped conditioning for today.

Strength unit
Still done as a circuit
A1. Bench press 3 x 4 @ 75%
A2. Deadlift 3 x 4 @ 75%
A3. Continuous clean & press/clean muscle snatch 3 x 4 @ 70%

Strength leaks
(done at the beginning… I should really start putting it first in my journal to avoid the confusion)
B1. Neck extension 1 x 20, 1 x 15, 1 x 12, 1 x 8 (increasing weight on every set)
B2. Wrist extension 1 x 15, 1 x 12, 1 x 10, 1 x 8 (increase weight on every set)

C1. Preacher curl 3 x 6-8
C2. Wrist roller 3 sets

Assistance
D. Dips 3 sets with 30lbs weight vest for max reps

3 Likes
110

I’m not gonna lie, these questions are annoying to me

In part because I feel like someone is peaking in my personal life and I’m a super private person.

But also because it has absolutely ZERO relevance to what you should do. We have different training programs, lifestyle stress, insulin sensitivity levels, body composition, experience, previous dietary plan, etc.

If I tell you that I eat a lot of carbs, it doesn’t mean that you should do too. I’m sub-9% body fat, with super high insulin sensitivity, almost no life stress and train in some regard 2-3 times a day.

If I tell you that I do not follow a meal plan, do not count calories or macros (which is the truth) and pretty much eat what I feel like eating, it doesn’t mean that’s what you should be doing.

I just finished 14 weeks of highly structured eating that got me down to a true 7-8% body fat. Right now the last thing I want to do is eat according to a structure or meal plan. I don’t want to measure, count or even limit what I’m eating.

As long as I don’t gain a significant amount of fat, I’m good. If I feel like I put on some fat I just eat less for a few days.

By the way. I love discussing training. And I will do it all day long! But I despise, hate, abhor, or any other negative qualitative you can think of, talking nutrition.

I hate it so much that even if I speak two languages, I don’t know enough words to express how much I don’t like talking about nutrition.

The truth is that my nutrition is dialed-in ONLY when I am training to get super lean, either for a photoshoot or something like that. And I am miserable every second and can’t wait for it to end.

I can normally go for 6-8 weeks, that’s it. The 14 weeks was only possible because I first did a 7 weeks carnivore experiment then did a 7 weeks more traditional bodybuilding prep diet. So it didn’t feel as bad.

But that’s once, maybe (big maybe) twice a year. The rest of the year I don’t count, measure, prepare or plan anything. I just make sure to get my workout nutrition and keep my protein fairly high (or more accurately, not low). And if I put on to much weight for my liking, I’ll eat a bit less for a week.

Sounds bad coming from a “training expert” but I’m telling you the absolute truth and you’d be surprised how many of the other experts are exactly like that but pretend that they eat on the clock year-round.

4 Likes
111

Sorry, my bad! It was not my intention to bother you or make you angry. I did not know that

112

I’m not blaming you. I don’t think that I’ve ever talked about it before.

Now it’s out there.

1 Like
113

ok… so please forget my question about the Surge Workout Fuel…

114

I am so pleased you said that. I feel the exact same way and honestly I respect you even more for being honest about such a sensitive topic.

I do love discussing nutrition but I hate tracking nutrition to get lean. I also tend to feel miserable all the way through and not because of bad dietary habits or unnecessary restrictions or anything. I just love eating food and lots of it. Simple as that. It has always been my weak spot and I know for sure most people can relate.

I recently saw a cool video of a discussion between Eugene Teo and Mike Israetel where they talk about the downsides of being huge and having to track nutrition daily like a robot. I believe it is titled “I can’t wait to lose muscle”. Big eye opener imo and perhaps of interest to you as well coach, even though you are a much bigger proponent of being strong and athletic rather than simply being big.

2 Likes
115

That’s different than nutrition

1 Like
116

thats cool, so if you don´t mind and you have some time I want politely ask if you can answer this question or share some tipps or thoughts about it. Thank you, I appreciate you. BUT I don´t want to bother you, at all

117

Dude, no need to tiptoe. I’m not a millenial who is offended by everything

5 Likes
118

Coach, you are very big. Even though the topic of nutrition annoys you and you could have finished quickly with two or three sentences, you still took the time to write a not-so-small response.
I don’t know if most people here appreciate the opportunity to get such professional advice that is thoroughly explained and reasoned.

1 Like
119

Tuesday, July 12th

Had a poor night of sleep. Went to bed late as my wife and I were having a stimulating conversation after a whole day together (thank God for daycare). So I went to bed at 11pm instead of my usual 8:30 - 9:00pm. Since my body is now programmed to wake up at 4:30, I was still wide awake at 4:30.

Now, despite the lack of sleep I actually felt pretty good for my workout. I took a Brain Candy and Alpha-GPC, so that might have helped.

I find that starting my workout with low-demands assistance work like neck and forearm work is a very effective way FOR ME (triple emphasis) to start my workout.

I don’t know if there is something special about these two “regions” but starting my workout with these put me in a better mental state, gets me more activated without draining me.

There might be something to these two specific regions, from a neurological perspective. The hands have the highest amount of sensory receptors (with the tongue) so it would make sense that work heavily focused on the hand would wake/amp up the nervous system simply via the amount of afferent information sent to the brain.

As for neck work, well, it involves pretty dramatic movements of the cervical spine so there is bound to be a neurological effect too.

Anyway, it could just be psychological: easing into my workout as my nervous system ramp-up. I certainly prefer it over mind-numbing stuff typically associated with warming up.

Note: For the past 5-6 workouts I have been starting my workout with the forearm/neck work but still put the “strength unit” first in my journal. No idea why, just a weird brain quirk. But starting today I’ll actually put things in the exact order I did them.

Strength leaks
A1. Neck extension 3 x 15-20
A2. Wrist extension 3 x 12-15

B1. Neck flexion 3 x 20-25
B2. Wrist flexion behind the back 3 x 15

C1. Wendler row/shrugs 3 x 8
C2. Wrist roller 3 x 3 ups/downs

D1. Single KB hammer curl (grabbing it by the “horns” with both hands) 3 x 8-10
D2. Thor’s hammer with fat grip 3 x 8-10

Strength unit
Note: I did the muscle snatch by itself as I switched from the continuous clean and press to the muscle snatch (which is a bit more technical). I will eventually “graduate” this exercise to power snatches from the hang or blocks. Bench and deadlift were alternated.

E. Muscle snatch from the hang 3 x 3 (light weight, technical work)

F1. Bench press 3 x 5 @ 70%
F2. Deadlift 3 x 5 @ 70%

Assistance
G Dips with 30lbs weight vest, 3 sets of max reps

H. Horizontal row 3 sets of max reps

Note: I had planned on doing sled rope pulls but it was raining outside so I did the horizontal rows instead.

4 Likes
121

Wednesday, July 13th

Technically I wasn’t supposed to train today but I had to reshoot some videos for an upcoming article. After filming the neck exercises for the article, my nervous system was firing and I felt good so I did lift after all… I will never learn!

Strength leaks unit
A1. Neck extension 1 x 12, 4 x 8-10
A2. Wrist extension 5 x 6-8

B1. Neck flexion 1 x 12, 3. 8-10
B2. Wrist flexion bar behind the back 4 x 8-10

C1. Neck lateral flexion (pulley/neck harness) 3 x 10-12/side
C2. Wrist radial deviation/leverage lift 3 x 8-10/side

Strength unit
D1. Deadlift 90% 2 x 3
D2. Bench press 90% 2 x 3

E. Snatch-grip high pull from block (did this instead of muscle snatches as I needed to film it) 3 x 4

Assistance
F. Trap bar shrugs 3 x 8

1 Like
122

I did some bonus work (was supposed to do it yesterday, but it was raining).

I had a few minutes to kill between dropping the kips at the daycare and leaving for a business meeting so I did a few sled rope pulls.

Basically, I would pull the sled, walk further with the rope, pull again, walk with the rope, pull again, etc. Did that for 15-20 minutes. I kept it fairly light since it was a first time. Used a 25lbs plate and a 50lbs sandbag.

Did the weight vest make a difference? Maybe by making it harder to breathe and soliciting the lower back and core a tad more. But I wore it mostly because I drop the kids at daycare on foot (pushing the stroller) and wore my vest for some extra work. Just kept it on when doing the rope pulls.

It does look more badass.

1 Like