Had a busy weekend and Monday, logging last weeks workout!
October 24, 2025
Tactical Barbell - Operator - Week 3 Day 2 - Cycle 2.5
Kettlebell Swings
48KG x 5 sets x 10 reps
Weighted Chin Up
Decided to try out the 25lbs added, went pretty well!
BW + 25lbs x 5 sets x 3 reps
Let me know what you guys think of this…I know they are not full ROM reps but the bottom hang irritates my shoulder and I just can’t seem to do unbroken reps. I try not to boost myself at the bottom with my legs.
@throwawayfitness I always check your log and am always envious of your chin up reps they look so powerful…hope to get there one day!
Am I too much in my head about getting a full extension dead hang on the bottom of the rep? @T3hPwnisher@SvenG@freshyfresh not even sure who else to tag but if anyone has some tips for chin ups. I have never been good at high rep sets but have done 10 sets of 5 etc in the past.
Should I continue to try and build these weighted chin ups or just drop the weight and work on BW or change my mindset and stop short of a full dead hang.
Power Squat
360 x 5
630 x 4 sets x 3 reps
Feeling strong on these!
Stiff Leg Deadlifts
Decided to add these just for some hamstring volume as I really feel the power squats in my quads. Kept it light.
135lbs x 4 sets x 12 reps
October 27, 2025 Brutal cycling day - 153 KM with headwinds!
My best friend was visiting from Switzerland, he got into some serious cycling over there…with the Alps and all the motivation is easy.
Decided to take the day off work to spend with him and we did a cycling trip from Toronto to Niagara falls.
The wind was BRUTAL! He also had a technical issue with his bike about halfway so we had to find someone along the way to fix it…thankfully an old retired banker had a “bike shop” in his garage and replaced my friends wheel so we could continue and finish our ride!
Safe to say I did not do my Monday Tactical Barbell work and will recover my legs today.
Back at the gym tomorrow!
I’ve never been good at high-rep pull-ups, even when I wasn’t fighting unnecessary body weight. Yours are like I imagine (and strive) for mine to be, though your pause is a real, honest-to-goodness pause—I go for full-extension and try to consciously pull with my back/lats rather than my arms from the hang, but I don’t linger at the bottom very long!
I’m gonna tag @Spock81 here, because her pull-ups are without doubt some of the best I’ve ever seen—maybe she’ll have some tips for you.
High rep scapular pull-ups: I do these multiple times per week for maybe 2 sets of 15-20 reps.
The scapular pull-up is essentially the first part of the regular pullup as it breaks the inertia. Though, my scapular pull-ups are done as a standard pull-up grip, not a neutral grip. (Most of my pull-ups are the prorated grip variation as an FYI, so you can decide if the advice is relevant or not if you’re only doing neutral grip)
1&1/2 reps: I try to make my pull-ups very high, to where my chest/boob area touches the bar. The end of the movement is usually the most difficult part, so I added 1 & 1/2 reps, I go all the way up, partially down, then all the way up again, and fully down to complete the moment. This has made the end portion less of a sticking point.
I stopped crossing my ankles: I keep my feet side by side. I had a theory that crossing my ankles was making the pullup slightly crooked. Though, that could have been in my head. I feel stronger without them crossed though.
Weighted Pull-ups: I saw advice somewhere that if you can get to sets of 5, you can add weight. But I started with only 10lbs, then 15, 20, and so on. My 1rm with weight is 36lbs. I also make a point of holding at the top position for similar reasons as the 1&1/2 reps.
Last thing for higher reps - my breathing was a challenge for me when I was getting to sets of 8 or 9, so I made a point of exhaling on the way up, inhaling on the way down.
Doing pull-ups more controlled overall makes the breathing portion easier.
Awesome tips! Will definitely implement these!
Neutral grip feels the best for my elbows and shoulders so I think I wills tick to it, can still implement everything though!
Sounds good! Keep in mind, the scapular pull-ups could help your elbow/shoulder situation. Over time, you might find that you can branch out to other variations.
Source: I had chronic elbow pain for a really long time, and now it’s pretty much gone. I can go full monkey with my pull-ups without any pain
Personally, I’m ok with the first rep being that way, but not for consecutive reps. It’s effectively a push press for a chin up, which certainly CAN have applicability, but it’s not how I would always train.
It’s hard to say but I think what @T3hPwnisher said is best:
I don’t always get full extension when I’m doing pull ups and want to feel my back working but if I’m doing them supersetted to just gain volume, it’s always a full rom with a pause and passive hang. I think the caveat here is I’m always able to get in full extension comfortably, I just choose not too. With weighted pull ups, I almost always get into full extension though
@Spock81 had a great suggestion with the scap pull ups
I also like this video on pull ups in general:
Personally I think that range on the chinx4 video is pretty passable while I’m less of a fan of the weight chin up one
Thanks @T3hPwnisher & @freshyfresh for the input!
I definitely agree which is why I wanted to get some opinions anyways.
I think I will continue to work un weighted and maybe on the 90%/95% weeks of TB I will add some weight for low reps and work up that way.
25lbs may have just been too big of a jump for now.
October 29, 2025
Tactical Barbell - Operator - Week 4 Day 1 - Cycle 2.5
Was curious to see how my body, especially lower feels after that ride.
Kettlebell Swings (TABATA)
48 kg x 12, 12, 12, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10
Hamstrings and hip flexors feeling it RIGHT away! Got a great sweat in, haven’t done TABATA in a while!
Power Squats
360 x 5 reps
500 x 5 sets x 5 reps
Felt good on these…thankfully week 4 is 75% because my hamstrings and quads were screaming.
Neutral Grip Chin Ups
BW (225) x 5 sets x 5 reps
Axle OHP
Trying some upper pressing movements to pick something for the next cycle.
Felt decent for the shoulder, kept it light. Explosive reps.
75 lbs x 4 sets x 10 reps
Neutral Grip Standing DB OHP
25 lbs x 4 sets x 12 reps
Overall happy with the session, foam rolled my hamstrings and quads a bunch, was also laying on a softball in my hip flexors for a while, felt really good after….felt like hell during.
November 3, 2025
Tactical Barbell - Operator - Week 5 Day 1 - Cycle 2.5
KB Swings
48kg x 5 sets x 10 reps
Neutral Grip Chins
BW x 5 sets x 5 reps
Decided to take it a little bit slower on the descent and it felt way better on my shoulder. Did 5 reps instead of the prescribed 3 reps for week 5 as I didn’t add any weight. Will continue to work on it!
Power Squat
360 x 5 reps
630 x 5 sets x 3 reps
Felt pretty good just my right knee was bothering me a bit the first two sets, I think I’m just tight overall from sitting too much at work today.
Axle OHP
95 lbs x 5 sets x 10 reps
Held the last rep overhead for 15 seconds, felt good for my shoulder, as if it’s helping it learn to stabilize again.
Captain’s Chair
25lbs x 3 sets x 12 reps
That was it for tonight! Feeling decent overall physically, just a little down mentally….the clock moving back means it’s pitch black by the time I leave work….even my bike ride home is not as enjoyable!
Decided to weigh out my post gym snack last night. 30 grams walnuts and 40 grams dried mango….. WOW did not realize the calorie density of walnuts…and I was wondering why my leanness progression stalled…was probably consuming close to 600+ extra cals when just reaching into the walnut jar.
Lesson learned…it’s these “small” things that add up over weeks/months that stall fat-loss.
So do a little roleplaying with me (my safety word is “keep going”). You’re out in the wild, really hankering for your post workout snack of walnuts and dried fruit, and you stumble across that walnut tree. You now need to CLIMB that bastard, gather up ALL the walnuts, and then open up the pericarp, THEN crack the endcocarp, just to get access to the delicious seed. Now you need to do this to ALL of the ones you gathered, in order to get a handful.
By the time you’re done with ALL that labor, you definitely EARNED that snack calorically…but that’s also ALL the walnuts you get to eat for the whole season, because you just harvested that ENTIRE tree, unless you stumble across another one ripe for the picking. To say nothing of the work you did for the fruit too.
It’s one of the issues we run into with the “paleo diet”. We may be eating paleo food, but NOT in paleo portions. A “handful of nuts” is an alien serving of the stuff, and shelled, readily available nuts are bizarre to our biology. The real deal serving size on these are just comically small to the point that reading it feels like an insult.
Love the way you look at it man, i think I saw you post something similar on another post. This is a great way to think about the “healthy” foods that can destroy our macros.
I will definitely be more conscious of this moving forward. I just love that snack haha but I will just limit the nuts by putting a tiny bit in a bowl…but it is just hilarious as you point out when you see how tiny the portion size is!
I also remember giving some advice to my obese friend about this who has always struggled with his weight, as he would tell me he is “just having a handful” while we are both 6’4 big dudes who’s handful probably looks like 2-3 handfuls of “normal” person lol I don’t think just nuts were his issue though.
That’s an excellent observation! I remember reading something like that as well, possibly from Jim Wendler. Shaq’s handful is going to be different from Gabby Douglas’.
