Make America Swole Again - E Clark's Training and Nutrition Log

Training Logs
1

Hey y’all

This is my first training log on the forums, I’m doing this mainly for the t-ransformation challenge but I’m also just trying to keep myself accountable, which has been the hardest part on my fitness journey.

A little backstory about me. My name is Evan, I’m an New York native and I’ve been into fitness since I was 19, when I taught myself the basic barbell lifts while in college. I was very into powerlifting during my junior and senior years, and also became an avid reader of T-Nation in that time. Back then I was about 250 LBs.

After I graduated college, I moved to Albany, NY to pursue a law degree. During my first year I put on quite a bit of weight due to stress and being unable to make it to the gym due to schoolwork. By the summer I was well over 320 LBs and my weight was spiraling out of control.

Then, in late June of 2018 I had to be taken to the hospital and was diagnosed with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, a heart condition that involves episodic intervals where my heart beats abnormally and causes me to feel weak and lightheaded, in addition to increasing my stroke risk. I worked hard to lose weight after the diagnosis and managed to get all the way down to 255 LBs just year later.

Despite that, a pair of relapses of my condition, combined with the intense rigors of my final year of law school caused me to gain some of the weight back and now I sit at 285 LBs. I desperately now am trying to get back down below 250, mainly for my quality of life with this diagnosis but also because I am also single and about to go out into the world and the boost of self confidence would be nice.

Training:
The current training I’m using is based around Dan John’s 10,000 Swing Kettlebell Workout, with some modifications, which I will explain below. The basic idea is that you do 500 kettlebell swings a workout with a 24 kg kettlebell and super set the swings with accessory exercises. I use a heavier kettlebell (36 kg) for most of the lower rep sets, simply because I found that 24 kg was simply too light for me. Here’s how the work out shakes out:

Day 1:

Circuit x 5

10 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
1 Snatch High Pull
15 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
2 Snatch High Pull
25 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
3 Snatch High Pull
50 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg

15 min Stair Sprints

Ab Training:

Circuit x 6:
10 Ab Rollout
10 Reverse Crunch

Snatch High Pull is one of my favorite exercise so I decided to use it. I use a relatively light weight, never more than 145-ish. I’ve been using a minimal ab routine for a while and like the results I’ve gotten with it so I’m sticking to it.

Day 2:

Circuit x 5:

10 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
3 Pushups
15 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
6 Pushups
25 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
9 Pushups
50 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg

30 mins steady state cardio

Ab Training:

Circuit x 6
10 Pallof Press
10 Cable Crunches

Day 3:

Circuit x 5
10 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
1 Goblet Squat @ 24 kg
15 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
2 Goblet Squat @ 24 kg
25 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
3 Goblet Squat @ 24 kg
50 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg

15 min Running Stairs Sprints

Ab Training:

Circuit x 6:
10 Ab Rollout
10 Reverse Crunch

Dan John said if you do a fifth day, you can drop the superset and just do the swings. However, I need the supersets to break up the swings, so I added light goblet squats just for the tempo.

Day 4:

Circuit x 5:

10 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
1 Military Press
15 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
2 Military Press
25 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
3 Military Press
50 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg

30 min steady state cardio

Ab Training:

Circuit x 6:
10 Pallof Press
10 Cable Crunch

Military Press is supposed to be my 5 rep max, but I’ve decided to lower the weight a bit since it was a bit too much

Day 5:

Circuit x 5:

10 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
1 Chin-Up
15 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
2 Chin-Up
25 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
3 Chin-Up
50 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg

30 min steady state cardio

Ab Training:

Circuit x 6:
10 Ab Rollout
10 Reverse Crunch

I recently injured my hands so chin-ups have been a challenge. I’ve been substituting in inverted rows until my hand feels better. Hopefully that will be soon.

Day 6:

15 min stair sprints
30 min steady state cardio
15 min yoga

Day 7:

60 min walk (active recovery)
15-30 min yoga (optional)

I’ve already been doing this since last Thursday, so tomorrow is Day 1 of week 2.

Note that because of school and the medical needs sometimes workouts will need to be altered, moved, or cancelled. I will try to make those instance be as limited as possible.

Thanks for all the love and support gang, here’s to 2020 being a great year!

1 Like
2

Good luck with the weight loss. Do you have a plan for the nutrition side of things?

3

I do yes. I have a calorie number and while I’m not using any particular dietary method (paleo, vegan, keto, etc.), I’m focusing on eating as much protein and healthy fats as I can, and filling in the rest with fruits, veggies, and nuts. I’m one of those people who tend to overdue it on the simple sugars and fast food. I fall into those traps all too often, so if I stay clear of those I should do well. Here’s the plan I have in place right now:

2500 - 2800 cals/day

50% Protein
25% Carbs
25% Fats

I also I tend to eat most of my carbs around workouts.

Right now I’m at home for break but once I go back to school, I’ll stop off at Trader Joe’s and grabs some supplies.

4

1/2/2020

Day 1:

Circuit x 5:
10 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
1 Snatch High Pull @ 135 lbs
15 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
2 Snatch High Pull @ 135 lbs
25 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
3 Snatch High Pull @ 135 lbs
50 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg

15 Min Stair Sprints

Circuit x 6:
10 Ab Wheel
10 Reverse Crunch

Pretty standard first day. I was on a time constraint due to a cardiologist appointment, so I eschewed steady state for stair sprints, which I prefer any way but have been trying not to do as much since they take more of a toll on my body. Everything felt great otherwise

Diet:

Breakfast:
2 Eggs
4 Egg Whites
3 0z Turkey Breast (mixed in with eggs)
1 oz Jarlsberg Cheese (mixed in with eggs)
Chobani Greek Yogurt

Lunch:
Chili w/ 90% Beef, black beans, tomatoes
Celery w/ salsa

Snack:
3 oz Chicken Breast
1 Tbsp Light mayo
1 Cup Skinny Pop

Dinner:
16 oz Chicken Breast
1 Cup Grapes tomatoes w/ Olive Oil, Basil, and a touch of salt
1 Cup Sautéed Red Potatoes

5

1/3/2020

Day 2:

Circuit x 5:
10 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
3 Pushups
15 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
6 Pushups
25 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
9 Pushups
50 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg

Circuit x 6
10 Pallof Press
10 Cable Crunch

Standard day, felt pretty good. Wasn’t expecting to feel this good today, had been feeling kinda down recently but this really helped.

Things I Ate:
2 Eggs
4 Whole Egg Whites
1 oz Turkey Breast
2 oz Jarlsberg Cheese
1 Cup 0% Greek Yogurt
1 Tablespoon Peanut Butter

Lunch:
12 Oz 85/15 (With majority of fat burned/drained off and patted off)
2 oz Chicken Breast
2 Cups Celery
Salsa
Chobani Cherry Greek Yogurt

Dinner:
10 oz Roast Beef Eye Round
2 oz Sautéed Eggplant
4 oz Cauliflower
1 oz Jarlsberg
Coleslaw Salad

30 mins steady state cardio

6

Are you tracking your times for the swings?

7

Depends. I’ve been tracking the time in between swings. No more than 30-60 seconds. I also track the time between sets, though because my finger is pretty messed up right now, I have to be pretty liberal on the rest to properly grip the bell. Total time, however, I haven’t been tracking.

8

1/4/2020

Day 3:

Circuit x 5
10 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
1 Goblet Squat @ 24 kg
15 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
2 Goblet Squat @ 24 kg
25 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
3 Goblet Squat @ 24 kg
50 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg

15 min Running Stairs Sprints

Circuit x 6:
10 Ab Rollout
10 Reverse Crunch

First workout in a few days where I’ve felt truly great. Really got a good sweat out of today’s workout.

Things I Ate:

Breakfast:
2 Eggs
4 Egg Whites
3 oz Turkey Breast
2 oz Lite Jarlsberg Cheese
1 Cup 0% Greek Yogurt
Decaf Coffee w/ skim milk

Lunch:
Chipotle Bowl w/:
Black Beans
Brown Rice
Guacamole
Double Chicken
Medium Salsa
Corn Salsa
Lettuce
Cheese

Dinner:
12 oz Pork Chops
4 oz String Beans
1 Baked Potato

Snacks:
4 oz Grilled Chicken
1 Tablespoon Light Mayo

9

You can definitely do the workout however you want, and I strained a tendon in my hand during my time doing it, but the workout is as written:

  • 10 Swings
  • Press 1 rep
  • 15 Swings
  • Press 2 reps
  • 25 Swings
  • Press 3 reps
  • 50 Swings
  • Rest 30 - 60 seconds

Only resting at the end of a cluster. Which is why the whole 36 kg bell for everything up to 25 reps is probably unnecessarily straining your finger and hindering the conditioning aspect of the program. A 50 lb KB isn’t heavy, and swinging it isn’t hard, but doing it 500 times, resting very short in between clusters of 100 is a bitch, especially doing it 20 times in a month. My time went from like, 45 minutes to a personal best of 22 minutes on the last workout, which was me virtually not stopping. I was 220 (at 6’3-4), and perhaps 19-20% BF, and lost 19 pounds on it. You could probably do just as well, if not more, but if you treat it like a lifting workout and not a metcon workout, all that extra rest can definitely take away from the anaerobic aspect of it.

Still, if you do 1,000 swings with a 24 kg and 9,000 with a 36 I’ll applaud you either way, haha. Not a shot at you, and I modified stuff in the program too - but it worked REALLY WELL for me tracking total time and beating it.

10

In the beginning I had to rest between sets because my hands got very tired. However, over my last few workouts I’ve done much better at not taking a break until at least the last set of swings. That’s mainly because my finger strain has healed a bit. You’re right in that it should be treated as a metcon workout, and I try not to take breaks in between sets unless I absolutely have to. I should’ve been better in clarifying that. Now that my hand is manageable, I should be able to perform it like a total metcon workout.

On tracking the total time, I actually meant to do it, reading the original program. However, it has completely slipped my mind and I need to start doing it. I can see how the timing makes the program function better as a metcon program, since you are trying to beat your time.

As for the heavier kettlebell, I get what you’re saying about the 24 kg, but it’s just too light for me. I’m about your height but I’m more than 60 pounds heavier, and I found I benefited more from the swings if I used a heavier bell. It actually works better, since the 24 kg on the 50 almost becomes like a sprint at the end of the set.

Still, all of these are really great suggestions. And even just a week in, the results are already showing. I took off the few pounds I gained over the holidays.

1 Like
11

1/5/2020

Day 4:

Circuit x 5:

10 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
1 Military Press
15 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
2 Military Press
25 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg
3 Military Press
50 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg

30 min steady state cardio

Circuit x 6:
10 Pallof Press
10 Cable Crunch

Made changes today. Took the suggestions of @flappinit and made it more of a metcon workout, cutting down on overall rest and eliminating all rest between swings. Also lowered the weight on the 25 swing set to 24 kg, just to rest my hand. Overall this worked really well.

Things I Ate:

Breakfast:
2 Eggs
4 Egg Whites
3 oz Turkey Breast
2 oz Jarlsberg Cheese
1 Cup 0% Greek Yogurt
1 Tablespoon Peanut Butter

Lunch:
8 oz Salmon Filet
1 Cup Kale
1/2 Cup Quinoa
1/2 Small Avocado
1 Cup Butternut Squash
1/2 Cup Cherry Yuzu Dressing

Dinner:
10 oz Pork Chops, breaded
2 Cup Lentil Soup
1/2 Baked Potato
1 Tablespoon Butter
1/2 Cup Celery

Snacks:
1 Cup Skinny Pop

1 Like
12

I’ve read this article several times and it’s always raised my curiosity but I’ve never done it. I’m curious as to its recomposition effects and overall impact on muscle mass. Did you take any “before“ photos?

13

Yes I did, I posted them in the T-Ransformation 2020 page, though they were a week into the program. When I’m done with the program, I’ll take newer photos and post them here.

General impressions so far is that I’ve definitely lost fat, I feel my grip and my posterior chain getting stronger. In general I really enjoy the workout. I’d give it a try if you can.

1 Like
14

1/6/2020

Day 5:

10 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
1 Chin-Up
15 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
2 Chin-Up
25 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg
3 Chin-Up
50 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg

15 Min stair sprints

Ab Training:

Circuit x 6:
10 Ab Rollout
10 Reverse Crunch

Not much to say about this one, another solid day. I’ve been enjoying the stair sprints and using them in lieu of steady state cardio, so I kinda have just been going with whichever one I feel like on a given day, and staying consistent with everything else.

Things I Ate:

Breakfast:
2 Eggs
4 Egg Whites
3 oz Turkey Breast
1 Cup Greek Yogurt
1 Tbsp Peanut Butter

Lunch:
3 Slices Jewish rye Bread
10 oz grilled chicken
3 Tbsp Low Fat Mayo
1/2 Wrap
1/2 Avocado
2 Slices Bacon
4 oz Turkey
1 1/2 Cup Skinny Pop
1 Banana

Dinner:
14 oz Strip Steak
2 Cup Spinach
1 Tbsp Cream Cheese

Two Programing Notes I’m going to mention:

Because I head back to school on Sunday, I’m leaving on Friday to go visit a buddy so will be without a gym until Monday when classes resume. As a result, I eschew my rest days this week and train through the week, though I will forgo the Pull exercises (Chin-Ups and Snatch High Pull) for now to give my finger a rest and only do push-ups. These four days plus the weekend will count as week 3 of the program, the extra day of swings will either just be completely dropped or done on a later date. Part of this is in an effort to better line up my workout days will my class schedule with school returning.

Another note is that my school gym does not have many heavy kettlebells, if any, so I may have to use dumbbells for the final week of this program. If so, I will note it in the log.

15

I didn’t take photos, but I did a long and detailed write up about everything including body comp.

1 Like
16

Hey sorry for missing yesterday. Just got wrapped up in something else and forgot to post. I’m just going to post the workouts for both days here.

1/7/2020

Day 6:

10 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
3 Pushups
15 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
6 Pushups
25 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg
9 Pushups
50 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg

20 min Stair runs

Circuit x 6
10 Pallof Press
10 Cable Crunches

1/8/2020

10 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
1 Chin-Up
15 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
2 Chin-Up
25 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg
3 Chin-Up
50 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg

20 min stair sprints

Circuit x 6:
10 Ab Rollout
10 Reverse Crunch

Day 7:

17

Hey guys. Been gone for a few days. Was visiting a friend in a different state and moved back into my apartment for my last semester of law school. However, I did fined time to work out. Here’s what I did:

Day 8:

1/9/2020

10 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
3 Pushups
15 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
6 Pushups
25 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg
9 Pushups
50 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg

20 min Stair runs

10 Ab Rollout
10 Reverse Crunch

Day 9:

1/10/2020

10 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
1 Chin-Up
15 kettlebell swings @ 36 kg
2 Chin-Up
25 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg
3 Chin-Up
50 kettlebell swings @ 24 kg

20 min stair sprints

Circuit x 6:
10 Ab Rollout
10 Reverse Crunch

1/11/2020

Day 10:

Didn’t workout but went on an hour long walk with my buddy for some active recovery. Surprisingly nice weather for Massachusetts in January:

1/12/2020

Day 11:

10 kettlebell swings
3 Pushups
15 kettlebell swings
6 Pushups
25 kettlebell swings
9 Pushups
50 kettlebell swings

20 min Treadmill walk

Had to use 35 Lb kettlebell because that’s all I have right now, with no gym available, only my exercise room at my apartment. So I did what I could.

18

Making your way through nicely. How’s the weight management going?

19

Up and down actually. I was great, I was down around 8 pounds since Christmas weighed myself Friday. However, I was over at a friends house this weekend, and while I didn’t necessarily eat badly (I actually generally stayed within a reasonable range for calorie consumption), I ate a lot of foods that weren’t favorable to my digestion and didn’t drink enough water so I’ve been battling a lot of constipation and bloat the last few days. However, visibly there is less fat than there was at the start and I clearly see a difference in my physique, in addition to my general level of fitness.

20

Sorry I forgot to log yesterday. First day of school and the National Championship distracted me.

1/13/2020

Day 12:

Circuit x 5

10 kettlebell swings @ 75 lbs
1 Snatch High Pull
15 kettlebell swings @ 75 lbs
2 Snatch High Pull
25 kettlebell swings @ 55 lbs
3 Snatch High Pull
50 kettlebell swings @ 55 lbs

20 min Erg

Ab Training:

Circuit x 6:
10 Ab Rollout
10 Reverse Crunch

Back in my school gym, had to use dumbbells instead of kettlebells, was actually a surprisingly good workout. Was bored with my cardio so I decided to do some rowing.

Things I Ate:

Breakfast:
Breakfast Shake

  • Banana
  • 1 Cup Greek Yogurt
  • 1 Scoop Protein Powder
  • 2 Cups Almond Milk
  • 2 Tbsp Peanut Butter

2 Eggs
4 Egg Whites
1 Slice Swiss Cheese
1 Pouch Guacamole

Lunch:
12 oz Ground Turkey 93/7
1 Can of Kidney Beans
1 Can of Tomatoes
2 tbsp. Barbeque Sauce (in the chili)

Dinner:
12 oz Chicken Breast
4 oz Broccoli
2 tbsp. Honey Mustard
1 Can Tuna
1 tbsp. Miracle Whip