@kdjohn Thanks man! My kid has black belt on their radar, and I know not to get in their way, haha.
AM WORKOUT (0440 wake up) FASTED
21-15-9-5 of
Burpee over bells, then double kettlebell clean and strict press w/24kb bells
95lb thrusters
Time: 21:56
Notes:
Was moving a little slow this morning and didn’t have a full 30 min to dedicate, so came up with this based off something I did earlier this week. That burpee over bell is actually a bit backwards: I jump over the bells, land, hit the burpee and then immediately come up off the floor, grab the bells and put them overhead. There’s something just VERY special about going from a prone position to putting something over the head. It’s a combination of level change AND moving weight overhead. Almost like a deconstructed devil press, but I find it a bit more valuable to have to scramble to the bells vs having them in my hand to start.
This didn’t hit QUITE as hard as Armor Bearer, but I was still sucking wind and hating life all the same. I’ve found this to be the natural gravitation of things during this Super Squats run. First conditioning day is more aggressive than the second, basically tapering into the final squat workout of the week. I feel like these workouts might answer the mail for the restorative workouts in “Mass Made Simple” if I ever cross that bridge.
I’m excited for the final Super Squats workout tomorrow. After that, I have a 5 day cruise with a LOT of good food on my radar. Prime time to grow.
@simo74 Always been more a “36-24-36” guy myself, haha.
AM WORKOUT (0332 natural wake up)
SUPER SQUATS Workout 18/FINAL WORKOUT
(3) DB Incline Bench/band pull aparts superset (1 min rest)
12x105s
11x105
10x105
50 total pull aparts
BtN Press/band pull apart superset (1 min rest)
3x10x135/50 total reps
Breathing Squats/Pull overs 30x315/20x20lbs
Fairly certain I was having a John Coffey “Green Mile” moment there where I was just trying to expel all the evil in me out of my lungs…but if I can be as jacked as Michael Clark Duncan I’ll take it
Kroc Rows
23x115lb
Axle shrugs against bands
1x33
POST WORKOUT SHAKE ASSISTANCE
30 GHRs
60x180 reverse hyper (oh my god this is awful)
20 standing ab wheels
Notes:
It is done! I had no doubts that 30x315 would happen once I set my sights on it. What I could not account for was losing all ability to express any sensation other than pain, to include my basic ability to undo my knee wraps around my hamstring, hence me shuffling to the camera at the end.
For anyone that wants to take this on, counting gets REALLY weird. It was a race to rep 20, after which point the REAL work began, and when I hit 25 I thought “only 5 left”, which is just such a bizarre thought while running Super Squats. I didn’t have too bad of hand numbness for this set, but I could feel my support leaving on that 30th rep.
Had to scrap the chins. My left shoulder just does not like it. I got in a few reps with some added weight and some with bodyweight but I could tell it was doing me some harm. It’s a product of squatting 3x a week for such long sets with such a low bar placement. Some time away from that should fix me.
Otherwise, 3x10x135 on BtN press is clutch, and those DB incline presses are awesome as well. I am so pleased with how this all unfolded.
Short on time, so conditioning was scrapped, but 60 reps on the reverse hyper does a good enough job. That seems like a keeper.
Will do a write-up shortly. As for way forward, I’ll be doing a week of travel/cruise ship workouts, and then part of me is thinking about looking into Waterbury’s 10x3 and seeing how it looks. My idea is I just did 6 weeks of 1 set of many: next step may be to do many sets of few. Both equal 30 reps, so that’s pretty cute.
I actually laughed out loud when this started. I know exactly the feeling you were going through dude, having done it myself a handful of times. Nice work man.
@boilerman Always appreciate you swinging by dude! And happy to hear I’ve been able to work some good. I’ve been following along with your work as well: your consistency and effort continue to pay off.
Got in 21 ABCs in 5 minutes first thing this morning. Travel day: gonna try to get in a light walk this evening if I can, but otherwise just living.
Got in 30 DKB clean and presses this morning with the 45lb bells I had stashed at my parent’s house. My past self was so smart.
Going to be on a cruise until Friday. Will train what I can when I can, but no intent to backfill the log with workouts upon my return. Chaos is the plan.
I am mostly back. Travel day. Lots of exciting stuff to write about, but I have eaten more salmon than a North America Grizzly and am growing like a weed and healing in all sorts of ways
Alright, got a bit of downtime here at the airport, so I’m gonna try to capture a few things.
I got to swim with a dolphin. It took me 12 feet below the water and back up again. I’ve held my breath through 7+ reps of a 495lb deadlift before, but THIS was incredibly taxing on my lungs.
I embodied this article
Because I was eating SO much food on this trip. Every dinner I’d have at least 2 full entrees, alongside typically double appetizers and 2 salad courses. I still stayed on the lower side of carbs, primarily because there were so many amazing protein options to pick from I never felt like I was going “without”. I am certain I have consumed every aquatic animal that has ever existed, with salmon featuring everyday, but also shrimp, prawns, scallops, muscles, crab legs, lobster, ahi tuna, herring, grouper, seabass, cod, to say nothing of the land animals of beef/veal, lamb, duck, chicken, and most likely some more I’m forgetting. And this is to say nothing of the breakfast and lunch buffets I partook in, or the 9 course brunch the Mrs and I had on board (it was 4 courses, but when you double up on everything, it has an effect).
And in THAT regard, my relationship with food seems about 100% repaired. I enjoyed my food, and fully acknowledged how much 5 days of enjoying myself (with a plan to follow through with the holidays as well) was not going to undo 360 days of being disciplined. This was the time to celebrate with family, and I did just that.
And in THAT regard, my body’s response TO food finally seems to be right. I am effectively triggering muscle memory and growing back into the body I had before this all went down. My shoulders, chest, arms, traps and upper back are filling back in whereas before I was rapidly losing mass in them and could only hold onto it in my hips and thighs, which explains why my squat kept climbing while all my other lifts were free falling. This also explains why I kept seeing such awesome growth with Super Squats in those lifts. I’m getting that muscle back, and probably adding more as well.
And, I imagine it’s obvious: my appetite is VORACIOUS. But unlike before: I’m not pumping any breaks on it. I am still doing my best to make good choices with this appetite, but I’m not trying to curb it by mainlining vegetables to fill up my stomach: protein is good, fat is good, if some is good, more is better.
I DO have some intentions of throttling back on the food intake for about 3 weeks post holidays while running an intensification block, just to get my conditioning back up and spend some more time with heavier poundages, training movements once a week. I have an idea of doing 10x3 EMOMs with the SSB, then flipping the handles around for another 10x3 front squats, possibly rotating in the straight bar as well. In that regard, my hamstring is 100% recovered, and my left shoulder was good enough to do chins again, so, again: this was the healing I needed.
I trained everyday. Some days, it was just 100 burpees alongside some prisoner squats and push ups through out the day, and everyday we were racking up around 15K+ steps. One of the big parts of that is the Mrs and I are aligned that we NEVER use the elevators on a cruise ship, so we’re constantly going up and down the stairs. But we’d also make a point to go for walks/runs together, get some activity on and off the ship, etc.
However, one day the Mrs and kiddo got in some bonding time and I had an hour to myself to hit the gym, so I came up with a Kalsu mutation. For 60 minutes, I went for as many reps as possible of double dumbbell clean and press each rep w/50lb bells, but EMOM I did 5 5 count burpees (no jump). I totaled around 167 reps in 60 minutes, getting my first 100 right on minute 30. It was brutal. Later, I got in a 15 minute workout that was 5 minutes of as many Devil Presses as possible in 5 minutes w/50lb bells (got 30), then Tabata double dumbbell front squats w/50s, then 5 minutes of alternating dumbbell snatches, doing 5 reps EMOM. Also got in 40 burpee chins in 5 minutes as well.
Got a massage on the cruise ship. Honestly, overrated.
I got a LOT of comments regarding my physique while cruising, keeping in mind that I was NOT in “cruise shape”. I had literally just finished Super Squats, eating everything I could to survive, and was then on the “Noah’s Arc Cruise”, eating 2 of every animals on earth. And as my body image has improved, it was well received. However, my favorite comment came from the person giving me the massage, who said “his muscles are like stone” to her co-worker. I had a guy ask me what protein powder I use, which gave me an opportunity to plug Biotest and Metabolic Drive, so that was clutch.
I’m sure I have so much more to write about, but there’s some brain vomit for now.
@SvenG No matter how much I grow up, a cheeseburger will ALWAYS be magical. Never downplay them, haha.
@jdm135 I so RARELY get asked about how I train. It’s always about supplements. But at least I can plug a good company.
Slept off an on until 0700 after getting home at around 0130. Got in a fasted Fran workout with strict chins knocked out in 5:38. That’s a great return time. My hamstring is feeling 100%, and my left shoulder is good enough.
10 rounds of EMOM 2x405 SSB squats
10 rounds of EMOM 3x225 SSB front squats
20x225 SSB squat
Opposite of super squats: lots of sets of low reps with higher weight. Really pleased at how strong I am in the squat again, and that my weight belt fits without issue despite all the eating. Weight is going to the right places: I’m looking jacked. My Mario sweats are also on point.
I think the craziest part of that workout is the nonstop ticking. Idk how you do that part lol, would drive me nuts, feel like I’m some sadistic torture mindgames chamber lol.
…which looking at your workouts, actually isn’t far off
Oh man, I’m totally the opposite: I need that sound so I know how far away I am from the start of the set. I’m facing away from the clock, and I can just countdown by the ticks to know when it’s time to go.
Might help that I grew up with music. I’m used to a metronome keeping a beat.
