160x20 DB flat bench
As in, a pair of 80lbs DBs? Or two 160lbs DBs?
160 reps of 20lb dumbbells
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AM WORKOUT (0440 wake up via alarm) FASTED
CONDITIONING
5 rounds of 10-15-25-50 KB swings w/24kg bell, 3 burpees between sets
Notes:
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Definitely the last thing I wanted to do this morning, so I settled on a Dan John classic. I actually really liked this workout for how quickly it make 30 minutes go by. Clear cut goals to go for. Might be worth experimenting with a Juarez Valley approach and go 10-50-15-25. Burpee chins got me through the first 300 swings, but after that my forearms were pissed so I went with a traditional burpee. Level changes and swings are still hard to beat.
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Took the day off work so I could be home when the Mrs returned. Nice to have a day to breathe. Maybe some more training as a result.
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Tang Soo Do was decent last night, but lots of grappling based stuff so I was tapping early due to my forearm pain. Iām still impossible to wrist lock, so thatās cool.
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In exciting news, I stepped on the scale this morning after my post-workout shower and saw ā201.0ā as the number. Iām officially a man according to Mark Rippetoe. This has been the bodyweight where Iāve traditionally been my most able: solid combination of max strength and conditioning, but this time I had to eat UP to get to it, and, in turn, Iām the leanest Iāve ever been at this bodyweight. I donāt see it lasting long, especially with my pseudo Apex-predator/V Diet approach coming up soon, but itās fantastic to know I can get here again. Solid testament to Super Squats as well. Also nice to be in a place where the scale number really doesnāt matter.
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Color me curious on this one - look forward to watching
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Thanks man. Gonna be a 5 day pilot during my deload. If it proves sustainable, itās gonna be like āApex Family Manā diet. Because some jacked dude told me to do that
But, in truth, Iām just f**king sick of cooking and eating all the goddamn time, so a high speed/low drag diet of primarily Metabolic Drive and Flameout sounds amazingly appealing right now. Biggest thing is nutritional modeling for my kiddo. I want them to observe normal eating habits from me, so Iām gonna structure my daily meal to be dinner with the family. In addition, I have lunch with the Mrs 2-3x a week, so Iāll work that in too. Both of these can kluge with the Apex Predator diet, but 2 daily meals isnāt quite V Diet kosher, so, like everything I do, Iām doing it my way.
This should also help curb my Sunflower butter/Nuts 'n More budgetā¦
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Iām right there with you! I love that itās such a focus for you. Iām very worried how much my daughter is taking in, observation-wise, and I want to simultaneously model taking actions to your goal without promoting an unhealthy obsession with food/ weightā¦ especially at such a young age. I donāt think wrestling was good for me in that respect at all, although I did get to do it at a relatively high level (which was important to me), so I find myself constantly questioning how I do things with my own kiddo.
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Thanks man. Totally get where youāre at too. I can see SO much of my dad in me regarding how my relationship with food was. Itās such a tricky thing to navigate that no one likes to talk about. And sports definitely throw a wrench into it, and especially girls in sports, who have so much to add on. Although I actually have a buddy who is a youth sports coach that talks about how BOYS are becoming much more difficult to manage than his female athletes, with so many of the former trying to desperately get a six pack while also prepping for a track and field meet.
None of us are equipped for this current generation. Weāre all just winging it.
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My brothers are in 8th and 9th grade and are starting to get into ārealā sports (as in, not city league or YMCA stuff). It wasnāt long ago (at all) that I was in high school but hearing things from them now, I can tell things have changed in the few years itās been since I was that age. Dudes are starting to lift earlier and earlier, and getting better and better. Thereās freshman squatting weights that guys my age didnāt hit till senior year. And many are becoming more and more concerned with their looks, sort of maybe along what your friend was mentioning - there were definitely kids who wanted abs when I was younger but also plenty of guys who just wanted to get big. Social media/fitness influencers seems to have grown exponentially over the past few years and all of these kids are looking for/already have abs that they can flaunt all over the internet, haha.
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Perfectly put.
The sports conversation is its own world! From early specialization, to specific coaching, to high school recruiting it is insane. I know Iāve said this before, but I go to some of the high school games around here and see those athletes and there is no chance I would ever have seen the field nowadaysā¦ in high school! I wouldnāt even have thought about it.
On the one hand, itās cool how good theyāve become and the focus and all that. On the other, it absolutely takes away what sports can do for kids because so few are actually going to get to participate.
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I feel like it can really set people up for disappointment. One of my friends was tall, maybe 6 1/2 feet or so. Nothing crazy, but taller than average, and was always good at basketball. He went to camps every summer, worked with special coaches throughout the years, all that. He hurt his knee in like 10th grade and never played seriously again. Basically from ages 6-16, both he and his parents were expecting him to at least play for a good college (I have no idea if this was realistic), and he didnāt even have a senior season. Another friend was good at football, started weightlifting with one of the local collegeās strength coaches our junior year, went to play college ball, and had three shoulder surgeries on the same shoulder between senior year of high school and sophomore year of college. He quit playing after being told if he messed his shoulder up anymore heād need a full replacement at age 20. Again, all that time, work and money and college football lasted two seasons. I assume he wouldnāt have even actually played his first year in college.
I have no problem with sports but too many kids (and parents) think something is going to come of it when they should just be having fun. I think the kids would get a lot more out of viewing it as a fun competition, not a pathway to future glory that what, less than 1% of kids ever reach? Itād probably open it up to the less talented kids as well then.
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So I agree with you, but I think the problem is us in that instance - not the system.
To my eyes, the system fails when there is so much money/ politics tied in that kids donāt get a chance to compete at young levels and take all the incredible lessons sports have to teach you.
The lessons youāre mentioning above I actually think are good ones. I tell these stories to anyone willing to listen, but I got to go to a couple major basketball camps when I was young. I was convinced I was going to be a scholarship player. When I didnāt grow anymore, I found out real quick that wasnāt going to happen - they told me to āenjoy the weekā at 13! I went farther with a couple other sports, but was still never a pro threat. I think disappointment is an important lesson to learn, and sometimes someone else really is born better despite your work ethic.
To your point, I think the issue is when we tie our self-worth to something that may not pan out (whether or not itās within our own control). Finding out that wonāt work is actually one of the potential values of sports, I think; it kind of forces you to appreciate the time you had for what it was.
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Great points, thanks for the reply. As someone who truly only ever played sports for fun and was very aware that I had no future in them, I think my experience/outlook differs from those who were more involved/competitive, but I can usually see where others are coming from.
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Great conversation here. Youth sports is such a minefield. Hinging so much of our future on our athletic ability as a child is too much pressure, but we do the same with academics as well. Asking an 18 year old to decide what they want to do for the rest of their lives is downright criminal. To say nothing of how we phrase the question āWhat do you want to be when you grow up?ā, as though what we do for money is what we ARE. But I could write books on that topic, haha.
Chaos is the plan, but in the interim Iām thinking my follow on training phase after my deload might be Phase 1 of Krypteia. Should really answer the mail as far as āSuper Squats recoveryā goes. Also got Fat Loss and Prep as a possibility. No shortage of solutions.
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Iād read it. Let me know if you ever want a collaborator, haha.
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It is amazing how much I saw/felt this coming out of a military college. So many of us really forged our identity about ourselves based on what we did and what we wanted to go do. If you didnāt get what you wanted, it just shattered some people.
Just using myself as an example, a second knee surgery got me a medical DQ from what I wanted to do since I was a kid, and it absolutely shook my views on myself for a few months to realize I was going into a wildly different field than I had ever thought. Now, I can recognize what a messed up view that is, but it really was hard to disassociate what I do as a career from who I am as a person. Consequences of the Protestant work ethic lol.
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Conquering this increased my quality of life to a degree beyond description. It helps that I have a great job too, but, I still donāt consider what I do for money who I am.
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@mr.v3lv3t Iāll have it on the list of things to do when I retire, which in itself is pretty ironic, haha.
@atlas13 Iāve seen that moment happen SO many times with so many people. They create an identity before they even achieve the thing theyāre after, and are so vested in it that, when they donāt get it, who are they really? Hell, on the bro level, how many dudes do we know who are āthe big guyā and are so terrified to drop any weight whatsoever? Or the āripped guyā who canāt gain a pound because who are they then? Itās amazing how much we identify who we are based off the external vs the internal.
Got in a very pathetic TABEARTA-esque workout in the PM. Iām out of practice with it, and all my parts are so beat up that nothing really moved together. Deload and Krypteia are sounding more and more like what I need.
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AM WORKOUT (0340 natural wake up)
SUPER SQUATS Workout 18 (Final)
(3) DB Incline Bench/weighted chin superset
1x12x110s
1x9x110s/2x15x27.5
BtN Press/Pull aparts
2x10x145
1x8x145/50 reps total
Breathing Safety Squat Bar Squats/Pull overs
45x225/20x20
POST WORKOUT SHAKE
Poundstone curls
160xAxle
60x180 reverse hypers
Notes:
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I am done, in so many ways. The more this week has progressed, the more of my soul I realize I sold for that set of 20x405. I originally had 20x345 on the SSB as the goal today, but just unracking that weight was monumental. I settled on 225 and took it for all it was worth. Pleased with the effort, definitely achieved that objective, but I also have been feeling like I have the flu after every workout this week. My appetite is completely shot today. Super Squats took as well as it gave. I feel like a NASCAR pulling through the finish line before all 4 tires fall off and the engine drops out. Iām already thinking of getting a jump start on my family-man velocity diet by swapping my evening meal for a shake tonight. I could not be more excited about NOT eating.
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Ok, enough venting: that set of 45x225 was still awesome. The SSB is a gift, and looking at it like that helps, because we need to earn our treats. I feel so much better after squatting with it. Elbow, hips and knees are in a much better state. I had to cut out a set of DB incline because I just plain could NOT wrestle the dumbbell into place on my left side, and I could foresee that just blowing up my elbow pretty bad. BtN presses came alive on the second set, so that was cool.
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Iām already thinking of what my deload is going to look like. To get back into running shape, Iām thinking of a week of Litvinov style workouts. Pick a movement, do it for reps, run a fast lap around the block, come back to the garage and repeat. I donāt care about distance or anything like that: I just need all the small muscles involved in running to come back to life.
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Krypteia keeps sounding more and more like the right way forward. Iām, of course, going to change stuff. Big thing is rotating implements like I typically do with 5/3/1, and Iām thinking of using loadable KBs instead of DBs for the squat and SLDLs.
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I realize I misspoke yesterday regarding weight gain: I forgot I actually weighed 176lbs with clothes on in Jul of last year, which was another one of those indicators that something wasnāt right with my body, as I dropped well over 10lbs in the span of a month. Had this photo from back then
- So now Iām up 25lbs from then. Thatās pretty awesome.
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45 reps of the unloaded bar with the ssb sounds like hell, amazing stuff.
Need to go back to Sea World and pose next to that same penguin so we get a better sense of growth, haha
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Thanks man! Hereās hoping that penguin hasnāt been bulking too! Haha.
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