Gotta love those bonus reps! The ultimate rest pause: laying down on the floor dying, haha.
Yeah, the last two are impressive part 
How are your joints holding up through all this punishment?
No joint issues. Easy Strength is easy lifting, and Mass Made Simple is light weight. Itās been very restorative.
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This sounds like it would result in some kind of Dragonball Z like transformation for the consumer haha.
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All part of my quest to eat every animal that was on Noahās Arc, haha.
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I started thinking about your 3 liner when you first posted it the other day, before the proto-blog post.
Iāve been rolling it around since then. The diet bit is the only part that I sometimes disagree with. Your experience with hunger/fullness/āboredā doesnāt at all align with my experience of those things. Eating meat and eggs, off hunger cues, has always left me on the underweight side of things (including a couple trips into āclinically underweightā).
But, combined with 180 minutes a week of putting something over my head? I havenāt done that, or those together. So I donāt know if I thereās really any disagreement because I havenāt done the thing. Ramping up the training, for me, usually ramps up the fatigue, not the hunger. However, eating more does usually help both the fatigue and the training. It just doesnāt come through āhunger driveā but rather through having to think through āhow do I make this exhaustion, poor focus, etc. go awayā. And removing āmore restā as an option.
I think āEat meat and eggs when hungryā is generally correct for everyone. In fact I think everyone on the planet would benefit from that rule. However, I think the āuntilā¦ā needs a bit of personalization. For me, scale weight is doing it for me. If Iām not up X pounds at the end of the dayā¦ eat more meat and eggs. (Iād throw milk in there too, but thereās a nutritional debate that doesnāt need to be had.)
ā
The third line is especially interesting and prescient though. Iāve been on vacation, and reading through the Sheiko book (along with Easy Strength Omnibook). Variation is an essential part of his methods. The training loads deliberately change day to day. Week to week. Block to block. Thereās a few rules and patterns and tools, and longer term planning of that variation, but itās the same fundamental principle as youāve got.
I like it.
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@LoRez appreciate the commentary. A LOT of folks have keyed in on the āmeat and eggs when hungry until notā, and I feel like many may not be expecting the changes in hunger signaling that will occur once the shift happens. Training may play a role there too, no question, but when meat and eggs are ALL that we eat, I find that we become much more in turn with what our body NEEDS vs wants. The biggest concern I see from people is fear of ānot eating enoughā, but itās worth noting that Iām not offering a training plan for muscular gain or fat loss: simply physical transformation. There will be days when our body doesnāt want to eat: cool. We have enough nutrients. There will be days when it wants a LOT of food. Between the two: balance.
I am curious about your experience though: legit JUST meat and eggs when you got there? Nothing else?
Quick sum so far: slept until 0700, 150 squats and push ups, amazing breakfast, saw the Ninja Turtles movie with the kiddo (it rocked @TrainForPain), Costco run, then came up with the brilliant idea of doing this workout while some pork ribs cooked in the air fryer
15 minute random loading medley w/150+lb keg, 100lb keg, 40kg bell, 20kg bell and 2 24kg bells. Just mix it up as much as I can.
That was amazing, because as soon as it was done I grabbed the ribs out of the fryer, chowed down and went on a 3 mile walk outside with the kiddo. Absolutely primal to come straight in from carrying stuff to eating ribs to walking out in the sun. Loving it.
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What an awesome squat! And glad to hear you enjoyed the Ninja Turtles movie. So glad that property is still going strong so new generations can grow up with it.
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@PowPowPunishment Thanks so much man! My kid had a total Ninja Turtles day as a result. We did Costco Pizza for lunch and then a local pizza place for dinner. Maybe weāll break out the Nunchucks later, haha.
On that note, forgot to log that I got my brown belt yesterday
So thatās cool.
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Congratulations!!
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Congrats on the belt!
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Congrats!
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@tlgains @whiplash1 and @TrainForPain Thanks gents! Mrs and I are over the moon.
Got up at 0515 this morning. Itās the 2 year anniversary of the passing of our pug, Kirby, and the Mrs wanted to get in a 14 mile memorial run to celebrate his 14 years of living. I had plans to carry my keg 14 laps around the neighborhood for a similar purpose, but we got rained and lightningād out, so I came up with this
KIRBY Memorial WOD
- 141 burpee chins w/15lb vest
- EMOM, do 1 keg clean w/100lb keg
Done inside of 35 rounds.
141 to celebrate 14 years and 1 month. 15lb vest was the closest I could get to 14. 100lb kegā¦was just plain absolutely the right call. Trying to clean a keg while wearing a vest is a challenge. It puts the keg out in front of you, so you really need to wrangle it.
This is flat out a Kalsu level workout. I wanted to quit stupid early into it. If it werenāt a memorial workout for my buddy, I would have. Iām glad he could push me this morning. I hit this fasted and know that I absolutely earned my warriorās breakfast that my Valkyrie is going to whip up after she crushes her own workoutā¦because she IS the better half, haha.
Family is going to take in a play later today, and this might be all the training I doā¦and itās MORE than enough.
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What an incredible idea for your dog. Love it
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Iāve been trying to catch up on your log but am finding it increasingly impossible with how much youāre getting done. Youāre on fire dude, itās awesome. Loving all the food posts, too.
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running out of likes in here. Good work all round Pwn.
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@TrainForPain Thanks so much man! I had to thank my buddy for pushing me through to the end.
@boilerman Always appreciate you swinging by, and very much the same sentiment for you. Too much goodness, and all I do is open it up, smile and nod.
@simo74 Thanks so much dude!
AM WORKOUT (0405 wake up via alarm) FASTED (I genuinely think Iām going to stop logging āfastedā at this point, as itās the default).
MESS Workout 29: Mass Made Simple Workout 14 (Final Mass Made Simple Workout)
EASY STRENGTH WORK
Axle continental and press away/weighted chin superset
1x166 (blackout issues)
2x3x166
3x3x45
(3)Axle double overhand deficit deadlift
3x3x235+chains
Standing ab wheel
1x10
Reverse hyper
75x250
MASS MADE SIMPLE WORK
Complex A (row-clean-front squat-press-squat-good morning)
3x2x145 (1 min rests)
Buffalo Bar Squat
10x102
5x142
3x192
40+5+5x212 17 rep PR
9 minutes of assistance work (curls, raises, shrugs, pull aparts, pushdowns, push ups)
Notes:
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With that, the Mass Made Simple portion of this block is done. Though I did not run the āwhole programā, I did the parts that by Danās own admission actually BUILD the mass, and I will flat out say it rocks, Dan clearly knows what he is doing, I am transformed and I am a big fan of this protocol. I grew in a LOT of ways, and clearly gave that squat my all this morning.
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Regarding the squat: my previous best was 23 repsā¦so this was absolutely insane. I came in with 30 as the goal, but every time I dug for another it was there. I very well may have had another rep after 40, but I could see the writing on the wall. Something I did with this approach that may have held me back was hitting 75 reps of reverse hyper prior to a big squat set, as I was feeling the load in my lower back moreso than anywhere else, but honestly: who f**king cares. I am so over the moon with this performance. I weighed 171lbs last I checked, so this was 40lbs over bodyweight for 40 reps at the END of a workout, using a high bar, with no belt, etc etc etc.
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The start of the workout was rough. About blacked out on the press. For future Easy Strength runs, itās going to make more sense to start out with the deadlift and press later in the workout. But once I got a handle on things it moved a little better. I listened to a recent Dan John podcast and he recanted a little on his 3x3 recommendation, talking about how an āadvanced traineeā would stall a little earlier on that approach, and Iām seeing how that can be the case. Iām still planning on riding this out, because I have nothing to lose from the experiment, but Iāve got some great lessons learned for moving forward.
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Had a great carb-up meal yesterday. Mrs made lobster ravioli and cheese tortellini in a Bolognese sauce, alongside some classic Pillsbury crescent rolls, and dessert was 4 chocolate chip and M&Ms cookies with a mug of skim milk. I brought out some local creamed pumpkin honey to put on the cookies as well, and that was just absolutely amazing. I woke up this morning looking grainy. Itās crazy what happens when I trust the process on this one.
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In that regard, Iāve got 2 more days of the Famine before I roll back into the feast. This was an interesting experiment in āflexible famineā. Iāve had to ration my Metabolic Drive, so in the interim I leaned more heavily on egg whites and VERY lean cuts of meat (piedmontese grassfed sirloin, chicken breasts/tenderloins, tuna, etc) and have still managed to achieve a similar outcome as before. Which, of course, makes sense: itās simply supposed to be a protein sparing modified fast for 2 weeks to reset/prime the system, but itās always good to get a confirmation through experience. If I ever needed to rock this approach fully carnivore, I can make it happen.
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The walk got skipped this morning because I actually had to drop the dog off at the kennel instead. So THEYāLL get some exercise at least. Iāll make sure to get something done in the evening.
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Kind of a delay getting back to this.
Mostly. But a true āmostlyā. Once upon a time (2005 or so), when I was truly pinching pennies and before I really started learning to cook, I realized I could buy 5 dozen eggs at a time from Walmart for something like $6. I lived off that, salt, pepper, butter, and a few spices. No sauces. Sometimes thin cut pork chops cooked in butter.
I was working a moderately physical job at a home improvement store at the time, and I had just discovered kettlebells. My weight stayed in the low 130s (132-134), at 5ā11. I ate when hungry. No snacks (couldnāt justify it, either).
Sometime after that, I learned to cook rice (also very cheap, for a large bag). I got better with spices, and added in some ground beef, but no vegetables until quite awhile later. Weight stayed the same.
Underweight then, but I guess you could make the argument that everything was āright-sizedā. Body composition was probably where it needed to be, and there wasnāt any need for additional adaptation.
More recently, like a few months ago recently, I was in the mid 130s, on a diet not too different than what Iāve shared in my log. Variety, but mostly meat. 10% or less of vegetables and probably 5% carbs. On that same basic diet, I had dropped down into the 120s, again, eating based only on hunger cues. Stress seems to affect my eating too, but in the opposite direction. Underweight.
So, for me, I have to force it in terms of quantities.
A sidenote. When I was actually ābulkingā, early into joining this site, I was seeing a therapist who also happened to specialize in eating disorders. (That was a waste of my time and money, but whatever.)
After Iād put on about 20 pounds since I started seeing her, mostly via milk, she told me she seriously thought I may be anorexic because I ālooked like Iād been losing weightā. Very strange sheād think that. One of the reasons I stopped seeing her; she kept trying to convince me of it. (And I had the data, measurements, pictures to show otherwise.)
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@LoRez I appreciate you sharing to that detail. Iād definitely be interested in looking at the spices being employed, as I find that to be a significant impact as far as this approach goes. The pepper itself is something Iād shy away from. But I also wonder if the financials may have played a subconscious role. Itās about teaching the body that there is an abundance of meat available to eat, and if there ISNāTā¦well, it will pick to starve. But, if nothing else, solid evidence that not all things for all people.
AM WORKOUT (0405 Wake up via alarm)
MESS Workout 30: Easy Strength for Fat Loss w/KB swings
(3) Axle double overhand deficit deadlift/weighted chin superset
3x3x246
3x3x45
Standing Ab Wheel
1x10
Axle Continental and press away
3x3x156
KB swing/throw practice
75 reps w/24kg bell
Set the bell down, throw on 50lb vest, go for 1.5 mile walk, come back to gym and knock out 300 squats and 300 push ups
Breakfast
Walk dog
Notes:
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Came in feeling obliterated from yesterday. Having a different order of movements really went a long way. Thatās definitely a lesson to employ for future Easy Strength runs. Still kept the press on the light side because I feel like Iāve been going too heavy on it to make it truly āEasy Strengthā. Chins havenāt moved much, but since bodyweight is going up it means Iām lifting more weight. Really just didnāt want to be bothered to do carries, so focused on swings/throw practice and allowed that to get my heart rate up before the walk. Had to get to work a little on the early side, so the dog walk was shorter than usual, making this all work out.
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Realized this morning Iāve been short-changing myself on my egg white intake for protein. I made my āfamineā and even bigger one. In turn, the impact has been realized: I can see every individual abdominal muscle like a thick carved out knot of wood in my gut, got veins everywhere, etc. Jamie really had this figured out. Iām running 1 more day of it, then back to the feast. Tonight weāre doing a tri tip, so thatās pretty awesome.
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āMESSā really isnāt right at this point, because the MMS portion is done. I feel like 30 workouts of Easy Strength is honestly enough as well: I donāt really see me getting much more out of the next 10 workouts. But, for the sake of completion, I intend to run the full course this time. I DO keep learning more lessons as I go, and thatās what matters. 30 workout runs for the future will slot in well for 6 week training cycles, which seem to be how I like to operate. It fits the diet as well: 2 weeks famine, 4 weeks feast.
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