More Trouble Than I Am Worth: Chaos Is The Plan (T3hPwnisher Log)

[T3hPwnisher]

Thanks so much man! Readership of my blog has been cut in half these days, so its awesome to see folks like you still plugging along.

---

I am back in the states. Phone only, so no big update for now, but I had an awesome time.

[T3hPwnisher]

Back on my computer, and I plan to do an extensive write up of my experience, but again, had a wonderful time, stuck with bodyweight training, got in an average of 15K+ steps a day and endeavored for 300 push ups and squats each day with a focus on rep quality. Had zero issues keeping carnivore the entire time. I feel like I’ve learned that I have been undereating, because on the cruise I was gorging myself at every meal and seemed to get leaner and bigger as I went, to the point my wife at one point flat out asked “How are you eating as much as you are eating and STILL ripped?”

[T3hPwnisher]

AM WORKOUT (0423 natural wake up)

CHAOS IS THE PLAN: THE CIMMERIAN CHRONICLE Week 1, Day 1

Chaos Is The Plan: The Cimmerian Chronicle Week 1, Day 1

35 minutes of pressing something over my head

Axle continental and strict press away (3 weighted chins between rounds)
5x136
5x146
5x151

Axle clean and strict press away (5 chins and 10 pull aparts between rounds)
5x10x136

Axle clean each rep and strict press (neck work and tree of woe shrugs between rounds)
5x5x136

Axle clean and push press away
18x136

10% COROLLARY (….VERY liberal 10%)

20x225 breathing squats w/20 pull overs

5x5 “Wheel of Pain” (ab wheel)
5x10 dips
25 Conan Curls
1 minute of Tree of Woe shrugs

Breakfast

Walk with wolf

Notes:

• Putting my money where my mouth is with the new training block. I’ve got 9 weeks until I go on another cruise, which is amazing (still planning on doing a post cruise write up as well), and no competition on the horizon (not that I would care anyway) so I figured I’d do a test pilot of “Chaos is the Plan: The Plan”. I’ve also rediscovered my love for Rob Howard and the Hyborian universe of Conan the Cimmerian, so I’m styling this training block in that manner. Get ready for some LARPING and self-aggrandizing.

• I’ve boiled it down that I want to lift 5 days a week, so that allows for 4 35 minute workouts and 1 40 minute. My rough skeleton of a plan is to have a day where I do 5x10 for supplemental and a day I do 10x3-5, both with a 5/3/1 style opener (so effectively 5/3/1 BBB and 5/3/1 BBS). That would be Mon-Wed. Fri I’m thinking making more Deep Water esque and going 10x10 with strict rest times, or perhaps a stupidly heavy day. On each of those days, I’m going to conclude with some manner of 20 breathing heavy lifts (squat, trap bar or good morning), because I’m not gonna get that Conan build without some hypertrophy. I’ll flesh out thoughts even more some time in that regard. Tues and Thurs will be more WOD-esque overhead work. I’ll be rotating all manner of implements as well.

• Borrowing more from Conan, I finally got my rower figured out, so I’m going to be including that in the training, as per his Grandfather’s time as a slave on a ship, and even Conan himself took to privateering. I’ll be stealing a lot from “To Valhalla” as well, but as Chaos is the Plan, it’s really more a framework and a concept vs anything solid. And, if nothing else, I’m excited about this, which is what really matters.

• Since I’m coming back from a solid week of not touching any sort of weights, I did my best not to completely blow my brains out on this one. I still worked hard, but intentionally cut the weights lighter than I wanted, and still found them more challenging than I wanted as well, so it worked out.

• Dig my reference. The ab wheel is the Wheel of Pain, hanging from the bar for lat shrugs is the Tree of Woe, I’m walking with wolves instead of my pug: you just gotta really buy in for the results you want.

• I’m keeping up with the beltless training. I really like the habit it’s built in me. If I find that I’m limiting myself because of that, I’ll change, because Chaos is the Plan.

• Gonna try my hardest to maintain my 300 push ups and squats per day, but not going to lose sleep if I don’t.

[T3hPwnisher]

HOW TO THRIVE ON A CRUISE VACATION

I’m writing this for several reasons. The first one being: I had an awesome vacation and I want to brag about it. The deeper reason here is that I had an awesome vacation BECAUSE I did just that: had a vacation. In the past, I’ve written posts in the realm of “how to survive a vacation”, and it dawns on me just how ridiculous and martyring that mentality is. A vacation is a time of celebration, relaxation, and reward for hard work, yet so many of us meatheads will develop immense anxiety around the topic of vacations: HOW will I get in my protein? HOW will I get in my workouts? HOW will I stick with my diet? And I’ve absolutely done the stupid things that we all do in those situations: signed up for 1 week memberships at a local gym, or paid the day pass rate each day, pack an entire kitchen full of food/cooking implements, I’ve had kettlebells shipped to where I was residing so I could get in workouts, purchased protein powder upon arrival, etc etc. It’s NOT a vacation if we just do what we do every day: this is just transplanting ourselves.

No: this time, I decided not to survive this vacation, but to THRIVE on it. And it worked: I had a wonderful time, I ate my face off, regularly eating to the point of “Thanksgiving level” fullness/discomfort, remained physically active without having to “make a thing” out of it, and came back home bigger and still stupidly lean. So allow me to discuss the ins and outs of that.

---

HOW I ATE ON A CRUISE: I know I’ve alienated half of my readerbase with my current nutritional approach/drumbeating, but the more I dig into this the more success I find, so I’m just going to keep talking about it. For those of you that have never BEEN on a cruise before, the best way I’ve heard it summed up is “It’s like someone took the city of Reno Nevada and put it in the ocean”. You’re basically at a 24 hour a day buffet, with some fine dinning options as well if you so choose. Since I was on a Disney Cruise, we didn’t have the casino element that tends to be present on other cruises, but we DID have Mickey Mouse waffles, so that’s a fair trade.

• Meat and/or eggs, at every meal, FOR every meal. No carbs, to include fruits, veggies, starches, grains, and INCREDIBLY limited artificial sweeteners (like 1 diet coke a day). No plants either, so I was off coffee and tea the entire time, sticking primarily with water, and occasionally sparkling/fizzy/soda water. Already people are reading that and think what I’m writing is martyrdom. “How can you pass up ALL those yummy desserts, pastries, pastas, potatoes, ice cream, fresh fruits, vegetables, 24 hour pizza stations, etc etc” I could do that easily, because alongside all that is literally EVERY kind of meat you could ever dream of, readily available in unending amounts.

• For breakfast, I would eat platefuls of scrambled eggs, and alongside that I would have 3 full ribeye steaks, breakfast sausage, bacon, salmon and turkey, along with some fried AND poached eggs, all topped with butter, with just a tiny bit of real whipped cream for a “dessert”. I always made at least 2 passes through the buffet line, and legit could NOT get enough scrambled eggs. I was fitting in with the Disney theme and trying to get my Gaston on.

• When lunch would roll around, I’d hit up the prime rib carving station like I was playing Blackjack (hit me again), I’d gotten the drumsticks off the turkey at the station, consumed copious amounts of lamb, every fish in the ocean, much pork, beef (steak and ribs), chicken, shrimp, crab, lobster, etc. 2-3 passes through the line, always with a plateful of meat.

• For dinners, we’d go to the sit-down service rather than the buffet, where I was absolutely not shy about ordering 2-4 appetizers and 2-3 entrees, nor was I ashamed about eating only the meat and leaving the veggies to the side. I let them know ahead of time that I came there with a big appetite, and they were more than pleased to accommodate. And, I knew that, if I ever felt “underfed” when the meal was over, there was an all day to-order hamburger and hotdog/sausage stand on deck I could hit up (which I DID take advantage of on our final night).

PRINCIPLES

• I DID abide by a few principles to make this “work”. Yes: I was there to enjoy myself, and eating as much as I wanted definitely met that goal, but in order to eat ALL that I wanted and not suffer catastrophic effects for having done so, I still held myself to a few standards.

• One was to minimize my cheese intake. There’s a few reasons there. One is that I KNOW I can easily overeat cheese. And yes: “eat when hungry until not”, so how is it possible to “overeat” something? In the instance of cheese, it’s a question of nutritional “opportunity cost”, in that the stomach space occupied by cheese is space that could be occupied by meat, and meat will tend to have more beneficial qualities to it compared to cheese (in terms of protein to fat ratio, specific amino acids present, omega 3 vs 6 vs 9 fatty acids and other micronutrient concerns). Cheese doesn’t really have the satiating effect that meat does (for me at least), and so I can keep on eating it and never really feel satisfied, whereas when eating flesh I’ll eventually reach a point where I’m no longer hungry/interested in having more food. And I’m writing “cheese” here, but I’m sure this is true with all dairy: I just genuinely don’t consume much dairy ASIDE from cheese.

• Avoid sauces and be wary of seasonings. Once again: I was shameless about this. One day, the buffet line had my most absolute favorite meat in the world: bone in beef short ribs. However, they were BBQ bone in beef short ribs. So I grabbed a goodly amount of them, and took my napkin and de-sauced the ribs with some liberal covering and squeezing of the ribs until they were sufficiently dry. It’s like “blotting the grease off pizza” taken to the nth degree. Sauces tend to contain sugars, as do many seasonings, and these increase the palatability of food, which is going to interfere with correctly interpreting hunger signals. When the food tastes like food, the body will say “I’ve had enough food”. When the food tastes like dopamine, the body will say “let’s keep eating this until we die from it”. All that said, it was vacation, and if something had a trace amount of seasonings or sauces on it I wasn’t going to freak out, but whenever given the choice between something just straight up grilled/baked/broiled vs something that was dusted and caked in seasonings and sauces, I opted to fill up on the former and have a taste of the latter.

• Seriously: eat until “Thanksgiving Stuffed”. I don’t write “full” because I’m a very particular person when it comes to words, and I’ve only been “full” 4 times in my life, one of which times was when I took down the “Stellanator” cheeseburger (4.5lbs of food in 30 minutes). To me, “full” means when you reach the point of discomfort and then keep eating for another 15-20 minutes. But I think we (Americans/Canadians) understand “Thanksgiving Stuffed”: you’ve absolutely eaten more than you normally would at a meal and are teetering on the very between happily satiated and potentially uncomfortable. Eating to this point, when combined with WHAT I was eating, had the fantastic effect of making me NOT HUNGRY in between my 3 giant meals a day. Carbs tend to have an insulin spiking effect, which can cause us to feel satisfied with a meal and then hungry shortly after. And, of course, simply not eating enough will ALSO cause us to be hungry after eating. But gorging on meat and eggs? Now I have fuel to carry me through until the next time I sit down for a big meal. And we had some packed days on the cruise where the delta between breakfast and lunch would have seemed significant back in the day, but I was so satiated from my massive breakfast that I could let lunch fade back for an hour or so without concern. This was a big win for me; not needing to pack snacks while I traveled. And along with that, there was never any “food guilt” from eating this way. I wasn’t “overeating” junk: all of this was animal fat and protein: absolutely outstanding fuel and nutrition, while at the same time STILL eating like a king.

HOW I TRAINED: Most cruise ships DO have some sort of fitness center, and if one were so inclined they could absolutely go there and get in a workout. There’s enough dumbbell WODS and other things out there that there’s no shortage of ways to get in a pump or blow out your lungs. However, in my case, I wanted to simply be on vacation and enjoy myself, so here is what “training” boiled down to.

• Each morning, upon waking, I’d do 50 prisoner squats and 50 push ups. I’d do this with Dan John’s “2-3-5-10” protocol, doing 2 squats, then 2 push ups, then 3 and 3, etc. Once I got to 10, I’d start over. One round is 20 reps, so I’d do 2.5 rounds of that. The constant getting up off the floor is an added stressor. This was, ultimately, a way to just limber up and get ready for the day AND “make” some hunger for the upcoming breakfast. This takes all of 5 minutes to do, if not less. We spoiled ourselves and had a veranda that I could do these exercises on, taking in the fresh sea air in the morning, but it can just as easily be done in the room.

• In that regard of “done in the room”, if I found myself with some downtime while hanging out in our cabin, I’d knock out a set of 5-20 squats or push ups, with a goal of reaching 300 in the day. That number comes from Jamie Lewis, and is an excellent benchmark for “baseline physical activity for the day”. This allowed me to be active, keep blood flowing through my muscles, get in a decent pump WITHOUT having to change into gym clothes, go to the fitness center, shower afterwards, etc. I was just on vacation thriving.

• I did have ONE day where the Mrs wanted to get in a quick power nap while I wasn’t feeling tired, so I allotted myself 30 minutes of actual focused training, and performed the following workout. EMOM for 20 minutes: do 5 prisoner squats, then 5 push ups, then 5 FULL ROM Burpees, then do 2-3-5-10 for 5 rounds. The distinction of a full ROM burpee is that I would do a full prisoner squat, THEN drop down into a push up, from the push up jump straight up in the air and then land into the prisoner squat to start over again. In general, this whole week I focused on rep QUALITY, and I feel like that was incredibly helpful in actually getting some sort of result from the training. I actually found myself with a little more time at the end of that, so I did a few pull-ups off the beam on our veranda and some ab work.

• NEVER use the elevator. Ever. Forcing yourself to take the stairs wherever you go on the cruise ship will get you a LOT of non-exercise general activity, especially if you’re on one of the lower decks, since the food tends to be on the upper deck. Plus, being on an elevator means being with a lot of people who have been eating the WRONG kind of foods in a confined space: you can imagine how fun that is.

• But probably the most beneficial thing I did was WALK. We got in 15-20+k steps a day every day. And we didn’t walk for exercise: we walked because we enjoyed each other’s company and enjoyed exploring the ship and the ports off of it. On the days we were at sea, we’d walk around the jogging track for fresh air, then get inside the ship and walk around the shops, look at art, check out the lobbies and lounges, listen to music being played over the speakers, go on scavenger hunts (people hide plastic/rubber ducks on cruise ships, and looking for them can be fun) and just have time wondering around doing nothing, which, when combined with “never taking the stairs”, can add up real quick for steps and activity.

RESULTS

• My wife flat out asked me on day 3 of the cruise, after I returned to our lunch table with a plateful of lamb, steaks, ribs, turkey and salmon “How have you been able to eat so much and still be ripped?” And it actually seemed like I was getting MORE defined as time went on, while my muscles filled out and I looked the fullest and healthies I’d been in a LONG time. I genuinely think I’ve been undereating for a bit now, and I was finally giving myself the nutrients I needed which, when paired with reduced training, low stress and opportunities to catch up on a massive sleep debt, gave me an opportunity to heal and ultimately THRIVE on vacation. I ate and lived like a king, and I’ve now returned fully recharged and ready to take on some SERIOUS training until my next cruise…in 9 weeks. This is an awesome season.

BONUS MATERIAL: EATING WHILE TRAVELING

• This wasn’t on the cruise, but I still managed to abide by the nutritional principles when I was getting ready to board/returning home from the cruise. We were ported in New York City, where I lived off of street kabobs and lamb gyro slices

• and while at the airport, we had a Wendy’s, where I got 2 plain “Dave’s Doubles” with no cheese, and just tossed the bun and ate the patties with a fork and knife. It’s honestly simple stuff, and it still worked: I ate enough that I didn’t need more food.

@unicornsandrainbows Figure I’d give you a tag, since it sounds like you might be doing another one of these sometime. And shout out to my other cruisers!

[unicornsandrainbows]

Thanks for the tag! Sounds like you enjoyed the cruise and found a way to thrive in the vacation chaos.
I overall enjoyed my Alaska Cruise, worth going on for sure. It will probably be a one and done, but that is because I prefer to have control over timing and places when it comes to travel. Think of it as Chaos is the Plan, trip destination edition and you would be pretty close to my travel madness. 98% of the time I have no idea where I am going to sleep every night.

Your cruise honestly sounded better than mine when it comes to food options. We didn’t have a lot of meat only things on the buffet. There was a carving station for about half the meals, other times it was a hot plate for various foods. Most of the meat was in other things, like stews, sandwiches, drenched in sauce, etc. No lamb, halibut, crab, and salmon appeared only once. Maybe I should have done a Disney cruise!

[simo74]

@T3hPwnisher

trying to get my Gaston on.

Love this reference. Just catching up, been a little MIA lately. Seems like you had a great time mate.

[mr.v3lv3t]

Sweet write up man! Loving the Conan twist on your training and I’ll be following along pretty close to see “The Plan” in action. Cruise sounded like a spectacular time, glad you were able to find the space to thrive rather than survive, great way of putting that.

[bigpappafrance]

Love the work you have been putting in.

[T3hPwnisher]

@unicornsandrainbows Disney is an amazing cruiseline for sure. It’s pricey, but I always say I have the most “adult” experiences on Disney, as funny as that sounds. It’s BECAUSE they’re so good at taking care of the kids that they’re totally out of the way during the cruise. I’ve been on Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian, and they have their charms, but kids will be running all over the ship, doing cannonballs into hot tubs and sneaking into bars and casinos and just causing a rukus. With Disney, the kids are in the kid’s club and the adults can have some alone time. I think Norwegian has better food, but I definitely made the most of what I had with my time, haha. I’m quite a bit the opposite with vacation: I deal with logistics ALL the time such that, for me, vacation is giving UP control. I get on the ship, and at that point, I can shut off my brain, haha.

@simo74 Thanks man! I figured I had to keep up the Disney theme. We actually saw a stage production of “Beauty and the Beast” on the ship. I tried not to cheer too loudly for Gaston, haha. Good to see you back!

@mr.v3lv3t Always good to have you along dude, and glad you’re digging this theme. Rob Howard created an amazing character and universe.

@bigpappafrance Always appreciate the drop-in.

---

AM WORKOUT (0415 natural wake up, 10 minute snooze)

CHAOS IS THE PLAN: THE CIMMERIAN CHRONICLE Week 1, Day 2

Chaos Is The Plan: The Cimmerian Chronicle Week 1, Day 2

35 rounds of

EMOM: 2 keg one motions w/100lb keg

Between rounds: row

3.5 ladders of prisoner squats and push ups (70 total)

Breakfast

40lb weight vest walk w/wolf

Notes:

• Telling the story here: on the slaver’s ship, we’re rowing until we reach port, unloading the goods, loading the loot, then rowing to the next port. And the drummer is keeping the beat the whole time.

• First time using my rower. I got it cheap on Facebook market. It’s actually a rower and a recumbent bike, which most likely means it’s not good at either one, but it was good enough for today. Little learning curve on the seat locking in place a few times: I’m sure there is a bypass for that. Didn’t really go all out on the effort: still breaking back in to training. Whole body feels like it got beat with a bat from yesterday. That “softening up” that John McCallum wrote about is for real.

• Was short on time this morning, so didn’t go too crazy beyond this workout, but that’s what makes “Chaos is the Plan” so outstanding: always room for changes, audibles, and playing things by ear.

• It was good weather for breaking out the weight vest on my morning walk. Nice to get in a little extra conditioning.

• Later today I’ll get in some combat training…Tang Soo Do. I can still work that into my LARPING.

• Nutrition for the week is in a weird place of post-cruise recovery and pre-birthday prep (I’m turning 38 at the end of this week). I’ll be hitting up Texas De Brazil and engaging in NEAR full on nutritional debauchery, but since my wife and kid will be joining me I don’t want to spend 2 hours gorging myself to the point that I put the Gluttony guy from Se7en to shame. But still: I wanna prep my body for maximal enjoyment, and today’s training was outstanding for that, because I’m already hungry.

[unicornsandrainbows]

@T3hPwnisher

With Disney, the kids are in the kid’s club and the adults can have some alone time.

Great point that I never would have thought of. We aimed for cruise dates that lined up with kids being back in school, in an effort to avoid them. Seems like Disney would have been the way instead, with keeping them busy.
Also, good to know that Norwegian has the best food. I’ll keep that in my back pocket.

@T3hPwnisher

I get on the ship, and at that point, I can shut off my brain

That is the nice part of having everything lined out! Knowing I didn’t have to eventually find a spot to put my tent every night was a welcome change of pace!

[T3hPwnisher]

AM WORKOUT (0425 wake up via alarm)

CHAOS IS THE PLAN: THE CIMMERIAN CHRONICLE Week 1, Day 3

Chaos Is The Plan: The Cimmerian Chronicle Week 1, Day 3

7 rounds in 35 minutes of

• 2-3-5-10 20kg KB clean and press away

Between rounds, some manner of assistance exercise alternating between neck harness, Wheel of Pain, Tree of Woe shrugs, Chins, trap bar rows w/135, reverse hyper w/180, or band pull aparts

20x275 breathing trap bar lifts w/20x20lb pull overs

20 breathing trap bar pulls with 275lbs & pullovers

5 minute lateral raise dropset

Breakfast

40lb weight vest walk w/wolf

Notes:

• Chaos is the plan! The original plan for today was taking the log out for triples and 10x5, but I continue waking up feeling like I’ve been beaten with a bat, so I called for an audible and went with something a little lighter. Along with that, I had a plan to do breathing trap bar lifts, and this allowed for a much smoother transition from the pressing to the trap bar lift, since I could already have it loaded up and in place vs having to fully dismantle the set up and reassemble the log.

• 2-3-5-10 straight out of the Dan John playbook. I tried to be a little strategic with the assistance selection, going for longer assistance movements when it was time to recover for the 5s and 10s and shorter ones for the 2s and 3s. Also tried to pick more “bitter medicine” assistance exercises: all those things I SHOULD be doing that I neglect. Calf work is about the only missing variable, and maybe I’ll get that in next time. Also need some direct arm work in there.

• I always wanted to try breathing trap bar lifts, but I’m not really sold on them. You can see and hear me struggling, but in truth the biggest struggle was the feeling that my right bicep was going to tear at any moment. I didn’t really get the full body fatigue that is found in the squats. I’m going to continue with my approach to alternate movements, but I think next round is going to be breathing good mornings (so I’ll do breathing squats Friday, then GMs either Mon or Wed next week). I can see how the magic circle was advised as an in between.

• Got a little bit of pain in the left elbow that I need to keep an eye on. Too early in the training cycle to have consistent elbow pain. I noticed it at Tang Soo Do last night, which was in turn just an average kind of class, nothing special to report.

[T3hPwnisher]

PM workout was 15 ladders of prisoner squats and push ups at 2-3-5-10 for a total of 300 for each in 20 minutes.

But the real brag is dinner

T-bone from the family farm, and Mrs perfectly executed the sunny side up eggs.

[T3hPwnisher]

AM WORKOUT (0420 natural wake up)

CHAOS IS THE PLAN: THE CIMMERIAN CHRONICLE Week 1, Day 4

Chaos Is The Plan: The Cimmerian Chronicle Week 1, Day 4

40 rounds of

• EMOM: 5 burpees and 3 Viking Thrusters w/90lbs on the axle

5 rounds of

• EMOM: 10 dips, 10 pull aparts and 2 Wheel of Pain

5 rounds of

• EMOM: 10 push ups, 10 pull apart and 2 Wheel of Pain

25 Conan Curls

BREAKFAST

40lb weighted vest walk w/wolf

Notes:

• Came up with this when I woke up this morning. Elements of Kalsu for sure, but lighter load and strict rep count. This allowed me to also get in a lot of my push ups and squats for the day, which I tend totaled out with that 10 round finisher (I’m counting each burpee as 2 squats, since I squat to get down to the push up and squat again to get up from it). I was definitely hurting at the end, and was telling myself lies by round 4 to get me through the workout.

• Been slacking on the story here, but since this is going to be an 8-9 week program run, that would get a bit cumbersome.

• Weighed in at 172.6 this morning, and I’m carrying the kind of leanness that I’m used to seeing at the 166 mark, so that’s a good sign. I might actually be putting on some muscle. Or it could simply be a MASSIVE amount of inflammation that comes after a downweek and then jumping right back into training, as I continue to feel beat to hell. That steak and eggs last night is sure to help though.

• That little EMOM finisher at the end was pretty dandy. Just about perfect 10% corollary at work: getting in some of the neglected stuff. I’m proud of myself for seeking out direct ab and arm work. Also happy I could get in the walk this morning: we had thunderstorms in the forecast but thankfully didn’t get rained out.

• I’ve definitely noticed the physique impact from focusing on getting in those 300 push ups and squats a day vs not. It’s really a missing element there. If I remain diligent, I get the reward. Focusing on rep quality has gone a long way as well.

• Been meaning to document this “non-scale victory”, but I FINALLY got rid of all the “Nuts ‘n More” in my house. I had given away the majority of my un-opened stock, but still had an opened jar in my pantry that I was keeping because I honestly didn’t want to get rid of it, but finally committed myself to the reality that I wasn’t eating that stuff anymore. For others, it’s a fine product, but I was absolutely abusing it, and tossing it was proof that it no longer had that power over me. Each trash night I’ve been having little celebrations like that: getting rid of keto treats and frankenfooods and science experiments. It’s been liberating.

[T3hPwnisher]

Oh geez, I forgot the other NSV I meant to share from a few weeks back: I’m wearing a size 30 pant these days. My 32s were fitting like a circus tent. I legit don’t think I’ve been that small a waist since 5th grade.

[mr.v3lv3t]

@T3hPwnisher

I continue waking up feeling like I’ve been beaten with a bat

This comes as no shock given the workouts you’ve been pursuing. Been enjoying each of these entries as they come in.

I might have to go for some 2-3-5-10 myself tonight for some weight vest leg assistance action.

[T3hPwnisher]

@mr.v3lv3t Hope it goes well for you dude! It’s a great protcol.

---

AM WORKOUT (0425 wake up via alarm)

CHAOS IS THE PLAN: THE CIMMERIAN CHRONICLE Week 1, Workout 5

Log clean and press away
3x150
3x160
3x170

Superset w/
3x5x115 DB rows

GIANT SET (press-chin-pull)

Log clean and press away
11x3x150

Chins
11x5

Band pull aparts
11x10

Buffalo Bar Breathing Squats w/pullovers
20x230

20x230 breathing squats and pullovers

Poundstone Curls
100xAxle

Breakfast

Walk w/Wolf

Notes:

• Maybe some more later. Took the day off work to get some chores knocked out so I could enjoy the weekend, so off I go. Wanna get in some more walking.

[T3hPwnisher]

54 burpee chins in 5 minutes

Birthday off to a great start

Laser tag and Texas de Brazil up next

[Burnsm]

Killer news about your dad! Good for him to make those changes.

[boilerman]

I’ve had a lootttt to catch up on in here and even more to catch up on with the blog. It’s so cool seeing how your training and diet has been shifting/progressing to where it is currently. You’re looking abd performing amazing!

@T3hPwnisher

Birthday off to a great start

Laser tag and Texas de Brazil up next

Sounds like a great day, happy belated b day man!

Wanted to add that I’m back on the piedmontese bandwagon- getting quarterly shipments. The last two have been amazing.

[T3hPwnisher]

@Burnsm Thanks so much man! He’s really done an amazing job. Down 40lbs and, finally seeing a “1” on the scale as the first number, and looking to drop another 15. I’m so proud of him.

@boilerman Very much appreciated dude! Your kudos holds much weight. So glad to hear you’re on that piedmontese wagon. I’m going through my stock to make room for some deer this season.

---

AM WORKOUT (0425 natural wake up, very good night of sleep)

CHAOS IS THE PLAN: THE CIMMERIAN CHRONICILE Week 2, Day 1

Chaos Is The Plan: The Cimmerian Chronicle Week 2, Day 1

Axle continental and strict press
5x141
5x151
5x156

Between sets: 3x4 chins w/chains

GIANT SETS (press-chin-pull)

Axle clean and strict press away
5x10x108

Chins
5x6

Band pull aparts
5x10

Done w/in 9 minutes

GIANT SETS (press-neck-abs)

Axle clean each rep and strict press
5x5x108

Neck harness
4 sets w/55lbs

Wheel of pain
4x5

10 tree of Woe shrugs

Axle clean and push press away
21 reps w/remaining time (40 minute workout total)

Breathing Squats
20x235 w/pull overs

20x235 breathing squats and pullovers overs

25 Conan Curls
25 pushdowns
Lateral raises until timer ran out

Breakfast

40lb weight vest walk w/wolf

Notes:

• Trying a different set-up this week: 4 40 minute workouts and 1 20. The 20 will roll into a “dealer’s choice” loadout, giving me a chance to get in a few odds and ends. Adding 5 extra minutes to each of the other workouts allows for just a little touch of extra work.

• Managed to lift more weight this week and get more reps in at the end: total victory. Chaos is the plan, but I also have a methodology on these set days for progression. To quote famous 20th century philosopher Henry Hill “Fun within prescribed limits: this is gonna work!”

• Tweaked something in my left trap on the final set of heavy presses. That’s not the trap that usually gets tweaked, so that’s progress: a new hitch. It’s annoying, but not debilitating.

• Really focusing on trying to move quickly where I can on the movements, not always being super slow twitch.

• The squats are hitting just about perfect. It’s weird to me getting the training effect with so little weight. It sneaks up on me, compared to my low-bar style. And laying crosswise on the bench for pull overs is opening up a lot more in me.

• Didn’t log anything yesterday, but I did actually train. I also got in some great night walking, taking my kid to “Boo at the Zoo”, where we logged 10k steps trick-or-treating in some very cold weather and carrying a LOT of candy…and a pumpkin at one point. Chaos is absolutely the plan. I’ll link the training video

Conditoning: 10 minute Stone EMOM and 4 minute tabata burpee chins/kb throws

• Simple 10 minute EMOM where I did rounds of 5 prisoner squats and 5 push ups until the timer went, then 1 SoS to shoulder, then I set a Tabata timer and got 4 burpee chins every 20 seconds and 3 KB throws w/20kg bell. That was intense.

• Had a very small carb up meal yesterday, and am officially beginning a Famine today, now that the training is sorted and my birthday feast has concluded, and with MANY feasts on the horizon, it seems like a good idea to baseline this with a Famine and bookend it that way as well. My next cruise is 8 weeks from now, which allows for a 2 week famine, 4 week feast, 2 week famine, then feast on the cruise, reset and re-evaluate. The Mrs already has another practice Thanksgiving qeued up for Veteran’s Day, so this will work pretty perfectly.

• On all of this, the food relationship continues to improve. I absolutely enjoyed myself at Texas De Brazil and managed to find that delegate balance between eating to the point of enjoyment vs gorging to the point of physical illness (which boiled down to 90 minutes of putting away SO much meat), and then managed to enjoy a small amount of Birthday Brownies that Mrs made for me. I didn’t restrict myself out of fear of eating brownies: I was legit just full from my mid-day meal still. Felt no need to burn all this fuel off with extensive exercise after that fact, and still have my carb up the next day: I simply training as needed and living as much as I can. Weekends are far more about being active and involved these days vs killer workouts.