That was a great story haha
@whiplash1 Thanks man! What fun are these experiences if we canāt have a good story to go with them, haha.
AM WORKOUT (0423 wake up via alarm)
5/3/1 BUILDING THE MONOLITH Week 1, Workout 3
SUPERSET (pull-bench)
Trap bar lift (low handle)
5x135
5x295
5x345
3x5x385
Axle bench press
5xAxle
5x176
5x206
5x5x226
KB rows (1 min rests)
15x40kg
12x40kg
3x10x40kg
Poundstone curls
100xAxle
OFF CAMERA
10,8 Standing ab wheel
40x180 Reverse hyper
BREAKFAST
Very short walk on the ice (lots of slipping)
Notes:
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It is amazing how awful I am at low handle trap bar pulls (which are really just REAL trap bar pulls compared to high handle). Built to hinge, not to squat, and this height is like a dead squat from the floor, with zero flex in the bar. This was definitely the right call for this program, especially with me tacking on my mat pulls at the end of the week to re-groove my barbell pulls.
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Axle bench press wasnāt quite as smooth as what I hoped for on 3s week, but Iām sure a part of that is being pretty detrained from benching.
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Remembered something Dan John said about rows: ātry to pause with your thumb against your pecā. Itās a good guideline for making sure youāre actually getting the benefit of the row. Really tried to go VERY bodybuilder on these, because Iāve been slacking on rows and they build big backs.
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Pleased with myself for prioritizing abs and lower back with the little bit of freetime I had. Got the whole required workout done in under an hour again, and this was one of the better ways Iāve gone about this one. Still getting the main work done in one chunk and the assistance in another.
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It was too hazardous to do much walking today. Tomorrowās plan is a weighted vest walk, which may become a treadmill walk in turn.
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I continue to get leaner with the more fattier meat I eat as part of this feast. At first, I considered it simply the magic of the famine and feast at work, but while listening to a Podcast this morning (The Road to Carnivore) I heard about a study that observed that, even in individuals that consumed carbohydrates, shifting their fat intake primarily to animal fats resulted in increased leanness. It operated under a premise that having oneās own bodyfat in a heavily saturated state would result in less bodyfat total. Iāll need to re-listen to that podcast so I can track down the study itself and see the exact wording/findings, but it was crazy for me to sit there and think āholy crap: THATāS what is happeningā. It really seems to track with my experience. I tend to LOSE leanness during the famine, and then, once I introduce the feast, the first few weeks are me getting leaner. Also seems to make Jamieās āApex Predator Dietā make even more sense as well.
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I lost my Dojang Sparring champion title yesterday to my wife. Wouldnāt have it any other way. And at least I tooled the senior student prior to that moment. I channeled my inner Andy Hug and nailed them with an axe-kick.
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It ended up being a good thing I had such a gigantic lunch yesterday, because I worked through dinner. In truth, I really dig the approach of protein sparing modified fast through the day and one big meal. Kinda a meathead approach to intermittent fasting.
Hot damn! Youāre running BtM now?! I might make a nice little pivot and run it (at a significantly slower pace, Iām sure) with you. BBBB can wait.
Those beef ribs look amazing, and you sure know how to clean them right up.
@boilerman I could imagine no higher honor than to have you alongside me as we build the monolith brother. Beefcake is fantastic as well, but this called to me, specifically cutting my lifting down so I had some more time for dedicated conditioning. Those beef ribs were damn near life changing: completely worth the $60 pricetag. Iāve paid that much for videogames that gave me FAR less joy, haha. And Iāve got a piedmontese order coming in tonight: 3 tri tip roasts and some boneless beef short ribs. Although, like you observed: bones never caused me much concern, haha. My kid is a tri tip fanatic now though, so Iām excited to have those in the house.
Keep me posted if you make the swap. I try to stay current in all the logs, but my life is so full of joy right now that the internet takes a back seat.
I can only imagine how good they were. I have never had wagyu, but I have a feeling that if I did the floodgates would open and Iād search for it everywhere. Itās probably better for my wallet to abstain.
I also have a piedmontese order coming in⦠They have the 36oz tomahawk in this order. I am so excited.
That is so awesome! I canāt wait to be able to share food and cook with my little one.
Yeah Iām just going to run it, haha. Chaos is the plan, right? I made some great progress last time.
And I hear ya dude. Time is hard to come by these days so Iāve been doing my best to be more present and in the moment. Iām happy to hear how awesome things have been going for you lifting, diet and overall life-wise.
Dude, you reminded me that I TOTALLY have a tomahawk in my freezer right now. I got it as part of a promotion they were running a while back. I might have to cook that up sometime for the kiddo and I to share.
Iām so excited for you to be able to share what you know with your little one. Heās lucky to have you as a dad. And Iām lucky to have you following along with the program. Letās push those widowmakers!
You sir are becoming a wizard. Or at least a barbarian with a side interest in alchemy.
How important do you think spreading the shake/meals actually is? That is, would one get the same benefit with a couple shakes early and a massive shake before the HSM
Or is that needlessly complicating an already good idea?
@simo74 Itās absolutely alchemy, haha. I do feel the barbarism is an asset in that regard: Iām too stupid to not know this wonāt work! Something to be said about being a Cleric in that regard as well: this is all faith based rather than science based. And sure, I CAN find studies that support my conclusions, but I can find ones that refute it as well. But what canāt be refuted are the very results Iām seeing in front of me. Maybe Iāll donate my body to science fiction when itās all said and done.
@bjiral Since youāre talking HSM, I assume youāre asking about the Velocity Diet, in which case Iād want the actual author of it, @Chris_Shugart to have the final say on it. Iād say spreading the shakes out is important from the perspective of muscle preservation AND satiety. When youāre running the Velocity Diet, your calories are going to be on the low side, and for people without much fasting experience, hunger can be a concern in those matters. Have more frequent pulses of Metabolic Drive is going to allow you to effectively coast on fumes from shake to shake, whereas trying to just do one big pulse and ride it out through the day will most likely result in eventually running out of fuel and crashing. Along with that, having the more frequent protein feedings will mean providing your muscles a constant dripfeed of protein, which, in a reduced calorie state, seems important for keeping that hard earned muscle. I also imagine this will prevent binging during the HSM.
I DO believe the human body is smart enough such that, if all it gets is one meal, and we eat a LOT at that one meal, it will make the most of that meal and work to spare muscle and give us energy, but there are more ideal approaches.
AM WORKOUT (0425 wake up via alarm)
5/3/1 BUILDING THE MONOLITH Week 1, Workout 4 (conditioning)
75 KB swings w/20kg bell
2 mile walk w/80lb vest (42 minutes at 2.8mph average speed, outside)
17 rounds in 15 minutes of
- 15 prisoner squats
- 10 push ups
5 ab wheel rollouts w/10 second plank at end
Notes:
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I keep falling back in love with BtM, because training was not a priority for me waking up this morning, but whenever I have those kind of mornings a walk is all I want to do, and thatās what was on the schedule for today. I feel like Iām really appreciating 3x a week of lifting allowing me to have more focused conditioning days. This might carryover after my cruise.
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Hit up the swings at the start just to jump up the heart rate before I threw on the vest. Once again, a trick from Dan John. I also just need more swings in my life.
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This was a MUCH better 80lb vest walk than the last time I went on one. Tried to focus on keeping as brisk a pace as I could, and sought out elevated terrain where possible. The ice has melted, and now everything is just kind of gross and slushy. Wore my barefoot shoes, which I think helped.
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I was pretty wiped out once I returned. That little circuit of squats and push ups was far more exhausting than it should have been.
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All of this was fasted, of course. Work is still crazy, so no post breakfast walking. Which, in turn, Iām glad I could get in a walk in the morning instead.
Found more on this: itās the work from Brad Marshall, who writes/podcasts several works on this topic. Iām currently looking at something he wrote titled " The Body Fat Saturation Of Starch Eaters; Linoleic Acid Dysregulates SCD1", which is WAY above my paygrade, but for anyone else out there following me down this rabbithole, I thought Iād share the goods.
EDIT: Holy cow this is pretty fascinating stuff
Pretty much every night (typically after my middle of the night Metabolic Drive shake) I have to shed my pajamas because Iām saturated in sweat. I also will get the carb sweats during my weekly family meal. Wonder if this is explaining something.
Solid point on the ābinging on the HSMā!
Iāve tried warrior for a while and ended up overeating
Iām trying to play with apex diet, so HSM was a bit of a misnomer but I think your answer was pretty applicable to both. Thanks!
@bjiral Absolutely dude! Yeah, itās worth appreciating that Apex Predator has a bit more flexibility depending on your own bodyfat levels. You may end up having 2 meals a day vs 1, but that meal needs to be meat, and ideally meat on the bone. And Jamie also prescribes a few supplements as well which I think are a solid move.
Itās really strange what āscienceā became.
Not to take away from the faith argument, but what youāre doing very much is science. You tried something, observed the results, documented it. Something changed, observed the results, documented it. And youāve built a model of which causes have which effects, for you.
Sure, n=1. But the only thing those studies demonstrate is that if you are the same kind of person who meets all the inclusion criteria of the study, youāll probably have very similar results. If youāre not, results may vary.
Empirical studies are still legitimate science though. Science doesnāt mean you understand exactly why things happen. Science often doesnāt even care to find out āwhyā, rather it just observes that it did.
EDIT: since I just read the thing you posted about animal fat intake. That really is pretty fascinating.
This is such a big point that so many laypeople miss. Whenever I hear someone say āThis study PROVES XYZā, I know that this person either doesnāt know what a study is or what āproveā means, haha. We can observe and draw conclusions, but rarely will we ever prove.
Very much appreciate you stopping by! Thereās so much from this guy. Iām now reading through āThe ROS Theory of Obesityā and came across this
This is from āThe Croissant Dietā
This tracks along with my observation of being less lean during periods of PSMF and getting leaner once I re-introduce the animal fats.
I think this may be true for most regards.
Canāt wait to see what ridiculous double (or triple)??) digit numbers you hit dude. Iāll definitely push mine as far as I can!
@boilerman Boy did you call it! Haha. And just saw you crush day 1 over on your log: how awesome.
AM WORKOUT (0420 wake up via alarm)
5/3/1 BUILDING THE MONOLITH Week 1, Workout 5
GIANT SETS (Press-squat-chin)
Axle clean and strict press away
5x5x123
Buffalo Bar Squat
5xBar
5x195
5x225
5x260
5x290
Weighted NG chins
5x5x30
GIANT SETS (press-shrug-pull)
Axle clean and strict press away
5x5x123
Axle shrug against short average bands
4x25
Band pull aparts
4x25
Buffalo Bar Squat widowmaker
101x145lbs
Done in 48 minutes
OFF CAMERA
3 sets of standing ab wheel
40 reps of neck harness
Lateral raise dropset
Notes:
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Itās pretty crazy how fast this one went. Before the widowmaker, I was at like 36 minutes, and had I run it as a legit 20 rep set, it would have been over in under 40. Really found a working combination, and wanted to have a pretty solid upper back burner with the way I stacked the assistance work at the end. Weighted chins at that point would have been a better call, but the set-up of the shrugs in the cage limit my ability to do weighted chins in that spot.
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Itās always interesting how the same weight I can squat 5x5 for on Monday feels so heavy on Friday with BtM. Jim is a programming sorcerer.
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The shrugs against bands are just such a money play. Much quicker to set up and take down compared to plates, and the burn is real.
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How about that for a widowmaker? In truth, I could have kept going, as evident by my rack and not total collapse when it was over, but at one point you just wonder what is the value added. 101 AFTER a full workout is pretty ridiculous.
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In the realm of TMI, it would appear that eating essentially a loaf of sourdough bread on Sunday has had disastrous impacts on my digestive tract. As in, googling things like āhow do you clear a bowel obstruction without surgeryā or contemplating just how much blood loss from a hemorrhoid one can experience before they need to get a transfusion. I am thankfully, as of yesterday, not going to die, but in turn this morning my ability to brace was slightly compromised due to pain.
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Had more Tang Soo Do sparring last night. I ended up losing in the semi-finals, primarily because kick-checking isnāt a thing in Tang Soo Do and my liberal use of it was considered a point scored by my opponent, but in turn it meant my kid got to advance to the finals and lost by only 1 point, so that was amazing to see.
lol, that is so badass.
And so is this.
@boilerman Very high praise from a warrior like yourself dude! And such a great way to pave the way for some gains!
That isnāt just a widowmaker, that is the funeral service and the cremation at the same time. Quality



