Always amazed how much I fall behind when I miss just a few days of your log! You’re doing great work in here. Your word carries value around here. People respect what you have to say. You’ve earned every ounce of that respect. You do an incredible job of sharing your journey with everyone and Giving advice and tough love when people need it.
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@simo74 Oh sure: ask the philosophy guy if there is a reason for a thing and say something is random, haha. Rather than say something like “everything is random and we just like a base 10 system”, knowing Ironmind, they most likely set out with specs in mind (bar must be THIS long, having THIS much space between the collars, support THIS much weight, made of THIS material) and, whatever it ended up weighing, that’s how much it weighed. This is the same company that makes a flat bench that supports 5 THOUSAND pounds and a dip belt that holds over a thousand pounds: they’ve never let a thing like “reason” slow them down, haha.
@startingagain More than happy to help dude.
@davemccright Very much appreciated dude! Guys like you make it all worth it. For every dozen dudes who don’t get it, the one that does redeems it all.
AM WORKOUT (0330 wake up via alarm)
SUPERSETS (press-chin)
Log clean and strict press away
5xLog
3x120
2x140
2x160
2x180
2x200
0x235 (cleaned, no press)
1x220
NG chins w/105lbs
8x2
GIANT SETS (dip/press-dip-raise-pull): Press on odd sets, weighted dips even sets
Trap bar press 150
1x10
1x8
1x7
Weighted dips 95lbs
3x10
Dips
6xFailure
DB lateral raise 20lbs
6x11
Band pull aparts
6x15
POST WORKOUT SHAKE
CONDITIONING: “TABEARTA”
95lb Bear complexes at 20 seconds on/10 seconds off for 20 rounds
Kroc rows 115
1x18
Notes: Head was the struggle today. Got the log cleaned into place on the set of 235 but the world wouldn’t stop spinning long enough for me to get set to press. Looking back, my meals were VERY light yesterday as a result of a tight schedule. I’m at a point of leanness where pre-workout nutrition is becoming a factor, which is yet another sign that I’m cutting this diet break in time. It will be good to get back to eating to gain. Went for that follow on set of 220 and misgrooved the second rep. Still made some progress on the supplemental work, and broke myself on Tabearta. That remains one of my better discoveries. 2 complexes in 20 seconds is honest work.
Working 2 12s in a row on night shift these next few days. Came up with the idea of taking my nightly meal and breaking it up to eat over the course of the shift to keep my digestion on point. Will see how it goes.
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Always happy to discuss dude.
I’m going to clarify where nuance exists.
Point 1 is mostly accurate. “Always” is a dangerous word. Sometimes, I eat because I just want to eat something. Or it’s a social event or a celebration. But primarily, I eat to support training.
For point 2
No. I almost NEVER eat like crazy. I’ve done binge eating before and it is not healthy for me, physically and otherwise. I eat ENOUGH to survive the program and continue growing.
Point 3 is mostly accurate. Hadn’t even really thought of it as auto-regulation, but that’s a great lens for it. Conjugate would slot in well as a result. However, since you’re phrasing it as “when I want to lose weight”, I would say that this necessarily means that I DO try to be in a calorie deficit. That would be incases of trying to make weight for a competition. However, if it’s just a dietary break, THAT tends to be where a deficit happens more organically. At my age, level of training and DEGREE of training, if I’m not eating to gain, I’m losing.
Is there anything I can further clarify to alleviate the confusion?
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No. I almost NEVER eat like crazy. I’ve done binge eating before and it is not healthy for me, physically and otherwise. I eat ENOUGH to survive the program and continue growing.
“Crazy” was my attempt at comedic hyperbole, which I now realize I shouldn’t have used haha. Eating enough to survive the program and continue growing is what I meant.
Is there anything I can further clarify to alleviate the confusion?
Yep haha.
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When it’s your goal to lose weight and you make sure to be in a calorie deficit, wouldn’t that mean training is supporting eating in that case? As in, you’re actively eating less and so your training volume decreases to make sure you’re still recovering? I’m confused how the eating would support training in this case, since the training is accommodating the reduced eating.
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Since your eating is typically to support training, wouldn’t that imply you do more conditioning when trying to gain weight, and less conditioning when trying to lose weight? Unless I’m mistaken, I remember you saying you tend to be liberal with training volume (for weights and conditioning) when in a calorie surplus.
Totally appreciate the comedy, but I’ve learned the necessity of complete clarity in these matters sadly, haha. People will take a mile out of an inch quite easily, and then it’s “MythicalStrength SAID to do this!” haha.
For point 1:
Training is not supporting the eating there, because (as point 2 will discuss), I’m not training to create a caloric deficit: I’m training while being IN a caloric deficit. I’m not using the training to burn the calories, but am in a training phase wherein I can progress while being in a deficit. Intensification phases are ideal for this, because we’re no longer BUILDING strength but realizing it. With weight loss primarily being due to making weight for a competition, it works out incredibly well: the time that I need to start focusing on skill refinement is also a time where I need to be lighter, so as I drop the weight, my skill goes up.
It’s worth appreciating that I never lose fat for the sake of being lean, which is where the disconnect may occur here. People will call it a “cutting phase”, but in a cutting phase the goal is stated: get cut. For me, it’s a competition training phase. The goal is to show up to the comp, make weight and win. If I make weight by being leanner, great. If I lose muscle: cool, still made weight. I just need the lifts to go up while the weight goes down. If I were to actually go on a cutting phase, THEN would be a case where nutrition drives the bus and training supports nutrition. But that’s simply not how I operate at the moment.
For point 2: totally spot on. I do WAY more conditioning during gaining phases. It’s THE best time to hammer conditioning: you are growing and healing, so you can train a TON. John Berardi discusses this regarding g-flux, which is an awesome concept
Basically, whenever possible, it’s better to train more and eat more than to train less and eat less.
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Training is not supporting the eating there, because (as point 2 will discuss), I’m not training to create a caloric deficit: I’m training while being IN a caloric deficit. I’m not using the training to burn the calories, but am in a training phase wherein I can progress while being in a deficit.
Ah, gotcha. See, by “eating to support training,” I thought you meant that eating accommodates the training and almost never the other way around. This confused me since lower the training volume due to reduced calories would mean that the training is accommodating the (reduced) eating.
So what you did mean by “training doesn’t support eating” is that you are not training to create a calorie deficit. Instead, you still train to progress.
Am I correct now? I see why clarity is important haha.
Basically, whenever possible, it’s better to train more and eat more than to train less and eat less.
Perfect timing, since I was going to reference that article for my next question haha. Training more and eating more seems to be an awesome “hack” compared to the usual method of doing more conditioning when cutting (and almost no conditioning when gaining). From my own experience, it’s why it was so easy for my classmates and I to be leaner when doing high school sports (since we’d have hours of practice with hellish conditioning on top of the lifting).
Since you don’t make it a goal to be lean, you may not be the best person to ask this. Then again, the fact that you’re lean without making it an active goal just gives your methods more credibility.
Would you say that making conditioning a regular (and brutal) part of your training is a big reason why you stay as lean as you do?
That’s the thing though: I’m reducing calories due to lowered training volume: not the other way around. I don’t change my training because I want to lose weight: I change my training because I can no longer sustain the training necessary to gain weight. This is periodization. Phases of accumulation and then intensifcation. We eat to support the phase we are in.
I don’t though. Being this lean is a VERY new thing for me. In 22 years of training, this is something that’s happened in the past 2. Conditioning isn’t the variable at all there: diet is. After a health scare, I radically overhauled it. I also lost 30lbs and got too lean and ended up dealing with health problems there, so it’s been a struggle for balance.
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Yeah but are you a Type 1a or a Type 2b though. And why haven’t you gotten real yet.
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Real quick question for ya. Grabbing a log from Titan tonight, should I go with the 12 or 10?
12, no question
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Thanks, will do
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@kleinhound I’m a scorpio actually, haha. And I do too many dead high rep deadlifts to get real.
@atlas13 Hell yeah dude! Excited for your development there.
Knocked out tabata KB front squats before heading out for work.
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Alrighty, just placed the order. Got a bonus at work, so grabbed an SSB, the 12 log, a multigrip Pullup bar attachment for my rack, and a loadable dumbbell so I can hit some DB rows again. Pretty pumped about the additions, thanks for the recommendations. Thinking I might like to dip my hand into an actual strongman comp this year, figure I’ve got a pretty good setup to prepare at this point
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You are absolutely geared up to compete. Be awesome to see you get after it. Definitely get some pictures when all the gear gets in.
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Lol yes but WHY mate WHY 
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Having a young child that likes to ask “why” and having ME as a dad has broken my wife, haha. I watch my kid’s eyes glaze over when I go “Well it depends: the Greeks would say…”
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You child and my youngest sound similar. Why is his favorite question too 
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All young children are philosophers…or, perhaps, the other way around.
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I don’t change my training because I want to lose weight: I change my training because I can no longer sustain the training necessary to gain weight. This is periodization. Phases of accumulation and then intensifcation. We eat to support the phase we are in
So basically:
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During periods of muscle gain, you pick a program with defined sets/reps/percentages. You eat to recover, which ends up being a calorie surplus due to the high workload.
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When you can no longer sustain this type of program, you move on to an Intensification phase. You still eat to recover, but since the workload is lower, you’re in a calorie deficit. This allows you to lose weight for a contest and peak your strength at the same time.
Do I have it right? I originally thought you’d make a decision of “Now it’s time to get leaner.” Instead, it seems the decision is made when you can no longer sustain the training of your accumulation phases.
Conditioning isn’t the variable at all there: diet is. After a health scare, I radically overhauled it. I also lost 30lbs and got too lean and ended up dealing with health problems there, so it’s been a struggle for balance.
Oh, I actually didn’t know about the health scares and that your diet was the main factor. Do you mind expanding on this? I assumed your conditioning was the main variable here.
I was rereading your responses to better understand them, and this snippet caught my eye:
I just need the lifts to go up while the weight goes down. If I were to actually go on a cutting phase, THEN would be a case where nutrition drives the bus and training supports nutrition. But that’s simply not how I operate at the moment.
Yeah, there’s definitely a disconnect going on since I had assumed your “cutting” phases were done with the goal of losing fat. Now that I know your goal is to peak for a contest, your approach makes a lot more sense.
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