84kg at this level of leanness is seriously good.
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@simo74 Much appreciated! Itās funny: once I started listing the weight in kilos, I noticed some of the international readers having some thoughts, haha.
AM WORKOUT (0410 wake up via alarm)
3 mile treadmill walk w/45lb vest
- 1st mile at 3.0 speed and 5 incline
- 2nd at 3.0 and 6
- 3rd at 3.0 and 6.5
Notes:
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Kept this simple. In full disclosure, I walked 3 miles vs my typical 2 because I was watching the new X-men series on Disney+ and wanted to finish to episode I was on. Rainstorms and wind this morning compelled me to use the treadmill vs walk outside. We got in a 2.5 mile walk as a family last night, so Iām accumulating some good mileage.
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Breathed through the nose the entire time. Walk was a little rough at the start, but I found the gear I needed.
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No additional work: Iāve managed to get in a solid amount this week as it is.
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Tang Soo Do sparring tonight. More activity.
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A week of experience later, and some reading, I now figured out some nutrition questions to ask.
A number of things youād said now make a lot more sense to me: like finding the point where your weight bottomed out, and comments about how good food tastes now, and about how carbs can trigger hunger (that was weird to experience; it was such a strong response), and even using vegetables to chase hunger rather than protein (did that myself, last night).
I maybe even relate a bit more to the seasonings thing 
A bit.
Carnivore really does seem like a logical extension if you go down the PSMF/V-diet route and are fat adapted. At this point, it seems like carbs have really only one purpose: to fuel training. And arenāt necessarily needed then. (I probably wonāt actually go this way, but I see how it happens.)
So, after setting all that up, my questions. When you have a heavier training day ā more overall work, more volume or actually heavier ā how do you approach it? Going into it, and recovering after.
Yesterdayās workout energy was fine for me, using Surge. Drank about half of it before even starting, and made sure to get plenty between sets. Pulling performance was good, pressing performance feels down. Pressing feels maybe 15-20% heavier right now.
For the rest of the day, I was dragging too. Fell asleep about 2 hours before normal. And then Iām fairly sore today. More sore than expected, at least.
So I guess my question(s) are around whether you do anything specific to fuel the workout and subsequent recovery, when itās a harder-than-average training session? (And if you have any suggestions.)
Also a second question. When ābulkingā, as it seems like youāre doing now, is it primarily just more protein, more fats, or a combination of the two?
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@LoRez Happy you swung by dude, and glad things are making sense. Itās like what I talked about with @The_Myth and something that @ChongLordUno has experienced as well: when the paradigm and perspective shifts, suddenly the whole game is different. Things that āmake senseā under the prior existing context no longer do, and those things that seem totally wild before now fully register.
Regarding the harder training session question: I donāt have any sort of variance in routine. For me, training is training: I LIKE to be behind the 8-ball when I do it, because if I can improve at my worst, it means Iāll be amazing at my best. I like blowing myself away at competitions when I actually AM at my best and get to see what my real potential is. And I appreciate how being in a āless thanā state means using less weight, as it tends to spare my connective tissues. About the closest I can come to saying how I vary things is that I have 2 āfastingā days per week, where I only consume Metabolic Drive until I reach my evening meal, and those days tend to fall on my treadmill walking days with my current training approach, but thatās just really happenstance at this point. Those fasting days have fallen on hard training days before.
In a similar way, I donāt really have bulks or cuts. I follow a 2 week famine/4 week feast approach to nutrition. Iāve detailed this out before in my post on ānutritional alchemyā, which I can link again if there is a desire. But the famines are pretty much that Family Man velocity diet, while the feast has me eating lunches more often, and I include fattier cuts of meat and will introduce cheese back into the diet, but still in limited quantities. Portion sizes can grow as well.
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I suppose ābulkingā was never the right term. Rather youāre no longer in a long term fast.
So if I understood you right, even in your current Feasting phases, youāre doing 2 days of fasting?
Also I vaguely remember you saying that you do notice some decline in performance during Fasting phase, but I donāt know if I remembered that right.
(Also, IOI3 finally got sent to me, so Iām now reading it. I ordered it within minutes of you suggesting it the other day, but didnāt get the PDF until today.)
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Yup. Itās taken from Jamie Lewisā āApex Predator Dietā. Waving/varying caloric intake, rather than keeping it consistent.
Not performance, but motivation. With the 4 week feast, assuming I do it right, I have more than enough energy to carry me through a 2 week famine, but by about day 10 of the famine, I just plain donāt WANT to train any more. It takes a lot more convincing to get me through the workouts. But I still see progress.
Hope you enjoy Issuance of Insanity! Thatās where I learned about the Apex Predator diet in full. Itāll help explain quite a bit.
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I usually do the conversion anyway but seeing it in KGās made me thing of it in terms of my own current weight and condition. After thinking about it I realized that I need to lose fat and gain muscle, but then that was something I have always known 
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Hey dude! Been about 3 weeks and 150+ posts since I last checked your log. I skimmed to catch up, so youāll have to forgive me being light on some details, but sounds like things are moving in a great direction for you.
I was curious, and feel free to not discuss this if you donāt want to. For a long time, your focus was on doing everything you could to be your best now, because you knew youād be broken later down the road. With this new mindset youāre taking into your training, has your outlook shifted at all towards maintaining physical longevity?
Itās been on my mind a lot lately, especially after spending the last year chasing and accumulating small injuries around my body to the point I felt like I couldnāt train anything effectively, and it really messed with my head for a minute.
I see some old guys out there that are still kicking ass, and thatās a pretty cool goal to strive towards to me now.
Apologies if youāve already discussed this up thread. I might have skipped right over it haha.
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@simo74 Weāre all in that boat, haha.
@mr.v3lv3t Great to have you swing by dude! I honestly canāt say Iāve seen any sort of new mindset taken into my training. Iām still not prioritizing longevity: itās not even a goal of mine, nor does it factor into how I approach my training. Iām more just experiencing the very burnout I predicted I would reach at one point. And so Iām pivoting here and there, jumping from shiny thing to shiny thing to see if thereās anything that can still hold my interest in this game, and if that goes awayā¦thatāll be it.
Iām sure Iāll always be physically active, no matter what, but I see myself being a dude that likes to go on walks and play with kettlebells. Pretty much what Dan John grew into. Easy Strength to maintain some muscle and walking to be active. But I donāt foresee myself being that 70 year old dude crushing it in the gym. Just doesnāt hold my interest.
Heck, I keep letting strongman competitions pass me by these days. Itās hard to find a competition that interests me. Meanwhile, Iād still love to get in a boxing smoker before I die. That grappling comp was a blast, and Iām up for another one. And I could see myself doing some sort of marathon, or ironman, or triathlon, or some other stupid max endurance/suffering event.
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Just keep rowing men
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@simo74 To think I caught SO much heat on reddit for referencing that very idea! Haha. Different times.
AM WORKOUT (0410 wake up via alarm)
DOGGCRAPP Week 6, Workout B3
Band Curls
15xMiniband
10xMonster Miniband
6x2 minibands
11+6+5xMonster+Miniband
90 second bicep stretch
Viking Kelso Shrugs
10x25
10x50
10x75
12+6+6x150
90 second axle trap stretch w/strong bands
SSB Calf Raises
10xBar
10x175
10x265
90 second belt calf raise w/105lb
Viking deficit SLDL
10x50
10x100
12+8+7x150
60 second hamstring stretch w/40kg bell
SSB Squats
10xBar
4xBar+light band
4x115+light band
8x155+light band
18x115+light band
90 second quad stretch
2x10 standing ab wheel (10 second plank on the final rep)
BREAKFAST
Short walk w/dog
Notes:
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Once again, training motivation was solid. Was borderline excited to get this workout done. Still more in the frame that āafter I do, that means Iām done and the weekend can start when I get homeā rather than āyippee I get to go lift weights this morningā, but also NOT āI HAVE to do this if I wanna get my weekendā. No convincing necessary: just up and at āem.
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Good contraction at the top with those band curls. The bottom of the rep is a little on the light side, but Iām still getting a good pump.
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The SSB calf raises are absolutely the right call as far as bar on a back calf raises go. Being able to use my hands to balance myself goes a LONG way, and I got in a very solid stretch. I imagine thatās going to be my way forward, and I can just play around with load and bands as the need arises.
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Those Viking deficit SLDLs get a solid stretch in the hamstrings. I realized that the bar gets further away from me as I get lower on the eccentric, due to the load of the landmine. Itās a very unique movement.
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Those squats against the bands still rock me every single week. Iām such a fan of them: the intensity they generate is just mind boggling for such a light load. I am absolutely wiped out once itās done, and the overload on the quads is nuts. Itās got me thinking about reverse bands sometime for some of the other movements. I just barely eeked out that 18th rep on the widowmaker. I really just feel like my soul is going to escape. It crushes everything.
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Mrs and I squared off again for Tang Soo Do sparring. We had what felt like a 5 minute sudden death round at the end. She took the W again. Really awesome to have her come along so far. Fun to play around with her defense.
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Itās instructive to see so many lifters transitioning into endurance sports (Mark Bell, Thomas DeLauer, Steve Shawāthough heās more hybrid). A lot of endurance athletes also tend to wind up in the weight room. Mark Allen, a seven-time Ironman world champion, has abandoned all cardio for strength training and surfing; same with Olympic marathoner Ryan Hall. I spent ten years as a nationally-ranked triathlete, and while I still feel the temptation to jog Iāve gone all-in on strength training. I think when you push up against the limits of your potential in one avenue, it becomes satisfying to pursue a different physical capacity. The cool thing about combat sports is there are so many soft skills that the improvement curve is asymptotic.
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Absolutely true! Endurance is honestly where I shine: Iām good at ānot quittingā, haha. But I appreciate the effects that getting stronger has on my body. I originally wanted to go the crossfit route, but my buggy shoulders just canāt handle the gymnastics moves. And combat sports are interesting for me: I love to āplayā combat sports but I HATE training them. Iām all for fighting: donāt care for drilling.
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Thib would have a lot to say about how this indicates your neurotype
Blockquote
That was my only āathleticā talent. I started training for the mile run in fourth grade because I realized it was the only part of the presidential fitness test where I might be able to beat people if I just worked hard enough. Lots of laps around our schoolyard in lieu of four-square
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Hah! Honestly, itās the dealing with people and their personalities that does it for me. With grappling, dudes ALWAYS let ego get to them, and what is supposed to be a flow drill becomes a death match. With striking, I feel like EVERYONE is afraid of lifting weights, so Iām always matched up with some dude that is like 40lbs lighter than me and 3" shorter, so I never really develop the skills necessary to fight someone that is a challenge. At least when I show up for a fight, I know theyāre gonna be about me size, and we AGREED that this is going to be a fight.
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Haha that could absolutely be a result of my skimming and misconstruing some of what youāve said.
To the rest of your post, that all makes perfect sense. When I referenced old dudes kicking ass, I didnāt necessarily mean crushing it in the gym, but crushing it as a person who can still do things.
If I wind up an old dude with grandkids, I want to the badass grandpa thatās running around with the kids at the park or teaching them how to hunt. Not the one that takes 30 seconds to get in and out of the car haha.
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Absolutely dig that. Iāve expressed something like that: āI want to be grandfatherly when Iām a grandfather: I donāt want to be trying to be 30 when Iām a grandfatherā. I want to be the most awesome grandfather I can be.
Hell, it was like that when I became a dad. I really didnāt read philosophy until then. But once I knew I was going to become a dad, I wanted to know everything and be everything for my kid. I wanted to be the best dad I could be.
And I suppose thatās sort of where Iām at with not looking toward the future and living in the now: Iām always going to try to be the best ME I can be: it just so happens that the me I AM is not the me I am going to be.
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God. This. It was hard to find crazy people who were good and cool. BJJ definitely had a lot of weirdos but not in the WWE superstar way. More of the really good chest player or incel way.
Granted, those nerdy chest player guys could kick my ass on the mats but it was crazy they did not have great social skills.
While on that note, itās absurd to me that some instructors are preaching āBJJ humbles the egoā but block people on Facebook if they have an issue with the school.I enjoy the guys who are like āHeres my gyms address. Come say it in personā versus someone who blocks people.
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@freshyfresh You nailed the kind of āweird dudesā that hang around jits. Itās sad how that happens.
Quick weekend summary: lots of activity, over 6 miles of walking, lawn work, some shorter sprint style workouts.
Got in mat pulls with the texas deadlift bar. 6 mats, 13+5+4x405+chains
Tonight, I made all the steaks.
Piedmontese bavette and filet mignon, then venison tenderloin and chops.
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How many meals is that meat ?