That’s good to know! I’ll definitely be looking into that
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Hah I meant acting like your cuffed during the form, instead of actually being cuffed.
For the physique: fair play man, great to hear health is still a prio. I was just getting curious with the ‘Tnation in 2005’-level desciption of your gains
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I think this will be a takeaway for my further transformation.
@Panopticum Oh man, 2005 predates me, haha. I’m sure it was the wildwest. I’ve got videos of all my training sessions, so the physique is out there, just not taking the time to shave off my current forest of bodyhair and get in front of a mirror, haha. Here was a recent shirtless feat
AM WORKOUT (0410 wake up via alarm)
75 KB swings w/57.5lb bell
3 mile walk w/80lb vest at 3.0 mph pace
50 band pull aparts
BREAKFAST
1.5 mile walk w/dog (no vest)
Notes:
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Training motivation was moderate on this one. I got up about 50 minutes before my alarm because I needed to pee, and there was some temptation to sleep longer, but ultimately getting this done won out. It honestly helps just knowing all the positive things that the walking does for me, and also knowing it’s not a big demand on my energy. I knew, ultimately, I was going to feel better through the rest of my day knowing I got in my morning fasted walk vs having not done it.
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The swings, in turn, are also 100% value added. Along with getting my heart rate up at the start, I’m observing all the positives that come along with regular swings. My deadlift mechanics are really sharp again. And I’m focusing on rep quality. When I did the 10k in 7 days, it was a LOT of awful reps just to hit my rep goal, but now I try to make each rep sharp and explosive.
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Really trying to focus on keeping my walking pace quick, and it’s shinning through in my daily walking pace as well. Mrs has commented that I can keep up with her on walks now.
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Speaking of, that extra 1.5 mile walk was a nice bonus. My wife is taking the day off to escort my kid at a field trip, so she was able to join me on the walk with the dog. And the one huge project I’ve been working on at work has finally concluded, so I’ve got a little more time in the mornings, so we got to go on a little longer.
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I’ve got Tang Soo Do tonight. “Wildcard/cardio”. It’s been some good workouts recently, so that’s a bonus.
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A few thoughts:
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Leading off with a proud papa moment: my kiddo is on a field trip to our state capital, wherein, during a department of agriculture presentation, they were made aware that cows outnumber people in our state in a 3 to 1 ratio. My kid and I are currently doing our best to even out those numbers, but at one point during the presentation, they asked the audience to list types of meat. Whereas other kids were saying things like “hot dogs” and “chicken nuggets”, my kid yells out “sirloin and tri tip!” I know I’m raising them right.
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Dan John JUST released his newest book on bodybuilding using the Armor Building Complex/kettlbells. $19.99 off of DanJohnUniversity . com. Go to the bookstore link. Nearly 200 pages: I’m sold. Hell, it might be what I do during my downtime. @CycloneEngineer , @Lonnie123 , @SvenG @The_Myth and all other Dan John fans: wanted to give you a heads up.
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I’ve got no current plans to abandon DoggCrapp, but applying the lessons learned moving forward, I think I’m ready to say that I’m done doing straight bar deadlifts off the floor in any program, and will make that trap bar pulls from here on out. In turn, I ALSO need to make sure I always include my once weekly ROM progression workout, because that seems to really build up my deadlift well and doesn’t tax me significantly. Other lessons learned are that I should have some manner of rotating A/B workout at the minimum, if not A/B/C.
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I keep telling myself I’m going to dedicate some time to leaning out, but I keep realizing that eating copious amounts of meat is simply better than being peeled. That’s honestly a nice spot to be in. With it being summer BBQ season, I’m not going to pass up an opportunity to eat all the beef ribs.
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You indeed look big but defined!
And if you call that a forest of chest hair, than my whole body is burried deep in the woods
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I love this for you, and I also recognize and appreciate that a number of us are following you down this particular road, or at least trying to better identify the goal. Good stuff.
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I’ll have to look into this. Have always been drawn to the “simplicity” yet effectiveness of Dan John’s ideas. Could be good to get back to the basics more often.
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AM WORKOUT (0410 Wake up via alarm)
DOGGCRAPP Week 10, Workout B3
Band Curls
20xMiniband
10xMonster Miniband
4xMMB+MB
9+6+5xMMB+MB
90 second bicep stretch
Viking Kelso Shrugs
20x25
10x50
10x75
13+5+5x160
90 second axle trap stretch w/strong bands
SSB Calf Raises
15xBar
10x175
12x265
90 second belt calf stretch w/105lb
Viking deficit RDL
10x50
10x100
12+6+4x175
60 second hamstring stretch w/40kg bell
SSB Squats
10xBar
5xLight band
5x115+LB
8x165+LB
17x125+LB
90 second quad stretch
3x10 standing ab wheel
BREAKFAST
Longer walk w/dog
Notes:
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Kinda mixed on the training motivation today. I actually get pretty excited about this workout, because of how challenging the squats are, and it’s honestly probably the best constructed workout of the 6 I run balancing challenging movements without too much ridiculous logistics, but my sleep wasn’t awesome last night (compared to the past few nights, where it’s been excellent, so that’s a plus). If my weekend wasn’t so packed, I may have tried to slide it. We’re celebrating my kid’s birthday tomorrow (their actual birthday is later in the month, and we’ll celebrate then too, but we’re going to the grandparents for that, so we wanted to do a local one with their schoolfriends) and we’re hitting up the Renaissance Faire on Sunday (turkey legs!), so gotta fit it all I can.
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This was SUCH a better set-up for the band curls. I’ve got the bands stretched across the pins in the rack. No longer need to balance on top of a kettlebell to keep things anchored, and I get a longer resistance curve. Definitely how I’ll progress moving forward.
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Progressed all around. New movement on the curls, heavier weight on the Kelso shrugs, RDLs and Widowmaker, more reps on the calf raises and the heavy squat set.
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Once again, by the time I got to the RDLs I felt wasted, and then I had no idea where I was going to find the energy for the squats, but in both cases I managed. Getting that 8th rep on the heavy set was a real gasser, and then I left it all out there for the widowmaker. Definitely a great way to get into the weekend.
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Sun is out, so it was my first shirtless walk with the dog. Getting in that sunlight and Vitamin D was so huge last year, definitely need to capitalize on it. Last night’s Tang Soo Do was another decent workout as well.
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Just a solid photo of the Punisher.
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This is a pretty significant decision.
I always found your dichotomy between “deadlifting is my best lift” and “I hate deadlifting” to be fascinating.
So it’s (straight bar) mat pulls + trap bar from the floor + swings from now on out?
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Chaos is the plan 
But no, not straight bar mat pulls: ROM progression mat pulls, which will mean eventually a deadlift set from the floor.
And I hate ALL exercises: I just find deadlifts to be particularly useless compared to all other lifts. And when I say that, it has to be understood that “deadlift” means something specific: a straight bar, with the height determined by standardized 45lb/20kg plates. That’s going to fit a VERY specific training: all others will need to adjust/adapt.
But what I’m saying with THAT quoted comment is this: when a program says “deadlift”, I will make that movement a trap bar pull. So if I run 5/3/1 again, wherever it says “deadlift”, that will be a trap bar pull.
@Stormblessed I just picked it up yesterday: I’m excited to see what it has to say. I’ll be sure to share. Dan is so awesome at exactly that: remembering what matters.
@Panopticum Thanks so much man! It was when the body hair started going grey that I became more aware of it, haha.
@EmilyQ It always means so much to receive your praise and consideration. I’m definitely in a great head space these days, and really learning to appreciate where I am and what I’m doing. Sometimes, the goal is the goal, and sometimes the goal is the process. It’s been really awesome for me to stick to training less and still seeing the benefits of it: being able to have that safety net of knowing that I don’t NEED to be training all the time and, in turn, knowing that, when I pick it, it’s because I picked it.
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I see what you’re saying now.
I’ve never used a trap bar, but Jefferson/straddle deadlifts would probably be my staple if I didn’t have some straight-bar specific goals. None of that artificial constraint of your legs being in the way.
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I haven’t had the chance to use a trap bar myself, but it is something I want for my home gym at one point. I also see what you are saying for sure about the straight bar.
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@LoRez and @whiplash1 Yeah, it’s not that I feel there’s something inherently superior about the trap bar, but in my case, I am far worse of a puller with a trap bar than I am with a straight bar, so it would me the goal of making me stronger and better, but alongside that the execution of it is far less technical/far more forgiving, and with the way the weight is centered it tends to be less taxing on the back/body, so recovery is a bit easier. It basically ALLOWS me to do that weekly ROM progression pull and still make progress that way, vs if I were to try to deadlift through the week AND stack on a ROM progression pull.
It’s kind of a “solution seeking a problem”. I know that ROM progression mat pulls are the answer, so now I just need to figure out how I would change the rest of the programming to allow for it.
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I love that. I stopped traditional benching, deadlifting and squatting a few years ago.
Now it’s incline pressing, zercher squats, cleans, belt squats, goblet squats, etc. I swear I’m way stronger and more athletic now that I’m not trying to do a specific movement. Essentially the Dan John method. Find something heavy and awkward to pick up and press.
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Quick weekend download
Went to Renaissance Faire. Ate turkey leg
Found jawbone of an ass to pretend to be Samson
Got in Strongman Sprint workout afterwards
EDIT: Totally thought I logged yesterday but I guess I didn’t. This was the highlight
(2) Mat Pulls
13+5+4x405+chains
Immediately went and mowed the lawn afterwards
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My god, I BLINK and you are 10 weeks into DogCrapp. Its insane how time can fly like that… Thanks for the tag about Dan John… I am conflicted about buying it and trying it vs keeping the goal the goal haha
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@Lonnie123 dude, no joke: I turn around and some t-nation members have graduated! Haha. Time flies for sure. And just because you buy the book doesn’t mean you have to try the program: Dan is just worth his weight in gold with how he writes. This is yet again one of my favorite books I’ve read: excited to do a full on review.
AM WORKOUT (0402 wake up via bowels…will go into that)
DOGGCRAPP Week 11, Workout A1
Dips
20xBW
10x30
5x55
3x80
7+2+4x117.5
90 second weighted dip stretch w/117.5lb
KB Clean and Press Away
20x22.5
10x30
9+4+4x57.5
90 second shoulder stretch
Extreme Close Grip Swiss Bar Bench
20xBar
10x115
8+5+3x185 (failed on first set, had to re-rack bar)
90 second KB tricep stretch w/57.5lb bell
Underhand Chins
6xBW
10+4+4x17.5
60 second wide grip hanging lat stretch w/105lb (tapped out)
Low handle trap bar pull
10x175
5x245
3x335
11x435
60 second per side 115lb hanging DB lat stretch
3x10 standing ab wheel
BREAKFAST
Longer walk w/dog
Notes:
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Once again, my body tells me things and I should listen. Was going to bed last night and noted that my definition had washed out, and initially thought “I’ve pushed this feast pretty far, that makes sense”. Then, a few minutes before my alarm, my guts seized up and informed me that I needed to wake up NOW. Took care of that, and have had another urgent situation since that time. So apparently something is up in my guts, and as is typical, when I have some sort of illness, my body sends the signal by holding water/bloating me and washing out definition. It’s cool to have that external metric. I’m not certain is this is a result of consuming too much smoked meat in a short time (I’ve heard that happens) or perhaps the turkey leg I had was undercooked, or I’ve consumed too many electrolytes, but either way, this isn’t crippling.
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Also interesting about this workout is that I matched reps on the dips, and then actually had a very stellar day for the rest of it. The KBs were an increase in weight, I got in extra reps and a VERY solid effort on the swiss bar bench, really blew up the chins, and added 3 reps on the trap bar. But the whole time, because of the dips, I kept thinking “yeah, it’s a good thing this is the week before the cruise, because it’s clear the blast has gone on too long”. That mentality actually seemed to allow me to absolutely crush the rest of my workout. If/when I resume this workout, I may swap out the dips, but everything else is still going well.
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Weather is getting better, so I’m going for longer walks in the morning. That said, my dog is a 14 year old pug, and she doesn’t have the legs she used to. I’ll go at her pace.
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Honestly just very pleased with the trap bar pull performance at the end. 3 extra reps is fantastic.
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Going to do a small carb up this evening. Not doing a carby meal for dinner, but Mrs made some fantastic cookie bars that I’ll have for a dessert. They’re a peanut butter cookie base with Reese’s pieces and peanut butter cups mixed in. And I picked up some local cinnamon honey at the Renaissance Faire yesterday that I can apply to them as well.
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Great, someone got drool on my screen. Certainly wasn’t me…
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I just looked up that book… Am I reading that right that its a kettlebell ONLY BBing protocol?
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