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

Training Training Logs
5360

AM WORKOUT (0410 wake up via alarm)

OPERATION CONAN: Recon and Scouting

Roll out on LAX ball
60x320lb reverse hyper
2:05 hang from bar
3.36 mile treadmill walk
First mile 3.5 pace at 4 incline, then 5, then 6, then 7 for the remainder (time was slightly over 57 minutes)

BREAKFAST

Moderate walk w/dogs

Total steps before work: 12029

Notes:

  • I am at a point where I’m actually looking forward to these workouts, which is so completely different from the last training cycle. These really seem to help me recover. Ditching the 80lb vest was most likely part of that, and when I do bring back the vest, I’ll stick with K. Black’s recommendation of 30lbs. But it’s nice to have a system in place where I smash myself one day and build back up to do it again. Dan John’s Mass Made Simple had a similar approach.

  • Before I forget, my left knee went loose on me yesterday, which is the knee I had ACL reconstructive surgery on. I noticed it during ab wheel, and it was acting up a little in Tang Soo Do. It’s a bit stiff/swollen today. Not sure if the weather is playing a role: humidity is up and we have some thunderstorms. I’ll keep a watch on it.

  • The reverse hypers continue to be VERY beneficial toward the recovery on my hip/glute. I’m really focusing on the eccentric, letting my legs swing through and spine decompress. I tend to get in another round of them with bodyweight later in the day, to keep it up, along with rolling on the LAX ball. Hanging from the chinning bar was also good. I didn’t do the 30 second chins this time, but it’s nice to maintain that grip strength.

  • I’m planning on walking back the squat weight 10lbs tomorrow, and the press weight 5. Though I CAN get the 4x8 squats done, as demonstrated on Monday, I think giving myself some room to grow will be the right call. I’m also thinking of waking up 10 minutes earlier so I can have more time to warm-up, which goes against so much of what I’ve done before, but I keep saying “doing what you’ve always done will get you the results you always get”. I’m here to get something different.

  • I know it’s not “supposed” to matter, but it’s honestly pretty awesome that I’m experiencing some soreness again. My pecs, hamstrings and abs in particular. Novel stimulus, sure, but just a nice reminder that I still have something in me.

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@jshaving , per our convo on the other thread, here are some resources on the whole “plants fighting back” thing.

Probably the biggest name out there on the subject is Dr. Anthony Chaffee, “The Plant Free MD”. He’s very big on the phrase “Plants are trying to kill us”, and he’s got a LOT of material out there on it.

Dr. Ken Berry is another fantastic resource on this topic

If you want to go more bro about it, here’s a very well informed bodybuilder that has much to say against veggies

This is tip of the iceberg here. There’s a LOT of thoughts on there on the topic, but it can get you moving in a good direction. It was pretty eye opening to me, and eliminating plants from my diet REALLY went a long way in helping me heal.

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Awesome man, thanks for sharing. I’ll check them out.

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@jshaving Absolutely dude! Always happy to discuss. It’s been a very interesting journey for me.

My resting heart rate is now clocking in at 36 as I continue to get a little more data on my fittracker. Once again, I am addicted to useless metrics and chasing after them, but I’ll at least take a moment to pat myself on the back over how awesome that is. Heart health was what drove me to go in a TERRIBLE direction with my nutrition and lifestyle in an attempt to fix it, and now it seems like I’ve got things in a good direction.

I’m being VERY pro-active with this hip/glute/back thing, rolling out on the LAX ball whenever I can, getting in the reverse hypers, keeping moving, etc. I’m feeling pretty good now as a result, compared to when I was just ignoring it and hoping it would go away. The “nuclear option” is to start wearing my belt again when I squat. I’d really prefer to NOT do that, but it’s an option.

Going to recalculate my maxes now, based off these past 2 workouts.

Squat: 395
Bench: 275 (I realized looking at things now that I miscalculated it for my first workout, using 80% instead of 70%, explains quite a bit)
Press: 170
Trap Bar Dead: 565 (unchanged)
DB Bench: 90
Dips: 325 (unchanged)
Weighted NG Chins: 260 (unchanged)
Axle curls: 85 (unchanged)
BW Chins: 11
BW GHRs: 30

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That’s nuts. I thought my 45-48 was good.

I’ve been really feeling this lately as well. I’m mostly convinced it’s caused by a bad mattress and a 1 year old who pushes me out of the bed every night. Until she moves into her own room, and we replace mattress, I have to stretch out my hips every day or I’m geriatric for a week.

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45-48 is outstanding dude! Especially since you’re still a partaker of caffeine. I was on that train for a LONG time, and taking in over a gram a day at one point. Dropping that I’m sure had an impact, haha.

For me, I’m certain I did something to it training one day. I remember in the previous training cycle I had a back spasm, which most likely led to re-aggravating this. To pinpoint it: when I was 21-22, I blew out my back so bad on a set of squats to pins that my wife had to tie my shoes for 3 days, haha. I couldn’t deadlift off the floor for 3 years after that, but that IS how I discovered ROM progression, so some good came from it. But hopefully your resolution comes soon enough!

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I can sympathize with this… I jumped off an 80’ cliff when I was 21 to impress some girls. I lost all feeling in my legs for about 2 minutes, then could barely walk for a week. I landed feet first with shoes on, but my legs were slightly bent and my tailbone took a lot of the pressure. Deadlifting since has been really not a great idea. I could handle knee up ROM up until about 27, but the frequency of recurring week + long injuries increased until I stopped completely.

EDIT;

I had six weeks off this summer and it was great! Then sleep took a nose dive when my daughter decided she wanted to treat night time like a nap.

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Totally get it. I went my entire undergrad without having ever consumed an energy drink, but once I became a dad I developed an encyclopedic knowledge of them, haha.

That’s a crazy story there! I’m thankful that’s ALL the damage you go, but I bet that was gnarly.

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Continuing the trend of posting the meals supporting Operation Conan

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2 3 pastured egg omeletes with grassfed swiss and ghee, venison and sirloin, topped with grassfed sour cream.

A grassfed organic hot dog

4 strips of Costco sugar free bacon

Grassfed cottage cheese

Half a graasfed burger patty

Some cracklin

And a twist I am pretty proud of: sardines packed in water. I used to use a processed chicken breast patty for extra protein: this was a much better choice. Great Omega 3 source, totally unprocessed, and the little bones in them are full of good stuff.

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I am pretty adventurous when it comes to food. I’ve eaten jellyfish, shark, Rocky Mountain oyster, snake, camel, you name it and I’ve probably tried it.

But for the life of me, I can’t do sardines.

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I really enjoy them myself. Going so long without seasonings, I really appreciate the flavors in all sorts of animal foods.

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Oh! Idk why this just reminded me, but have you ever checked out this place?

There’s a store nearby that has their products. The ground venison makes fantastic chili, and you can get it with liver meat mixed in, which seems right up your alley.

The price tag isn’t pretty though

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Glad I jumped back on here before your post aged too much. Those pups are beautiful! We stumbled across a boxer/pit mix last summer. He was just a pup and the plan was to take him to the Humane Society (animal shelter instead of animal control), but they were full. They told us we could come back in two weeks but who keeps a puppy for two weeks and then gives it up!?

Anyway, it’s interesting that you bring up my experience with chicken and cholesterol. My doc didn’t say anything but my last labs had me at 230 cholesterol and in the upper third of “normal” on my triglycerides. I’ve tried to do my Internet research but really can’t find anything I don’t already know.

The body allegedly makes most of our cholesterol but I agree with you that the body reacts to what we eat. Grocery store chicken is typically the cheaper cuts and probably raised horribly. I think I’m eating less of everything these days, but I turned to red meat over chicken to get my total cholesterol down years ago when it spiked. Perhaps I need to do that again.

I need to check back here more often to see how things go for you.

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@atlas13 Holy cow, that’s a great link: thanks! I’ve got piedmontese for my beef hookup, but I dig the game meat there. Price seems reasonable for what you’re getting.

@Frank_C great to have you stopping by! I’m excited to hear about your pup as well: that’s a wonderful mix. They’re great dogs. The body DOES make our cholesterol, but from there it’s a question of WHY it’s making it, and that’s where food comes in, as you say. My thought is that chicken is inflammatory, and since LDL is something the body makes in order to HEAL inflammation, when we eat more chicken, we produce more LDL. And that’s why just looking at LDL can be problematic: it CAN be an indication of increased inflammation in the body, but LDL can also be elevated simply because our carb intake is low and our body is relying on fat as a fuel source, so there’s more LDL floating around in the bloodstream but it’s not repairing damage. It’s like seeing a bunch of fire fighters around. Yeah, that CAN mean there’s a lot of fires…or it can just mean there’s a lot of firefighters.

I think swapping out chicken for well raised red meat/eggs would be beneficial. LDL might stay higher, but I imagine HDL and triglycerides would be favorable.

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

OPERATION CONAN: Recon and Scouting

Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol: Grey Man-Week 1, Day 3

WARM UP

Roll out hip on LAX ball
50x180 reverse hypers
Buffalo bar squats w/bar, 85lb, 135, 175, 225, and overwarm unrack w/315

MAIN WORK

Buffalo Bar Squat
4x8x275

SUPERSET

Axle strict press
4x8x118

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER w/ASSISTANCE

(3) Incline DB bench
4x12x50

NG chins
4x12 (rest as long as needed to get the reps)

Standing ab wheel
3x10

SUPPLEMENTAL LIFT

GHR
4x21

BREAKFAST

Short walk w/dogs

Notes:

  • Woke up 10 minutes earlier than usual so I could spend more time warming up, and I think it paid off. I was still experiencing pain DURING the workout, but post workout I’m feeling very spry, whereas on day 1 I was hobbled. You can still see me struggling on the unrack: on the final set, I took to just squatting out of the bar, and I think that’s going to be my way forward from now on. Just unracking and walking away is painful, but fully decompressing at the bottom feels alright. I should probably spend some time just getting my body moving FASTER in general under the bar, as I do imagine that would help, but with a torn meniscus in both knees, I’m a little gunshy in the morning.

  • This was with the new maxes, and they’re pretty spot on. It’s clear I CAN operate with these maxes, but it’s also clear that I NEED to eat if I want to keep this up, which is exactly where I want to be on a mass gaining program.

  • My shoulders are also sore: something I noticed yesterday. Program is hitting in all the right ways.

  • Reverse hypers as a warm up is really just something I should have been doing years ago. Really sets me up right. I might consider some GHRs too, in a similar method as John Meadows hamstring curls before squats.

  • Got in over 23k steps yesterday, which my watch said was a new personal record. Mrs wanted a walk after dinner, and that’s not something I’d ever say no to.

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Operation Conan meals continue

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Careful observers will note that the ribs are stacked like a row of shark’s teeth: there are TWO there, as this is a full rack, with pulled pork. Does this violate my ruminant meat goal? Yes, but here is your fun fact of the day

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Pork is good enough for Valhalla: good enough for me. I also dig how this is so very anti-JudeoChristian to PRIZE rather than consider it “unclean”

And speaking of vikings, my Valkyrie bought me an incredible gift

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She felt bad my old one was in such disrepair, so she bought me a replacement AND a great hoodie for this winter. Get you a spouse like that.

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This is a lot of cool stuff.

Slept until about 0700, got up around 0800, got in my squats and push ups. I’ve settled on a pattern of 15 squats-10 push ups-15-10-20-30 to get 50 of each.

Valkyrie made me breakfast. Went a little lighter, since I was still satiated from the full rack of ribs, and just had the 2 omelets with steak and grassfed swiss/ghee topped with grassfed sour cream, one grassfed hot dog and 2 strips of sugar free bacon. Ended up having 1.5 strips extra, as my kid didn’t eat there’s and it’s never going to be as good as when it’s fresh. Walked the dogs for about 1.5 miles.

We got some chores done, and for lunch went to Culver’s. They know me there now, and right away rung up 4 burger patties, which I put some grassfed butter on.

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Also had what was left of my kid’s double cheddar burger (about 1 more patty of beef worth)

Got home and tried to do some mat pulls. It went ok

425+chains for 2 singles.

Still getting pain on the pull and the set down, but it goes away when the session is over. It’s a funny sort of progress. But on the topic of progress, it dawned on me that I don’t HAVE to use 425+chains. That was the next step forward, but I could always walk the weights back and try to beat my previous best on reps instead. That may be the way forward. I’ve got nothing but time. Another COA is to use my Spud “gateway briefs” to help me through this. I’ll consider that.

After that, I built my new belt squat attachment with kickstand.

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It’s AWESOME. I’m so excited to use it, and I can also use it for rows and some other landmine shenanigans

I sweated out like I was cutting weight for wrestling building that damn thing in my garage: it’s HUMID today. After this, we went out for dinner, and it was a Conan win: talked the Valkyrie into ordering the cheese and meat platter as an appetizer, and we all loved it, to include the kiddo. I got a bacon cheeseburger for entree, and I asked “Hey, I don’t really care about the sides: could the chef just give me some extra bacon on the side instead?” and they were totally cool with it. That’s a win. My kiddo ordered the same burger and got halfway through it, so I had what was left of theirs as well. It’s nice to not have to worry about weight classes again and just get strong.

Took the dog for a 2 mile walk when I got home.

For those following along, the mat pulls are NOT part of Tactical Barbell, but it’s just something I feel fit to keep in my programming. Ideally, without this stupid pain.

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Some more meal documentation for Operation Conan

This is a pretty standard weekend breakfast

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2 omelets, each with 3 pastured eggs, some grassfed swiss and ghee and steak. On top is grassfed sour cream. Alongside is grassfed cottage cheese, some sugar free bacon (this is pork, but I prefer beef), a grassfed organic hot dog, and some pork cracklin

I had that this morning after waking up around 0750 and knocking out my 50 push ups and squats. Took the dogs for a 1.5 mile walk after breakfast, got some chores knocked out, came home, walked the dog again, fasted through lunch (I prefer 2 BIG meals vs 3 moderate ones), more chores, then worked on putting together a tailgate spread for dinner

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11 carnivore deviled eggs with grassfed sour cream and cottage cheese for the filling, alongside 7 beef back ribs (just smoke, salt, duck fat and ghee), a spread of kosher beef salami, Tillamook cheddar, some venison sticks from this fall, and then some pizza rolls and brazillian cheese bread for my carb eaters.

This was my plate, and very much fitting of Operation Conan

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I went back for a few more eggs after that. Got some great leftovers for later in the week.

Played with my belt squat and got a feel for what I want to use tomorrow. Did calculations for this week, discovered I made a few errors last week. Once again: recon and scouting

DAY A

Squat:
4-5x6x295
Press:
4-5x6x130
DB bench
4x10x55
NG chins
4x14
GHRs
4x18 (realized I used 80% last time…I might just keep going up there instead, for 4x24)

DAY B
Trap Bar lift
4-5x6x425
Bench
4-5x6x206
Dips
4-6x10x195 (20lbs)
Curls
4-5x10x50
Belt squats
4-5x10x180 (4 plates)

Carb up meal tomorrow with bison spaghetti and some absolutely baller pumpkin cookies the Valkyrie made. These are great times.

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AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

OPERATION CONAN: Recon and Scouting
Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol: Grey Man-Week 1, Day 3

WARM UP

Roll out on LAX ball
50x180 reverse hyper
Warm up sets of 135, 225 and 315 on trap bar lift

MAIN WORK

Low handle trap bar lift
4x6x425

SUPERSET

Axle bench press
4x6x206

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER GIANT SET

Fringe Sport Mammoth Belt Squat
4x10x180 (4 plates)

Dips
4x10x30lb

Axle curls
4x10x53

ASSISTANCE

3x10 standing ab wheel
50x10lb lateral raises

TOTAL TRAINING TIME: 53 minutes

BREAKFAST

Moderate walk w/dogs

Notes:

  • I really love how I am legit excited to train again. That’s the biggest boon with this program so far. And that’s WHILE dealing with this stupid injury, which is a bit of puzzle solving in and of itself. When I’m fully healthy (or whatever that looks like for me these days), I’m really going to tear things up. The training itself still sucks, but I’m excited for the challenge, and I really dig how I can get all the required stuff done inside about 40 minutes. That’s the sweet spot for me these days.

  • Hip continues to heal. I feel like Wolverine in “Logan”, where I still have the power, it just doesn’t work as fast as it used to. But staying diligent on the rolling and hypers has it so that I’m no longer in pain post workout AND I have minimal pain during the workout. Getting up earlier to get in a little more warming up is paying off. I actually feel like my last set on the trap bar was my best as far as recovery goes, as I was able to stand straight up after setting the weight down without issue. Although my first 2 sets were painfree DURING execution, whereas I crunched the nerve a little on the last 2 sets. Either way: I’ll take the W however I get it.

  • Weights are really dialed in just about perfect on this day as far as the main work goes, and even the supplemental cluster is pretty solid. I already went 10lbs higher than RX for the dips, and I think I can do more than that. I’ll keep tweaking as I go. Really glad I decided to settle on a recon and scouting phase.

  • I REALLY like my new toy. That belt squat is SO much better than what I was doing with a straight landmine. Having the loading pin face up vs forward really allows for a lot more ROM, and the kickstand just makes set up a dream. You can see how quickly I’m able to get things in place. And with my 100lb plates available, I should have no issue going stupidly heavy if I decide to do so. Stacking a few mats underneath really allowed me to get down deep. I can feel a slight pull on my right knee if I don’t have the set-up right, but otherwise it’s solid. This opens up a LOT of avenues, and if I go back to DoggCrapp, I have a great tool here.

  • Left knee is more stable. I’m not sure exactly what I did to it before, but it’s good to see it wasn’t anything too worrisome.

  • Forgot to weigh in this morning pre-workout, but weighed in 79.8 post workout. Last week’s post workout weight was 79.1, and first thing in the morning weigh in after a buffet dinner was 80.4, so I can weigh in tomorrow after tonight’s carb up and see how that looks, but I’m willing to call this progress. Gotta get comfortable weighing myself on the regular again. I wanna document this to a pretty good extent. Progress photos would be dandy, but I’m not holding my breath on that.

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I have new toy envy, the search has begun…

Also did you listen to C&C music on loop for the entire session?

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The past FOUR sessions in fact, haha. “Hell March”. Seems appropriate for “Tactical Barbell”. Although in fairness, “listen to” is a generous term. I pretty much never hear the music in the background, but it drowns out all the noises that my knee makes.

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