Haha, I clearly haven’t been paying attention (or had the volume up on my phone). Classic game.
I feel you here, pretty much the only reason I wear knee sleeves!
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I am very stoked about the TB results.
Also, i really like the small tips I am picking up like the Recon. I might use that when I will eventually switch to BBB. I am playing with the idea of having 1 cycle where the bbb weights ramp up before I run them FSL.
Update here: weight loss is streadily on track. Now around 115kg, which makes a drop of 1 kg per week. Thats insane, because the weekends are still pretty much free for all haha. I guess it helps that my stomach is shrinking slowely.
If the weightloss keeps on, I will be done before christmas.
Edit: messed my hand up during a drunk wrestling match and my shoulder doing dips last week. Feeling tender since, a bit more pain, probably due to wrestling haha.
I am giving it some rest and will start some lighter training this week.
Also a fun thing, I seem a tad stronger than I was when I was 137kg. Which is very nice since I lost 22kg ans was training prettt hard at that point.
Always great to have you along dude, and to have your support.
This is a Jim Wendler original idea right here. He’s suggested cycles as low as 30-40%, just to get adapted to the volume.
That’s awesome to hear about the results you’re getting! Sounds like you’re really in a solid place.
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Indeed, he says so in forever I believe. Speaking of bbb, when i look back in logbooks, I feel the upperbody stuff will be way easier with FSL vs the lower body stuff. How have you experienced this?
Edit: It feels like a solid place, apart from the messed up shoulder
It should hopefully be much easier. It’s one of the big reasons to have the upper and lower body days alternate: far less taxing. I actually like doing a set up that was Squat-Bench-Rest-Press-Deadlift, so I’d have as long as possible between the squat and the deadlift.
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I like that idea. Gives room for bigger conditioning session in between to get the legs moving.
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Nice work. That belt squat is pretty slick. 
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Hey, question for you.
On day 3 of this whole “cyclical keto velocity diet.” It’s ending up being pretty much carnivore, just because on the ship if it’s not a carb, then it’s meat lol.
I’m not hungry throughout the day, the shakes keep me super satiated. But I find at meals, I can easily eat ridiculous amounts of meat haha. I’m not, just because the whole “1 healthy meal a day,” but damn, I feel like i could legitimately chow down on 2lbs of meat for that meal and not be full.
This isn’t a problem, I’m not “hungry” going into the meal with all the shakes, it’s more that the internal “I’ve had enough” switch just does not get hit when I’m eating meat and eggs.
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Oh dude, get ready for some alchemy, haha.
So the body doesn’t hunger for energy: it hungers for nutrients. The issue is, most food is so nutrient devoid that you have to eat a LOT of it to reach that level of nutrients. This is how hyper-palatable food “works” and causes obesity: it’s so void in nutrients that we consume a TON of energy in order to finally feel satiated. And often, these foods have so much junk in them that we end up feeling pretty sick after we eat it, to say nothing of CAUSING actual sickness from eating them, by way of GI distress, oxalate toxicity, etc.
Meat and eggs don’t run into this issue. They’re nutrient DENSE, and void of oxalates, phytic acid, aflatoxins, mold, etc.
When we’ve been eating a “toxic” diet for so long, our body is pretty messed up, our hunger and satiety signals are jacked up from artificial/hyperpalatable foods, and we just feel crummy.
When we start feeding the body proper nutrition VIA meat and eggs, it’s like an antidote to that stuff. In turn, the body jacks up the hunger signals because it WANTS to heal. “Yes, MORE of that please”. The best thing to do is to LISTEN to that signal and just give it the healing it wants until it’s done. As long as it’s meat and eggs (ideally without seasoning), it will do us good, and EVENTUALLY the body will say “Hey thanks, I’m good now”. And at that point, we can go for LONG stretches without food.
That’s where I’m at these days. I can go a LONG time without eating, and then, when it’s time to eat, I can put away a LOT of food. It’s like being a food camel, haha.
EDIT: Totally forgot, but thanks for the shout out @shaneinga ! I am a big fan of that toy.
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I’m definitely feeling that. Again, I’m not really “hungry” which I accredit to all the protein shakes, but when I hit the meat and eggs, I can go to town haha.
Unseasoned can be a bit difficult, though I’m finding my work arounds. And to be fair, I am having a small salad with dinner that’s mainly just lettuce and carrots, no dressing, so I’m not truly doing carnivore, but it’s still a noticeable shift from having 1-2 servings of starch at every meal.
Excited to see how my body responds after a month or so of this! May adopt some of Jamie Lewis’s approaches once I do 5-6 weeks of velocity, but sticking with the plan as written for now
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@atlas13 I’m excited to see how it works out for you! And no shame in not being “Captain Carnivore”, haha. I still have my plant vices as well: I drink a watered down green tea daily, and will have some pickles from time to time. The big thing is just avoiding stuff that harms you, and if carrots and lettuce are agreeable, that’s awesome.
AM WORKOUT (0410 wake up via alarm)
OPERATION CONAN Recon and Scouting Phase
Roll out on LAX ball
65x320lb reverse hypers
3.25 mile treadmill walk at 3.5mph pace
First half mile at 4.0 incline, then increase by 1.0 each half mile until finishing mile 3 at 9, then finish last .25 miles at incline 4
BREAKFAST
Short walk w/dogs (got rained out)
Notes:
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I am really just a big fan of this training program right now. Been a while since I’ve felt that way. These days are so awesome for my recovery, and key me up for the next big day of training. My hip continues to improve, and I frequently forget that it’s in pain at this point. My left knee is getting wonky on me: it got loose going down the stairs in a hurry yesterday. It’s on the opposite side of my ACL injury, but still worth watching. Thankfully, no competitions on the horizon, aside from some martial arts tournaments.
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I got in some extra walking yesterday while my kid was at rehersal, and even found some stairs to go up and down a few times. Helped me get to over 10k steps.
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I’ve got Tang Soo Do tonight, and it’s our sparring week, so that will be good for some extra activity.
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Carb up meal was a success last night. 2 servings of spaghetti with bison meat sauce, 2 slices of garlic bread, some leftover deviled eggs and 4 of the Valkyrie’s pumpkin cookies with some honey from Cabo. I really dig where I’m at with this meal these days: I look forward to it.
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Reverse hypers on LAX ball really seem to be working magic for the recovery. I should learn my lesson and make this a regular thing. I don’t want to make it “daily work”, but I can think of it as prehab.
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More Operation Conan meals
Leftovers night. 4 beef back ribs and 5 carnivore deviled eggs
And proof that I am not just posting photos of food
I actually had 2 more deviled eggs after this, to finish them all off.
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AM WORKOUT (0400 Wake up via alarm)
OPERATION CONAN: Recon and Scouting
Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol: Grey Man-Week 2, Day 2
WARM UP
Roll out on LAX ball
15 GHRs
50x180 reverse hypers
30 seconds at the bottom of a squat
Warm up squat sets w/bar, 85, 135, 185, 245 and an overwarm walkout w/335
MAINWORK
Buffalo Bar Squats
4x6x295
SUPERSET
Axle strict press
4x6x133
SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER (giant set)
(3) Incline DB bench
4x10x55
NG chins
4x13 (rest as long as needed to get the reps)
Standing ab wheel
3x10
SUPPLEMENTAL EXERCISE (off camera)
GHRs
4x24
Total training time: 53.5 minutes
BREAKFAST
Moderate walk w/dogs
Notes:
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This was definitely a great day as far as pain management went. Thorough warm up, tried out GHRs beforehand to help my knees feel well, and I remembered my trick about squatting out of the bar after unrack vs walking out, and it all added up well. I didn’t experience any significant pain DURING the sets, and just had some post set pain in the immediate time. Really focused hard on bracing. Actually tried out my belt during the warm ups with 185 and decided against it. It didn’t seem to help much one way or the other, so I figured I’d continue going beltless and getting the benefit from that.
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Sets were challenging my manageable all around. Really got the numbers dialed in. I also really dig how the A-B-A, B-A-B structure is setting me up on this. Only having one day of squatting this week really helps me bounce back after last week.
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Took to hanging from the bar in between sets of the main work to help decompress my back and get in a little sneaky grip work.
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Was aiming for about 90 seconds between sets on the main work, and 60 seconds on the supplemental circuits. Occasionally ran longer than that. Remembering K Black’s instruction to rest long enough to get all the reps.
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Glad I decided to up my max on the GHRs: I’m getting an awesome pump with these high reps.
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Once again: loving how this program has me excited to train again. Really can speak highly of it from that perspective.
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Sparring last night had me last until the final round against our Dojang’s resident champion. Had to go through a junior student and then our senior student to get there. Hips and knees were bugging me a little going in, making it difficult to pivot a few times, but I surprised most of my opponents with some off-angle kicks and tricks. In the final round, I fell victim to the angle of the observing judges, but gave a good fight. Got to watch my kiddo and Valkryie put on an awesome display as well: always good when we don’t have to square off against each other. We have another night of it tonight.
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Had a great “Operation Conan” lunch today. I packed 250g of egg whites, and had intentions of eating it with some sardines and salmon, but our BBQ food truck was here today, so I actually grabbed some pulled pork. I was able to get it on my way home to let out my dogs, so I actually weighed out how much they gave me, which ended up being 12.5 oz, took 6 oz out and put it with my egg whites and saved the rest for some other time that I want pulled pork. No photo op, sadly, but holy cow was it delicious.
I’ve settled into a pattern of Mon and Tues being PSMF days until dinner, and Wed having a solid food meal. I like Thurs ALSO being a PSMF day, and Fri being solid food. Sat and Sun tend to be 2-3 solid meals on those days. So far, logic goes that Mon is my carb up meal and the day after 2 solid food heavy days, so leading in with the PSMF re-establishes a baseline and really maximizes the impact of the carbs, having minimal fats to blunt things. Tues is a non-lifting day, so there’s not much recovery demand, and I can continue trying to ride out the carbs. Wed is a lifting day: I want more food then. Same with Fri. And Thurs is another day of walking/activity without lifting, so another day without too much recovery demand. Weekends are weekends: Valkyrie makes me breakfast in the morning, and I’m never going to turn that down, and from there we eat out when we’re doing chores or go out to eat just to enjoy each other’s company. I typically make dinner on Sundays, and it’s usually something pretty awesome.
Other interesting nutritional tidbits: I haven’t had a diet coke since we got the new puppy. It’s an interesting correlation: the only time I’d drink them was when I’d visit the Valkyrie for lunch. I’d bring her one, and I’d get one for myself, as I used to be a HEAVY consumer of them and it’s something we’d share together. Since getting the dog, I spend my lunches going home to let her out and don’t get to see the Mrs for lunch these days, so it’s been like a month without them. I don’t miss them at all, but I also wonder if it’s just had even more positive impacts to cut out my 2-3 diet cokes per week. I also quit eating those egglife wraps, outside of using them to make nacho chips, whereas before I was having about 3-7 per week depending on the meal layout. Small things. If I could quit chewing so much damn gum, maybe I’d really be somewhere, haha.
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Hello Jared,
I would like to be able to contact you in a “private” way (by message?), how can I do that?
Thanks in advance,
Louis
Here is the pre-staging of an Operation Conan dinner.
Valkyrie made her bison meatloaf and prepare 4 sunny side up eggs for me. After she put the meatloaf on the plate, I took all the drippings and grease from the pan and poured it onto of the eggs/alongside the cottage cheese. Incredibly anabolic. And then I, of course, heaped up much meatloaf alongside it once I got to the table.
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OPERATION CONAN Recon and Scouting
AM WORKOUT (0408 natural wake up)
Roll out on LAX ball
2 minute hang from bar, pull up every 30 seconds
65x320 reverse hypers
60 minute treadmill walk at 3.6mph and 4 incline
BREAKFAST
Moderate walk w/dogs
13k+ steps before 0800
Notes:
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Wanted today to be very low stress/recovery focused and compromised by keeping the elevation on the low side and upping the walking speed by .1mph. Results were fantastic: I’m legit pain free in that hip. I actually forgot how it felt to not have pain there: it’s interesting to just be mobile again. My knees are still achy, so I’m not totally out of the woods, but the biggest issue has been resolved. I’m going to keep on with this proactive strategy until it becomes a burden, but right now it’s pretty low drag on my lifestyle and the results are very positive.
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Got to bed a little later than usual last night. Been sleeping very well these past few days.
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Got to spar 3 rounds last night: one against the senior student and 2 against black belts, to include our Dojang’s resident sparring champ. Hip was playing well enough that I had most of my arsenal available. I tried to focus on footwork and angles to create openings. I got a little frustrated against the sparring champ: he’s about 5” taller than me, and is often awarded points for body punches that are in no way threatening, but his long limbs make them appear as though he’s scored. So I played “dirty”, went back to boxing, Dempsey rolled inside his defense and got in a bodyjab. I then went back to actually doing Tang Soo Do in my Tang Soo Do class, but it was nice for me to know I still had that in me if I needed it.
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Meant to document that part of my approach to healing has been to include more gelatin in my diet. I’ve been mixing a pack with 2-3 of my Metabolic Drive “shakes”, which are really puddings because I use a splash of hot water. The hot water makes the gelatin sticky, and creates a caramel/taffy like texture. But specifically, it’s full of collagen, which is supposed to be helpful for healing.
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Also wanted to note that Thursday was my events day in my previous training cycle, and if I woke up to that this morning, I would have flat out not done it. These walking days really are a boon for me.
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Super glad to hear you’re recovering. Wanted to say I’ve tried the splash of hot water method to make protein pudding and it’s my new favorite bedtime snack. So much faster than making an entire shake and I consume less water before sleep.
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@PowPowPunishment Good to have you swing by dude. I gotta thank @Chris_Shugart for that idea. And yeah: total game changer. Really a joy on cold winter/fall mornings too. Very much scratches the “oatmeal” itch.
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Keeping up with the Operation Conan meal plan documentation. Thursdays are “breakfast for dinner” days in my household, which is to say, my favorite day of the week, so this is going to be a familiar looking layout
2 omelets, each made with 3 pastured eggs, grassfed: swiss, ghee, lamb and beef burger, topped with grassfed sour cream, alongside beef bacon, grassfed organic hot dog, grassfed cottage cheese, a bit of grassfed burger, and some pork cracklin. Also ended up having a leftover strip of sugar free pork bacon off my kid’s plate…because who ever heard of leftover bacon?
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