Thanks for that dude! I’m so used to training first thing in the morning that it almost feels like cheating when I get to train a little later in the day when I’m more limber, haha.
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Leftovers night on “Operation Conan” is the best
2 more chuck ribs, 1 back rib, cottage cheese and deviled eggs. I actually had 3 more deviled eggs to finish them off after this plate.
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AM WORKOUT (0357 natural wake up, snooze until 0400)
OPERATION CONAN: Initial Shocktrooper Assault
Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol: Grey Man-Cycle 2, Week 2, Day 2
WARM UP
Roll out on LAX ball
50x180 reverse hypers
Sets of 135, 225 and 315 on trap bar pull
MAIN WORK
Low handle trap bar lift
5x6x425
SUPERSET
Axle bench press
5x6x206
SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER
Belt squat (Fringe Sport Mammoth belt squat)
4x10x200
loaded Dips
4x10x40lb
Axle curls
4x10x53
ASSISTANCE
Standing ab wheel
3x10
Lateral raise dropset (35x10lb, 35x5, 35x2.5, 35xEmpty Hands)
20 band pull aparts
Total training time: 58 minutes
BREAKFAST
Short walk with dogs
Notes:
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That first set on the trap bar pulls was stupidly hard, to the point that I kept re-running the plate math in my head to make sure I had it right. My right hip was on fire the entire time too. After that, everything felt awesome and I felt strong again, so perhaps just a fluke. I imagine part of it was I approached it gingerly, as my left hip flexor has been a little funky and, in turn, I didn’t really have my hips under me at the start of the pull. But when it was over everything felt awesome, and a few hours later I’m pain free, so the victories keep rolling in.
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This was a slower workout in general. It’s the heavier of the two days, so it tracks.
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I still hit the uprights/j-hooks on my right side when benching. I imagine it’s because that’s the shoulder with the torn labrum/multiple dislocations, so it doesn’t track the same as the left side.
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I do think I may be coming into this underfed. Since I’m only doing 1 meal a day this week, I gotta make sure it’s a BIG meal.
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Tang Soo Do was a pretty solid workout yesterday. I think I’ve figured out what the hell they’ve been meaning about needing to “relax” during the hyungs: I’ve always performed with my shoulders hunched. It’s a habit from fighting as a crouch fighter. Focusing on relaxing them. Also noticed I was able to get in some solid height on my kicks: my hips opening back up has been helpful. We’re back to 3 nights a week of training, so Tues/Wed/Thurs will be the schedule.
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I tried my morning green tea with a little bit of beef bone broth and salt this morning rather than my normal flavored electrolyte mixture and I’m a big fan of it. Going to make that switch. The broth and salt will contain a good amount of electrolytes. That all said, my bicep was cramping up pretty bad at TSD last night, and it’s the one I HAVEN’T torn, so I’m going to do my best to keep my eye on that.
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Got to see the carb magic this morning: abs were STUPIDLY deep cut post workout. A 2 week gap on refeed followed by a pretty dramatic refeed is a good combo there.
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On the Operation Conan front, I need ya’ll to appreciate that these are the side dishes for tonight.
NOT pictured was the bison meatloaf that went on the plate. It was about 1lb worth. On the plate is 4 pastured eggs, sunny side up, swimming in a combination of grassfed ghee and the leftover grease from the meatloaf, alongside some leftover bacon (whoever heard of that? But we had company), grassfed cottage cheese and pork cracklin.
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AM WORKOUT (0350 wake up via dog, snoozed until 0400)
Roll out on LAX ball
80x320 reverse hypers
3.5 mile/60 minute treadmill walk at 4.0 pace
2:30 hang from bar, pull up every 30 seconds
BREAKFAST
Long walk w/dogs
12+k steps before 0730
Notes:
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Tang Soo Do last night was a legit challenging workout. We’re a month out from belt testing, and though my family isn’t eligible, we still participate in the testing prep, which includes a physical testing portion comprised of jumping jacks, sit ups and push ups. I do my best to use a strict style on all of these, and when combined with the jumping jacks, sit ups and push ups we did as part of the warm up as well, my abs were cramping really fiercly on the sit ups. Then, it was “wildcard cardio” week, and the entire class was comprised of working combinations on the bag and various bodyweight exercises, so after an hour we were smoked. I bring all this up to highlight that there are more recovery demands being placed on me than originally intended and, in turn, I made this workout very much focused on recovery vs pushing hard. Kept incline and pace at a comfortable level. We have 1 more TSD class tonight, which most likely won’t be as active, but still recovery demands, and tomorrow is my squat day, which tends to tax me pretty well.
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This worked it’s usual magic: I came out of it feeling better than how I started. My knees were pretty shot from a lot of jumping during Tang Soo Do, and I’m feeling better now. Also happy to repeat that 2:30 hang. I’m thinking those short 30 second hangs I’ve been doing between sets on the squat day may be paying off there.
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I forgot that I’ll be working this weekend, which means I’ll actually be extending my fasting/OMAD approach for a few additional days. So far, I’m enjoying this experiment from a lifestyle perspective. I really dig being able to just go to town on my one meal at the end of the night. Being in a gaining state really makes this work well, because there’s really no wrong choice to make once it’s time to eat, I just have to make sure it’s a lot of food. The real telling point will be to check the scale and the workouts after this. It’s technically deviating from Apex Predator, as I’m in the leanness category that WOULD call for a few midday meals and some calorie cycling, but this isn’t a forever thing.
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It’s Thursday, which means it’s “breakfast for dinner night” for Operation Conan.
I’ve given up on trying to plate this nicely, since it’s such a beast of a meal. We have 3 omelets, each made with 3 pastured eggs, grassfed ghee and grassfed New Zealand sharp white cheddar, with some Trader Joe’s porkbelly inside. You can see a little of that pork belly on the plate as well, alongside some beef bacon and a grassfed hot dog, along with grassfed cottage cheese and some pork cracklin, with grassfed sour cream topping the omelets. This is an absolute perfect way to finish the day and fuel tomorrow’s squat workout.
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Who doesn’t love an all day breakfast.
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And then Simo mentions how American breakfast is like fucking dessert.
lol jk.
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looks like desert to me. LOL
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Capt n’ Crunch!
It’s no joke how awful the American/Western breakfast is. It’s been that way for a LONG time. Coffee and a cigarette was the go to for a while, and otherwise it’s just starting the day with a boatload of sugary junk and carbs. For some reason, people are VERY averse to having any protein in the morning, and it’s just setting us up for a rough start to the day.
AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)
OPERATION CONAN: Initial Shocktrooper Assault
Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol: Grey Man-Cycle 2, Week 2, Day 3
WARM UP
Roll out on LAX ball
50x180 reverse hyper
30 second hold at bottom of squat
Sets of bar (30 second hold at bottom), 135, 225 and overwarm of 335 on squat
MAIN WORK
Buffalo bar Squats
5x6x295
Superset
Axle strict press
5x6x128 axle
SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER giant set
(3) Incline DB bench
4x10x60
NG chins
4x10x10
GHRs
4x27 (off camera)
ASSISTANCE
Standing ab wheel
3X10
TOTAL TRAINING TIME: 53 minutes
BREAKFAST
No walk today (schedule)
Notes:
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Was very pleased with this morning’s performance. This was a repeat of Monday’s workout, but given that this was first thing in the morning, the context changes, and I handled everything well. Weights were manageable and I felt strong, and started and ended without pain.
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Kept rests close to a minute for the main and supplemental work.
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Upped the weight appropriately on the DB bench, and only had to rest for 1 set of the chins. Things seem to be improving there.
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30 second hanging from bar during the rests on the main work. Seems to be helping with spinal decompression and getting in some sneaky grip work.
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Work schedule is going to be busy for the next few days, to include the weekend. It was honestly a good time to try this experiment of one meal a day, because it means I can just rely on Metabolic Drive while at work.
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Tang Soo Do was intense again last night. Lots of running and bodyweight exercises.
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You won’t believe the number of fully grown adults I work with who eat the sort of breakfast a ten year old me could only dream of, it’s frightening.
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Sadly, I WOULD believe it, haha. I see the same thing at my work center. And they treat me like a freakshow for my Metabolic Drive feedings. Or when I used to eat steak and eggs for breakfast. I’ve been shameless about it too: “Look at how I look and look at how you look, then look at how I eat and look at how you eat”
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yep . . don’t know how people ever became convinced that cereal (aka corn and wheat and rice loaded with sugar) and donuts are breakfast food . . like why??
my grandfather asked me the other day, ‘are you sure eating all that steak is good for you?’ while he won’t hesitate to pump his great grandkids (not mine, I won’t allow it) full of twizzlers and lollipops and ice cream sandwiches, etc.
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Marketing man. The food industry is insidious. The fact it’s a “food industry” itself is already alarming, and they’re using all the same tricks the tobacco companies did to hoodwink us, primarily because they’re owned by the same orgs. Like, check this out: go to the cereal aisle and look at the boxes. Check out the cartoon characters on the box. Their eyes are looking down…at the CHILDREN that are in the aisle. They’re specifically looking to make “eye contact” with them and compel them to ask mom and dad to make a purchase. And, of course, we grew up with all the commercials telling us to pick up the latest sugary junk for breakfast. They have to find new ways to get to our kids now that everything is streaming.
Isn’t it wild? People won’t think twice about eating a box of Captain Crunch, but will want to put a HARD limit on daily egg consumption. I heard a great quote the other day: “Humans are the only species smart enough to make their own food and dumb enough to actually eat it”
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Went shopping with my son when he was eleven, saw Cap’n Crunch Oops, All Crunchberries. Asked my son, “How does that sound?”
HIM: It sounds like diabetes.
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You raised a good one there! Gotta love the cuteness too. “Ooops! We poisoned you for breakfast!”
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Somehow, a lot of people might be better off with a coffee and a cigarette compared to the current typical breakfast. Sad state of affairs!
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Not just American, UK is full of the same
Sugary cereal with carton characters on it and Australian is no different. Now in Australia the cereal companies have caught on to the current trend of “higher” protein foods. Now we have “high protein” cereal and people are stupidly enough to buy it.
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Ever see those “fitness influencer” grocery hall videos or TikToks.
It’s like they’re allergic to meat.
Protein this, protein that, but no chicken, beef, pork, eggs or whatever.
Generic fitness influencer ladies are soooo notorious of that
To be fair, if someone actually wants dessert. The protein stuff may be a better alternative than straight up sugar.
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