Got up at 0730, 50 push ups and squats, a wonderful breakfast from the Valkyrie, 2+ mile walk with the dog, a 3.5 mile walk with the family. And during this time, I tackled my first ever brisket
The actual Operation Conan meal…in parts. I had a TON more brisket after that, since I fasted through lunch. I legit felt like I could eat the whole thing.
…but instead, now I have some awesome leftovers for a while
Folks, it’s been a great weekend: beef ribs, a porterhouse, and brisket. Definitely back on the Operation Carnivore train, and despite having the day off tomorrow, I’m gonna get in some training. I actually had to deconstruct the home gym a little to allow some work in the garage tomorrow, so that was a decent workout moving all that stuff around.
Yeah, but you could say the same about kids and that’s not stopping most people, haha. And when you look at it cost per pound, it’s honestly not that bad as far as beef goes. If nothing else, I know folks that will just buy a brisket and grind it into burgers, which is always a good fallback. Otherwise, a pressure cooker can work magic. I ran into one small issue with this one where my app screwed up and set the smoker to TWO degrees instead of 250 degrees during one point in the cook, which made things take a long time, but I managed to salvage it.
Chaos is, as always, the plan. Wanted to get up this morning to train, but at around 0030 my kiddo pounds on the bedroom door and says “The dog pooped all over her kennel”. So Valkyrie and I go into parent triage mode, clean up the mess and get everyone settled back down, and at that point, since I had the day off work, I decided to seize the opportunity to recover the lost sleep. Got up at 0630, got in a weigh in, a light breakfast of Metabolic Drive with some green tea, and plans to have a wonderful lunch with my Valkryie, a family carby dinner, and I’ll either lift today and have post workout carbs or I’ll lift tomorrow and have pre-training carbs. Either way is a win. From there, I’ll determine the rest of the week’s pivot. My garage door guys are coming soon, and once they’re done I’ll have to re-assemble my gym, which is also a workout.
I weighed in at 81.4kg this morning, which was my same weight at week 3. This means I need to eat even more. THAT is awesome.
EDIT:
While I had some downtime today, I shot a video of me making one of my Metabolic Drive feedings
WARM UP
Roll out on LAX ball
50x180 reverse hypers
Squat sets w/bar, 85, 135, 225, overwarm walkout of 365
MAINWORK
Buffalo bar squat
4x3x320
SUPERSET
Axle strict press
4x3x143
SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER giant set
(3) Incline bench press
4x8x70s
NG weighted chin
4x8x20 (rest as long as needed)
Hanging leg raise
3x10
SUPPLEMENTAL WORK
GHRs
4x33
Total Training Time: 38 minutes
Notes:
Chaos is the plan. WAS going to wake up early and train, but at 0030 my kiddo woke me up to announce that the dog had pooped everywhere inside their kennel, and the adrenaline of going into triage mode for that made it tough to get back to sleep, and since I had the day off work today, I decided to sleep in and train later. And once again, training in the evening feels like cheating, because I TORE through this workout. Proof of concept of the idea that, if you get strong when you are weak, you’ll be strong when you are strong.
Kept rests to a minute or less. Only difficult part about that was this was following my family/carby meal. Since I woke up at 81.4 kg, and since I realized my weight class for my grappling comp is 185 and NOT 181, I definitely feasted tonight. Valkyrie made 4 cheese tortellini, along with itallian sausage, garlic bread, and I had 4 pastured hard boiled eggs along with that, and then topped it off with 5 of her cookies (4 peanut butter oatmeal “monster cookies” with some leftover halloween candy chopped up in it, and 1 snickerdoodle, all with some raw honey from Costa Maya and a mug of fairlife skim). I still feel awesome after eating this stuff, since the ingredients are quality, but I had a decent bolus in my guts. The reverse hypers, in particular, were tough, since I was ON my gut for them.
Hips are still trending in the right direction. They ache when I stand for too long and I can shift my weight weird onto them and jack them up, but I have more good time than bad with them. And being able to move quickly through this workout helped there too. I kinda dig how I got to “test out” this workout today, and then Friday is going to be challenge mode with a PM workout.
Worth noting that the Valkyrie and I also went out for lunch today. First Watch. I got an all meat omelet with jack and cheddar cheese topped with sour cream and butter, 2 sunny side up eggs with butter, and a pork sausage. Good day for feasting. Good day in general.
@raven78 Thanks man! We’ll see how it shakes out. There’s currently a 20 year old kid in my weight class, so there’s at least SOMEONE I can play with. I’m hoping more will fill out as time goes on. I’d really prefer more masters athletes, but beggars and choosers.
AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)
Roll out on LAX ball
50x360 reverse hyper (supposed to be 52, but I’m pretty sure I cut it off at 50)
3.5 mile/60 minutes treadmill walk at 4.5 incline
2:36 hang from bar (pull up every 30 minutes)
BREAKFAST
Short walk w/dogs
Notes:
Keeping up with this being the recovery day post squats, and it’s absolutely working. I feel the best I’ve felt in a long time today, and I keep saying that with more of my posts, which means I’m trending in a very good direction. I barely rolled out on the ball: just did it more to be preventative. I’m trying to slowly up the reps on the reverse hyper, and I did so to the point that I’m pretty sure I forgot to up them today, but Thursday I’ll make a slight increase.
Upped the incline half a percent. Just thinking of establishing a new baseline of “easy”. Still like the 3.5 mph pace.
My right elbow is still a little angry on those hangs. It’s not terrible, but something to be aware of.
Tang Soo Do later tonight. This is “Wildcard/Cardio” week, so most likely a decent workout ahead. Gotta keep my feast game strong.
Leftovers night, which is really becoming pretty clutch with such awesome leftovers. 2 piedmontese beef chuck bone in short ribs, covered with grassfed ghee, 3 strips of piedmontese brisket, 4 pastured hardboiled eggs with some grassfed sour cream and grassfed cottage cheese.
Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol Grey Man Cycle 3, Week 3, Workout 2
Axle bench press
4x3x226
SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER GIANT SET
Lever belt squat
4x8x225
Weighted dip
4x8x60
Axle curls
4x8x71
ASSISTANCE
Standing ab wheels
3x10
Low handle trap bar pull
1x405
BREAKFAST
No walk w/dogs (rained out)
Notes:
The poison is the dosage. My lower back is absolutely fried, even though I FEEL fantastic. Last night was the best night of Tang Soo Do I’ve had in months. I could BOW without my back feeling like it was going to snap in half, to say nothing of the fact that my lower back and hips actually unlocked enough that I could get my kicks above waist height and actually jump in the air for my jump kicks. However, all the reverse hypers, along with the 4x33 of GHRs on Monday along with the squats all came to play today on the pulls, as even the first warm up felt heavy. I set up for my first workset of 460, break one side off the floor a few centimeters and then just waved it off. I then tried a set of 405 and decided it was a bad idea before I even tried to break it off. I just could tell that the deadlift gods were going to be fickle today. I also theorize I ran into the issue that I was so strong training in the evening on Monday that I pushed myself beyond my limits. I ran into that issue back when I was using Surge: I could tap further into my potential and, in turn, deeper into my recovery well. So I just went with the rest of my training, and at the end I was feeling a little froggy and decided to give 405 a ride. I pulled one grindy rep on it and decided it was time to just shut it all down.
From this, I feel like I’ve discovered what I really “love” about training: the puzzle. I dig how I’m able to source what the issue is here, and I’m excited that I’ve come up with 2 possible COAs. Most obvious one is to do the bridge week to recover from the accumulated fatigue in my lower back, then transition to specialization. The only thing distasteful about that COA is that I have my cruise coming up at the end of Dec, which is going to be a forced bridge week. With this approach, it will mean only 5 weeks of training between bridge weeks, so not enough to get in 2 full cycles of anything. Second COA is to start specialization NOW, get in 2 full cycles, and then really lean into that bridge week on the cruise. I LIKE the idea of the second COA more, as I feel like transitioning to lighter weights in general via specialization can support a fatigue recovery in and of itself. No matter what, I feel like another part of the solution is to ease off the reverse hypers now, and truly make them tonic. Maybe no heavier the 90lbs on non-RH days, and go back to doing heavy RH only once a week vs twice.
Rest of the workout was solid enough. I’m glad I got the lever belt squat in there to get in some manner of lower body work. Ab wheel felt great: reducing frequency there has been helpful, and that’s most likely the lesson to learn from all of this. I’m not a kid anymore: I don’t NEED frequency.
More Tang Soo Do tonight. Last night was a solid workout, and tonight should be the same. Will be planning out my specialization phase regardless at this point. Looks like this was a short occupation campaign for Operation Conan, as soon we move on to Spec Ops insertion.
Ok, re-read the specificity section, and I’m definitely leaning toward Bravo, and it’s going to be stupidly simple to execute.
I’m going to make push/pull days, and I can just re-arrange the exercises I’ve been using in Grey Man to make that work.
H1:
Squat
Belt squat
Strict press
Bench Press
Dips
Incline DB Bench
H2:
Low handle trap bar lift
Weighted chin
Axle curl
GHR
I can see the push day is already built, whereas the pull day has room for a little more play. I haven’t included any of my ab work, nor the reverse hypers. I think they hypers would fit in very well for H2, and I can still do hanging leg raises on H1 and ab wheels on H2: I just have no intention of actually programming/progressing those. Will just stick with 3x10 at the end.
I can see myself throwing in some lateral raises on that H2 day as well, or possibly some shrugs. I think the thing I need to start taking into consideration is logistics as far as the home gym goes.
For H1, the only issue I’m seeing is attempting to squat and bench on the same day. They both use the rack. I COULD strip all the weights when I’m done and reload it: that’s a possibility. Just a question of how long that will take. But that COULD be something I do between sets as well. I can start off with the squat, then chase that with belt squats, and while I’m doing that, unload the buffalo bar and load up the axle for bench or axle strict press. Yeah, either way, this isn’t insurmountable.
K. Black also allows for use of supersets with the program (despite the recent heated discussion on that here). I can see these workouts running a little on the longside, but a set of squats followed immediately by a set of belt squats sounds REALLY nasty. Same with incline DB bench followed by weighted dips. Definitely something I’ll have to consider.
I’ll also be transitioning the conditioning, per the program reqs. It’s going to be hard to give up my walks: I’ve been digging those. I’ll still keep leisure walking in. As it stands, for now, I’m mostly drawn to the fobbits, as it is the most viable with my current set up, followed by “Reset 20”. For the sprints, I’m going to pull the thread and see what the TB community thinks about prowler work rather than actual for real sprinting.
Once again: I am excited to train. Which is good, as I was dreading it this morning: most likely a symptom of the overtaxed back. This absolutely has some wings.
I’ve had someone come to me that has expressed interest in transforming their nutrition, and they sought me personally based on my own outcomes. However, I recognize that this person is very much the opposite of me in terms of “moderator vs abstainer”. Whereas I prefer a nutritional approach that is “do not eat THESE foods, eat THESE foods”, I know that this person will crumble under restriction, focusing on all the foods they are denied and, ultimately, feel that their diet is suffocating them.
The strategy I am thinking of is THRESHOLDS rather than limits/restriction. This person is a snacker, and an emotional eater in a high stress job. They reach for the candy jar when the stress turns up, because they’re trying to get that insulin bump to combat the cortisol spike. They’re also fine with tracking macros. In turn, I’m thinking of turning them onto the idea of “You can have all the candy you want AFTER you get in 100g of protein for the day”. Which, upon typing out, I realize is EXACTLY “no dessert until you eat your vegetables”…but I feel like it still has some wings. I’m hoping that this can have a “protein leveraging” effect: giving some satiety to the individual to hopefully curb the snacking out of HUNGER, and forcing them to reach for the cottage cheese/yogurt/hard boiled eggs when the stress hits only to discover they’re not “hungry for that”.
But, of course, I’m entirely out of my element. So that said, I’d love your opinion on this approach, along with any other strategies you’ve ever implemented with someone of a similar psychology (female, stress snacker, moderator/non-abstainer).
Costco had a great deal on pork loin chops (bone in), so I cooked up 5: 1 for the Valkyrie, 1 for the kiddo, 3 for me. Put 2 on this plate, alongside 5 pastured eggs with some grassfed ghee and grassfed cottage cheese. Had my third after this, and then finished off whatever leftovers were left from the family (they wouldn’t engage in the barbarism of eating the meat off the bone like I did).
I hate, when I slim down, and someone will ask me how I did it and they reply, “That doesn’t work!” Well dumbass, you just told me I look slimmer. I avoid discussing any diet or exercise/strength training approaches I take because I get tired of the out of shape/overweight crowd telling me I am doing it wrong.
Okay, coming back to this before work gets ridiculous today.
The first thing I have a new client do is write down EVERYTHING that they eat and drink for three days - including amounts, cooking methods, etc. When I meet with them for the first time I ask them to tell me where they see things they could improve on. Let them feel in control of some of the changes - hopefully the BIG stuff, like ditching soda, etc. I also ask them if there are any foods/drinks that they “can’t live without” or that will make their lives miserable if we take out (coffee and chocolate are usually the top answers here). I always make sure we keep those things in play at the beginning of the process.
I never start with macro tracking but instead I lay out an eating template for them with portion sizes and food types so all they need to do is plug and play. For example, lunch might look like:
*4 ounces lean protein or equivalent (1 cup cottage cheese/plain Greek yogurt, 1 serving protein powder, etc.) This will be about 25-30 grams protein without them needing to “track it”.
*2-3 cups non-starchy veggies (Yes, I kill them with veggies. A lot of folks are used to a lot of volume and we can give them that with veggies)
*1-1.5 fat equivalents (1 tablespoon olive oil/mayo etc., 1/3-1/2 of an avocado, 1/2 ounce nuts/seeds) This will provide roughly 10-15 grams of fat - again, with no tracking necessary.
*1 serving starchy carbs or fruit (equivalent to 1/2 cup cooked for starches)
They’ll run that same general set up at each of their 3 meals with veggies optional at breakfast and then I throw in an “optional snack” roughly half the size of a meal. They can have this if they’re hungry but don’t have to if they don’t need it.
I give them lists of food items for each of the components so that they can choose (again control) and make a rule that there can be no substitutions (like, you can’t trade veggies in for extra fruit or protein for extra carbs, etc.) There’s also no carrying over portions from one meal to the next. If you don’t use all your breakfast fats, you don’t get to add them to dinner. Each meal/snack is an island and there are no ships that run between the islands.
Each week I give them the option to enjoy 2-3 “treats” - these treats can be some of the foods that they enjoy on the regular right now but aren’t included in the meal plan. The portions need to be moderate - eating to satisfaction, not stuffed. If it’s pizza - 2 slices, if it’s ice cream -1 cup, if it’s a burger - no fries or you trade in the cheese and bun for the fries).
I use veggies as the “hunger filler” - if a bag of heated up frozen broccoli or some baby carrots don’t sound good - you’re not hungry. I use the meal template approach to help teach portion size and to help them discover their “satisfaction point” using healthy, whole foods, instead of just trying to fill in macros. Train them and their taste buds to crave salmon, asparagus, etc., and choose these foods on the regular.
I also encourage them to write down their plan for the next day and make sure that they have everything they need to make sure that plan happens. Additionally, I have them plan at least three “emergency meals” just in case something falls through. I have them do 1-2 meals they can quick throw together with ingredients they always have at home and 1-2 meals that they can pick up at a nearby restaurant (Chick-fil-A grilled nuggets and a salad; Chipotle salad bowl with chicken or steak, beans, veggies, salsa; Jimmy John’s Unwich no mayo, lean meats turkey, roast beef, ham; etc.) or that they have in their desk or work fridge (can of tuna, low/no sugar jerky, bags of frozen veggies, etc.). ALWAYS HAVE A PLAN.
I cater every plan to the individual - you gotta meet them where they are and make it as simple as possible. If they need to start with just 1-2 meals - it’s a start. It would be awesome if everyone was as highly motivated as the bunch we’ve got up in here, but the reality is - um, not that. Lol.
I hope some of this is maybe helpful and if there’s anything you’d like more info on or that doesn’t make sense, just let me know! And like I’ve mentioned to others, I’m always open to a phone call. I do love talking. Lol…
@dchris That flag is awesome! Thanks for thinking of me. For myself: I’m a gum chewer. I just need to always keep my mouth moving. I went through a phase where I was chewing on ice chips for a while, but I got tired of all the questions from co-workers about why I was doing it.
@Friedrich I appreciate the kudos dude. I’ve learned that people are different (shocker, I know), and what works for some does not work for all. I can sit on my ivory tower and go “Psh, why can’t you just restrict like I can?” but then people who can moderate and count calories and be ok like that could do the same to me, because I KNOW I would absolutely melt down if I had to input everything I ate into a machine and have to hit certain macro goals. It’s the same with training: Mike Tuchscherer’s RTS training absolutely works…but I can’t make it work for me.
@QuadQueen I feel like I just got a seminar for free there. Thank you so much for that info! That’s an outstanding starting position to work from. That’s a super hot tip regarding the “foods I can’t live without”: I genuinely don’t think that way. It’s not something I ever considered. It’s always great to be able to get into the headspace of others.
AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)
Just realized I never rolled out on the LAX ball….which might actually be a sign I’m feeling pretty good
50x90 reverse hyper
3.5 mile/60 minute treadmill walk at 4.5 incline
2:38 hang from bar (no pull ups)
BREAKFAST
2 mile walk w/dogs
Notes:
Trying my best to not be Captain Reverse Hyper/Conditioning. With the lower back fatigue accumulation I’ve developed, I can tell that I’m turning my recovery days into workouts, which is a common trend of mine. The first step is admitting you have a problem. I always like to refer to this phenomenon as the “first step stairmaster”, because you’re supposed to move ON from step 1 in the 12 step program, but I’m just REALLY good at nailing that first step. Let’s see if I can learn and course correct. In that regard, the bridge week sounds more and more like the right idea next week…but I also realize I have Thanksgiving the week after that. Transitioning to a 4x a week lifting program is sounding less and less appealing with upcoming scheduling logistics, but I genuinely want to give the Mass Protocol it’s proper due, so we’ll see how it all shakes out.
Treadmill was a repeat of Tuesday. Seems to make me feel good. Got in some more walking with the dogs as well.
While hanging from the bar, I took a page from Dan John and moved my feet/knees around a whole bunch to take pressure off my back. I think once a week of hitting the pull ups is a better approach.
Tang Soo Do last night was another decent workout, and tonight should be the same. I’m also thinking this has been contributing to the lower back fatigue. That said, my hips are finally in an awesome state: I did a bunch of jumping and fluid kicks yesterday. There is most likely something to be said that I shifted weight from my hips to my back to compensate everything that’s going on, but I’ll take wandering pain these days.
With heavy squats coming up tomorrow, and it being the last day of the cycle, I’m thinking I’ll actually wear my belt. I’ll see how warm ups go, but this seems like the kind of situation where it’s acceptable.
Another epic leftovers night. I dig the presentation on this. 4 pastured hard boiled eggs, cut in half so I can better distribute grassfed ghee and sour cream on them, alongside some pork cracklin strips, grassfed cottage cheese, and TONS of piedmontese brisket with a little more ghee on top. I think I had about 5 layers of the brisket there.
Your brisket has me inspired. Next Costco run I am picking one up for my Ninja Woodfire.
It might even end up my holiday meal main instead of a turkey.
@unicornsandrainbows That’s outstanding to hear! It really was a simple process. Let me hook you up with the video I learned from.
And I LOVE that holiday brisket idea! Although turkey will always hold a special place for me, because I love eating the drumsticks and pretending I am Conan. Perhaps a fair compromise would be to cook up a brisket and then just get some drumsticks to smoke on the side.
AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)
OPERATION CONAN Occupation Phase
Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol Grey Man Cycle 3, Week 3, Workout 3
WARM UP
Roll out on LAX ball
50x90 reverse hyper
Bodyweight squats, jumps, focus on fast, bouncy knees
Squats w/Bar, 85, 135, 225 and overwarm walkout w/365
MAINWORK
Buffalo Bar Squats
4x3x320
SUPERSET
Axle Strict Press
4x3x143
SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER giant set
(3) Incline DB bench
4x8x70s
Weighted NG chins
4x8x20lb
Hanging leg raise
3x10
SUPPLEMENTAL EXERCISE
GHRs
4x10x22.5 (kettlebell held behind head)
TOTAL TRAINING TIME: 40…ish? Minutes.
BREAKFAST
Short walk w/dogs
Notes:
Kept rests close to 1 minute on everything. Didn’t blitz through this quite as fast as Monday, but given the different circumstances (AM vs PM training), I’m pleased with the outcome.
Gonna bloviate a bit: I woke up feeling absolutely incredible. No hip pain, lower back fatigue was entirely dissipated, ready to rock. I DID get to bed late, and didn’t want to get up to train because sleep sounded better, but I went through with it because I wanted to have a Friday evening with my family vs lifting. That said, once I got into the garage and warmed up, I made probably the most mature decision of my life and STILL wore the belt for the squats despite NOT feeling like I needed it, and it’s because I realized that I had two choices: I could squat without the belt today, re-tax my lower back, and force myself to need that bridge week next week, or I could wear the belt, SPARE my lower back, and then allow myself the option to start Specialization Bravo next week if that was what I wanted. So I wore the belt: I sacrificed today’s smug satisfaction of “not needing a belt” and beating myself to death for a bigger victory later. Going with my Operation Conan metaphor, I lost today’s battle so I could win the war, as going beltless would be a true pyrrhic victory.
On that, this experience with Tactical Barbell has been such an awesome study on the impact of fatigue management as it relates to continued training success. My decision to alternate my ab work springs to mind, along with the value of the walks between workouts, reduction of conditioning to support continued growth, etc. And with that, I had a BIG revelation about how the powerbelt fits into my training now. Belts don’t protect the lower back, but they SPARE the lower back. I’ve squatted without a belt for nearly 2 years now, and it’s made it so that my core is NOT the weak point in my squat, to the point that I really didn’t feel much stronger wearing the belt today vs not wearing it. BUT, once the sets were done, my lower back felt a lot less fatigued than usual, and I’m feeling much better post training as well. Before, my core WAS a limiter, and the belt acted as a band aid, but now I can see it being more a tool to promote training longevity, similar to wearing my knee sleeves to keep the knees warm and compressed. I was initially training beltless as a means to get out of my head regarding strength “loss” as it correlated with bodyweight dropping, which is the same reason I changed my squatting style, but after 2 years I think I’ve proven whatever point I needed to prove and can bring the belt back into the training plan. I think I’ll try to save it for the heavier weeks of a program, and still get in some beltless work on the lighter sets, but this can definitely serve as a fatigue management tool that can allow me greater training longevity on the plan, especially if I’m going to keep up my mutant squat style.
One other final observation: I think those 4 sets of 33 GHRs on Monday were also a bit of a culprit for the fatigue I experienced, which is why I added weight this time. 22.5lbs is an unweighted KB handle from Ironmaster, and was just about perfect for sets of 10, so this will bode well for Bravo.
After all that other illuminating stuff, the rest of the workout was pretty standard fair. Happy that I got all the chins without resting. Tang Soo Do last night was a REALLY solid workout, which has also been a fatigue contributor.
