Its a local place called “The Golden Apple”. Awesome little gem. Great prices too.
This is further proof that as far as any of my life interest/hobbies take me, I was born in the wrong era ('90). Music, football (soccer), cycling, the WSM scene… I don’t know if it’s a nostalgia thing or what, but there’s just something about that era of sport (maybe athletes being more relatable to us has something to do with it).
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Fantastic blog post this week. I don’t want to turn it into another “optimal” dig, but I thought you did a great job boiling down what matters.
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@Greyhound90 Hey man, no different than liking literature from a different era. We like what we like. I’m totally into 80s music, despite being born in that decade, haha. Never seemed to gel with the contemporary.
@TrainForPain Always appreciate your feedback dude! And always dig away at optimal: we need to tear down that statue every chance we get.
Operation Conan nightly SITREP and AAR
We got up around 0530 this morning. Valkyrie and I are both afflicted with the same respiratory infection, and laying down makes the mucus all gather, so sleep kinda sucks. We watched TV together (we’re working through Burn Notice again, and finished season 6 now), got up around 0745, and she made me another wonderful breakfast. I took photos of this one, just because it was a little different.
Typical 2 omelets with 3 pastured eggs, grassfed ghee, Jarlsburg swiss, but now stuff with leftover Thanksgiving turkey, which I also put alongside the meal, with my beef bacon, organic grassfed beef hot dog, grassfed cottage cheese, and pork cracklin, with grassfed sour cream as toppers.
Took the pup for a long walk (6000ish steps). Let the old pug sit it out, because it was 25 degrees out. We got some chores knocked out, I fasted through lunch, but while we were at Costco they had a $10 discount on Turkeys, so we bought 2 20lb birds (I LOVE having big freezers) for a total of $20. That’s a good day.
For “small business Saturday”, I called in a carryout order at my favorite BBQ place
Got the full rack of ribs with some pulled pork, and served it alongside some leftover scrambled eggs and grassfed cottage cheese. I tested out my theory and used some paper towels to wipe off the dry rub, and it totally checked out: I finished the meal NOT feeling bloated or sickly, and instead my usual “light” self after a typical unseasoned meat meal. That’s a gamechanger: I was concerned I’d have to stop visiting the place. Also wild how sensitive I’ve become to seasonings.
But here’s the highlight of the day: my Valkyrie has crocheted the mascot for “Chaos is the Plan”
Meet “The Pandemonipus”. Why a platypus? TRY to find a more chaotic animal! It’s an egg laying mammal, with the beak of a duck, the flippers of frog and the tail of a beaver. THAT is an animal that personifies “Chaos is the Plan”, because it is ready for anything. PLUS, it gives you everything you need for “meat and eggs, when hungry, until not”.
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Do you have a specific brand you like for this? I have been trying a bunch, including local farms, but the results have been inconsistent.
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Whenever I buy, it’s Vital Farms. I can taste the difference between them and other brands.
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Operation Conan nightly SITREP and AAR
We slept a little better, getting up around 0630 and laying around until 0730. Got in my 50 squats and push ups (did those yesterday too: forgot to log it), Valkyrie made me the same breakfast I had yesterday (amazing), took the pup for an 8000 step walk. Got back, fasted through lunch, got some chores done, came back and did a “Reset 20” workout
5 rounds, 20 seconds max speed/force, 2 minutes rest. The very first round didn’t quite deliver, but after that I found my groove. I’m wearing 16oz gloves, and they get heavy at about 15 seconds. No technique on display here: just getting out energy.
Valkyrie baked like 7 dozen cookies, and then we slapped together a leftover night.
She was incredible an actually made me another omelet, using more leftover turkey. I ate one of my leftover venison meatballs, a turkey thigh, some leftover turkey, grassfed cottage cheese and cracklin.
Got in another short walk with the pup. I underate at dinner, so I’m gonna include a little more turkey with my Metabolic Drive tonight and get after the heaviest week of Tactical Barbell tomorrow.
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This is painfully nerdy in a way that resonates with my soul lol.
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@atlas13 One of the best parts about growing up is being able to fully embrace the nerddom, haha. Doubly so when you’re darn near 40 and a dad: you can totally not worry about being cool about anything. It’s like playing life on Godmode.
AM WORKOUT (0359 natural wake up)
OPERATION CONAN Spec Ops Insertion Phase
Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol Specificity Bravo, Cycle 1, Week 3, Workout 1
WARM UP
Roll out on LAX ball
50x90 reverse hyper
Bodyweight jump squats
Squat sets w/Bar, 85, 195 and walkout w/285
MAIN WORK
Buffalo bar squats
4x8x285
Lever belt squat
4x8x250
Axle strict press
4x8x126
Axle bench press
4x8x188 (rest pause employed final 2 sets)
(3) Incline DB bench
4x8x65s
Weighted dips
4x8x35
ASSISTANCE
Hanging leg raise/band pull apart superset
3x10/20
Total training time: 60 minutes
BREAKFAST
No walk w/dogs (weather)
Notes:
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Strict 1 minute rests on the squats/belt squats, incline DB bench and dips. Kept it tight on the press, final set was more like 90 seconds. Bench I let run long on the last 2 sets, but kept it under 2 minutes.
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These were the best the squats have felt since I started Tactical Barbell. Just a very “normal” squat session. I felt in control of the weights, didn’t need to artificially slow anything down, hit depth without issue, didn’t feel compressed at the end, etc. Feeling very healed. Learned a LOT over these past 12 weeks and it’s been good I can employ it.
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That natural wake up was nice. I got some very solid sleep, compared to how things have been with the illness. I feel mostly recovered. Wasn’t hacking up during the workout.
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Weighed in at 83.2kg/183lbs this morning. Really pleased to see that. There’s an element of inflammation there, with me recovering from being sick, but the needle is moving in the right direction. I’ll still be able to make weight on Sunday at this point.
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In re-reading Tactical Barbell, I realize I’ve been calling this “Specialization Bravo” vs “Specificity Bravo”. Correcting that now.
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I’m late in reacting to this, but I love and agree with every word of this post.
I don’t follow your diet, @T3hPwnisher, but it has absolutely informed mine and I appreciate that so much.
I wanted to chime in on your coworker, the one asking advice. Your initial thought - have her get in a protein minimum before snacking - is a good one, imo. It’s what I’ve basically come to, that there is no such thing as too much (in fact it’s hard to get it all in) and so if I’m good there, I’m in good shape generally. The unintended consequence has been less food noise in my head (due to generalized satiety) which is in turn freeing me from interest in less appealing snacks. I can’t remember the last time I ate anything from one of the candy bowls at work or had any grocery store birthday cake there. It’s not whispering to me at all.
So I’m not white-knuckling through the green pepper I’ve been having for afternoon snack at work, wishing for something richer and better, because after having 6-8 oz of cooked meat for lunch, I’m fine with it and don’t feel deprived. (It’s not great for eating while dictating chart notes, though.)
I’ve also loved comparing my experience with veggies to yours without (seemingly GI optimization). I’ve come to that I must be something closer to a prey animal than you are, hence the difference in both our personalities and dietary needs. Which has been interesting for me to ponder in an evolutionary psych kind of way.
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Always a joy when you swing by @EmilyQ. I appreciate that shared experience with the protein threshold. That was the theory I had as well: protein leveraging as a means to satiate “nutrient hunger” at the earliest opportunity. It can at least reduce the noise between nutrient hunger and other hungers (emotional/stress), and keep one from setting off the powder keg of the others.
Regarding our vegetable experience: I would certainly love to support a theory of me being more of a predatory animal, but I do imagine my biggest issue with veggies is “the poison makes the dosage”. This actually ties straight into the hunger discussion from above actually. When I had my first health scare regarding cholesterol, and was only given the advice to “reduce red meat and saturated fats” (horrible doctor there), I replaced all of these with plants, and consumed even MORE on top of that, because my hunger levels became completely non-satiable. I was just POUNDING plants, trying to fill the void in my stomach, until I reached a point where I physically couldn’t eat more, while still being hungry. My stomach was full, but my body STILL wanted actual nutrition. The consequence is that, whatever toxins and defense chemicals were in these plants that are not a concern when consumed in a NORMAL amount definitely crossed a threshold in my body. I still remember triggering individual tipping points: eating ONE walnut and experiencing bowel bleeding, consuming ONE tablespoon of almond butter and losing my ability to breathe, eating a few bites of kimchi and having to run to the bathroom, etc.
I imagine I’m effectively in a state of detox at this point: just letting all that stuff purge out of me for now. I do engage in some plants every once in a while will no ill effects, but I have to keep the dosage quite reduced compared to what I had before. Those who aren’t as prone to stupid extremes as I am can most likely consume plants without such concerns, haha.
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Absolutely mouth watering looking at that pic! I’ve got a date with some game meat in about a month I’m already pumped about (and meatballs are my favorite vehicle).
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Thanks so much brother! I’m a bit bummed that it’s not looking like I’ll be bringing home anything this season, but at least it means more freezer space if I decide to go in on a cow.
Meatballs are fantastic. Stupidly easy to execute.
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We did that this last year - best decision ever. Grocery store inflation was actually kind of friendly here; I’m saving money on every cut even vs just ground beef from the store, which I’ve become way against eating.
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@TrainForPain I SO wanna pull the trigger on it. It’s tough to justify in my household. The Valkyrie supports my insanity, but she’s just not a big meat eater herself, my kiddo is enthusiastic but can only put away so much, and with me only eating 1 meal a day and no longer being 200lbs, it definitely seems like a LOT to take in all at once. And given the few disasters we’ve had with freezers being left open, I’m sure my heart would absolutely break, haha. But it’s still a dream.
@simo74 Hah! If I’m going full on Super Hero mode though, my love still goes out to The Tick
Operation Conan nightly SITREP
Gonna be leftovers until we run out. Turkey thigh, wing and some white meat alongside 5 sunny side up eggs topped with ghee and some grassfed cottage cheese. That plate was FULL!
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Plus your freezers are already full of the sacred cows you slaughter…
Totally get it, though. My son is now bigger than me, and there’s 4 of us, and it’s still a ton of food.
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I’ve mentioned before, I’m the only one in my 6 person home that eats red meat. I made a deal with the wife, I’ll replace our inside fridge/freezer and in return can move our current one into garage for a whole cow to myself.
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@dchris That’s an outstanding deal right there, haha. I know the Mrs will support me no matter what, she’s happy to just see me eating again, but it’s my own financial guilt that holds me back. I’m sure you get it from the dad-mode perspective too. I’ll spend unlimited money on the rest of my family, and then I’ll be at the store going “$20 for cargo shorts?! I’ll just wear the pair I’ve been wearing for the past 10 years”, haha.
AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)
OPERATION CONAN Spec Ops Insertion Phase
Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol Specificity Bravo, Cycle 1, Week 3, Workout 2
WARM UP
Roll out on LAX ball (no longer feels necessary, just doing it out of habit)
50x90 reverse hyper
Sets of 175, 225 and 315 on low handle trap bar
MAIN WORK
Low handle trap bar lift
4x8x405
NG chins
4x8x10lb (rest as long as needed)
Axle curls
4x8x76 (rest pause on last 2 sets at the 6 rep point)
GHRs
4x8x32.5lb KB behind head
Reverse hypers
4x8x480
ASSISTANCE
Standing ab wheel/band pull apart superset
3x10/20
Lateral raise dropset
35x10lb, 35x5, 35x2.5, 35xEmpty Hands
TOTAL TRAINING TIME: 62 minutes
BREAKFAST
Short walk w/dogs
Notes:
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Kept the rest times strict on the first 3 sets of the pulls, putting the belt on at the 30 second mark and setting up straps at the 40 second mark. On the final set, I meandered a little, but still kept it pretty tight. Also really focused on keeping an upright torso and driving with the legs, so I could spare my lower back…and pull the RIGHT way for this movement. Should carry over well for car deadlift too.
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Part of me is thinking I need to just push the weight high on the chins. Coming into them post trap bar, I tend to be pretty wiped out, and it’s just going to be a matter of rest pausing through the reps.
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Curls are honestly getting in a good way. I haven’t prioritized my biceps since college, because even Poundstones were just about lactic acid threshold. I feel like arms are getting stronger.
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Figured out a way to add a little more weight to the reverse hyper. It’s bucking like a bronco. I’ve got the rear feet weighed down but not the front.
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Similar to Grey Man, I dig the final week of this, despite being the heaviest, because it’s the lowest reps. It feels like a break. In a similar regard, I’m going to keep running this program as written, but if I were to tweak it, I’d do like 3/5/1, and start with the middle week, move to the high rep week next and then into the low rep week.
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I’ve been feeling like I need more sleep these past few days. Wonder if that’s the cold at play. I dropped my kid off at show choir yesterday, and took a 10 minute nap in my truck before getting in my walk, and I completely passed out. When my alarm went off, I had to sort out from context clues where I was and why I was there. Being able to enter that deep of a sleep in such a short window is typically a sign of depravation for me.
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Double Tang Soo Do class tonight, with another round of leftovers to support it.
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Wow I felt that! 
Kuddos on those trap bar deadlift! I am planning to buy a trap bar but like you said, financial guilt!
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