Reading your logs really just get me more and more excited to try out that Fringe belt squat.
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@atlas13 Iām excited for you dude! Just getting the whole thing set up is going to be awesome. Iād love to hit it for a dropset sometime too: itās perfectly set up for it.
Operation Conan nightly SITREP
We were dismissed early from work today because we have freezing rain rolling in and the roads are going to get hazardousā¦so I made sure to call in an order to my favorite local BBQ place, because priorities ya know? And true to form, I called in, didnāt say my name, gave my order, and when I was done they were like āOh hey Jared, weāll have it ready for you soonā And BOY did they hook me up: these were some of the meatiest and fattiest ribs Iāve had in a LONG time. Used my new trick of squeezing them out/rubbing off the dry rub, and itās really just paying off: I feel absolutely incredible after eating these, whereas before Iād always feel a little sluggish. It may have worked too well, because I polished these all off, even reaching a point where I had to wonder āam I actually still hungry?ā But this is Operation Conan: weāre here to gain! Which is why I saddled this with 3 pastured hardboiled eggs, the pulled pork that came on the side with some grassfed ghee, and then those 2 egg muffins my Valkyrie made (theyāve got some pepperjack and breakfast meat in them). She tried them for meal prep for herself, didnāt care for them, so they were up for grabs.
Also, I saw the thumbnail from my most recent video, and itās definitely confirmation of my growth. Awesome to see.
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I totally should have took a photo, but I just got the ācountry style pork boneless ribsā from Costco, which is actually shoulder not ribs, but I digress. Anyway, threw them on some tinfoil in the over at 300 for 2.5 hours, with a nice coating of salt and pepper (ik youād skip the pepper, but itās freaking delicious), and then just threw it all in some Tupperware for the next week. Baking took some time, but total actual prep time was maybe 10 minutes, and Iāve got 6lbs of meat ready to go
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Hell yeah brother! Ribs is life! I legit went down to the basement and took out 4 piedmontese bone in beef chuck ribs to thaw out for Sunday right after I finished this meal, haha. Doesnāt get better.
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What are your thoughts on pork vs beef nutrition wise? I feel like pork is the forgotten protein for a lot of people, you hardly ever see anyone suggesting it in the fitness community, but I never have actually looked into it to see if thereās a reason why. As our subject matter meat expert, I thought you may know haha
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Happy to discuss dude!
Conventionally raised, Iāll always pick beef over pork. Pigs are monogastric animals (single stomach/single chambered stomach), which means, whatever they eat, it passes through their system, to their liver, and gets placed into the fat/meat. And pigs live up to their names: they eat ANYTHING. Farmers will take advantage of that and just feed them absolute CRAP to fatten them up. Corn and soy, because theyāre heavily subsidized, but even wilder stuff. Thereās a pig farm outside of Vegas that feeds the pigs all the leftover scraps from nearby Casino buffets: nothing at all close to the real ānatural dietā of the pig. And just like us: when animals eat OUTSIDE of their natural diet, they get inflammation, illness (itās why anti-biotics are so popular for feed animals), and all other form of malady, and their fat is full of the toxins that resulted from that.
Cows are a ruminant animal: they have multiple stomachs/stomach chambers. This allows them to fully extract the nutrients from what they eat, turn them into fatty-acids, and digest them better, so even IF feed an unnatural diet, itās not nearly as disastrous to the outcome of the meat/fat. If itās a grassfed/grassfinished cow, all the better, but even if not, itās not as terrible of an outcome.
This is why pork fat tends to be much richer in Omega 6 fatty acids, whereas Beef tends to have a better composition of Omega 3s.
All of THAT said, I clearly went to town on a bunch of pork today. Pork is still a superior choice to Captain Crunch, peanut butter, Oreos (although those HAVE been shown to lower LDL, haha), etc. But unless you know the farmer and how the pigs are being raised, I prefer beef to pork. I also feel the same about chicken for the same reason.
Sorry to bloviate, but hope it was enjoyable!
EDIT: Oh yeah, but here is a cool pork fun fact
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Thatās fascinating. I feel like I need to dig into this deeper. Also realizing I know a shameful amount about cattle for a guy who spent 3 summers growing up working as a ranch hand lol. My grandfather would be ashamed.
I feel like beef on the whole tastes betters, but I do love some pork chops now and then.
Ooh and carnitas. Not like at most places, but if Iām back in SD? Oh F$&% me up with some carnitas hahah
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San Diego is always going to make it right, haha. But at the same time, if you can get carnitas, it means you can get carne asada, and good carne asada is lifechanging.
But Iām with ya: sometimes, pork just hits right. Plus, itās what they eat in Valhalla, so it MUST be legit
What I dug about that fact is that the Old Testament and the Koran both forbid pork whereas, for the Norse, itās actually THE food of the gods. I had a similar observation how, in Danteās Inferno, the circle of hell for the wrathful is a state of eternal war, where, after being killed, the wrathful are brought back just to fight and die violently again.
ā¦which is exactly what Valhalla is. Christian Hell is Viking Heaven.
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This conversation sent me down a pig-feeding wormhole that ended in Iberica. #acorns
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Love and appreciate your insight on pork vs beef.
I donāt know how the welfare standards in the UK compare to the US, but your point about āknowing the farmerā is a big one, if meat quality is a concern. I have started to cut back on supermarket meat in favour of buying it from our butcher, mainly pork, sausage, chicken and once a week burger patties. Unfortunately, a pork chop here costs me nearer Ā£4, whereas in the supermarket I can buy a pack of four for the same, likewise the chicken. Sausage and burger patties are my ācheatā meals but there is much less in the way of fillers and additives.
Itās difficult to find the balance of quality and affordability. I donāt have to worry about feeding kids (though three Greyhounds eating a raw diet costs me Ā£300 a month worth so that balances out!). If I want a good cut of meat, I know Iāll be paying a premium, so beef mince is my trade off. Iāll eat that for lunch most days as it does fall under a more affordable every day meal bracket. Now Iām eating 4-6 eggs a day as opposed to 8-10 with the occasional dozen during six weeks of Super Squats (yes yes I now know this wasnāt enough!) I can ātrade inā for higher quality eggs.
Bit of a ramble but essentially, if I think about/am concerned about the welfare of the animal my meat has came from and my bank balance permits, Iām going to the butchers.
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@burien_top_team Good find there dude! Acorns are SO unique that way: theyāre the only thing in nature, outside of milk, where we observe the pairing of fats and carbs together. Theyāre the ideal āsingle ingredientā food for gaining, which is why squirrels are so big on them to fatten up for the winter.
@Greyhound90 Glad you dug what I wrote, and always appreciate your own ramblings. I chatted with @alex_uk about this in his own log, but on the topic of āaffordabilityā, I find it helpful to reframe a little. Chicken/pork isnāt more affordable: itās simply a different product. When you buy beef, you are getting protein, sure, but youāre getting b-vitamins, CLA, Omega 3s, etc. Chicken and pork have protein as well, but donāt have these things, and tend to come with a more generous sharing of Omega 6s. If we consider what we need to buy in addition to the chicken and pork in order to equate what we get from the beef, it gets a little muddier.
I feel like organ meats/offal kinda help us here. They tend to be on the cheaper side, and have a TON of nutrients in them. Paul Saladino proposed a diet of ground beef, eggs, liver, avocado and berries, and I feel like, if youāre going to include plants, thatās pretty awesome. Of course, avocado is VERY seasonal, but I dig the intent of it.
AM WORKOUT (1000, post breakfast, rare weekend workout)
OPERATION CONAN Spec Ops Insertion Phase
Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol Cycle 2, Week 1, Workout 5
Low handle trap bar lift
5x12x320
NG chins
4x12xBW (rest as long as needed)
Axle curls
5x12x58
GHRs
4x12x27.5lb KB behind head
Reverse hypers
3x12x390
1x16x390 (AMRAP)
Notes:
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Gonna keep this on the short side, but the ice storm that rolled in last night made travel this morning a no-go, so I was able to get in that workout I missed on Monday, getting me back on schedule, which is awesome. Did this post breakfast, but Iām experiencing a little GI distress from the massive amount of pork ribs from last night. On the penultimate set of trap bar pulls, I felt my guts revolting, and I took a longer break between the curls and GHRs to resolve that.
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Still kept the rest periods to 1 minute strict, which made this significantly awful. Happy to make it through those pulls, and I got a great pump in the arms from the curls. Cut out a set of the chins, because they were just taking forever. Thatās one other thing Iād alter about this approach: rather than straight sets of 12s for the chins, Iād just sneak in a bunch of sub-max sets like I did with 5/3/1.
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Operation Conan Nightly SITREP
Cashed in my free steak dinner for the month of Dec at Texas Roadhouse and had something Iād always wanted to try: the 20oz bone in ribeye. Cooked rare, no seasoning, just salt, and got hooked up with 2 bowls of hardboiled eggs with a side of sour cream. One was brought out with the salad course. Steak and eggs: it gets no finer, and the sour cream really compliments the eggs. This steak was deliciously fatty, and I even had half of my kidās 6oz sirloin as well. My guts arenāt 100%, but I at least still can put away the food, and today was all beef to help get back on task after all the pork from yesterday (had beef bacon and the hot dog at breakfast, along with a beef stuffed omelet)
Today was pretty low on general activity, between the weather and taking my kid to see āA Christmas Story: The Musicalā, which was awesome. I still got in my 50 squats and push ups in the morning, but no walking with the dogs. Glad I got in the lifting. I keep reflecting on how I could not have picked a better time for gaining: crummy weather, lots of feasting and festivals. And along with this, I got a cruise coming up, and Iām not concerned about being ābeach readyā: despite all the feasting, Iām fluffier than I was in the summer, but not at all reaching āfatā. Iāve still got abs, and Iām beefier. This has been an excellent training and eating block: cutting out lunches on weekends and going for the PSMF leading up to the nightly feast on the weekdays has been a gamechanger.
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Operation Conan Nightly SITREP/AAR
So let me say that I was totally wrong yesterday: I was NOT experiencing a reaction to too much seasoning/pork products. I absolutely had some sort of stomach bug. I was woken up 3 times in the middle of the night to resolve it, which resulted in me sleeping until 0840 this morning, which is the latest Iāve slept in YEARS. And this was on top of multiple moments of GI distress post dinner last night, and a few more post breakfast. But, on that note, I DID have breakfast, and I made it a little hardier than usual, because I figured the best way to fight this bug was to replace all the bad stuff in my guts with good stuff. āThe solution to pollution is dilutionā.
I got in my 50 squats and push ups before breakfast, and took the dogs for a moderate walk afterwards. Cold weather compelled us to come back home. Today was a day I COULD have gotten in 1 more conditioning workout, but I decided to rest up so Iād be able to train hard tomorrow, as this still complies with the 1-2 conditioning workouts per week rule of Specificity.
We got chores done, and I used the slow day as an opportunity to break out the smoker, because, yes, my solution to a stomach bug is ribs.
This actually was a bit smaller of a feast than usual for me, as my appetite isnāt quite there (been feeling on the verge of vomiting all day), but I still took down 2 grassfed piedmontese beef chuck bone-in short ribs, 5 air fried chicken wings, and a grassfed beef teton waters polish sausage.
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AM WORKOUT (0340 wake up via dog, snoozed until 0400)
OPERATION CONAN Spec Ops Insertion Phase
Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol Specificity Bravo, Cycle 2, Week 2, Workout 1
WARM UP
Roll out on LAX ball
50xBW reverse hypers
Bodyweight jump squats
Squat sets of bar, 85, 175
MAIN WORK
Buffalo bar Squats
5x10x250
Lever belt squats
5x10x210
Axle Strict Press
4x10x111 (rest pause final 2 reps of final set)
Axle Bench Press
4x10x166
(3) Incline DB Bench
5x10x55s
Dips
5x10x20lb
ASSISTANCE
HLR/BPA supersets
3x10/20
BREAKFAST
2 mile walk w/dogs
Notes:
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Strict 1 minute rests, with the exception of the final set of strict press, which was 90 seconds.
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Squats were quite challenging, and I didnāt want to keep the 1 min rests, but I know thatās what makes me better than my competition. Body is feeling healed and light in general, which is a positive. Able to move easy through those squats.
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Really trying to focus on speedy reps on the pressing. I forgot just how important that was for pressing big weights for me.
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Wonāt be able to get in my typical Monday evening walk, because my kiddo has a performance at their show choir this week, so I get to watch that.
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Dog got up at 0340 and didnāt go back to sleep before my alarm went off. Sucks, but my body is feeling better for the most part. Guts are in a much better way, and the fact I could crush this workout given what I went through this weekend speaks volumes to how well Iām growing. On that note, I weighed in at 80.6kg, which shows how much fluid I lost. I suppose I got a head start on my cruise weight cut. In truth, Iām focusing on getting my electrolytes re-balanced, and it times out well that tonight is my family meal. Big thing is to not OVERcorrect. I clearly demonstrated that my strength hasnāt taken a hit, and my conditioning is in place, I just need to regain some water.
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Hey man did you ever get to take your new hunting rifle out? Any luck putting some venison in the freezer?
All hunters have their little āmeat hacksā that will probably now flood your log. I usually have one of my deer each year made into venison hot dogs. Different butchers will obviously have different items in which they specialize, but my buddy whoās a butcher makes these venison dogs. Theyāre twice the size of any hot dog youād buy in a store, and obviously theyāre made with venison versus whatever else may have been used in traditional hot dogs, so they really end up being a full meal on their own. When Iām on my āmeat & eggsā protocol, Iāll just grill/fry them up and eat them with a fork. Theyāre also great for grilling in the summer, where Iāll have them on a bun with ketchup and onions. (On New Years I put them in the crock pot with sauerkraut)
My butcher will also mix various types of cheese in the dogs, if requested; I usually get mine āinjectedā with jalapeno cheese. Theyāre great to keep in the freezer in case I need something quick and easy; Iāll pull a few out and fry them on the stove top.
Youād have to check with your butcher what else is added to the venison dogs; these very well may not fit your nutritional protocol, as I guess itās technically processed. This is really just a heads-up that there are a lot of venison options if youāre interested (meat sticks, bologna, etc.) Even my wife loves the jalapeno venison dogs, and she didnāt grow up eating venison and doesnāt like spicy things.
Sorry this got so wordy, the TL;DR is: How did you make out in hunting season? (and venison dogs are money)
Edit: Even if you butcher your own deer, you can take whatever meat you want made into dogs in to the butcher. Thatās what I do.
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Nope! Haha. Life, sadly, got in the way. My wifeās family in Iowa has some private land to hunt on, so next year Iām going to try to get some out of state tags to make use of htat.
Appreciate those tips! I kept it real simple last year, and just got a LOT of ground venison on top of the steaks/roasts. My Mrs is a big fan of the venison ring bologna, summer sausage and cheese/meat sticks though.
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AM WORKOUT (0400 Wake up via alarm)
OPERATION CONAN Spec Ops Insertion Phase
Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol Specificity Bravo, Cycle 2, Week 2, Workout 2
WARM UP
Roll out on LAX ball
50xBW reverse hypers
Trap bar sets w/155, 225 and 295
MAIN WORK
Low handle trap bar lift
5x10x350
NG chins
5x10x7.5 (rest as long as needed for reps)
Axle curls
5x10x66 (last 2 reps rest pause)
GHRs
4x10x30 (KB held behind head)
Reverse hypers
3x10x430
1x12x430 (AMRAP)
ASSISTANCE
Ab wheel rollout/BPA superset
2x10/20
BREAKFAST
Short walk w/dogs
Notes:
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Strict 1 min rests for the first 4 sets of the trap bar, then about 90 seconds after that. It was brutal today. Iām sure a part of that is just recovery from illness. I got a little lax on those rest times during the chins as well, but tightened things back up for the rest of the program.
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Biceps were really responding well to the curls today. Looking back, my biceps exploded during 5/3/1 BBB first edition, when it was 5x10 curls, and during Deep Waterā¦where it was 5x10 curls. When I hammered Poundstones, I FELT good doing itā¦but never saw the same kind of growth. I should really learn from myself.
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Time got a little short, so I cut out a set of abs. We train them in Tang Soo Do, so I wonāt be a total loss for them. Iāve got that the next 3 nights.
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My training motivation was low for this. My bridge week is overdue, and Iām excited for it. What got me out of bed was knowing that my schedule wasnāt going to be able to support deviation, and remembering what an incredible feast I had in the evening. 2 generous portions of spaghetti with bison meat sauce (it was originally 2 reasonable portions, but then I finished off what was leftover on my kidās plate), 2 and a quarter breadsticks, 4 sunny side up eggs, and then a dessert flight of 1 snickerdoodle, one sugar cookie blossom, one piece of fudge, one vanilla cake cookie with M&Ms and a small slice of pumpkin cheesecake, all of which got some raw honey drizzled on it. I could think of no better way to try to replenish the lost bodywater and glycogen from my stomach bug.
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On the above, I realized just how much Iāve gotten back to āApex Predatorā. 4 days a week is shakes with a āmeat on the boneā meal at the end of the day, 2 days a week are high calorie keto days, and 1 day a week has what is effectively the ārampage mealā. Things all come full circle. Same with the training: Iām back to abbreviated training. And honestly, the nutrition is a callback to how I ate in college as well. I remember going to the dinning hall and getting as many hamburger patties as theyād serve me, with no bread. All the bacon and eggs theyād serve for breakfast. My only big vices at that point were ketchup and peanut butter. Itās so funny how we just canāt escape ourselves.
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On that whole ātraining motivationā piece, Iām already looking at my competition in April and figuring out the plan from there for training.
Iām definitely settled on 9 weeks for the training cycle: 3 cycles of Tactical Barbell 1, most likely Operator.
Operator is 3 movements, with a 4th possible for a bodyweight pull.
For press, itās going to be log clean and press. Iāll need that for the medley in the competition. The other two movements are keg clean and press and axle clean and press, but the weights are so light Iām not concerned (100lb keg and 150lb axle). Log is 200lbs, and for max reps at the end of the medley. So hammering that 3x a week will do some good for me.
For the squat, Iām pretty safely settled on the SSB front squat. Though I feel like the traditional SSB squat has better carryover to strongman, thatās more of an āoff seasonā sorta thought, because while Iām training for the competition, my lower back is going to be very taxed, and loading it even more with the SSB is going to just make it worse. I can mitigate fatigue with the front squat. And it should still carry over pretty well to log clean and stones. I also intend to wear a belt for the whole training cycle, for similar reasons: mitigate back fatigue in the training, so I can push events harder.
Iāll stick with low handle trap bar lift for deads, as this should help the car deadlift. Iām undecided on if I want to do them for 1 set per workout, or 3 sets for 1 day. The former is most likely the smarter play, because Iām intending on using the weekends to train stones or carry medley.
Itās primarily noise that drives the need to train the stones on weekends: gotta wait for the family to be awake. The carry medley COULD be done during the week, but I wonder if trying to train carries and stones for weeks on end will be too taxing compared to if I were to alternate them. It may be something where I start off training them both in the same week, but switch to alternate as I get deeper into the cycle. Either way, Iāll count this as one of the conditioning workouts for TB.
From there, I need to get in throwing training, which I feel like I can turn into a conditioning workout with Tactical Barbell. Iām thinking a classic of throwing the bag and sprinting to where it lands so I can throw it again. Iāll need to crack open TBII to see if there is anything that fits the bill here.
Beyond this, Iām thinking one day a week of weighted vest walks. The low intensity work is restorative for me, and this should have some carryover to my 10 mile run in April.
This really seems like itās going to work out well. Much better than my previous go.
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Operation Conan Nightly SITREP
Yet another epic leftovers night. 2 grassfed piedmontese bone in beef chuck short ribs, 5 air fried chicken wings (fried with duck fat spray), grassfed cottage cheese, some leftover canned beef I had used in my omelets, pork cracklin and 5 hardboiled pastured eggs topped with grassfed ghee.
Good to be feasting again. Guts are recovered and Iām ready to maximize this training cycle.
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What does this stand for? (Sorry, Iām sure you explained it earlier but I missed it).
Iāve recently discovered I love beef short ribs. Any advice on how to cook them? Iāve only have them at restaurants.
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