@bigpappafrance Always appreciate that dude, and hopefully it made your MOUTH hungry, haha. I’ve stopped documenting the meals for now, since I’m not really proving anything by losing weight with carnivore, and it’s nice to not have to plate and document EVERY meal, but it was definitely a learning experience.
Had a rough night of sleep, and honestly contemplated sleeping in and getting this done in the afternoon. Glad I decided otherwise, because while I was getting ready, my kid came out of their room and informed me the dog threw up and their blankets needed to get washed. So sleeping it wasn’t going to happen either way.
The front squats felt the best they’ve felt since starting the cycle. Smooth, fluid, and painfree. My right knee is really getting in a good way, to the point that I’m catching myself NOT thinking about it, particularly when going up stairs. It’s been in pain for so long that I forgot what being painfree was like.
Which, on that note, I’m thinking of retiring the trap bar after this training cycle. Another one of those “I think I’ve proven my point” sorta moments. It just doesn’t feel good on my knee, whereas a barbell deadlift doesn’t run into that issue for me. The barbell WAS killing my hip, but I seem to have that sorted out now. I think sticking with a deadlift bar will go a long way for me. The flex tends to spare my body while still allowing me to go heavy. I also foresee myself deviating from the TB protocol ever so slightly by doing once a week mat pulls with ROM progression rather than once a week deadlifts. But this is all future stuff: for now, the trap bar is staying in because it’s close enough to a car deadlift for me.
Was looking at my reverse hyper in between sets and thinking about how it’s always been good for me to do that, and given “plank and shank” is a recommended protocol with TB, I didn’t feel like I violated the spirit of the program by including it in some ab assistance work. Kept it light, with a goal of traction/decompression over anything else. Was a nice circuit.
My forearms/elbows are gradually improving, so, in turn, I included some direct arm work but kept it well shy of failure, really focusing on technique and the pump.
Tang Soo Do was a decent workout last night. Any time we weren’t on the floor training forms, we were in a plank. I appreciated how much that DIDN’T bother me, compared to my classmates, who were in agony. Also, my Valkyrie was crowned the Dojang sparring champion of the week, making her ALSO the first FEMALE sparring champion of the Dojang, dethrowning our resident Black Belt champion from a 5 month run of it. Super proud of her. And we’ve got another class tonight.
Somehow, Texas, Louisiana and Florida have had more snow than us this winter, so I took advantage of the season and got in some running this morning. I was torn between this and a carry medley, but my forearms continue to feel better by the day, so delaying hammering them seems to be a good call. I may alternate between stones and carries each week to spare the body, but I need to make sure to get some throws in as well.
Once again, my 800m isn’t a true 800m, but close enough for the purposes of this workout. I’m still running in my bearfoot shoes, which I still have no idea if that’s a good idea or not, but I’d rather run in bearfoots so that I can swing in them on the swings vs swing wearing running shoes. Come game day for the 10 mile run, I may wear running shoes…or I may just be REAL stupid and stick with the bearfoots.
The very first round was the hardest. Cold air hitting my lungs and breaking into the movement. “Blowing out your first lung” as Brian Alsruhe put it. I tried to really focus on output during the run, but I’m never satisfied with myself when told to do something as fast/hard as possible. I do much better when given a specific limit to train against. “Run 800m in under 150 seconds”, for example. Perhaps I need to self-impose.
Was averaging about 39 swings in that 1 minute interval.
Tang Soo Do was a surprisingly good workout last night. Pretty much didn’t stop moving for the whole class. Lots of combination work, then some open hand and weapons forms. We have another class tonight as well.
Yesterday was like a full on PSMF day. I stuck with Metabolic Drive through the day, and then dinner was 3 Don Lee Farms chicken breast patties and 300g of egg whites, which boiled down to 435 calories with 84g of protein, with 2g of fat and carbs per chicken patty. Weaving Apex Predator in and out as I go.
1 min max dips
1 min max push ups
1 min max push ups w/reactive slingshot
1 min w/slingshot
1 min w/Metal Catapult
Notes:
This was the first week we did 3 TSD classes in a row in a while: our lives had us doing more of an every other day schedule. In turn, my hips and glutes were pretty torqued yesterday from a variety of kicks, and I had to do a little rolling out before the squats, and the first set felt pretty awful. Lower back was carrying some fatigue as well, which may be from that and the trap bar lifts. I noticed my lats were sore yesterday as well, which could be from the increased volume on that. Similar to an elimination diet, one of the nice things about such abbreviated training is I can see immediate impacts from deviations and decisions. By set 3, everything was clicking along well.
On the subject of clicking, my log clean continues to improve. Getting 15 attempts at it this week has been helpful in that regard. I am thinking about including a heavy clean at the end of each workout, similar to the KB swing finisher, just to be able to not waste energy when the time comes. In fact, as I’m writing this and talking about the KB swing finisher, I realize I DON’T do that movement on the trap bar day, so maybe, before the trap bar pull, I can do one heavy single of log clean. I like that idea.
Forearms gave me a hint that they weren’t going to play nice, but they felt just fine on the chins. I’m thinking I found a good balance point here, and if need be, I may completely cut the chins out of Day 1, or just continue on a reduced set load.
The push work at the end was more of that “hypertrophy preservation effort”. Stole the idea from General Conditioning 35: going for time rather than reps. I’m a little mixed on it. My goal was a chest pump, but it was more my front delts that were screaming at the end. I think assigning me a time value had me too focused on rep total in time, whereas before I was more focused on chasing the pump and hitting failure. Still, a worthwhile experiment.
Tang Soo Do last night was pretty interesting. Lotta ad hoc stuff. At one point, our instructor had a drill where we’d strike 3 differently spaced bags with kicks, with a goal to reach each bag as efficiently as possible, and once we were finished, he’d charge us and we’d have to defend close quarters/grappling range. He got through 2 students before me, and once he approached me, he said “This is probably a mistake”. And as soon as me made contact he went “Yep”. Got a smile outa me.
I was feeling light, so I weighed myself out of cycle at 84.5kg. Down half a kilo from Monday. I think I may go with Mon/Fri weigh ins, since I’ll be weighing in on a Friday for my competition. Gives me an idea of where I’ll be around that time. I’m planning on overcorrecting a little, as I have that cruise coming up in Mar that I want to enjoy, and being able to eat UP to the competition would be much more preferable than having to diet down.
100, 150 and 200lb keg
45-ish feet carry
Bearhug the first, carry the next 2
Rest as long as needed to set up again
4 rounds of the above
Notes:
Another weekend, so slept in until about 0715, got in my 50 squats and push ups, got a great breakfast, took the dog for a long walk, did some errands, fasted through lunch, and got this done while the Valkyrie took a nap.
Trying to remember how to strongman. Been a LONG time since I ran a legit medley. My competition will be Huss, Keg and Sandbag. I don’t have the huss stone, so I’m doing the bearhug carries to simulate. I went without the sandbag for today, as it’s a legit 200lbs and right now I’m just trying to get some technique down.
On that note, I won’t need to worry about conditioning on this, but I am stupidly weak right now. I learned a trick from Nick Best about resting the load on a belt, which I’ll use in the near future, but right now I just wanted to shake off the rust.
Lower back and forearms held out well. Called it at 4 rounds just to not beat the hell out of myself. These first 2 workouts have been a break-in: I’ll turn up the heat at this point.
Still need to get some throws in. Don’t have much of a plan, but reps are reps.
It killed my soul, but I only got a half rack of ribs at dinner tonight. Even the Valkyrie commented on that. I already miss gaining, but I’m also really enjoying not walking around feeling bloated all the time.
Dip/push up circuit
2 rounds of 90 seconds max dips, 1 min rest, 1 min max push ups
BPA
75, 25
Notes:
I’ll start with the end: that dip/push up circuit wasn’t supposed to go down that way. Was trying to run General Conditioning 5, but I was battling technology. Kept setting my timer to be 1 minute intervals, but it kept defaulting to 90 seconds for some reason. I would start the dips, think “this is taking a LONG time”, finish up, discover that it was going on for 90 seconds, reset it for the push ups, and then dips would roll around again. In turn, I ate up too much training time to be able to do the full GC, but I got in a decent chest pump, so that’s a victory.
My right knee continues to feel better and better each week, and I find myself better able to hit depth and spring out of the bottom of these front squats. This time with this program has been really awesome for healing and recovery.
Had some of my best log cleans today. Really giving me some confidence for the comp. Still only 1 other guy in my class, which was the dude I went against last time, who was a better presser than me, so I need to bring that up.
Managed to get in some throws yesterday, and over 23k steps. Really solid recovery day.
Weighed in at 84.2 kg this morning. That’s a .8 drop from last week. Everything is clicking along well, without counting or tracking. Sticking with the plan and eating a carby meal tonight, as it just keeps working. I actually did chicken breasts last night, and broke out the smoker, since our weather is unseasonably awesome right now. They turned out about as good as chicken breasts can, which is to say: not very, but I’m appreciating having periods of lean meals and periods of fatty meals along this process.
Revisiting your previous matches here again post @twojarslave 's reminder, strength and conditioning level of yours is off the charts, when’s your next tournament pencilled in for ?
@raven78 Hey thanks so much man! When you look at my “Build-a-fighter” stats, strength and conditioning is maxed out at the cost of technique, haha. I’ve been appreciating the discussion you and @twojarslave have been having over on your log, and it opened up my eyes a little bit regarding my own “style”, but I haven’t had much to contribute on my own aside from just appreciating you getting out there. Right now, there’s nothing grappling-wise on my horizon: I just sign up when they’re close to home, which has been convenient. I have a Tang Soo Do tournament coming up in April, but those are honestly pretty lackluster.
I’ll break out the crayons. I’d run 200m, rest 30 seconds, run 200m, rest 30 seconds, run 200m. Then a 3 minute rest. Then do that whole sequence all over again. A total distance of 2400m sprinted.
I think this is my favorite running workout out of TBII so far. This is the style of training I resonate with. The short 30 second rest interval is enough time to regather myself for another effort but not enough time to actually recover, so by the third sprint I’m absolutely gassed, living up to its name.
I also feel like this suits me because I am so slow twitch that trying to “sprint” further then 200m is a BIG ask for me. I never feel like I’m pushing hard enough on the 400 and 800m runs, but this was a great distance for me to give out effort. I’m still using my neighborhood space, so this was 100m, turn around, 100m, but, again: it met intent. I was gassed.
It was 18 degrees at 0500, which made it VERY tempting to sleep in, but I’m glad I didn’t. Also, I had a boss in the past that used to use the phrase “Oxygen Thieves”, and it kept going through my head for “Oxygen debt”
I had an incredible carb up meal last night. The Valkyrie was busy, so it meant I got to dig into my reserves of vacuum sealed leftovers for me and the kiddo. Kiddo wanted leftover rigatoni casserole, whereas I was feeling tuna casserole, but since my kid isn’t nearly the carnivore I am, they had a bunch of leftover Italian sausage/sauce on their plate when they were done…which I dumped on top of the tuna casserole on my plate and got to have the best of both worlds. That, alongside 3 sunny side up pastured eggs and then 3.5 of some leftover oatmeal/peanut butter cookie bars topped with some local raw honey. I actually felt like I was force feeding the desert at one point, since the texture is so thick, but I’m leaning into Jamie Lewis’ suggestion to “rampage” on this meal, as these periods of reduced total intake alongside the .8kg drop lead me to appreciate a higher carb intake on this meal. Also got in a nice 3+ mile walk afterwards while the kid was at music theater.
Tang Soo Do tonight. Should be lower intensity than these past few weeks.
Good work doing that at 5AM! I want to try Oxygen Debt 101 when the snow clears. I have some races planned this summer and apparently this is a good one to work on speed-endurance. I’ll abuse the Airbike for now.
@Hugo_Fillion Hey thanks so much man! It was definitely worth doing. I liked the idea of the airbike: just wish it wasn’t so damn loud. Doesn’t work well for early morning cardio in the house, haha.
@freshyfresh Steal away! If you don’t have the Tactical Barbell II book, it’s SO worth getting. Tons of great workouts and explanations. I feel like Oxygen Debt would also make a great prowler workout.
@raven78 Hell yeah brother! I’ll always be a nerd to the core.
Stayed up late, so got in as much sleep as I could. Workout was a little shorter as a result.
My Achilles tendons are actually sore from yesterday’s sprints. Seems I was able to put in a good effort there.
It’s weird how much my deadlift has fallen off, but I attribute it to my reduced bodyweight. On the plus side, my belt fits better and better every session.
Log cleans continue to feel more crisp, and by the third set squats are humming along.
I’ve been watching my resting heart rate lower in correlation with my bodyweight. That’s a good bit of data to track.
Tang Soo Do was very low energy yesterday, and we’re missing tonight due to a parent teacher conference. My dog is getting spayed tomorrow, so my schedule is going to get wonky. I took the next 2 days off work to be around.
Though I don’t track calories/macros, yesterday was a day where I ate an easy to track amount of food, so I thought it’d be fun to write it out as a snapshot.
Got up at 0400, water with electrolytes and creatine
0600: 2 Scoops of Metabolic Drive Vanilla with a teaspoon of beef gelatin and salt (230 calories, 2g fat, 6g carbs, 47g protein)
0900: Same as above
1230: Same as above
1730: 12 Amylu Italian Chicken Meatballs w/300g of egg whites (570 calories, 27g of fat, 3g of carbs, 81g protein)
2030: Same at 0600
2330: 1 scoop of Metabolic Drive in water w/salt (110 calories, 1g of fat, 3g carbs, 22g of fat)
Totals out to 1600 calories, with 291g of protein, 30g of carbs, and 36g of fat. Those are stupid macros, and I’m not at all hungry. I suppose I can factor in the 4 Flameouts I take in a day, which will add about another 5g of fat/45 calories. This definitely fits in with the PSMF day goal.
On an unrelated aside, a funny story in Tang Soo Do. We were drilling defense to the roundhouse kick, and specifically our instructor wanted us to “just see what comes natural”, because it’s not something we specifically drill at our rank. In turn, we were basically re-inventing Muay Thai on the spot, as people were finding out what does and doesn’t work against a roundhouse. I was using the stuff I learned back then, specifically moving off to the side and taking the high kick on the brunt of my two forearms, only for my instructor to call me out at the end of class and say “Jared was using a really good strategy there. That’s not something we teach until black belt. Good instincts!’ Oops. Still trying to keep my secrets…
This is quite incredible. That’s a lot of shakes (am I right in saying they’re a whey/casein mix?), and you feel satisfied/not hungry at all on this? What’s the purpose behind the beef gelatin?
Appreciate the questions man! The only one of those that’s a shake is the 2330 one “in water”. The rest are consumed like a pudding, as I demonstrate here
Which is part of the reason I include the beef gelatin. It adds a thickening element to the mixture, which, depending on the amount of hot water I employ, can result in textures ranging from sticky caramel to lumpy cookie dough to a more traditional pudding, and if I put in too much water, it’s like protein soup. This is effectively a modified Velocity Diet in turn.
No hunger whatsoever. Heck, I’m not even hungry for the Metabolic Drive: I’m consuming it primarily just to spare muscle. Now, that said, this was a light day as far as the end of day meal goes, but that’s what has made this whole process so simple: I keep the Metabolic Drive servings consistent through out and only need to change one meal based on my needs. I wrote about the high carb meal I had on Monday, and this was a PSMF style meal yesterday. When I was eating to gain, I just had one BIG meal at the end of the day.
I feel the lack of hunger really speaks to the “protein leveraging” idea. If you keep protein needs satiated, the body doesn’t hunger.
I took the day off work, since my dog is getting spayed, so I slept in and got this knocked out in the morning. Got in a short warm-up with the unloaded stone, then threw in a 25lb plate and spacers and got after it.
This isn’t a co-opted TBII workout, but just a classic EMOM. Original plan was to get in 10 rounds of triples, but the burnout hit quick. Took the 1 round break, switched to doubles, and then worked to still get in my 10th round, going for max reps.
Goal is still to re-learn technique, and it’s going incredibly well. The grip shirt and the tacky towel are really allowing me to actually work technique on the stone, vs just manhandle it. I’m really getting my arms over the top vs the sides, and getting more extension as a result. It also seems to be sparing my elbows by putting less pressure on them.
This is genuinely just fun training. Really feels like playing a game. Which makes it hard to not do all the time, but I can tell it’s putting some weird strain on me and I know too much is too much. Particularly, my knee ligaments bend in odd angles to get the stone off the floor.
Went for a 1 hour walk afterwards. It’s stupid icy out there right now, so my pace was a little slower.
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