More Trouble Than I Am Worth: Chaos Is The Plan (T3hPwnisher Log)

[T3hPwnisher]

Maximum Definition Diet recap

Breakfast unchanged. Dinner is the same omelet with 1lb of venison air fried in burger form

[T3hPwnisher]

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

12 LABORS: CAPTURE AND BRING BACK CERBERUS (FINAL WEEK)

Tactical Barbell Operator Cycle 2, Week 6, Workout 4

90 minute treadmill walk

Speed: 3.8
Incline: 1
Distance: 5.7 miles

BREAKFAST

3 mile walk w/puppy

Notes:

• Abided by the easy conditioning rules for this week and made this a full up recovery walk. 3.8 is still a brisk pace for me, but no weight vest and a low incline had the desired effect. I finished feeling better than I started. And by following that up with the 3 mile walk with the dog, I had 21k steps before 0800. That’s off to a good start for the day.

• Got Tang Soo Do tonight. Last night was a real solid workout. It was a small class, so we just drilled the hell out of basics, with line marching down the floor before we got to a bag to strike, then line marching back for about 40 minutes of non-stop movement, followed by 10 minutes of open hand forms. Drenched with sweat when it was done.

• Piloted running up to the sandbag for yesterday’s work. Glad I’m giving that a go: it should carry over well to the comp. The throws felt explosive as well.

• Weighed myself at 81.2kg after my first walk. Almost a full kilo down from yesterday. My plan for the bridgeweek is to do a lot of walking, and I can weigh in as early at 1000 on the day before the comp, so I should have no issues making weight at this rate.

• Breakfast remains unchanged, in terms of composition and deliciousness: 1lb of lamb, omelet of 3 eggs, 5 whites and 1 tablespoon of beef tallow, and a piece of beef liver.

[bigpappafrance]

That looks amazing

[T3hPwnisher]

It’s been an amazing experience. Vince (unsurprisingly) was really onto something with this, and I’m like a dog with kibble: I am SO excited to eat every time it’s meal time.

[T3hPwnisher]

Hey @twojarslave , apparently there are memes about me, haha.

[twojarslave]

I always offered to teach my early mat-mates how to move barbells, but none of them seemed interested in learning THAT technique.

There was only one taker, a biker and tradesman who was able to pull 405 in his first deadlifting session. That seemed to satisfy him and I don’t think he ever trained that move again.

Honing his Americana was the priority.

My 2nd coach’s circle had a LOT of lifters in it.

[twojarslave]

I just had a devious thought.

If, by chance, you ever commit to training BJJ, I have a very special request for you.

Whenever someone with a colored belt taps you out, you should say “Wow, you’re REALLY strong!”.

[T3hPwnisher]

Hah! The dude at my last competition said the same thing to me when he beat me in the first round. I completely caught the subtle insult contained with in…and then beat him, haha.

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Maximum Definition Diet recap

Breakfast is so good I had it twice. The second breakfast is 2 omelets with 3 pastured eggs, one was stuffed with leftover pulled pork, the other with some thin sirloin from Gary’s Quick Steak, which I’ve become a fan of for food in a hurry. Both had some Sargento thin sliced swiss (deviation) along with some beef tallow, and topped with grassfed ghee, alongside a piedmontese grassfed hot dog and some beef bacon.

Also forgot to log that today marks 2 weeks of gum sobriety. I still get a craving here and there, but it’s been awesome kicking the habit.

[T3hPwnisher]

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

12 LABORS: CAPTURE AND BRING BACK CERBERUS (FINAL WEEK)

Tactical Barbell Operator Cycle 2, Week 6, Workout 5 (final lifting workout)

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR: Cycle 2, Week 6, Workout 3 (final)

MAIN WORK

SSB front squat
4x2x275

ALTERNATE W/

Log clean and strict press away
4x2x190 (missed second rep of third set)

NG weighted chins
4x2x55

ASSISTANCE

5 round circuit, 30 seconds per movement

24kg KB swings
365lb SSB front rack hold
Dips
Standing ab wheel
Push ups

BPA
4x25

5 minutes on rower

Notes:

• I realized yesterday how I keep hurting my right shoulder: my overly enthusiastic puppy keeps wrenching it on our walks whenever she sees a squirrel, bird, or other dog. And since I took her out for two 3 mile walks yesterday, it was in a pretty bad way this morning, which made my pressing performance lackluster. Didn’t get in any push press reps, and struggled on the second rep of every set, to the point of missing it on the third set. However, being able to perform like this in this state bodes well, assuming I can get the shoulder feeling good come comp day. I may have to pass of dog walking to the Valkyrie during my bridge week. I DID manage to set a step PR of over 33k yesterday through the combination of my morning walk and walking the dog twice, which was about 3.5 hours of walking total. Once again, it appears I REALLY like walking.

• My lower back is pretty stiff, which I attribute to the 3 nights of Tang Soo Do in a row, specifically basics week. They were all really solid workouts this week and my techniques felt sharp, but crescent kicks in particular torque me pretty good. This, alongside the daily sandbags add up. With that, the front squats felt tough, yet strong as well: came out of the hole feeling solid. I’m glad I picked this movement for this training cycle: really feel like it had a significant contribution to my stone and sandbag work.

• On the topic of sandbags, it just gets better with each daily rep. Running up to the bag and picking it up in a hurry is feeling more and more natural: I’m recapturing what it means to be a strongman. Had some great throws as well.

• The KB swings felt solid today during the circuit, and my conditioning held out much better than it did last week. The time on the rower was harder intensity. My arms were feeling a little sore on it, and I realized that I was pulling WITH my arms, and that I should know better by now. Switched to pulling with my lats/back and noticed an immediate different. It slowed me down a little, but was more powerful. That’s the whole point too: get more back volume.

• Weighed in at 80.9kg. Getting to the point where I’m tracking the daily fluctuations to be able to have awareness of where I’ll be come comp date. I weigh in 1 week from today, and if I can weigh this much the morning of I’ll be more than squared.

• 10 mile race tomorrow. Valkyrie and I both agreed we’re not going for records, and wanna just spend the time with each other and pass the talk test during the run. It’s fun doing these things off of nothing but meat and eggs, and that’s exactly what breakfast is going to be.

[Hugo_Fillion]

Have fun during your race!

[T3hPwnisher]

Much appreciated @Hugo_Fillion ! Fun is definitely the goal.

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Completed my second work week of my take on the Maximum Definition Diet. I remain a huge fan of this approach. Eating twice a day has really been nice on my guts: I train fasted, have a substantial breakfast, and ride that out until dinner. A small protein shake in the middle of the night covers whatever gaps I may have in protein and gives me something to train off of in the morning, and otherwise I’m never dealing with heavy bouts of digesting during the day. I had a little stomach upset when I poured the rendered fat from the lamb onto my eggs to eat in the morning, but since stopping that practice it’s been smooth sailing.

I’ve been 2 solid work weeks of eating the same thing for breakfast each morning/post training: 1lb of air fried leg of lamb, cut into steaks, a small piece of liver, 3 pastured eggs, 5 whites, and 1 tablespoon of tallow. I am NOT sick of eating that: I look forward to it when I go to bed at night, knowing it’s waiting for me after I finish training, and when I sit down at the table I am so happy to be eating it. I keep equating it to how your dog reacts when you fill the bowl with kibble. They eat the same thing every day and are EXCITED about it, to the point that, when they DON’T act that way, we are concerned for their health. We should all be like dogs.

I eat the liver first, since it’s like my daily vitamin, then the eggs, then the meat of the lamb, and I eat the fat last, like dessert. For the first week, I did a combination of hardboiled whole eggs and microwaved whites with the tallow, whereas for the second week I made omelets with all the egg stuff. I prefer the omelets from a culinary experience, but as far as time saving/bandwidth goes, the first option is much faster. I’ll be eating this same meal again for all of week 3, with the only difference being a delay on eating breakfast until after my weigh in on Friday.

Dinners are a bit more of a wildcard, adjusting for family life. Mondays are the family meal, which coincide with the carb up meal for the Maximum Definition Diet. From there, I usually try to eat a similar amount of eggs/tallow and then eat some manner of meat alongside it. I’m noticing I don’t respond as well to pork as I do to ruminant animal meat. After I eat pork, I tend to feel full/bloated, and I’ll wake up in the morning without much appetite, whereas after I eat ruminant meat I feel lighter, and I’m not ravenous in the morning, but I don’t have that sickly feeling of still being full from the previous meal in me. I haven’t had any significant degree of poultry to be able to see if there is an impact there.

In general, I’m a lot more satiated than I was before. I’m sure all the gum chewing was helping me through that, and I also used to snack on pickles whenever I felt the need to chew something that wasn’t gum. It’s been nice breaking those habits, even though part of me is upset that I gave up gum during Lent with no intention of the two corresponding. But I AM eating a lot of red meat during Fridays on Lent, so I can keep being a rebel that way.

My bodyweight isn’t rapidly dropping as one would imagine, but that’s by design: I’m eating beyond satiety, specifically because I want my actual bodyweight to stay close to competition weight as my competition looms. Once that is over, I intend to really lean in (PUN) to the diet and see what I can do with it. I’ll have 8 weeks until my cruise, which I want to show up lean for, in order to really take advantage of the wonderful food in Italy and Greece, and it should put me in a pretty awesomely primed spot to grow upon my return, which can let me transition right back to the Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol. From there, I’m thinking I may employ a little Feast, Famine and Ferocity style approach of 2 weeks lean/4 weeks feast to allow me to grow while staying in a state of control. Ultimately, just enjoying the process, which is what is important.

[alex_uk]

@T3hPwnisher

Fun is definitely the goal.

Just wanted to touch on this and share a couple of thoughts, firstly and I know you know this, but it’s such a massive thing to see the change in thinking. Secondly because it’s such a change, but you are still you, it reminded of this little gem that I’m hoping being an 80’s kid you’ll appreciate:

Specifically this quote from the film: “Isn’t this religious, ah yes. The eternal battle between good and evil, saint and sinners… but you are still not having fun.”

Looks like you got to the fun in the end!

[T3hPwnisher]

@alex_uk Oh man, any time we can invoke Nicolas Cage is a good day. I actually cut weight for my last powerlifitng meet while watching his rendition of “The Wickerman”. And very much appreciate the observations there dude! It’s been awesome clawing my way out of the hole I dug.

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Maximum Definition Diet recap

Pretty standard Friday these days. With my race tomorrow, I really piled on the shrimp at the buffet, but actually kept it pretty tight with protein and didn’t divulge in things that had sauces, as I didn’t want to risk any manner of stomach upset.

[T3hPwnisher]

AM WORKOUT (0520 wake up via alarm), 0730 workout

12 LABORS: CAPTURE AND BRING BACK CERBERUS (FINAL WEEK)

Tactical Barbell Operator Cycle 2, Week 6, Workout 6

10 mile run

Notes:

• Got it done this morning. My left foot is a little achy, around the arch, but otherwise no issues. We kept the pace comfortable, able to talk to each other the entire time. My Garmin shows that my heart rate reach a high of 155 at one point during the process. I felt good through it, and had some more miles in me when we were done.

• Right shoulder is still achy from the dog pulling on it during our walks. That should heal during this week.

• I’ll keep up the daily sandbag work for now, but think heavy training has concluded. I contemplated getting some stone work in today, but at one week out from my strongman comp I’ll do more harm than good with that.

• Fueled up the run with a breakfast of an omelet with 4 whole eggs, 5 whites, 10g of grassfed tallow, and 3oz of sirloin, topped with some grassfed ghee along with 11oz of air fried lamb and a piece of beef liver. The best part was after the race though. It’s called “The Early Bird” because it’s hosted by a local Brunch Place, and, along with cinnamon rolls and donuts at the end of the race, there was bacon. I’ve never had that at the end of a race before, and despite my fasting/2 meals a day approach, I couldn’t possibly turn that down. It was some of the best bacon I’ve ever had in my life…or maybe it just always tastes that way after 10 miles. But either way, I got 2 pieces of it, and the Valkyrie gave me her 2 pieces as well. That’s love right there.

[T3hPwnisher]

Maximum Definition Diet recap

Breakfast as mentioned. Didn’t take a photo of dinner, but it’s a meal I’ve had before: full rack of ribs and a side of brisket from our favorite local BBQ place. Normally, after eating that, I feel pretty stuffed, but I just completely housed it and still feel light. I’m sure that’s the 10 miles showing.

I meant to log this, but I’ve been running this race every year since 2021, and this was the best I’d ever felt doing it. Tactical Barbell did an outstanding job of balancing fatigue and stimulus to the point that I didn’t come into this carrying any fatigue at all: just ready to perform.

Got in my daily sandbag as well. It keeps getting better.

[T3hPwnisher]

BRIDGE WEEK

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

Treadmill Walk

Time: 75 min
Incline: 1
Speed: 3.5mph
Distance: 4.33 miles

Notes:

• Doing everything in my power to NOT push too hard and do something stupid right now. Walks are supposed to be recovery and very slight bit of weight control (more on that in a moment). I’m dealing with what the Valkyrie suspects is plantar fasciitis in that left foot, and a little bit of swelling in the ankle, but walking honestly seems to help alleviate some symptoms. Around the 4 mile mark I was really feeling solid. This competition coming up only has 1 moving event, so I’m not too concerned, but I WOULD like to be healed before that. If the treadmill starts doing more harm than good, I’ll switch to bike or rower.

• I weighed in at 81.2kg post walk, which is a .9kg drop from last week. I absolutely ate my face off this weekend recovering from the race, so that’s pretty outstanding. Maximum Definition Diet really lives up to it’s reputation. I’m gong to play the edge on nutrition leading up to my weigh in and see how much I can get away with. I’m already planning my post weigh in dinner: I’ve had a 36oz Tomahawk piedmontese ribeye in my freezer for a while now, and I can think of no better occasion to break it out.

• Photos below are yesterday’s breakfast and this morning’s breakfast. Yesterday was a typical weekend breakfast, with the addition of all the leftover pulled pork in my fridge on the side. This morning was the standard 1lb of lamb and gigantic omelet. Dinner last night was 4 sunny side up eggs with some piedmontes grassfed 93% lean meatloaf, where I dumped out the leftover grease on top of the eggs. I want to continue to reiterate that I am LOSING weight eating like this. It’s absolutely incredible.

• And on the topic of Maximum Definition Diet: today is the high carb meal day. We liked that spaghetti casserole so much that we’re just going to reheat the leftovers and have it again. Some garlic bread, and some homemade cookies with raw honey and fairlife skim will hit the spot. Once again: it’s funny to me how I have to MAKE myself eat this stuff. The Valkyrie makes wonderful food (and she was even so sweet as to make my omelet this morning), and it doesn’t at all taste bad (it’s quite yummy), but I’m just so inclined to keep eating the meat and eggs because I really just genuinely enjoy it so much. But I also know I get even better results when I lean into this weekly meal.

[T3hPwnisher]

Dinner was absolutely lovely, and I got in a great walk and my daily sandbag, which just keeps getting better. I’m trying very hard to believe that I DON’T have a stress fracture on my ankle, so let’s hear it for denial and solipsism.

But what I want to pat myself on the back for is I just looked through my notes. When I started Tactical Barbell, I was 86.4kg. Today was the start of my 13th week, and I’m down to 81.2kg. A loss of 5.2kg, 11.5 (rounded up) pounds in 12 weeks. Right in the sweet spot of slow, gradual weight loss while keeping my strength (actually seeing my lifts going up), all done without any manner of counting or tracking. I spent the majority of it with a modified Velocity Diet approach and have used the Maximum Definition Diet for the last few weeks, and both approaches have worked well. Always pleased to find there are more ways than the conventional norm to get things done.

[shaneinga]

Great job man. Eating good, dropping weight at a consistent rate, and getting stronger while doing it. I would definitely call that the sweet spot.

[T3hPwnisher]

@shaneinga Thanks so much dude! It’s definitely been a high quality of life sorta moment.

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AM WORKOUT (0355 wake up via alarm)

BRIDGE WEEK

Treadmill Walk

Incline: 1
Speed: 3.5 mph
Distance: 4.5 miles
Time: 1hr 17 min

Notes:

• Foot/ankle is improving, but still a little achy. Keeping within my limits, and just getting in the walks to stay active, get blood moving, and keep weight managed. On that note, I am weighing myself daily leading up to Friday, and after last night’s carby meal, I was at 82.4 kg this morning, which is a solid place to be close to comp. If I’m cutting it close come Friday, I’ll wear some sweats on my walk and get out the last little bit of water, but should otherwise be ok.

• Tang Soo Do tonight. Valkyrie and I have agreed to go easy on each other for One-Steps.

[T3hPwnisher]

Maximum Definition Diet recap

Breakfast as usual. Dinner was “Chefs Night Out” at Texas Roadhouse, so I got myself 2 sidekicks of ribs and threw in some leftover scrambled eggs with a tablespoon of beef tallow.