I’m sorry to hear it! I saw you say the dog is doing well now, but it’s been a couple days. I hope all is still as good as can be; it’s tough when they get old.
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Much appreciated dude! She’s somehow bounced back yet again, and back to being a super food motivated chow hound. She lost her appetite for a little bit there, and that was the most heart breaking part. We were getting creative getting calories into her. At one point, we had her on the bland diet of chicken and rice, and then mixed in some chicken bone broth and added some melted peanut butter just to get her some extra calories and sugar…and at that point I realized I had made my dog thai peanut chicken curry, haha.
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That’s pretty funny! Really glad to hear she’s eating again. Hope she keeps doing well.
There’s a puppy pen at this conference (ridiculously awesome idea - I am playing with puppies in between sessions), and I’m like “maybe I could do another dog…”
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I’m so glad she’s doing better! It’s heartbreaking watching them struggle.
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Thanks @EmilyQ It’s been interesting. Our first dog went out on us unexpectedly. He was 14, having a good day, and alluva sudden just had some bloody bowels, took him to the vet ER and he never came out. Because of that, we’ve been trying to brace for impact with our other dog, honestly thinking she was going to go pretty soon after him because of a broken heart, but she just keeps on rallying back more and more. I keep calling her “15”, but her birthday is actually in 8 days. We’re planning on celebrating her that day, so we’re glad she’s feeling better for it, haha.
@TrainForPain that’s an awesome idea for a de-stresser! And man, adding another dog to the family was such a big quality of life improvement for us. She’s given life to our older dog, and has been a great walking buddy.
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I’ve found with all my doggo’s, having often owned two at a time, that if the human bond is strong, they always seem to survive ok after losing the other one.
There is always a grieving period, just like humans. But they always come out the other side! Our last two girls were sisters, so we expected a similar outcome…and the grieving was bad for the survivor…but a couple of weeks later, the old girl came back to her full self. Though I think she always missed her sister, as Id often find her looking for her in her favourite spots, but she was ok.
Our new girls are also very close. Best mates for sure, but like the last two I think they’d already choose their humans before their sister lol. I think that’s the main determining factor for surviving alone after the first one crosses the Bifröst.
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Maximum Definition Diet recap
Breakfast was the usual. Dinner was the buffet. Really loaded up on oysters and shrimp. Prioritizing lean protein. Hibachi was 3 eggs, lots of shrimp and some lean beef.
Hitting up the Renaissance Faire tomorrow, so fasting through Breakfast so I can get my Turkey leg on.
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OPERATION PLANET MONGO
Tactical Barbell Operation Cycle 1, Week 2, Workout 6
EMOM sandbag over bar for 10 rounds
200+lb sandbag and 50" bar
Notes:
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I realized the technique that works on log works here too. Don’t row the bag into my lap: deadlift it, then grab it. This will save my elbows.
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I used an extra ziptie on the bag, and it lasted for 4 rounds before breaking. I’ll need to rig that up again, because it really changed things.
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This was much better than my last time. I’m getting better with the technique. I’ll need to start getting in more reps soon.
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Spent the rest of the day walking around at the Renassance festival. Got a cool new gym flag that says “Victory or Valhalla”, some raw local honey, and other goodies. Also got my turkey leg
And dinner was 20 smoked chicken wings, so a LOT of white meat/poultry today
Go Gironda.
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Been a busy and fun weekend. Took the dog for a 3 mile walk this morning while I wore my 20lb vest, then mowed the lawn/did yardwork for about 90 minutes, then walked with the Valkyrie for 3 miles after our family meal (spaghetti with 93% lean piedmontese meat sauce, some breadsticks, and the rest of the peanutbutter cheesecake with some homemade cookies, raw honey, and fairlife skim), getting me over 23k steps. Still got in my sandbag as well: deadlifting rather than rowing really is awesome.
I meant to log yesterday that it was an experiment in intermittent fasting, as I skipped breakfast since I wanted that turkey leg for lunch and am still sticking with 2 meals a day. Ended up being a 17 hour fast, and that was painless. Still enjoy the novelty of being able to do this. I DO feel like I’m getting a little on the stringy side these days, and am looking forward to growing starting in August, but I’ll see how I’m doing after I come back from my cruise. I may be in a place to grow into my competition, which would be cool.
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OPERATION PLANET MONGO
AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)
Tactical Barbell Operator Cycle 1, Week 3, Workout 1
MAIN WORK
Buffalo bar squat (low bar)
3x2x355
ALTERNATE w/
Axle strict press
3x2x183+1 push press rep per set
4 chins between sets
ASSISTANCE WORK
20 round EMOM of
- 9 dips on odd rounds, 8 dips on evens
- 4 chins
- 2 Hanging Leg Raise
- 10 band pull aparts
Lateral raise dropset (35x10, 30x5, 30x2.5, 30xEmpty Hands)
CONDITIONING
5 rounds on the rower
- 45 seconds max effort, 1 minute rest
Notes:
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Knees were a little sore this morning. Wondering if I’m seeing the effect of Cindy as an assistance WOD, along with all the walking around from the weekend. Cindy will be cut after this cycle, so not the biggest concern, but something to track on. I’m also a little tender from sun exposure, which made the squat bar slightly uncomfortable, but nothing game changing.
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Had the bar a bit too low on the back for the first set. Put it up higher for the next 2.
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Pleased with how the press moved. Thought it was going to feel heavier.
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I had 50 reps of chins between warm ups and sets between sets before I started the EMOM, having me end with 130 total reps. However, the 4th rep of each round was getting sloppy at the end, so I’m going to stick with 4s until it’s clean. Dips were a pleasant surprise in performance: 170 total, which is 30 reps ahead of where I was in the prep week.
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Those rower intervals were solid at the end. More recovery time, to allow for stronger intervals. This is the easy week of conditioning, so that may feature in other workouts.
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Weighed in at 82.1kg this morning, which is a .9kg drop from the previous week. Once again, these are different, as they’re post carb up weigh ins. I’ll take a Thursday weigh in as well to track on Deltas, but I’m still seeing trends in the downward direction, and my abs are coming in deeper.
EDIT:
Oh yeah, meant to document, but with Indigo-3g back, I’ve changed up my strategy of employment with it. I used to consume it daily, but given I only really eat one meal with carbs a week, I’m limiting myself to 30 minutes before that meal, and 30 minutes before my Friday and Saturday evening meals as well. We eat out on those nights, and though I keep it carnivore/Maximum Definition as much as I can, I know with restaurant food there’s always going to be a lack of quality control compared to home. I figure I can maximize any “sneaky carbs” during that time, and REALLY put to use the carbs I’m eating for that family meal. With my upcoming cruise, I’ll definitely be an everyday user of Indigo, especially given I’ll be in Italy and Greece.
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Maximum Definition Diet recap
Breakfast was “the omelet” with 12.5oz of air fried chuck roast and some beef liver.
Dinner was an audible: we had MORE time than we figured, so I threw together a burger night for the fam. Mine is 2 1/3lb grassfed beef burgers from Costco, topped with some piedmontese tallow from the last time I smoked ribs, so it imparted a smoky flavor. This was served alongside some sardines, and another “the omelet”
Something I’ve really appreciated about this diet is the rules. I love limits. Being told “no dairy aside from cream and butter” got me away from sour cream and cheese, and it’s gotten me, to, in turn, REALLY appreciate the value of tallow. I’ve also completely eliminated all the bullcrap that was hanging out in my diet. Particularly: pork cracklin.
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Do you do anything to tenderize the chuck? I have been air frying chuck, and while I like the flavor, it is pretty chewy.
I found some tri tip in sale and that comes out great, but is a little more expensive than chuck, and not always available.
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@The_Myth no specific tenderization, but I’ve learned that slicing it thinner and cooking it at 450 degrees for 7 minutes eliminates the chewiness. When I left it like a big hunk of roast, it would sometimes not crisp up the fat, but thinner slices are plenty tender.
OPERATION PLANET MONGO
AM WORKOUT (0510 wake up via Valkyrie’s Alarm)
Tactical Barbell Operator Cycle 1, Week 3, Workout 2
“FOBBIT INTERVALS” (Basic)
Set timer for 15 minutes
Row for 2 minutes, hop off, 20 KB swings w/24kg bell, row 2 minutes, hope off, 10 snatches per arm, repeat until 15 minutes is up
Notes:
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It’s the heavy week of lifting, which means the light week of conditioning, and Fobbit Intervals looked like exactly what I needed there. Basic means going from 20 minutes to 15, but I was pretty surprised with how effective of a conditioning hit this workout had. The rowing is more just to keep the heart rate in a constant elevated state: the money is on the KB work. It’s basically short burst intensity, 2 minutes active rest, repeat.
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Been a LONG time since I did any sort of KB snatch, but thankfully I was never good at them in the first place, so this felt as awful as before. They definitely were the start of the show for getting my heart rate up, but they also tend to beat up my elbows, so something to watch out for. I’m actually thinking this could work by throwing in some ABCs instead.
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Got in a nice hour long walk last night while my kid was at music theater rehearsals. Also been getting in my lunchtime walks. The consistency is paying off, along with he time in the sun, because I’m really leaning out, just in time for the cruise.
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Got some zipties for my sandbag to make it a bit more like what I’d see in competition. It was a little tricky to handle yesterday as a result, but I’ll have plenty of time to get in more reps.
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Maximum Definition Diet recap
Same meal twice, with a slight variance. Beef liver at breakfast and sardines at dinner
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OPERATION PLANET MONGO
AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)
Tactical Barbell Operator Cycle 1, Week 3, Workout 3
MAIN WORK
Buffalo Bar Squat (low bar)
3x2x355
ALTERNATE W/
Axle strict press from rack
3x2x183+1 push press rep per set
Sets of 5 chins between sets (55 total before moving on)
(4) Texas Deadlift Bar mat pulls
15+6+6x405
ASSISTANCE
4 rounds of
- 10x80 DB rows
- 10x270 reverse hyper
- 6 standing ab wheels
- 20 axle curls
BREAKFAST
40 minute walk while truck got maintenance
Notes:
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Very interesting mental shift happened yesterday: while I was walking my dog and thinking about my next day of training, I caught myself thinking “I get to deadlift tomorrow” vs “I have to deadlift tomorrow”. I was pretty delighted with myself for that.
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Used sets of 5 in the warm up AND the main work for the chins between sets. I’m getting better at chins, but I find myself gravitating toward the wider grips, avoiding the narrower ones, and I can feel a familiar ache in the elbows. I’ll keep my eye on things. I should note that I SAY “elbows” but I really mean more “forearm flexors/extensors”, similar to what I run into from too much aggressive grip work. I may start eliminating the daily chins, and just focus on volume in the training itself.
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I decided to let the squat bar hang low today on the low bar. Specifically, I allow myself something of a forward shrug before I unrack the bar, to get it to really settle in the meat of my lower traps/rear delts. It just feels better to squat that way, and my knee continues to appreciate this change. I feel like I’m still doing myself a service by taking these squats so much deeper than I ever did in the past.
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I really focused on getting my hips under my shoulders at the start of the mat pulls, and it paid off. I broke the weight off the mats comically easily and had TONS of energy for the set as a result. Managed to make it to 8 reps before having to take my first breath, which is a 1 rep PR in that regard, and I’m still not taking any cluster to failure like I used to. My hips feel much better as a result. This seems like a solid middle ground to operate off of.
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Ran out of time on the assistance. Was wanting to get in 5 rounds. But I still got value out of that.
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I had to take my truck in for regular maintenance, so I used the downtime to get in a short walk. I managed 3 miles with the pup last night as well. We’ll be doing Tang Soo Do tonight, but it’s one steps night, so not a whole lot of energy demand.
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Nice workout. That set of deads was a tough one. Great job! 
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Thanks brother! It was a much better day than I anticipated.
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Maximum Definition Diet recap
Another day of effectively the same meal. Breakfast the usual. Dinner was leftover night, so I took all the leftover scrambled eggs and put them next to the chuck roast in the air fryer, covering them in some grassfed beef tallow. They turned out pretty yummy. I picked up some smoked herring to go alongside it.
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OPERATION PLANET MONGO
AM WORKOUT (0348 natural wake up, snooze until 0355)
Tactical Barbell Operator Cycle 1, Week 3, Workout 4
90 minute treadmill walk
Speed: 3.5 mph
Distance: 5.25 miles
Incline: 6.0 first 2.5 miles, 7.0 for remainder
Notes:
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Every week this remains one of the best favors I do for myself. The day after deadlifting I’m pretty beat up, and this becomes pretty tonic. Since it’s the easy week, I went without the vest, but I upped the incline a bit to allow some sort of challenge without pushing the pace any harder. My feet are finally in a good way after my race, and with my trip to Italy and Greece coming up in 3 weeks, I want to keep it that way. I intend to do the European thing and do a lot of walking, and I bought a brand new pair of Bearfeet shoes to get me there.
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Took my Thursday weigh in and came in at 81.1, compare to 80.9 last week, so things are pretty consistent. I don’t really care to be any lighter at this point, but may push just a little harder in these last few weeks to allow for gluttony on my vacation.
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This marks 2 months of gum sobriety: not a single stick or piece. I’m not opposed to ever having any again, but I’m appreciating not using it right now. If nothing else, I can say it’s to comply with the Maximum Definition Diet. Eliminating the artificial sweeteners has most likely done me some good.
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Tang Soo Do was low intensity yesterday, but fun. Lot of creativity in one steps. Got another class tonight. We’re also doing pretty well on our family walks post dinner these days.
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Maximum Definition Diet recap
Breakfast is uncharged, but dinner was also breakfast, so that’s confusing. 2 cheeseburger omletes, made with 3 pastured eggs and some beef tallow with Sargento thin slice colby jack, topped with grassfed ghee, alongside a piedmontese grassfed junior hotdog and 3 strips of beef bacon.
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