Axle strict press
3x2x183+1 push press rep per set
ASSISTANCE/CONDITIONING
Crossfit “CINDY” WOD
20 rounds of
5 chins
10 push ups
15 squats
w/10lb vest
Cindy Time: 21:43 (ties last week)
Notes:
Got to bed late last night, so decided to get in 45 extra minutes of sleep and just really dial in the training today. Normally, I meander a little bit in the morning, take the warm ups a little slow and ease into things. Instead, got out of bed right away, booked it downstairs, hit the majority of my warm-up sets but with no rest between and kept VERY strict on the 2 minute rest intervals. Managed to get in the most important parts of the workout: just cut out the abs, pull aparts, swings and low intensity rower time. And this is exactly why I settled on Tactical Barbell: it’s adaptable that I can add to it as needed, but when I need to just get the job done, the base is enough.
Still playing the razor’s edge with my elbows/forearms, and I feel like I’m winning. I cut out the daily chins yesterday, and today, after the first set of squats, I focused on putting the bar higher on my back. Pain doesn’t present DURING the squat, but when I rack the bar, most likely as I suddenly shift the weight off my back and directly onto the arms. Having it higher up on the back limits that, and ultimately makes the squat harder anyway, so that’s a win. I also think cutting the chins on Thursday makes sense given that on Friday I do Cindy. That may just be a way forward for the future.
I am thinking that for my next training cycle I’ll rotate in SSB squats in order to give the arms a break. It may be a forever way forward with TB: Alternate between SSB front squats, buffalo bar squats and SSB squats with training cycles.
Press felt very strong today.
I was crushing Cindy at the start. My conditioning is very solid there. Around round 9 I start regretting my life choices, and then I hold on until it’s over. I tied last week’s performance with 5 more pounds in the vest, so that’s pretty clutch. I REALLY get toasty doing this workout, as along with the vest I throw on a shirt because the webbing of the vest will chew up my torso during push ups and chins otherwise. Also worth noting that I do the push ups on patio pavers, because otherwise the vest will run into the floor before I get a full ROM, so I’m doing my best to really get the most out of this. Consequently, my pecs are always sore after this workout, which is pretty cool.
Tang Soo Do was pretty fun last night. Got to do some improvisation on grab self-defense, and some breakfalls. Also got in a decent 2+ mile walk after dinner last night, and my daily sandbag. Ended up with about 22k steps overall.
I shared my story about cooking in my hotel room on reddit. People immediately keyed in the absence of plants and presence of eggs and meat. One individual advised me to “make sure I get checked by my doctor once a year to avoid health issues”
This person immediately went to ask the same group for help with their gaining. Aside from looking like a melted candle, when asked about their diet, they reported a breakfast of 2 eggs and a bowel of oatmeal, a lunch of a queso bowl at Chipotle, and a dinner of a Red Baron Supreme frozen pizza with ships and salsa from Chipotle.
When I pointed out that the whole day was low in protein, and the breakfast specifically, they informed me that they didn’t know what else to eat at breakfast that wouldn’t be fattening.
It’s not the quesobowl he’s worried about that is going to be fattening. It’s not the frozen pizza. He thinks that any amount of eggs over 2 is going to be fattening.
This poor individual has zero understanding about nutrition. It’s surprisingly common.
I’ve been following your log, and training/nutrition is somewhat unconventional and it’s fascinating, I don’t really know any carnivores, it’s not “a thing” where I live.
Getting yearly bloodwork is not a dum dum thing to do with when you’re past certain age for sure. But I’m sure your blood image is wayy better than this poor guy/gal, since you’re a) very active physically b) eating kcal deficit, which will both improve blood health massively.
Appreciate that input dude! And concur: getting an annual physical is absolutely a positive thing to do, and I do get several medical evaluations over the course of a year, between my GP, my urologist, my dentist, etc. But on that note, my urologist had a great quote “You didn’t come here because of your labs: you came here because of how you feel. So…how do you feel?” Which is what motivated my transition to this way of eating: I felt AWFUL eating how I did before, and I feel fantastic now.
I’ve had REALLY “good” blood lipid readings at the exact same time that I had a hormonal profile that read like someone that had been chemically castrated, to quote my urologist. These days, I’m sure if I took a blood lipid panel, my LDL would be sky high, but my HDL would also be astronomically high, with triglycerides that are low. I have a family history that tends to trend that way, and this way of eating reinforces that. What I’d really be interested in is a Coronary Artery Calcification (CAC) scan, as I’m less concerned about the presence of LDL as I am about plaque.
But I also know that, when we see the dudes that are dropping dead from heart disease, they’re NOT mainlining meat and eggs: they’ll eat that alongside their Capt Crunch, donuts, ice cream, etc etc.
That’s such a good observation. I’ve actually claimed that ignorance is morally repugnant as a result. It’s not like back in the day, where if you wanted to know something you read your encyclopedia and, if it wasn’t there, you went to your library and, if it wasn’t there: you just didn’t get to know it. There’s no reason to not know things.
Now, there’s something to be said about how the signal-to-noise ratio is all jacked up with the abundance of information out there, and people do tend to find their own echo chambers and self-radicalize, but even THAT is at least demonstrating an ATTEMPT to self-educate.
Critiquing someone’s diet choices while recommending Dr intervention, and in the same breath saying frozen pizza and chips is on the menu for dinner, is asinine.
Breakfast is unchanged. Dinner was a full rack of spare ribs and some brisket from our favorite local BBQ place. Took my Indigo-3g before that. Absolutely wonderful. Will br fasting for 20 hours before my next meal
200lb+ sandbag over 50" bar for 1 min, rest for 2, 5 rounds total
Notes:
Got triples every round, with a fourth threatened. I have the bag better set up as far as slack goes, and practicing reps. Technique is coming along. Still playing it tender with the forearms. No issues with cardio.
Also got in my push ups, squats, and a bunch of walking and yard work today.
For the Maximum Definition Diet recap, I fasted for 20 hours until lunch, no photos of it, but took the Valkyrie out for early Mother’s Day lunch due to plans tomorrow, and hit up her favorite Hawaiian BBQ spot. I got a loco moco (hamburger steak topped with a sunny side up egg) and shared some of her kalbi ribs and BBQ chicken, which is a little dirty version of what Gironda recommends. Dinner was Texas Roadhouse, where I managed to talk the waitress into one bowl of eggs, so I asked for some cheese to go along with it to get in a little more fat and protein, and then a 23oz porterhouse, no seasoning, cooked rare.
Also a great find at Costco: Wagyu grassfed beef tallow. It was deathstarred, so the Valkyrie encouraged me to buy a good amount of them. I married up.
@oldbeancam Holy cow dude: great to see you still around! That workout sounds absolutely horrendous: I’ll have to give it a go sometime. And the feeling is mutual: sounds like you’re still getting after it!
I put the bar at practically high bar height today, just to see how it felt. It was a little tougher than my stupidly low bar height, but still within my abilities, which I think might be a solid way forward on the lightest week of the cycle. Spares my forearms some pain, gets me stronger, gives me room to grow. Really focusing on sinking the depth. The video is unsatisfying, but I know I’m out of ROM at the bottom.
Went with sets of 6 for chins on the warm-up, which got me to 30 total. They’re feeling better and better, which is the goal of Planet Mongo. I went without the chins yesterday, but did get in the sandbag. I’m feeling better about managing the balancing act here.
Press felt solid enough.
My chins felt better on the assistance circuit, but still fell apart a bit at the end. I used the underhand grip more, which helped. Meanwhile, dips continue to climb, and this week I got 180 in the 20 minutes, which is 40 more than what I started with. It dawned on me how this day pretty much is BtM day 1: 3x5 squats, 3x5 press, and all the same assistance work. Just slightly different percentages.
I really liked the interval I came up with on the rower. 1:2 work to rest ratio really seems to be pretty gold as far as power output goes. Saw my heart rate get into the 130s.
Weighed in at 81.1kg. That’s a 1kg drop from last week. These continue to be post carb-up weigh ins, for the sake of consistency, and I’ll throw in a Thursday weigh in as well when I’m fairly depleted to keep that standard tracked, but things continue to trend in the leaning out direction with the Maximum Definition Diet. Last night was spaghetti with 93% lean grassfed piedmontese meat sauce, some breadsticks, and a dessert of 2 cookies and 2 brownies from the Valkyrie with some honey and a mug of fairlife skim. Upon reflection, this actually was a pretty light weekend for food. We went out more than we usually do, for the Mother’s Day weekend, and aside from my full rack of ribs on Friday, I was eating lighter portions from a combination of 1: being so goddamn full from those ribs and 2: going out to eat and not wanting to buy 2 entrees worth of food. We’re pretty good at family style these days, and so I split my rice and mac salad at the Hawaiian BBQ place between the kiddo and the Valkyrie and they gave me some extra helpings of BBQ chicken and kalbi ribs, and at First Watch I gave the Valkyrie and kiddo my fruit and toast in exchange for their breakfast sausage, sunny side up eggs and butter, but even still, it’s lighter fare than usual. I say it not to complain (I still love how little food I need to be satiated for a LONG time), but more to document in case I see a bump up next week.
Heck, while I’m talking about food, lemme just say that this week started week 3 of chuck roast for breakfast, and like a dog with kibble, I am SO excited for my breakfast every morning. It’s legit what motivates me to get out of bed and train: knowing that I have that waiting for me at the end of the workout. I genuinely don’t know if there’s ever any going back from this Maximum Definition Diet approach.
I’m thinking VERY far into the future and thinking about my mass gaining phase after my second round of Operator before my competition on 26 Jul. I came up with the idea of taking Grey Man and making it Building the Monolith-esque. Instead of A/B/A, B/A/B, just stick with A/B/A on repeat each week. This would have me squatting twice a week and deadlifting once a week, and that deadlift workout would be a ROM progression mat pull cycle. I’d pair a press with the squat workout, because I’m prioritizing that lift, and then a bench press with the deadlift workout. This makes the assistance pretty simple to figure out as well: I’d put GHRs on the squat days and lever squats on the deadlift day, so I’m still training posterior and anterior chain 3x a week. I’m thinking either incline bench or dips on the press days, and behind the neck press on the bench days. For that “either incline or dips” discussion, I could legit do 1 on 1 day and 1 on the other, but I’d be straying a bit far from the frequency principle at that point. I’d want some back work, although there’s a fair chance I’ll keep the chins between sets of everything as that’s been good to bring back. So perhaps make chins a “free movement” and then have a row on the press days: either DB rows or a landmine row. What’s left is not programmed assistance: abs, reverse hyper, pull aparts, and possibly some shrugs. I learned from my last go-round that I don’t want to program weight/loads for those things. And there’s a fair chance I’ll keep in the daily sandbags, and perhaps be naughty on the weekends and still do some sort of strongman loading work, taking full accountability of the impact it will have on my recovery. I’ve run the Mass Protocol in earnest at least one time: I get to play around with it now and take full responsibility for my actions.
My kid is done with music theater for the season, so we get our Monday nights back. I’ll still most likely get in some sort of walk today after dinner, but it’ll be good to breathe.
First, forgive my ignorance/laziness. I have a pdf copy of Tactical Barbell but I haven’t read it in its entirety. Is Cindy something you’ve thrown in as part of the workout (like a pick your own cardio/conditioning) or is it your own addition?
It’s really a great workout and I never do it. I guess it’s just not sexy so I gloss over it. I see you’re just over the EMOM pace with a weighted vest which is awesome. I assume you’re doing strict chins instead of that CF butterfly thing, too.
Where do you get your meat? Do you buy a cow and store it in the freezer or shop week to week? I haven’t had more than one or two steaks since I stopped buying 1/3 of a beef and I miss it horribly.
With the prevalence of cancer in the world, I hope my annual bloodwork catches it before I ever have physical symptoms. I lost a couple of good co-workers who went to the doctor after not feeling well for six weeks to three months and they received bad news. The first guy didn’t have a chance as it was pancreatic cancer, but he was the picture of health - lean, physically capable, never drank or used tobacco or any other substance. The second guy looked a lot like me (beard and all) and he had cancer in his esophagus and only made it about six weeks after the diagnosis.
I don’t know if it would’ve mattered, but I just know those two were great, healthy dudes and it took them quickly. I think there’s definitely a better chance of survival if you catch it early.
I teach high school Health and Weight Training classes and boy is humanity disappointing. Can’t read? We’ll read everything out loud to you. Don’t know how to write a sentence? No problem, we’ll move you to an Adapted English class. But they sure as heck know all these made-up slang words like nobody’s business.
It’s both. TB allows for “Strength Endurance” workouts as part of conditioning, which include circuit style bodyweight workouts. I’m employing Cindy specifically because I’m prepping to do Murph on Memorial Day, and Cindy is all the bodyweight work of Murph (100 chins, 200 push ups and 300 squats), just partitioned in a specific manner. I’m figuring it will condition me for the day of, and it also aligns with my “Planet Mongo” goals of getting in a lot of chins during the workout.
Appreciate the accolades! I start OFF ahead of the EMOM pace, but finish behind it, haha. But I’m trending in the right way. Same with the weight vest: I’m bumping it up each workout, and will be at Murph weight by the time I get there. I’m using strict chins, primarily because my set-up isn’t really good for kipping. I’m not opposed to it: I’m just not in a good place to perform it.
For my meat, the majority of my beef comes from piedmontese (.com) The piedmontese breed of cattle is incredible: stupidly lean, high in protein, but VERY tender, and the farms are local to me, which I love being able to support. They don’t offer a whole cow option, but I check out their weekly 30% off sales and stock up when they have cuts I like. Otherwise, I’ll hit up Costco and shop the sales. I did 3 weeks of leg of lamb when they were discounting them as $8 off at the register, and these 3 weeks of chuck roast went in a similar way. My wife’s family has a farm in Iowa as well, and occasionally they’ll gift me venison, pork, beef and chickens. And I was able to bring home a doe 2 seasons ago, and hoping to do the same again this year if I have the bandwidth.
Early detection is definitely a blessing. I’ve been proof positive of just how damaged we can become before we realize something is more wrong than it should be. My condolences for those that you lost.
I’m a hybrid PE/Body sculpting teacher and man does this resonate. I’m trying to move out because it has just gotten so sad to watch. You get zero support when they fail, are expected to just push them through and they learn nothing. Even the ones who are interested seem to gain little to nothing out of it.
For example, a ton of my kids are into anime so I built this anime workout book where they use their bodyweight and things like drink boxes for additional load. Based it around some of their favorite anime to hopefully make it resonate more. Majority of them can’t read the exercises, don’t understand the sets and reps after we’ve went over it for 8ish weeks or have never looked at it. Just a bummer all around.
This is similar to why I’ve never had a training partner. It’s frustrating when you have a passion for something that isn’t shared at the same intensity as someone else. You’ll pour your soul into it, and won’t get met halfway.
I don’t always do a final, but the two that I have done for weight training were this:
Weight Room Math: I posted a photo of the bar and weight plates with the numbers. Tell me the weight. Should’ve been 100% all around but nope.
Last year I posted a photo of an exercise (start and finish position). These were exercises we did every week for the entire semester (and I had some students two semesters). Still not 100%.
My seniors are maxing this week since they finish a week ahead of the rest of us. I have to ask them what they loaded on the bar because I don’t trust their math. One kid reported that his partner did 215. I personally saw him squat two plates plus a five on each side. Do I need to make flashcards?
This definitely hit the nail on the head.
I had a solid training partner in high school during the summer between junior and senior year. It helped that we both worked for my dad and played on the same baseball team. We spent all day together. And guess who finished in the top two when we had tryouts for a homerun derby and a base running competition - we did. We were the only guys really putting in any work and it showed when we got to compare our speed and power. But I digress…
I trained with a friend about 11 years ago and I’d get frustrated when he missed workouts because it messed up the training progression. Why did I care and he didn’t?
@Frank_C Been there as well. People want YOU to be their source of motivation, and then they flake out on you. It’s why, anyone that asks, I flat out say “Cool: my garage is open at 0430. I’ll see you there.” I get no takers.
Breakfast was the usual. Dinner was…breakfast again. This was more like 13oz of chuckroast, and then I disconstructed the omelet to do an egg white omelet and 3 sunny side up eggs. I made my kid a 10oz piedmontese grassfed New York strip for it to be “steak night”, and they had about 1/3 of it, so I finished that off for the rest of my dinner as well.
I should note that I also poured the steak drippings onto of the egg whites, which is why they look like a horror movie.
Last week I did the basic version, and this week I did the full. For the first round of snatches, I tried out single arm clean and press instead, and found it not as effective. For the second round, I did alternating hands each time. On the final round, I stuck with the same hand for 10, then switched, and found that ultimately the best way forward for the future. In total, I got through 3 rounds of swings and 3 rounds of snatches in the 20 minutes time.
I like this choice because it allows me to get in the rows and the swings, which are both high value. It has a decent enough conditioning impact, and I like that I’m active for the full 20 minutes. However, this isn’t a lung breaker like Oxygen debt 101 or Power Intervals, so I need to ensure I don’t ALWAYS pick this one. That said, I got in some intervals yesterday as well, and I have enough time at the end of other lifting workouts to get in short interval work, so there are lots of avenues for success.
Elbows held up well enough. I have to start the snatches with my left arm: my right seems to bear most the brunt of the pain. That I was able to work in a set of chins afterwards is a great sign. Razor’s edge still.
I’m continuing my tradition of sleeping in until my wife’s alarm on Tuesdays. I pick shorter conditioning workouts and manage to still get my morning done, and this way I get a day of extra sleep and get to wake up next to my wife one extra day a week, which we both appreciate.
Got in the daily sandbag and some more walking last night. Tonight we have Tang Soo Do, and it’s “Wildcard Cardio” week, so we may get in a decent workout. We’ll be doubling up class tomorrow as well, to give us some freedom on Saturday.
Do I need to make flashcards?
