@BEAst_in_I I love it! Current MtG is so complex these days, but I’ll still always be a sucker for it.
AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)
TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN
Operation MILO Cycle 1, Week, 3, Workout 5
MAIN CLUSTER
Buffalo bar squat (low bar)
5x3x332
Axle strict press from rack
5x3x156
SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER
(3) Incline DB bench
4x8x65s
DB row
4x8x125
GHRs
4x8x40lb vest
ASSISTANCE
GHR sit ups
3x10
Chins throughout workout
Notes:
2 min rest on main cluster, 1 min for rest
Stayed up late last night. We had tickets to see Penn and Teller live. My kid actually got called up on stage to help with a trick. Totally worth it. But it meant I came into the workout dragging.
Set the bar lower on my back for this one. There’s a relationship between how low on my back I set the bar and how good my right knee feels, as I trade off knee flexion with hip flexion at that point. I did the first workout of the week with higher bar placement: maybe I’ll make that a thing I do moving forward. Workout 1 higher bar, workout 2 lower bar. The tradeoff with the lower bar is that it places more stress on my forearms.
On that note, I’m thinking the prudent choice is to do 3-6 week cycles with the buffalo bar, then switch to SSB or SSB front squats for the 3 weeks of specificity or operator. Mixing things up, getting stronger and getting less beat up.
Incline benching is feeling stronger. Wonder if I just needed to relearn the movement.
Got our Tang Soo Do belt test tomorrow, so I’ll most likely not do the stone work. The tests tend to run for 2.5 hours in full uniform in the summer, so they’re a workout.
It could not have been more perfect. My kid is in an on again/off again magic phase, and got the Penn and Teller VR magic set for Christmas. We bought then these tickets for their birthday, which was a few months back, but they arrived a total fan of the duo. They were absolutely elated to be up there, and came away with a souvenir: the card that was used in the trick. Just an incredible night.
@BEAst_in_I Yeah, at this point, if I ever play again, it’s going to have to be a ruleset of “nothing after 1998”, haha.
@alex_uk Hey thanks man! It’s been a great little addition to the protocol. Keeps me interested.
@FlatsFarmer Thanks so much for saying that dude! You know as a father that you spend pretty much all your time thinking that you’re not doing a good job of “being there”. It’s always nice when something comes through.
We did our belt test in Tang Soo Do today, so I didn’t do the stone workout. The test was 2 hours long, with the first hour being just physical exercise and drilling the basics, which was a solid workout. After that, it was hyungs/forms, starting with open hand and then weapons, then all of our one step defense, then a few rounds of sparring, and then we finished it off with breaking. I chose a reverse punch for hand techniques and a jump roundhouse for foot, both of which were first breaks for me. Got them on the first attempt. Whole family had an awesome time and did very well: we should find out the results on Tuesday.
Breakfast was a standard weekend affair of 2 omelets with 3 pastured eggs, some leftover smoked chicken breast, grassfed wagyu beef tallow and a slice of Aldi’s swiss cheese, toped with grassfed ghee alongside 1.5 grassfed piedmontese hotdogs and 4 strips of beef bacon.
For dinner, we celebrated our test at our favorite hibachi buffet. I got 3 New York Strip steaks, a ton of oysters, some fish (flounder I think), and then I loaded up a full plate of shrimp with some beef and 3 eggs for the hibachi grill. For round 2, I got another 8 oysters, a few more shrimp and little bit more fish. This was actually the cleanest I’ve eaten there at a long time. Already I’m having that “feasting effect” with gaining: binging on food has lost it’s novelty. I feel like this is a method I could sell. Spend a few weeks really leaning into a binge and suddenly you stop overeating, haha.
Damn man, I didn’t realize you were in Tucson. I spent all my Christmases there growing up. My grandma lived on Houghton road. Had my fair share of Peter Piper Pizzas and a few trips to Pinnacle Peak. If I ever get back there, we’ll need to grab some grub.
And this Hibachi place is SO clutch. I’m not even scratching the surface of their offerings when I show my plates. Such a wonderful hidden gem.
2 min rest on main cluster, 1 min rest on supplemental, except final set of DB incline was 90 seconds
Changed up the chins to do sets of 3 between sets of main work, rather than 1 big set at the end. Going to see how I respond. Should be gentler on the elbows to stay so far away from failure.
Felt very strong for this workout, which is funny because I spent the weekend feeling physically exhausted. Between the heat and the martial arts testing, I was beat. But squats and pressing felt awesome.
Weighed 82.5kg post workout. Last night was the carby meal: baked spaghetti, and 5 of the Valkyrie’s cookies (3 oatmeal peanut butter butterscotch, 2 vanilla cake with triple chocolate chips) with some raw local honey and a mug of fairlife skim.
Breakfast was 13.4oz of brisket (again, the whole brisket divided by 5), a smoked chicken thigh and wing, 3 whole eggs and 5 whites.
Dinner was “Chef’s Night Out” fundraiser for my kid’s school, so we went to Freddy’s. I had 2 steak burger patties topped with Swiss, one with some prime rib on it, and then 7 plain patties for a total of 9. Was a great deal too; only charged me $1 per patty.
Realized this is actually the start of a second cycle, rather than week 4 of the first cycle, since the maxes have been reset. Mass protocol goes in 3 week waves vs 6.
Hips didn’t bother me today like they have in previous weeks. In general, a good recovery day on the rower. Still have to fight the temptation to turn this into a real workout, but that’s what specificity is for.
Keg carry was 201lbs last night. Tang Soo Do tonight. It’s sparring week, and we should earn our new belts tonight. Valkyrie and I will be 2nd Gups, meaning only 2 more belts before black and kiddo will be a 3rd Gup. Crazy how close we’re getting.
Breakfast was the same as yesterday (forgot to mention the beef liver yesterday). Dinner was 1lb of American Wagyu 80/20 ground beef, a Don Lee Farms chicken breast patty, 3 whole eggs topped with beef drippings and 5 whites.
Reverse hyper/standing ab wheel superset
3x15x320/3x10
Chins throughout workout
Notes:
2 min rest between sets of bench, 1 min for everything else
Bench weight is just right. Struggle on the last reps. Same with dips and curls. Lever belt may be a little on the heavy side, but I can get through it. Adding the spotter arm for support helped. I’m not using it like Hatfield squats, but more just to keep my torso upright and provide balance.
Mat pulls felt VERY strong this morning. Good positioning and not much struggle to break off the floor. 12 reps wasn’t pushing me to the absolute limit, but I cut the final pull short at 4 reps vs 5, so as to not grind too much.
Was feeling pretty wiped during the ab wheel. Think the dehydration was getting to me.
Sparring again tonight. Last night wasn’t much activity for me, as I went up against the kiddo in the first round. Gave them a fight and let them get in their 3 points, but it worked out well, because they had an awesome match in the semi-finals with a beautiful ax kick, and then went on tot he finals and scored a point against one of our black belts.
Forgot to take a photo of breakfast, but it was the exact same thing as yesterday.
For dinner, I had 1.2lbs of beef flanken ribs, 3 whole eggs, 5 whites and (not pictured) a piedmontese grassfed steak kabob leftover from my kiddo’s plate.
Slept in the extra 5 minutes and cut out the extra .25 miles. Worth it. Actually some really good sleep last night.
This was a good walk. 2 weeks ago things were off and I was unable to zone out, but today went quickly and felt very tonic after my deadlift workout.
Sparring last night went well. Got to defeat a senior student in the first round, and had a very good back and forth with the Valkryie before she took it in overtime. We broke for “king of the ring” at the end, and I was able to score on our senior black belt with some aggressive hand work. Decent workout as well.
Weighed in at 82.0 kg this morning, which is a 1.2kg gain from last week’s Thursday weigh in. Things are trending in the right direction. Strength is matching, and my weight belt still fits well. And doing this completely carnivore, outside of 1 meal a week, is pretty cool.
Breakfast was the same as yesterday. Dinner was leftover’s night: 13.5oz of brisket, 2 piedmontese grassfed steak kabobs, some smoked herring, 3 pastured eggs and 5 whites.
Axle strict press from rack
3x8x143
1x7+1 (rest pause) x 143
SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER
(3) Incline DB bench
2x12x60s
1x11x60
1x10+3RP x 60
DB row
4x12x115
GHRs
4x12x20.4
ASSISTANCE
GHR sit up
3x10
Chins throughout workout
Notes:
This was really not on my list of things to do this morning. Sparring week tends to beat me up, since we get to bed later and tend to get a little jacked up from it. It was honestly breakfast that motivated me to get the training in, so take the wins where we get them.
Belt actually fit looser than Monday. It was pinching a little on my right hip as a result. Squats felt nice and deep though.
Pressing strength was just not there. I did jack up my right shoulder a little yesterday when it got trapped during an exchange, so maybe that played a role in it.
Went max sets on the squats, but since I was struggling so much on the press, I capped it at 4.
As I was finishing up my GHRs, I thought to myself how my mat pulls have been going very well this cycle, and figured the GHRs were the contributor. But then I remembered that I was also doing DB rows, which have always helped. And then I thought about how I was putting on bodyweight, which can help. There’s a lot factors at play there, which is why I like Grey Man: a chance to shore up all sorts of weaknesses.
Didn’t get in much sparring last night: was paired with the kiddo in my first match, so I fed them some opportunities to capitalize on. It worked though: they were able to win their second match against a senior student and then beat the Valkyrie in the final match to finish as the Dojang champion for the night.
