Much appreciated dude! It’s worth noting, based on how you snipped the post, is that the 50lb gain on the bar is from a YEAR of training: not 7 weeks. And, in fact, you pointed out to me I transposed the numbers: that’s a 7lb gain in 9 weeks, haha. I’ll have to edit that.
But, yeah, I don’t foresee much fluid loss as I go, which has been a plus. It’s made it easier to track progression as well.
Oh man, not sure how I snipped the double quote like that. I must’ve deleted the part where I said 50lbs in a year is huge. This is why I shouldn’t quote on my phone.
Still very impressive. Two month bulk, netting that much lean mass is enviable.
Very much appreciated dude. I love it because I got it done without having to count or track. I know it works for some (many), but it just doesn’t suit my psychology. Being able to achieve my goals with the methods I want to employ always brings me joy.
Breakfast was the same as yesterday, with some of that tzatziki sauce. Dinner was ham, smoked herring, sardines, 3 whole eggs and 5 whites. I did not eat the entire ham, as that was the family portion, but that’s why I included the fish: to keep me from doing exactly that.
1 min of rest on rows, GHRs and GHR sit ups, 90 seconds on curls.
I legitimately do NOT know how I managed those mat pulls. I wasn’t feeling particular weak or beat up today, but those pulls were just plain heavy, and I approached it with a goal of just getting 10 on the first pull and figuring it out from there. Breaking it off the mats the very time felt ridiculous, but somehow I found myself with plenty of strength to get through the reps. Very light taps on the mats. I’m rediscovering that “other gear” in me that, as long as I can get the bar a millimeter off the mats, I can move it to lockout. It’s great to feel strong again.
Wore the strongman belt for most of the workout after that, because having my back warm and compressed felt good.
No chins between sets. This morning, I found that my right elbow was showing some of those warning signs of getting beat up, and chins tend to be something that accelerate that. I’ve got Friday to really get these in. Part of me imagines it’s the keg carry that is doing this.
On that note, 246lbs moved VERY well yesterday compared to the past 3 carries.
Tang Soo Do sparring was a bit of a mixed bag. I got to go up against one of our adult black belts who has been out due to wrist surgery for a few months. It’s rare I get to spar someone larger than me. He has no cardio at all, and I pushed the pace to make him uncomfortable, but ended up fouling out. I got in a very nice hook kick to the head that made too much contact, and then caused him to panic twice, which resulted in him spinning out while I had launched a strike, getting me called on 2 strikes to the back, giving me 3 fouls. Not a way I want to lose a match, but I was pleased with how I was able to control the pace of the match.
On that note, I signed up for another grappling competition on 7 Dec. Since I’ll have turned 40 by then, I’m no longer a Masters athlete, but instead in the “Directors” division. Here’s hoping a few more old dudes sign up.
Breakfast was the same as yesterday. Dinner was leftovers night, so I finished off the Greek meatballs with some feta and tatsiki sauce alongside 2 Don Lee Farms chicken breast patties, 3 whole eggs and 5 whites.
Valkyrie was commenting on how large I am looking these days. Diet is definitely working.
Singles to be honest, are the only thing that ever helped me with that. It’s just practice with that first rep. I STILL get that on rep one, after all the damn deadlifting I’ve done . The reps that follow benefit from a small amount of stretch reflex.
@simo74 For the elevated pull specifically, I focus hard on rolling my hips under my shoulders at the start of the pull so I can maximize leg drive and “fall back” with the weight, rather than try to lift it entirely with a hip hinge As far as training goes, those rest pause sets I employ seem like a good balance. I get in strength work with all the reps, but having 3 distinct breaks off the floor with a long pause between the previous rep gives the body a chance to reset compared to when pulling a set of dead stops.
@raven78 I appreciate that dude! I’ll have to see if my strategy of no training, only knowing 1 submission and relying on conditioning will continue to be successful.
AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)
TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO
Operation MILO Cycle 3, Week 3, Workout 4
MAIN WORK
SSB Squat
4x8x325
Lever Belt Squat
4x8x272.5
Axle strict press from rack
3x8x153
1x6+1(failed 8th)x153
(3) DB incline bench
4x8x80s
Dips
2x8x80
1x7x80
1x6+2x80
ASSISTANCE
Ab wheel
1x10+10 second plank
Notes:
Rest times all over. 1:30, 1:45 and 2:00 for the squats, 90 seconds for the lever belt, 2:00 for the press, 1:30, 1:45 and 2:00 for the incline, and 90 seconds for the dips.
Much like yesterday, I have no idea how I succeeded here, but I’m glad I did. This is a huge gain in the course of a year, having me add 50lbs to my work set weight with a harder bar AND shorter rest periods. It took a lot out of me, and that bridge week and program shift are going to be well timed.
Ran into some failures on the pressing, primarily due to a lack of rest time. I was a little behind the 8-ball timewise this morning. Same reason the ab work was reduced.
Sparring last night had me going up against a senior student and one of our senior black belts, along with some free sparring. Trying out some new strategies and trying to work more combos. Was a good workout. One more of those tonight.
Yesterday’s Keg carry was 247.5lbs. It felt heavy, but manageable.
Weighed in at 84.7kg this morning, which will serve as my final weigh in for Mass Protocol and the baseline I’ll measure against during Operator. I don’t have goals for a specific bodyweight, I’m just eating for performance, but I DO need to be under 185lbs for the weigh in on 7 Dec.
All signs point to yes! Given your conditioning level, and that you’ll be the youngest (and surely fittest, fastest etc) in that age category. But no point over analyzing these things now. Nice few recent blog posts too btw (I don’t get over very often).
@raven78 Assuming anyone shows up in my age group, haha. Hasn’t happened yet! But I can roll with a few masters if given the chance. And thanks for reading!
@simo74 Rock on dude. It’s why I’ve always liked ROM progression: I get strong at a whole bunch of different angles and save my back in the process. I really should have just stuck with it for life: every time I’ve gone away from it, I just got worse.
1 min rest between chins, rows and GHRs/sit ups, 90 second rest for curls
I feel like this workout ultimately made lifting 4x a week palatable, since it doesn’t have a big movement in it. Just a chance to get in some bodybuilding and recover from the hard efforts of the week. Meanwhile, it’s the heavier bodybuilding day of the 2, so not having a big movement works, and it means I’m not totally killing myself on the deadlift day.
DB rows are just stupidly heavy at this weight. Not as good of a mind muscle connection, but sometimes that brute force work is good for me as well.
Really good pump from the chins.
Final night of sparring in Tang Soo Do last night. Got in 3 matches, 2 with junior students and one with the Valkyrie. Highlight was my second match, dude had a predictable pattern where, if he was ever down a point, he would charge in first thing the next round to try to score a quick point by surprise. Everyone else always falls for it, and since I knew it was coming, I just shoved out a push kick at the start of the match and he speared himself on it. It ended with my heel crashing right into his knee and completely immobilized him. My instructor also commented on my stance, saying “I know I’m not going to take the boxer out of you, and I don’t think I want to. It works for you, and it has real world application, which I can appreciate”. Was good to hear us on the same wavelength.
Keg carry last night was 248.5. Today will make 250, which will be 75lbs from the start of the experiment. It’s getting heavy, but I can still make it happen.
Stone of Steel over bar
5 rounds of 1 min on/2 mins off
-160lb stone
-50” bar
Notes:
Added a round each week for Specificity Bravo, and that seemed to work out well. I got 8-9-8-7-6 with this, battling some equipment issues. I’m planning on keeping this Saturday workout in some capacity through all phases of Tactical Barbell.
Knees are a little sporty, but nothing I couldn’t handle. This final week was a lot on them. Operator with the front squat will give me a decent break.
Carried a 250lb keg yesterday, and 251 today. I’m so close to failing that I think I’ll just go until it happens, rather than stop artificially. Effectively, the day I can’t make the trip down and back without stopping is the day the experiment will end. The keg DID feel lighter today after the stone work: like an overwarm.
I’ll be taking a rest day tomorrow, then start my bridge week/10k swing experiment. That will determine if I go through with the full thing
Breakfast was a weekend special of 2 omelets with 3 eggs, some leftover pulled pork and ham, beef tallow and a slice of Jarlsburg swiss, topped with ghee, alongside a piedmontese grassfed hot dog and some “side pork” from the Iowa farm, which is effectively thin sliced pork belly.
For dinner, we went to the pumpkin patch and I got a turkey leg and a tomahawk pork chop.
This will be the final post for the Operation MILO Nutritional SITREPs. I will most likely continue to post food through Operator, but the intent during that time will be to lean out, rather than add mass, which isn’t really a point that needs proving with my style of eating. People think you can’t add mass with a carnivore approach, and I’m up 8lbs in 9 weeks. But most people agree you can LOSE weight with a carnivore approach, so I won’t impress anyone by doing that.
I truly respect how many orgs go out of their way to avoid using the word “Seniors” for divisions above 35 or 40! “Directors” is a new one for me. I’ve also seen “Executive” used before. That’s one thing the IBJJF got right: numbers > names.
@burien_top_team Executive is the next step up! Haha. I don’t know how I got this old. It is funny too seeing how different sports treat things, because you have to be 40 before you’re a masters in strongman, but for BJJ it’s 30, and for golf I’m sure I’m still a young stud.
AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)
BRIDGE WEEK
EMOM KB swings
24kg bell
20 swings per round
25 rounds total
Chins between rounds
2 mile treadmill walk
Speed: 3.5
Incline: 4
Time: 34:15
Notes:
This was me piloting my idea of including merging the 10k swing challenge with Tactical Barbell Operator. Based off day 1, it’s doable, but iffy. This was far more fatiguing than I anticipated it being, specifically on my grip, but part of that could also be the chins between sets. I started out too ambitious with 3 per round, and realistically should stick with Dan’s recommendation of 1-2-3-repeat, or possibly just straight 2s across. I’m also contemplating altering my approach and stealing from TB II by doing 4 rounds of swings and 1 full round of rest, but this will extend the time even further. 25 minutes is the sweet spot as far as a time commitment goes, because placing that on top of a TB 1 workout should get me to about 50-55 minutes total. Ultimately, I’m not married to the 10k swing, and if I need to abandon this idea I will, but I’ll give it another day or 2 and see if it has wings.
Weighed in at 85.0 kg this morning, which is my starting weight to base off for the next 4 weeks. Solid gains from Mass Protocol, and I still have a set of abs after 9 weeks of eating my face off. Already started the nutritional shift by going from 20oz of meat to 16 (technically 17.5 for this morning, but the rest of the week will be 16) and switching from ghee on top of my eggs to a thin smear of our homemade tzatziki sauce. Small changes. Plan is to keep reducing the meat week to week by small amounts.
Went without the weight vest for the treadmill walk just to really reinforce the bridge week aspect of this. I’m appreciating the lack of load. My right knee feels a lot better as well. As much as I don’t want to admit it, I think the lever belt squat beats the hell out of it. Operator will be a good test of that.
Keg carry was 252.5 yesterday. It’s still feeling heavy.
Not as much sleep last night as usual. Stayed up late to watch the Cowboys tie. Went to sleep when it went into overtime: glad I didn’t stay up to watch the whole thing.
. The reps that follow benefit from a small amount of stretch reflex.
