Thanks man! If I stay the course, “where I go with it” is nowhere: 25 rounds of 20 is the workout. 500 swings a day for 20 days, trained 5 days a week for 4 weeks, per Dan John’s 10k swings challenge
Tuesdays would be the exception, as I’ll most likely have to so 20 rounds of 25 swings with no other exercise in between.
I can see from the video that my grip is impacting swing ROM on the latter sets, but I know from BEING there that the swing itself is still impacting me with that ROM, so I got that going for me.
Ahhh okay i will re-read that workout, I remember looking through it in the past but never committed to it. I have been trying to progress up in weight when i get 5 sets of 20 recently. Once it feels like too much I will drop the weight and consider adding the 10K challenge into my TB plan as well!
Once it feels like too much I will drop the weight and consider adding the 10K challenge into my TB plan as well!
For sure dude. Definitely emphasize the “consider” portion of it. This is definitely not a SMART idea. For me, I considered it just because it gave me less to think about for the next 4 weeks.
I’ve done this challenge a few times now and it’s always a good ass kick. The issue for me has always been I haven’t had the capacity to also do any sort of lifts after. That said, I haven’t done it since before starting TRT, so that may have an impact. I might kick around 250swings a day (10x25) when my rib heals up.
Think it’s foot position or depth? I tend to go much deeper and sit more upright, when using my belt squat.
Do don’t sweat that. For me, it’s why I intend to do it AFTER the TB lifts, if at all.
Think it’s foot position or depth?
Nah, as those are easy fixes and I would just change them to alleviate the pain. The primary issue is that I believe I have quadricep tendinosis, and having the weight in front of me pulls at a weird angle that places stress on the area compared to when the weight moves straight up or down.
Actually same for me with the lever belt squat. I found putting my feet out in front further, standing wider fights, and pre-hinging a lot, fights it off for a little bit but long term, it comes back.
Yeah, and at one point, I’m changing up the mechanics so much just so I can belt squat that it’s defeating the purpose of the belt squat assisting my other lifts. I don’t need to be a better belt squat: I belt squat to be stronger in general.
TB Operator will be a good test, since I’ll only be front squatting during that time. If the juice isn’t worth the squeeze, I can cut it out, or perhaps change it to belt single leg squats or something similar.
Fair, but I’d like to be at a point where my conditioning is good enough to fight through. I particularly like KB swings and loaded carries for conditioning as it’s similar to BJJ, where your lungs are on fire, but you also must exert strength.
I’ll for sure be following along to see how you manage. I’m likely 1-2 weeks away from starting but will start with 250 swings.
Bummer.. I’m not sure how you feel about peptides in general, but I’ve found BPC157 to help immensely with my elbow issues.
Hope it goes well for you dude! The conditions of my employment would preclude the use of peptides. Ultimately, I’m awaiting my annual physical, which should be coming due very soon, so I can get in a request for some imaging and physical therapy.
Breakfast was 17.5oz of air fried rib fingers alongside some beef liver, 3 whole eggs and 5 whites topped with some homemade tzatziki sauce. Dinner was the usual assortment of eggs alongside some pork tenderloin. Pictured is the serving for the family. I had about 6 slices myself. I’m getting better at preparing it.
Again: small changes. Slightly less meat and not using ghee as much goes a long way, as it was the same trick I used to INCREASE food intake.
@bigpappafrance The philosopher in me see’s that question and immediately wants to know “better for what? compared to what?” Because context will change the answer there. Sometimes less meat is better, sometimes more meat is better. What are you meaning when you ask?
AM WORKOUT (0510 wake up via Valkyrie’s alarm)
BRIDGE WEEK
20 minutes, EMOM 25 KB swings w/24kg bell
Notes:
This was another proof of concept test, to see if I could still sleep in on Tuesdays and get in a 500 swing workout. It’s viable.
That said, this absolutely torched my forearms. I am making sure to NOT death grip the bell, but I imagine a big part of it is just the very short rest periods between rounds. I averaged 20 seconds of recovery between each round here, which was barely enough, and it’s why the swings are far less powerful toward the end, because I’m struggling to hold onto the bell.
It begs the question of intent, but at the end of this my grip is torched, my heart rate is elevated and I’m breathing hard, so there’s A training effect occurring. I do need to ensure that I’m getting quality contractions on the actual posterior chain.
I’m glad this is a bridge week and that I’m not wearing a weight belt, because last night I spilled a bunch of hot tea all over my stomach. Had a mug in my hand, my phone rang, I was sitting on my recliner, I went to set the mug down to get my phone out of my pocket, and in the juggle just spilled the contents straight onto my stomach. Got a small burn on my right side. Reminded me of Paul Kelso’s story in Powerlifting Basics Texas Style with the hot coffee down his shorts. Good week for recovery.
Against my better judgement, I’m continuing the keg carry experiment, and carried 253.5lbs yesterday. It’s heavy, and with my grip getting taxed from the swings, I’m curious how far I can go.
Tang Soo Do tonight. We have a tournament coming up in October, so we’ll most likely be preparing for that.
Breakfast was a split of lamb and beef rib fingers to get to to 16oz, alongside beef liver, 3 whole eggs and 5 whites topped with homemade tzatziki sauce.
Dinner was 16oz (cooked) of leftover pork tenderloin alongside 3 whole eggs and 5 whites.
SSB front squat
2x5xBar
2x135
1x185
1x205
1x255
2x288
500 KB swings
5 rounds of 10-15-25-50
Rest periods of 30-30-60-120 seconds
2-3-5-5 dips between swings
24kg bell
Ab wheel/band pull apart superset circuit
3x5/25
Notes:
The front squat was for max testing for my next cycle of Operator. The double of 288 was slow, controlled and rock bottom. I feel comfortable using a 300lb max. Also had a revelation about bracing, where it’s not just about a big belly full of air pressing against the belt but then also clamping down my abs on top of that. One of those things I understand in my head but would need quite a few more words to describe to someone else.
I contemplated not doing the swings at all today, but settled on Dan John’s recommendation for how to approach the workout. Much nicer on my forearms. My grip and hamstrings are what seem to be the most impacted with these swings, which is probably a good sign. I’m still on the fence about doing the full 10k swing challenge over these next 3.5 weeks, but I think I can at least finish out the bridge week at this rate.
Technically did more dips than recommended, but it didn’t impact my recovery. Dan’s recommendation of rest periods allowed me to have some more explosive swings, and kept my heart rate in a good spot.
Keg carry was 255lbs yesterday.
Tang Soo Do was a solid enough workout. The last thing I wanted to do was Bo/staff work, since my grip was fried…and it’s exactly what we did. But, it actually ended up helping get some life back into my forearms. We’ll see what tonight brings.
Breakfast was 16oz of air fried lamb leg, some beef liver, 3 whole eggs and 5 whites topped with homemade tzatziki sauce.
Dinner was pork loin chops, 3 whole eggs and 5 whites. I reverse seared the chops, cooking them in the air frier first until they reached temp, then spraying them with some wagyu beef tallow and throwing them on a hot cast iron pan. I also took all the fat/silverskin I cut off the pork loin and air fried it until crispy, which is what’s on top of the plate. That was a real treat.
I have abandoned the plan for the 10k swing challenge. Ultimately, I recognized myself going down those same old self-destructive pathways of the past. Intellectually, I realized that, since Operator is a static workout (same moves done 3x a week for 3 weeks), pairing it with a static assistance protocol ala the 10k swing challenge was going to lock me in and give me zero room for adaptability. Along with that, I remembered that the last time I ran Operator, I only budgeted 20 minutes for assistance, which meant I’d only be able to get away with the 25 swings EMOM protocol to make it fit my time budget. In doing so, swing technique was going to get sacrificed for the sake of time, which really meant not getting the benefit OF the 10k swing challenge in the first place, and I’d ultimately just be doing swings for the sake of accomplishing the challenge. And in doing THAT, I’d be violating the Dan John principle of “The goal is to keep the goal the goal”. I’m not doing Tactical Barbell so that I can do the 10k swing challenge: I’m doing it so that I can get the benefits of Tactical Barbell, specifically with the O-M-S protocol. Dan spoke to how the 10k swing needs to be done on his own, and he’s not wrong: it was going to take more than it gave with this approach.
I will say, as far as proof of concept testing goes, I know that it CAN get done: just a question of “should”
On top of all this, I realized my bridge week wasn’t really allowing me to recover with so many swings, also defeating the purpose. I trained hard: I need to recover so I can train hard again. It’s why I elected for another night of sleeping in. Stan Efferding talks about how it’d be better to sleep an extra hour than to wake up an hour early to train, so I went with that.
Moving forward, I do feel my approach for Operator will be to finish the workouts and then end with a GC workout of my choosing. Operator will be static, conditioning will be dynamic. Should help prep me for grappling as well.
Long preamble aside, this morning’s workout was solid. MEII is just a classic “no duh” workout. I fell on the first round of swings: just wasn’t balanced.
Tang Soo Do was relaxed last night. We worked on tournament form presentation. It was the kind of night we needed. One more class tonight. My in-laws come on Friday and will be staying the weekend, so slight schedule changes.
Keg carry yesterday was 256lbs. I’m feeling it more in my hamstrings these days.
Weighed 84.5kg this morning. I think I may do daily weigh ins for the 4 week block. That’s a half kilo loss from Monday.
Will you be competing in Tang Soo Do or just part of normal class curriculum? Also, I think I recall you mentioning belt testing this fall, so your kiddo could move up with you?
We’ve got a tournament coming up 18 Oct. I’ll be doing open hand forms, weapons forms and sparring, and then the whole family is doing a synchronized form. No belt testing this fall, but we all tested in August and passed. The kiddo is still a belt rank behind us, but we’re all moving up at the same time.
In truth, the TSD tournaments don’t really do anything for me, but I like the school, and going to the tournaments supports them, so it’s why I do it.
I was waiting to see how it goes, as it sounded brutal! I’m glad you made this call before potential injury!
Keep killing it man! Your meals always make me super hungry!
