Thanks dude! I don’t think I was at any risk of an injury. The biggest issue was just going back to my self-destructive tendencies. I already caught myself thinking about how I could incorporate Kalsu into one of my workouts and just going through my typical spiraling that has me training really hard and having nothing to show for it except for the fact that I’m training hard. TB really helped get me back to the idea that training should build to SOMETHING, and the approach I had picked out just wasn’t going to get me there.
Good for you all. My wife isn’t interested in sports or competitions, but I just got my three kids who are old enough to do Jiu Jitsu with me. It’s fun to have Tuesdays as our night to get after it together, even if we are all in different classes. I didn’t have sports with my parents or siblings growing up, as I was only one who pursued athletics. It’s way more fun when it’s a family thing.
I saw you had the kids involved in some of your recent posts. It’s so awesome you’re doing that: definitely some valuable skills and memories being built there. It being a family thing definitely keeps us going. The Mrs and I get a little fed up with the politics, but seeing how much my kid is thriving keeps us hooked.
Finally got smart and treated this bridge week right. Another night of sleeping in and a recovery workout. I absolutely caught myself wanting to get up and hit a Fran WOD instead. I have to interpret these things positively: it means I am recovering and excited to train hard. That’s exactly what a bridge week is supposed to do. The key is to not squander that: use it to perpetuate excellence in the follow-on training cycles, rather than waste it with stupid workouts during the bridge.
That said, I gave myself permission that, if I’m really itching to train like a maniac again, I’ll do that during a cycle of Operator sometime. Get the strength work done, then follow it with a WOD. Easy Strength style.
In the other realm of positives, I drove to work without knee pain today. Any prolonged sitting tends to really agitate my knee, and driving was always a surefire way to experience that. This re-affirms my suspicion that it’s something I am doing in training that is causing the issue, rather than this just being a forever issue. I still want to get some imaging, but it’s nice to know that solutions exist.
Weighed in at 84.3kg this morning, down .7 from Monday.
Keg carry was 257.5lbs yesterday.
Tang Soo Do was a solid class last night. Drill some basics hard and got some kudos from the head instructor.
I’ve had this thought for the future too. Basic Operator work → WOD in one workout, and do weighted vest walks or something on other days. With some good WOD choices you can probably get away with no set assistance work either.
This programming is super customizable and I find myself just thinking of ideas for the future pretty often.
The whole time I was doing this, I thought I was moving SO slow. Around rep 14 I thought to myself “ok, it’s been a while since you’ve done this, and you’re missing a gear here, just focus on not stopping”, and at rep 22 it was “just because you’re recording this doesn’t mean you have to post it, if it’s a sh*t show, you can just delete it”, and at rep 35 I thought “ok, we might get to 50 before time expires”, and then when I hit 50 I wondered “did I forget to set the sound on my alarm?”, only to see that I had 38 seconds left, so I kicked it into gear and got that 7th rep at the end. It’s funny how the way we feel can be completely different from reality, but maybe I always felt like I was going “faster” because I really just felt like I was working HARDER because it WAS harder, and this time it was so easy it felt like I wasn’t putting in much effort.
That’s a lot of analysis for some burpee chins, but I’m pretty happy that I turn 40 at the end of this month and I’m still hitting some PRs. After this, I was wiped out, went and mowed the lawn for about an hour, and caught my heart rate at 120 a couple of times.
I really dug how this was a workout I WANTED to do. And no loading.
I carried a 258.5lb keg yesterday and a 260lb one this evening.
No photo of breakfast, but it was a typical weekend deal with 2 omelets with 3 eggs each, some leftover pork tenderloin and grassfed wagyu tallow with some light jarlsburg swiss, topped with tzatziki sauce, alongside a piedmontese grassfed hot dog and 4 strips of no sugar pork bacon.
Dinner, we went out to celebrate my father-in-laws birthday. Texas Roadhouse, got my 2 bowls of eggs and full rack of ribs with no sauce. This time, I noticed on my bill “egg upcharge: $5”. If that happens again, I’m going to halt my bowl of eggs side. It’s just something I do because we get sides with the meal, but I’m not going to pay the cost of a dozen eggs to get some hardboiled ones.
3 rounds of
-60 seconds of dips
-90 seconds rest
-60 seconds push ups
-90 seconds rest
3 rounds of
-5 burpees
-10 chins
ASSISTANCE
Ab wheel/band pull apart superset
3x10/50
Notes:
2 min rest between lifts
3:30 to complete the second part of GC5
Performed chins during the warm up as well.
Felt good coming into this. Bridge week paid off. Right knee is feeling buttery smooth on those front squats. Bracing is really solid.
GC5 is always great for an upper body pump. Hitting burpees after all those push ups sucks.
Feeling out the program for now, although it’s going to be a short run anyway at 3 weeks before getting back to Mass Protocol.
Woke up at 85.4kg. That’s the scale moving in the wrong direction, but lots of variables at play. I ate something that disagreed with me this weekend, and spend much of Saturday evening/Sunday morning getting rid of it. Alongside that, in-laws in town meant reduced activity and increased celebrating. I’m not too concerned, as I really just need to be below 185lbs on 7 Dec as far as weight goes, otherwise, I’m just eating to support training. Will still be reducing food intake as I go. Last week was 16oz of meat at breakfast, this week is 14.5.
Last night was the family meal. Classic spaghetti and meat sauce, with some sourdough and 4 of the Valkyrie’s cookies with some local raw honey. Cut myself down from 5, because I’m the master of restriction like that. There is a little truth to that, because she made pumpkin oatmeal cookies, which basically hits all the right notes for me.
Keg carry yesterday was 261lbs. It keeps getting heavy but manageable. At this point, I might let weather determine when I stop.
My 40’s were an outstanding time for me, fitness-wise. The kids were big enough that I could prioritize my workouts and ask that they not interrupt, and family fun became more challenging, e.g. playing “trampoline tag” with a teenaged boy was a workout, whereas playing on the trampoline with a little guy was just fun.
Much appreciated @EmilyQ ! I’m excited for this next decade, being able to approach it with what I know now and the appreciation and gratitude I have for it.
Breakfast was 14.5oz of air fried brisket alongside some beef liver, 3 whole eggs and 5 whites topped with tzatziki sauce. For dinner, I made another pork tenderloin. I had about 7 slices myself, alongside 3 whole eggs and 6 whites.
It was good to come back to this, because it kicked my butt. Made it through all the rounds, but was definitely dogging it come time for the burpees. Lungs and heart were working hard.
Right knee continues to feel pretty awesome. Recovery is going well.
Weighed in at 86.3kg this morning. Significant jumps and swings: will have to see what my weight settles in at when things become a bit more stable.
Keg carry yesterday was 262.5lbs.
Haven’t been getting in my steps the past few days, due to schedule insanity. Should be able to resume now. We get our new puppy on Friday, which will change the schedule some more, but we’ll adapt.
Tang Soo Do tonight. It’s one-steps week, so a little lower in terms of activity.
Breakfast was a repeat of yesterday. For dinner, it was “Cook’s Night Out” fundraiser at our favorite local pizza place, so I got a dozen wings and heated up 3 leftover scrambled eggs.
Staying with the protocol of fewer sets on my deadlift day, and I eliminated chins between sets for a similar reason. Allowing myself plenty of energy to pull.
Best I can describe this is performing strength miracles inside my garage, because I have no idea how I managed to get that bar moving on the mat pulls, and then somehow found 11 reps on that first pull, and I truthfully had a 12th in me if I was willing to sacrifice work downstream. Same with those follow up sets. I’m re-discovering that other gear inside of me that can just make stuff happen. It’s cool to find that part of me again.
Right knee is already telling me it doesn’t much care for the squats, but such is life. I’m focusing on sitting back rather than down as much as I can.
My pecs are quite sore from Monday’s GC5. Novel stimulus.
I had an idea in my head to do Fran when this was all done, as a means to get in more front squatting and chins. That’s not entirely off the menu, but for this first week it certainly was. I’m also glad I put the stop to the 10k swing idea, because with the puppy coming into our lives and a host of other schedule silliness, it would have been non-viable. This flexibility is helpful.
Weighed 84.9kg this morning. More crazy swings. Got in 20k steps yesterday as well: had to take my truck in for some work, so walked around while I waited.
Keg carry yesterday was 263.5.
Tang Soo Do last night was actually a decent level of activity. Drill components of the one-steps in isolation, which gave us a chance to hit the bags. Class tonight will most likely be low on activity, and we have a parent-teacher conference, so the evening walk is most likely not going to happen.
Ever consider some gentle knee exercises like tibialis raises, jogging backwards uphill, and plain ol’ leg extensions? I know fitness influencers don’t have a great reputation but following some of the protocols from kneesovertoesguy made a huge difference for my knee pain, although I’m aware of your past injury and that your situation is different.
20 reps of 455 is some awesome insanity. Great to see you crushing pulls.
Appreciate you looking in dude! Right now, I haven’t considered anything because I want to get some imaging first. I’m really not a big fan of treatment through exercise, as I fear that I’m masking the problem by doing so. The fact the pain goes away when I stop and presents when I resume lets me know that it’s something I’m doing in the training that triggers it, but I’d like to know what specifically is wrong before I try to treat it.
