More Trouble Than I Am Worth: Chaos Is The Plan (T3hPwnisher Log)

Training Training Logs
7308

AM WORKOUT (0510 Wake up via Valkyrie’s Alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 3, Workout…4?

“SPEED/ENDURANCE LADDERS” w/rower

  • 400m row
  • 40 sec rest
  • 300m
  • 30 sec
  • 200m
  • 20 sec
  • 100m
  • 10 sec

Then back up again until 400m row after 40 sec rest

Notes:

  • I REALLY like this workout. The rest times aren’t long enough to fully recover, so this isn’t a real deal “sprint” workout, but the attributes it trains are valuable for the activities I want to get good at, and it’s speedy. Something I can get done on these short mornings.
  • The “advanced” version has you work the ladders multiple times, and I can certainly see myself giving that a go in the future. This is supposed to be the “easy” week of conditioning since it’s the hard week of lifting, and in the easy version of this workout you actually rest 2 minutes after the first 100m before resuming. And, of course, this is originally meant to be a foot race rather than a rower, but nuts to that.
  • My left hip is feeling better. Not 100%, but I’m recovering faster and faster from the damage the deadlifts do to it each week. Weird “in my 40s” victories.
  • On that note, sparring last night went really well even with the hip pain. I’m trying a “near year, new me” as it relates to my sparring, being lighter on my feet, trying new techniques, working angles, being less predictable. I got paired up against our Senior Black Belt last night, and I could tell it was throwing them off, and we went into overtime after tying 2-2. Lost it in the end, but gave a good fight. Cardio isn’t where I’d like it to be, but still more time to work on that.
  • Got in a 1:18 hold last night.
  • Weighed 84.7kg (or 84.4, I’ll have to look at my phone when I get the chance) this morning. Seeing significant trending downward. The coffee fasting is working. I’m doing it again today, which is a first time for back to back fasting days, but it’s just because my schedule has been wacky with the holidays. That said, yesterday ALSO helped me recalibrate my hunger/satiety cues. Eating out for 2 meals on a non-fasting day had my body a bit confused, whereas yesterday’s fast and feast got it knocked back into alignment. I’m still marveling over the impact of those beef cheeks. I think not trimming any of it went a long way. I DO realize I’m coming in a little light on protein with these 2 days in a row, but there’s a chance I’m barely hitting goals since I still include that yogurt and Metabolic Drive pre-bed meal.
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I feel compelled to say that I have begun to worry about what feels to me like compulsive dieting.

You’re an adult, and your success in all measures is undeniable. Just be careful, okay?

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Love that you’ve expressed that concern and that you’re watching out for me. It truly means a lot.

I’ll say that, as it stands, I’m in a much better headspace as it relates to this than I have been in the past when it comes to nutrition. This is more a joyful experiment vs atonement for my sins. I’m not denying hunger and obsessing over food, but instead feeling satiated and then being grateful for the food I get. And my performance is improving in the gym as I go.

And, thankfully, I have a stop date as well. Technically 2. This will either end immediately post my competition Feb 21 or I’ll extend it for 3 more weeks to run a cycle of Operator Pro. In both cases, the nutrition is meant to match the training demands, which are not significant (3-5 sets per bodypart total). Once that time is done, I’ll be back on Mass Protocol and eating to support the heavy volume and, ideally, will experience some bodyweight gain. In the past, I just chased the leanness dragon indefinitely, and you just plain can’t catch him.

But do keep me honest and watch out for me. “Mr. Self-destruct” is more than just the opening song to NiN’s “Downward Spiral”, haha.

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I am reassured - thank you!

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Speaking of…

Nutrition Recap

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Black coffee until dinner. Leftovers night. 6 scrambled eggs and a combination of smoked and pressure cooked beef cheeks. I actually had a few slices of leftover chuck steak on top of this: just didn’t make the shot.

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AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 3, Workout 5

MAIN WORK

SSB Front Squats
4x2x280

ALTERNATE w/

Axle strict press from rack
4x2x193+1 push press rep per set

Chins between sets

CONDITIONING

3 rounds of 150lb sandbag medley

ASSISTANCE

GHR sit ups
3x10

Lateral raise dropset
35x10, 35x5, 35x2.5, 35xEmpty Hands

Band pull aparts
35

Band pushdowns
30

Notes:

  • Back was stiff coming into this, and I’ve lost enough abdominal circumference that my belt isn’t as tight as it was at the peak of my gaining, so I don’t have as strong of a brace. Unique problems to have. 2 days in a row of coffee fasting most likely also gave me a little less gas in the tank, but by around set 3 I was feeling pretty solid.
  • Push presses felt better, and this was another “good knee day” for me, as I didn’t feel any discomfort on the squats and just a minor amount on the push presses. My left hip feels healed as well.
  • Was struggling on the pick for the sandbag. I actually had my best ones on the final round, when I was most fatigued.
  • I don’t log it, but from Dan John’s “The warmup is the workout” approach, I also get in a fair amount of chins during the warm up. Opened up with a set of 18, and then did 3 sets of 5 throughout my warm-up sets of squats and press (5 before the squat, 5 after the squat, 5 after the press, load plates and go again). Been a way to sneak in more work. As my bodyweight drops, the chins get easier.
  • On the topic of bodyweight, was 84.3 this morning, and confirmed I was 84.4 yesterday. Good to see a little consistency there. I’m seeing a bit more abdominal definition.
  • Got in a 1:18 hold yesterday.
  • Sparring class was really awesome last night. Wednesday has become a 90 minute class, whereas Tues and Thurs are 60, so we got to spend more time drilling techniques, combos, and free-sparring before actually getting into the school tournament. I’m trying out new tricks, and in particular finding ways to make my sidekick more viable. Squared off against the Valkyrie in the first round of the tournament and took us 2-2 before losing to her in a long overtime round. She went on to win the tournament. After the tournament was over, I pitched an idea to have one person in the center spar a 30 second round against a fresh opponent with the remainder of the class (5 opponents total, so 2:30 sparring for the center person). My kiddo went first and displayed some really impressive cardio. Our resident dojo bully went in the center. I call him the bully because he’s about 6’6 and built like Dhalsim from Street Fighter and knows how to take advantage of that in a “no-contact” event. So I bullied the bully by dashing in first thing and throwing nothing but body punches while chasing him into the corner of the arena, never letting him have an opportunity to employ his long limbs. It was satisfying.
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Nutrition Recap

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Breakfast was 14.5oz of airfried grassfed lamb alongside 3 whole eggs and 5 whites. Dinner was leftovers again, with the same assortment of eggs, a combination of pressure cooked and smoked beef cheek alongside some pulled pork. I realized this is my 3rd night in a row eating beef cheek, and I’m honestly contemplating making more of it for Friday, so it looks like I’ve found yet ANOTHER food I won’t ever get tired of.

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Thats some strong pressing mate, well done

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@simo74 Much appreciated dude! I still struggle: I used to press this weight for at least 10 reps, and at my peak, I could do that trick with 225. “The ghost of what I was, keeps getting in the way”. I think of WHO I was back then, and I’m glad I’m not that person, but it’s also something I have to keep reminding myself when I play the comparison game.

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 3, Workout 5 (for real)

“GO RUCK YOURSELF”

Treadmill walk w/20.4lb tac carrier

Speed: 3.5mph
Incline: 4.0
Distance: 4.25 miles
Time: 1:12:50

Notes:

  • This is the easy week of conditioning, and I took liberties with that by cutting the ruck shorter than usual. But what’s funny is that I actually felt really good about it and could have gone longer: I just didn’t have the time in the morning to do so. But that’s a good sign: recovery is on point.
  • Also used my new shoes, and that helped with the foot pain I’d been dealing with. Which is good, because I have a 10 mile race in Apr I need to be ready for. My plan is to only run the distance between sandbags in training, and otherwise just condition myself through rucking.
  • Weighed in at 83.8kg this morning. First time seeing 83 for a while. There’s a sweat element here, having done this after the walk. But on the note of sweating, it’s -30 with windchill today, so I won’t be getting in my lunchtime walk like normal.
  • Got in a 1 min hold last night. Was scrambling for time, so not a great set-up.
  • Sparring was ok last night. Got robbed due to angles of judges in my match against one of the other students, but got in good reps outside of the tournament. I’m feeling fatigue from being more active in the matches.
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I’m way behind but there is so much great stuff to address/pile on to!

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I know people who just fill the bowl and let their dog eat whenever it wants. My dogs can’t be trusted. Both were rescues and I think once they’ve suffered they lose the ability to just eat what they need at that moment. They eat until they can’t anymore or they’re stopped.

What?!? You mean I don’t have to go outside and fight my Green Mountain smoker every time I want to smoke something?

I’ve had some big gaps in my scrolling of the logs around here, but do you ever just cruise on maintenance (@T3hPwnisher)? Every time I pop in here you’re either building/growing or trimming down. And neither is bad; I’m just curious if you ever have times of nothing - just training to get stronger without changing bodyweight.

I’m going to say the reason I have never and will never do this is that I have to move the weight almost another foot vertically to get it locked out. There. Excuse solidified.

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What?!? You mean I don’t have to go outside and fight my Green Mountain smoker every time I want to smoke something?

I mean, no, but you WOULD have to go outside and feed the Ninja Woodfire whenever you want to smoke something, haha. But since it’s a convection smoker, it tends to cook faster than a traditional one. The tradeoff is that it’s not going to produce as big of meals, but if cooking just for one, it’s dandy.

just training to get stronger

So that’s the thing: training ALWAYS drives bodyweight. I don’t ever do it the other way around, as that seems completely backwards and, honestly, disordered to me. It’s never “Oh, I need to be heavier, so I’m going to eat a lot of food and then train really hard and hope it turns into muscle”, it’s “I’m going to train to build muscle, and then I’m going to eat to recover from that really hard training”.

The thing is: hard training and hard eating isn’t sustainable. And so, when it’s time to throttle down the training, I do just that. That’s when I train to get stronger. Well, since I’m not training as hard, I don’t need to eat as much, so my bodyweight naturally drops.

Maintaining bodyweight would mean I’d need to be in a maintenance training phase, and I’m not at a point in my life where that’s a goal of mine. I still want to improve. Gaining lean mass in the building phases allows me to have greater strength potential, which I realize in the strength building phases.

I’m going to say the reason I have never and will never do this is that I have to move the weight almost another foot vertically to get it locked out.

If you’ve ever seen me deadlift, you know that I have monkey arms, haha. It’s nice because my lockout is slightly above my knees, but the press has to travel a LONG distance for someone that is only 5’9.

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I just thought that was the result of deadlifting heavy weights for 20+ reps regularly. :smile:

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Funny enough, I think dislocating my shoulder in a wrestling match when I was 16 gave me superpowers in that regard, haha.

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Nutrition Recap

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An extra day of coffee fasting this week, simply because of schedule breakdown. I was true to my word with my evening meal and had beef cheek AGAIN and absolutely loved it. This was a fresh batch, pressured cooked for 45 in the braising liquid I had saved from when I smoked/braised it, then I sprayed it with some beef tallow and air fried it at 450 for 5 minutes to give it some color/crisp, alongside 3 whole eggs and 5 whites.

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I like the cup.

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@BethB Thanks! A gift from the Valkyrie. It’s what I always drink my coffee out of: figured I’d get a real shot of it.

PM WORKOUT (1230)

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 3, Workout 6

“Axle Grace”

Time: 3:37 (20 second PR from last week)

Notes:

  • Biggest win, aside from the time, is ZERO pain in the right knee during any of the presses. First time I’ve felt that way in a LONG time. Allowed me to really push the pace: my lungs were absolutely broken after this.
  • Belt also fit much better. Really seeing the benefits of the nutrition.

Speaking of, Nutrition Recap

Breakfast was 2 omelets, 3 whole eggs, 3/4 slice of gouda, and some leftover tri tip, alongside 3 strips of beef bacon and a piedmontese beef jr hot dog.

We did a big midday meal rather than a dinner, as we’re going to a concert tonight. Hit up our favorite hibachi buffet, and I actually operated some restraint only doing 1 trip. Got 3 steaks with a good fatty portion, alongside some fish (got the best part with the head), oysters, a bunch of shrimp and 3 eggs. First time I’ve walked out of there not feeling like I ate like an a-hole.

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This sounds like the perfect meal to me. Tri tip, eggs, cheese and bacon. But what is beef bacon like? Don’t think I’ve ever seen it.

Question: Being from SoCal and going to college on the central Cali coast, tri tip was everywhere. I’ve never been a huge steak guy (sure I like it, but don’t really make it or order it too often), but tri tip was like its own thing. Great straight, in tacos, on sandwiches, as part of an omelet, and on and on. Then I moved to PA and no one had ever heard of it. I found some at a butcher and grilled it up for some friends, and they all loved it and couldn’t believe they’d never heard of it.

Are you an outlier around where you live in term of tri tip consumption? Or is it widely known?

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I live in the state south of him and I’m calling him an outlier! I’ve never had tri-tip and hadn’t heard of flat iron until I saw it on sale last June during my three week experiment of eating like him.

Or maybe beef processing here is the outlier. I grew up in a family that purchased a cow each year and I bought 1/4 last year for my family. Most of the steak cut options are sirloin, ribeye, t-bone, and swiss (tough cut to say the least). The 1/4 I purchased was the first time I was given the option of flat iron cuts. I never buy beef from the store, so maybe that’s why my exposure has been limited…and it makes me wonder why.

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Tri tip originated with a butcher in Santa Maria California and is often referred to as Santa Maria. It’s from the bottom sirloin and is indeed, a west coast phenomena.

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I’ve never heard of a swiss steak.