Ya know, I probably could have been more specific, haha. Did you happen to do any program “review” on your blog at all? I haven’t stopped by there in probably as long as it’s been since I’ve been here. Always appreciated seeing your thoughts on a program before undertaking it myself. Skimming the ebook it seems pretty much in line with the type of Wendler-esque approach I’ve used frequently in the past, which is the type of thing that I’ve been finding it difficult to stick with lately. Been considering doing some kind of minimalist approach where all workouts are capped at 30 minutes.
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Did you happen to do any program “review” on your blog at all?
Oh yeah, tons. I referred to them as “check ins”, since I was in the middle of the programs at the times, but I reviewed my initial run of Mass Protocol, Specifcity Bravo and Operator training for a strongman competition. I also released a free e-book recently where I touched on the wavetops of it as well.
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Ha that’s fantastic! A great resource per usual. I’ll have to visit your blog for the “check in” posts during the TB run. Take care dude!
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@mr.v3lv3t Absolutely dude! Check the dates of 12 Sep for my 1 year summary, along with 6 Sep, 23 May and 28 Feb for 2025, then 1 Nov, 3 Dec and 23 Dec for 2024.
@Koestrizer Those accolades mean a lot my dude! And strongman is absolutely the “many roads to Rome” sport, haha.
Nutrition Recap
Coffee fast until the evening. Tried out chicken thighs in the sous vide, and then did chicken drumsticks in the pressure cooker and finished off in the air fryer. I had 3 drumsticks and 2 and a half thighs, alongside 3 whole eggs and 5 whites. Soon enough I’m going to start to up the food intake and get on the gain train, but I’m trying to ease into it.
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this feels like something that was in your book of bad ideas, I like it
Thanks! If not there, I have done it before during a different training block.
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TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN Week 1, Workout 3
MAIN CLUSTER
Axle bench press
3x8x226
7+1x226 (hit the j-hooks)
(6) Texas Deadlift Bar Mat Pulls
15x440
SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER
Lever belt squat
12x180 (misload)
3x12x205
Dips
3x12x55
10+2x55
Axle curls
4x12x71
ASSISTANCE
Reverse hyper/ab wheel superset
2x15x360/2x10
Notes:
- I am wonderfully fantastically sore. This happens every first week of Grey Man, and I still just can’t fully anticipate it. It also makes me thankful I don’t have to squat on this day.
- 2 minutes rest on the main cluster, 1 minute rest for the supplemental, none on the assistance.
- First time benching since I injured my pec several months back, and it seems to be holding strong, but I did my best to “bodybuilder” the movement and really FEEL the muscle contract vs just move the bar through space.
- Wore my flat shoes on the belt squats, but realized that I wore my weightlifters yesterday for the squats without any issues. Seems my knee has really come a long way. Trick is to not get lazy about that and keep an eye on it.
- In that regard, the deadlifts felt SO much better at this weight than before. I remember how every single workout with 440 felt like some sort of strength miracle, SOMEHOW managing to get the weight off the mats and then crank out the reps. Today, I got that much better “squeeze off the mats” feeling vs “yank off the mats”, and it moved really smooth. That said, my right hip offered up a playful little warning shot at rep 15, so I shut it down there. I know I could have fought for at least a 16th and, quite possibly, more, but I also know I don’t need to push my limits every time to grow.
- I had to get to work a little early today, so I cut the assistance short.
- Weighed 83.2kg this morning.
- Sparring last night was a decent workout. We did a lot of practice rounds before the tournament, and I felt like I was moving well and scoring some good shots. I made it to the second round, where I squared off against the kiddo. I showed them to stop circling in one direction by leading them right into a roundhouse to the skull, and left a few openings for them to capitalize on and advance to the final round. Prior to that, they earned their spot by taking on one of our problem students who decides to sling leather in a “no-contact sparring” sport. My kid respected the rules enough, but eventually gave the dude back as good as they were getting…and he did NOT care for that. Instructor pulled them aside and talked about control, my kid was very respectful and receptive to the information, but as soon as we got to the truck I told them I was proud of them for standing up for themselves and not letting someone bully them. My kid was great: “My one goal tonight was to beat that guy: I’m so glad I did!”
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That’s a mountaintop moment, right there! Awesome stuff.
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@Frank_C I was a total proud papa.
Nutrition recap.
Breakfast was 8oz of ground lamb, 5oz canned salmon, beef liver, 3 whole eggs and 5 whites. Am doing a lazy approach for breakfast this week.
Dinner was a fun experiment. Got some St Louis style ribs on discount. Seasoned them like kalua pork, then pressure cooked with a homemade braising liquid (the leavings of kalua pork and smoked beef cheek) for 27 minutes to make them fall off the bone, then sprayed with wagyu tallow and air fried for 5 minutes for color and crisp. Pulled the bones out for the kiddo but left them in for me. Actually only had about 3/5 of what I set out: I hit satiety really quick with this. Just an excellent meal.
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AM WORKOUT (0510 wake up via Valkyrie’s alarm)
TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN Week 1, Workout 4
“ROW ROW ROW YOUR BLOAT”
15 minute recovery row
Notes:
- I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. Perhaps it’s the jumping back into mass protocol immediately following a strongman competition while also engaging in sparring week, to include yesterday’s 90 minute class, but the Valkyrie has also been dealing with the flu, which the kiddo brought home, so maybe I have a touch of that as well. In either case, this was exactly what I needed: more sleep and a VERY easy workout to just get the blood flowing. I considered the option of NO workout, but figured it would actually be good to get some movement in this morning. And I still have one more night of sparring tonight.
- Yesterday’s class is worth discussing, because I’m going to count it toward conditioning. We did our physical testing requirements after our warm ups, which at my rank is 45 push ups (elbows tucked), 45 sit ups and 45 jumping jacks. I endeavor to actually do them with quality, rather than blitz through them. Prior to that, we did 30 reps of those via 2 sets of 15. At the end of class, we did another 30 reps, to make up for reps missed in the previous week. We also ran 5 laps around the Dojang, and then did sparring drills, sparring rounds, and rounds on the Wavemasters for the duration of the 90 minutes. As for sparring itself, I went up against the kiddo again, so not much opportunity for reps, but it gave them an opportunity to get to the finals again and square off against our senior black belt.
- Weighed 82.5kg this morning. I need to start mentally shifting gears to eat to grow, but it’s a balancing act to keep from jumping into the deep end. No shortage of awesome food though.
- I don’t want to necessarily bring back daily work, but I’m endeavoring to get in 2 sets of 15 chins daily, and have so far succeeded in that.
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That’s been me all week, felt like I got hit by the car I was deadlifting on the weekend. Loosing the skin off the palm of one of my hands has forced me to deload, as there is no way I can grip a bar with that hand without doing more damage.
Just been walking the dog and letting my old body recover.
Hope the man flu goes soon mate.
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Nutrition Recap
Fasted through breakfast. Leftovers night. 3 whole eggs, 5 whites, the rest of the pork ribs, some chicken thigh, and 2 drumsticks (plated 4, only ate 2).
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AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)
TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN Week 1, Workout 5
Buffalo Bar Squat
4x8x322
Axle strict press from rack
2x8x156
2x5x156
(3) Incline DB bench
3x12x65s
11+1x65
DB rows
4x12x125
GHRs
4x12x35
GHR sit up
10
Notes:
- Yeah, I definitely have the flu. I was exhausted and sore coming into this (you can see how often I put my head on the bar), those presses were too damn heavy, and once I got to work I just immediately turn around and came home. My resting heart rate is also pretty jacked up. I’m going to rest like it’s my job and recover.
- I weighed in at 82.2kg and was the leanest I’ve been in months. Completely not the goal, but that’s usually what happens in the first 2 weeks of reversing course on the diet.
- Got to spar against the senior student and one of our black belts last night. Should have won the final match, but a point was missed by all 3 judges. Kicked the guy in the throat. We both acknowledged that it happened, as we stopped sparring and looked at each other waiting for the point to be called. Then we just shrugged and went back at it.
- I remember having more I wanted to log, but can’t remember what it was. Most likely a sign of fatigue.
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Nutrition Recap
Feed a flu, starve a cold…or something. Breakfast was 8oz of ground lamb, 3 chicken drumsticks, 3 whole eggs, 5 whites and some beef liver.
Valkyrie took care of me for dinner, so 2 omelets with 4 whole eggs, leftover chicken thighs and pork ribs, gouda cheese and ghee, topped with sour cream, alongside 3 strips of beef bacon and some chicken sausages.
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Woke up feeling like hell, but ending the day feeling like my old self. Took everything in my power to not be stupid and push myself, and instead used the downtime to be productive in the kitchen.
Got some great deals on meat, to include some corned beef points at $3.50 a pound and leg of lambs at $4.50. I took the latter and butchered them into steaks and kabob meat. Had the idea to make leg lamb steaks when I cut into one and realized the fat cap resembled a picanha.
Managed over 9000 steps just from living. So an active day.
Nutrition Recap
Breakfast was 2 omelets with 3 eggs, chicken thigh and pork rib, ghee and Jarlsburg cheese, topped with sour cream, served alongside 3 strips of beef bacon and 3 chicken sausages.
One of my purchases today was a 3lb tri tip, which I seasoned with salt and papper, cooked in the sous vide at 134 for over 2 hours, then pan seared in the cast iron with Wagyu tallow, with a garlic butter baste. Served alongside 3 whole eggs and 5 whites, which I drenched in the leftover garlic butter.
Got flanken ribs in the sous vide at 134 for Monday’s dinner. 2 days to bathe.
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Just gave all the posts a scroll with some late morning coffee, thanks for the de facto table of contents dude! I’m going to stick with my current plan I’ve laid out for myself for a while and see how it goes, but TB seems like it could be a good fit down the road a bit. Might even get back to logging here, if even just a weekly log book dump.
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Wow, you fuel like a champion!
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@mr.v3lv3t Glad you found it useful! I keep referring to TB as the 5/3/1 Rosetta Stone. Even if you don’t use the system directly, it makes 5/3/1 so much easier to grasp.
@GymAndTonic Hey thanks man! Become a real recent passion of mine.
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AM WORKOUT (0359 natural wake up)
TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN Week 2, Workout 1
MAIN CLUSTER
Buffalo Bar Squat
4x6x342
Axle strict press from rack
3x6x166
5x6x166 (failed the 6th)
SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER
(3) Incline DB bench
4x10x70s
DB row
4x10x135
GHRs
4x10x45
ASSISTANCE
GHR sit up
3x10
Notes:
- As I was doing the squats, I thought to myself “I have no right to feel this strong”. I spent the weekend healing like it was my job, FORCING myself to be inactive as much as possible despite really great weather and a strong desire to get in a walk or some manner of general exercise. It was the right call, for even though I currently sound terrible and am producing a log of phlegm, I’m feeling significantly better. I also took a night time Mucinex product that totally knocked me out, and I got up a minute before the alarm feeling quite refreshed.
- The squats felt strong, the presses didn’t feel bad, but I overextended on the 5th rep of the final set and didn’t put myself in a good position. I spent the weekend with headspins, so didn’t want to push too much harder for that final rep.
- Everything else was solid, especially given the circumstances. I tried calculating my weights for this workout yesterday, and woke up this morning discovering that they were all kinds of jacked up. Don’t mix math and over the counter flu medicine kids. Which, on that note, my guts were a little messed up this weekend for using a medicine that had sorbitol in it as an artificial sweetener, so lesson learned there.
- Weighed 83.2kg this morning, and had a wonderful family dinner last night of spaghetti, a banana bread muffing and 3 of the Valkyrie’s cookies with some raw honey. I’ve also been hammering electrolytes and hot fluids to help my recovery.
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Nutrition Recap
Breakfast was 14oz of leg of leg alongside 3 whole eggs, 5 whites and some beef liver.
Did a Korean night for dinner. More flanken ribs, some Korean BBQ spam, and kimbap. I had about 4 flanken ribs, 2 slices of the spam and a piece of kimbap alongside 3 whole eggs and 5 whites.
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