My wife and kids are also still chugging away at this, too. They really like it, and are making good progress. My wife (who is active but never really did much dedicated strength work) can now do double 12 kg KBs, which she had thought were impossibly heavy when she started.
4 Likes
@antiquity Hell yeah brother! Dan really came up with something magic there. I SO wish I had known about a program like this when I was a kid.
AM WORKOUT (1115)
Tang Soo Do class
Notes:
- This was a semi-decent workout. We did open hand forms/hyungs the whole time, which gave me a moment to have a revelation. Iāve been complaiāning about my hips hurting all week, and thought I had jacked it up in training somehow. But I realize that this is the new form that weāre learning
-
Look specifically, at his feet. Theyāre supposed to always be pointing forward, and all movement is done via the hips. When you factor in that we spent 90 minutes of Wednesday just drilling this form, and that weāve used every spare minute we have training this form so we can memorize it, it makes sense that my hips are a little achy. Iām hoping there will be an adaptation phase, and maybe it will even develop some stronger hips.
-
Otherwise, just an active day. Lotta running around and getting stuff done. Because my hips have been so achy, Iāve held off on adding in more intense training. With it being Mass Protocol, this works out well.
NUTRITION RECAP
Breakfast was 2 omelets with 3 whole eggs, stuffed with corned beef, reduced fat swiss cheese and Amish butter, topped with sour cream, alongside some beef liver, 3 strips of beef bacon, and 3 chicken sausages.
Dinner, we took the in-laws out to Texas Roadhouse, and they were on point tonight. Ordered 2 āsaladsā of just eggs and cheese that I combined into a single bowl, and then a full rack of ribs, no sauce, that I topped with some sour cream. Also got to have some of the Valkryieās and kiddoās leftover steaks.
8 Likes
AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)
TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN Week 5, Workout 1
MAIN CLUSTER
Buffalo bar Squats
4x6x352
Axle strict press from rack
3x6x168
5+1x168
SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER
(3) DB incline bench
4x10x75s
DB row
4x10x135
GHRs
4x10x60
ASSISTANCE
GHR sit up
15, 10
Notes:
- All the pain issues I was dealing with this weekend resolved in time for this workout. I do believe a part of that is having a set rhythm that my body is used to. It knows that, come Monday morning, itās time to perform. I, once again, felt much stronger than I had any right to this morning, which is a pleasant change from the last cycle, where every workout felt like a miracle.
- I recognized today that all the work Iāve put into making low bar squats viable have paid off, but they are still not enough to make low bar a forever movement. I can still trigger that pain in my forearm just from getting into position: irrespective of if the barbell slips down my back. Ultimately this is a positive thing: Iāve come up with an approach to make this training phase even more viable, but it also means that itās just that: a training phase. Bar/movement rotation will continue indefinitely.
- Very pleased with pressing performance. The middle week is the most satisfying. Rested 2 minutes for all but the final set of axle: went 2:30. Went 90-90-120 on the incline.
- Got through all 7 days of 16-16-17 chins last week, and opened up with 17 this morning, planning on doing 17-16-17. Kinda Doug Hepburn-esque.
- Weighed in at 82.9kg, and thatās post carb up. We did another sourdough pizza last night. I had 5 slices: 3 from the sheet pan pizza, 2 from the traditional pie pan, alongside 5 sourdough cookies (new recipe) with some raw local honey. The Valkyrie is really getting into the homemade sourdough and Iām absolutely loving it. Being able to fuel up with the cleanest carbs made from home is absolutely incredible, and the results are showing that my body is responding well to it. This has become less a gaining phase and more a reverse diet phase, as Iāve been slowing upping the food and seeing the scale stay the same. As long as the weights in the gym keep going up, Iām good with that.
- Rather than 10 minute walks post meal, yesterday I adopted the strategy of 10 minute hyung/martial arts open hand forms. It was honestly pretty enjoyable. Less anti-social than sulking off for a solo walk or time on the rower, getting to improve my martial arts and work on that hip pain I was dealing with. I may make this a āthingā. I truthfully miss being āall-inā with martial arts.
- Got a big ABC workout tonight with the family for ABF. Also an experiment with beef shanks in the sous vide. We have leftover pizza on standby if itās a disaster.
12 Likes
I can kind of relate. Although itās not martial arts, Iām really enjoying getting back into basketball. One of the younger guys in our group switched to guard me for the last few games and I think I went 4 for 5 on 3 point shots. I donāt think Iāve made four 3 pointers total over the several other days Iāve played with this group. My practice is finally paying off and it was nice to feel a bit like my old self. Iāve planned my 5/3/1 template around basketball and Iām enjoying the results (even if squats are burying me). Maybe itās not too late to be athletic again.
4 Likes
Your next comp looks awesome Pwn I am excited for you. If you need any tips on how not to pull a tractor then please refer to the video of the comp I did last year. LOL
2 Likes
@Frank_C The doing is absolutely wonderful, but for me itās more the locked in mentally part of it. Martial arts used to consume me, far moreso than lifting ever did. It was my first passion, and though the doing is cool, caring about something like that that much appeals to me.
@simo74 Oh believe me, I need NO help in poorly pulling a vehicle, haha. Itās why I like these charity comps. I can just go have fun.
Nutrition Recap
Breakfast was 10.5 ounces (cooked) of corned beef alongside some beef liver with 3 whole eggs and 5 whites, topped with some cheese and sour cream. I really like how symmetrical those corned beef slices turned out.
Dinner was a wonderful experiment with sous vide beef shanks. Costco was selling them cheap, so I seasoned them with salt and pepper, put them in the bag with some of that master stock Iāve been crafting and some Amish butter. 155 for about 24 hours, then seared in tallow and more butter (more butter more better) and garlic. It wasnāt braised tender but more steaklike. I took the bone marrow and dumped it on top of the eggs. I had all of mine and some of the Valkyrieās as well. It was honestly challenging not to eat all 4lbs. Once again: incredibly delicious, what a great way to live and eat.
It also dawned on me I came into this week lighter despite replacing a fasting meal for a buffet meal last week, so thatās cool.
7 Likes
AM WORKOUT (0510 wake up via Valkyrieās alarm, very good night of sleep)
TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN Week 5, Workout 2
āViking Raidā
15 minutes
- 100m row
- 150lb sandbag carry
- Add 100m each round
Notes:
- Was in the middle of the carry on the 6th round when the timer went off. Still canāt beat week 1ās performance, which speaks to the impact of systemic fatigue. But I was definitely putting in effort and feeling the conditioning effect here.
- Body felt better than last week. Elbows and hips played nicer, but part of that was I was a bit less ballistic in the pick up to be a little more gentle on the connective tissues. Once again: it feels good to feel good.
- We did 22 rounds of ABCs last night as part of ABF, and itās still functioning as an awesome tonic workout for me. However, Iāve noticed that my physique seems to have turned a corner and has returned to being a bit more shapely/bulbous, and it dawned on me that I AM doing a supplemental ābodybulidingā program with my family outside of my own training alongside my (now) 50 chins a day. Iām thinking the little bit of additional submaximal work is paying off.
- Woke up at 83.1kg this morning, which seems to be where I waver. Scale keeps weighing me 6kg less on the first attempt, which means itās time for new batteries, but is a great āoh sh*tā sorta moment.
- When I have a little more bandwidth, Iām going to try to spitball some ideas for training leading up to the next competition. Itās a ways off, but Iām excited about it, and Iām excited that Iām excited about it. I already ordered my kilt yesterday.
With a name like that, I couldnāt pass it up.
10 Likes
Alright, brainstorm time.
- Current training took an interesting pivot (chaos is the plan), as this was āMass protocolā but Iāve turned it into ārecomp/reverse dietā protocol instead, primarily because I didnāt really have anything to train for and just honestly grew to really appreciate my 2 day a week coffee fasts. Still do. This feels stupidly sustainable. I have 1 more week of this and then Specificity Bravo, which MAY include eating more just because thatās so brutal on me.
- After that is 3 weeks until my next cruise (itās a birthday surprise for my kiddo. As in, the day of, weāre going to say āsurprise: weāre going on a cruise!ā and completely blow their minds). Iām thinking a trial run of Operator Professional, since thatās a 3 week wave by design, whereas Operator itself is supposed to be 6 weeks. And then we count the cruise as a bridge week.
- 2 weeks from now, I run a 10 mile race. I have done zero running to prep for it, and have recently stopped my treadmill runs, in order to prioritize sleep instead. Cool. āF**k it: weāll do it live!ā
- So now we look at the calendar and find 8 Aug (competition day). Wind back 1 week for a bridge week. This gives me 9 weeks of training from when I come back from my cruise. Damn: thatās pretty clutch. Practically writes itself now. Letās do 6 weeks of Operator and 3 weeks of Operator Pro as a āpeakā for the comp. I talked about leaning out for the summer: good opportunity there.
- Operatorās cluster will stick with SSB front squat, axle strict press from rack and ROM progression deads. I think Iām going to 86 chins during workouts and stick with the daily sets instead: frees up some bandwidth. There is no carry for this comp, so I donāt need to prioritize that, and instead need to focus on loading stones, pulling sleds, and pressing overhead (that caber is going to be a just for funsies thing, although I do imagine training the front squat, log clean, and stone load will carry over into that).
- For conditioning, Iām going to make my Thursday workout a sled drag, which will mean having to drive my sled to that parking lot in the early mornings like I used to do. Iām going to make a loading workout as well, and will ideally build a platform to do so on (stealing from my last comp, they built some wooden boards into something they could slide into the spotter arms on a yoke, and I can do the same thing). Due to noise levels, this will have to be a weekend workout.
- For Operator pro, Iām planning on training the log on Mon and Fri and the axle on Wed, so that I can train the deadlift on Wed as well. This is primarily logistically driven (layout of the garage), but also spare the lower back a little so that I can push it harder on the deadlift day. Iāll use one of the log days to go for a 3rm, and the other to stay in the light percentages as prescribed. Iāll treat the one deadlift day as the deadlift max day, and have a front squat max day.
- Chaos, of course, remains the plan. Specifically, now that Iāve written this out, Iām considering doing an extra 3 weeks of Mass before my cruise rather than 3 weeks of Operator. Since Iāve stayed lean during these 5 weeks, there isnāt as much urgency to downshift off of Mass. However, after 9 weeks of Operator, I am set up FANTASTICALLY for my fall Mass Gaining block I do every year, transitioning from birthday feasting to Thanksgiving Feasting to Christmas feasting.
14 Likes
Nutrition Recap
Coffee fast until dinner. Did boneless skinless chicken thighs in the sous vide. I had 3.5, alongside 3 whole eggs, 5 whites and half an avocado with some sour cream. Also made a really baller Cobb salad for the Valkyrie to put her chicken on, demonstrating that plants arenāt actually cryptonite to me.
8 Likes
AM WORKOUT (0359 natural wake up)
TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN Week 5, Workout 3
MAIN CLUSTER
Axle bench press
4x6x246
(2) Texas Deadlift Bar Mat Pulls
14x440
SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER
Lever belt squat
4x10x250
Dips
3x10x75
8+2x75 (weight swung too much)
Axle curls
4x10x83
ASSISTANCE (performed in an unbroken circuit)
Reverse hyper
3x15x360
Hanging leg raise
3x10
Notes:
- Was not quite as motivated to tackle this today. Relied on the reality that I simply donāt have an option to delay this workout, since Wed is our busiest day of the week, and I had breakfast waiting for me when I was done.
- Felt very strong on the bench. As I was doing it, thought to myself āI feel like a 300lb bencher againā. Itās been an interesting journey trying to come back to where I was with a healthier approach. For you turbo nerds, this is like Final Fantasy IV, where you start out with Cecil as a dark knight, and heās powerful, but his attacks take away from his hit points and are ultimately self-destructive, and then you start over as a level 1 paladin, youāre weaker, but you now can heal, and you can eventually grow to surpass your previous self.
- Holy f*ck at those mat pulls. If youāre observant, I missed the grab for the power rack and ended up just falling to the reverse hyper to rest. Definitely blew out some blood vessels, but feeling stronger than I expected. MUCH better than where I was last training cycle at this weight.
- Lever belt squats are really feeling good on the legs. Knee is healthy enough that I can focus on that. Dips were good: final set the weight just got a little too wild on me. Curls are feeling good. Iāve actually noticed my arms have grown, specifically because I normally roll up my sleeves at work, and I noticed I canāt drink my coffee anymore when I do that, because the sleeves compress my arms too much to comfortably raise the mug to my mouth. Thatās a real ānon-scale victoryā
- Which, speaking of the scale, I weighed in at 81.9kg this morning. Part of that was sweating a bunch at Tang Soo Do (more on that in a minute), but I still afforded myself to throw an extra slice of corned beef on my plate as a result. Iām leaning into this recomp/reverse diet phase, since it seems to be working, but, in turn, Iām going to course correct when I see things going a little off kilter. With me eating only 1 meal yesterday, I recognize it was a little on the small side.
- Tang Soo Do sparring night went really well. We had 14 students in attendance, so it was a large bracket. I sparred 3 black belts, with a match with the Valkyrie in between the first and the second one. By all accounts, I won every match, but the final match against our senior black belt went into overtime and I scored a beautiful jump roundhouse to his ribcageā¦and the judges ruled that he scored a bodypunch on me. We both stared at each other in disbelief, and the black belt even pointed at me and went āUh, no, he got the pointā, but itās baseball rules. I took satisfaction in us both recognizing it. Our dojang also implemented double elimination that night, so after that was done, I got to spar 3 more matches (2 against senior students, 1 against the Valkyrie), wherein I won the first two and lost a hardfought match the the Valkyrie at the end. It was an excellent test of endurance and I had to stay light on my feet. My matches against the black belts required me to come up with some individual strategies to address their unique tendencies (kinda like playing āPunch Outā back in the day) while Iām still trying to wreck everyoneās game by sparring Tang Soo Do using Bas Ruttenās fighting stance. Knees and hips have been happy enough to be able to pull that off, but weāll see how tonight goes with 90 minutes of sparring.
9 Likes
Made me smile, I spend my training effort pretending I donāt care about my arms, but deep down, who doesnāt want bigger guns!!
4 Likes
Oh man, I donāt even try to hide it, haha. Iām very certain my first ever physical influence as a kid was Popeye
I remember being 4 years old and begging my parents to buy me spinach. āStrongā meant a gigantic pair of forearms on top of a spindle of a torso, and I was all for it. That imprint wonāt ever go away!
2 Likes
Ok, this is the SECOND time one of our local BBQ joints decided to run a beef ribs special on one of my fasting days
This has been good for my wallet, but definitely feels like the universe is trolling me.
Totally unrelated, but Iām wanting to come up with a cute name for my training phase leading up to my competition. I gotta think up something that relates to Scotland/highland games, Vikings, and Cornfed Nebraskans. Iāll open it up to the audience as well, but if nothing else, if someone wants to work some AI magic to conjure up a viking wearing a kilt with cornhusker colors, thatāll make a great mascot.
Or, I suppose, it could be a viking berserker dual wielding Scottish claymores with Husker warpaint. Let your imagination run wild.
6 Likes
Maybe some reference to The Battle of Largs or a a reference to the Kingdom of the Isles. Not sure how to weave corn of beef into this.
1 Like
@simo74 itās definitely a helluva puzzle, haha. I will see what inspiration brings.
Nutrition recap
Breakfast and dinner were the same thing: corned beef and eggs. Former was leftovers, latter was fresh cooked. Pictured was for the whole family, but I had a generous portion, and packed away the rest for breakfast on Friday.
7 Likes
Itās funny because Iām traveling right now and had planned to NOT workout, but got delayed an extra day. Something about being in a hotel breakfast room and seeing the others there eating waffles and pastries made me feel like it wasnāt an option. Wearing my leather chukkas (didnāt even bring workout shoes), I brought my black coffee into the empty āgymā and started my process. Mobility work, ramping up in weight, then getting at it. Nothing dramatic, but the type of daily work that makes a huge difference when done, well, daily.
Then, when back in the breakfast buffet room, loading up on eggs, sausage, and a bowl of grapes. Not the best breakfast Iāve ever had, but good enough choices to keep me moving in the right direction. Thereās nothing like being around regular folks in a buffet setting to keep me motivated.
5 Likes
Yes.
2 Likes
@antiquity Itās one of the big things I take away when I go on a cruise. When youāre surrounded by health and excellence, your calibration gets off and you start holding yourself to a standard of perfection. Some time among ānormalā people is eye opening.
AM WORKOUT (0510 wake up via Valkyrieās alarm)
TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN Week 5, Workout 4
āROW ROW ROW YOUR BLOATā
20 minute recovery row
Notes:
-
This was just what the doctor ordered (I suppose that would be Dr. Shawn Baker, as heās super into rowing). I was exhausted at the end of the day yesterday and just passed out, and woke up ābroken, bruised, forgotten, soreā. Immediately post row I felt worse, but after going through the rest of my morning, I feel restored and able.
-
This continues to be the most āall-inā this block of Mass Protocol has been as far as priorities go. Iāve picked sleep over rucking, and have used the rower as a recovery tool, and the outcomes continues to demonstrate that this is the right call. I make peace with the reality that, when it comes time to emphasize conditioning, thatās what Operator is for.
-
Weighed in at 83.2kg. Between a diet rich in salty corned beef and housing a ton of water and electrolytes before bed, that checks.
-
Sparring night wasnāt quite as intense last night, but it was a full 90 minute class. We had a lot more junior students, and I was paired off with my kiddo in the first round, so I only got to spar that one round of our tournament. Post tournament we did some rounds of free sparring, and I couldnāt get any of the junior students to come play with me, so I did matches with my hands behind my back to make it a challenge.
-
Kicking around the name for the next training phase. Youāve got Highlander for the Scots
Fullsterkur (Full Strength) for the Vikings
-
and āCornhuskerā for Nebraska
-
Iām leaning toward āHighCornsterkurā, which also fits, as August is when the corn tends to be high. And I think Iāve got a great couple of mascots for this
EDIT: Nope I got it. Iām going to make āCornhuskerā the root here and go āCornhighstekurā. I like that a lot. The training phase will be āOperation Cornhighstekurā. And I can even bring in the āFullā from āFullsterkurā and say that I am going āFull Cornhighstekurā for this training phase. And with it being sweetcorn season and me having picked up Dr. Bill Schindlerās āEat Like a Humanā where he details the proper way to process corn, maybe it will even have some showings in the nutrition leading up to it.
13 Likes
Best I had was Cornfed Ragnarok. I like the idea of naming my workouts. Might actually be committed.
4 Likes
I like that!
2 Likes