@dchris That sounds like an awesome name for a Nebraska based viking metal band, haha. Also reminds me of one of my favorite trivia facts
And spot on about naming things. It creates ownership. Similar to how they make you name the rabbit in SERE…
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Nutrition Recap
Coffee fast to the evening, and then a killer leftovers night of beef shank, chicken thighs, corned beef, 3 whole eggs and 5 whites.
Also, my kilt came in. And it fits.
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AM WORKOUT (0358 natural wakeup)
TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN Week 5, Workout 5
MAIN CLUSTER
Buffalo bar Squat
4x6x352
Axle strict press from rack
3x6x168
5+1x168
SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER
(3) Incline DB bench
4x10x75s
DB row
4x10x135
GHRs
4x10x60
GHR sit ups
20
15
Notes:
- I came into this feeling absolutely destroyed. My hips are a wreck from 3 nights of sparring (more on that), but knowing it was Friday and I had breakfast waiting for me compelled me through. Surprisingly, it was the press that was the biggest X-factor, rather than the squats. I DID note that I wasn’t standing fully locked out at the top of the squats, with some forward lean to take some pressure off the hips, but the first set of press sent some electricity down my back/hip, and I lost the second rep forward and had to fight for it as a result. Had to really make a point to keep my glutes locked down. I took a full 3 minutes of rest before the final set to help out there. In general, it was a workout I was happy to come out the other side on.
- I giggled to myself while filming my GHRs realizing that my youtube channel is effectively the world’s slowest snuff film.
- I at least earned my hip pain. I was the Dojang champion last night, sparring through 1 junior student, 1 senior student, and our senior black belt that is always the biggest challenge. In the case of the latter, I threw him off my starting off in the bladed stance that they always tell us to start off in that I refuse to adopt. Much like Inigo Montoya in Princess Bride, it dawned on them that, suddenly “I am not left handed”. But after that, I couldn’t stand to fight like that, so went back to my original stance. It had the intended effect though: suddenly I was unpredictable. This also included sending a rear like side kick to his head, which, for reference, he’s 6’3-6’4 and I am 5’9. It worked because NO ONE expected me to be able to do that. And all it cost me was my hips. A real pyrhric victory: the best kind. Got to watch the Valkyrie take on the entire dojang one after the other in the redemption bracket and work her way back up to me. We had an awesome match, getting into overtime at 2-2, with her scoring a beautiful head crescent kick on me at the end. Good night for the family.
- All THIS said, each sparring week I come out of it pretty wrecked. Even though this is “no-contact” point sparring (or maybe ESPECIALLY because of that), it requires a fair degree of athleticism and agility regularly practiced, and I keep getting older while these kids keep growing more and more into their primes. Our schedules force us to go 3 nights in a row, rather than having a break in between, and by Thurs the Valkyrie and I are totaled. In light of all this, I’m considering pivoting my training and making the sparring week a week where I adopt one of the “Fighter” programs from Tactical Barbell. Basically cut the lifting from 3x week to 2x week. Simplest solution would be cut out the middle day and make it JUST the deadlift workout.
- Weighed in at 82.5kg. Weight continues to remain pretty stable.
- My coffee consumption has increased. I just plain enjoy it, and people at my work are enablers by asking if someone else will have a cup if they make another pot.
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That’s pretty funny.
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It is by far my favorite beverage.
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Love coffee…I like getting kicking horse when I can
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Is that a brand?
Given the context, I’ll allow it.
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So fitting my log explodes at the mention of coffee, haha. Glad you appreciated that line there @LoRez . I’m like the Game of Thrones of snuff films: will it EVER get to the end?
@whiplash1 funny enough, it’s not even a matter of caffeine addiction. I’ve gone cold turkey enough times and noticed no issues (to include withdraw) and I’ve also consumed caffeine in quantities measured by GRAMS and experienced no perceived benefits or effects. I’m beginning to think I may possess the CYP1A2 gene variant. Although I also had a suspicion that I have undiagnosed ADHD and have been self-medicating with massive caffeine dosages. But one of my favorite coffee is a decaf.
The biggest thing I like about coffee is it forces me to slow down and be intentional. The beverage is hot, so I can’t rush the process, and it ties up one of my hands to drink it, so I can’t do a whole lot of multitasking. I have to just sit and think and be intentional.
@alex_uk Means much for a tea drinker to come to the (quite literal) dark side there. Which ties in well with the Star Wars meme. Although I’ll also admit to having a daily tea in my routine: but it’s green, rather than black. Consumed before bed, to help me relax…which also shows how caffeine has no impact on me.
@BethB I’m sure among shift workers it’s pretty much the ONLY beverage, haha. I’ve known many that had traces of blood in their coffeestreams..
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I have a similar suspicion about myself. In my misspent youth I also enjoy illegal self medication always had the highest tolerance of any of my fellow partakers. Also I still haven’t kicked nicotine, despite not feeling addicted to it (I can stop for months on end with zero withdrawals, I just like it).
Haha I do drink tea, but have always been predominantly a coffee drinker, I remember being in primary school (sub 11 years old in the UK) when I had my first and last caffeine high, genuinely looked like this:
Zero noticeable impact since then, but man I do love coffee.
Sorry I’ll stop blowing your log up over coffee now!
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@alex_uk No need to apologize there dude: discussion is great. It’s fascinating what we end up having in common.
Nutrition recap
Breakfast was the rest of the leftover corned beef (about 14oz), alongside some beef liver, 3 whole eggs and 5 whites.
Dinner was a full rack of ribs from our favorite local BBQ place. Hot tip: hit those places up on Fridays during Lent. They LOADED me up with the fattiest pork ribs I’ve ever had in my life. It felt like a legit 5lbs of ribs when I picked it up, and I ate every single one alongside a little grassfed sour cream.
I followed that up with my 10 minute Hyung and 70 clean and presses alongside the family doing ABF.
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Bones coffee is an amazing brand!
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Yes. Kicking horse is from British Columbia Canada. If i remember right they are in invermere.
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Yeah I personally don’t get a whole lot out of caffeine myself but I’ve never really gone cold turkey on it. I’ve drastically reduced my consumption at times though. I just genuinely enjoy coffee as a drink and I get that idea of being slowed down with it and such. But even monsters or ghost energy I’m more so drinking them because they taste good…it’s not really a caffeine thing cause I don’t get that much out of it that way
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@whiplash1 I used to house energy drinks for much the same reason. I didn’t realize, irrespective of the caffeine, how BAD they made me feel until I stopped drinking them. Between the artificial sweeteners and the carbonation, alongside whatever other chemicals are included, my guts were a constant chemical firestorm. Now, just looking at a can makes my stomach hurt (I say that non-hyperbolically, I believe I’ve conditioned myself psychologically to have a negative response to them). But coffee seems to be doing alright, although I also seem to have a natural cut off where it eventually just doesn’t sound good any more. I’ve actually had moments where I just automatically poured myself a cup of coffee out of habit, took one look at it and poured it down the sink because I realized I wasn’t actually in the mood. That bodes well to me, haha.
Weekend has been good to me. Slept in, been getting in the daily chins, did 10 minutes of Hyungs on Saturday after a meal, got in a 3 mile weighted vest walk and 17 ABCs on Sunday and maybe some more hyungs on my horizon. Active without really training, and considering I discovered my 10 mile run is on Saturday, that’s probably a good call.
For nutrition recap
Breakfast on Saturday and Sunday was 2 omelets with 3 whole eggs, 93% lean ground beef, reduced fat swiss and tallow, topped with sour cream, alongside some chicken sausages, beef bacon, and beef liver.
Dinner on Saturday was kalua pork that I paired with 4 leftover scrambled eggs topped with some of the leavings in the instant pot form the pork.
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AM WORKOUT (0359 natural wake up)
TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN Week 6, Workout 1
MAIN CLUSTER
Buffalo Bar Squat
4x3x377
Axle strict press from rack
4x3x181
SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER
(3) DB incline bench
4x8x80s
DB rows
4x8x145
GHRs
4x8x65
ASSISTANCE
GHR sit up
20, 15
Notes:
- I was already dreading this workout before I went to bed last night, although “dread” is hyperbolic. It was more just plain not wanting to wake up early to go lift weights. But, as the natural wake up shows, my body was ready to go when it was time, and I actually felt much more physically restored. The Valkyrie gave me a massage last night around my SI joint, and that seemed to do the trick. Much more effective than rolling out on the LAX ball. Gives me hope for Wed’s deadlift workout.
- The week of triples suits me well. Still a wannabe-powerlifter. I felt strong on the squats and undeservably strong on the press. Geting into the squat position torqued my forearm a little, but I’m still MUCH healthier come week 6 than I typically am. And the press didn’t bother my hip like it did last workout.
- I’m actually challenging myself on the ab work at the end. Feel a decent cramp.
- Got in a full 7 days of 17-17-16 chins. Going for triple 17s this week.
- Weighed in at 83.3kg. I earned that, because I ate like a champ this weekend, with a capstone last night of 5 slices of sourdough crust pizza (2 slices with that guanciale…it was glorious) and 2 and a quarter large sourdough cookies with some raw local honey. Once again: I am such a fan of how I get to eat.
To give perspective, when I say “large cookies”, the ones in the photo are the “small ones”. The large ones didn’t make it into the shot, but they resembled Mrs. Field’s cookies in terms of thickness and size. Just wonderful.
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I love this, and feel the same way, though “what I get to eat” is so profoundly different.
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In both cases, the operating word is “get to” vs “have to”. Approaching food from a place of gratitude is such a huge thing, and it’s one of the biggest lessons we can all appreciate.
And I love being in your company in this regard. It’s always worth appreciating the sum of your peers as a reflection of yourself.
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