There will be time for updates soon, but to tease it
July is over
Halloween is soon
I am coming for you
You will not be able to stop me
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@dagill2 For what itās worth, I appreciated that post.
@simo74 Those are the opinions that matter! Meanwhile, I genuinely despise how my body has somehow become public domain. Getting lunch with my family today, some old codger grabs me by the arm as Iām walking by and goes āI guess you donāt lift weights huh!ā I responded with āPlease donāt touch me Sirā. He just laughed and walked away: Iām sure he didnāt even hear what I said, but people just think theyāre given some right to me that way. ESPECIALLY frustrating as COVID re-spikesā¦
So letās talk about today.
Got up at 0600 due to wifeās alarm. Sheās working on her second masters and wanted to get up early so she could work on a paper. She puts me to shame.
I start off the day with a fasted 5 minutes of ABCs. I get in 21, then throw on 80lb weighted vest and take my dog for a 40 minute walk. I listened to the Legends of Iron Podcast with Jerry Pritchett. Iām walking the dog now because the weather folks are telling us today is going to be THE hottest day of the year, so if the dog is getting a walk, itās happening now. Itās already 75 degrees when we start, but the humidity hasnāt set in yetā¦but it does midway through the walk, and Iām pouring sweat.
Get home, wife makes me a fantastic breakfast, I clean up, and while taking out the trash I get in 50 burpee chins in 6:36. Not a record, but given my tricep is still showing some bruising from the tear, Iām pleased with it. Yesterday, I sprain my wrist/forearm on my ABCs, then it started to bug me on this morningās ABCs, and it started showing a bit on those ABCsā¦foreshadowing.
Drop the wife off for a sports massage/study break, take the kiddo out for some errands, get dinner for the night and picked up a new DnD Starter Set from Target (SCORE), get dinner/harassed by the elderly, come home, put stuff away, and then knock outā¦
āCROSSING THE ALPS WITH BERSERKERSā
20x100 log viper presses
18x135 Stone of Steel to Shoulder
16x155 Keg one motion overheads
13x185 front squat
13x185 squat
11x225 SSB squat
Could this be āMonument to Non-Existenceā? Yeah, itās yet another version of it, but I dig this name. āCrossing the Alpsā because logistics are a BIG part of this workout. The order of the movements is based upon my gym layout while emphasizing speedy transitions. Weāre also crossing the Alps because attrition is happening through out this workout. But instead of elephants, Hannibal brought berserker mercenary shocktroops, and they are TEARING through the front lines of everything on the battlefield. We lose numbers and gain ground the whole way. And, of course, I wore the t-shirt in tribute.
This workout took a LOT out of me. On the very first rep of the stone, I thought I tore my left bicep. You can see me check it out for damage. It was just the tendonitis I was dealing with reaching its logical conclusion. Then, on rep 13 of the keg presses, that stumble about ended my career. I felt something in my left knee click and pop and I almost fell over the log. Would have been an amazing fail video.
AND I KEEP F**KING GOING
Because you canāt stop me
The rest of the workout achieved my end goal: it was absolutely miserable. I wanted to quit yet again during SSB squats. I took too much time between squats and SSBs and Iāll need to fix that next time, but I appreciated this workout for everything it included and still making it within the 15 minute mark. My fear was it dragging on too far.
When it was done, I was absolutely feeling the effect of āhottest day of the yearā. Once again, this ranks among the hardest workouts Iāve ever done.
Ate like a champ at dinner. I am looking jacked in that video. Everything is as awesome as it can be.
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Itās funny cause this only seems to happen to muscular people and pregnant ladies. My misses would have random people try to touch her tummy when she was pregnant and she would always tell them to Fk right off! I know what you mean about the arm thing. I will also have friends who will try to pull up my t shirt sleeve to show my arm to someone I have never met. People are weird !
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Love those out of the blue compliments from the SO
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Reading your synopsis gets me hyped to attack my final (hardest) week of beefcake.
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Youāve used injured vs hurt a lot in your posts and blog, but Iāve never quite understood the distinction until now. Maybe I was just being dumb but this finally cleared it all up!
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@simo74 Pregnant women definitely have it worse. Especially with the pandemic, people STIL felt entitled to touch a woman with a FRAGILE ORGANISM in their body. Humans are awful.
@jwlake06 Hell yeah dude! This is what all that eating and training was for: you got this!
@jshaving Glad that could be helpful! Dave Tate, Kroc and a few of the other big names tend to lean the same way. Surgery can be a big determiner as well: if you can get along with it, were you REALLY injured? Haha.
Slept until 0620 and broke protocol with a different fasted workout
Medium-Light-Heavy swings (24kg-20kg-40kg)
20 each, in between each set of swings, some form of daily work (5-10 chins, 4 standing ab wheels, 10 dips or 8 reverse hypers w/90lbs)
Got through 21 rounds of swings in 21:22, then finished off with 80 swings with the 24kg bell in a total of 22:58 to get a total of 500 swings. Easier way to break into Sunday. Iām feeling beat up from taking the Alps. Depending on how things go, ABCs might actually get a break with me transitioning to 5 minutes of log vipers instead. Iām kinda feeling that itch. Weāll see.
Because Chaos is the Plan
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PM WORKOUT (1400)
24 ABCs in 5 minutes w/24kg bells
Notes:
- Forearm feels like garbage from yesterday but still healthy enough for ABCs. Got the gym set up for Malcolm X squats tomorrow. Surf and Turf burger tonight of bison and shrimp. Lets get some.
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Food porn for the surf and turf burger
@tlgains You will be pleased to hear I am downloading the soundtracks for the first 3 Streets of Rage games for my squat workout tomorrow morning.
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Oh hell yeah Iām pleased!
Those soundtracks are soooo good.
(My fingers are crossed that before your squats, you flex your upper body which tears your shirt off, then you say āCome on!ā)
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@tlgains No such luck, but given my training environment these days, training shirtless would be a poor idea, haha.
AM WORKOUT (0322 natural wake up, slightly rocky sleep due to thunderstorms) SEMI-FASTED: 1 serving of Surge workout fuel before training, 1 serving during
BBB BEEFCAKE Week 5, Workout 1
MAIN WORK
Jump-squat-row
Box Jumps
3x3
Buffalo Bar Squat
5xBar
5x195
5x285
3x355
1x405
1x455
T-bar row
10x100
10x125
10x150
SUPPLEMENTAL WORK
Buffalo Bar Squat
50 reps of 350lbs in 8:30
Transition immediately to assistance work
ASSISTANCE WORK
Abs-hyper-GHR-bands
30 standing ab wheel
40x360 reverse hyper
30 GHRs
50 pull aparts
25 pushdowns
Belt squat stripset (no lockout/rest between sets)
51x200 (giant PR)
Reps of 175,150,125,100,75,50,25,axle
50 dips and 44 chins while I put away plates
POST WORKOUT SHAKE
CONDITIONING
5 minutes of ABCs w/24kg bells (20 total) straight into 5 minutes of log viper presses w/100lbs (23 total)
Notes:
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I, no joke, woke up like the Terminator this morning. And I donāt say that mean āI woke up ready to destroy whatever was in my pathā, but more that I woke up and immediately went into āBattle Damage Assessmentā. āOk, my left knee is still swollen like a grapefruit from the humidity, my left elbow is recovering from Saturday, for some reason my shoulder is locked into placeā. I expected this to be a rough workout. For it to turn out as awesome as it did is a blessing.
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This whole training cycle has been fantastic for my mentality. Iām so focused on getting that goal of 5x10x405 on squats at the end that my top end strength being absolute garbage isnāt even phasing me. I DO feel Iām at a point in my 5/3/1 ācareerā that I need a TM for main work and a TM for supplemental work, because I am all things reps and I am no things max weight. But Iām taking Jimās words VERY close to the heart here regarding balancing main and supplemental work.
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The opening salvo on the Malcolm X squats is a 10lb and 1 rep PR from last cycle. You want a sign of progress, there it is.
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Glad I could get the belt squats on video at a decent angle just to showcase the intensity of them. I love landmine movements because you can just send it and not worry too much about technique.
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That conditioning workout was killer! The only real x-factor to contend with there is that, by the time I get to the log, my legs are so slick with sweat that I canāt get it to stick for a decent clean. But ABCs AFTER all those squats is murder, and vipers after ABCs even moreso.
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Most likely get in some prisoner squats or burpees at some point today just to get in a training effect, but otherwise this was āenoughā training.
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On the physique front, Iām seeing my abs fade and my body broaden out. Thatās a worthwhile trade.
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On the Surge front, I had a moment or two where it wanted to come back up in the training, but otherwise it stays settled well. Downing a full serving first thing in the morning is a little tricky for me, just because Iām so used to operating sans fluid. Itās honestly probably good for me that Iām taking in 48oz of water in general during training, irrespective of it being mixed with anything, but all the goodies included are sure to be helping as well.
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Amazing work in here as always. Iād by in tears if I went for a stripset of belt squats after 50x malcolm X squats.
I donāt see your GHR or Hyperextension equipment, can I ask what you use for these? A seemingly necessary add-in for the home gym will be a Reverse Hyper Machine, but GHR and Hyper machine is right up there in priorities tooā¦ Just seeing if you have some genious work-around I might be able to duplicate.
Much appreciated dude!
Nah, theyāre just not in the shot. For that set of belt squats, my phone is ON the reverse hyper, haha. My GHR is in my basement, because it doesnāt fit in the garage, so I exit the garage and head downstairs to get that in. Coming back UP the stairs is a challenge.
The hyper is a Rogue model I picked up around 2013. The GHR I got off facebook market last year.
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I saw your Reverse Hyper in the corner and Iām jealous.
Thatās what I figured. For space-saving purposes, I may end up getting the Rogue Donkey that does it all
but IDK if dropping 2k for one piece of equipment pays off (I mean, itās not a power rack). May consider the Titan Glute-Ham Developer and do some redneck mods to make it work for Reverse Hypers.
Sorry, rambling out loud. Thanks for explaining - always interested in new ways to make stuff work without having to spend more!
EDIT: made the pics a bit larger if that cleans them up. I also like the all-in-oneā¦ just going to have to sell some bodily fuild to pay for it 
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Always happy to talk new toys, haha.
Those all in ones look interesting to me. I canāt wrap my brain around how they work. I like the idea of a floor GHR, since you could lean it against a wall or something.
But honestly, if I had to pick between the two, Iād pick a reverse hyper 100 times over. GHRs are dandy, but reverse hypers are life changing.
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Finished the day up with a simple Tabata prisoner squat with push ups during rest. My left knee was swollen to the point of near immobility, so this was helpful.
Really vascular and abs came out of hiding for some reason. Need to eat more. Roger that.
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AM WORKOUT (0322 natural wake up) SEMI-FASTED: 1 serving of Surge workout fuel before training, 1 serving during
BBB BEEFCAKE Week 5, Workout 2
MAIN WORK
Axle clean and strict press away (plate change rest)
5xAxle
5x136
5x156
4x176 (continental)
Superset w/
5x10 band pull aparts
SUPPLEMENTAL WORK
Axle clean each rep and strict press
50 reps of 136 in 12:55
Transition immediately to assistance work
ASSISTANCE WORK
Dips into pushdowns abs into hyper into lunges into GHR
Weighted dip stripset
5x105
4x80
5x55
5x30
31xBW (rest pause as needed)
25 pushdowns
20 standing ab wheels
40x90 reverse hyper
10 KB front rack lunges w/24kg bells
30 GHRs
Poundstone Curls
214xAxle
POST WORKOUT SHAKE
CONDITIONING
5 minutes of ABCs w/24kg bells (20 completed)
Transition immediately into āLost In Translationā
5 rounds in 10:30 of
- 3 Axle clean each rep and push press 136lbs
- 7 burpee chins
Notes:
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Left elbow still giving me a little trouble on the cleans today. Slowed me down on the Malcolm X set and turned the topset mainwork into a contintental vs a clean. Poundstones were pretty miserable as well. And burpee chins, hah! But nothing stopped me.
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My knee was feeling fine this morning, but is swollen again as I write this. Weather has been crazy. In that regard, we got a slight break from the heat, which made training more tolerable.
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That conditioning was brutal. My schedule is intense today, so I got the ABCs in post training, which after a bunch of clean and pressing is just a delight. Went with 2 2.5 minute rounds with a goal for 20 total. Heading straight into Lost in Translation was the cherry on top, because I was floored. Somehow those weights got overhead instantly, but I went down for my first burpee and contemplated just never coming back up again.
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Iāll get in some sort of light bodyweight conditioning later in the day for a training effect. As much as it was good to keep on āremindingā my body with the ABCs at the end of the day, schedule logistics wise, itās working out better to get the 5 minutes at the end of the workout and something light/restorative later.
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PM WORKOUT (1800)
Tabata burpee chins w/prisoner squats during the rest periods
Notes: Got the rest of my chins this way, and got blood flowing through my legs. My left knee is a horror show right now, but Iāve figured it out: I sit a bunch at work, and it just all pools into the knee when I do that. Moving it fixes it instantly, so Iām making a consistent effort to keep moving that leg during downtime.
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Man I hate to keep asking about injuries but I like your style! Did you ever detail coming back from your shoulder injury the way you have your knee?
Alsoā¦Malcolm X style work is a whole different animal, thanks for that
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Havenāt checked in on you in a little bit - obviously you continue to go strong.
Do you notice anything with hunger or even hypoglycemia with the double dose of Surge Workout Fuel? I havenāt gone above one serving yet, but the rest of my meals are carb-based and yours are higher fat. Iām really curious what this targeted shot of carbs does to the rest of your day.
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