How´s The Triumvirate treating you. I´ve considered the template many times, to simplify things, not to cut corners. I tend to be more consistant when doing short, simple, efficient workouts as my life dictates training after dinner at night
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I actually like it a lot. One of the reasons that I chose it was for its simplicity. I lift in my basement and my equipment is fairly limited. Also I like not having to think about what I’m doing and not doing 20 different lifts everyday. I had initially thought about doing BBB but it sounded, well, boring. I’ve never run an actual program before, so I don’t have much to compare it to. I believe I am making progress so I assume that means it is working. I would absolutely recommend it.
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Excatly. I also train at home, and I always use antagonist supersets, Bench press/ lat work, to make it most time efficient
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12/13/25
5/3/1 The Triumvirate Circuit 2 Week 3
Squat Training max 135
Ball throws, fire hydrant kicks
Warm up sets
Squat
75% 100 lbs. x 5
85% 115 lbs. x 3
95% 130 lbs. x 6
Step ups
2 x 15
5 lbs. 1 x 15
10 lbs. 2 x 15
Leg curl
25 lbs. 1 x 10
30 lbs. 2 x 10
35 lbs. 2 x 10
Well, I’m not a huge fan of squat day, but I made it through. I was aiming for 8 on my last set but could only pull off 6. Lame. I was moderately distracted for the second half of my session. My husband was making bacon and the smell permeated the entire basement. Every time I took a breath, bacon was all I could think about. I eventually switched to mouth breathing. Lol. I also had a pretty big “wow am I a moron” moment. I was trying to figure out how to add difficulty to my step ups and realized that I could hold a dumbbell. I think I actually said “I’m such a fucking idiot” out loud. Tomorrow starts deload week.
Our college visit was cancelled due to the weather. So today has become Christmas cookie baking day!
Today is a good day.
Side note: I have successfully kept my ass off of the scale. Small victories.
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Yes.
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Fantastic!
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12/14/25
5/3/1 The Triumvirate Circuit 2 Week 4
Military press deload.
Warm up 3 x 5
40% x 5
50% x 5
60% x 5
Pull-up 2, 2, 1
DB inclined bench
15 lbs. 3 x 15
Again with the bacon! Man. It’s super nice to have a piece to munch on as soon as I get upstairs, but dang, the smell. 
I’m thinking of replacing the pull-ups. I’m pretty sure it’s aggravating my elbow. Gonna have to figure out what I can do in place of them.
Cookie baking did not happen yesterday. My son asked if we could play Euchre and so the four of us spent most of the afternoon and all of the evening playing cards. We changed partners every few games so everyone played with everyone. Let the record show that I am the only person who did not lose a single game. This is an important fact as I am typically the weakest link on a card playing team. It was an absolutely fantastic way to spend the day. I can’t remember the last time my kids (and myself) were that disconnected from our phones. All four of us had fun. I’m hoping that maybe this will be something we do as a family more frequently.
Reading other people’s logs sometimes helps me to find clarity on things that really should be rather evident but I sometimes find elude me.
This brought to the forefront of my mind that we are never done. There is always a new goal. We can always be moving forward if we choose to.
And damn if I can find the post, but @T3hPwnisher said something about season of training. It helped me to make sense in my brain that training is just one step preparing for the next. This helped me to make peace in my mind with the idea of gaining. Gaining weight in the short term will prepare me for a cut that shows the hard work that I put in. And then we cycle back around. There is no finish line. There is only the mile marker that shows how far we have come. There is always something new to strive for.
Cookie baking is back on the table today. Breakfast and a quick stop at the store and then it is on to marathon baking with a pot of potato soup somewhere in the lunch hour.
Today is a good day.
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I blatantly stole the seasons from Dan John, but he in turn acknowledges that he stole that from nature. Life operates in seasons and cycles, and when we align ourselves with that, we find some peace. October through New Years is my season for gaining, as the weather is cooler and my birthday is late October, so it’s a great season for feasting. Summer is an ample time to lean out, since it’s easier to be active. And as you noted: each prepares for the next, whereas, if we just try to grind ourselves into the dirt, that’s what we get.
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12/15/25
Circuit Work
Three rounds
- Kettlebell swings 20 lb. 5 x 15
- Sit-ups 5 x 15
- Push-ups 5 down to 1
(First round 5-2 on my knees, then I realized I was doing this out of habit and switched to toes for all remaining)
This was fun and made me sweat. Got my heart rate up a bit. The remainder of my day will be spent finishing up all the stuff I ignored this weekend. Lol. There is also food prep for the week. I’m looking forward to this the most. I love yummy lunches.
New goal: become a person who eats healthy food and does not binge out of habit.
Today is a good day.
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That’s awesome, can’t say I love food prep, but it really does help keep structure and order to eating which generally helps us reach our goals. I’m still terrible at it, but have found easy hacks for lazy eating (like greek yogurt, whey and PB - takes seconds to prepare can hit 50g protein tastes good and not terrible for you).
Glad to see it here as well!
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I’m super lazy about food prep. I make taco meat and the add it to frozen veggies and add some canned black beans and purchased Pico de Gallo. It doesn’t get much easier and it’s super yummy. I usually like my lunch better than my dinner.
Greek yogurt, PB and honey is one of my all time favorite snacks.
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12/16/25
5/3/1 The Triumvirate Circuit 2 Week 4
Deadlift deload
Warm up 3 x 5
40% x 5
50% x 5
60% x 5
Good mornings
55 lbs. 3 x 12
Sit-ups
8# 3 x 15
My inability to think one day ahead is somewhat astounding to me. Yesterday I did a total of 150 sit-ups. Today I did deadlifts and more sit-ups. My low back is struggling. So I’m going to try to be more strategic with my circuit work. Try not to do pushups before my bench day and not do sit-ups the day before deads. In unfortunate news, my hernia has opened back up. Bummer. Anywho… I baked 8 different kinds of cookies between yesterday and the day before. I ate a total of 1 yesterday. Since, you know, I’m not a person who binges. 
Today is a good day.
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I have no experience with this, but it can’t be good, right?
In any case, I’m sorry to hear it.
But, cookies—yay!
Well it’s definitely not great. Lol. When I had my hysterectomy the doctor stitched it up but it wasn’t actually “fixed” so I knew it would open up again eventually. I got a full year out of it, so that’s pretty good too. It’s under my belly button and fairly small. But fat will squish its way out and then I have to push it back in. I usually wear my weight belt with a little hernia support thing shoved in there when I lift and it helps.
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12/17/25
Circuit work
Three rounds
-Kettlebell swing 20 lbs 5 x 15
-Renegade rows 15 lbs 5 down to 1
-Goblet squats 20 lbs. 5 down to 1
I do love the endless lies that I tell myself to get through the day. I woke up today with a stiff and sore lower back. I told myself I would just do a few easy stretches and maybe one round of my circuit to get my body moving and warmed up. I moved into round 2 and halfway through I swore to myself that I would be finished at the end of that round. Then, when my brain wasn’t looking, my body started round 3. As a reward, I gave my back an extended post work stretching session.
I am thoroughly enjoying Never Let Go. I am somewhat annoyed by this because it forces me to say words that I hate to say. Here goes. My husband was right. There. I said it. Sigh. He told me to read it forever ago and I resisted. Why? Because I like to be obstinate. Lol.
I got to watch my youngest wrestle last night! He usually doesn’t get to wrestle in meets as there are multiple kids in his weight class and he is not one of the top wrestlers. It was so much fun to watch! He lost the match but he went all 3 periods and lost by 1 point. I was very impressed with how much he has improved since last year. His priority has been running, so that is where his focus was over the summer. He told me last night that he plans to make wrestling his priority next year and attend the summer practices. I assume he will probably also incorporate summer running, but we will see. I know I said this before and I’m sure people get tired of hearing it, but I’m so very proud of my husband and sons. All three of them inspire me with their willingness to push through and make themselves better. It’s a lot to live up to, but I’m trying to be someone who is worthy of their pride as well.
Today is a good day.
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I returned to college in my 30’s and found myself saying to a professor at one point early on, after I’d asked her how to improve my grade and she informed me that I was already at the top of the class, that “there’s a lot of pressure at my house!” My kids were all stellar students and I felt I NEEDED A’s. Which I got, but I didn’t know yet how easily attainable they would prove to be.
They still inspire me. And now that they’re older, teach me cool things. They’re honestly my closest friends now.
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Yeah, for total fix they put a mesh patch in there to hold everything in/ together
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Yeah. I assume it will eventually get to that point. For now it’s ok enough though.
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I had an amazing dance party in my kitchen with my youngest. I haven’t figured out if he actually likes Katy Perry and Gwen Stefani or if he just knows that I can’t resist dancing when it’s on. Either way it’s super fun. Also, for the second time I have been asked by my son (this time it was the youngest) how to shave his face. I asked him why he didn’t ask his dad. He responded that “dad doesn’t shave his face.” I really don’t understand why my children think I know how to shave a face. So anyway, I showed him how to do it. Lol.
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