Rage Against the Dad Bod

Training Training Logs
1

Starting this training log to get some consistency and accountability before I take the plunge into fatherhood.

Background
I have always been pretty fit. I have been lifting consistently since I was 16 and have achieved decent prs. However, over the past 2.5 years my lifting has been pretty bad. I was in grad school, working fulltime, and commuting back and forth between my school and my hometown (4hr round trip) constantly. During this time I also got married twice (once in the USA and once abroad), moved back to my hometown, bought an old house that needed a bunch of work, and am now preparing to have a kid in November or December of this year.

I am not starting this log because I lack consistency in training, but because my training lacks consistent effort. I havenā€™t been pushing my training sessions nearly as hard as I should, especially when I feel stressed/tired. My diet also falls apart when I am stressed and I have to fight not to gain weight. I know this habit will be disastrous when we have a kid and the stress/exhaustion gets really bad. Got to get into good habits before this happens.

I have competed in a few strongman competitions, a couple powerlifting meets, and have run 5 half marathons. My gym lifts used to be decent, but now Iā€™m firmly a mediocre lifter + shit runner.

Stats
Age: 27
Height: 5ā€™11ā€
Weight: 205 lbs

Lifetime Lifting PRs (all at like 210 bw)
Squat 455x3
Bench 275x9
Deadlift 495x9
OHP 185x7

Current PRs
Squat 365x3
Bench 305x1
Deadlift 345x1 (lol)

Half Marathon: 2:06:00

Goals
I have simple goals for the next 6 months:
Bench 315x1
Front Squat 315x3 (maybe)
Deadlift 495x1 (maybe)
Run a HM in <2 hrs.
Donā€™t gain weight.

I ran a 2:06:00 HM January of this year so that should be doable.
Bench might be a stretch without gaining weight but Idc.
I tweaked the shit out my hamstring a few months ago and it has made my squat annoying and my deadlift borderline impossible so we will see.

Training Plan

I am running this 28 free training program template from Strongerbyscience.com. I hit my lifetime PRs with these programs so why not run it back.

I am doing the 3 day a week bench and a heavily modified version of the 2 day a week squat and the 1 day a week deadlift. My hamstring is causing me gnarly back pain when I do backsquats and deadlifts so I am doing split squats + front squats and RDLs instead. As my hamstring gets better I will reintroduce the conventional lifts.

Iā€™m also getting back into running after a month break so I will be running 3-4 times a week. 2-3 short runs during the week and a long run on the weekends.

Diet

I eat a balanced diet, I guess. I try to eat mostly whole foods but I will eat processed stuff occasionally for convenience. I try to eat 200+ grams of protein and like 50-200 grams of carbs depending on the training that day. I eat like 3k calories a day.

3 Likes
2

1/7/2026

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 1 bagel with peanutbutter and jam. 2 scoops of protein.

Lunch: Can of corned beef, 2 slices of toasted sourdough, horseradish.

Dinner: 1.2 lbs of beef shoulder with a tomato and cucumber salad.

Snack: 4 slices of dried mango. A slice of bacon.

Exercise:

4 mile jog.

Notes:

bagel pbj and corned beef are natural whole foods.

4 Likes
3

Welcome, following along!

4

2/8/2026

Breakfast: 4 boiled eggs, half a cup of oats with milk, berries, scoop of whey.

Lunch: 2 grassfed beefpatties, 2 fried eggs, small slice of spinach and cheese pie, 2 oranges.

Snack: 1 italian cookie and an iced coffee with this revolting yam flavored condensed milk my wife bought.

Dinner: buffalo chicken, hummus, pita chips, tortilla chips, and a bunch of veggies. (Sb party)

Dessert: bunch of homemade dark chocolate fondue (gas) with fruits, cookie dough, cheese, and these strawberry pastry things.

Pretty junky day but the calories were only like 3500 so not horrific.

Exercise:

Front squats 2x10 @ 195 (easy)

Weighted situps. 3x10 @ 20 (medium)

Bench 2x3 @225 (speed reps)

Bent rows 3x10 @145 (easy, be more controlled next time)

Skullcrushers 2x8 @ 75 (hard)

Barbell curls 2x8 @ 75 (hard)

Also did an hour walk around my neighborhood with lots of hills.

Workout felt solid. Skulls and curls are well controlled. Could be more controlled on the situps. Need to elevate my heels and keep my toes turned out on front squats to avoid pissing off my hammy.

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5

2/9/2026

Breakfast: cup of greek yogurt w/ honey, half cup of oats with scoop of protein.

Lunch: 4 boiled eggs, 2 chomps beef sticks, 2 scoops of whey, 2 oranges

Dinner: bunch of curried shrimp, 2 Roti, small bowl of bean soup.

Desert: cottage cheese and chocolate whey concoction.

250 grams of protein for 2500 cals today - makes up for yesterday.

Exercise:

3 mile jog (33 mins 140 avg hr) - still trying to find a good running loop around my neighborhood. The one today was fine but it was SO hilly. Runs feeling pretty good, not feeling challenging even with copious elevation.

Also did a couple walks on the trail by my office.

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6

That sounds good, I have food envy

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7

My wife is Nepalese and refuses to let me live off only beef, eggs, yogurt, and bagels. Sacrifices have to be made i guess

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8

2/10/2025

Breakfast: Tortilla, 2 eggs, 1 slice of bacon, 1 chomps stick

Lunch: 2 grassfeed beef patties w/ strawberry jam (I eat this mixture cold. donā€™t judge. Itā€™s delicious.), 4 boiled eggs

Dinner: pound of 93-7 ground beef with like a cup of pasta and random veggies.

Snack: 2 scoops of protein.

Busy day. I lifted, went to work, then taught a class(my wife and I have been teaching 2hr ESL classes a few nights a week, and the prep + class time adds up)Felt busy, but I know having kids will be 10 times worse - gotta sack up lol

Exercise:

Bench 3x3 @ 225, 3x6 @ 205

Paused Incline bench 2x6 @ 175

Atg split squats 4x10 @ 40 lbs (seems light but my legs were quivering after these)

Preacher curls 2x8 @ 25

Bench feeling really good. The split squats are good. Iā€™d like to do more leg volume but I HATE running on super sore legs, even if Iā€™m just doing slow jogs right now.

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9

2/11/2026

Breakfast: 1 tortilla, 2 eggs, 1 piece of bacon, cheese

Lunch: 2 (cold) grass fed beef patties with honey, 4 boiled eggs, 1 chomps meat stick, 1 cheese stick

Dinner: half pound of beef with a cup of pasta, 2 scoops of protein

Desert: piece of coffee cake after choir practice plus like 2 tbsp of that yam-flavored condensed milk

Exercise: 3 mile jog (34 mins average 140 hr) + bunch of walks around the office and the house.

We did a different running route today that was ASS. So hilly.

It was like 70 degrees and sunny yesterday and today. Like that, my winter blues are gone and I feel chipper and happy.

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10

2/12/2026

Breakfast: 1 tortilla, 2 eggs, 1 bacon, sour cream

Lunch: a quarter of a jimmy johns sandwich, 2 cookies, small bag of chips. (Team ā€œlunchā€ provided by work. No wonder so many peoplee are fat.ā€

Dinner: 2 grassfed beef patties, 4 boiled eggs, some cheese

Desert: 1.5 cups of greek yogurt with honey and granola. Like a quarter of my wifeā€™s chicken quesadilla she didnā€™t finish.

Exercise:

RDL 2x10 @ 225 - im progressing these relatively aggressively when i finish them with no/minimal pain. These were easy so I will add 20 lbs next week. I want my hammy to work again.

Neck flexion + extension 2x20 @ 25 lbs

Bench 1x8 @ 135, 1x6 @ 165, 1x5 @ 195, 1x3 @ 225, 2x2 @ 235

DB pullover 2x12 @ 40 lbs - easy, add 5 lbs next week

Apparently I can get super cheap tennis lessons through my work. Will definitely sign up. Tennis seems like a good activity to do with my wife. Might be a good way to get some sprint conditioning in lol

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11

2/13/2026

Breakfast: 4 eggs, 3 chicken sausages, half an avocado, and two pieces of toast with butter.

Lunch: Cheeseburger with like 6 total chips (they were not good)

Dinner: 2 grassfed beef patties, handful of mexican cheese, kimchi, 2 scoops of protein.

Snack: 2 bowls of cherios with milk, honey, and half a banana

No real exercise today except for like 2 hours of tennis. Sprinting around for that long was fun, but my right ankle is now in agony. Definitely need to do play-like activities more often. Nothin more natural and wholesome than running around outside with friends.

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12

2/14/2025

Breakfast: oats, whey protein, bit of jam.

Lunch: goat curry, chicken curry, like 1.5 cup of rice with ghee, some watermelon juice.

Dinner: .5 lbs kf steak, some fried potato wedges.

Dessert: god help me ā€” 3 krispy kreme creme filled donuts, bowl of oats with chocolate chips, 2 glasses of milk.

Exercise:

5 mile jog ā€” my feet were fucked up from tennis so this was absolutely dreadful.

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13

2/15/2025

Breakfast: 6 eggs, half lbs of steak, 2 roti.

Dinner: 0.25 ground beef, 0.5 cups rice, one meatball, some green beans.

Dessert: mango slices and 2 squares of dark chocolate.

Exercise:

Front Squat 2x8 @ 225 - felt fine except for the nausea.

I felt dreadful today, will finish this lift tomorrow morning. Super groggy from valentines day degeneracy (we did edibles and I have a baby tolerance for thc)

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14

2/16/2025

Breakfast: 3 eggs, 3 chicken sausages, 2 slices of bacon, 1 orange

Lunch: 2 andouilles sausages, 3 oz of turkey, 2 slices of sourdough with mayo

Dinner: 2 pitas, roasted chicken thighs with a yogurt sauce, 1 scoop of whey

Exercise:

Bench 3x4 @ 225

Bent row: 3x10 @ 155

Skullcrushers: 2x8 @ 75

Bb rows: 2x8 @ 75

2 mile jog.

played a bit of tennis.

  • my legs have been DESTROYED lately. I am hobbling around because my calves and ankles are so sore from sprinting around on the tennis court. Definitely a movement pattern I am not used to.
  • Running volume needs to pick up in the next few weeks as well.
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15

2/17/2026

Breakfast: 4 eggs, tbsp butter, oatmeal, scoop of whey

Lunch: chicken breast, rice

Dinner: 2 grassfed beef patties, 4 boiled eggs w/ sour cream.

exercise:

Bench 4x3 @ 235, 3x8 @ 195

Incline bench 2x4 @ 195 (i have a sketchy ass costco adjustable bench and I keep getting intrusive thoughts of it breaking)

Atg split squats 4x10 @ 40 lbs

Preacher curls 2x8 @ 25 lbs

Massively overdid it on caffeine today because I slept badly and wanted to keep training. Had probably a gram. Gonna pay for it tonight and tomorrow I think.

1 Like
16

2/18/2026

Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs, sour cream, kirkland granola bar

Lunch: 1.5 cups of pasta, bunch oā€™ chicken breast, 2 scoops of whey

Dinner: 6 eggs + bunch of egg white omelette, rice, bean soup

Snack: 2 cheese sticks, kefir

Exercise:

3 mile jog (33min 140avg hr)

Notes:

I legitimately have never had lower leg soreness this bad and long lasting. A few hours of sprinting side to side on the tennis court over the weekend absolutely RUINED my calves. Now my tight, sore calves are causing me wicked plantar fasciitis in both feet. The mornings are agony. I know they arenā€™t injured and that they will get better soon, but itā€™s annoying rn.

At least my hamstring doesnā€™t hurt anymore lmao

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17

Bright side! Woohoo!! :tada:

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18

Exactly. Somethings always hurting anyway. Id rather this than the thing where an injury on one side of your body will decide to replicate itself on the opposite side. Like left knee pain turning into right knee pain.

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19

2/19/2026

Breakfast: 2 tortillas, 4 eggs, 2 slices of bacon

Lunch: 1 costco hotdog, greek yogurt, 1 scoop of whey

Dinner: 1.5 cups of rice, bean soup, 2 scoops of whey

Snack:

exercise:

Rdl 1x10 @ 225 1x

Neck flexion + extension 2x20 @ 25

Bench 1x8 135, 1x6 185, 1x5 205, 1x4 225, 2x2 235, 2x1 245

Pullovers 2x12 45

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20

2/20/2024

Breakfast: 4 eggs, 2 slices of bacon, 1 slice of toast w/ butter

Lunch: rice and bean soup, 2 scoops of whey

Dinner: turkey and ham sandy, fries, and thisā€¦ interesting mushroom flavored soda. They used mushroom to flavor it. The can said it wouldnā€™t taste like mushrooms. It did. 0 calories tho and it wasnt bad.

Snack: nilla wafers at 1 am because we stayed up forever with some friends. Wasnā€™t drinking so i had to let loose somehow.

Exercise: some walks, not enough.

2 Likes