Rebirth of the Juggernaut: Brute Force and Ignorance (Part 1)

Training Training Logs
4892

@mortdk Only different in that I got it on video, haha. I’ve had my share of these, but the majority seem to come when I’m lean. Appreciate the look toward 5/3/1. Definitely got some resources there.

@strongmanbrett Those amazingly sound like my normal squats, haha. But definitely something I can focus on through recovery. I’ve been training the bodyweight stuff pretty much like that.

@strongmanvinny2 “This machine is obsolete”, haha. Always appreciate the vote of confidence though brother. Just more to overcome.

PM WORKOUT

10 rounds on the BAS (2:30 on, :45 off)
Mix of boxing and limited kicks

20 minute speed hobble/run

Notes: 16oz gloves with the BAS, and used my new shin guards just to get a feel for them. Couldn’t generate a whole lot of power at first with the groin, but eventually got a little warm and loose and could throw a few decent right straights and lead/rear hooks. Lead uppercut couldn’t fire well. The kicks were very light, but I got in a few hard right roundhouses. When I finished, I had a good sweat going and it was the hottest day we’ve had all year, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get in some heat training. Didn’t quite have full ability to run, and was more just jogging/hobbling. Not entirely sure if I ever had both feet off the ground at the same time.

Much like @jshaving , it’s been a return to 10th grade for me too these days. I used to run during the hottest time of day back in San Diego and work on my tan, and I embraced that today. It was honestly pretty cool to catch my reflection on car windows as I ran by and see how much I had transformed since those days, but to also still have fallen back completely into those times. Even had the Stabbing Westward playing on the MP3 player.

Recovery in general seems to be moving along quickly. I’m still going to go with an overhead press day vs a deadlift day tomorrow to give me a little more time to recover, but I don’t doubt I can get in some lower body work the next time it comes up.

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4893

Doing “conditioning” work is really going well and I’m feeling good, but it still blows my mind how I ran XC. I just cannot get in the right mind set to go run 8+ miles, but it used to be something I’d just do for fun.

Still plan on doing a half & full marathons at some point in my life just to say I did it but distance running is not something I feel like making myself do right now, haha.

Are you planning on making running a staple or was it just because of the heat? Any future plans to race again? I reread a few articles on your blog last night and one of them was the recap of your training for the race you and your wife did. Good stuff.

4894

@jshaving I wouldn’t mind getting in the running. Up until now it’s been a scheduling thing, but now that my kid is in their summer program I have more free time again. I’d like to get in a full at some point in my life, and my wife said she’d run it with me, so that’d be a blast. But right now I can’t string together enough healthy weeks together to do serious training, haha.

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4895

With all the uncertainty around covid and gyms, I’m seriously considering just throwing in the towel and jumping into a marathon training program

Same!

4896

@anna_5588 The nutritional demands would be huge for the marathon training. My wife put on a fair amount of weight training for her first one, and I went up 7lbs of bodyweight when I trained for my half on top of my strongman comp. I’m getting my bodyweight down now and allowing myself some wiggleroom come time that I start pushing the training hard again.

LUNCHTIME WORKOUT

DARKHORSE-esque

MAX EFFORT GIANT SETS (chin-press-wheel-boxing)

Close grip NG chins
3xBodyweight
3x30
3x55
3x80
3x105
3x130

Trap bar strict press
3xBar
3x98
3x135
3x185
3x225
3x225

Ab wheel from knees
6x6

Boxing slip-line drill and shadowbox
6x30 seconds

STRENGTH GIANT SETS (row-press-wheel-boxing)

DB rows off bench 105
3x10

Axle strict press 181
3x8

Ab wheel off knees
3x8

Boxing slipline and shadowboxing
3x60 seconds

15 minute unbroken assistance circuit
Dips-lateral raises-band pull aparts-band pushdowns-band pull aparts-lateral raises-dips repeat

10 minutes boxing on the BAS with 16oz gloves
20 seconds on/10 seconds off

Notes: Still 90 seconds rest between giant sets. It’s not enjoyable, but not absolutely soul crushing. The assistance hits the spot with zero rest. I managed to get in 6 sets of dips today with that approach.

Today went better than I’d have expected. Standing ab wheel was still no go. The injury has mostly migrated north, and is less abductor and more groin. Abductor still tender to the touch, but otherwise ok. Groin is very much in pain, and trying to balance on my toes for the ab wheel was too much. On knees, I was able to slowly stretch out to where I needed to be.

As far as pressing went, I couldn’t give it my absolute all or do any of my ultra-death leanback presses, but BECAUSE I had to press slower and more controlled than usual, it made the sets very challenging. Definitely got something out of it. Had to use more of a split stance for the axle strict pressing, and I ended up rest pausing the last 2 reps of the final sets due to stability issues, but the reps were all strong. And I pride myself on the fact that I can press more when I’m hurt than most people can when they’re healthy. On that whole topic about “being dangerous”, it’s a good goal to have.

I took the topset on trap bar presses twice just because the first set was a total crapshow. That’s the second week in a row that’s happened, so I’m starting to think the jump from 185 to 225 is too dramatic for pressing. I might aim for a set of 205 in the middle.

The BAS work wasn’t technical or sharp at all, but it was good “final round” work. Just giving someone Hell until the bell rings.

Weighed in today post energy drink and protein bar at 197.0. I am never this lean at this bodyweight, so things are really boding well. I may have added a legit 3-5lbs of muscle this year, which is pretty nuts given how long I’ve been at this.

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4897

And actually, for a bit of fun, was going through my clothes and found my high school t-shirt. Still fits.

20200603_091553
20200603_0915533024×4032 2.06 MB

Just differently compared to when I used to wear it

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4898

Somethings changed. Have you done something with your hair?

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4899

Yeah: lost it, haha. I used to wear it longer as a high school kid. Now it drives me nuts if I go more than 2 weeks without cutting it.

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4900

Crazy change man. Imagine what you could have done if you trained the right way.

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4901

Thanks dude! Sometimes I do wonder what it’d be like if I really committed to weight gain and chasing numbers, but I also think to my peers that are blown away that I can still fit into clothes I wore when I was in high school. The bar is set pretty low among the general populace, haha. Makes it even easier to celebrate the little victories.

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4902

You’d find a way to yes and get bigger numbers. That was an easy one

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4903

TKD lesson 40ish minutes

Warmed up with Chon Ji. Still working on thumbs and punching in a straight line. Working on firing punches from the hips vs picking them up and firing them from the shoulder. Did a drill where we just stood square on and fired with punches from the hips just to reinforce it.

Used the new grappling mats and taught my kid how to sprawl. They definitely have my coordination, because I did not think this was going to require as much instruction as it did. In fairness, my kid does gymnastics, so the very first thing they did was try to start a handstand when I explained that our legs and hips were going to go out and out hands could break our fall. May be dealing with conflicting motor patterns there. We then ended up doing variations of burpees, the worm, push ups, and the splits before finally settling on a sprawl. Once we finally got there though, it was solid. My kid at least has enough of a handle on it to do SOMETHING if someone were to shoot in on their legs. From there I taught my kid about quickly disengaging, but DID throw in a bit about how, if you sprawl out and can get up, you could probably kick the dude in the face or the ribs before you beat feet out of there. But, of course, only if you need to do defend yourself.

From there, we tried to get through Dan Gun and I completely lost my cool. My kid has picked the weirdest hill to die: they pretty much refuse to ever do a back stance. This is a rough hill, as they’re all over their form. If I put their feet in the right spot, they make a point to twist their legs and fall over. If I put their shoulders in the right spot, they’ll twist their shoulders and too far and fall over. Feet are always squared rather than in a line. They’ve done backstances before and never had these issues, but as of recently, they’ve just decided they’re never going to do one properly ever again.

After fixing the 5th one of the night and the kid acting like I as trying to teach a blind person orange using only sign language, I told them to bow out. They looked a little shocked, and I felt bad about it, but considering I had already hip thrown my kid once out of frustration (it’s cool: I call it surprise Judo and they think it’s a blast. OSU), I knew that neither one of us were getting anything out of the training at that point. My kid was still excited to show mom their sprawl, so we got some good out of it, but more and more I’m excited about getting my kid a little outside instruction.

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I still wear clothes I owned in middle school, but the XL fits tighter around the upper back rather than the stomach like it used to so I’m not mad. I’m just glad I listened to good music when I was younger. Ha

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4905

If the pain is moving into the groin it might be the big Psoas muscle you’ve strained. That is used for a lot of stuff. Take it easy or as easy with it as you can. It can be a bitch.
You’ve certainly made some changes since back then.

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4906

@oldbeancam the older I get, the more I listen to the music from when I am younger, haha. Definitely been dipping back into the middle school tracks. And fair point there as well: I was a fat kid in middle school and could probably get back into some of those clothes if I still had them.

@mortdk You may be right. I am so bad at anatomy, haha. It does suck, since this is more the secondary injury that came as a result of my inner thigh failing on the squat. Always sucks when you get hurt from getting hurt, haha.

More vanity shots, but my abs are getting deeper. Came in at 196.0 after an energy drink and protein bar.

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4907

Impressive as always mate. Starting to look as strong as you are.

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4908

Hey @T3hPwnisher - I know you’ve mentioned it before, and I skimmed through your blog trying to find mention of it, but what training books do you recommend people read? Pretty sure I know a couple of them but I can’t find where you’ve said it.

Gonna be a slow summer so I’m trying to find healthy ways to kill time, haha. I’m honestly not a huge fan of the philosophical writings I’ve read but if there’s any pol sci stuff you like I’d be open for those suggestions as well.

Thanks!

4909

Not Pwn, but my recommendations are:

Keys to progress: John McCallum. Old School bodybuilding advice from before bodybuilding meant isolation and bro splits. You’ll see the influence here in plenty of later books.

Powerlifting basics, Texas Style: Paul Kelso. A great MacCallum-esque read that’s light on sets and reps and heavy on concepts and principles.

Dan John: Never Let Go or 40 years with a whistle. I’ve got a soft spot for Dan John, and I reread both of these regularly. Again, very light on sets and reps, very heavy on principles and how to tie training into the rest of your life. I’ve also got a soft spot for From Dad to Grad, which barely touches on lifting but is full of great little nuggets for life.

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I though you said you were a fat kid??

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@simo74 Thanks man. Always the goal, haha.

@jshaving For training books, the one I always recommend is “Powerlifting Basics Texas Style” by Paul Kelso, and I just re-read it about 2 weeks ago and STILL recommend it, haha. Just a great book, short read, packed with good info and presented well. If you’re willing to shell out the cash, 5/3/1 Forever gives you the tools to do your own programming for the rest of your life. I also am a fan of Jon Andersen’s Deep Water e-book, but moreso just as a fun read rather than imparting any real “wisdom” onto the reader. Great for getting your headspace right.

And actually, on the topic of headspace, David Goggins “Can’t Hurt Me” was a good read. I’ll preface by saying the first chapter was ROUGH, and not that it was poorly written, but the opposite: Dave did an excellent job of relating how awful his upbringing was and, as a parent, it hit me much harder than I expected. However, Dave’s mentality on training is fantastic, and meshes well with Andersen’s.

I’m nugging my way through Complete Keys to Progress again, and it definitely has some gold in it, but I’m glad I read through it before so I know which parts to skip over. It DOES give a pretty comprehensive overview of all things training though.

As for politics, going back to my undergrad, something you may appreciate from a training perspective is “Food Politics” by Marion Nestle. Does a great job of going over how many government regulations on nutrition aren’t based on what is actually nutritious by mainly by which lobbying groups have the most power. Helps understand the power of politics as it affects your health. During times like now, “Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America” by Morris P. Fiorina does a great job of explaining how the majority of Americans tend to fall in the middle, and that we’re simply presented a different narrative that self-perpetuates. And “The Iron Triangle” by Dan Briody was an amazing look into the military industrial complex and, once again, how the decisions made to support the military are less based on what is best for the military and more based on which government contractors have the greatest sway.

@dagill2 Totally forgot about Never Let Go! That’s a great read. I couldn’t put it down. Dan is another great writer.

@anna_5588 I was. That’s a photo of my at my 17th birthday: almost entirely out of the kid stage. I lost my excess weight when I was 14, having spent the first 14 years of my life overweight.

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