I grew up with a dad who couldn’t share what he did day to day, so I can absolutely appreciate that you can’t go into specifics.
I have to admit, I’m not good with physical books. If 531 forever was available on Kindle, I would have bought it years ago and my missus wouldn’t have to secretly try and find ways to get details out of me without letting me know what she’s doing.
I find that if I don’t get at least 8hrs, Im extremely inefficient. Basically nothing gets done after 8:30pm, which is why I have the bedtime of a 5 year old 
I actually have to train myself to sleep later so I din’t die when I actually have shit to do.
This is gold. I’ve even downloaded a text to speech app so I don’t have to buy the audiobook version of books I get online free as pdfs
Does this work? I’ve recently got an auxiliary cable for my car so I can listen to podcasts on my commute. This would certainly help there.
As I understand it, your schedule is up to you at this point, right? So go to bed and get up at a time that suits you. If you don’t do anything productive after 8:30, that’s your new bedtime. You get to join Jocko Willink in his 4:30 wake ups.
Thanks again for the advice, I’ll pull the trigger on the sandbag ASAP and think about the log a bit longer - my main concern is that I’ll have to take it outside to do any form of overhead work with it, which means I’m far less likely to use it regularly, particularly if I was trying to giant set it with my other work.
I am a bit surprised about the fat grips, you use an axle a lot, are they just too different an item to compare?
They’re completely different animals. Fat gripz just make a good barbell into a bad one, rather than into a good axle. The axle is a beast because it has zero flex and no rotating sleeves. Fat gripz don’t do this, NOR do they increase the diameter at the point of contact with your body unless you add a third one, so you also don’t get the effect of the axle putting the weight further out in front of you on a press or deadlift. They’re pretty much only good for sneaking some grip work into your training and taking some pressure off the elbows. They also create something of a cambered effect when used with benching and pressing.
I also have never had a pair actually sit well on whatever I attach them too: they always tend to rotate.
Read through Josh Bryant’s “Tactical Strongman” and was very disappointed. Apparently the difference between a tactical strongman and a regular strongman is…nothing. I’ll do a full review this weekend and post it up on the blog, but bottom line is I wouldn’t recommend it.
That all makes sense! Maybe an axle will feature on my shopping list in the future then!
Sandbag will be arriving imminently and will probably make an appearance in my conditioning section for time being.
Made me laugh hard.
My guess would have been a tactical strongman is a strongman who brings tacky remover to a contest. Failed that point myself every time so far.
Isn’t this just WD40 ?
Yes. Some other stuff also does the job.
Everyone knows that they’ll gonna need some after stones and yet miraculously there is only one or two people at every show who actually bring it along.
Good tactic to make yourself popular!
@alex_uk Axles are so worth having. I have a Texas Power Bar in my gym, solid barbell, well made, and I pretty much never use it. Meanwhile, I have an Ironmind Apollon’s axle that is used every week, multiple times per week. They have a way of working in wherever you can use a barbell.
@simo74 Glad some joy could be had from the experience, haha. I’m too old to get fooled by marketing: definitely shoulda known better.
@Koestrizer I am always popular at competitions for coming prepared. I had a buddy that referred to me as The Red Cross of strongman. I bring spray goo gone and rolls of paper towels for tacky removal, a first aid kit, superglue for calluses, and enough food and beverages for an army, along with extra belts, sleeves, etc etc. As much as I do whatever it takes to win, I wanna win knowing I was competing against my competition while they were at their best, and if they showed up and forgot something I wanna take care of them.
YESTERDAY’S LUNCHTIME WORKOUT
Squats (odd sets SSB squats, even sets SSB front squats)
SSB squats 255
4x14
SSB front squats 185
4x11
3 minute rest
Reverse hyper 320
1x25
1x23
2x21
CONDITIONING
Hang power snatch-jump over bar-jump over bar-hang power clean-jump over bar-jump over bar-repeat (115lbs weight)
7 rounds (so 7 snatches and 7 cleans done) in 5:30
Notes: 3:00 rests between squats. 100 reps done in 8 sets. Still not Deep Water levels of intensity, but not a fun workout for sure. The last set of SSB squats I had to dig, and on the front squats I have to artificially slow down the reps so that my abductor doesn’t get pulled, which places new stress with lighter weights. Plan is to up the whole thing by 20lbs and start all over (10x10 with 3 minutes, then with 2, then 9 sets, then 8 sets). Seems to be helping with the healing and I’m still growing from the work.
I really dig the conditioning workout I’ve come up with at the end. Jumping is feeling more natural.
I have a few years on you (not too many) and I still get suckered I’m by a good tag line. No fool like an old…ish fool !!
My best workout partner once said his workouts countered the sleep/eating/hygiene problems that a shiftwork lifestyle can cause. Keep up your good lifting.
Still want to be you the next time I’m 30.
I appreciate it dude. This is honestly one of the easiest schedules I’ve had in a LONG time. No real sleep/eating/hygiene issues to speak of.
POST BREAKFAST WORKOUT
Treadmill Run
Incline: 1
Speed: 6.5 mph (9:14 mile)
Distance: 6.55 (quarter marathon)
Time: 1 hr
Notes: Was able to run the whole thing breathing through my nose again. Cardiovascular shape seems to really be solid when paired with the lower bodyweight. I hit my stride around the 20 minute mark and started to feel a bit effortless. All that said, this was the absolute last thing I wanted to do today, especially after lifting 4 days in a row with the final day being squats. I honestly may stick with 1 day a week of running prepping for the half marathon and might even keep the distance at this. We’ll see how it shakes out.
Had some pain migrating through the run. First it was the right ankle, then it moved to the left knee, then the right lower back, then the left groin started to pull right at the very end. The groin/abductor thing is right at 98%: still just enough left to be annoying.
Ran off 3/4 cup of fat free greek yogurt mixed with PBfit. I imagine things will only be better if I have more fuel.
Just wanted to pop in and say that I’d never really checked out your blog until a few months ago, but it’s now become something that I am excited to read each week. Good stuff, dude.
Thanks dude! Means a lot. It’s been a fun project.
Up at 0400 right now. Seems I can’t sleep more than 7 hours these days, and it’s typically pretty broken up. My extreme dislike of sleep continues, and my dreams remain vivid and Kafkaesque. I’ve cut my caffeine intake in half, but I feel like I was actually doing better when it was high.
Mrs and I will be celebrating her birthday today, and she wants to go for a run in the morning as part of it, so that’ll be my training. Always glad I married an athlete. That said, after that, it’s going to be a day of solid nutritional debauchery.
I reckon with your standards that might mean maybe half a slice of white bread? We need pictures so we can judge whether it’s a good standard of nutritional debauchery!
I currently have 2 ice cream cakes in 2 separate freezers in my house. I believe our intent is that one of them is for breakfast and the other is the actual birthday cake today.
That sounds like a good start!