Everyone who disagrees with me.
Only in comp. Less chance of me actually running away, haha.
Oh man, comps are when I get to actually have fun. Miss competing.
LUNCHTIME WORKOUT
5 mile run with the Mrs.
Felt about as good as youād expect: which is to say, no.
I too think you can count to 301.
1 Like
That was supposed to be to @dagill2 - weird.
1 Like
I tried to do the trap bar max rep pull twice, my second attempt got to 100 reps at 150lbs. I highly recommend not doing it and also highly recommend doing it. Hopefully by the time one does all the rest of his insane work youād be more prepared than I was.
2 Likes
Iāve done at least one of his challenge workouts. I still have vivid memories.
Haha, that might not be a bad thing. Might end up being too much grip work though. The smart thing would be to do some cherry-picking to not exacerbate any imbalances or weaknesses I have.
We all do. Letās hope 2021 is a better year for competitions.
1 Like
@Koestrizer for sure. If not just a better year in general.
AM WORKOUT (0445 wake up via dog)
SUPERSETS (chin-press)
Weighted chins (various grips)
2x8x75lbs
6x75
3x10x40
Axle strict press
5xAxle
5x66
5x136
5x156
5x176
GIANT SETS (press-raise-pull)
Axle strict press 121
5x10
DB lateral raise 10s
5x10
Band pull apart
5x10
DB incline bench 75s (rest pause 12 deep breaths between sets)
11 at incline 3
7 at incline 2
6 at incline 1
7 at flat
BREAKFAST
5 round circuit of
10 dips
4 standing ab wheel
10 reverse hypers
Notes: 90 seconds rest between giant sets. Resting long enough to change plates on the main sets. Dog got me up early and I decided to see if I could squeeze in my workout before the wife got up. It worked. Itās nice to have workouts that arenāt the 90 minute epics Iād been doing, although I plan to still get in some conditioning a bit later, especially since Iāll be starting night shifts today. Didnāt blackout on the press, which is the biggest victory. I think staying away from PR sets will be good for me in that regard. I can take things a little slower. This was another proof of concept day: I did the heaviest week for the 5s pro and then tested out the BBB week, and theyāre both just about perfect, so this will be the TM I use.
I like that rest pause mechanical advantage dropset. Seems to work well.
4 Likes
LUNCHTIME WORKOUT
Axle Grace
3:59
Notes: First sub 4 minute in a while. Things are moving well.
1 Like
EVENING WORKOUT
Tabata high handle trap bar pulls w/135
Notes: Start of night shifts. Always a weird day: Iām basically eating all day and all night. Will do deadlifts when I get home and then get to sleep.
4 Likes
Iām struggling to see the weirdness here
Iām not sure if youāve mentioned it somewhere, but how do you find lifting, especially squatting first thing in the morning? Is there anything you find helps or are you just used to it now? I used to train early, but it was still about two hours from when I woke up to when I got in the gym. It seems youāre training pretty soon after getting up.
Thanks!
Iāve also wondered how you find early morning sessions - am thinking about moving my training to early in the am out of necessity when the year starts to get busier in a few weeks.
Also wanted to ask a question about your nutritional philosophy (which I might be overthinking, but anyway.) I know that you say to train hard and then eat to recover from that training - obviously if youāre completely cooked after your session then you know youāve trained hard enough, but how do you know that youāve eaten enough to recover, but not so much that youāll end up getting fat?
@ChongLordUno The weirdness is, most folks tend to have a period of sleep somewhere in there, haha.
@Tougher I think the most helpful thing is to not look for āgetting used toā it. It just sucks, and I know that itās going to suck every time I do it, and then I do it. The times I get to squat NOT first thing in the morning feels like cheat codes, haha. And yeah: itās like 10-15 minutes between when I get up and when I start lifting, and thatās primarily because I gotta take care of my dogs. I had them kenneled a little earlier this year and it made the mornings move SO much faster.
@tinkertailortanker The great thing about early morning sessions is that it gets your training DONE with. I hate training, and having it knocked off first thing means itās no longer on my mind and I can get on with my day. Along with that, doing it first thing in the morning, youāre not really fully āthereā at the start, so Iāll be like halfway through the session before I even become aware of what Iām doing, which is nice when youāre doing something you donāt like.
Regarding nutrition: dude, you JUST crushed a cut. You KNOW that you know how to lose fat: so you also know you donāt need to worry about āgetting fatā. Thatās my āsecretā: I donāt worry about it. I train hard enough that I NEED to eat, and if I end up eating so much that I put on some fat: cool, now all I have to do is NOT eat and that fat will go away.
Losing fat is a jillion times easier than gaining muscle. When youāre in a training phase where you have to push hard enough that you need to mainline those calories, undershooting it for fear of putting on fat is just going to shoot yourself in the foot. Have those kinda sessions slated in the future where you think about them, go āoh f**kā and go back for thirds on your food, haha.
TODAYāS FULL TRAINING BREAKDOWN
AM WORKOUT (0640) after coming home from night shift
GIANT SETS (chin-dead-neck)
Bodyweight chins (all the grips)
1x20
1x15
2x13
1x14
1x15
1x11
High handle trap bar pull
5x135
5x225
5x315
5x425
5x485
14x545 (10lb PR from last week)
22x425
Neck harness 55lbs
5 sets
Axle rows against light bands (1 minute rest between sets)
5x13
Axle shrugs against light bands
1x56
Kroc rows 115
1x20
SLEEP (4ish hours)
5 round circuit of
10 BW dips
4 standing ab wheel
10 BW reverse hypers
30 GHRs
50 pull aparts
25 pushdowns
1 hour of shoveling snow
SLEEP (1.5 hours)
PM WORKOUT (2100) before work
8 rounds of
10 KB swings (45lbs)
10 six count burpees
Done in 9:52
Notes: Decided to give a little peek into what a full day is like living on the night shift, although didnāt detail meals and stuff. That deadlift workout was quality. Iām moving fast and getting in solid work. Only rested long enough to change plates for the majority of the giant sets: once I got to the worksets for the deads, I took 2-3 minutes between the chin and the dead. Blood pressure seems to be getting better, but still some dizziness to contend with going for those AMRAPs. Seeing improvement week to week though, which is most likely what happens when you trust your programming to someone else.
Iām really getting a great feel for the axle rows. Mind-muscle is firing well.
I ideally wanted to do my weighted dip stripset on this day, but time got away from me. Kiddo was home from school on a snowday while Mrs was teleworking, so I tried to make myself as available as I could while still helping with shoveling, making dinner, prepping my meals for my shift, etc. The circuit answers the mail though. Iām liking doing daily dips.
Shoveling heavy wet snow after a back day is a different kind of suck.
I like the burpee/swing workout well enough. Set a timer for 10 minutes to see how many rounds I could do. Iām really trying to spend a lot of time with workouts where Iām getting up and down off the floor. Some sprawl drills should be in my future in that regard.
Iām focusing on eating more food. Making a conscious effort. Itās been a big gear shift mentally. One of my key ānon-negotiablesā is that I eat 3 whole cage free organic eggs with grass fed butter everyday. Itās my dedicated saturated fat intake, because Iāve been so avoidant of it. Iām treating it like taking vitamins.
4 Likes
For me, itās the day after a deadlift workout that make shovelling the worst. Same day seems to be okay if my elbows are up for the task. It also invariably snows the most and heaviest on those days. Solid day of work man.
@mr.v3lv3t Much appreciated dude! Elbows are an x-factor for sure. For me, my back was still lit up from the training, so it was like just a REALLY long back day.
AFTERNOON WORKOUT (1500ish)
5 round circuit of
10 BW dips
4 standing ab wheel
10 BW reverse hypers
30 GHRs
50 band pull aparts
25 band pushdowns
Tabata KB swings 45lbs
PM WORKOUT (2100)
Fran+ (95lb thrusters/strict chins)
21
15
9 (time: 5:22)
5
3
1 (time 7:19)
Notes: Wasnāt feeling super hot this afternoon, so kept training on the lighter side, got the daily work in and did some swings. Was feeling better in the evening. Best Iāve ever moved on Fran. Front squat portion of thruster was very fluid: feeling loose. Most likely a sign of carrying less fatigue, which is most likely a sign of better programming. Starting to show the signs of the night shift sleep deprivation: just feeling a bit more tired, making small mental mistakes, etc. 2 more after this one.
4 Likes
AFTERNOON WORKOUT (1600)
5 round circuit of
10 chins (various grips)
4 standing ab wheel
10 BW reverse hypers
10 BW dips
30 GHRs
50 band pull aparts
25 pushdowns
Tabata rounds on the BAS
EVENING WORKOUT (2100)
100 six count burpees in 7:39 (1 second PR)
Notes: 3rd night shift down: 2 more to go. May get some lifting in tomorrow, but Mrs has the day off from work and Iād like to spend some time with her, so weāll see. The short intense sessions are answering the mail. Hit the first 40 burpees without interruption, so things are moving along well there. That circuit for daily work is turning into something pretty slick: I could easily turn that into a real workout sometime.
Shift work is working against my goals. Iām struggling to psychologically shift from weight loss to weight gain. I was crushing the former, and have all sort of cool tricks to employ that I KEEP employing when I should be doing the opposite. Iāve gone out to eat twice in a row and both times havenāt finished my meals, which is just not me. Itās tricky when Iām not even sure what āmealā Iām on. The quickest solution would be to count things, but knowing my obsessive nature I know thatāll cause more harm than good. Having awareness of the issue at least gives me solace that the solution is at hand. Iām making an effort to get in quality nutrition, and have started packing an extra meal to eat on shift. Having a real training plan now has gone a long way.
Iāve at least done a solid job of meeting my 2 āthou shallsā each day: 3 organic cage free eggs w/grass fed butter, and a high fat meal (pretty much always toast and celery with nut butter) each day. Iām seeing the positives of it. Next phase of implementation is to start getting in some grass fed beef on a near daily basis. Ideally, Iām going to make it breakfast. I keep contemplating the ānuts and meat breakfastā approach, but Iād also want to throw in my eggs with that too.
2 Likes
I was just talking about this with my wife yesterday. Iām just starting my 7th straight week of nights, and I still havenāt quite figured out when to eat. Some days I bring a lunch to work, other days I manage to get 4 meals in without eating at all during my shift.
This has definitely come and gone a few times throughout my time working nights.
Unfortunately, I do not have anything helpful to offer but it seems like youāre getting through it just fine.
1 Like