I always told people that the Hungry Caterpillar was my spirit animal, haha. I totally get him.
But there’s also this
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My dad’s bedtime stories usually finished with: “… and then the Germans froze to death in Russia”
or
“… Then Japan exploded”
Occasionally we’d finish the night watching chinese war dramas together. When I was old enough, I’d knit and count how many “bad guys” got shot
… yeah… no children’s stories for me…
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I am super excited to see this go down
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Explains a lot! 
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That’s hilarious. Nothing says “sweet dreams” like war and mass casualties.
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@boilerman Great to have you along dude! You’ve definitely given me some inspiration.
BULIDING THE MONOLITH Week 1, Workout 1
AM WORKOUT (0500 natural wake up, 0700 workout)
I’m just gonna list stuff out now and explain it in the notes
Chins (various grips)
10x10
Buffalo bar squats
5xBar
5x140
5x230
5x310
5x355
5x5x400
Axle strict press
5xAxle
5x136
5x156
5x176
Band pull aparts
2x33
1x34
Dips
3x25
3x20
1x25
2x16
1x8 (25 band pushdowns at end)
Standing ab wheel
2x10
Reverse hyper
2x20
Axle strict press 136 (w/12 second rest pause)
10+4+3
Times:
-
58 min and some seconds to complete bare minimum (all required main work, 100 chins, 100 pull aparts and at least 100 dips)
-
1 hour 1 min to complete the rest pauses in the strict press
-
1 hour 13 min to complete all work
Notes: Alright, here is how it shook down. I started my timer before my very first set of chins, which I do as I walk into the garage after dropping my kid off at school. Once I hit that, I changed out of my sweats, put on my sleeves and shoes (I wear my rehband warm up pants under my sweats because I’m an OG like that) and then hit another set of chins, kicking off giant sets of
Chins-squat-press.
I took plate change rests from there, rolling straight from chin to squat to press over and over again. With the way my rack is set up, I can literally drop to my feet from the chin, walk straight under the bar, squat it, rack it, back out of the rack and start pressing, so it’s super fast.
I finished the top set of presses before the 355 set of squats. Once I finished presses, the giant set became
Chin-squat-dip
I finished chins around the second set of the 5x5 sets of 400, at which point the giant set became
Squat-dip-pull apart
Once the squats were done, I did the final set of presses. In 5/3/1 Forever, Jim gives the ok to use rest pausing for upper body widowmakers, so I figured game on and did that, but I took times on if I didn’t do that to demonstrate that this program can STILL be done in under an hour. I was honestly being pretty leisurely with me time here, as I’m in MUCH better shape than the first time I ran it and didn’t need to push as hard to move as quick. I was taking about 2 minutes of rest between topset squats and it worked out perfect. The weight WAS heavy, but manageable, and I’ll be in a good place if I allow myself even more rest.
I got about 135 total dips in the under an hour mark. Wanted to get the full 200 and finish up daily work, so I did just that.
Breakfast was stellar. Finally working on some elk burgers I picked up on my birthday a while back. Mixed them in with half an avocado, 2 whole organic cage free eggs, 1 egg white, fat free cheese on a creppini egg wrap, along with 2 stalks of celery with some nuts n more, a keto waffle with sunbutter and a cup of almond milk
Perfect fuel to build the monolith.
EDIT: 2 other asides
Stuck with my tradition of listening to “The Downward Spiral” by Nine Inch Nails when starting a new program
And 2: let’s just imagine the messages I’m sending my body right now. We ran 10 miles on Saturday, ate Noah’s Arc on Sunday and then pushed the prowler way too damn far, and did this today. I’m sure it’s terrified and thinks some BAD stuff is going. Part of that is Grace slated for later.
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I’ve experienced something similar, but less extreme, recently. As always, you seem to be on to something.
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Can’t stop moving or I’ll die, haha. I’m always moving in SOME direction, in the hopes that it MIGHT be forward.
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I’m really impressed by your work capacity and the hard consistent training that underlies it.
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Much appreciated @omats! Good to have you following along.
On the nutrition front, so far so…ok with the added wild blueberries. Still running into issues of just passing them whole, but given how much fiber they have, it’s to be somewhat expected. Keeping dosage at half a serving seems to help.
I’ve also introduced sugar free raspberry preserves, making PBJs, because goddamn are PBJs amazing.
I have really appreciated having weekly cheat meals. I honestly don’t feel the compulsive need to eat junk, but I like the time with the family and the dipping into normalcy. It also tends to have a positive impact on my performance…so long as I keep it somewhat within reason.
I honestly feel like I’m finding that middle ground I’ve been seeking for a while. I have my daily “thou shalts” along with my “thou shall nots” that keep me vectored, but the latter is a lot less restrictive than it used to be. Biggest things I avoid are full fat cheese and fast food, which I think were most likely the two major contributors to my poor health markers. Treats are to be eaten AS treats, and having gotten that sorted out, I feel like I’m doing alright. I imagine a legit blood lipids panel would be a better measurement, but that’ll come in time. In general, I’m making better choices than I used to, and those choices have become habits.
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Chew more?
Chewing a wild blueberry to any significant degree is like trying to chew an individual kernel of corn.
Which is most likely why corn runs into the same issue.
I must be missing something because all the blueberries I ever picked and eaten immediately or brought home to freeze and enjoy later do not at all behave this way. Does wild mean something other than what I assume it to mean? I assume it to mean “not farmed” for lack of a better phrase
The wild ones look exactly like blackcurrants.
Edit: just looked at a picture of a blackcurrant, not exactly the same, but more similar than a farmed blueberry.
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@boyce79 There’s SO much fruit out there, haha. I just settle into ruts. Always liked berries.
PM WORKOUT (1300)
Axle Grace
Time: 2:48 (2 seconds over previous PR)
Notes: This moved really well, and I had that PR in me if I didn’t spend time feeling sorry for myself between a few reps. Crazy how frequently I’m hitting sub 3s on this.
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@Voxel They also taste better IMO (pwn might disagree) and presumably have better nutrient profile
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I enjoy the flavor quite a bit.
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I find that most traditional blueberries are basically flavourless except for sweet. Wild blueberries have a better flavour balance IMO.