Some photos from my 10 miler
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Even in motion youāre all lumpy like a pit bull. 
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@SkyzykS much appreciated dude! My spirit dog is a pug: itās why I got 2 of them. As long as I can avoid LOOKING like them, Iāll be good. Plus, when you walk a small dog, you look even bigger, haha.
AM WORKOUT (0540 wake up via alarm) FASTED
Tabata KB swings and snatches
BREAKFAST
100 six count burpees
Time: 5:47
Notes: Mrs had to get up a little earlier than usual, so I got in the 4 minute workout before breakfast. Spent a lot of time telling myself the burpees were a bad idea, then went and did them. I hit a PR for unbroken burpees: 90. Traded time for them, as I took them smooth, but it was a worthwhile sacrifice. I know how to do them fast: doing them WITHOUT a break is the challenge. Similar to how I could probably run faster if I took some breaks and got some water, but the goal is to run unbroken.
Quads were what were limiting me at the end. On fire. Abs too for that matter. Had a HUGE ab cramp yesterday: need to watch hydration.
Body doesnāt seem to be liking the berries. Iām going for half a serving a day to 1/3 of one to see if I can build up a tolerance. Iād really like to add some form of diversity into the diet. I get locked in too easily, and then stuff like this happens.
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Nice job on the race, dude. Definitely the picture of overall fitness.
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Much appreciated dude! Means a lot from you.
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Why? Trying to make sense of that followed by this:
I donāt like intaking fluids when I train. It doesnāt feel good to me.
However, itās work that dehydrates me. Frequently have to be held in a spot where I canāt vacate for several hours. Makes for strategic hydration. I have also been bad about salt intake, once again as a result of working extra shifts. This job has been pretty bad for my health, but change is on the horizon.
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BUILDING THE MONOLITH Week 1, Workout 5
AM WORKOUT (0303 natural wake up)
Full workout listed, details in notes
Buffalo Bar Squat
5xBar
5x140
5x230
5x310
5x350
5x400
Axle clean and strict press (clean each rep)
10x5x136lbs
Weighted close grip NG chins
5x5x80lbs
Axle shrugs against light bands
2x50
Band pull aparts
1x50
Band face pulls
1x50
Buffalo Bar squat
32x200lbs
End of required work time: 54:45
50 dips
20 standing ab wheels
25 pushdowns
40 reverse hypers
POST WORKOUT SHAKE
30 GHRs
10 neck bridges each way
Notes: Alright, hereās how it shook out. Went with supersets vs giant sets. First was
Squat-press
Once I finished the topset of 400lbs, transitioned to supersets of
Chin-press
Once that was done, transitioned to supersets of
Shrug-pull apart
Shrug-face pull
Then ended the workout with the squat widowmaker. Interesting decision point there. The program calls for 20 reps. I knew I could do more, and at first I thought Iād make those 20 reps challenging by making them breathing squats without a belt, but right before executing that I realized Iād be hitting Deep Water after this program, and that these widowmakers were actually my only opportunity to keep higher rep squats āgroovedā. Otherwise, Iād become very dialed in at sets of 5 and then most likely find myself falling off a cliff when it came time to knock out the higher rep stuff, so figure the best call was the play these straight and just go into the red on reps. 32 was challenging, but, in truth, Iāve got some more in me. By the time this program is done, Iāll make sure to bury myself on this.
In all, this workout was far less challenging than it was the very first time I ran it, and I even cleaned every single rep of pressing vs just the first rep. For the record, cleaning each rep is awesome and everyone should do it. Also for the record, I started actually trying to ācleanā the reps toward the middle of the sets vs just stand-up reverse curling the weight, because I realized this could ALSO be a chance to set me up for success for Deep Water, so cool there.
I came into this āoverpreparedā. Had my cheat meal the night before: same keto pizza crust, this time it was a ābackyard BBQ pizzaā, which had pork burnt ends, pork shoulder, baked beans, coleslaw and BBQ sauce drizzle, with a cream cheese sauce vs pizza sauce. I REALLY dig this place we found. Was honestly torn between this and the awesome burger they sell. Too many options: great problem to have. Also snagged a few curly fries from our appetizer. Feeling good to feel more normal. Taking my kid out for Golden Corral next week, so thatāll be another golden opportunity to fuel up.
Working a 12 hour shift today, then prowler tomorrow, and that will be the first week done.
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Wow. Is that 50% TM? I canāt tell looking at the work sets, and not memorizing the BtM percentages. That is a crazy amount reps, especially for having more in the tank
Also, that cheat meal sounds heavenly
Man that looks like some sweet squatting work. Awesome stuff dude. That widowmaker sounds fun.
@boilerman Thanks man. 45% for week 1. 50% works out to just about 225, which is convenient, and will be in week 2.
Was a very solid meal. I still walked away hungry, so I wasnāt stuffed, but itās how I prefer things these days. Learning to savor has been a good skill: I spent my whole life just shoveling food down. It was great for gaining, but I was missing out on a lot.
@bigdaddi Thanks dude! The WM honestly wasnāt too awful, but should be effective enough. Iām feeling the effects with how much Iāve starving through my shift, haha.
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On the nutrition front, I cut the blueberries from half a serving to a third, and it seems to be doing the trick. Far less GI distress. Will hold at that for a while and see if I can ramp it up slightly after that.
Costco stopped selling my chicken patties, so that sucks.
I picked up some organic sour cream. Iām honestly on the fence about using it, just because sour cream was one of my ādownfallsā previously. I put it on EVERYTHING. But this might be a good opportunity to practice restraint.
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Love the new article mate. Talks my language man.
Makes me crack a wry smile at all these Reddit gimps constantly yelping about PPLPPL.
If youāre training with focus then you should be fucking whimpering before you enter the gym
When I was hitting 4 x 8 on squats the other night I was almost in tears muttering ā I canāt do deep water, I canāt do deep waterā 
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Hell yeah dude! Thanks for the feedback: it really means a lot. I feel like Iām taking crazy pills seeing all these kiddos wanting to lift weights 6x a week. And Iāll get DMs from them on reddit wanting to know about the best training program for 6x a week and I keep saying āIn 21 years of lifting weights Iāve never done thatā ā¦and that doesnāt seem to register anything for them.
All these folks that ālikeā training arenāt doing it hard enough, haha.
But man, that whole ā2x a week is optimalā thing was awful. It totally makes sense, and was also completely misunderstood by people that canāt grasp nuanceā¦which isnāt at all shocking.
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youāre non lifting days also involve more lifting than most pplās real workouts. Your recovery days are also more intense than most pplās workouts
I present exhibit A
This is quite literally exactly what I discussed in the blog post: using conditioning as muscle stimulus. People donāt like doing that though: they only want to go to the gym and do their 3x10s.
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Ahh, okay then I misunderstood the post.
So when do you actually rest. It seems that every day is either hard lifting or hard conditioning. or is rest not really necessary
I donāt log my rest days, because theyāre the days where I donāt do anythingā¦so thereās nothing to log.
I rest when my schedule supports it.
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They live in a social media bubble populated by juice freaks who promote some bullshit lifestyle that can only created by the jobless and childless.
Throw in the optics of really working FUCKING hard man. Itās not compatible with that platform.
Working hard to me is wearing a pair of dad shorts along with a old ripped jacket and pounding the streets. Not wearing fitness tights with your air pods in and looking super serious with your new running shoes that some fuxking pretentious store assistant helped you pick by analysing your gait
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Yup! Got a good story to along with that. At the competition where I blew out my ACL, there was a Costco right across from the competition. Iām not sure if Costco translates across the pond, but theyāre a bulk supply store that has a food court that sells 1/4lb hot dogs and pizza slices THIS big
For like $1.50 USD.
So, of course, Iām eating 2 slices of pepperoni before the yoke eventā¦and most of my fellow competitors are looking at me like Iām crazy.
āDude: youāre gonna go do an event after eating that?ā
At the time, Iām there with my wife and my VERY young child. These dudes are solo or, at most, have a girlfriend with them. I go off on them
āYou single dudes have it too easy. Youāre SO used to having your perfectly timed pre-workout supplement specifically formulated to maximize your potential with the ideal blend of carbs and protein from the finest sources. When you can crush a PR off of half a pop-tart and a PBJ Iāll be impressedā
Blowing out my ACL minutes later was most likely my karma, haha.
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