Thanks gents! We’ll see. I’d imagine it will make me more stable in the lifts, if nothing else. It’s not something I’ve really spent any time doing.
Early to say, I think. The whole second half just felt like cardio, so I don’t think I was going heavy enough on anything. As I get used to it, I’m sure I’ll push a little more. I do like that it’s a little bit of everything all in one workout and it’s pretty hard. Ramping up to 6-second eccentrics might kill me.
Outstanding pivot! Definitely learning how to work the system there. As you get fat adapted, you can go a long time between meals, and a BIG meal can carry you a long way if you need to. Its like a camel with water.
So I will say my legs were a little sore yesterday and still slightly heavy this morning. Not debilitating Mountain Dog soreness, but enough to know the workout was more than just cardio. I will also say, lest I ever doubt the value of walking again, these workouts are not blowing out my lungs. I’ve been doing hours of walking for the last few months, and my heart rate stays pretty reasonable during these circuits. They aren’t exactly CrossFit WODs, but I can handle those the few times I go with my wife too.
Anyway, today was the push workout (because the gym was closed for Easter yesterday).
Bench
4s eccentrics all reps
My shoulder felt funny, so I moved my grip in and it felt fine. Yay
45/6
135/6
185/5 x 3
185/4
Giant Set 1
These are a nice change of pace, for sure. It will be interesting to see how it goes as the difficulty progresses, especially the duration of the eccentrics and then there are other tempo games in later weeks.
Did the pull day today. I didn’t love the slow eccentrics on the TBDL, but probably just because I’ve never done it.
TBDL
4s eccentric every rep
135/6
185/6
225/3
275/4 x 4
Keeping the bar from tilting is an issue with these bars.
Giant Set 1
That’s wild. I have to pick up the pieces of my lungs from the floor when I’m done.
Before, I would have. I’m just shocked how good my conditioning is seriously from just walking.
Quick update: my company was acquired (actually by a company I used to work for) today. I’m still training and eating, but updates may be a little slow, because this is throwing some slightly different loops. The eating plan I’m sticking to, because I can do it anywhere; the lifting is not yet disrupted, but it might look funny some days depending on where I am. Sorry to be so ADHD/ scattered when we’re trying to assess what a program will do!
Chaos is the plan! You’re living it.
Thanks man. Absolute wild cards all the time lately I feel like. It seems silly, but I really appreciate you dropping this note; a little settling.
I hope any changes to your job prove to be good ones. Keep your chin up!
Thank you! This is the world. I’ll get a decent payout - I wish I’d bought more equity!
Did the MetCon and a full arm workout today. Will write some notes later. Now it’s time for Wrestlemania with my daughter (hence the full arm workout)!
Have a ball mate. 
Thanks, man; it was a blast. Just to clarify, because I see how I wrote it, we just watched on tv (we didn’t go to Philly). It was an absolute throwback to when I was in high school. Super fun. The Rock and Roman Reigns looked incredible - 90s muscle. She loved every second too. I don’t know why she’s decided she loves this, but it’s been great.
So Friday was an interesting day. I have not been on this side of an acquisition before, although I used to help with integrations actually for the company that just bought us, so I have some idea what to expect. Friday night I went to a minor league ball game with my wife and ate giant brats without the bun - keeping mostly to plan! One of them did have some peppers and onions, that I ate (so not wholly to plan), and absolutely killed my stomach. That’s a good discovery here, because that’s something I would add to many of my meals.
On Saturday I did the eternal warrior MetCon workout, with slight changes. We have a 100# sandbag in the gym, now, so I wanted to play with that; I did 15 sandbag over the shoulders (per side) instead of 30 of the macebell swings. I also had a backpack on instead of my armor, but that’s basically the same thing.
The meat of the workout is you pull a sled, carry 20# DBs, and wear a vest/ backpack for a mile. I had a 40m stretch where I could just do 40 laps, so I did that because I wanted to feel what it’s supposed to feel like. Not perfect, because there’s a little slack on the turnaround, but pretty close. It was a really long, unfun workout, that probably is made cooler by all the setup. The setup is a lot, though, and I think you could pretty easily recreate this just with long carries or the stairmaster or rucking or anything. None of its heavy enough that you’re really doing that modality. I’d also probably call this just more of an endurance day than MetCon (if you’re trying to just get the gist of it).
Then I was really bored/ motivated, so I did a full arm workout like I used to. 15 sets each for bis and tris. So much blood in my arms I’m glad I didn’t see a doctor or all my BP med would have been immediately tripled. It was also cool to get a pump like that really without any carbs in my system; tons of salt and water, though.
Yesterday I taught one of the gym’s classes, then it was lawn mowing, dog walking, and the leg workout. I was definitely impacted by the endurance session the day before, which I didn’t really think I would. I’m typing this on my phone, so I’m not going to list it all out, but it’s the same as week one except you do 5s eccentrics instead of 4s on the squats. I did SSB with 2 plates again, and I think I further slowed the negatives? It’s just a count in my head, so I’m sure I counted faster as I got more fatigued.
Then I mowed without wearing a backpack or armor or anything, because I was absolutely finished and just the ground being a little wet was killing me! Then we watched night 2 of Wrestlemania. My daughter’s favorite person won and they made a huge show of it and she was happy.
Ha ha that’s exactly how I read it mate. So good you get to enjoy this together. I have good memories of watching wrestling with my dad when I was a kid.
Absolutely! It’s amazing the things we discover through this process. One of the biggest being what healthy is SUPPOSED to feel like, so we now actually have a baseline to operate off of to know when something is wrong. We walk around with our guts on fire for so long that we think THAT is what normal feels like.
Cool to see you could still work a pump absent the carbs. Great things to discover.
Definitely helps one further appreciate sodium and water!
I’ve got my physical tomorrow, so we’ll see how close to imminent cardiac doom I am.
Ah, interesting! Do you have comparison labs from last year? Though you haven’t been eating this way for very long. I’m super interested to see if your experience matches @T3hPwnisher’s health-markers-wise.
I do, but to your point, I’ve only been at this for 3 weeks or so; I don’t know if it’s fair to pin anything on the diet.
I already have some cardiac markers we have to keep an eye on, so I’m just a little more cautious.
Exactly. There’s a fair chance you aren’t even fully fat adapted at this point. Markers can get wild. But, as long as recognize that these are simply data points, we can appreciate it.
I have my annual on June 5th, and am wildly curious as to changes, if any. More or less exercise hasn’t seemed to shift it much in either direction, but I’ve never dropped less-optimal food and drink choices down to almost nothing before. I’m generally a solid 80/20 good/bad. Since January I’ve been more like 95/05, maybe even better.