Personally, I find that the easiest way to get tightened up in a hurry is to follow the Phil Hernon dieting principles. Easily digestible protein like chicken breast or grassfed ground beef(or eggs for breakfast) cooked with a healthy fat source like olive oil, macadamia nut oil, red palm oil, coconut oil or avocado oil and carbs coming from fruit sources like pineapple, strawberries and blueberries. Most importantly, you only eat when you’re really hungry, no Force feeding and no eating until you’re absolutely stuffed. When I clean things up and simplify them to this degree, I feel like I can see the changes happening in my body extremely quickly. It’s so extremely simple too.
I feel like this harkens to Vince Gorinda’s “Steak and Eggs/Definition Diet”. I legit want to give that an approach some day, as it’s pretty similar to what I do now. Even includes that carb refeed every 5 days, which can make it “family friendly” as well!
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It’s hard to beat that simplicity. You give your body the very fuel it needs and only when it needs it. All high quality foods as well
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Thank you both!
Hotel had an awesome gym, so got my full lift plus 30 minutes of cardio in today.
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Update time!
So the bad news is I was little bit heavier than I thought to begin with; the good news is I lost the difference plus a couple lbs this week, so I’m exactly on pace.
Workouts and cardio are going well. I’m feeling good enough I have to fight the urge to do a lot more, which I usually do and reap the negative rewards.
I’ve been eating eggs and a little fruit for breakfast, 1-2 MD shakes during the day, and steak and a potato for dinner. That’s pretty easy to pull off both at home and on the road.
Training is the pendulum plan with 30-45 minutes of cardio (usually the stationary bike); this is all zone 2 stuff.
This is the high volume week. Yesterday was chest and tris and today was legs. I don’t want to write everything out, but it’s pretty 90s: 4 sets per exercise of 6-12 reps with 90-120s rests. Yesterday was a fun pump; today was a nauseating lactic acid buildup.
My son had his first wrestling practice on Friday and loved it. He was so nervous going to school that morning, and then came home super excited. I was really happy for him.
As the balance of life goes, my daughter is having a tough time figuring out how to act in between her own sports seasons. She falls into worry about who is popular, and gets real snarky and insecure. Her main volleyball season starts back up in a couple weeks, so she starts some 1:1 coaching again tomorrow, so it will take care of itself… just in time!
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loved reading this
I have similar with my middle daughter, she spend far too much time worrying about what people think. This is totally opposite of my eldest daughter who could not give a sh$t. For my daughter the solution which is nor easy, is to keep her off her phone and busy doing other things. Hopefully the new season will help resolve this for you.
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You’re 100% right. That’s the key for ours too. When she’s not busy, she’s back to worrying about everybody else and getting insecure. She’ll be mad I’m making her go to coaching tomorrow, then we’ll talk about you don’t get better sitting in the couch, and she’ll buckle back down. Nostratrainus predicts!
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My daighter had beach program last week, the kids school is 500m to the beach so each year the kids do a beach safety and lifesaving type program run by the Surf Life Saving Club. My daughter spent 2 days worrying about what swimsuit to wear. To the point she was sending photos of the clothes she was indenting to put on, to her best friend so they could coordinate. I got grumpy told her that when 13 year old boys get to spend the day on the breach instead of doing lessons the last thing they are thinking about is what her swimwear looked like. Not sure I delivered the message effectively. LOL
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All those fights are going to mom right now, who strangely doesn’t remember just having all the answers when her son was the same age and fighting about nonsense with his dad.
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Wrestling practice was apparently rough last night. He was pretty down on himself. It’s hard to go get your ass kicked and come back for more. He’s going back in there today, though; proud of him.
My weight jumped back up 2lbs overnight, which was displeasing, but that’s how these little crash courses go. I have to take care of a bunch of things today, then airport, then back Friday morning… I’m betting it’s all washed itself out by the time I’m back.
Today was the high-volume back day.
-
Bike x 10 minutes
-
T-Bar Row
Bunch of warmups
2.25p/ 8 x 4
This machine’s foot pieces are too far back so it feels like you’re tipping forward. I didn’t love that. -
Machine Pulldown
4 x 8 -
Straight-arm PD
4 x 8ish -
Machine Row
4 x 8 -
Rope Hammer Curl
4 x 7 -
Cable Curl
4 x 8 -
Bike x 25 minutes
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That right there is the REAL value of the practice. There’s a Japanese proverb, Nana korobi, ya oki”: "Fall down seven times, stand up eight.” Rocky also summed it up “It ain’t about how hard you’re hit, it’s about how you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward”. You’re raising a good one.
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That’s how winning is done!
Thanks man. I really appreciate it. I love the little guy (who is already a couple inches taller than me).
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Still rolling, team.
I got in another half hour of the bike when I landed the other night - that’s my favorite thing lately, then an hour on the elliptical yesterday.
I couldn’t sleep last night/ this morning, so went ahead and got in a ton of shoulders, abs and another half hour of bike.
Supposed to be snowing when I land tonight!
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I have been sleeping like poo as well. I just get up and get my session in. Good job.
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Just checking in to like all of the posts. 
This stands out to me as pretty interesting. I thought you strongly disliked the bike. What happened that you like it now???
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Sorry team - I was hardcore about not wanting to be on the Interwebz this last weekend!
I got in 2 of the effort-based workouts this weekend. I’ll try to remember:
Friday was a half hour of cardio (biking again - I’ll come back to that)!
Saturday was the Push Workout:
Everything will be work sets only, but there were at least 2-3 warmups on everything.
- 15 minutes bike
-
HS Shoulder Press
3pps/ 7 + 3 -
HS Incline Press
2.25pps/ 6 + 2 -
Machine Lateral Raise
2 drop sets of 8ish + max -
Cable Flye + Press Combo
2 sets of 8ish + max -
3-Grip Front Raise
Close, Medium, Wide
45/ 8ish + max + max
- 15 minutes bike
Sunday Leg Workout
Was supposed to be pull here, but I’m running a 5k with my son on Thanksgiving and I didn’t want to risk being sore.
- 15 minutes bike
-
Belt Squat
3.25pps/6 + 2 -
Leg Press
8pps/ 7 + 2 -
Seated Leg Curl
2 drop sets
8ish + max -
Leg Extension
2 drop sets
8ish + max -
Standing Calf
2s stretch
2 drop sets
6ish + max
- Bike x 15 minutes
Diet is going remarkably well. I’ve really leaned into the suck. I was a good bit fatter than I thought when I got on the scale, which isn’t ideal but is reality, but the weight has really dropped off.
Thanks for dropping in!
Did I? Probably. I hate all the hamster wheel stuff. The bike has been super low impact, though, doesn’t take away from my legs at all, it’s indoors and available no matter where I am, and it’s been super easy to just rack up minutes of Zone 2 cardio, which always seems to be a real driver of fat loss for me. So I guess “favorite” probably wasn’t the right word in terms of I like it, but it’s easily my default to get the cardio in - in the past I think it was usually the elliptical and the incline treadmill was the second choice. Walking is my favorite, but it’s harder to get my heart rate up, it’s cold outside, and my trips are to like NYC and DC so I don’t want to die. I tend to try to treat the walking as just something I want to do whenever I can, but it doesn’t “count.”
I guess kind of like I hate that I can’t really do back squats anymore, or eat and drink whatever I want, or even sleep through the night… but it is nice there’s still avenues to get to the outcome (like an SSB or heroin)!
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Got the other two workouts in that I just don’t feel like writing out. It was a pull day and an arm day - 30 minutes bike with both days. I will say, I’m able to handle heavy (for me) weight while aggressively losing bodyweight, so that’s always a good sign. The calories caught up a little today, which is right on time since tomorrow is the feast. We’ve got our 5k tomorrow morning (maybe in the snow), and both kids are joining, so I’m really happy about that.
@T3hPwnisher I forgot to follow up: I did talk to my son about your “make sure the other guy feels it” concept. Apparently one of his wrestling partners is a kid that bullied him when they were littler, and this kid has been wrestling for years, so I think that advice helped a lot. He’s got his “wrestle offs” coming up next week, and it’s not realistic to think he’ll earn a starting spot his 3rd week of ever being in the sport, so I think that’s giving him something else to focus on. Much appreciated!
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Hell yeah dude! That’s awesome. The more you share about your son, the more I relate to him. He sounds very similar to how I grew up. I got picked on a ton, sports never came easy to me, I was very much “to myself”, but I also had a dad like you that was always trying his best and made me feel loved. He’s got a great future.
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@T3hPwnisher thank you - very much appreciated.
Thanksgiving was fun. We did the run, and everyone survived and had a good time, and then we cooked at the house and my mother-in-law joined us. A feast was had by all. That Dallas/ NYG game may have been the worst NFL contest I’ve ever seen, though.
Hit 198.6 this morning, post-Thanksgiving, so that was great! Kept it light on leftovers, but turkey and potatoes aren’t exactly physique-destroyers, and went on to the gym.
- 15 minutes bike
-
Bench
45/15
95/12
135/8
185/8
205/6
225/4
235/2
245/2
235/2 -
CG Bench
205/5
195/6
195/5
195/5 -
Seated Row
4 x 6-8 -
Dips
BW+25/6 x 3 -
EZ Skullcrusher
5s negative
50/6 x 3
- 15 minutes bike
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Couldn’t handle the ultra-low reps today, so called an audible and went for fatigue.
- 15 minutes bike
-
Meadows Row
-/8
25/8
50/4
60/8
75/8
85/8 -
One-arm BB Row
60/8 x 3 -
Straight-arm PD
3 x 10 -
MAG PD
Focus on stretch
3 x 12 -
Hanging Leg Raise
4 sets -
Standing Calf
3 x 10 + 10p + 10s stretch
- 15 minutes bike
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