Dinner:
1 can tuna
2 slices provolone
a bit of onion
1 soft baked peanut butter bar
1 cup milk
1 bag gardettos snack mix
4 oz deli ham
2 slices turkey
-----Total: 959 Kcal, 39g fat, 72g carbs, 76g protein
Days total: 2739 Kcal, 128g fat, 227g carbs, 194g protein
Good amount of protein today.
If this workout session took an hour, what you can do to save time is reduced the rest period during warm up/ramp up sets. I take no rest between the first 3-4 warm up sets, only the changing of the weights. The minimum of 2 minutes rest period in Tactical Barbell is only for the main sets. That way, when I do Operator, I am able to those 3 lifts in 30-35 minutes (at 3 main sets per lifts). Add 5 minutes for general warm up. I guess that 5 sets per lifts would still be under an hour this way.
For example, if I would have sets of 3 reps at 190 pounds to do for the squat, I would warm up like this:
Just a suggestion, you do you but I have run Operator that way for a while and since I had only 45 minutes to train, it worked great. 3 main sets, no rest during warm ups except for the time adding weight = 35 minutes sessions not counting warm ups. And I did no superset.
That would definitely cut down on time alot, I might just cut back to 20-30 seconds of rest per warmup set then. If il be able to get it to 35 minutes then Il have time to do some extra work like core, forearms, etc.
Aug 22 W8D5
Have to do my Hill sprints today still, then tomorrow will be the last workout of base building.
Breakfast
2 eggs
2 small sweet peppers
2 slice provolone
AM Snack
1 string cheese
Lunch
1 small hogie roll
5 slices ham
2 slices ācheeseā
1 small mini side salad
PM Snack
1 string cheese
14 chicken and vegetable mini wontons
----Total: 1119 Kcal, 56g fat, 67g carbs, 82g protein
Still need to have 600 Kcal before dinner, and I will have honeydew as part of it for carbs for my workout.
School was good like normal. I learned a few things in German, like the numbers 1 to 20 (Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier, FĆ¼nf, Sechs, Sieben, Acht, Neun, Zehn, Elf, Zwƶlf, Dreizehn, Vierzehn, FĆ¼nfzehn, Sechzehn, Siebenzehn, Achtzehn, Neunzehn, und Zwenzig) and āIch bin fĆ¼nfzehn Jahre altā
So I can count to 20 in English, German, and Chinese now. So thatās cool.
Did my 10 (or maybe 11?) hill sprints. Good workout. Felt easier than last time i think, or maybe just as easy.
Before the workout i had about 1 wedge honeydew
45Kcal, 0g fat, 11g carbs, 1g protein
Need about 550 Kcal left before dinner (1536 Kcal left for the whole day)
Dinner:
1 packet protein oatmeal
1 double cheese burger
20 fries
3 slices turkey
1 cup 2% milk
2 mini dumplings (I like them frozen and warm)
----Total: 1475 Kcal, 70g fat, 130g carbs, 81g protein
Days total: 2639 Kcal, 127g fat, 208g carbs, 164g protein
Today was good.
Aug 23 W8D6 30 Minute run
Last workout of base buiding. Im glad i was able to go through all that.
Decided to sleep in an hour. Bad idea, I feel terrible about doing that. Not doing that again
Todayās Assignments
Run (first thing to do)
Finish working on my notebooks
I had a dream last night where I was putting out 2 campfires with a native american, and my neighbors shot us with a bow and arrow. The native then pulled the arrow out and stuck it in himself. Then I saw him as a green mayan/aztec symbol, and then it was said the Hai-yah-hu means āpeace with gameā [game as in how a deer is shot as game, i take it to mean as martyr], so, āPeace be with the Martyrā
Breakfast
1/2 cup rice
2 sweet peppers
1 egg
15 chicken vegetable mini wontons
----Total: 444 Kcal, 11g fat, 60g carbs, 23g protein
Ran 2.5 miles (about 25 minutes), then ahd to use the bathroom. I dont understand why i almost always have to go to the bathroom after i run 2 miles. And its only really on that stretch of track i use, I ran the first half mile on grass between the 2 trees 100m away, but after i did 2 miles on the road circuit, my stomach always aches. I think its due to the heat, atleast for the most part.
Took a nice icy cold shower. Felt great.
I think iām losing a little bit of fat. My abs looked slightly more visible when im just relaxed. I think doing some more core work recently effected it too.
All I really need is to lose a little fat, get stronger/larger core muscles (Im not concerned with having a v-taper, If my core looks like a treetrunk in a way, I dont care, as long as i dont have a bubble-gut), and strengthen my transverse abdominis (so I donāt get the aforementioned bubble-gut).
Also, I was doing research on weight lifting for a project in health class, and I finally understand the physical different between sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar hypertrophy. And I get why they go hand in hand, If i want strength I need more myofibers, but (at a certain point) if I want more myofibers, I need more room, which is where sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is usedful. It finally clicked.
Also, Is it normal for my curl to be stronger than my overhead press? I can curl my neighbor hanging on a bar I have, but I cant overhead press them
Oh good. Its lunch time
Lunch:
1 fried chicken breast
1 fried chicken drum
1 fried chicken wing
2 cups orange juice
2 better-than-girl-scout cookies
-----Total: 996 Kcal, 44g fat, 85g carbs, 63g protein
I will continue to work on my notebooks, and when my parents get up I will mow the neighbors lawn to get my $25
Base Building is finally complete.
I have an idea on how I will have my main workouts
First session of the week: Main lifting, then some face pulls and a core workout
Second session of the week: Main lifting, then forearm/grip workout
Third session of the week: Main lifting, then something. I want to get my shoulders a bit more resilient, so I was thinking going back and forth on monkey bars a few times to get my grip and shoulders better.
Would this be viable? I still need to actually set up the core and grip workouts, but I figured it would be best to ask here before i did
I replied to the post with my physique before base building, currently trying to take some current physique photos
Here is today
Its not the same lighting, and its not the best quality. I will try to take some better ones tomorrow. I think I look the same-ish, maybe a bit bigger but thatās probably due to a bit of fat gain
Il try to get the quality a bit better in a moment(done)
Yeah clearly Iām not as lean, but, eh. I look leaner in real life I think, atleast in other spots that I donāt have anywhere to put my phone
At the end of the 2 blocks of operator+black, I will take some more update pictures. I expect to gain a little bit of muscle mass with this, but of course its prioritizing strength, not size. When I do Mass protocol, then I will be able to put on some good size. How many weeks is it from starting mass until doing operator+black?
You have written a lot of stuff I want to reply to but am on my phone. I can address this one quick.
The OMS (operator-mass-specificity) protocol is 3-6weeks of operator, 3-6 weeks of Mass and 3-6 weeks of specificity (a more detailed approach to mass building). You can always run cycles differently, but itās a good guiding principle
Dinner:
2 armour hotdogs
2 hotdog rolls
1 oz goat cheese
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 tbsp honey
1 cup milk
1/2 cup protein granola
1/2 pound canned lean chicken breast with rib meat
----Total: 1299 Kcal, 58g fat, 112g carbs, 92g protein
Days total: 2739 Kcal, 112g fat, 257g carbs, 178g protein
This is known as ārunnerās runsā. Look it up. Very common. Timing meals and finding what doesnāt upset your guts before a run can be helpful.
Also, I was doing research on weight lifting for a project in health class, and I finally understand the physical different between sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar hypertrophy. And I get why they go hand in hand, If i want strength I need more myofibers, but (at a certain point) if I want more myofibers, I need more room, which is where sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is usedful. It finally clicked.
Thatās outstanding that you put all that together. This is how periodization functions. A muscle with greater cross sectional area has more strength potential, and then realizing that potential allows us to build more cross sectional area.
Iām going to figure this is more about trying to stabilize a human overhead vs strength. Itās a longer ROM movement with an awkward object.
I think monkey bars are an excellent additional bit of training. Dan John is a big fan of them as well. As always: check your recovery and adjust as needed.
Regarding physique, as youāre aware, base building isnāt meant for that, so that youāve been able to stay sharp during this time is a good sign. Once the weights come back as the main focus, youāre going to be primed to grow.
Thanks, Iāll look into that. I do want to run the full distance and if I can do that by meal timing it would be so helpful
Yep, It makes so much sense intuitively really.
Yeah, your probably right, thinking about it I think the movement was actually closer to a front raise than to an overhead press.
Iāl make sure and do that of course. I only started really using monkey bars about a month ago, I never really used them as a kid because I wasnāt very athletic, I hated gym class. Its interesting though. If I would have been an athletic kid, I probably would have played a sport, taking up a lot of my time, and I might have never became who I was. All things come in the appropriate time.
Yep, Im excited to see the progress I will make the next few months.
August 24 W8D7 Rest day
Today is the (real) last day of base building. Im glad iāve done it because I can tell I have improved significantly. Normally at the end of a mile I would not be able to continue, but now I can run 2 with not much problem.
Todayās assignments
Do dishes
Clean shower
Clean and put away chemistryware
I was thinking about the 2 types of hypertrophy, and its funny in my mind how one can be called you gaining density, while the other can be called you gaining surface area. Its funny in my mind thinking about it this way.
I might take a few physique pictures in the spot I used in June, at roughly the same time, so I can get a real accurate comparison.
Breakfast:
2 eggs
1 oz goat cheese
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup whole Greek yogurt
1/2 cup protein granola
6 raspberries
----Total: 845 Kcal 50g fat, 48g carbs, 54g protein
I like that ratio of the 3 macros. All about even with protein on top.
Heres my idea for a my core workout that will come after my main lifting
medicine ball crunches x 30 x 3
Side crunches x 30 x 3
Hanging leg raise x max x 3
Twist machine x 20 x 3
Plank x max x 3
Then for forearms (and Im thinking about adding stuff to work on beefing up my traps so when I squat thereās a better āshelfā for the bar to sit on)
Forearm curlers x max x 3
Reverse Forearm curls x max x 3
Deadhang x max x 3
1 arm hang x max x 5 each side
Trap bar shrugs x 20 x 3
Barbell shrugs x 20 x 3
Then for my other day I would do
12 sets of going across the monkey bars (thereās only like 6 rungs on it I think so thatās why its a lot of sets) (This I will only be able to do on when I train on a Saturday so thatās like 2-3 times a month at most)
Behind the neck press with a pipe (just for mobility) x 10 x 3
Is this too much for some of the days? Should I cut back? Or is there anything I should remove/replace/add?
Lunch
1 fried chicken thigh
15 mini chicken vegetable wontons
2 oz goat cheese
4 crackers
1 tbsp honey
----Total: 792 Kcal, 36g fat, 71g carbs, 44g protein
I have an idea of training I might do eventually. So for bilateral exercises like bench, squat, overhead press, deadlift, that use one bar that you use both sides at once, you could load one side of the bar heavier than the other. My theory is that this would help strengthen the stabilizer muscles, and activate some muscles that normally arenāt used in the typical movement.
Would this be more effective than typical unilateral exercises like DB chest press, DB overhead press, etc? I think it would be useful because in real world scenarios the weight distribution of something isnāt always perfectly in the center, and if you need to carry something through a narrow spot and you have to carry it in such a way that you would need to carry it in the middle, even if the center of mass is off to the side.
Here are physique pics in roughly the same lighting
Il post New ones at the end of these 12 weeks of operator+black.
I would do 1 set rather than 3. Look at how many sets of assistance work you are doing here compared to main work.
Or, pick ONE exercise and do it for 3 sets. Then just pick a different exercise next workout
I would use the barbell work to develop basic strength and lift unstable objects to develop chaotic strength, rather than try to mix and match. Use gym sessions for barbell strength work, then lift kegs, stones and sandbags during conditioning
