Training Log: Entry 3663

AM WORKOUT (0520 wake up via Valkyrie’s alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL GREY MAN Cycle 2, Week 2, Workout 2

“ROW ROW ROW YOUR BLOAT”

20 minute recovery row

Notes:

• I actually considered doing some martial arts this morning instead, as I don’t find it terribly comfortable to go straight from sleeping to sitting in a rower. Tends to bug my hips. But it actually was ok this morning. I wonder if all the stretching is helping in that regard. I avoided stretching for years, primarily because, every time I did it, I’d get injured, but I’m thinking a more controlled/monitored approach will do well.

• Carried a 230lb keg, hung from fat gripz for a minute last night.

• Weighed 84.5kg this morning. I’m very much considering competing up a weight class come 7 Dec just to avoid having to worry about bodyweight. No one is currently in my age and weight class, and there’s some folks up a class, so that’d work well.

• Valkyrie completed another round of the ABF last night. That’s the 4th workout, and I think I’m going to cut week 2 there and get her started on week 3 next workout to compensate for our abbreviated schedule. She’s doing awesome with the progression. I actually think she’ll outgrow her kettlebells before the program is done, but I thankfully have no shortage of equipment.

• Tang Soo Do tonight. Basics/forms week, can be a good workout.

 Training Log: Entry 3662

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL GREY MAN Cycle 2, Week 2, Workout 1

MAIN CLUSTER

Buffalo bar squat
4x6x337

Axle strict press from rack
4x6x161

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER

(3) Incline DB bench
4x10x75s

DB rows
4x10x135

GHR
4x10x40s

ASSISTANCE

GHR sit ups
3x10

Chins throughout workout

Notes:

• All the protective measures I’m employing have been adding up. Using the tacky shirt is keeping my forearms happy, and the flat shoes are allowing my knee to recover more and more. I was also wearing compression shorts under my strongman shorts, since my hips were hurting yesterday, which made my belt magnificently tight. In general, I’m feeling my old self, as I’m training like my old self.

• I am excited for Specificity Bravo. I think something really clutch about Tactical Barbell is it’s interesting combination of doing the same thing all the time but switching things up frequently enough that it staves off ADD. I’m not bored of Grey Man so much as I’m tired of it: it’s hard training. It pairs well with big eating, but I can only do both for so long.

• With the flat shoes, I notice my warm up sets have me on my toes. I’ll need to work more on sitting back.

• Carried a 228.5lb keg last night and did a fat gripz hang for about 1:10.

• Weighed in at 84.3kg this morning. Didn’t carb up yesterday, and only had 1 meal, but it was a big one. Saving myself for this holiday weekend.

 Training Log: Entry 3661

PM WORKOUT (1215)

TACTICAL BARBELL GREY MAN Cycle 2, Week 1, Workout 6

10 minute EMOM sandbag sprawl and carry

Notes:

• 200+lb sandbag, sprawl 4 different directions, pick and carry

• This was a repeat of last week, but exhausted me more while also not beating the hell out of my elbows. I think using the grip shirt was the right move.

• Carried a 226lb keg yesterday and a 227.5lb keg tonight. Did a timed hold of slightly over a minute with Fat Gripz on my chinning bar. This should have even better carryover to my competition.

• Got up at 0615 this morning: kiddo brought me the puppy, because it wasn’t going back to sleep. That was still pretty much sleeping in.

 Training Log: Entry 3660

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL GREY MAN Cycle 2, Week 1, Workout 5

MAIN CLUSTER

Buffalo bar squat (flat shoes)
4x8x315

Axle strict press from rack
2x8x148
1x6x148
1x7+3x148

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER

(3) Incline DB bench
2x12x70s
11x70s
10+3x70s

DB row
4x12x125

GHR
4x12x30

ASSISTANCE

GHR sit up
2x10

Chins throughout workout

Notes:

• Came into this just completely exhausted. I think a back to back sparring night was more than I anticipated recovery-wise, when stacked with that stupidly heavy mat pull on Wed. Training motivation was shot: one of those where the only thing that got me through was the thought of being able to spend Friday night with my family vs in the gym, so I got it done this morning. However, I also forgot that on Monday I trained in the afternoon, so I was comparing myself against that baseline, and in doing so I actually progressed really well today compared to Monday.

• I learned a lesson that was a long time coming from the belt squat: I have less knee pain when I squat with flat soled shoes. Honestly, I’m pretty angry with myself. I learned about squatting with flat soled shoes back in 2005, when I read “Beyond Bodybuliding” and Pavel Tsastouline wrote to “ditch your sneakers on steroids” and squat in Chuck Taylors, and I started doing exactly that and it transformed my squat. The most weight I’ve ever squatted in my life was in a pair of Chucks, where I squatted 502 in a meet and then 525 for 5 with wraps in the gym. And then I got a pair of lifters in 2014 because I thought it would have good carryover into strongman, and though I think Pendlay Dowins are a quality product and I love how my feet feel screwed in to the floor with how grippy they are, it just never had the same comfort that a pair of flats did. When I switched to that mutant high bar style I used for a few years, they really suited it…but that style itself didn’t suit me. I’m flat out not built to squat, with a short torso and long limbs, which means I use the style of squat we see with Steve Goggins, Layne Norton and Mark Felix: lots of forward lean, not a bolt upright torso. Flat shoes suit me. Thankfully, I have lots of them, and today I wore my NoBull high tops.

• Exhaustion was hitting hard through the workout, so the presses fell off a little, but I made some great progress on the incline bench, mainly because I forgot what I did last time so I beat an imaginary standard. Cut out a set of abs just for the sake of time.

• Double sparring class last night, got in a lot of great rounds. Really trying to work on moving off angle and sending strikes from there. Caught the Valkyrie with an awesome off angle sacrifice spin hook kick. Just happy I can move like that. The stretching is most likely helping out.

• Carried a 225lb keg yesterday, and then a 1min 50sec hang.

• Weighed 84.1kg this morning.

 Training Log: Entry 3659

AM WORKOUT (0350 wake up via alarm, very good night of sleep)

TACTICAL BARBELL GREY MAN Cycle 2, Week 1, Workout 4

“GO RUCK YOURSELF”

Treadmill walk w/20.4lb tac carrier

Speed: 3.5mph
Incline: 4.5
Distance: 5.25miles
Time: 90 minutes

Notes:

• This was the easiest ruck in quite a while. No real specific period of time where I was watching the clock. Found a docu-series to watch without commercial interruption and it went a long way toward distracting me.

• Knee doesn’t feel as awesome as it did on Monday, but my bad days are feeling better than my good days felt like before PT, so that’s a plus.

• Sparring last night was awesome. Made it to the finals without having to spar the Valkyrie, and beat our senior black belt in the second round. Last 2-3 in the final round against another black belt in a very close match. My mobility is improving with the stretching and reduced knee pain, but I’m noticing my connective tissue feels “loose”, as though it’s slipping in and out at times. We’re doing a double class tonight, so should be a good workout.

• Weighed 84.3kg this morning. Been a high sodium week with that kalua pig.

• Carried a 223.5lb keg, and got in a 1min 40sec hold immediately afterward. More challenging to hit the grip after the keg carry. Soon I need to dig out my rolling thunder and get to work on that.

 Training Log: Entry 3658

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL GREY MAN Cycle 2, Week 1, Workout 3

MAIN CLUSTER

Axle bench press
5x8x221

(3) Texas Deadlift Bar Mat pull
5+2x470

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER

Lever belt squat
5x12x190

Dips/axle curl superset
3x12x60, 1x10+2x60
2x12x71, 1x10+2x71, 1x8+4x71

ASSISTANCE

Reverse hyper/standing ab wheel superset
2x15x360/2x10

Chins between sets

Notes:

• Training motivation was high. I genuinely look forward to the day I get to deadlift. That said, it was made clear to me today that I am exiting the realm of training and entering the realm of testing with the weight I am using on the mat pulls. I am proud of myself that I still somehow managed to break the weight off the mats and get reps in, but I keep trading more and more of my soul each week to make it happen, and I am surviving the sets rather than thriving. I have nothing to prove and nowhere to be, so I’m gonig to drop the weight back to 405 to finish out this cycle and try to beat my previous rep PR at that weight, then bring it up to 425 and just repeat and regrow.

• Bench weight was perfectly dialed in.

• If I wasn’t in a rush for time, I’m certain I wouldn’t struggle on the curls as much as I do. Using a lighter weight on deadlifts might also help there.

• Very happy I’ve figured out the belt squats. They went from destructive to therapeutic. I’m going to try barbell squats in my flats next workout. As much as I’d had to admit that I had it right all along back in 2007 and never needed a pair of weightlifters and just needed some Chucks (thanks Pavel), it may truthfully be the next step in mitigating knee pain. Be curious if I can squat deeper that way as well. I was never built for the movement, so maybe I need to break all the rules to make it work.

• Weighed in at 84.8 this morning. I’m feeling fluffier. That’s the goal.

• I hung from a bar for a little over 1min 45sec yesterday, without much difficulty. Going to try to ease myself back into grip training for a bit, but I think I’ve got a good shot there. I also re-read the rules and the hammer hold is a front hold rather than a side hold, and I thankfully have an oversized loadable hammer I won as a prize in a competition back in 2015 (my return to comp after ACL surgery), so that’s cool.

• Tang Soo Do sparring was really awesome last night. I got 3 matches, the final one against the Valkyrie. We went 1 to 1 on points, going into overtime. Typically, I leave some openings for her to chase/strike as a learning opportunity, but last night she scored a legit awesome final point with a spin side kick that had her foot turn in just such a way that she snuck it in between my guard, right into a floating rib. It was like a spearman finding the slats between the plates of armor. I said “oh, that was good”, fully acknowledging the point before the judges scored it, because I was just such a fan of how she sent that. We have another class tonight, and then doubling up tomorrow.

 Training Log: Entry 3657

AM WORKOUT (0515 natural wake up)

TACTICAL BARBELL GREY MAN Cycle 2, Week 1, Workout 2

“ROW ROW ROW YOUR BLOAT”

20 minute recovery row

Notes:

• Knee regressed a little, which is to be expected after a squat workout, but it regresses back to a better point than before. Moving forward.

• Sitting on a rower first thing in the morning is a little tight on the hips.

• Bodyweight was 85.3 this morning. Seeing some growth.

• Tang Soo Do sparring tonight.

• Did an official Day 1 of ABF with the Valkyrie last night. She’s really digging the program. Likes kettlebells, taking to it quite naturally. We did 2 rounds 2-3-5-10 and then 5 rounds of the ABC EMOM, along with a general warm-up and refresher on the movements.