Training Log: Entry 2796

AM WORKOUT (0420 wake up via alarm) FED

**"To Valhalla"** Week 3, Workout 1: **"Bailing Out The Vasa When It Hits Deep Water On Way To Ragnarok"**

Deep Water meets the 10k swing challenge.  Seriously, f- -k you: I’m a Viking.

SSB Squats
10x10x275+chains

Rest no longer than 4 minutes between squats.

Do 50 KB swings between sets.

The swings are done DURING the rest period.  You do not start the rest after the swings.  The ship is SINKING gets: bail it out!

BREAKFAST

75 more swings
50 push ups
50 squats
2 mile walk

Notes:

* I came up with this yesterday and got giddy with myself for being so twisted.  I was thinking to myself that the instinctive training has been awesome, but that I’m FULLY aware that, instinctively, I am a hedonist, not an ascetic.  The WODs have been hard, but not challenging.  They were not pushing me beyond my limits.  So it was time to take something that does EXACTLY that.  I’m thinking of doing a whole week of Deep Water workouts with a Viking twist and that 15k challenge looming.  

* The story: The Vasa is a ship with an amazing history that you should look up, but ultimately it serves as a fantastic symbol of man’s hubris.   It’s a warship that is too big to sail.  It sunk on its maiden voyage due to its own volume.  What a fantastic metaphor.  “I don’t care if I die, as long as they bury me in a BIG goddamn box!”  We should all strive to be so large that we capsize.  But, in turn, just imagine the SHEER amount of force and strength it would take to row such a beast to KEEP it afloat on your way to war?   This requires the labor and strength of legendary fallen warriors.  But even THEY can only keep the Vasa afloat for so long: it WILL take on water.  Which is why, after each set, we bail it out with 50 KB swings.  We are rowing into DEEP WATER my friends: we cannot stop or we will drown.  

* We lost 2 oarsmen at set 8 and one at set 9.  We went back for them.  We will need every man for this war.

* I kept it at 2 min of rest for the first 3 sets, then like 2:15 for a few, then 2:45 and some 3:00s in there.

* The SSB is ABSOLUTELY the most Viking bar one could squat with, no question.  Another option would be actual Viking squats with the landmine, but this is what I settled on.  Chains, of course, are far more Viking than without chains.  If I wanted to make it even more Viking, the swings would be replaced with something like Viking handle deadlifts or floor to overhead.  Thrusters would be TOO stupid, because it’d be squats on top of squats.  Oh yeah, and, of course, actual rowing would make the most sense.

* This was ABSOLUTELY what I was looking for as far as pushing my limits goes.  And I’m opening myself up to all sorts of possibilities in that regard.  I’m thinking that I could have some weeks where it’s pure intuitive/instinctive training, followed by 1 week of “counterintuitive” training BY DESIGN to create disruption/intentional dissonance and chaos to force growth.  Harmony is beautiful: disharmony DRIVES a necessary adaptation to return TO harmony, and it’s that adaptation that IS growth, and that growth IS strength.  

* Like, I could do a Viking Deep Water week, a Viking Building the Monolith week, a Viking Super Squats Week, etc.  Fully understanding these are PROGRAMS, with their own logical build up and structure, and a week of them isn’t necessarily meeting THEIR design…but it SURE meets mine.  

* My glutes and hamstrings are locking up like mad.  This was a fantastic stimulus.  This week, I travel out on Friday and spend time with family, away from the gym and my modern conveniences.  I’m planning on bringing the kettlebell, to stay with the challenge, and will accomplish my daily minimums and regular physical activity, but will otherwise run a mini-famine, if not kickstart the full famine from that starting point.  

* While talking nutrition: it honestly felt good to skip the Rampage for a week and just do a simple, “wholesome” carb up.  I’m running into the issue I ran into with “Deep Mountain”: this style of eating is so sustainable and suitable that I honestly don’t WANT to deviate from it.  And it’s so simple that I have to consciously choose to NOT eat the way that I want to eat.  Everywhere we went that had an opportunity to Rampage and carb up ALSO had an opportunity to just eat meat, and I wanted to MEAT, NOT the carbs.  I was never a sugar addicted, and pretty much the only reason I ever “craved” carbs was because I was limiting myself on meat for SOME reason, but once I told myself “if it’s animal, it’s allowed”, I have no desire to eat anything beyond that.  BUT, I recognized that this training had COMPLETELY drained my glycogen stores.  I am looking and feeling flat, and I DO experience improvements in training and physique when I include a regular weekly carb up.  Holy hell, this speaks EXACTLY to what I wrote about above creating intentional disharmony for the sake of growth: that’s nuts!  

* So all THAT said, I REALLY dug how this carb up shook out.  Homemade bread, local honey, minimally processed nut butters, etc.  Very “clean” carbs, and I tried to go as low fat as possible while keeping protein higher to really shake things up.  The dirtiest carb was the breakfast cereal and, consequentially, it was the least enjoyable part of it.  If I were to do it over, I’d get a sweet potato instead: I always liked those.  Capping it off with the Finibar was the perfect touch, because it’s gentle on the guts and definitely had me feeling satiated, to say nothing of the fact that those things are just goddamn delicious.  I microwaved it, to make it a real treat.  And I went to bed feeling GREAT: not bloated, stuffed, sweating and miserable like I do after the Rampages.  I’m still going to eat what I want from here on out, which means that, if I find myself in a state that a REAL Rampage sounds great, I’ll do exactly that.  The Brunch I had last weekend, with French toast and pancakes and etc, was exactly that. But the brunch I had THIS weekend was ALSO fantastic, and it was pure carnivore.  I’m not going to eat junk just to eat junk, because that’s stupid, but if I want to eat it, there’s a great avenue for it, and otherwise, I know how to get in some carbs and meet the objectives.

* A few other nutrition points: we called this “Carb backloading” back in the day, so that’s cool.  Also, I swapped out the grassfed whole cream I was putting in my coffee with beef broth, which makes it more like a soup, and I’m totally ok with.  I honestly didn’t care for the cream in the coffee: was just looking for an opportunity to consume a bit more animal.  ALSO, I made my egg whites in a mason jar this morning vs my microwave egg cooker, and now there’s no going back.  The fewer heated plastics, the better.

* I pulled the trigger on some "barefoot shoes".  Went with the Ursus

* I legit picked them because they're made of leather and I'm full on embracing this "animal based" thing.  And Brian Alsruhe supports the company, and Chris Duffin is a part owner of it, and it's a North Dakota based company so it all lined up.  I'm excited to give them a go.

* I also bought Brian's newest e-book on EMOM training.  It's evil, as expected.

* Current swing total is 4691 in 7 days.