Training Log: Entry 3367

AM WORKOUT (0415 wake up via back-up alarm: slept through primary)

**OPERATION CONAN** Recon and Scouting

*TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL* Grey Man-Week 3, Workout 1

WARM UP

Roll out on LAX ball

30 seconds in the squat position

50x180 reverse hyper

5xBar w/squats, hold bottom position for 30 seconds

Sets of 85, 135 and 245, overwarm walkout w/335

MAIN WORK

Buffalo Bar Squats

4x3x315

SUPERSET

Axle strict press

4x3x138

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER giant set

(3) Incline DB Bench

4x8x60

NG weighted chins

4x8x15

Standing ab wheel

3x10

SUPPLEMENTAL EXERCISE

GHRs

4x27

TOTAL TRAINING TIME: 46 minutes

BREAKFAST

Moderate walk w/dogs

Notes:

* This is the best training day I’ve had for the entire program.  No pain in the hip, just some discomfort in the knees.  In turn, I was able to move MUCH faster through this workout than previous ones, using approx. 1 min rests between sets on the main work until the final sets, wherein I granted myself 90 seconds.  On the giant sets, I went for 1 min rest at the end of the giant set.  The added weight on the chins was totally ad hoc, but I was feeling it today, and this is still recon and scouting, so I’m getting a good feel on where I need to be.  Today was the day I was most concerned about, but the triples really make it manageable.  

* Those high rep GHRs continue to be absolutely awesome.  Very solid pump in the lower body.

* Felt a little bit of discomfort in the opposite hip of the one that’s been bothering me, specifically on the ab wheel.  Wonder if that’s just compensatory.  Meanwhile, left knee is feeling much more stable.  Press weight was also just about perfect: light enough to allow me some more progress, but heavy enough to be challenging.  In general, I’m just jazzed about how this turned out.

* Weighed in at 81.4 kg (179lbs).  Last week was 79.8 (175.5), and starting weight was 79.1 (174).  There’s an element of artificiality to this weight, as I didn’t have a bowel movement yesterday, and combined with the heavy intake of food, there’s a good amount that’s still in my guts, but I’m appreciating the trend moving upward, and with how strong I felt in my performance today, things are moving in a positive direction.  And to think: people say you can’t gain without carbs.

* Which I then transition to say that tonight is my weekly carby meal.  Looking like some farmer’s casserole and pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies.  Also going to get in a walk later tonight while my kid is at show choir.

* Something I’ve been meaning to log: I’m pretty happy with how I’ve handled eating to gain on this approach.  Though I HAVE upped my cheese intake, it’s been via cottage cheese, which I consider a different entity than traditional cheese.  I dig the protein the fat ratio on it, and the stuff I use is grassfed from Iowa farms nearby.   I’m doing my best to keep the pork rinds level to “acceptable”, and to focus on driving up the meat and eggs as the primary source of growing.

 Training Log: Entry 3366

Today was a good day of rest.  Still having some trouble sleeping, but got out of bed around 0800, another standard breakfast of "Valkyrie Omelets" as we know them, then walking the dogs, doing some chores, more walks and chores.

For lunch, got to Culver's and had 5 burger patties with butter

, and then the leftovers of my kid's burger (ended up being about 1 extra patty with cheddar).

For dinner, tried something new, which was a big enough hit my kid asked for seconds.  Anyone that's a parent KNOWS what a win that is.  This was "bacon cheeseburger casserole"

1.25lbs of bison

1 lb of venison

4oz of goat cream cheese

2 cups of shredded Tillamook cheddar

2 cups of shredded New Zealand grassfed white cheddar

1 cup of heavy whipping cream

50g crumbled bacon

4 pastured eggs

My Valkryie actually went for seconds too, which was awesome.  I had planned on using this to meal prep for the week...but the whole family liked it so much I don't have that many leftovers left.  Worse problems to have: I had a blast making it.  And on the Operation Conan front, though there was no meat on the bone, there was a LOT of ruminant meat in this, and lunch was pure beef, and even my breakfast had beef bacon, a beef hot dog, and beef burger inside the omelet, so we're winning all around.

I'll check to see what the scale and weights have to say on the matter though.

 Training Log: Entry 3365

We got up at 0600 this morning because we had an early appointment to get my puppy registered with a local doggie day care/kennel (they passed, are a total celebrity there now, and this means I can go back to having some more lunches with the Valkyrie during the work week, which is awesome).

Breakfast was the pretty standard weekend breakfast, so I won't redocument that here for Operation Conan.  After that, took the pups for a quick walk.

After dropping off the puppy, we did some chores and got some lunch, which I'll post about momentarily, but upon our return I was able to get in some mat pulls

(5) 9+5+4x405

Using all the tools in my toolbox, I broke out my Spud Inc Gateway Gear briefs, which have been in my garage for a few years now and still had the tag on them.  Today was the day to give them a spin, because though my hip is getting better and better, this kind of training could definitely reduce that.  Along with that, I don't have any sort of competition coming up, nor do I have anything to prove, so setting the weight back a few cycles and using some gear may be just the step back I need to take in order to have a giant running start for a leap forward.  I always liked that analogy.  

I liked the fact I could put the briefs on by myself vs needing a teammate to tug them on.  They're also thin enough that I could still wear my belt at the normal setting.  They gave very little pop off the floor, feeling more like just very snug compression briefs but, in turn, my back didn't feel like it was self-destructing every time I set the bar down.  That's a win.

Only real issue was that the bag snagged on the legs of the briefs at lockout, which is something I run into whenever I wear my strongman shorts as well.  Solution is just to wear some swim trunks over them.

One of the other pros is my back looks absolutely jacked when I squeeze into the briefs. I actually saved the uncut video where you see me walk out because it's such a strong visual

After that, Valkyrie and I went for a 3 mile walk out in the sun.

Ok, lunch: our favorite local pizza place has a deal where, during any college or NFL game, they have $1 wings.  You gotta buy them in sets of 10...so I got 20 bone-in charred naked wings.  Very "Operation Conan"

This place also specializes in cream cheese pizza sauce...so I got some of that on the side.  Cream cheese is carnivore enough for me.

I COULD have eaten all 20, but I felt satiated at 16, so that's when I stopped.  That's honestly pretty cool for me: any time I don't binge or simply eat until the food is gone is pretty awesome.

Which, on that note, I ended up fasting through dinner.  I had the 16 wings at 1130, family did dinner at 1730, and I just plain wasn't hungry.  I picked up Panda Express and brought it home, and smelling it in the restaurant didn't trigger hunger, nor did riding with it in the car, nor did watching my family eat it.  This is anti-Operation Conan as far as "eating to gain" goes, but, again, a big win for eating and living in general.  I'll see what the scale has to say about this on Monday.

Oh yeah, I hit a step PR yesterday: 25,370.  11.9 miles apparently.

 Training Log: Entry 3364

AM WORKOUT (0415 wake up via alarm, slept in with day off work)

**OPERATION CONAN: Recon and Scouting**

*Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol: Grey Man-Week 2, Day 3*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKQp31wnekY

WARM UP

Roll out on LAX ball
50x180 reverse hypers
Warm up sets w/135, 225 and 315 on trap bar

MAIN WORK

Low handle trap bar lift
3x425
3x6x425
3x425

SUPERSET

Axle bench press
4x6x206

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER

Belt squat (Fringe Sport Mammoth belt squat)
4x10x180 loaded

Dips
4x10x30lb

Axle curls
4x10x53

ASSISTANCE

Standing ab wheel
3x10

TOTAL TRAINING TIME: 58 minutes

BREAKFAST

2 mile walk w/dogs

Notes:

* Ran into some issues gripping the handles today.  Trap bar tipped forward HARD on the first set and slightly on the third set.  I could salvage the latter, but I had to abandon course on the first set after 3 reps.  I gave it a re-attempt, but I'm still being cautious with the hip and breaking the bar again seemed liked a bad call, so I compensated with an additional set of 3 to get in my total volume.

* My hips felt awesome during the heavy training.  I was able to set the weight down quickly and get back up.  Where I ran into issues was on the belt squats, which I imagine is simply unfamiliarity with the implement.  It wasn't DURING the movement, but, once again, racking it and walking away.  Got a few tweaks and twinges.  I've had to change my perspective on "healing" during this.  It's not going to be overnight: I have "healing PRs".  2 weeks ago, I was in agony DURING the training AND after.  It transitioned to pain halfway through the training and after, then no pain during the training but pain after, and now no pain during or after training but occasional twinges.  Eventually, that will go away too.

* Benching felt VERY strong today.  I think re-learning the movement is going a long way.

* I think I'm going to stack a few more mats on the belt squat and really sink them low.  I'm getting in a better way with them.

* Training ran a little longer than usual with that extra set of pulls.  In general, I wasn't really feeling strong coming in this morning: most likely need to get in some more food, which I've got some steak and eggs planned for lunch today, since I have the day off to do some cooking.

* Also planning on getting in another long walk out in the sun today.  I know I'm technically "overwalking" with the program, but the walks with the dogs/leisure I'm not considering conditioning.  I definitely let my stride be casual.

 Training Log: Entry 3363

**OPERATION CONAN** Recon and Scouting

AM WORKOUT (0408 natural wake up)

Roll out on LAX ball

2 minute hang from bar, pull up every 30 seconds

65x320 reverse hypers

60 minute treadmill walk at 3.6mph and 4 incline

BREAKFAST

Moderate walk w/dogs

13k+ steps before 0800

Notes:

* Wanted today to be very low stress/recovery focused and compromised by keeping the elevation on the low side and upping the walking speed by .1mph.  Results were fantastic: I’m legit pain free in that hip.  I actually forgot how it felt to not have pain there: it’s interesting to just be mobile again.  My knees are still achy, so I’m not totally out of the woods, but the biggest issue has been resolved.  I’m going to keep on with this proactive strategy until it becomes a burden, but right now it’s pretty low drag on my lifestyle and the results are very positive.

* Got to bed a little later than usual last night.  Been sleeping very well these past few days.  

* Got to spar 3 rounds last night: one against the senior student and 2 against black belts, to include our Dojang’s resident sparring champ.  Hip was playing well enough that I had most of my arsenal available.  I tried to focus on footwork and angles to create openings.  I got a little frustrated against the sparring champ: he’s about 5” taller than me, and is often awarded points for body punches that are in no way threatening, but his long limbs make them appear as though he’s scored.  So I played “dirty”, went back to boxing, Dempsey rolled inside his defense and got in a bodyjab.  I then went back to actually doing Tang Soo Do in my Tang Soo Do class, but it was nice for me to know I still had that in me if I needed it.

* Meant to document that part of my approach to healing has been to include more gelatin in my diet.  I've been mixing a pack with 2-3 of my Metabolic Drive "shakes", which are really puddings because I use a splash of hot water.  The hot water makes the gelatin sticky, and creates a caramel/taffy like texture.  But specifically, it's full of collagen, which is supposed to be helpful for healing.

* Also wanted to note that Thursday was my events day in my previous training cycle, and if I woke up to that this morning, I would have flat out not done it.  These walking days really are a boon for me.

 Training Log: Entry 3362

AM WORKOUT (0400 Wake up via alarm)

**OPERATION CONAN: Recon and Scouting**

*Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol: Grey Man-Week 2, Day 2*

WARM UP

Roll out on LAX ball

15 GHRs

50x180 reverse hypers

30 seconds at the bottom of a squat

Warm up squat sets w/bar, 85, 135, 185, 245 and an overwarm walkout w/335

MAINWORK

Buffalo Bar Squats

4x6x295

SUPERSET

Axle strict press

4x6x133

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER (giant set)

(3) Incline DB bench

4x10x55

NG chins

4x13 (rest as long as needed to get the reps)

Standing ab wheel

3x10

SUPPLEMENTAL EXERCISE (off camera)

GHRs

4x24

Total training time: 53.5 minutes

BREAKFAST

Moderate walk w/dogs

Notes:

* This was definitely a great day as far as pain management went.  Thorough warm up, tried out GHRs beforehand to help my knees feel well, and I remembered my trick about squatting out of the bar after unrack vs walking out, and it all added up well.  I didn’t experience any significant pain DURING the sets, and just had some post set pain in the immediate time.  Really focused hard on bracing.  Actually tried out my belt during the warm ups with 185 and decided against it.  It didn’t seem to help much one way or the other, so I figured I’d continue going beltless and getting the benefit from that.  

* Sets were challenging my manageable all around.  Really got the numbers dialed in.  I also really dig how the A-B-A, B-A-B structure is setting me up on this.  Only having one day of squatting this week really helps me bounce back after last week.

* Took to hanging from the bar in between sets of the main work to help decompress my back and get in a little sneaky grip work.  

* Was aiming for about 90 seconds between sets on the main work, and 60 seconds on the supplemental circuits.  Occasionally ran longer than that.  Remembering K Black's instruction to rest long enough to get all the reps.

* Glad I decided to up my max on the GHRs: I’m getting an awesome pump with these high reps.  

* Once again: loving how this program has me excited to train again.  Really can speak highly of it from that perspective.  

* Sparring last night had me last until the final round against our Dojang’s resident champion.  Had to go through a junior student and then our senior student to get there.  Hips and knees were bugging me a little going in, making it difficult to pivot a few times, but I surprised most of my opponents with some off-angle kicks and tricks.  In the final round, I fell victim to the angle of the observing judges, but gave a good fight.  Got to watch my kiddo and Valkryie put on an awesome display as well: always good when we don’t have to square off against each other.  We have another night of it tonight.

 Training Log: Entry 3361

AM WORKOUT (0410 wake up via alarm)

**OPERATION CONAN** Recon and Scouting Phase

Roll out on LAX ball

65x320lb reverse hypers

3.25 mile treadmill walk at 3.5mph pace

First half mile at 4.0 incline, then increase by 1.0 each half mile until finishing mile 3 at 9, then finish last .25 miles at incline 4

BREAKFAST

Short walk w/dogs (got rained out)

Notes:

* I am really just a big fan of this training program right now. Been a while since I’ve felt that way. These days are so awesome for my recovery, and key me up for the next big day of training. My hip continues to improve, and I frequently forget that it’s in pain at this point. My left knee is getting wonky on me: it got loose going down the stairs in a hurry yesterday. It’s on the opposite side of my ACL injury, but still worth watching. Thankfully, no competitions on the horizon, aside from some martial arts tournaments.  

* I got in some extra walking yesterday while my kid was at rehersal, and even found some stairs to go up and down a few times. Helped me get to over 10k steps.

* I’ve got Tang Soo Do tonight, and it’s our sparring week, so that will be good for some extra activity.

* Carb up meal was a success last night. 2 servings of spaghetti with bison meat sauce, 2 slices of garlic bread, some leftover deviled eggs and 4 of the Valkyrie’s pumpkin cookies with some honey from Cabo. I really dig where I’m at with this meal these days: I look forward to it.  

* Reverse hypers on LAX ball really seem to be working magic for the recovery. I should learn my lesson and make this a regular thing. I don’t want to make it “daily work”, but I can think of it as prehab.

 Training Log: Entry 3360

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

**OPERATION CONAN: Recon and Scouting**

*Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol: Grey Man-Week 1, Day 3*

WARM UP

Roll out on LAX ball

50x180 reverse hyper

Warm up sets of 135, 225 and 315 on trap bar lift

MAIN WORK

Low handle trap bar lift

4x6x425

SUPERSET

Axle bench press

4x6x206

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER GIANT SET

Fringe Sport Mammoth Belt Squat

4x10x180 (4 plates)

Dips

4x10x30lb

Axle curls

4x10x53

ASSISTANCE

3x10 standing ab wheel

50x10lb lateral raises

TOTAL TRAINING TIME: 53 minutes

BREAKFAST

Moderate walk w/dogs

Notes:

* I really love how I am legit excited to train again.  That’s the biggest boon with this program so far.  And that’s WHILE dealing with this stupid injury, which is a bit of puzzle solving in and of itself.  When I’m fully healthy (or whatever that looks like for me these days), I’m really going to tear things up.  The training itself still sucks, but I’m excited for the challenge, and I really dig how I can get all the required stuff done inside about 40 minutes.  That’s the sweet spot for me these days.

* Hip continues to heal.  I feel like Wolverine in “Logan”, where I still have the power, it just doesn’t work as fast as it used to.  But staying diligent on the rolling and hypers has it so that I’m no longer in pain post workout AND I have minimal pain during the workout.  Getting up earlier to get in a little more warming up is paying off.  I actually feel like my last set on the trap bar was my best as far as recovery goes, as I was able to stand straight up after setting the weight down without issue.  Although my first 2 sets were painfree DURING execution, whereas I crunched the nerve a little on the last 2 sets.  Either way: I’ll take the W however I get it.

* Weights are really dialed in just about perfect on this day as far as the main work goes, and even the supplemental cluster is pretty solid.  I already went 10lbs higher than RX for the dips, and I think I can do more than that.  I’ll keep tweaking as I go.  Really glad I decided to settle on a recon and scouting phase.

* I REALLY like my new toy.  That belt squat is SO much better than what I was doing with a straight landmine.  Having the loading pin face up vs forward really allows for a lot more ROM, and the kickstand just makes set up a dream.  You can see how quickly I’m able to get things in place.  And with my 100lb plates available, I should have no issue going stupidly heavy if I decide to do so.  Stacking a few mats underneath really allowed me to get down deep.  I can feel a slight pull on my right knee if I don’t have the set-up right, but otherwise it’s solid.  This opens up a LOT of avenues, and if I go back to DoggCrapp, I have a great tool here.

* Left knee is more stable.  I’m not sure exactly what I did to it before, but it’s good to see it wasn’t anything too worrisome.

* Forgot to weigh in this morning pre-workout, but weighed in 79.8 post workout.  Last week’s post workout weight was 79.1, and first thing in the morning weigh in after a buffet dinner was 80.4, so I can weigh in tomorrow after tonight’s carb up and see how that looks, but I’m willing to call this progress.  Gotta get comfortable weighing myself on the regular again.  I wanna document this to a pretty good extent.  Progress photos would be dandy, but I’m not holding my breath on that.

 Training Log: Entry 3359

Some more meal documentation for Operation Conan

This is a pretty standard weekend breakfast

2 omelets, each with 3 pastured eggs, some grassfed swiss and ghee and steak.  On top is grassfed sour cream.  Alongside is grassfed cottage cheese, some sugar free bacon (this is pork, but I prefer beef), a  grassfed organic hot dog, and some pork cracklin

I had that this morning after waking up around 0750 and knocking out my 50 push ups and squats.  Took the dogs for a 1.5 mile walk after breakfast, got some chores knocked out, came home, walked the dog again, fasted through lunch (I prefer 2 BIG meals vs 3 moderate ones), more chores, then worked on putting together a tailgate spread for dinner

11 carnivore deviled eggs with grassfed sour cream and cottage cheese for the filling, alongside 7 beef back ribs (just smoke, salt, duck fat and ghee), a spread of kosher beef salami, Tillamook cheddar, some venison sticks from this fall, and then some pizza rolls and brazillian cheese bread for my carb eaters.

This was my plate, and very much fitting of Operation Conan

I went back for a few more eggs after that.  Got some great leftovers for later in the week.

Played with my belt squat and got a feel for what I want to use tomorrow.  Did calculations for this week, discovered I made a few errors last week.  Once again: recon and scouting

DAY A

Squat:

4-5x6x295

Press:

4-5x6x130

DB bench

4x10x55

NG chins

4x14

GHRs

4x18 (realized I used 80% last time…I might just keep going up there instead, for 4x24)

DAY B

Trap Bar lift

4-5x6x425

Bench

4-5x6x206

Dips

4-6x10x195 (20lbs)

Curls

4-5x10x50

Belt squats

4-5x10x180 (4 plates)

Carb up meal tomorrow with bison spaghetti and some absolutely baller pumpkin cookies the Valkyrie made.  These are great times.

 Training Log: Entry 3358

This is a lot of cool stuff.

Slept until about 0700, got up around 0800, got in my squats and push ups.  I've settled on a pattern of 15 squats-10 push ups-15-10-20-30 to get 50 of each.

Valkyrie made me breakfast.  Went a little lighter, since I was still satiated from the full rack of ribs, and just had the 2 omelets with steak and grassfed swiss/ghee topped with grassfed sour cream, one grassfed hot dog and 2 strips of sugar free bacon.  Ended up having 1.5 strips extra, as my kid didn't eat there's and it's never going to be as good as when it's fresh.  Walked the dogs for about 1.5 miles.

We got some chores done, and for lunch went to Culver's.  They know me there now, and right away rung up 4 burger patties, which I put some grassfed butter on. 

 Also had what was left of my kid's double cheddar burger (about 1 more patty of beef worth)

Got home and tried to do some mat pulls.  It went ok

425+chains for 2 singles.  

Still getting pain on the pull and the set down, but it goes away when the session is over.  It's a funny sort of progress.  But on the topic of progress, it dawned on me that I don't HAVE to use 425+chains.  That was the next step forward, but I could always walk the weights back and try to beat my previous best on reps instead.  That may be the way forward.  I've got nothing but time.  Another COA is to use my Spud "gateway briefs" to help me through this.  I'll consider that.

After that, I built my new belt squat attachment with kickstand.  

It's AWESOME.  I'm so excited to use it, and I can also use it for rows and some other landmine shenanigans

I sweated out like I was cutting weight for wrestling building that damn thing in my garage: it's HUMID today.  After this, we went out for dinner, and it was a Conan win: talked the Valkyrie into ordering the cheese and meat platter as an appetizer, and we all loved it, to include the kiddo.  I got a bacon cheeseburger for entree, and I asked "Hey, I don't really care about the sides: could the chef just give me some extra bacon on the side instead?" and they were totally cool with it.  That's a win.  My kiddo ordered the same burger and got halfway through it, so I had what was left of theirs as well.  It's nice to not have to worry about weight classes again and just get strong.

Took the dog for a 2 mile walk when I got home.  

For those following along, the mat pulls are NOT part of Tactical Barbell, but it's just something I feel fit to keep in my programming.  Ideally, without this stupid pain.

 Training Log: Entry 3357

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

**OPERATION CONAN: Recon and Scouting**

*Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol: Grey Man-Week 1, Day 3*

WARM UP

Roll out hip on LAX ball

50x180 reverse hypers

Buffalo bar squats w/bar, 85lb, 135, 175, 225, and overwarm unrack w/315

MAIN WORK

Buffalo Bar Squat

4x8x275

SUPERSET

Axle strict press

4x8x118

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER w/ASSISTANCE

(3) Incline DB bench

4x12x50

NG chins

4x12 (rest as long as needed to get the reps)

Standing ab wheel

3x10

SUPPLEMENTAL LIFT

GHR

4x21

BREAKFAST

Short walk w/dogs

Notes:

* Woke up 10 minutes earlier than usual so I could spend more time warming up, and I think it paid off.  I was still experiencing pain DURING the workout, but post workout I’m feeling very spry, whereas on day 1 I was hobbled.  You can still see me struggling on the unrack: on the final set, I took to just squatting out of the bar, and I think that’s going to be my way forward from now on.  Just unracking and walking away is painful, but fully decompressing at the bottom feels alright.  I should probably spend some time just getting my body moving FASTER in general under the bar, as I do imagine that would help, but with a torn meniscus in both knees, I’m a little gunshy in the morning.  

* This was with the new maxes, and they’re pretty spot on.  It’s clear I CAN operate with these maxes, but it’s also clear that I NEED to eat if I want to keep this up, which is exactly where I want to be on a mass gaining program.

* My shoulders are also sore: something I noticed yesterday.  Program is hitting in all the right ways.

* Reverse hypers as a warm up is really just something I should have been doing years ago.  Really sets me up right.  I might consider some GHRs too, in a similar method as John Meadows hamstring curls before squats.

* Got in over 23k steps yesterday, which my watch said was a new personal record.  Mrs wanted a walk after dinner, and that’s not something I’d ever say no to.

Operation Conan meals continue

20240920_1836021920×2560 681 KB

Careful observers will note that the ribs are stacked like a row of shark’s teeth: there are TWO there, as this is a full rack, with pulled pork. Does this violate my ruminant meat goal? Yes, but here is your fun fact of the day

17268796824857297010248715234284720×694 56.1 KB

Pork is good enough for Valhalla: good enough for me. I also dig how this is so very anti-JudeoChristian to PRIZE rather than consider it “unclean”

And speaking of vikings, my Valkyrie bought me an incredible gift

20240920_1925251920×1440 374 KB

She felt bad my old one was in such disrepair, so she bought me a replacement AND a great hoodie for this winter. Get you a spouse like that.

 Training Log: Entry 3356

AM WORKOUT (0410 wake up via alarm)

**OPERATION CONAN: Recon and Scouting**

Roll out on LAX ball

60x320lb reverse hyper

2:05 hang from bar

3.36 mile treadmill walk

First mile 3.5 pace at 4 incline, then 5, then 6, then 7 for the remainder (time was slightly over 57 minutes)

BREAKFAST

Moderate walk w/dogs

Total steps before work: 12029

Notes:

* I am at a point where I’m actually looking forward to these workouts, which is so completely different from the last training cycle.  These really seem to help me recover.  Ditching the 80lb vest was most likely part of that, and when I do bring back the vest, I’ll stick with K. Black’s recommendation of 30lbs.  But it’s nice to have a system in place where I smash myself one day and build back up to do it again.  Dan John’s Mass Made Simple had a similar approach.

* Before I forget, my left knee went loose on me yesterday, which is the knee I had ACL reconstructive surgery on.  I noticed it during ab wheel, and it was acting up a little in Tang Soo Do.  It’s a bit stiff/swollen today.  Not sure if the weather is playing a role: humidity is up and we have some thunderstorms.  I’ll keep a watch on it.

* The reverse hypers continue to be VERY beneficial toward the recovery on my hip/glute.  I’m really focusing on the eccentric, letting my legs swing through and spine decompress.  I tend to get in another round of them with bodyweight later in the day, to keep it up, along with rolling on the LAX ball.  Hanging from the chinning bar was also good.  I didn’t do the 30 second chins this time, but it’s nice to maintain that grip strength.

* I’m planning on walking back the squat weight 10lbs tomorrow, and the press weight 5.  Though I CAN get the 4x8 squats done, as demonstrated on Monday, I think giving myself some room to grow will be the right call.  I’m also thinking of waking up 10 minutes earlier so I can have more time to warm-up, which goes against so much of what I’ve done before, but I keep saying “doing what you’ve always done will get you the results you always get”.  I’m here to get something different.

* I know it's not "supposed" to matter, but it's honestly pretty awesome that I'm experiencing some soreness again.  My pecs, hamstrings and abs in particular.  Novel stimulus, sure, but just a nice reminder that I still have something in me.

 Training Log: Entry 3355

AM WORKOUT (0410 wake up via alarm)

**OPERATION CONAN: Recon and Scouting**

*Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol: Grey Man-Week 1, Day 1*

WARM UP

50x180 reverse hyper

Sets of bench and trap bar pulls

MAIN WORK

Low handle trap bar pull

4x8x395

SUPERSET

Axle bench press

2x8x216

1x7x216

6+3(rest pause)x216

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER (as a giant set)

Dips

4x12xBW

Chins

1x7

3x6

Axle curls

4x12x43lb

ASSISTANCE CIRCUIT (off camera, no rest between rounds)

Standing ab wheel

3x10

Reverse hyper

3x20x90

Band pull aparts

3x20

Total training time: 50:45

BREAKFAST

Moderate walk w/dogs

Notes:

* I am really digging how long these sessions are running. Just about 40 minutes to get all the required work done, and then 10 minutes to myself to work the assistance. And in that, I AM keeping with the author’s recommendations, wherein he says to NOT add anything to the program in terms of curls, raises, etc, but if we want to do some core work, to include pull aparts, that’s fine. So here I am doing that.

* Still some GI issues this morning. Most likely nachos aren’t the best training fuel. Realistically, I imagine it was the egglife wraps that I turned into chips, as those are the most “processed” food that I eat. My kid brought up the idea of walking tacos/nacho bowls next time, and that’s pretty brilliant. I could just crumble up some pork cracklin there to get the crunch. But really, the only reason I’m bringing this up is that it limited my time just a touch.

* THAT said, I still made it a point to roll out my hip with the LAX ball before stepping into the gym, and then to warm up with those reverse hypers, and it was an absolute game changer. I started the workout with a lower back pump already, and though I experienced some minor hip pain, I was in a far better state than Monday. No hobbling. You can see me on the first set of the pulls that I am being VERY ginger and deliberate, with super controlled eccentrics, just getting a feel for things. What’s unique about the pain is that I’m totally fine UNDER load, but when I rack/set down the weight, pain sets it. Definitely a nerve issue. Only experienced some pain on the final set of the trap bar pulls.

* Bench weight is a touch too heavy, and I even walked it down 5lbs from the original starting weight. I’m thinking a training max rather than a 1rm would be the better call here, despite what the author says, although that’s most likely because I employed a 1rm calculator vs actual testing, and as we’ve seen, my ability to grind high reps definitely does not equate to my ability to hit max weights. Chins were also ambitious at 4x10: 4x6 was more within my capabilities. Again: recon and scouting. Got no ego here either: will lower things so I can build up. Don’t need to race to a stall.

* Kept rests close to a minute in the earlier sets, and then just as needed for later sets. Don’t need to be a “short rest hero” here: need to get the reps.

* Tang Soo Do was actually a solid workout last night. Got in a lot of physical training, and we even worked some board breaks at the end. We used the plastic re-breakable boards, which are actually quite a bit tougher than real wood, since you have to hit them DEAD on center. I made it a point to use the same level of resistance as the black belts for every technique, and was able to break on my first try, which was awesome. Got another class tonight.

* Came out at 18.5k steps yesterday, and once again, that’s not counting any of the ones from work or TSD. Getting a new puppy has really upped my activity.

* Thinking about progression, K. Black says "4-5 sets" in his instruction for the main work, and that just makes a lot of sense to me.  I plan to run 2 3-week cycles back to back, and during that time I won't raise the maxes, but will instead transition from 4 sets to 5 sets.  After that, THEN I'll raise the maxes, and go back to 4 sets.  This can allow me to progress while keeping the weight the same.  Slow and steady.

 Training Log: Entry 3354

AM WORKOUT (0406 natural wake up, snoozed until 0410)

**OPERATION CONAN** Recon and Scouting Phase

Reverse hyper

60x320lb

3 mile treadmill walk

3.5 mph and 4 incline first mile, 5 incline second, 6 incline final

BREAKFAST

Moderate walk w/dogs

Notes:

* My hip felt better when I woke up, but still stiff.  I rolled it out this morning, which helped, but the reverse hypers were really pretty magical.  I’m going to steal from Dan John for this protocol: “the warm up IS the workout”.  Reverse hypers need to be one of the first things I do upon getting into the gym.  Louie knew what he was doing when he built this machine.  I actually had a co-worker ask me yesterday “Do you have a herniated disc?” based on how I was walking, because he was similarly afflicted…and honestly there’s a fair chance the answer is “yes”.  I have a physical coming up in Oct and can see about getting some imaging, but I’m happy I can find a way to get to yes in the interim.  Without a competition to train for, there’s far less pressure to “get good”, and I can use this training phase to really stretch my legs, settle in, groove some quality reps grow and heal.

* Which, on that note, this was an easier day of walking, similar to what I was doing right before the competition.  It falls within the 30-60 minutes of walking that K. Black advises for the conditioning during General Mass, and is going to be my primary means moving forward.  In truth, one of the big reasons is I have a LOT of Netflix to catch up on, and I’m genuinely enjoying watching it while I walk.   I’ve spent so long enduring suffering in my training, and I put on display in this last comp that I still “got it”, so I can take some time to find some joy while I train now.  When I move to the specialization phase, I can suffer a little more.

* I got in an extra 2.3 mile walk yesterday while my kid was at a practice.  Came in around 14k steps, and this morning I had 12k before 0730, so that’s pretty awesome.

* My hamstrings are SORE today.  Those GHRs are really showing themselves.

* Going PSMF today until dinner, which is going to be some steak nachos with homemade nacho cheese (using goat cream cheese and tilimook shedder), using pork cracklin for chips.  That should be anabolic.  High in those super rare amiño acids.  

* Tang Soo Do is on the schedule for tonight.  It’s “Wildcard week”, and since we have a tournament coming up in the start of Oct, I imagine we’ll be doing preparation for that.  I’m going to do a creativity board breaking demonstration, which should be fun, and I’m signed up for a fair deal of sparring, which would be MORE fun if we were allowed contact…

 Training Log: Entry 3353

AM WORKOUT (0405 natural wake up)

**OPERATION CONAN: Recon and Scouting**

*Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol: Grey Man-Week 1, Day 1*

MAIN WORK SUPERSET

Buffalo bar squats

4x8x285

Axle strict press from rack

3x8x123

6+1+1x123

SUPPLEMENTAL WORK GIANT SET

(3) DB incline bench

8x60

3x12x50

NG Chins

4x12 (took as long as necessary to get the reps in each set)

Standing ab wheel

3x10

SUPPLEMENTAL WORK STRAIGHT SETS

GHR

4x21

TOTAL TRAINING TIME: 52:30

BREAKFAST

Moderate walk w/dogs

Notes:

* First day of the new program, I’m calling this Recon and Scouting because I’m using this as an opportunity to assess where I am and what needs altering.  Right away I discovered my max is too high on the DB bench, most likely because I’m accomplishing it right after the presses.  My presses may be a hair too high, but resting longer might help.  I got up earlier than usual, but had to attend to some GI distress due to yesterday’s feasting.  I feel, absent of that, I’ll be able to give the adequate recovery time AND warm up time to make this viable, as my knee and hip were screaming at me on those squats, and I feel like I have the tools to make that NOT happen if I’m smart about it.

* The squats WERE tough, but more from a pain management perspective.  I almost lost the second rep of the third set: felt myself fall forward with it.  Being able to recover it and finish out the set is a good sign.

* I am violating my “more trouble than I am worth” principles and pressing out of the rack.  Taking lessons from history, my press was the strongest when I trained it out of the rack, and my time away from doing that got me weaker, so I’m going to swallow my pride and do what works.

* On that topic, treating GHRs as a single set exercise was a mistake.  I got a ridiculous pump with those 4 straight sets.  There is a lot of value in that.  

* It’s incredibly humid, and combined with some carb sweats, I was soaked.  I am also STILL quite full from that meal last night, so “Operation Conan” is off to the start with some fasting.  I’m waiting until I feel hungry again.  But I’ve been feasting since Friday, and I’m not too concerned about that.

* Which, on that note, when I woke up yesterday, I was feeling kinda fluish and had no appetite.   I’m pretty sure that sandbag carry gave me a touch of CNS flu.  I had a smaller breakfast, fasted through lunch, and absolutely feasted in the evening.  Was an interesting experience.

UPDATE

Ended up fasting until dinner, and then whipped this up

5 pastured eggs, grassfed ghee, grassfed burger patty, topped with swiss and grassfed sour cream. 

 COMPETITION REPORT: FIRST PLACE FINISH AND NEW STATE RECORD AT 2024 NEBRASKA'S STRONGEST MAN MLW (181)

**VIDEO AND RESULTS**

 

* Here is the competition

 

* I took first place AND set a state record in the farmer’s hold for time (220lb for 43 seconds, beating previous record by 3 seconds).

 

**THE BACKGROUND**

 

* This competition was one I picked out after a July competition got canceled on me.  It had similar events to the July comp, so the transition wasn’t too tough.  The big thing was, it meant I spent a LOT of time in a more specific mode of training vs base building, and a LOT of time being skinny, as I don’t cut weight for competitions and therefore wanted to be able to comfortably show up within the 181lb class weigh in.

 

* I’ll have to detail the specifics of the training phase sometime, as I’m really happy with how it turned out, but it was a multi-phased approach, starting out with getting out of DoggCrapp shape and into strongman shape, then re-developing skills, then developing max strength, and then a taper/deload.  I showed up to the competition feeling good, and left feeling that way too.  Been a LONG time since I felt that way.

 

* I woke up STUPIDLY underweight, at 80.4kg, and that was after eating at a buffet the night before and weighing in at 79.1kg.  So I had an awesome breakfast of 3 different steaks and 4 pastured eggs, swimming in grassfed ghee 

, drank a 30oz green tea and electrolyte mixture on the way to the comp, and still weighed in at 180.8 with clothes on.  Mission accomplished: I showed up making weight and VERY well fed.  And I didn’t need to eat for the entire competition with that meal, so that was awesome: one less thing to deal with.

 

**THE EVENTS**

 

EVENT 1: Last Man Standing Silver Dollar Deadlift

 

* This was the event I was most concerned about, since my hip has been bothering me for a few weeks now.  I showed up pretty late to the comp, and warm-ups were already pretty heavy.  I stepped up to about 495 loaded, pulled it for a slow rep and felt my hip twinge a little bit, so I shut it down.  Eventually, the women started warming up, and I jumped in on lighter weights and managed to pull pain free for a few reps there.

 

* But all of this became a non-issue, as the guy I was competing against jumped in at the opener of 365, to which I waited until 405 was loaded.  We were doing 10lb jumps, and they kept calling higher and higher.  When it got to 425, the other competitor asked me “How high are you going today?”  I said “I don’t know”, because I genuinely had no plan (Chaos is, of course, the plan), to which he said “Because I’m done”.

 

* …well bleep.  At first I was curious if he was playing some sort of game, but he seemed like a genuine dude, so I took him at his word.  I took 455 just to get in a higher number, and felt my hip not feel great, and then I waited for 505 just to get a 500 pull, which was my third attempt and final.  First place finish.

 

EVENT 2: Max Distance 40lb Sandbag Throw

 

* A recurring theme for this comp was that I misread the weights for my training.  I thought this was a 35lb throw, but it was actually 40.  The 40lb bag here actually DID feel lighter than my 35lb bag at home though, so that was good.  My training for this event to just get in throws whenever I could, Easy Strength style, but I never really tried to learn or study a technique for it.  Watching people in the warm-ups, I saw techniques that made a LOT more sense than what I did in training, and decided I would abandon the plan as needed.

 

* You’ll see my “plan” on my first throw: a two handed hammer throw style approach, which got me a paltry 16’ and some change.  I needed to beat 25’.  So with that, I adopted the 1 handed style I saw other dudes using and got 22’.  So close!  Tried it again for my third attempt, and it was apparently not as far as my second attempt: they didn’t tell me the distance.  I lost this event, but at least I learned a better approach for the future. 

 

EVENT 3: Axle Clean and Press Ladder (160-180-200lb axles)

 

* This was the OTHER event where I misread the weights, thinking it was 150-170-190.  I got 190 in training out of a rack, never off the floor, once again trying to work around my hip.  This was also my first time trying out my Cerberus grip shirt.  I honestly hate the idea of grip shirts, but I liked the design on it enough that I finally went and bought one.

 

* The guy I was competing against struggled on the continental with the 200lb axle, and for a moment I thought he wasn’t going to get it, but he eventually popped it up and secured 3 reps.  I approached 160 and it moved smooth enough.  180 felt heavier than I would have liked.  And then I went for 200 and it was STUPIDLY heavy.  I absolutely rested it on the belt for far longer than should be been allowed, and the grip shirt REALLY worked well, but I had to effectively limbo under the bar before it got into the rack position.  I went for a press, got it part way up, and that was game over.  My press has honestly fallen apart: it used to be one of the strongest parts of my game.  Dropping my bodyweight definitely has an impact there, but I really just need to get back to basics and struggle under a bar.  I’ve been doing a lot of dips because I like them and I’m good at them, but they’re not what is going to build my press compared to just some hard pressing.  At this point, I’d won 1 event and lost 2, which meant I had to win the next 2 events if I wanted to come home with a win.

 

EVENT 4: Max Distance 220lb sandbag carry

 

* This was THE event I was most excited about, which sounds nutty to just about anyone else, but if you “know” me, you know that I THRIVE in an environment where it’s simply a question of who can deal with the most suffering.  I read the rules so many times and they made it clear: as long as the sandbag doesn’t hit the floor, you can keep going.  So I spent a LOT of time training on keeping the sandbag lapped and recovering.  About the only thing that was of concern was my hip and knees, because picking up the bag and carrying it beat the hell out of them.

 

* The other guy went first, which was a HUGE stroke of luck for me, because it meant I KNEW what I had to beat, vs having to just go for max distance.  He went for near 3.5 laps of a 50’ track, and I had marked off his failure point in his mind, so I knew what I needed to do.

 

* You can see in the video it was a slow and stable pick, and I tried to get the bag as high up as I could to allow my hips some mobility.  I moved ok for the first 2 trips…and then the most epic sandbag carry of all time happened.  Like the Little Engine That Could, “I think I can I think I can”, I would just meander a few feet ahead, lap the bag, rest, regroup and go.  The biggest issue I had to contend with is that the bag was getting slippery as I went, and slightly off center, so I wasn’t able to get great re-grips when I’d start again, resulting in shorter and shorter runs…but I NEVER stopped moving forward.  I inched my was just ever so slightly past where I needed to be, and unfortunately the video cuts off before the very end, but I tossed the bag just a few extra feet from me to make sure I had it.  In the end, I beat the other guy by 4.5’, with a near 5 minute sandbag run.  I’m sure I COULD have gone even further if I needed to, but thank goodness I didn’t, because I was SPENT after that.  I made a noise like a set of dying bagpipies, and went and laid down.  Also, I forgot to take off my fit tracker, and found out my heart rate got up to 160 during that event, which may not sound high, but when you factor in that my resting heart rate is 38, it meant I was pretty redlined.

 

EVENT 5: Farmer’s Hold for Time (220lb per hand)

 

* So now we’re tied: 2-2, meaning whoever won this final event won the competition.  I’d been training for this event primarily by hanging from my chinning bar and doing a pull up every 30 seconds (something I stole from Dan John), with a once a week training where I’d actually hold onto a loaded up trap bar for time.  My grip strength isn’t super awesome, but I was progressing well in training.  But, really, the big thing was that this was ANOTHER event premised around “who can endure the most suck”

 

* I chalked up, set my grip, pulled slow, shut my eyes and immediately starting singing “Somewhat Damaged” in my head as a way to distract myself from the experience.  With my eyes closed, I was listening, and I knew that, once I heard plates hit the floor, I was in the clear, but I ALSO knew I’d have to hold on for a few more seconds after that because we didn’t necessarily start EXACTLY at the same time.  As I was holding, all I could think of was “I am NOT going to lose because of this event”.  Did it suck holding the handles?  Yeah…but apparently it sucked more for the other guy, because I eventually heard the very noise I was waiting for.  I stuck with the plan and held on for a few more seconds…which is what got me a state record!  Previous record was 40 seconds, and I held on for 43.  So I guess my grip strength IS ok.

 

**WAY FORWARD**

 

* I don’t have any other strongman competitions on the horizon.  I have a grappling competition on 8 Dec, with a top weight of 185lbs, so I’m not worried about making weight there.  It’s clear my press needs to be brought up, and I need to not push my hip so hard that I break.  I want to get back to basics and focus on growing muscle and getting stronger, because I’m definitely at a point of leanness where I can start growing, and with summer ending and a birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas and a Cruise all approaching, I’m going to have an excellent opportunity to eat well.

 

* For training, I’m planning on running the Tactical Barbell Mass Protocol.  Reading the book got me excited about training, and it seems like what I need: basic and brutal.  I like that it has an opportunity to focus on my chins as well, because they’ve degraded quite a bit, and the conditioning will suit me well.  Nutritionally, I’m sticking with carnivore, and focusing on the meat and eggs and keeping the dairy on the low side.  And on the meat side, focusing on ruminant animals vs monogastric. 

 

 

* I may continue to bust out some throws here and there, to keep them grooved, and occasionally I’ll allow myself some sort of stupid strongman WOD to scratch that itch, but for the most part, I’m excited about getting back to my roots.

 Training Log: Entry 3352

AM WORKOUT (0410 wake up via alarm)

**PRE-COMPETITION DELOAD**

3+ mile treadmill walk at 3.5 pace and 4.0 incline

50 bodyweight reverse hypers

BREAKFAST

Moderate walk w/dogs 

Notes:

* Continuing to keep it easy.  In turn, I am feeling the best I have felt in a LONG time.  No knee pain, hip/glute pain is almost entirely eliminated, no nerve twinges, full mobility, etc.  I’ve frequently said “life gives you deloads”, and that is often true, but I’m learning a lot from this intentional deload.  I definitely need to make this a regular occurrence during those times when I’m pushing the training hard.  In general, Phyrexian Dreadnought was a smashing success irrespective of my competition performance, because it was a great self-guided approach to getting myself back into strongman shape, intensifying, and recovering.  

* With all the activity this morning, I had 10500 steps before 0800/getting into work.  That was oddly satisfying.  My watch is saying my resting heart rate is 36 as well, which is dandy.  It DOES make it tough when I’m working hard and I look down and see 72 as my heart rate, and then I have to realize that’s double my RHR.  I also ended up pushing the distance a little further today because I was watching an episode of “Cobra Kai” that was at a REAL good part and I wanted to keep watching.

* Which, on that note, I think I’m going to upset Jamie Lewis and spend more time on the treadmill these days.  I’m finding joy walking on it and watching TV, and it keeps me honest with my pacing.  I’ll throw on a weighted vest every once in a while, but otherwise will just play with the incline.  

* Which on THAT note, right now it’s not a big deal anyways, as I’m still getting plenty of time out in the sun with walking my puppy and daily chores.  I did like 5 hours of yard work yesterday, shirtless and soaking up Vitamin D.  This led to an awkward moment with our contractor.  We’re STILL recovering from that tornado in Apr, and unbeknownst to me, our contractor was going to come by the house for a quick check in.  He texted my wife, but she was busy and didn’t relay it to me.  Dude shows up, I see him, take out my ear buds and go to chat, and he goes “Hey…looks like you’re in pretty good shape”, “Thanks, sorry, didn’t know you were swinging by” “Yeah…you work out a lot?  Like everyday?” “I try to, it keeps me young, just a lot of yard work today” “Yeah, I wanna work out some more, I wanna get fit, I’m not as fit as you” “You’re young: you got plenty of time” (Dude is like mid/late 20s), and this just keeps going on WAY longer than absolutely necessary.  But, on the plus side, typically the way this goes is I run into someone from work at the grocery store while wearing my “Deadlifts and Dragons” tanktop, so this progress.

* I stepped on the scale at 79.1 kg this morning.  I will have ZERO issues making weight for the comp.  I’m going to be coming in UNDER weight, just like last year, which is why I hate weight classes in the first place, but at least I know I can eat big today with no issues.  I’ll be showing up VERY well nourished, and I’ve already got 3 steaks thawing out to make some steak and eggs tomorrow before the comp.

 Training Log: Entry 3351

Took the day off work to get some chores done.  Slept in, took the dogs for a long walk, going to mow the lawn and get in some more walking/activity through the day.

And on the topic of food, this was last night's attempt to regain some weight

Triple venison burger on chaffle buns with grassfed sour cream alongside the leftover deviled eggs, pork cracklin and cottage cheese. Got some ribs on the smoker for lunch today

FOLLOW UP

Whole day of yard work, ended up with over 20k steps, which I also managed yesterday.  I mowed the front yard, batteries died because there was SO much grass to get through, so then I spent 90 minutes raking up dead grass to throw away to make things easier, during which time my ribs smoked to perfection (I've learned to doubt my instincts and just let them cook beyond the point I'm comfortable with, because these turned out AMAZING.  I also used my "Indian Crutch", which is like a Texas crutch, but with ghee instead of butter), walked the dogs again, drove to see my wife for lunch, got some groceries, came back and mowed the BACK yard, did some meal prep for my comp (cooked up 2lbs of ground venison), picked up my kiddo to take to the dentist, came home, Valkyrie made me breakfast for dinner

Boom!  2 3-egg omelets with 4oz of grassfed new zealand lamb between them, grassfed swiss and grassfed ghee, topped with grassfed sour cream alongside some beef bacon, 1.5 grassfed all beef hot dogs, half of a grassfed burger patty, some grassfed cottage cheese, and some pork cracklin.  "The word of the day is Grassfed!"

After that, Valkyrie and I took the puppy for a 1.5 mile walk. 

Do I know how to take a day off or what?!

 Training Log: Entry 3350

AM WORKOUT (0410 wake up via alarm)

**PRE-COMPETITION DELOAD**

2:05 hang from bar, pull up every 30 seconds

3 mile treadmill walk at 3.5 pace and 6 incline

50x180 reverse hyper

50 band pull aparts

BREAKFAST

Moderate walk w/dogs

Notes:

* Continuing the wind down and healing.  I continue to feel better.  I woke up this morning and saw my heart rate was at 36, so I’d say that’s a good sign that my recovery is on point.  Once again, the danger of me having a fit tracker: I obsess over data.  And in that regard, between the treadmill and the dogs, I got in 11k steps before 0800 today.

* Kept everything easy: low incline on the treadmill, low weights on the reverse hyper.  I’m actually being intelligent about this deload/this competition in general.  Growing up a bit.  It feels good to feel good, and in particular I like this style of deload I’m employing: focus on walking/general movement.  I think, next time, I’d like to get in a bit more bodyweight work, but the max testing helped serve as some resistance training.  Thinking even more about it, I suppose this is really how I live when I’m on a cruise, which tends to serve as my deloads in life.  

* Weighed in at 79.3 kg.  This is the thing I DON’T like about competitions: I’m so focused on making weight that I’m honestly undereating.  I have a LOT of leeway heading into the comp now, which is cool, as it means I can eat big, but it also means I left behind some strength compared to if I had kept intake higher through the process.  That being said, last night for dinner I had 6 burger patties from Freddy’s, that I topped off with some grassfed ghee and ate alongside some pork crackling and grassfed cottage cheese…and then the rest of my kid’s leftover burger.  So weighing in at this weight after SO much sodium is really a good sign.  And the night before was the carb up night, and once again, last night, I went to bed looking absolutely peeled.  I’ve really got a solid way forward on my nutrition, and I think I’ll lay out “the plan” for that rolling into Operation Conan.

* And on the topic of that, I was walking into work today thinking about how, between Mass Protocol and Book 1 of Tactical Barbell, I always have the option to take some time away from Mass and focus on some basic strength and conditioning, should I find myself in that situation.  Which, yeah, 5/3/1 can afford me that too.  No issue having too many ways to succeed.  The big thing I’ve noticed is I’m really gravitating AWAY from lifting all the time.  I like keeping myself down to 3 days a week, and shorter workouts.  Dan John talked about how the amount of extra work one needs to do beyond the basics in order to see real benefits is so much exponentially beyond the latter that it’s not worth trying to work in the middle ground.  IE: 3 days a week of moderate training will get you 80% of the results, but to get 90% of the results, you don’t do 4 days a week of moderate training, but instead 7 days per week of intense training.  I’ve definitely lived that, and I don’t need it right now.

* Tang Soo Do last night was pretty low energy, which is what I needed.  Focus on 1-steps.  My hip is feeling better as I kick, which is a good sign.  Doing it again tonight.

 **FUTURE PLANS**

The next competition I have coming up is a grappling comp on 8 Dec, which has me in the 171-185lb weight class.  I’m not concerned with making weight there.  I have a cruise coming up post Christmas (around 26-27 Dec through the new year), which I’m not too concerned about needing to be absolutely peeled for.  I’ve spent the entire summer leaning out, and I feel like, per Dan John, I’m in an excellent position to start gaining.

Thus begins “Operation Conan”  

**THE METHOD**

I’m going to use Tactical Barbell’s Mass Protocol.  Reading the book got me excited about training, and I’ve learned over the years that, when that happens: I should pursue it.

Specifically, I’m going to employ the “Grey Man” program for my general mass gaining program, and the Alpha protocol for my specificity phase.  I was torn between Grey Man and General Mass, but settled on the former because I wanted to be able to include overhead pressing and I felt that alternating between squats and deadlifts will allow me better recovery, and altnerating between bench and overhead press will improve my strength.

For the Supplemental Clusters, my plan is Incline Bench, weighted chins and bodyweight GHRs on the squat and press day, and weighted dips, BW chins and axle curls on the bench and dead day.

I’ll be including the low intensity conditioning through out as well. 

**THE DEVIATIONS**

I’ll be employing the trap bar for the deadlifting portion of the Grey Man program, rather than a barbell/axle.  I feel like this will help a bit more with my recovery, and truth is, I’m WORSE with a trap bar than I am with a straight bar, which should allow a better hypertrophy response.

Along with that, I WILL be including straight bar deadlifting in the program.  I’m going to continue my weekly ROM progression work on Saturdays.  This is a very positive thing for my strength, and whenever I stop doing it, I regret it.  I’m willing to accept the consequences of including it.  I may also occasionally include some sort of high intensity conditioning session when the mood strikes.

I suppose pairing the squat with the press vs the bench and the dead with the bench vs the press is technically a deviation as well, but depending on how you read the instructions in Mass Protocol it’s fine.  This is how Building the Monolith is set up, and it works well.  For my training space, this set up makes more logistical sense.

And, of course, the biggest one: I’m going to continue my carnivore nutrition approach, rather than employing the calorie counting high carb approach advocated in the book.  In the book, the author frequently says he does not recommend a low carb diet, but he also includes “maybe you are different”.  Yes I am K Black: yes I am.  I’ll be focusing on upping the content of meat and eggs I’m consuming, rather than falling back on dairy and pork rinds, as I’ve done in the past.  I’ll include those latter items, sure, but they’re not going to be my default variable to manipulate.  And that’s what is making this “Operation Conan”.  We’re taking on the operator mantel of Tactical Barbell while eating in a Conan approved manner.

I AM considering going back to Feast/Famine/Ferocity as far as my overall nutritional structure goes: going back to 2 week famines and 4 week feasts as a means of keeping bodyfat in check through the process.  That one I’ll figure out as I go.

**EVEN MORE FUTURE PLANS**

My leaning out over the summer happened on accident.  I went to visit my in-laws in May, which become a “cruise” from DoggCrapp, and when I got back home, I had 6 weeks until a strongman competition, so I decided to put DoggCrapp on hold, start more strongman focused training and lean out so I could make the 181 class.  That was how Phryrexian Dreadnought got started, with the first phase focusing on getting back into “strongman shape” and the second phase focusing on competition lifts.  The Jul comp got canceled, I signed on for a similar comp in Sep, and then had a grappling comp in Aug that still required making a weight class, so the Dreadnought got extended through the end of the summer.  That said, I honestly liked how this shaped out: I had spent the academic year follow programs, gaining weight, getting bigger and stronger, and then spent the entire summer training my own way, leaning out, and not having to eat so much goddamn food all the time.

I feel like this wasn’t a bug but a feature.  I’m now in a great position to gain through the holiday seasons, which are, coincidentally, great times to eat.  I’m already 5 turkey legs deep, according to my kid’s tally, with plans to take on several more, with a birthday coming up in Oct and an opportunity to gorge at Texas de Brazil, followed by Thanksgiving, Christmas and the cruise.  And now I know that, when summer rolls around, I’ll have zero issue stripping off whatever adipose tissue I put on and getting myself back down to anatomy chart lean.  It’s ZERO struggle doing that with this way of eating: it’s actually EASIER for me to fast than the eat in most cases.  So I may actually look to make this the annual plan: 8-9 months of following programs and building, 3-4 months on my own and leaning out.

I’m sure I’ll have more to follow, but I’m excited to keep going with this.  I’d love to take some before photos and make this a for real documented journey, but I only have so much bandwidth.  We’ll see what happens.

I feel like I’ll spend the 2 weeks post competition screwing around a little and getting myself ready, and then start in earnest at the end of Sep/start of Oct.

MAXES

Going to lay out the maxes I'll be using for the program, using Jim Wendler's 1rm calculator

Bench: 275

Squat: 420

Trap Bar Dead: 565

DB Bench: 105

Weighted Dips: 325 (this is bodyweight PLUS added weight, per the instructions)

Weighted NG Chins: 260 (as above)

Axle curls: 85

BW Chins: 15

BW GHRs: 30

 Training Log: Entry 3349

AM WORKOUT (0410 wake up via alarm)

**PRE-COMPETITION DELOAD/FUTURE PROGRAM TESTING**

(3) Incline DB bench

Worked up to 9x80lb

Underhand chins

1x15

Axle bench press

Worked up to 7x226

Axle curls

8x66

Breathing Squats

40x225

BREAKFAST

Longer walk w/dogs

Notes:

* This is legit the first time I’ve done some testing for a program since about the first time I ran 5/3/1 back in 2010.  Goes to show that I’m actually legit excited about taking this on.  I have an awareness of my abilities on the squat, trap bar dead, weighted dip and weighted chin so no need to test there.  I may do some axle press testing at some point, since that’s of minimal stress on my recovery: just wasn’t fit for the schedule for today.

* It’s legit hard to come to terms with being so weak on my pressing…but I suppose that’s the whole reason I’m going to change up the training and gain some weight.  My pressing always responds to bodyweight gains.  

* It’s also legit hard to come to terms with the fact that squatting felt REALLY great today, most likely because I took the time to really warm up for it.  I did a LOT of sets of squats with just the bar while I was knocking out everything else today, and did some sitting at the bottom of the squat as well.  Really seemed to help.  No hip issue: just the right knee.  One of these days I should get that meniscus repaired.  

* Carb up was a smashing success yesterday.  Generous servings of tuna casserole and 4 of the Valkryie’s pumpkin oatmeal cookies, topped with some honey from Cabo from their stingless bees and some fairlife skim milk.  Zero reaction to the honey: it’s that cinnamon honey I was eating that caused the issue.  Good experiment.  Funny enough, we were on a time crunch last night: Mrs was working late and we needed to eat quick to get to a function my kiddo was having, so I took to boiling the noodles and getting out all the ingredients.  It was like Superman handling kryptonite.  I then started digging through out cookbooks to see if I could find my mother-in-law’s Tuna casserole recipe, because I had no idea how to make it.  Valkryie comes downstairs and sees me doing all this and says “Just when I thought you couldn’t get any sexier”.  It’s the little things.

* Tang Soo Do is on my schedule for tonight.  Yesterday I ended with 19600+ steps, as I managed to get in another walk while my kid was at their function.  Going to spend some time fleshing out my future training plan.