Training Log: Entry 3686

AM WORKOUT (0510 wake up via Valkyrie’s alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 1, Workout 1

“INDOOR POWER INTERVALS”

5 rounds on rower
1 min max effort
2 min rest

Notes:

• Back on the program. Since I flew home on a Monday, we’re starting off with conditioning, and then will get in 2 lifting workouts this week before getting fully on 3x a week lifting with Operator. This is like a Fighter break in.

• Absolutely did NOT want to get up and train, after such a wonderful bridge week of recovery, but with my competition coming up on 21 Feb, I have something to work toward. I definitely need to get back into shape as well, because this was the easier version of indoor power intervals and it was totally gassing me.

• Weighed in at 89.1kg. As Kroc once said “If I was a soup, I’d be labeled ‘chunky.”. This is pretty awesome, as this is about 6kg gained in 10 weeks and 10kg gained from my most recent lowest weight. Doing this while eating in a manner that people SWEAR you can’t gain weight with (the carb eaters claiming it’s impossible to put on muscle without carbs and the carnivore zealots claiming it’s impossible to put on fat eating carnivore) is always a fun “so there”.

• Today is my first day of experimenting with coffee fasting. No breakfast after training, just allowing myself black coffee until dinner. Which, during my bridge week, I discovered that I REALLY like coffee, but I’m also not addicted to it, because I had one morning where I poured myself a big cup of it with breakfast, looked at it, said “I don’t want this” and dumped it right out. I realized I had just done it out of habit, but really wasn’t in the mood for a warm bitter beverage at that point. I also switched to decaf in the evenings and still just enjoyed the beverage. I like how it forces me to slow down to drink it. I also still seem pretty immune to the effects of caffeine, and part of me wonders if it really is just treating an undiagnosed form of ADD.

• Knee is feeling the best it’s felt in a long time. I can sit for prolonged periods without agony and walk without pain. Once I start training hard and heavy again, I’ll see how it feels, but if nothing else it’s a sign that nothing is irreparably damaged. Back is almost 100% as well, but I’ll see how training treats it. If nothing else, the rowing didn’t bug it.

• I’ll write a full up review at some point, but I read Stan Efferding’s Vertical Diet 3.0 (I know 4.0 is out there, but not on amazon) over the trip. I enjoyed the book, and as I read it was thinking that it’s definitely something I could do. It seems plenty sustainable and workable and balanced. About the only thing stopping me is the fact that what I’m doing right now is already working really well. I like being in ketosis/fat adapated, I like how I can effortlessly fast, and I like how simple this approach is. But I understand the value in dietary flexibility that something like the Vertical Diet provides by opening up the avenue for more food choices. I’m considering an experiment with it, as I feel like eating the foods that Stan includes would allow me to consume carbs without the normal terrible feeling I had when I ate them regularly. I’ve also considered implementing it in a seasonal approach, alternating between carnivore and Vertical. A consideration, if nothing else.

• Back to Tang Soo Do tonight.