TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN Recon Week
MAIN LIFTS
Buffalo bar squat 4x8x315
Axle strict press from rack 7x158 8,7,6x136
SUPPLEMENTAL LIFTS
(3) DB incline bench 3x12x55s
DB row 3x12x130
GHR 3x12
GHR sit up 1x20
Notes:
Since I have these next 5 days to train before the cruise, I'm using this as an opportunity to pilot some training maxes and figure out what I'll be lifting when I get to Grey Man for real, hence this being "Recon week".
In that regard, I feel like I was hit by that tractor we weren't able to move, which is most likely WHY I feel beat to hell. I am discovering new muscles to be sore in. I'm fairly certain my hair hurts. So there's a bit of a drop off on performance, and the humidity today is also absolutely bonkers. My heart rate was at 145 at the end of the workout, which is a number I haven't seen before. But it's also worth appreciating that I'm much lighter and underfed compared to where I normally am in Grey Man. This gave me a decent snapshot of a baseline.
I cut the supplemental sets down to 3 for the sake of time, as I was meandering coming into the workout to get everything into working order.
I'm pleased with those squats, after not having a bar on my back for like 15 weeks. Still have the mobility, and they felt strong. Knee held up well. The press was rough simply due to being exhausted by the time I got to it. Everything else was about right.
Last week was a missed week for getting in all the chins, as they simply weren't a priority with the comp. Keeping the total at 72 chins this week, with 2x15 and 3x14 as the ideal protocol.
Weighed 80.4kg this morning. Quite surprised at that number: was expecting 82 with how I've been eating and the inflammation from the competition. We did the family meal last night and I didn't hold back: 2 sourdough rolls with butter and garlic ghee, a generous portion of spaghetti with meat sauce, 5 of the Valkyrie's cookies (combinations of peanut butter and pumpkin oatmeal cookies) and 1 sourdough oatmeal cream pie, all with some raw local honey with honeycomb. Soon enough I get to return to gaining.
Sunday, August 30, 2026
COMPETITION WRITE UP: “BACK TO SCHOOL
BASH: CABERS, TRACTORS, AND VIKING STONES,OH MY!”
BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT (BLUF)
* I took 3rd place out of 4 competitors in the “þyngdarflokkur þrjú” division in an open weight charity competition. This competition was a dream come true, as I’ve wanted to toss a caber ever since I was single digits years old. I came to have a good time and I did exactly that.
BACKGROUND
* This competition was put on by the same guy that did my last comp in Feb: The Trials of Heracles. I really dig this dude as a promoter: he’s a history and lifting nerd and he’s really focused on getting shows done quickly while still being fun. These days, after competing for 13 years in strongman and 16 years in strength sports, that’s all I care about. The fact that these events all support great causes is just icing on the cake.
* This show was unique by combining strongman, highland games and Viking tests of manhood, and it was reflected in how divisions worked out. There were no weight classes: you competed based on how heavy a weight you wanted to lift. There was a bit of “honor among thieves”, with the assumption that 400lb behemoths wouldn’t choose the lightest class, but if worse came to worse, promoter had the right to move dudes. It honestly worked well pretty well: we had a de facto female class, novice mens, light-middleweight mens and heavy class (going class 1, 2, 3 and 4), with appropriate viking names.
* I started training for the comp after having just finishing a mass building block of Tactical Barbell, comprised of Grey Man and Specificity Bravo, capped off with a cruise vacation of the Memorial Day holiday (that’s the end of May for my Non-U.S. readers), returning home at a bodyweight of 85kg, feeling large and strong. Now I needed to become lean and athletic for the summer.
TRAINING FOR THE COMPETITION
* I’ve already done 2 extensive write ups about my training leading up to the comp. Give them a read here
* To sum up: I was able to employ Tactical Barbell’s “Operator Pro” program from the Green Protocol with very little modification to fit strongman. The only event I didn’t train specifically for was the Caber Toss, due to lack of equipment and priorities for my time.
* I took a bridge week leading up to the competition, which I filled up with weighted vest walks and Crossfit's "Cindy" WOD, just to keep blood flowing.
* Leading up to the competition, on 8 Aug, while coming down the stairs, I twisted something in my left knee (the one I blew the ACL out on) so badly that my knee swelled up like a grapefruit and spend the rest of the day clicking and falling out of the socket. I lost the majority of my range of motion and dealt with a lot of pain, swelling, clicking and instability for the next few days, to the point that I had to reschedule a fitness test and seriously contemplated getting imaging done, as I was worried I had torn the ACL graft. VERY slowly, over the next few weeks, with some aggressive icing employed, I was able to restore fullISH function to the knee just in time for the competition, but it definitely weighed on my mind, with me ultimately deciding that a charity comp wasn't worth blowing my knee out over, ESPECIALLY right before I went on a cruise where I was supposed to walk all over Europe. Funny enough, the knee could perform well for strength work as long as I wore strong enough sleeves: it was lateral work that killed it, specifically when I trained martial arts.
NUTRITION FOR THE COMPETITION
* Similarly, I’ve written extensively about my nutrition approach, found here
* To sum: since it was open weight and a charity comp, rather than go with “GFH”, I used this as an opportunity to lean out over the summer for a cruise I have in the start of Sep and to set myself up for a good solid long gaining cycle through the fall/holidays. It succeeded: I showed up stupid lean at a bodyweight of about 175lbs. My nutrition approach was a combination of intermittent fasting and carnivore diet with 1 meal a week that included carbs. Over the course of 12 weeks, I lost 11.5lbs, without counting/tracking, and saw PRs in my training lifts.
MORNING OF
* Though I did all of my training fasted, I had breakfast before the competition. It’s a bit of a tradition to do so, and breakfast on weekends IS pretty typical for me, even during this training cycle. I stuck with lamb and eggs: another tradition at this point, aping from Hercules. Went with 5 lamb chops and 6 sunny side up eggs cooked in butter. I ate nothing else throughout the competition, and relied on 1 cup of black coffee with breakfast and another cold brew coffee during the comp as my caffeine sources. I don’t really need stimulants for competition these days, compared to my prior days of living off Rockstars and Poptarts. I also made consistent use of electrolyte powders, rather than Gatorade, because, honestly, Gatorade sucks.
* It was a 15 minute drive to the competition site, which is another reason why I picked this one. Crazy local with such good events. Once I arrived, I set up tents and chairs for the family to relax and watch and proceeded to do my bare minimum warm-up of 1-2 reps with the lightest loads possible on the axle. Ultimately, I was just testing out which set of straps I wanted to use, before settling on the “Why Our Way” straps, for reasons to follow shortly.
SUMMARY OF EVENTS
EVENT 1: Axle Wagon Wheel Deadlift for reps: 370lbs
As usual, I did no specific training for the deadlift event. ROM progression cycle with a Texas Deadlift bar against chains: pretty much the opposite of this. That said, I came in strong enough that it didn’t matter. The axle was STIFF and that first pull felt slow as hell, but I settled into a rhythm. There was no up command, so I took advantage of that and went touch and go for as many reps as I could, which got me to 20, when the mark to beat was 19. The advantage of signing up first: you get to go last and know what to beat.
I used my “Why Our Way” straps for this, because they were long enough to wrap around the axle. The crowd had never seen anything like them before, which made me feel like a dinosaur because these were all the rage a decade ago when Chris Duffin used them to pull 1000lbs for 2.5 reps. But, in turn, a lotta folks were struggling to get their straps to work on the axle, so points for me to be able to dig deep into the toolbox.
EVENT 2: Log press for max
I trained on a “12 inch” Titan Log, which is really like at 13-14” log. Meanwhile, we competed with a 10” Black Widow log. This is a lot easier to press, but the clean is a little iffy, as there isn’t as much to “roll” up the body. In turn, when I’d get the log in place, I felt myself pretty off balanced. You can see it in the video: I clean the log and stumble back and forth a bunch until I get settled, then nail a pretty simple press.
I was being strategic with my selection, remembering who got what in the deads, and noted my 2 closest threats picking 170 as openers. I went with 180 for mine, to have a lead on them, and when they tried to follow suit, they both bombed out. There was a 4th guy who hadn’t taken any attempts yet, so I knew I was up against a log ringer, so I just went for solid lifts at this point. Called for 200, they couldn’t do that, so we did 195, which I hit. We then got to 210, which I called for my third, while the other guy called it for his opener. I got the 210, but so did he, followed by 220 for a chipshot, so I had second here.
EVENT 3: Caber Toss
This was my first time ever performing this event, and because I hate warming up, my first attempt WAS my first ever attempt. Seriously, I can’t stand how shows take FOREVER because people want a million attempts before we start. We effectively had a full event’s worth of warm ups before we actually started the event, and I was getting pissy over it. In turn, I didn’t put that or the second one on film, but it was me learning the caber and failing to turn it, which is how you score 0 points in a caber toss. All the other guys in my group were able to get a turn on their cabers during their attempts, so I knew I had no chance of placing above 4th on this, but I ALSO knew that if I didn’t get at least ONE turn on a caber, I’d get a 0 on the event, which means NO points vs 1 point. THAT can change things.
On my previous 2 attempts, I actually got the caber shouldered pretty easily. On this final attempt, it was a real bastard to me, but, in turn, I was able to put some real “f—k you” energy into it, because I was getting ANGRY with this caber for not f-ing turning when I threw it. After what felt like a million years, I finally was able to get it into position and give it a very solid near 12 o’clock turn, securing me at least A point in the event.
EVENT 4: Tractor Pull
We were told this was going to be a speed and horsepower event. Then the first guy went and couldn’t move the tractor an inch. I got excited: I suck at tractor pulls, whereas MAYBE now I had a shot because it went from a speed and footwork event to a total grind. However, dude 2 and 3 ALSO tried and ALSO didn’t make it move, so when I went up I said “It takes a special kind of crazy to see 3 other dudes fail this but for me to give it a go”. Which I did…and I didn’t move it. And neither did any of the heavyweights. Less learned for all involved, but, in turn, we were all on equal footing on this one with last place.
I’m glad I didn’t try to train harder for this event. All the prowler work was still awesome, and I didn’t try to get better at harness pulls.
EVENT 5: Natural stones to truck bed
I honestly had some high hopes for this one. Been doing a lot of loading in training and feeling strong. One guy picked a lighter stone than mine for my opener, and then we all settled in for 224 as the “Halfsterker” stone. I was the first to go for it, and as you can see in the video, it was a struggle. Damn thing just slipped a bunch and wouldn’t set right in my grip. I was eventually able to load it, and then watched the whole field do it with far less effort than me. So when it came for 250 on the next one, I still gave it a go, but just plain didn’t have it that day. Perhaps I’ve lost too much bodyweight (trying to grab a stone that was now 75lbs heavier than me), or perhaps whatever I did to my knee 3 weeks ago had me taking it easy, but this excites me at the prospect of spending more time building up my loading.
CONCLUSION
Looking at the scores, I secured 3rd place by half a point. That’s the sort of crazy narrow margin I live for. I’m pleased with how today went: I fought hard, I’m bruised, bloody and satisfied, I’m 40 years old and still giving it hell, and I am incredibly excited at the prospect of an off season where I put on some quality size and strength. The promoter said he’s going to do another show in Feb, which times out incredibly well with my plan of coming back from the holidays with some Operator, so I may already have my schedule laid out.
Also ran into someone from the comp that recognized me from reddit, so if you’re reading this: great to meet you dude!
Friday, August 28, 2026
Training Log: Entry 3856
AM WORKOUT (0510 wake up via Valkyrie's Alarm)
BRIDGE WEEK
Crossfit's "Cindy" WOD in 19:25 (17 second PR from previous)
Notes:
Alarm went off early, Valkyrie requested sleeping in, more than happy to oblige. Exactly the kind of bridge week I needed. In turn, I had 20 minutes to do something today, so I picked Cindy over the rower. I like the rower in general, but it runs into the issue of being "seated conditioning", and as an office drone I spend enough time sitting that doing it during my workouts tends to make my hips stiff, and that's the last thing I need before a strongman competition. Cindy has also been good on getting bloodflow to my left knee, which is feeling pretty great these days. Very small ROM limitations. Hips are feeling good too. This is is probably the best I've felt before a comp in a LONG time.
Decided to speed up the final round just to make a PR happen.
Competition is tomorrow. No weigh in, because no weight classes. Not that it matters: I'm stupid light right now. I chased the leanness dragon again, even though I said I wouldn't, because I'm stupid and I don't give a f**k about jail. That's my business. That's what I do.
After comp, I'll have 5 days of free training before I leave for my cruise. Part of me thinks "Work capacity week" and to just blow my brains out doing stupid challenging WODs, but the other part of me realizes that I'm going to be away from heavy weights for quite a while if I factor in this bridge week, then next week, then the cruise, then the return from the cruise, so I may use next week to pilot some training maxes for Grey Man and do a trial week 1, giving me a chance to push up against some heavy weights. I also like that because it allows me to still claim that I "did Tactical Barbell" for 2 years solid, as Sep marks the anniversary of me starting it. 3rd COA is to meet in the middle and do some stupidly challenging heavy workouts, like put 225 on my back and finally get those 50 reps and then spend Wed seeing how many reps I can get on 405 for the deadlift (my previous record is 23, which was set many years and many pounds of bodyweight ago).
We've already decided on where to go for our victory dinner tomorrow. Place does an awesome 16oz ribeye with compound butter.
Weighed 80.6kg this morning. I'm excited to see that number be higher this fall.
Thursday, August 27, 2026
Training Log: Entry 3855
AM WORKOUT (0500 wake up via Valkyrie's Alarm)
BRIDGE WEEK
"ROW ROW ROW YOUR BLOAT"
15 Chins 15 Dips
1 mile row in 25:42 (15 second PR)
14 chins 14 dips
Notes:
Alarm went off at 0410, Valkyrie requested sleeping in, more than happy to oblige. Been a good bridge week: knees and hips are feeling good.
I don't NEED to set records on a recovery row, but why not. It continues to do the trick of being tonic, and I feel pretty accomplished rowing a mile first thing in the morning.
Got nearly 20k steps yesterday between the morning walk, lunch time dog walk and evening walk with the doggos. Been getting in a lot of steps in general, which has been good for the knee recovery.
Tang Soo Do tonight. Last class of the week, and last class for the Hyung challenge. Should shake out that my kid takes first, Valkyrie second, and I in third: whole family swept it.
Weighed 79.9kg. I originally planned to not weigh myself this week, in concern that weighing heavy would get in my head, but I'm glad I reversed course on that because I appear to be undereating. I have a lot of leeway leading up to the comp. I already have my night before nutrition figured out.
Wednesday, August 26, 2026
Training Log: Entry 3854
AM WORKOUT (0410 wake up via Valkyrie's Alarm)
BRIDGE WEEK
3 mile weighted vest walk w/20.4lb tac vest in 52:23
Crossfit's "Cindy" WOD
20 rounds of
5 chins
10 push ups
15 air squats
In 19:42 (3 second PR from Friday)
Notes:
Once again, tagging along with the Valkyrie on her morning workout. It's honestly addicting. I may see if I can make this a regular weekly event when I get back to training. We moved faster than last time, and I decided to use my remaining time to do another Cindy WOD.. It's really the perfect "when in doubt" sorta workout for 20 minutes. Solid amount of volume, decent conditioning hit, and no loading on my body.
I'm looking trim in that thumbnail.
Left knee continues to feel better. In truth, this is the week I should have done the fitness test, but I didn't want to have an interference effect with my bridge week. I AM noting that I feel just plain good in general going some time without loading my body, which is always well received. When you feel chronically in pain, it's nice to discover that it's something you're doing to yourself, and you can solve it by NOT training, rather than it just being something you live with.
I was crowned the Dojang sparring champion of the month yesterday, beating out the Valkyrie by 1 point. The fact I did it in a knee brace last week is pretty cool there. Class itself was a decent enough workout. Still working on moving smoother. We're on a new schedule of Tues/Thurs/Sat as my kiddo works through cross country season, so no class tonight.
Weighed 80.0kg this morning. Realized that my egg whites and tuna creation from Monday is 100g of protein in and of itself. Crazy to me how people struggle to reach these goals.
Actually a pretty decent shot of me from last week's sparring. Left leg is firmly planted because my knee was still garbage, pivot off the rear foot, punch fully extended and torso rotated: I'm happy with that. Meanwhile, dude is kicking at the belt line, which is a violation of our rules (have to be ABOVE the belt), so double whammy.
Tuesday, August 25, 2026
Training Log: Entry 3853
AM WORKOUT (0500 wake up via Valkyrie's Alarm)
BRIDGE WEEK
"ROW ROW ROW YOUR BLOAT"
1 mile row in 25:57
Notes:
We got up a little earlier than usual, so I rowed a little longer. Plan was 25 minutes, but saw how close I was to a mile at that point that I finished it off so I had a metric I could compare against in the future. This wasn't a hard mile at all: still a recovery row.
My left knee has seemed to healed. Still some slight mobility restrictions, but it's at the point where it hurts as much as the right knee, which is symmetry at 40. Thankful this sorted itself out before the competition.
I'm going to experiment with 5 sets of chins throughout the day vs 4, which shakes out to 2x15 and 3x14 to match the 72 I'd be doing this week. This experiment started with 2x15, so resetting back to 15s seems appropriate whenever it's no longer feeling effortless.
Tang Soo Do on the schedule for tonight. It's the last week of our summer Hyung challenge. Looks like the whole family is going to take 1st, 2nd and 3rd on this. I'm going to endeavor to not hurt anything this week.
Decided to still weigh myself: 80.6kg. I am curious what my weight is going to look like post cruise.
Monday, August 24, 2026
Training Log: Entry 3852
AM WORKOUT (0410 wake up via Valkyrie's alarm)
BRIDGE WEEK
3 mile weighted vest walk w/20.4lb tac carrier in 54 minutes
4 circuits of 15 chins, 15 dips and 15 bodyweight split squats w/2 mins between circuits (no rest between exercises)
Notes:
Bridge week before the comp, so I joined the Valkyrie on her AM workout and field tested what Base Building would be like. I actually had the idea to pivot my bridge week and scheduled vacation INTO a Base Building cycle, as it would time out about right as nearly 4 weeks of downtime and we'd be getting in a lot of walking during the cruise, but decided I didn't want to have to tie myself down to a training protocol while I'm on vacation. I think I'm just going to hit the fitness center on occasion and get in a stupid big pump to remind my muscles that they're still there.
My knee is improving, to the point that I forgot it was hurt as I was walking to work today. Still not 100% ROM, but all coming back. I need to restart my physical therapy for my OTHER knee now: I have put it off because it stressed the left knee to do it.
We moved at a good pace for the walk. Not a ruck, but not leisurely. The base building workout wasn't tough, but it's not supposed to be for week 1 day 1. Working up to 3-5x30 will be a different animal.
No weigh in today, and most likely not for the rest of the week. Don't really need to get in my head about that on competition week. I'll be eating well and posting updates: already have the menu picked out. Trying to maximize the foods that I feel good with.
Going to map out what training will look like upon my return. Definitely need to spend some time growing.
