BRIDGE WEEK

This week happened to occur on a week where I am experiencing some slight illness and I will be on a cruise, so that worked out well.  Will resume logging upon return to normal training.

 Training Log: Entry 3791

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO Week 4, Workout 5 (Final lifting workout)

20 chins

DB rows
4x12x130

Axle curls
4x12x78

GHRs
4x12x60

ASSISTANCE

GHR sit up
2x17

EVENTS

Stone of Steel to platform (5 rounds, 1 min on/2 min off)
3x190
4x4x190

Notes:

• Short night: got to bed late. It’s also a day off work, so not much incentive to get up early and get this done, but it meant I’d get more time with family, and this workout really feels like the “dessert” for eating my workout vegetables all week. It dawns on me how that analogy totally doesn’t work when I only eat meat, with no dessert or vegetables.

• All the weights felt reasonable. Good pump on the curls.

• Technique breakthrough on the stone. Light weight allowed me to figure out that if I lap the stone with my torso a little high and then squat down right before I go for the load, I can get it much higher on the extension. Much smoother load as a result. Nice to sort that out so early in the training cycle.

• Tang Soo Do sparring was pretty good. I was able to beat our resident Dojang bully by letting him foul on me a bunch until he got frustrated and then I speared him with some punches. However, my right shin eventually shut me down. It got smashed to hell on Tues and just hasn’t had a chance to recover, and I finally tapped out when the Valkyrie connected with a good blow. She read my eyes and mercifully ended the match when I left my guard open. Still, this was probably my best week as far as making stuff works goes.

• Weighed in at 82.6kg this morning: a practically 2kg drop from the start of the week. The swings got bigger toward the end of the mass building cycle, but I stayed around the same weight as far as trends go. This completes 13 weeks of Mass Protocol as a recomp rather than a dedicated mass phase, and I really dug it. I’m remembering this for the future. But now, I’m fasting until lunch, where I’m going to very much enjoy a Brazilian steakhouse, make that my one meal for today, and then continue feasting and recovering through the week.  

 Training Log: Entry 3790

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO Week 4, Workout 4

SSB Squat
4x12x265

Look for hope: max in 1 minute.

• None found.

Lever belt squat
4x12x250

Axle strict press from rack
2x12x123
11x123
7+4+2x123

(3) Incline DB bench
4x12x65

Dips
2x12x47.5
11+1x47.5
10+2x47.5

ASSISTANCE

Hanging leg raise
2x10

Notes:

• There are no words in the English language that can properly convey how much I did not want to do this workout today. I am so burnt out and ready for my bridge week. I told myself so many lies to get myself out of bed and under that bar, and amazingly that first set felt absolutely incredible. Stupidly strong under the weight. The 1 minute rests took the wind totally out of my sails, but that was expected.

• Rested 1 minute between all squats and the dips. Presses went 60-120-120. DBs were 60-120-120.

• On axle strict press, really felt my triceps giving up at the end. I’ll be re-including my push press finisher at the end of the set for my competition prep training cycles, which should help a touch there.

• Sparring last night wasn’t terribly active, but I had an excellent match against our senior blackbelt. We finished the round tied at 1-1, but he had me dead to rights on my spin side kick and came in with a lunge punch during overtime. I gotta throw something different against him.

• Weighed in at 83.8kg this morning. Coffee fast today, and then a lot of glorious feasting coming up. Kiddo’s last day of school is tomorrow, it’s a half day, and they requested Terra Gaucha (Brazilian steakhouse) for lunch…so needless to say I’m coffee fasting until then tomorrow as well. We then celebrate a birthday on Saturday, with a request for homemade sourdough and a special birthday cake. I’m attempting a “fire and water” sous vide and smoke brisket on Memorial Day (Monday) and, when I presented all this to the Valkyrie and said “we’ll have to figure out Sunday”, she immediately suggested our favorite BBQ spot, to which I won’t turn down brisket 3 times in 4 days. And then, on Wed, I fly out for a cruise, which is just 4 days on a mobile buffet. It’s an excellent time for gaining.

 Training Log: Entry 3789

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm, rough night of sleep)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO Week 4, Workout 3

(7) Texas Deadlift Bar Mat Pulls
5x470

DB rows
4x12x120

Axle curls
4x12x73

GHR
4x12x55

ASSISTANCE

GHR sit up
31

Reverse hyper/band pull apart circuit
3x15x270/3x25

Notes:

• Sleep was short and rough. Got to bed a little later than usual, and my mind started racing about work stuff around 0330.

• That mat pull was in the realm of “strength miracles”, which tells me that I need to cycle the weight back when I return from my cruise. I’m sure part of that is I’m in my 13th straight week of training without a bridge week, to include having set a PR last week, and I’m most likely extremely fatigued, but there’s also no rush, and lighter weights mean longer distance to stalls. No point in racing to a redlight.

• Left hip was a little upset with this. I noticed it was achy yesterday while I sat through a performance at my kid’s school. Just kinda short and tight.

• Everything else felt pretty solid. Reducing the weight on reverse hypers has been good. Movement is more tonic.

• I was the Dojang sparring champ last night, having beaten 2 black belts and 1 senior student on my way there. One of said black belts seems threatened by me, and expressed that my spin kicking me about 1 inch away from my parts full force, followed by calf kicking me, whereas the senior student punched me in the mouth hard enough to draw blood…in non-contact sparring…with no punches to the head. I’ve got a small limp from the calf kick, which impacted the pulls this morning. We’re doing some more sparring tonight: I’ll see how I hold up after that.

• Weighed in at 83.1kg this morning, which is a 1.2kg drop from yesterday and 1.4kg drop from Monday. Big spikes and big drops: think my body is really responding to the carbs these days. Perhaps a sign of improved insulin sensitivity.

 Training Log: Entry 3788

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

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO Week 4, Workout 2

“ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BLOAT”

20 chins

20 minute recovery row

Notes:

• Got 4175m done, 25m more than last time, once again without a specific effort to do more in the time. General fitness is up. I’m legit watching youtube videos of the “200 best gameboy games in chronological order” to pass the time while I row, which is an excellent distractor and totally not motivating to really push the pace.

• My body feels incredible. The return to low weight and high reps has been quite tonic. I’ll have to remember this in the future.

• Tang Soo Do is sparring tonight. Hopeful for some good activity.

• Weighed in at 84.3kg. Still quite high, but typically my Tuesday weigh in is higher than my Monday, whereas this week was a .2kg reduction. Curious to see how this unfolds.

 Training Log: Entry 3787

AM WORKOUT (0359 natural wake up)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO Week 4, Workout 1

SSB Squat
4x12x240

Lever belt squat
4x12x225

Axle strict press from rack
3x12x113
11+1x113

(3) Incline DB Bench
4x12x60s

Dips
4x12x27.5

ASSISTANCE CIRCUIT

Hanging leg raise/lateral raise
3x10/20, 15, 10x10lb

Notes:

• I strategically picked Clutch’s “Book of Bad Decisions” for today’s workout, because I enjoy irony.

• It’s good to get back to the light weights at the re-start of this cycle. For the most part, I’m keeping the maxes the same and just focusing on “owning the weight”, especially since I’m only going to get in 6 lifting workouts before my cruise. Still mulling around the plan for when I return, but I’m ultimately drowning in a sea of good choices, so if need be I’ll just break out the 20-sided die and be good.

• My right knee is a little angry these days, which I’ve observed is a product of heavy SSB squats, and I could most likely resolve it by switching to flat soled shoes, but the light weight of this week will most likely be tonic enough. Otherwise, all other connective tissue is feeling good.

• Presses were strong today. Rest times were 1 minute for all squats and the dips, then 60-90-120 for the axle and DB.

• Weighed in at 84.5kg this morning. Highest of the cycle, which I’ve said 3 weeks in a row now, yet last week also had my lowest weigh in at the end of the week. Been feasting on a lot of high sodium fare, so we’ll see how much sticks, but given this is the mass protocol, some gaining SHOULD be happening.

• Got through all 7 days of 3x19 chins last week. Opened up this workout with 20. I’m curious if I’ll be able to maintain this on my cruise.

 Training Log: Entry 3786

AM WORKOUT (0930)

TACTICAL BARBELL SPECIFICITY BRAVO Week 3, Workout 6

“Prowler Sprints”

4 rounds, high handles, 90lbs loaded

Notes:

• 100 pace distance, 4 minutes rest between rounds. Fastest was 35 seconds and slowest was 41.

• Training effect is still being achieved. I am gassed and my legs are pumped at the end. After my bridgeweek, this will move toward harness pulls.

• Chaos remains the plan: I’ve decided to reverse my previous decision and just run another week of Bravo. I got a handle on my schedule: I depart on Wed 27 Mar, so it seems pointless to try a whole new program for such a short duration. I’ll get in 6 more lifting workouts this way. I’m keeping most of the weights the same for this cycle and just focusing on owning it.

• On the nutrition recap front, breakfast was similar to yesterday, and then did the family meal tonight with 6 slices of homemade sourdough pizza and 5 of the Valkyrie’s cookies (2 sourdough chocolate ship, 3 oatmeal butterscotch chocolate chip) with raw local honey. Also picked these up at the Asian Market.

• 

• I’ve been wanting to try anchovies for quite a while, but they’re always packed in Olive oil. This was an excellent solution. And after eating them, I don’t see what the big deal is: they taste pretty benign. Could use some salt. I can see adding these to my breakfast to get in a few more Omega 3s.