Training Log: Entry 3800

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

OPERATION TACTICAL SLEIGHBELL

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL Grey Man, Cycle 2, Week 3, Workout 5

15 chins

Buffalo Bar Squats
4x3x385

15 chins

Notes:

• This is what I had time for this morning, before having to leave for work. I get off early, so I'll look to finishing up the rest of the workout later, but if all I get done is the heavy squats, that's still a win. My elbows/forearms feel awesome, which is very atypical after 6 weeks of low bar squatting, so I'm going to hit the bridge week official next week to REALLY make sure I'm in a good way and go for an unprecedented 3rd cycle of Grey Man.

• On the subject of Grey Man and Mass Protocol, been getting a lot of comments on my physique recently, referencing dinner last night, and the Valkyrie came up to me unprompted and remarked "you're looking huge again...like, in a good way", because women always have to navigate that space so delicately. She tends to make those remarks as I get deeper into gaining phases, as I never clue her in on what I'm currently training for and just let it roll, so having her notice it unprompted is a positive sign that things are rolling well.

• Which checks with the fact I weighed in at 83.3kg this morning. I saw consistent growth with every single weigh in this week.

• Valkyrie and I got in ABF workout 8 last night, followed by a 3 mile ruck. Kiddo was in a choreography camp, so not able to attend. This was 15 ABCs EMOM. Valkyrie is crushing it.

PM WORKOUT (1410)

OPERATION TACTICAL SLEIGHBELL

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL Grey Man, Cycle 2, Week 3, Workout 5 part II

Axle strict press from rack
4x3x178

(3) DB incline bench
4x8x75s

DB row
4x8x160

GHRs
4x8x50

Notes:

• Got the rest done after work before needing to get the kiddo. Sped through the rest periods and cut out the ab work to make for time. Pressing felt very strong.

• So now I'll begin the bridge week in earnest, having actually completed the full training cycle.

Training Log: Entry 3799

AM WORKOUT (0420 natural wake up)

OPERATION TACTICAL SLEIGHBELL

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL Grey Man, Cycle 2, Week 3, Workout 4

"ROW ROW ROW YOUR BLOAT"

15 chins
20 minutes recovery row (4100m covered)
14 chins

Notes:

• This may actually be the start of my bridge week. I'm fine cutting out the final workout of the cycle, since it's weights/reps I've already accomplished on Monday. My wake up time is weird because I'm working shifts these next few days, so I need to be at work earlier, but I'm also not dropping the kid off at school or the pup off at doggie day care, so kinda a mixed bag. I still like getting in those 20 minutes on the rower when I get up, so it may just be what I get up to this week. I also get off work earlier, so I have an avenue to get in training at that point. I suppose I could even bring do a split workout of the heavy lifts in the AM and the supplemental work in the PM. Chaos is always the plan.

• Tang Soo Do sparring was a decent workout last night, since it was a 90 minute class. I got to be the male division champ again, and actually had a decent enough challenge with our resident Dojang bully, due to his 6'5 Dhalsim like approach contrasting my 5'9. He liked to make use of long limbs to fight from the outside and would always charge in with a leaping roundhouse, so I learned how to move off angle and throw one of my own into his ribs. One of the junior students without a filter approached me after class and said "I was surprised you beat student X because you're much older and he's much younger: I thought you would get tired". I told him that I appreciated his honesty.

• Buddy of mine contacted me and said his freezer is full and he still has 2 more deer tags: wanted to know if I wanted a deer if he took one down. These are good friends to have. This is a good season to gain.

• Weighed 82.9kg this morning. First week with consistent upward movement.

Training Log: Entry 3798

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

OPERATION TACTICAL SLEIGHBELL

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL Grey Man, Cycle 2, Week 3, Workout 3

MAIN CLUSTER

Axle bench press
4x3x273

Texas Deadlift Bar deadlift
13x410

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER

Lever belt squat
4x8x300

Dips
3x8x90
7+1x90

Axle curls
2x8x91
6+2x91

ASSISTANCE

Superset of reverse hypers (15x140) and ab triad

Notes:

• Really good night of sleep last night. Actually woke up at 2330 thinking I had slept the whole night.

• The bench was heavy and challenging, but I managed it. The 275 number is always nostalgic to me, because that was my first ever bench "max", set the summer between my senior year of high school and freshman year of college. 23 years later and I weigh about the same and am lifting about the same, which could be stagnation to some, but when I look at the state of my 40 year old peers, this is a lifetime of progress.

• Speaking of sentimental stuff: the deadlift weight was selected to celebrate me turning 41 next week. Picked the age, multiplied by 10, went for max. It was a nice break from the 440+chains. I struggled with technique a little and had a few reps that hit one side and then the other, but the victory was hitting rep 13 and NOT trying for 14, despite knowing I could. For a while, I was making peace with the fact that I was going to blow up my body every time I had a deadlift workout, but I've had a string of healthy workouts lately and this is continuing the trend.

• Cut 1 set of curls out, for the sake of my elbows.

• I won the men's bracket for sparring last night, but "men's" is overselling it. This was the mixed rank class, which meant no black belts and lots of junior belts. I fed them opportunities and let the matches go the distance so that they could get in some reps, and it gave me a chance to move around and get in a little extra work. We're doing the long class tonight, and then I'll be done for the week due to some work obligations. Got in my throws too, and things continue to be trending a bit more positively there.

• Weighed 82.7kg this morning. Trending upward, but I called an audible and skipped breakfast. Going based off hunger signals, and I'm still feeling full. When we make kalua pig, I take on the spirit of that animal, so it's been two consecutive days of feasting...and it's leftovers tonight, so I'm at no shortage of nutrients.

 Training Log: Entry 3797

AM WORKOUT (0520 wake up via Valkyrie's alarm)

OPERATION TACTICAL SLEIGHBELL

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL Grey Man, Cycle 2, Week 3, Workout 2

"ROW ROW ROW YOUR BLOAT"

15 chins
20 minute recovery row (4150m covered)
10 chins
20 chins

Notes:

• Got a 10 minute later start than usual: Valkyrie had the alarm set to yesterday's schedule to account for needing a little extra sleep after a late night. I managed to hustle through my morning routine, and I think the little extra urgency actually showed up on the rower, because I moved faster than usual. Or maybe it was the 300g of protein I ate late night activating gluconeogenesis and I was actually carbed up. Either way, body is feeling great and this was a good start to the day.

• Definitely the best I've ever felt after feasting at a Brazilian steakhouse: the one meal a day approach to that really seems to be "the secret". Typically I'm feeling lethargic and heavy the next morning, but I'm feeling pretty much like my usual self today. Not at all hungry, but not in a "I don't even want to hear the word 'food'." state.

• In that regard: weighed in at 82.4kg. .1kg gain from yesterday.

• We got in the ABF workout 7 last night: no longer doing both ABC and clean and press, but just one or the other. We landed on clean and press, because our schedules were tight and that one is faster. Tonight is Tang Soo Do sparring, and this week will be a little off, with us doing Tues/Weds/Sat instead of Tues/Thurs/Sat. Kiddo has a choreography camp at school. Means Valkyrie and I get a date night on Thurs.

Training Log: Entry 3796

AM WORKOUT (0355 natural wake up)

OPERATION TACTICAL SLEIGHBELL

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL Grey Man, Cycle 2, Week 3, Workout 1

MAIN CLUSTER

Buffalo bar Squat
4x3x385

Axle strict press from rack
4x3x178

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER

(3) DB incline bench
4x8x75s

DB rows
4x8x160

GHR
4x8x50

ASSISTANCE

GHR sit up
25, 10

Notes:

• Stayed up late watching the Cowboys lose, and ended up missing the last half of the 4th quarter to try to get as much sleep as I could. 0355 rolled around and I was already awake so I decided to just get to it. Part of that is my guts were upset all day yesterday: something I ate decided it didn't want to be there anymore, so I figured I could use a little extra time getting ready.

• Despite all that, I felt great coming into this session and performed quite strong. I had a busy day yesterday even with the in-laws, as our puppy got up at 0630 and I took him for a 4+ mile walk while I wore my 20.4lb tac carrier, and then the boxer was awake and it was time for THEIR walk, which had me at over 10k steps with the tac carrier before noon, at which point I mowed the lawn. Ended the day with over 22k steps AND it was the family meal day. Valkyrie experimented with sourdough spaghetti noodles and garlic bread, which were fantastic, and I had a dessert flight of various sourdough baked goods topped with raw local honey. So I imagine all of that balanced out.

• My elbows are feeling great, and this heavy session didn't beat them up at all, so it's leading me to think I'm going with COA A and doing one more cycle of Grey Man leading into Specificity Bravo leading into Operator Pro Hypertrophy. But after this particular cycle I'm going to do my bridge week. It'll be my birthday in that week and my work ops tempo is going to be heavy, so it works out well.

• Got in my 3x15/2x14 chins all last week, so this week starts 4x15/1x14.

• Weighed 82.3kg this morning. The Valkyrie is doing a girls night with some co-workers, so I'm taking the kiddo out to Texas De Brazil, since I got a 25% off voucher for it being my birth month and the Valkyrie actually can't eat there due to an oak allergy, so no love lost. Once again: this is a fantastic season for gaining.

• Unrelated to anything, but was listening to a podcast with Lyle McDonald while I was mowing and he talked about how Mike Mentzer's HIT/HD training was what he did during contest prep to SPARE muscle but not what he did to BUILD muscle, and suddenly HIT made all the sense in the world. Very low volume, high intensity, long recovery: perfect for when your calories have been dropped to unsustainable levels.

Training Log: Entry 3795

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

OPERATION TACTICAL SLEIGHBELL

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL Grey Man, Cycle 2, Week 2, Workout 5

MAIN CLUSTER

Buffalo Bar Squat
4x6x360

Axle strict press from rack
4x6x163

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER

(3) DB incline bench
4x10x70s

DB rows
4x10x150

GHR
4x10x40

ASSISTANCE

GHR sit up
20, 15

Notes:

• This was absolutely a "low motivation workout". Knowing it was Friday and that this was my ticket to punch to earn the weekend was what got me through. Didn't want this workout to loom over me.

• That said, this was the strongest performance I've had in quite a while, especially given that, this entire block, I've been able to perform this workout later in the morning. I imagine the absence of heat was helpful here, as we finally got out of that heat wave and are experiencing a cold snap which makes things far more tolerable. But beyond that, I'm going to attribute it to all the valuable amiño acids from the nachos.

• Got all the presses without rest pause: that's a first in quite a while. Knee is feeling decent. My right forearm flexor got kicked in class last night, which created the illusion of forearm pain from low bar, but in reality this is the healthiest my forearms/elbows have felt this deep into a cycle of low bar squats. I think I'm going to have another cycle of Grey Man in me.

• In that regard, future planning wise, I may be taking my bridge week in the middle of next week. Work Ops tempo is going to tick up and I'll be on shifts for a week. Chaos, as always, is the plan.

• Tang Soo Do last night wasn't much of a workout, but we got in the physical testing requirements. We were focused on close quarters defense: lotta shuffling and short movements. Also continued to improve my throws last night.

• Weighed in at 82.3kg this morning. This has been the most successful week so far, but I do imagine the sodium bomb from last night is a contributor.

Training Log: Entry 3794

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

OPERATION TACTICAL SLEIGHBELL

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL Grey Man, Cycle 2, Week 2, Workout 4

"ROW ROW ROW YOUR BLOAT"

15 chins
20 minute recovery row (4010m covered)
14 chins
15 chins

Notes:

• Originally, Valkyrie and I were going to get in a ruck this morning, but the skies opened up at 0400 and never stopped, so we called an audible and got more sleep instead. With this being a mass building phase, that's never the wrong decision. I got in my 20 minutes on the rower while she got in her shower this morning. In general, I really like being able to start the day with 20 minutes on the rower, or some other manner of lower intensity physical activity. A cardio blitz doesn't seem appropriate, bu this is a nice way to get in "something" and get my body humming for the day.

• I DID need to focus to get in the 4000m in 20 minutes: I was meandering. It makes sense: yesterday's lifting was intense, and the Valkyrie and I actually got in a 3 mile ruck after ABF workout 5 after dinner last night, so there's been good activity. I'm also turning a corner on my throws by bypassing the handle and just gripping the bag and throwing. I can impose my will on it a bit easier that way. If nothing else, I feel like this will help improve the mechanics of my throwing while I practice.

• Tang Soo Do on the agenda this evening, and perhaps another walk after dinner. We're a month out from our belt test, so physical testing requirements will be a part of each class: 50 push ups, sit ups and jumping jacks for my rank. More extra activity.

• Weighed in at 81.8kg this morning. Very consistent weigh in these past 3 days: good to see. In general, fasting appears to be the lever I had been missing out on with nutrition. It's really made this simple.