Training Log: Entry 3640

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

TACTICAL BARBELL GREY MAN Week 1, Workout 1

MAIN WORK

Buffalo bar squat
12x308
3x8x308

Axle strict press from rack
2x8x148
7x148
5x148
4x148

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER

(3) Incline DB bench
2x12x65s
2x11x65s w/2 rep rest pause on final rep

DB rows
4x12x115

ASSISTANCE

5 chins between sets of main work

Notes:

• We had late reporting for work to compensate for all the 12s, so I slept in, but Valkyrie apparently had her alarm set 10 minutes later than usual, so my schedule was still a little off. I cut out the GHRs and ab work for now, but we’re working a short day today, so I’ll knock them out when I get home before I mow the lawn.

• The reps are all screwy this workout, so I’ll explain. I mixed up specificity and grey man in my head on the very first set, so did a set of 12 on squats. It’s pretty cool I can do that though. Noticed my feet were really wide, so brought them in a bit closer for the final 3 sets. For the press, it’s most likely too heavy, but I just used the trick of taking as many sets as necessary to get the reps (Jim Wendler refers to it as the “Malcolm X method”). For the incline DB bench, I did something similar with a rest pause at the end. I’m not going to lower the weights: I’m going to force growth and eat big enough to make change happen.

• 2 minutes of rest on the big lifts, 90 seconds on the DB bench, 1 minute on the DB row.

• Once I do the GHRs, I’ll splice the video together and upload. I’m also resuming my keg carry experiment, starting over at 200lbs.

 Training Log: Entry 3639

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 3, Workout 4

“GO RUCK YOURSELF” (Beginner)

Treadmill walk w/20.4lb tac vest

• Speed: 3.5

• Incline: 4.0

• Distance: 4.5 miles

Notes:

• Our tempo had cooled a little and I was able to come in an hour later today, so I finally got in some steps, because I’ve been chained to my desk all week. Felt nice, and the time passed quickly compared to the past time I was on the treadmill. Vest is lighter and incline lower, to coincide with the easier week.

• Weighed in at 83.4kg. Weight is still all over the place.

• Another good night of sparring last night. I actually rotated through the entire Dojang for king of the ring at the end. Was good to get in some activity that way.

 Training Log: Entry 3638

AM WORKOUT (0345 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 3, Workout 3

Deadlift
6x455

Notes:

• Was on track to get this for 10 this cycle, but that norovirus threw a small wrench into things. I’m feeling better, but my guts still refuse to hold onto anything I eat, and I spent this morning emptying myself before pulling, because otherwise this would have been a terrible event.

• All that said, I am incredibly pleased with my output as far as effort goes. That very first pull was a helluva grind, so to find 5 more reps after that was outstanding. When I dropped all that bodyweight 2 years ago, I shied away from this hard work because I was afraid of it, and it just self-perpetuated getting weaker. Tactical Barbell gave me a chance to recover well enough to get my hips functioning again, and this has been the longest cycle of successful pulls I’ve had in quite a while. It’s been awesome re-discovering my ability to grind through these reps.

• I was also completely annihilated after that set, which worked out well with me needing to just get in a short workout and get to work for my 3rd 12 this week. This timed out about as well as it could.

• Weighed in at 85.0kg this morning. I realized I’ve double my creatine dosage over these past 4 days to compensate for a few missed days while I was ill and to try to recover some lost bodywater, which could be part of the reason my scale is being wacky.

• Sparring last night actually went really well. I came in feeling dead from the shift, but once we warmed up I came to life. Got to spar our senior black belt and took us into overtime at 2 to 2, losing at the end but making them work for it. Had success with bodypunches and hook kicks to the head. Got complimented on my head defense. Had some great matches outside of the Dojang tournament as well.

 Training Log: Entry 3637

AM WORKOUT (0350 wake up via intestinal distress)

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 3, Workout 2

“CHARON’S TRINITY” (Beginner)

3 rounds of

• 1 minute rower

• 1 minute KB swings w/24kg bell

• 1 minute burpees

• 1 min rest

Notes:

• Apparently I’m not fully out of the woods with this virus. Was feeling a little queasy in bed last night, and woke up about 10 minutes before my alarm with my guts rumbling. Wonder if my appetite returning means I have more food in the system for my body to continue passing. I’m still feeling good enough to train, so that’s a positive.

• However, this was definitely a hard effort, despite being the easier workout. First round of swings felt like it went on forever.

• Weighed in at 84.2kg. Bodyweight is going to be wild as I recover.

• Sparring last night went pretty well. Went against a senior student in the first round, and the Valkyrie in the second. Was able to stay pretty active and work more on angles.

• Noticed in the mirror this morning that the teardrop on my right quad is presenting smaller than the left one, which is typically the other way around since the left one is the knee I had surgery on. I imagine this is related to the knee pain I’ve been experiencing. Chicken and egg: I’m not sure if the pain is indicative of dysfunction which is limiting the ability of the teardrop to develop/be recruited, or if the teardrop weakening is what is leading to knee pain. Gives me an idea of focusing on it for my next training cycle. I’m thinking, if I bring back the belt squat, I’m going to reduce the weight and focus on perfect reps and muscular contractions. Make it less about just getting through the ROM and more about bodybuilding. Also considering using flat soled shoes vs my squat shoes.

 Training Log: Entry 3636

AM WORKOUT (0350 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 3, Workout 1

MAIN WORK

SSB front squat
4x2x275

ALTERNATE w/

Axle strict press from rack
4x2x188

CONDITIONING

General Conditioning #5

3 rounds of

• 60 sec dip

• 90 sec rest

• 60 seconds push ups

• 90 seconds rest

3 rounds of

• 5 burpees

• 10 chins

Standing ab wheel
1x10 w/10 second plank

Notes:

• I love lots of things about my kid, but one of the best is that, when I ask them “Hey kiddo, what’s the plan?” Their response is “Chaos Dad”. And here we are, I thought this was going to be an unscheduled bridge week due to the norovirus, but my appetite came back last evening and I felt good this morning, so I got back to training. However, I’m still working 12s this week, so I’m going to make this an abridged training week. It already works out that this is the heavy week of Operator, so the volume is low and the conditioning intensity is easy. However, I’m planning on making this more like Fighter than Operator, getting in 2 lifting workouts with squat and press and then 1 workout of just deadlifts, as this should keep workouts very short and focused. Today’s wake up time worked, but I’ll need to get to work even earlier for the next few days, so I’m planning on 0335, which shaves off 25 minutes from my normal sleep time. Not awful. My conditioning days should give me a chance to recover some of that time, as they’ll be short. My step count is going to be low this week, and I’m at peace with that. It’s at least sparring week in Tang Soo Do, so I can get a workout there.

• As for the workout itself, it went really well. My right knee is feeling incredible, probably because I haven’t been carrying a stupidly heavy keg every day. That’s coming back, because “I’m f**king stupid, I don’t get a f–k about jail. That’s my business. That’s what I do” to quote Nicky Santoro. But in the interim, given how much fluid I’ve lost these past few days, I had no issue with headspins and was able to output exactly what I needed. Belt was fitting a little loose, but that’s to be expected.

• Conditioning took a small hit, nothing too awful. I still got GC#5 knocked out the fastest it’s been: 2:50. But part of that is I cut out all the extra chins I normally do, in order to save time.

• Weighed in at 82.9kg this morning. I’m happy to see I didn’t lose much weight form illness.

• I meal prepped for the week. First meal is 11.5oz of beef rib fingers, 3 hardboiled eggs and 5 egg white omelet. Second meal is the same, except 14oz of rib fingers. Since I’ll be eating at work, I won’t be taking photos of individual meals, but I’ll post up the photos I took from the process.

 Training Log: Entry 3635

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 2, Workout 5

MAIN WORK

SSB front squat
5x5x245

ALTERNATE w/

Axle strict press from rack
5x5x168

CONDITIONING

20 round EMOM

• First 5 rounds: 15kb swings w/24kg bell, 10 push ups, 5 chins

• Next 5: 10 swings, 10 push ups, 5 chins

• Next 5: 5 swings, 10 push ups, 5 chins

• Final 5: 4 1 arm swings (2 per arm), 10 push ups, 5 chins

ASSISTANCE

GHR sit ups
3x10

Band pull aparts
3x50

Notes:

• My electrolytes are off: had a real bad case of the head spins in my first set of squats, and my right bicep kept cramping. Making sure to up my intake.

• Aside from that, good training day. My elbows are in pain, and at first I thought it was from the keg carries, but I realize we’ve been drilling staff work hard in Tang Soo Do these past 2 weeks in prep for the tournament, and that always jacks things up for me.

• I like the conditioning workout I’ve come up with. It’s like a version of Cindy without having to squat so much. Add 1 armed swings to the end as a means to continue keeping the heart rate up while maintaining the trend of reducing as time goes on.

• Weighed in at 82.6kg this morning (or .4, I keep forgetting which it was). It’s funny how there is a little bit of a satellite delay when nutrition changes. I was still gaining a little weight when I first dropped my food intake, and I remember at the start of the gaining phase I was dropping bodyweight despite eating more. Just more proof to trust the process.

• Tang Soo Do was moderate activity yesterday: just more drilling to prep for the tournament tomorrow.

• Keg carry yesterday was 275lbs: officially 100lbs heavier than the start of the experiment. This actually felt pretty good until the final 3 steps, where I went sideways and was afraid I was going to dump the keg or rupture my patella tendons. This experiment may come to a halt soon just with me picking up those 12 hour shifts next week, as I don’t intend to carry the keg at 0500 and I’m not sure I’ll be able to carve out the time in the evening after work, but it also IS just 1 quick trip a day, so I can probably make it work. One of the newer variables I’ve had to contend with is that the powder coating on the keg is abrasive enough that it tears open my shin each day. I tried wearing knee sleeves around my shin yesterday and that helped.

 Training Log: Entry 3634

AM WORKOUT (0415 wake up via second alarm: slept through first)

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 2, Workout 4

“GO RUCK YOURSELF”

Treadmill walk w/45lb vest

Incline: 5.0

Speed: 3.5mph

Distance: 4 miles

Time: 1hr 8min 30sec

Notes:

First time I’ve ever slept through that first alarm. Part of me wonders if I just ended up shutting it off in the middle of the night. I woke up when I had 30 minutes left before it went off, but maybe in checking it that shut it off. Either way, this is why we have back ups. Cut a mile out of the ruck due to time constraints, but it was still a solid effort.

Tang Soo Do last night was more tournament prep. We ended the night with breakfalls and board breaks, which got a little activity. I broke one of our harder boards with a reverse punch, which was satisfying.

Keg carry yesterday was 273.5lbs. Today will be 275, which will mark 100lbs from the start of this experiment.

Weighed in at 83.0kg this morning.

I am glad I abandoned my 10k swing plans, as I will be working 12 hour shifts next week starting Tuesday and possibly through the weekend. It’s a great time for the lower intensity conditioning week/higher intensity lower volume week of TB, as I’ll need to get up earlier than usual to get to work on time. Will be doing meal prepping as well, with plans to eat my two meals at work rather than at home, which will save some time. Thankfully, carnivore meal prep doesn’t take much. I’ll be hardboiling a lot of eggs and most likely cooking up rib fingers or ground beef. Which, semi-related, my in-laws gifted me a bunch of ground venison from the farm in Iowa, so that’s awesome.

 Training Log: Entry 3644

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

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 2, Workout 3

MAIN WORK

SSB front squat
3x5x245

ALTERNATE w/

Axle strict press from rack
3x5x168

(2) Texas Deadlift Bar mat Pulls
10+3+4x455

ASSISTANCE WORK

Reverse hyper/standing ab wheel/band pull apart giant set circuit (no rest between exercises)

3x15x360/10/50

Lateral raise dropset
30x10, 30x5, 30x2.5, 30xEmpty Hands

Axle curls
1x50

Notes:

• Kiddo got me up at 0200 because the puppy had made a mess in it’s crate. Got things cleaned up and situated and then dozed until the alarm went off.

• All that said, my first set of squats felt rough, but after that things really clicked, and I was feeling VERY strong in my deadlift warm-ups. I feel that my drop off in reps is more a product of reduced food intake compared to anything else, but I honestly COULD have fought for more reps: I just recognized that I’d spend more than I’d earn from that kind of effort. Next week is pulling off the floor, and then the cycle rests, along with the nutrition. I just need to hold on. 10 reps was the goal for the first pull, and I nailed that.

• I found myself with a bit of extra time at the end of the workout, so threw in some curls, but decided not to push them too far because every keg carry is pretty brutal these days and I don’t want exhausted biceps to be the reason for a failure at this point. Don’t want to change too many variables.

• Which, on that note, yesterday’s carry weight was 272.5lbs.

• Tang Soo Do was very technical yesterday. Lots of focus on details in the open hand forms. Most likely going to continue like that through the week.

• Weighed in at 84.4kg this morning. Good signs for a post carb up weigh in.

 Training Log: Entry 3643

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

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 2, Workout 2

“CHARON’S TRINITY”

5 rounds of

• 1 min rower

• 1 min 24kg kb swings

• 1 min burpees

• 1 min rest

Notes:

• Still a buttkicker of a workout, and makes the 20 minutes go by quick. I wasn’t hurting as much as I was last week: starting to adjust again.

• Weighed in at 84.0kg this morning. Was 84.4 yesterday. Tonight will be the carb up meal, which is off schedule, but the day before deadlifts, so that will most likely be nice.

• Keg carry yesterday was 271lbs. First time I legit thought I wouldn’t be able to complete the carry. Starting getting sideways at one point. Hitting it on the days I lift tends to he bard compared to on non-lifting days.

• Tang Soo Do on the schedule for tonight. This week is most likely going to be a bit lower energy, since we have our tournament on Saturday.

• Moving forward, absent any competitions to prep for, I feel like a good battle rhythm for Tactical Barbell is 3 weeks Operator, 3 weeks Mass Protocol, 3 weeks specificity, 1 bridge week. 9 weeks of training tends to be where I want to take a bridge week, and especially so after the final week of specificity. This also sets up a longer form of “Feast/Famine/Ferocity”, in that I can spend 4 weeks (bridge and Operator) eating leaner and 6 weeks eating bigger. This feels like a good “baseline” approach, from which I can modify as needed. I can extend the Operator cycles longer when it comes time for competition prep, or I can extend Mass Protocol longer if that’s the goal.

• With the above, the other idea/benefit is a core set of lifts that belong uniquely to each phase. Specifically: SSB front squat for the Operator phase, Buffalo Bar for the Mass protocol and SSB for specificity. Similar to conjugate, rotating the movement will keep me from getting too hammered doing the same movement week after week for too long. I’m feeling the benefits of using the SSB front squat as my knee continues to feel awesome and body is getting a break in general. I can do something similar with the pressing as well, using the log and the axle as needed.

• The one other part of this approach I dig is keeping the TMs tied to the protocols. Since Operator is a 6 week protocol, by training it 3 weeks at a time, it would be 20 weeks before I up the TM (2 full 10 week rotations). Allows adequate time to really settle in with the weight and master it.

 Training Log: Entry 3642

AM WORKOUT (0550 wake up via Valkyrie’s alarm, 0730 workout)

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 2, Workout 1

MAIN WORK

SSB front squat
5x5x245

ALTERNATE w/

Axle strict press from rack
5x5x168

Chins between sets

CONDITIONING

General Conditioning #5

3 rounds of

• 60 sec of dips

• 90 sec rest

• 60 sec push ups

• 90 sec rest

3 rounds of

• 5 burpees

• 10 chins

15 second standing ab plank

Notes:

• Had a rough night of sleeping last night and the day off work today, so I slept in and got the training done later. Fasted until noon, which was about a 22 hour fast from yesterday. Really digging the compressed eating window.

• This felt pretty good. Squats were smooth, press was strong. I cut the ab work short just to save a little time.

• Yesterday’s keg carry was 270lbs. Up 95lbs from the start of the experiment.

 Training Log: Entry 3641

PM WORKOUT (1430)

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 1, Workout 6

10 minute EMOM of sprawl onto bag, then bag over bar

Notes:

• 200+lb bag, 50” bar

• Singles until the final round, then max reps over the bar.

• With the grappling comp in Dec, this seemed value added, and I was just in the mood for it. Wasn’t terribly challenging on the cardio: I can add more sprawls.

• Keg carry yesterday was 267.5, and today was 268.5.

 Training Log: Entry 3640

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 1, Workout 5

MAIN WORK

SSB Squat
5x5x215

ALTERNATE w/

Axle strict press from rack
5x5x215

CONDITIONING

20 rounds EMOM

First 5 rounds: 15 swings w/24kg bell, 10 push ups, 5 chins, then reduce swings by 5 reps every 5 rounds

ASSISTANCE

GHR sit ups
3x10

Notes:

• I like what I did for the conditioning. Got me 150 swings, 200 push ups and 100 chins. I think I’ll try to get more swings on the back end through the program.

• Weighed in at 84.4kg.

• Keg carry yesterday was 266lbs.

• Tang Soo Do was pretty low activity yesterday, but got some good feedback on one-steps.

• Getting the puppy today. Schedule will be a little whacky.

 Training Log: Entry 3639

AM WORKOUT (0355 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 1, Workout 4

“GO RUCK YOURSELF”

Treadmill walk w/45lb vest

• Speed: 3.5 mph

• Incline: 5.0

• Distance: 5 miles

• Time: 1hr 25min 45sec

Notes:

• Been a while since I’ve done a serious ruck. Went up 20lbs on the vest and 1 level on the incline, and I could feel it, because this sucked the entire time. Good to be able to get in some rucking again. Still a very tonic workout: came away from it feeling better than how I started.

• Weighed in at 83.9kg this morning: full kilo drop from yesterday, and 2.5kg drop from Tuesday. Definitely some wild fluctuations going on.

• We skipped TSD last night. Valkyrie was dealing with a bad headache all day, and a bunch of breakfalls didn’t seem like the cure for that.

• Keg carry yesterday was 265lbs. This marks a full 90lb increase from the start of the experiment. This was the hardest carry yet, which makes sense on the same day I did deadlift training. We’ll see what today brings. 100lbs is within reach.

 Training Log: Entry 3638

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 1, Workout 3

MAIN WORK

SSB front squat
3x5x215

Axle strict press
3x5x148

(3) Texas Deadlift Bar mat Pulls
11+5+4x455

ASSISTANCE

3 round Giant set circuit (no rest) of

• Reverse hyper 15x360

• 10 hanging leg raises

• 50 band pull aparts

Lateral raise dropset
35x10, 35x5, 35x2.5, 35x Empty hands

Notes:

• Staying with the protocol of fewer sets on my deadlift day, and I eliminated chins between sets for a similar reason. Allowing myself plenty of energy to pull.

• Best I can describe this is performing strength miracles inside my garage, because I have no idea how I managed to get that bar moving on the mat pulls, and then somehow found 11 reps on that first pull, and I truthfully had a 12th in me if I was willing to sacrifice work downstream. Same with those follow up sets. I’m re-discovering that other gear inside of me that can just make stuff happen. It’s cool to find that part of me again.

• Right knee is already telling me it doesn’t much care for the squats, but such is life. I’m focusing on sitting back rather than down as much as I can.

• My pecs are quite sore from Monday’s GC5. Novel stimulus.

• I had an idea in my head to do Fran when this was all done, as a means to get in more front squatting and chins. That’s not entirely off the menu, but for this first week it certainly was. I’m also glad I put the stop to the 10k swing idea, because with the puppy coming into our lives and a host of other schedule silliness, it would have been non-viable. This flexibility is helpful.

• Weighed 84.9kg this morning. More crazy swings. Got in 20k steps yesterday as well: had to take my truck in for some work, so walked around while I waited.

• Keg carry yesterday was 263.5.

• Tang Soo Do last night was actually a decent level of activity. Drill components of the one-steps in isolation, which gave us a chance to hit the bags. Class tonight will most likely be low on activity, and we have a parent-teacher conference, so the evening walk is most likely not going to happen.

 Training Log: Entry 3637

AM WORKOUT (0515 wake up via Valkyrie’s alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 1, Workout 2

“Charon’s Trinity”

5 rounds of

• 1 min rower

• 1 min 24kg KB swing

• 1 min burpee

• 1 min rest

Notes:

• It was good to come back to this, because it kicked my butt. Made it through all the rounds, but was definitely dogging it come time for the burpees. Lungs and heart were working hard.

• Right knee continues to feel pretty awesome. Recovery is going well.

• Weighed in at 86.3kg this morning. Significant jumps and swings: will have to see what my weight settles in at when things become a bit more stable.

• Keg carry yesterday was 262.5lbs.

• Haven’t been getting in my steps the past few days, due to schedule insanity. Should be able to resume now. We get our new puppy on Friday, which will change the schedule some more, but we’ll adapt.

• Tang Soo Do tonight. It’s one-steps week, so a little lower in terms of activity.

 Training Log: Entry 3636

AM WORKOUT (0359 natural wake up)

TACTICAL BARBELL OPERATOR Week 1, Workout 1

MAIN WORK

SSB front squat
5x5x215

ALTERNATE w/

Axle strict press from rack
5x5x148

Sets of 5 chins between sets

CONDITIONING

General Conditioning Workout #5

3 rounds of
-60 seconds of dips
-90 seconds rest
-60 seconds push ups
-90 seconds rest

3 rounds of
-5 burpees
-10 chins

ASSISTANCE

Ab wheel/band pull apart superset
3x10/50

Notes:

• 2 min rest between lifts

• 3:30 to complete the second part of GC5

• Performed chins during the warm up as well.

• Felt good coming into this. Bridge week paid off. Right knee is feeling buttery smooth on those front squats. Bracing is really solid.

• GC5 is always great for an upper body pump. Hitting burpees after all those push ups sucks.

• Feeling out the program for now, although it’s going to be a short run anyway at 3 weeks before getting back to Mass Protocol.

• Woke up at 85.4kg. That’s the scale moving in the wrong direction, but lots of variables at play. I ate something that disagreed with me this weekend, and spend much of Saturday evening/Sunday morning getting rid of it. Alongside that, in-laws in town meant reduced activity and increased celebrating. I’m not too concerned, as I really just need to be below 185lbs on 7 Dec as far as weight goes, otherwise, I’m just eating to support training. Will still be reducing food intake as I go. Last week was 16oz of meat at breakfast, this week is 14.5.

• Last night was the family meal. Classic spaghetti and meat sauce, with some sourdough and 4 of the Valkyrie’s cookies with some local raw honey. Cut myself down from 5, because I’m the master of restriction like that. There is a little truth to that, because she made pumpkin oatmeal cookies, which basically hits all the right notes for me.

• Keg carry yesterday was 261lbs. It keeps getting heavy but manageable. At this point, I might let weather determine when I stop.

 Training Log: Entry 3635

PM WORKOUT (1330)

BRIDGE WEEK

57 burpee chins in 5 minutes (lifetime PR)

Notes:

• The whole time I was doing this, I thought I was moving SO slow. Around rep 14 I thought to myself “ok, it’s been a while since you’ve done this, and you’re missing a gear here, just focus on not stopping”, and at rep 22 it was “just because you’re recording this doesn’t mean you have to post it, if it’s a sh*t show, you can just delete it”, and at rep 35 I thought “ok, we might get to 50 before time expires”, and then when I hit 50 I wondered “did I forget to set the sound on my alarm?”, only to see that I had 38 seconds left, so I kicked it into gear and got that 7th rep at the end. It’s funny how the way we feel can be completely different from reality, but maybe I always felt like I was going “faster” because I really just felt like I was working HARDER because it WAS harder, and this time it was so easy it felt like I wasn’t putting in much effort.

• That’s a lot of analysis for some burpee chins, but I’m pretty happy that I turn 40 at the end of this month and I’m still hitting some PRs. After this, I was wiped out, went and mowed the lawn for about an hour, and caught my heart rate at 120 a couple of times.

• I really dug how this was a workout I WANTED to do. And no loading.

• I carried a 258.5lb keg yesterday and a 260lb one this evening.

 Training Log: Entry 3634

AM WORKOUT (0515 wake up via Valkyrie’s alarm)

BRIDGE WEEK

20 minute recovery row

Notes:

• Finally got smart and treated this bridge week right. Another night of sleeping in and a recovery workout. I absolutely caught myself wanting to get up and hit a Fran WOD instead. I have to interpret these things positively: it means I am recovering and excited to train hard. That’s exactly what a bridge week is supposed to do. The key is to not squander that: use it to perpetuate excellence in the follow-on training cycles, rather than waste it with stupid workouts during the bridge.

• That said, I gave myself permission that, if I’m really itching to train like a maniac again, I’ll do that during a cycle of Operator sometime. Get the strength work done, then follow it with a WOD. Easy Strength style.

• In the other realm of positives, I drove to work without knee pain today. Any prolonged sitting tends to really agitate my knee, and driving was always a surefire way to experience that. This re-affirms my suspicion that it’s something I am doing in training that is causing the issue, rather than this just being a forever issue. I still want to get some imaging, but it’s nice to know that solutions exist.

• Weighed in at 84.3kg this morning, down .7 from Monday.

• Keg carry was 257.5lbs yesterday.

• Tang Soo Do was a solid class last night. Drill some basics hard and got some kudos from the head instructor.

 Training Log: Entry 3633

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

BRIDGE WEEK

“Meat Eater II”

10 rounds of

• 10 KB swings w/24kg bell

• 10 burpees

• 1 min rest between rounds

Notes:

• I have abandoned the plan for the 10k swing challenge. Ultimately, I recognized myself going down those same old self-destructive pathways of the past. Intellectually, I realized that, since Operator is a static workout (same moves done 3x a week for 3 weeks), pairing it with a static assistance protocol ala the 10k swing challenge was going to lock me in and give me zero room for adaptability. Along with that, I remembered that the last time I ran Operator, I only budgeted 20 minutes for assistance, which meant I’d only be able to get away with the 25 swings EMOM protocol to make it fit my time budget. In doing so, swing technique was going to get sacrificed for the sake of time, which really meant not getting the benefit OF the 10k swing challenge in the first place, and I’d ultimately just be doing swings for the sake of accomplishing the challenge. And in doing THAT, I’d be violating the Dan John principle of “The goal is to keep the goal the goal”. I’m not doing Tactical Barbell so that I can do the 10k swing challenge: I’m doing it so that I can get the benefits of Tactical Barbell, specifically with the O-M-S protocol. Dan spoke to how the 10k swing needs to be done on his own, and he’s not wrong: it was going to take more than it gave with this approach.

• I will say, as far as proof of concept testing goes, I know that it CAN get done: just a question of “should”

• On top of all this, I realized my bridge week wasn’t really allowing me to recover with so many swings, also defeating the purpose. I trained hard: I need to recover so I can train hard again. It’s why I elected for another night of sleeping in. Stan Efferding talks about how it’d be better to sleep an extra hour than to wake up an hour early to train, so I went with that.

• Moving forward, I do feel my approach for Operator will be to finish the workouts and then end with a GC workout of my choosing. Operator will be static, conditioning will be dynamic. Should help prep me for grappling as well.

• Long preamble aside, this morning’s workout was solid. MEII is just a classic “no duh” workout. I fell on the first round of swings: just wasn’t balanced.

• Tang Soo Do was relaxed last night. We worked on tournament form presentation. It was the kind of night we needed. One more class tonight. My in-laws come on Friday and will be staying the weekend, so slight schedule changes.

• Keg carry yesterday was 256lbs. I’m feeling it more in my hamstrings these days.

• Weighed 84.5kg this morning. I think I may do daily weigh ins for the 4 week block. That’s a half kilo loss from Monday.

 Training Log: Entry 3632

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

BRIDGE WEEK

SSB front squat
2x5xBar
2x135
1x185
1x205
1x255
2x288

500 KB swings

• 5 rounds of 10-15-25-50

• Rest periods of 30-30-60-120 seconds

• 2-3-5-5 dips between swings

• 24kg bell

Ab wheel/band pull apart superset circuit
3x5/25

Notes:

• The front squat was for max testing for my next cycle of Operator. The double of 288 was slow, controlled and rock bottom. I feel comfortable using a 300lb max. Also had a revelation about bracing, where it’s not just about a big belly full of air pressing against the belt but then also clamping down my abs on top of that. One of those things I understand in my head but would need quite a few more words to describe to someone else.

• I contemplated not doing the swings at all today, but settled on Dan John’s recommendation for how to approach the workout. Much nicer on my forearms. My grip and hamstrings are what seem to be the most impacted with these swings, which is probably a good sign. I’m still on the fence about doing the full 10k swing challenge over these next 3.5 weeks, but I think I can at least finish out the bridge week at this rate.

• Technically did more dips than recommended, but it didn’t impact my recovery. Dan’s recommendation of rest periods allowed me to have some more explosive swings, and kept my heart rate in a good spot.

• Keg carry was 255lbs yesterday.

• Tang Soo Do was a solid enough workout. The last thing I wanted to do was Bo/staff work, since my grip was fried…and it’s exactly what we did. But, it actually ended up helping get some life back into my forearms. We’ll see what tonight brings.

• Weighed in at 85.0 again today.

 Training Log: Entry 3631

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

BRIDGE WEEK

20 minutes, EMOM 25 KB swings w/24kg bell

Notes:

• This was another proof of concept test, to see if I could still sleep in on Tuesdays and get in a 500 swing workout. It’s viable.

• That said, this absolutely torched my forearms. I am making sure to NOT death grip the bell, but I imagine a big part of it is just the very short rest periods between rounds. I averaged 20 seconds of recovery between each round here, which was barely enough, and it’s why the swings are far less powerful toward the end, because I’m struggling to hold onto the bell.

• It begs the question of intent, but at the end of this my grip is torched, my heart rate is elevated and I’m breathing hard, so there’s A training effect occurring. I do need to ensure that I’m getting quality contractions on the actual posterior chain.

• I’m glad this is a bridge week and that I’m not wearing a weight belt, because last night I spilled a bunch of hot tea all over my stomach. Had a mug in my hand, my phone rang, I was sitting on my recliner, I went to set the mug down to get my phone out of my pocket, and in the juggle just spilled the contents straight onto my stomach. Got a small burn on my right side. Reminded me of Paul Kelso’s story in Powerlifting Basics Texas Style with the hot coffee down his shorts. Good week for recovery.

• Against my better judgement, I’m continuing the keg carry experiment, and carried 253.5lbs yesterday. It’s heavy, and with my grip getting taxed from the swings, I’m curious how far I can go.

• Tang Soo Do tonight. We have a tournament coming up in October, so we’ll most likely be preparing for that.

 Training Log: Entry 3630

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

BRIDGE WEEK

EMOM KB swings

• 24kg bell

• 20 swings per round

• 25 rounds total

• Chins between rounds

2 mile treadmill walk

• Speed: 3.5

• Incline: 4

• Time: 34:15

Notes:

• This was me piloting my idea of including merging the 10k swing challenge with Tactical Barbell Operator. Based off day 1, it’s doable, but iffy. This was far more fatiguing than I anticipated it being, specifically on my grip, but part of that could also be the chins between sets. I started out too ambitious with 3 per round, and realistically should stick with Dan’s recommendation of 1-2-3-repeat, or possibly just straight 2s across. I’m also contemplating altering my approach and stealing from TB II by doing 4 rounds of swings and 1 full round of rest, but this will extend the time even further. 25 minutes is the sweet spot as far as a time commitment goes, because placing that on top of a TB 1 workout should get me to about 50-55 minutes total. Ultimately, I’m not married to the 10k swing, and if I need to abandon this idea I will, but I’ll give it another day or 2 and see if it has wings.

• Weighed in at 85.0 kg this morning, which is my starting weight to base off for the next 4 weeks. Solid gains from Mass Protocol, and I still have a set of abs after 9 weeks of eating my face off. Already started the nutritional shift by going from 20oz of meat to 16 (technically 17.5 for this morning, but the rest of the week will be 16) and switching from ghee on top of my eggs to a thin smear of our homemade tzatziki sauce. Small changes. Plan is to keep reducing the meat week to week by small amounts.

• Went without the weight vest for the treadmill walk just to really reinforce the bridge week aspect of this. I’m appreciating the lack of load. My right knee feels a lot better as well. As much as I don’t want to admit it, I think the lever belt squat beats the hell out of it. Operator will be a good test of that.

• Keg carry was 252.5 yesterday. It’s still feeling heavy.

• Not as much sleep last night as usual. Stayed up late to watch the Cowboys tie. Went to sleep when it went into overtime: glad I didn’t stay up to watch the whole thing.

 Training Log: Entry 3629

PM WORKOUT (1400)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO (Final Workout)

Operation MILO Cycle 3, Week 3, Workout 6 (final workout)

Stone of Steel over bar
5 rounds of 1 min on/2 mins off
-160lb stone
-50” bar

Notes:

• Added a round each week for Specificity Bravo, and that seemed to work out well. I got 8-9-8-7-6 with this, battling some equipment issues. I’m planning on keeping this Saturday workout in some capacity through all phases of Tactical Barbell.

• Knees are a little sporty, but nothing I couldn’t handle. This final week was a lot on them. Operator with the front squat will give me a decent break.

• Carried a 250lb keg yesterday, and 251 today. I’m so close to failing that I think I’ll just go until it happens, rather than stop artificially. Effectively, the day I can’t make the trip down and back without stopping is the day the experiment will end. The keg DID feel lighter today after the stone work: like an overwarm.

• I’ll be taking a rest day tomorrow, then start my bridge week/10k swing experiment. That will determine if I go through with the full thing

 Training Log: Entry 3628

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO

Operation MILO Cycle 3, Week 3, Workout 5 (final lifting workout)

MAIN WORK

Chins (various grips, rest pause as needed)
5x14

DB rows
5x8x150

Axle curls
5x8x88

GHRs
5x8x70

ASSISTANCE

GHR sit ups
3x10

Reverse hyper/band pull aparts superset circuit
3x15x340/3x50

Lateral raise
50x10lb

Notes:

• 1 min rest between chins, rows and GHRs/sit ups, 90 second rest for curls

• I feel like this workout ultimately made lifting 4x a week palatable, since it doesn’t have a big movement in it. Just a chance to get in some bodybuilding and recover from the hard efforts of the week. Meanwhile, it’s the heavier bodybuilding day of the 2, so not having a big movement works, and it means I’m not totally killing myself on the deadlift day.

• DB rows are just stupidly heavy at this weight. Not as good of a mind muscle connection, but sometimes that brute force work is good for me as well.

• Really good pump from the chins.

• Final night of sparring in Tang Soo Do last night. Got in 3 matches, 2 with junior students and one with the Valkyrie. Highlight was my second match, dude had a predictable pattern where, if he was ever down a point, he would charge in first thing the next round to try to score a quick point by surprise. Everyone else always falls for it, and since I knew it was coming, I just shoved out a push kick at the start of the match and he speared himself on it. It ended with my heel crashing right into his knee and completely immobilized him. My instructor also commented on my stance, saying “I know I’m not going to take the boxer out of you, and I don’t think I want to. It works for you, and it has real world application, which I can appreciate”. Was good to hear us on the same wavelength.

• Keg carry last night was 248.5. Today will make 250, which will be 75lbs from the start of the experiment. It’s getting heavy, but I can still make it happen.

 Training Log: Entry 3627

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO

Operation MILO Cycle 3, Week 3, Workout 4

MAIN WORK

SSB Squat
4x8x325

Lever Belt Squat
4x8x272.5

Axle strict press from rack
3x8x153
1x6+1(failed 8th)x153

(3) DB incline bench
4x8x80s

Dips
2x8x80
1x7x80
1x6+2x80

ASSISTANCE

Ab wheel
1x10+10 second plank

Notes:

• Rest times all over. 1:30, 1:45 and 2:00 for the squats, 90 seconds for the lever belt, 2:00 for the press, 1:30, 1:45 and 2:00 for the incline, and 90 seconds for the dips.

• Much like yesterday, I have no idea how I succeeded here, but I’m glad I did. This is a huge gain in the course of a year, having me add 50lbs to my work set weight with a harder bar AND shorter rest periods. It took a lot out of me, and that bridge week and program shift are going to be well timed.

• Ran into some failures on the pressing, primarily due to a lack of rest time. I was a little behind the 8-ball timewise this morning. Same reason the ab work was reduced.

• Sparring last night had me going up against a senior student and one of our senior black belts, along with some free sparring. Trying out some new strategies and trying to work more combos. Was a good workout. One more of those tonight.

• Yesterday’s Keg carry was 247.5lbs. It felt heavy, but manageable.

• Weighed in at 84.7kg this morning, which will serve as my final weigh in for Mass Protocol and the baseline I’ll measure against during Operator. I don’t have goals for a specific bodyweight, I’m just eating for performance, but I DO need to be under 185lbs for the weigh in on 7 Dec.

 Training Log: Entry 3626

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO

Operation MILO Cycle 3, Week 3, Workout 3

MAIN WORK

(4) Texas Deadlift Bar Mat Pulls
11+5+4x455

DB rows
5x8x140

Axle curls
5x8x83

GHRs
5x8x60

ASSISTANCE

GHR sit ups
3x10

Reverse hyper/band pull apart superset circuits
3x15x340/3x50

Notes:

• 1 min of rest on rows, GHRs and GHR sit ups, 90 seconds on curls.

• I legitimately do NOT know how I managed those mat pulls. I wasn’t feeling particular weak or beat up today, but those pulls were just plain heavy, and I approached it with a goal of just getting 10 on the first pull and figuring it out from there. Breaking it off the mats the very time felt ridiculous, but somehow I found myself with plenty of strength to get through the reps. Very light taps on the mats. I’m rediscovering that “other gear” in me that, as long as I can get the bar a millimeter off the mats, I can move it to lockout. It’s great to feel strong again.

• Wore the strongman belt for most of the workout after that, because having my back warm and compressed felt good.

• No chins between sets. This morning, I found that my right elbow was showing some of those warning signs of getting beat up, and chins tend to be something that accelerate that. I’ve got Friday to really get these in. Part of me imagines it’s the keg carry that is doing this.

• On that note, 246lbs moved VERY well yesterday compared to the past 3 carries.

• Tang Soo Do sparring was a bit of a mixed bag. I got to go up against one of our adult black belts who has been out due to wrist surgery for a few months. It’s rare I get to spar someone larger than me. He has no cardio at all, and I pushed the pace to make him uncomfortable, but ended up fouling out. I got in a very nice hook kick to the head that made too much contact, and then caused him to panic twice, which resulted in him spinning out while I had launched a strike, getting me called on 2 strikes to the back, giving me 3 fouls. Not a way I want to lose a match, but I was pleased with how I was able to control the pace of the match.

• On that note, I signed up for another grappling competition on 7 Dec. Since I’ll have turned 40 by then, I’m no longer a Masters athlete, but instead in the “Directors” division. Here’s hoping a few more old dudes sign up.

 Training Log: Entry 3625

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

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO

Operation MILO Cycle 3, Week 3, Workout 2

“ROWER RESET 20s”

5 rounds on the rower of

• 20 seconds max effort

• 2 minutes rest

8 minute recovery row

Notes:

• Final one of these for the cycle. Output was solid and recovery was on point in the 2 minutes. Used up the remainder of the time for a recovery row to meet the objective of “no more than 20 minutes of training”.

• This still felt restorative on my body, despite being a hard effort. My right knee, in particular, is feeling much better than yesterday. I’m having a “good knee day”. Ultimately, I believe I have some form of quadricep tendinosis based off some self-diagnosis. My annual physical is coming up soon and I’m hoping to get some imaging done.

• Keg carry was 245lbs yesterday. It’s definitely getting heavy. I’m glad I’m wearing the SHD knee sleeves, as I can feel this is beating up my knees a bit.

• Tang Soo Do tonight, and it’s sparring. Always a treat.

• This is the final week of gaining, and then I’ll go into 4 weeks of leaning out before back on the cycle. This has probably been my most successful concentrated gaining block ever, as far as body composition goes. I’ve gained 7lbs in 9 weeks, and though my abs have filled out, I haven’t gained the love handles I typically get nor the lower belly paunch. My weight belt still fits well, and pretty much all my typical indicators of getting “overfat” haven’t triggered like they typically would around this point. I feel like I’ve stumbled across something solid turning the maximum definition diet into a gaining diet. As far as training goes, with Wed Squat day I’ll be squatting 325 with a SSB for sets of 8, whereas when I started Tactical Barbell a year ago I was squatting 275 with a buffalo bar for the same reps, so that’s a 50lb gain with a harder bar. Helps put things in perspective. Sure, I haven’t actually hit the squat yet, but it’s there waiting for me. And even without that, I got 305 with 1 minute rests vs 275 with 2 minute rests, so STILL some solid growth.

 Training Log: Entry 3624

AM WORKOUT (0358 natural wake up)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO

Operation MILO Cycle 3, Week 3, Workout 1

MAIN WORK

SSB squat
4x8x305

Lever belt squat
4x8x255

Axle strict press from rack
4x8x143

(3) DB incline bench
4x8x75s

Dips
2x8x67.5
2x7+1x67.5

ASSISTANCE

Standing Ab Wheel
3x10

Lateral raise dropset
35x10, 10x5, 10x2.5, 10xEmpty Hands

Band pull aparts
30

Chins throughout workout

Notes:

• 1 min rest on all lower body. Went 90-105-120 seconds on the axle, 60-90-105 seconds on the incline bench, and 60-60-90 on the dips.

• Kept the weight the same on the dips as last workout, but got it done in a shorter timeframe, so it’s a density PR.

• Fought HARD to keep those squats at a minute rest. 3 weeks is definitely my limit on the SSB: it’s taking a lot out of me.

• My shoulders were smoked, so I kept the lateral raise reps pretty low today.

• I’m in a weird place where I’m excited at the prospect of training by don’t want to actually DO the training. Growing is awesome, and I love how strong I’m getting through this process since I’m actually eating to gain, but these training days are brutal. I’m looking forward to Operator, slimming down, longer rest and fewer reps.

• Weighed in at 84.8kg this morning: gaining is going real well. This marks a 3.2kg gain from the start of Mass Protocol. Coincides with my family meal yesterday of spaghetti with piedmontese beef meat sauce, some local Italian bread fried in ghee, and 5 of the Valkyrie’s cookies with some raw local honey and some fairlife skim milk.

• Keg carry was 243.5lb yesterday. It moved VERY slow. Part of that was just being late in the evening: was busy and forgot I needed to get this done. I am thinking that it might be time to wrap up the experiment at the very end of the Mass Protocol. That will be 9 weeks in and about 75lbs added from the start. I can reset the weight while I’m doing Operator so that, by the time I cycle back up to Mass Protocol, I can start pushing the weight again.

 Training Log: Entry 3623

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO

Operation MILO Cycle 3, Week 2, Workout 5

MAIN WORK

Chins (various grips)
5x13 (rest pause as needed)

DB rows
5x10x130

Axle curls
5x10x76

GHRs
5x10x50

ASSISTANCE

GHR sit ups
3x10

Reverse hyper/band pull apart superset circuit (no rest)
3x15x340/3x50

Lateral raise stripset
35x10, 35x5, 35x2.5, 35xEmpty Hands

Notes:

• 1 minute rest for all except curls, which were 90 seconds.

• For chins, I got through the first 2 sets without rest pause, then got to rep 7 of all other sets before needing to rest pause. 5 total reps over previous week.

• This workout really works well for the overall programming structure. By this point of the week, I’m pretty beat up, and a day without any heavy spinal or knee loading is refreshing, while still being challenging enough and getting me a solid pump through the posterior chain. Especially felt my lats lit up after the chins before moving to the rows.

• Tang Soo Do was another solid workout last night, and 3 nights of that in a row added up.

• Keg carry yesterday was 240lbs. It was raining, so I had to move slower than I would like to.

 Training Log: Entry 3622

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO

Operation MILO Cycle 3, Week 2, Workout 4

MAIN WORK

SSB Squat
4x10x283

Lever belt squat
4x10x237.5

Axle strict press from rack
3x10x133
1x8+2x133

(3) DB incline bench
4x10x70s

Dips
10x67.5
2x8x67.5
1x8+2+2+2x67.5

ASSISTANCE

Standing ab wheel
1x10 w/10 second plank on final rep

Chins through workout

Notes:

• 1 min rest on first 3 sets of squats, then 90 seconds. 1 min for all lever belt. 2 minutes on axle. 1:30, 1:45, 1:55 on DB bench. 2 minutes on dips.

• There is certainly a reality where I could have gotten all 4 sets of squats with just 1 minute of rest between sets, but I imagine it would have taken more out of me and compromised the remainder of the workout. It’s what I dig about this protocol: I make the first day as strict as possible so I have room to stretch out on the second day.

• Because of all the slightly longer rest periods, I had to cut the ab work short at the end, so I held a plank on the final rep to make it suck more.

• For the dips, I rest paused to get all the remaining reps. I’m going to keep that weight for next week, since it’s sets of 8, and see if I can do it with shorter rest periods.

• Weighed in at 83.4kg this morning, which is my more traditional weigh in day. That’s a delta of .7kg from Monday.

• Keg carry yesterday was 238.5lbs. It’s definitely feeling heavy on the return trip, although carrying it on deadlift day will typically feel heavy.

• Tang Soo Do was a decent workout last night. Final night of it tonight.

 Training Log: Entry 3621

AM WORKOUT (0333 natural wake up, snoozed until 0400)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO

Operation MILO Cycle 3, Week 2, Workout 3

MAIN WORK

(5) Texas Deadlift Bar Mat Pulls
11+5+5x455

DB rows
5x10x120

Axle curls
5x10x70

GHRs
5x10x40

ASSISTANCE

GHR sit up
3x10

Reverse hyper/band pull apart superset circuit (no rest, back and forth)
3x15x340/3x50

Notes:

• 1 minute rest between sets of everything, except 90 seconds for final set of curls

• The mat pulls were in an interesting place, where the weight felt heavy on all the warm-ups, and I acknowledged that it was heavy during the work sets, but it moved easier than it did last week. No pain either. It was as though I had it in my head that it was going to feel so heavy that it managed to just be reasonable when the time came to perform. Goal was 10 reps on the first pull and I got 11. Blew out a bunch of blood vessels in my shoulders as well. Like old times. I feel my strength coming back well.

• Weight belt is still fitting well this deep into gaining, and I’m not looking sloppy. Feel like I’ve really landed on something solid here.

• Weighed in at 83.7kg this morning: .4 drop from Monday. I typically weigh in on Thurs, but we’re getting a break in heat today, so I figured today would be my closest to a post-sweat weigh in that I typically got on Thursdays.

• Tang Soo Do was a solid workout last night. Tonight should be similar. Sprained my thumb on my left hand either in class or in my sleep: it’s swollen, but not enough to impact training.

• Keg carry yesterday was 237.5lbs. It felt pretty light, but the return trips are getting slower and slower.

 Training Log: Entry 3620

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

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO

Operation MILO Cycle 3, Week 2, Workout 2

“ROWER RESET 20S”

5 rounds on the rower

• 20 seconds max effort

• 2 minutes rest

8 minute cooldown row

Notes:

• Much better power output today compared to last week: I got back into the groove. Was actually pulling the rower off the floor with my strokes. Also was able to shave a minute off the final rest time compared to last week and still get in the power output.

• My body feels a lot better after these days. Good restorative effect between the power work and the cooldown. I abide by the “no more than 20 minutes” rule and use that to determine my cooldown time.

• Keg carry yesterday was 236lbs.

• Tang So Do tonight. It’s “Wildcard cardio” week, so should be a decent workout. I haven’t achieved my 10k step goal over the past 3 days, so it’ll be good to get in some extra activity.

 Training Log: Entry 3619

AM WORKOUT (0402 natural wake up: didn’t set my first alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO

Operation MILO Cycle 3, Week 2, Workout 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcvpPnGlK48

MAIN WORK

SSB squat
4x10x260

Lever belt squat
4x10x205

Axle strict press from rack
3x10x123
1x8+2x123

(3) DB incline bench
4x10x65s

Dips
10x55
9x55
10x55
8+3x55

ASSISTANCE

Standing ab wheel
3x10

Lateral raises
50x10

Chins throughout workout

Notes:

• Rest 1 minute between sets for the lower body work. Went 60-90-120 on the axle, 60-75-75 on the DB, and 60-120-120 on the dips.

• The squats remain a total ball buster but still within my capabilities. The pressing is challenging. Rest paused as needed.

• Keg carry was 235lbs yesterday.

• Weighed in at 84.1kg this morning. I’m keeping quite lean through this gaining process this time. Think the 2 meal a day approach has paired well.

• Last night was the family meal. We reheated the baked spaghetti from last week, alongside some bread fried in ghee, 3 sunny side up eggs, and 5 of the Valkyrie’s peanut butter oatmeal cookies with some local raw honey and some fairlife skim milk.

• This is log worthy: our grocery store had a special of $.99 per pound of pork shoulder. I picked up 3, ranging from 8.5-9lbs. We already have one on the pressure cooker for tonight, and the Valkyrie says we may just have to do weekly kalua pigs to make use of this deal. That’s a good situation to be in. Suffice it to say, pork is going to continue being a regular in the rotation.

 Training Log: Entry 3618

PM WORKOUT (1930)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO

Operation MILO Cycle 3, Week 1, Workout 6

Stone of Steel over bar

Notes:

• 160lb stone, 50” bar, 3 rounds of 1 min on/2 minutes off

• Got 8 reps in the first round, 9 in the final 2

• Technique felt sharp. I was exhausted today, as I drove 5 hours total so we could go see a new puppy we’re planning on getting. 2.5 hours down, see the pup for an hour, 2.5 hours back, then dinner and got this done.

• Keg carry yesterday was 232.5lbs. Did the keg carry right after this workout with 233.5. The keg felt light, after the stone work.

 Training Log: Entry 3617

AM WORKOUT (0357 natural wake up)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO

Operation MILO Cycle 3, Week 1, Workout 5

MAIN WORK

Chins (various grips)
5x12 (rest pause as needed)

DB rows
5x12x110

Axle curls
5x12x66

GHRs
5x12x30

ASSISTANCE

GHR sit up
3x10

Reverse hyper/band pull apart superset
3x15x340/3x50

Lateral raise dropset
35x10, 35x5, 35x2.5, 35xEmpty hands

Notes:

• Took 1 min rest on everything except for the curls, which were 90 seconds.

• For the chins, I got through the first 2 sets without rest pause, and then rest paused as needed for the remainder, but was able to at least get through 7 reps before needing to break. I’m deciding between add weight and adding reps for the follow on.

• This was a good training day in general. It’s weird not having a “big” lift, but it felt good as far as sparing my body weight. No spinal loading, and no knee flexion work, so my body gets a little break but I still got a pretty solid pump.

• I woke up fantastically sore. Novel stimulus is still working.

• Very decent pump from the chins. Curls were tough. Felt some good hamstring cramping on the GHRs.

• Another low intensity night at Tang Soo Do, but high IQ sorta stuff. It’s fun learning new material with the new belt.

• Keg carry was 231lbs yesterday, and felt much lighter than yesterday’s 230lbs I carry this thing down my driveway and then back up, which means it’s a slight downhill incline down and uphill incline up. I’m feeling that incline a lot more these days…

• Forecasting the future, I have a bridge week and then 3 weeks of Operator coming up, and I think I may actually use those 4 weeks to do the 10k swing challenge as my conditioning work for Operator. It should slot well: just do the swings and bodyweight work for the bridge week, and then do swings and bodyweight work after the lifting of Operator. I can then also do swings and a ruck for conditioning and then some sort of swing based HIC. I’m liking this idea because it reduces decision fatigue, and gives me a chance to actually run the challenge legit for once. We’ll see, but so far it’s where I’m leaning.

• Another decent back shot for the thumbnail. I’ve been eating my face off for 7 weeks and haven’t put on any appreciable bodyfat: that’s pretty awesome.

 Training Log: Entry 3616

AM WORKOUT (0355 natural wake up)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO

Operation MILO Cycle 3, Week 1, Workout 3

MAIN WORK

SSB squat
4x12x240

Lever belt squat
4x12x200

Axle strict press from rack
3x12x113
1x10+2x113

(3) DB incline bench
4x12x60s

Dips
3x12x30
1x10+2x30

ASSISTANCE

Standing ab wheel
3x10

Chins throughout workout

Notes:

• Phone ran out of memory: full workout not captured. But I got the squats, and those were the most brutal part.

• 1 minute rest for all the lower body work. For the press, went 90 seconds, 1:45 and 2:00 respectively. For the incline, went 60-90-1:45. For the dips, went 90-120-120.

• Strict 1 minute rests between those squats is absolutely brutal. I’m a big fan of what that brings to the table as far as new stimulus goes. For a 3 week wave, this is definitely valuable.

• Kept those rests short on the first workout for this exact situation: was able to push the rests a little longer while still staying within program parameters. The pressing was challenging, but should be beneficial.

• That pinched nerve in my back has resolved thankfully.

• Last night’s Tang Soo Do was light on activity again but high on learning. Another night tonight should round us out.

• Keg carry was 230lbs yesterday. It felt heavy, but that tends to be the case when I do it on the day I do deadlifts.

• Weighed in at 83.6kg this morning. Thursday was typically my lighter weigh in, because it was after 90 minutes of walking, but that’s changed with this program. I’m still including it, because it’s 4 days post carb load and a decent enough data point.

 Training Log: Entry 3615

AM WORKOUT (0352 wake up via alarm, snooze until 0400)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO

Operation MILO Cycle 3, Week 1, Workout 3

MAIN WORK

(6) Texas Deadlift bar Mat Pulls
11+5+5x455

DB rows
5x12x100

Axle curls
5x12x60

GHRs
5x12x20.4

ASSISTANCE

GHR sit ups
3x10

Reverse hyper/band pull apart superset circuit (no rest, just back and forth)
3x12x340/3x50

Chins throughout workout

Notes:

• 1 minute rest between all movements.

• Went with 5 sets here, since I’m doing 1 fewer movement than my push day. Timed out about the same, so that works well.

• Those mat pulls had a tough start, but not a painful one, which is a big difference. The follow-up pulls on the sets of 5 felt stronger. The weight feels heavy in general, but a part of that is that I’m not taking a deload between cycles. Instead, my bridge week will hit at the end of this cycle of Specificity, so right in the middle of the cycle.

• Pinched a nerve in my upper back on my left side at some point. Felt it during the rows. Minorly annoying. I’m dealing with sprained fingers on that same side, so I’ve got some nerve dysfunction going on in general.

• Didn’t get footage of the reverse hypers, just because I was dealing with some technical issues.

• Tang Soo Do had us learning new material last night, which was fun. We’ll reinforce tonight.

• Keg carry yesterday was 228.5lbs.

 Training Log: Entry 3614

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

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL SPECIFICITY BRAVO

Operation MILO Cycle 3, Week 1, Workout 2

“REST 20s” rower

5 rounds of 20 seconds max intensity

5 minute low intensity cooldown.

Notes:

2 minutes rest between first 4 rounds, 3 minutes for final round. Emphasis was on being fully recovered and able to give maximum effort for the 20 seconds, making it a for real sprint. I need a few more sessions to really dial in my ability to do that: it’s been a while since I’ve really gone to town on the rower.

I was divided between this and Fobbits, but decided the latter was a bit too similar to what I’ve been doing for the past training block and wanted to introduce something new. The change in stimulus should be good. Meanwhile, the cooldown still gives me a recovery effect.

Keg carry last night was 227.5lbs. I went with my Elitefts SHD knee sleeves this time.

Just one day on specificity and already my connective tissue feels better. I’m sore muscularly, but not beat down like I’ve been. It’s a good change.

Tang Soo Do tonight. It’s one-steps week, which tends to be pretty light in activity.

 Training Log: Entry 3613

AM WORKOUT (0350 natural wake up, snoozed until 0400)

TACTICAL BARBELL SPECIFICITY BRAVO

Operation MILO Cycle 3, Week 1, Workout 1

MAIN WORK

SSB Squat
4x12x215

Lever belt squat
4x12x182.5

Axle strict press from rack
3x12x103
1x10+2x103 (rest pause)

(3) DB incline bench
4x12x55s

Dips
4x12x15

ASSISTANCE

Standing ab wheel
3x10

Lateral raise dropset
35x10, 35x5, 35x2.5, 35xEmpty Hands

Band pull aparts
50

Chins throughout workout

Notes:

• 1 minute rest between sets, except for final set of strict press and incline bench (90 seconds rest)

• I have missed strict 1 minute rest between hard sets of main lifts. It’s a different kind of challenge, and keeps me sharp and honest. The light weights are a good break for my body as well. And it’s why I’m such a big fan of this system in general, because after this cycle I’ll swing into Operator, where it will be heavy with longer rests.

• Went with 4 sets with everything just to see how my time shook out at the end. As you can see with all the assistance work at the end, I had ample time, which means I can do more sets next time and/or take longer rests as things get heavy. My strategy is to take as little rest as possible as early as I can so that I have room to rest longer as things get harder. I’m also figuring on hitting more sets on the lighter workouts so I can do fewer sets on the heavier. Lots of room to maneuver.

• Since I’m already doing 3 kinds of pressing exercises, I cut out flat bench. It makes the most sense from a logistics standpoint, as you can see the set-up I’m working with. I’ve contemplated adding another lower body lift, but Jim Wendler said something recently that has resonated with my own training history, and that is that the lower body just doesn’t seem to need as much assistance as the upper body to grow, and when we slam it with too much, it has the reverse effect.

• Weighed in at 83.5kg this morning. Really enjoyed the family meal yesterday: bacon cheeseburger alfredo casserole, using pancetta, piedmontese 93% lean grassfed beef, drum wheat pasta, grassfed cheddar, and some good quality cream, alongside 2 biscuits with grassfed butter and raw local honey and then 5 of the Valkyrie’s homemade cookies with some more honey and some fairlife skim milk. In terms of “all things health”, I’ve noticed how much I look forward to my Sundays now, where I take a day off of training and enjoy a meal that we all cook together as a family, whereas before I had to really talk myself into these days. It’s a nice place to be in.

• Keg carry was 226lbs yesterday. Felt light.

• My back looks pretty awesome in that thumbnail.

 Training Log: Entry 3612

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN (FINAL LIFTING WORKOUT)

Operation MILO Cycle 2, Week 3, Workout 5

MAIN CLUSTER

Buffalo bar squat (low bar)
5x3x340

Axle strict press from rack
5x3x163

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER

(3) DB incline bench
4x8x70s

DB row
4x8x125

GHRs
4x8x50s

ASSISTANCE

GHR sit ups
3x10

Lateral raise
50x10lb

Chins throughout workout

Notes:

• Was dragging this morning. Felt some allergies before bed, popped Benadryl and was still feeling it in the morning. Valkyrie also reminded me that we did lunges in Tang Soo Do on Wed, and they really had my knees wrecked (I appreciate Dan John’s sentiment that those who can do lunges don’t need to do lunges, and those who can’t shouldn’t), so I was just beat. Knowing that this was the final workout gave me some consolation, and once I started things felt better.

• Went up to the full 5 sets for the squat and the press. The squats were slow, but form was solid, and press was strong.

• Didn’t have the bandwidth for my full on lateral raise work, but getting in some work felt good.

• Keg carry last night was 222.5lbs. Tang Soo Do was a moderate workout.

• Valkyrie and I are going out tonight for that whole hog live fire dinner. May not post any photos for Operation MILO, but I’ll be eating well between pulled pork, open fire grilled chicken, and possibly some off menu items as well.

 Training Log: Entry 3611

AM WORKOUT (0356 natural wake up)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN

Operation MILO Cycle 2, Week 3, Workout 4

“GO RUCK YOURSELF”

Treadmill walk w/20.4lb tac carrier

Speed: 3.5 mphIncline: 4.0Distance: 5 milesTime: 1hr 25min 45sec

Notes:

Woke up feeling really stiff. Combination of heavy deadlifts and a solid Tang Soo Do class last night. When I first joined, the demands of the martial art were pretty light, but as we’re getting more advanced more is being demanded of us. 3 nights in a row has me pretty stiff by the end of the week. The walk, in turn, tends to be pretty tonic.

Digestion seems to finally be in a better place. Was rough the past few days.

Weighed in at 81.1 post workout, which is pretty low. This week has been a bit unique in terms of food, so I’m not going to be too concerned about it, but something to keep an eye on. Plan is 3 more weeks of gaining with specificity, then 4 weeks of leaning out with a combination of bridge week and Operator, then back to gaining.

Keg carry was 221lbs yesterday.

 Training Log: Entry 3610

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN

Operation MILO Cycle 2, Week 3, Workout 3

MAIN CLUSTER

Axle bench press
5x3x246

Texas Deadlift Bar Deadlifts
10x440/200kg

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER

Lever belt squat
4x8x230

Dip/axle curl superset
4x8x70/76

ASSISTANCE

Reverse hyper/standing ab wheel superset
3x15x320/3x10

Chins throughout workout

Notes:

• I was excited for this training session, which is a great sign. This is my first early morning session since Thursday of last week: I’ve had a lot of opportunities to sleep in. Despite 0400 coming earlier than I remember, I was feeling strong and able, and it shone through on the deadlifts, which were the highlight of the workout.

• I set a goal of 10 and achieved it, and shut it down at that point. I am pretty confident I could have fought for another rep, and 12 would have matched what I’ve been pulling all cycle, but this one particular workout wasn’t going to make me stronger: it was all the work leading up to it that mattered. This was more the realization of that effort, and it’s a 15lb PR from last cycle, so that’s just outstanding. To move more weight easier is exactly the goal.

• I moved my body closer to the lever belt, and it helped take some pressure off my knee.

• Keg carry yesterday was 220lbs.

• Tang Soo Do wasn’t too stressful last night, but we got all the way through our new hyung, which impressed our instructor. He talked about how our whole family is timing out to test for black belt at the same time, and he’s never had that before. I’m happy for him that we can do that.

• Digestion has been off these past few days. Wondering if Texas Roadhouse is to blame.

• Weighed 83.3kg this morning. Wednesday is an atypical weigh in day for me, but schedule is different this week, and tonight we’re doing a ham for dinner, so sodium load is going to be higher than usual for tomorrow’s weigh in. Getting data points where I can.

 Training Log: Entry 3609

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

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN

Operation MILO Cycle 2, Week, 3, Workout 2

“ROW ROW ROW YOUR BLOAT”

21 minute recovery row

Notes:

• Had a rough time sleeping last night. Was overheating and felt like I had some heart burn. Curious if all the pork is reacting poorly. I suppose this week will be an experiment in that.

• My joints feel awesome though. Inflammation is reduced, and this recovery row really hit the spot.

• We’ve been doing a little extra Tang Soo Do practice at home these past few nights, learning our new hyungs. We have a tournament in mid-October we want to be prepared for. We’ll have a legit class tonight.

• Keg carry yesterday was 218.5lbs.

 Training Log: Entry 3608

AM WORKOUT (1000)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN

Operation MILO Cycle 2, Week 3, Workout 1

MAIN CLUSTER

Buffalo Bar Squat (higher bar)
4x3x340

Axle strict press from rack
4x3x163

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER

(3) Incline DB bench
4x8x70s

DB rows
4x8x125

GHRs
4x8x50lb vest

ASSISTANCE

GHR sit up
3x10

Chins throughout workout

Notes:

• Have the day off for Labor day, so slept in with the Valkyrie, fasted through breakfast while we went for a donut run, and got this done when I got home. It was nice to have a few more hours to let my hips and knees warm up.

• Triples week is always nice. Goes by fast and I feel strong. I had the bar really high up on the squats and still felt solid. Elbows appreciated it.

• Didn’t do the chins between warm ups sets, to make the workout go faster, so I could get back with the family.

• Yesterday’s keg carry was 217.5. It’s been raining a ton, so I’ll see what carry conditions are like later today.

 Training Log: Entry 3607

PM WORKOUT (1400)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN

Operation MILO Cycle 2, Week 2, Workout 6

EMOM Stone of Steel over Bar

• 160+lb stone, 50” bar

• Pattern was 2x4, 1x3, repeat

Notes:

• Honestly wasn’t feeling this today, but after mowing the lawn and doing some other yardwork for 2 hours, I felt warmed up enough.

• This was a solid conditioning effort. Once again, more reps is getting me better technique. Along with getting my hands over the top of the stone, I did a better job popping up on my toes and getting decent extension on the stone. Felt it actually clearing the bar, vs rolling over it.

• Lower back was a little stiff coming into this. I’m sore in general. Trying to keep the nutrition going, but Mass Protocol definitely hits different.

• Already did my keg carry. Yesterday was 215, today was 216

 Training Log: Entry 3606

AM WORKOUT (0500 wake up via Valkyrie’s alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN

Operation MILO Cycle 2, Week 2, Workout 5

MAIN CLUSTER

Buffalo Bar Squat (low bar)
5x6x320

Axle strict press from rack
5x6x153

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER

(3) Incline DB bench
4x10x65s

DB rows
4x10x120

GHRs
4x10x40lb vest

ASSISTANCE

GHR sit ups
3x10

Chins throughout workout

Notes:

• Got the day off work, so slept in until the Valkyrie’s alarm and got this knocked out before getting the kiddo up and taking them out for breakfast. Got those beef short ribs on the smoker for a post training meal. Going to be a good day.

• I cut out the chins during the warm up to meet my timeline. Honestly wasn’t feeling super strong coming into this workout, but performed well enough. Learning the new stuff in Tang Soo Do is most likely beating me up a little.

• Put the bar lower on my back today. Been a good habit of higher bar for the first workout and lower for the second. Also got the 5 sets on squats and press done.

• Keg carry weight was 213.5lbs yesterday.

 Training Log: Entry 3605

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN

Operation MILO Cycle 2, Week 2, Workout 4

“GO RUCK YOURSELF”

Treadmill walk w/20.4lb vest

Speed: 3.5mph
Incline: 4.0
Distance: 5 miles
Time: 1hr 25min 45sec

Notes:

• This was the best one in a while. Time passed quickly. I honestly attribute it to picking a good show to watch (Marvel’s “Thunderbolts”, first time seeing it, so it had my attention).

• I always wake up for this workout completely thrashed, since it’s the day after pulls, and come away from it feeling so much better.

• Weighed in at 82.5kg. Gains are happening. Zero delta between Monday and Today, wheresa I typically see a 2kg drop there. Part of that MAY be that gigantic steak I had for dinner last night still needing to settle.

• Tang Soo Do was a moderate workout last night. We got all the way through our new hyung. Will be drilling it some more tonight.

• Keg carry weight yesterday was 212.5lbs. I started wearing my knee sleeves for the carry for the past 3 carries. I’ve technically altered the variables in doing so, but it feels better on my joints.

 Training Log: Entry 3604

AM WORKOUT (0353 natural wake up)

TACTICAL BARBELL MASS PROTOCOL GREY MAN

Operation MILO Cycle 2, Week 2, Workout 3

MAIN CLUSTER

Axle bench press
5x6x231

(2) Texas Deadlift Bar Mat pulls
12+3+3x440/200kg

SUPPLEMENTAL CLUSTER

Lever belt squat
4x10x212.5

Dips/axle curl superset
4x10x57.5/71 (had to rest pause final rep of final set of dips)

ASSISTANCE

Reverse hyper/standing ab wheel superset
3x15x320/3x10

Band pull aparts
1x75

Chins throughout workout

Notes:

• The mat pulls were interesting today. I felt very strong for them during the warm ups, but also just plain didn’t want to do them. It was the same with the chins. Pulling anything just wasn’t going with my psychology today. I had a great performance on them, but I also cut the follow on sets short for the sake of not digging too deep into my recovery well. This was a hard pull, and as much as I don’t want to create a negative feedback loop, if I were to call my shots, THIS workout today would be the one where I got the most out of the cycle, and next week’s workout, where I pull from the floor, would be the one where I go to pull and find nothing there. Tends to happen once per cycle and sort of act as a natural deload, but it sucks when it ends up being the floor pull. We’ll see how it goes.

• Keg carry was 211lbs yesterday. I actually tripped and fell while carrying it, landing on the keg, bruising my hip and getting some road rash on my elbows. I was concerned it was going to impact my pulls, but no issue.

• Tang Soo Do wasn’t much of a workout last night. We’re learning new material, so it’s moving slow. Be more of that today as well. The Valkyrie was crowned the Dojang sparring champ of the month, with my kiddo in second place by 3 points, so that was awesome.