Training Log: Entry 3430

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm, semi-restless sleep)

**12 LABORS**

*Tactical Barbell Operator* Cycle 1, Week 1, Workout 1

MAIN WORK

SSB front squat

5x5x195

ALTERNATE w/

Log clean and press away

5x5x135

NG chins

5x5x30

ASSISTANCE

Superset circuit (no rest) of

SSB front rack hold

3x30 seconds x 140kg

Standing ab wheel

3x10

Band pull aparts

2x25, 1x50

BREAKFAST

No walk w/dogs (no dogs…still in the kennel)

Notes:

* This is the start of the next training phase.  I’ll go into further detail in a later post, but the “12 Labors” is a reference to Heracles, and it coincides with me having 12 weeks of training until my next strongman competition, along with the fact that, in June I will be going on a cruise to Greece and Rome to celebrate the year I’m turning 40, and I fully intend to look, feel and perform like Heracles when that time arrives.

* I employed 2 minutes of rest between sets.  It absolutely killed me to wait that long, but I am, once again, fully complying with this program.  2 minutes is the absolute minimum amount of rest to take between sets, so I’m doing that, with an option to extend further as weights get heavier.  You ARE allowed to alternate between exercises, but with 2 minutes of rest between EACH exercise, so I’m really taking like 4 minutes of rest between squats with this approach.  

* I paired up the squats and the press together because they both used the same belt set up, and I didn’t want to deal with taking the belt off and putting it back on if I were to throw in the chins as well…primarily because, while wearing this many layers and with my increased abdominal circumference from 7 days of feasting, putting the belt on over top the soft-belt is a chore.

* I have finally returned to a more traditional wider squat stance.  I’ve proven whatever point it was I was trying to prove, and, in returning, also validated a few other theories I had.  One being that my mobility/depth in the wider stance would be much better than it ever was before, and the other being that the narrow stance has been the reason my right knee feels like absolute garbage.  I tore the meniscus in it on a log viper about 1.5 year back, but all this time narrow stance squatting has just been grinding it to a pulp.  Sitting for prolonged periods in confined spaces has been agony.  Meanwhile, today, there was minimal pain DURING the squat, and minimal pain after the workout.  I think the big takeaway is that the majority of my squatting needs to be a more traditional stance, and the close stance stuff should be used sparingly, and for high rep sets.

* I’m also belting up because my intention is for my lower back to get hammered during strongman prep, which I will also expand upon in a later post.  But I’m really trying to learn how to balance the training demands throughout the training program.

* I’m going to spend this week “drying out” from my vacation, and not do any weighing in.  Next week, I’ll take a weigh in and assess where I am in regards to my comp on 12 Apr.  However, “diet starts Monday”, so I’m already on my way to leaning out.  “Operation Conan” has ended, as I’m no longer trying to gain size at this point and, in turn, the nightly updates on meals have ended.  I intended to prove that I could gain on carnivore, and I did, but there was never any doubt you could LOSE fat on carnivore, so there’s no novelty there.

* May get in some more walking tonight while my kid is at their Monday activities.