Training Log: Entry 2791

AM WORKOUT (0430 natural wake up, rough night of sleep, mind racing, too excited about training) FED

**TO VALHALLA** Week 2, Workout 3 “Carried Away By Valkyries: Grace, Fran and Cindy”

“Valkyrie Grace”

* 30 floor to overheads w/Viking handle
* 9x135 on the axle to start, and then...

* Took off a 45 and got in the remaining 21 reps

“Valkyrie Fran”

* 21-15-9 Viking thruster and strict chins

“Valkyrie Cindy”

20 minutes AMRAP of

* 5 chins-10 push ups-15 squats-20 KB swings w/24kg bell 

15 rounds completed

OFF CAMERA

8 rounds of

* 27 swings
* 15 push ups
* 8 squats

And then 65 swings, 20 squats and 30 push ups, to get all my daily totals and then some.  Totaled out 581 swings, and 1786 for 3 days so far.

BREAKFAST

2 mile walk in the sun

Notes:

* Not really sure what happened with Grace.  It was moving along real well, and alluva sudden I just couldn’t get that clean any more.  The transition from floor to rack can be a little tricky, but I was running into some weird resistance.  The handle ripped up my chest a little bit there, but it looks worse than it is.  Had to swallow my pride.  I proved myself undeserving of Grace, and, in turn, had to do battle with Fran and Cindy to earn my place in Valhalla.

* In general, I like these variations of the WODs, as the Viking handle is a lot more sparing of tissue compared to traditional barbell work.  However, I abandoned my plan of getting in some cosmetic work, and it honestly needs happening.  I can see my arms getting a little smaller from the lack of direct stimulus.   I’m taking on a lot with this swing challenge, but that’s part of just pivoting with my schedule.  I’ll be traveling over the long Juneteenth weekend, and it’s better having no plan in turn vs a disrupted plan.  Chaos IS the plan.

* Cindy was a good way to sneak in my own daily requirements on top of some training.  Cleaned up what was left after the official close of the WODs.  Nice to get in some chins: been neglecting that.

Was able to get in some lawn mowing, Tang Soo Do, and piedmontese grassfed hot dogs on egg white wraps with grassfed cheese/sour cream and pork rinds for dinner

Solid afternoon/evening

 Training Log: Entry 2790

AM WORKOUT (0430 natural wake up) FED

**TO VALHALLA** Week 2, Workout 2: “Viking Raid: Varangian Guard Ambushed At High Tide”

10 rounds of:

* 20 Viking rows w/25lbs on axle
* 30 KB swings w/24kg bell
* Keg carry (carry locked out overhead on way up, cross body carry on way down, alternate each round)
* 30 KB swings
* While wearing 10lb vest

Increase Viking rows reps by 5 every odd round

* Total time: 37:30, then 1 bonus round of 20 rows, 30 swings and 1 keg carry locked out overhead
* Then 300 squats and 300 push ups in 7:30

BREAKFAST

2+ mile walk in the sun with the dog

Notes:

* Here’s the story behind the workout: we’re back to the Viking raid.  We’re wearing our armor (10lb vest) because we are a raiding party.  BUT, we planned poorly, and high tide rolled in.  This is why the keg has to be carried to the boat locked out overhead: gotta keep it above the water.  The tide has also made a quick escape impossible, and our victims have more fight in them than before.   So this means we row to the shore, swing our weapon 30 times, take the bounty, load it on the boat, swing our weapon at the reinforcements, and row it back home.  We get home and find that the province has come under invasion from marauders who sought to strike the homefront while we were away, so we fend them off, unload the bounty, get in some quick weapon training to stay sharp, and row out for the next raid.  And, of course, since we are Varangian, there are many Rus among us, which is why our weapon is the mighty kettlebell.  …oh my goodness, yes, that is SUCH a stretch and I absolutely love it. I’m having so much fun role-playing my training, and I am a jacked enough DnD nerd that if anyone wants to give me any crap about it I will stuff them in a locker.

* Increasing the row reps had me finishing out with 40 reps for rounds 9 and 10.  It's trying to create that whole "row to the shore, row back home" construct.

* Swings with a vest on is next level!  Since swings have you moving your torso through space, this adds a new element of challenge to things.  Doing 630 of the f—king things just makes it more ridiculous.  But I’m glad I could do so, as it’s contributed well to my goal of getting in the 15k swings.

* Really trying to focus on rep quality on said swings.  I wanna make the most of this.  I remember how transformative this was the first time, and I’m excited for that.  

* This workout itself was absolutely outstanding.  Total gasser, moving through all sorts of spaces and getting all sorts of quality work in.  And I hit the Dan John checklists of push (push ups) pull (Viking row), squat (squats) hinge (swings) loaded carry (keg).  

* I put in for a day off work on Thursday, so I’m going to pivot things around and make THAT the day I do the Festival of Orm Storolfsson, since I’ll have a bit more time to get things done that day.

And wanted to share dinner, one, because I’m doing that a lot these days, but also because it’s something pretty cool that I slapped together.

Tacos, on those egg wraps, with grassfed sour cream, grassfed Dubliner cheese, grassfed piedmontese steak tips, fajita style chicken (pre-cooked/frozen stuff leftover from a past life), and then I crumbled up a pork rind on top, to make it 3 different animals in each taco AND made it a crispy taco from the inside out. This was a lot of leftovers and ready made stuff, and is still carnivore/animal the whole way through, and something I whipped together after coming home late from work so I could still have time with the family and get in a 10+ minute walk outside in the sun.

 Training Log: Entry 2789

AM WORKOUT (0440 wake up via alarm) FASTED (unintentional: literally forgot to eat this morning)

**TO VALHALLA** Week 2, Workout 1: "Erik, Baleog and Olaf Get Lost in the Woods of DanJöhneimr"

* 575 kettlebell swings w/24kg bell in as few rounds as possible, BUT…
    * EMOM: First 25 minutes: 2x 1 burpee into 1 Viking thruster w/110lbs on axl
    * EMOM: Remaining rounds: 1 burpee into 2 Viking thrusters (so effectively 1 fewer burpee per             round)

Finished inside of 42 rounds, then 17 burpees I felt I owed to Lee Hazard for cutting them out of my remaining rounds

OFF CAMERA

300 bodyweight squats and 300 push ups

2 mile walk with dog

THEN breakfast (figured, I was already fasted, might as well extend it.

Notes:

**DECLARATION OF INTENT**

* I am doing 15k swings in 26 days on top of my "To Valhalla" Viking WODs to close out June. It breaks down to 575 swings a day for 24 of the 26 days, and 2 days of 600 swings. Sticking with 24kg bell. Lonnie123 at t-nation infected me, and for that I thank you. In addition: I am LIVING intuitively through the month of June. That’s already what the diet is. I am eating what I want (meat) and I am eating until I am done eating. That’s already been a huge positive, and yesterday was a demonstration of such, as I had my massive feast, I gorged but did NOT binge, when I was done, I was done…and I was DONE. A half chicken breast for dinner 8 hours later and some protein to feed the muscles while I slept, a fasted workout in the morning (which wasn’t by design, but a testament to how I still wasn’t hungry), and still continuing the protein sparing modified fast while the appetite returns. But this is intuitive TRAINING. I noted that, the morning I was supposed to start “Feast”, I just plain didn’t want to…so I didn’t. What I wanted to do was all these crazy Viking WODs, so that’s what I’m doing.

* THIS was an awesome way to get there. I was hurting, to the point that, as you see, I had to shave off a burpee just to get some swings in. Enough rounds of 3-4 swings let me know that I had swam into the Deep Water and needed a life-preserver if I wanted to make the swim back home.

* This was a cleansing workout. I’ve really dug these the day after my Rampage. Despite that giant opus on nutrition I just put out, I could keep going, and part of that is that the hard/sharp fast following the feast has really been a positive for me. I come into these workouts still surviving off the feast and I sweat grease and Crisco out of my pores and, when it’s over, I finally have an appetite again and feel “right”. Being able to throw my walk in immediately afterwards was all the more perfect. I’m still going shirtless, to get in maximum sun exposure, but I do wish I could also work the weight vest in there that way.

* Level change and overhead: when you can do them BOTH, you’re onto something, and that’s why I go from burpee into thruster. It’s really worth pursuing.

* As for the way forward with June: 575 swings a day will be the feature, with the 300 squats, push ups and 2 mile walk also remaining. I’m planning on employing similarly structured workouts as the first week of Valhalla, but including swings where I can to get in my daily 575. However, there’s a noted absence of max strength work here, so my plan is, on Wed/mid-week, I’ll do a pseudo powerlifting meet WOD dubbed “Festival of Orm Stórolfsson”. In addition, I don’t have the small parts work here that was in feast, so I’m thinking of using my Valkyries workout to include some “curls for the girls”, because when the Valkyries come to carry you away, you wanna look JACKED.

* And on THAT subject: I call my wife my Valkyrie. She loves it. And then the other day she said “If I’m you’re Valkyrie, that makes you my Viking…but you’re really my Berserker”. And I told her I didn’t think I could love her any more before that moment and somehow proved me wrong, haha.

WORK LUNCH

Double hamburger. Added bacon and egg because I wanted that. Ate until I was done. Knife and fork. It just makes sense. I used to be such a martyr at these things.

Breakfast for dinner and another 2 mile walk with my kid afterwards. Thats a great day right there.

Training Log: Entry 2788

Another crazy weekend.

Slept until 0730, got up, 160 push ups and 125 squats done right away, live life, get to brunch buffet at 1000, have my Indigo 3-G and 2 scoop Metabolic Drive beforehand, as per Rampage tradition.

That photo is round 1.  Rounds 2 and 3 weren't nearly as substantial, just going for highlights (round 2 was 4 maple sausages and a slice of crab rangoon cream cheese pizza, round 3 was 2 slices of bacon and a biscuit drenched in sausage gravy, since I had so little my first go round)

Round 1, based off the photo and memory, was 1 blueberry muffin, 1 cinnamon roll, 2 pancakes (one was blueberry stuffed) with a bunch of chocolate/syrup/butter/spread between them acting like a sandwich, a slice of french toast, some blueberries, strawberries and oats with honey, a TON of bacon, eggs, some maple sausage, mac n cheese, a slice of cheese pizza, a biscuit with sausage gravy, some breakfast potatoes, 3 different varities of macaroni salad, oreo pudding, vanilla pudding, pistachio pudding, and some cold cuts.

The bacon was legit some of the best I've had in my life, left alone on a buffet line.  This was the opening day of this places brunch offering, and it's here to stay, and the wife and I LOVE brunch buffets, and if this became my weekly rampage I'd die and go to Valhalla just fine, so that's awesome.

Lived more life.  Guts completely rebelled on me.  Good that the system still works the way it's supposed to.

Got in THIS workout

But for context: we got home after some errands, so about 2 hours since I had put my fork down.  We're all feeling loggie, so we go for a 5.5 mile walk.  I went shirtless for sun exposure, but we actually got rained on quite a bit.  I didn't want to break momentum, so as soon as I got in the garage, I started the workout, hitting a fast warm-up and going for the pull.  I wanted to blackout on rep ONE, and by rep 4 I had to breathe out to keep it from actually happening.  The bar was snagging on my bare skin a lot, which added resistance, which is awesome.

Got in that KB workout at the end to round out rep totals for daily work.

For those that did not care to watch the whole thing, the video was

* 8+3+3 mat pulls w/415+chains off of a 4 mat high pull

10 rounds of

* 15 KB swings
* 5 goblet squats
* 15 push ups

Got a NASTY workout hangover from this, so asked my wife to drive while we ran a few quick errands and had a dinner out at a fast food place at around 1800, where I had half a chicken breast before I tapped out.

Came home, walked the dog 1.5 miles for a total of 7 miles traveled for the day.

I just had 3 egg whites with a scoop of Metabolic drive, more out of principle than anything else, but I am STILL quite full.  Absolutely nailed the meal.

Alright, Chaos is the Plan.  I'm going to run this "To Valhalla" another week, and quite honestly it's possible through the end of June/the finish of the feast.  I'm wanting to do the 10k swing challenge alongside it, so if nothing else, find a way to do 500 swings a day as well.  I think that'll be just incredible. We'll see what happens.  Go chaos.  I have plans to include one day of heavier lifting in a powerlifting style format as well: when I have more time I'll flesh that out.

Training Log: Entry 2787

Ok, let's make some sense of all that madness

A typical "hair on fire" weekend.  Slept until 0740 with the Mrs. immediately rolled out of bed and knocked out 100 bodyweight squats and 225 push ups.  I had actually gotten 100 bodyweight squats done in the middle of the night during a bathroom break, which I counted toward my daily total, because I'm nuts, so I was at 200 squats and 225 push ups for the day.  I owed 150 swings, 100 squats, and 75 push ups.

Had breakfast

Was amazing.  Carnivore weekends continue.  That's 3 whole eggs in that omelet alongside an egg white, 2 strips real bacon, and the usual suspects otherwise.  Omelet stuffed with deer and bison alongside grassfed dairy.

Went garage sale shopping with the kiddo, we walked, and got in 3 miles that way.  Actually found a book on the Dukan Diet I picked up for $1.  I remember Jamie Lewis writing about it so I figured why not.  

Chores, shopping, lunch at BBQ place. 

Pork ribs, my kid's pulled chicken (I trade them my cornbread for their chicken...SUCKER!) and a DOUBLE serving of pulled pork.  They originally came out of the kitchen with JUST a double order of pulled pork, when I ordered a single serving of pork and the ribs.  I asked where my ribs where, they confessed to their sins, brought them to me and let me keep the extra pork.  But, to quote famed philosopher Robert Hill

Ate it all.  Love living this way.

Got home, unloaded groceries, worked on dinner prep and lunch prep for the week (details to follow) and continued the Viking themed workouts with 

**"To Valhalla"** Week 1, Workout 5: **"Jörmungandr Siege Engine"**

10 rounds:
* INhumane burpee (15 swings, 10 goblet squats and 5 push ups) w/24kg bell
* Carry 100lb keg between burpee

After that, 10 rounds of
* Keg one motion press into 5 push ups

Wanted a 20 minute workout and got exactly that.  

Then dinner.  New recipe: proud of it.  Took 2lbs Piedmontese grassfed beef tips, air fried them with a little spray duck fat, one of the pounds I mixed with Kevin's Teriyaki Sauce

The other I just left as air fried beef, for my kiddo that won't touch sauces...and for me to keep carnivore.  But I did allow myself a little bit of the sauced stuff.

I took a slice of that egg white cake I made and turned it into "riced egg whites" something I've been doing a lot of recently.

It's also the base of my "oatmeal" these days.  So now I had an Asian beef rice bowl

Dinner was a win across the whole family!

As for work lunches: tried my hand at smoking chicken drummies and wings.  Used a new seasoning I picked up yesterday

It's not carnivore, but Paleo enough.  The low FODMAP won me over.  I think I may use it in my carnivore chili, when that comes around (it's pretty much ready to go, but I have so much other food to work through first).  

Ready on the smoker

Midway through and looking good

Fully smoked and...

Ready for work lunches.  I'll throw some egg whites or eggs in there to round it out later in the week.  Only 4 lunches, because I'm going to a going away on Monday...actually held at the same place that served "The Stellanator".  I'll have something lighter this time.

I also smoked some beef liver.  No photos, nothing awesome there, but now I have my vitamins.

Oh yeah, also, I use cereal keepers for my pellets, which I think is pretty smart

We're going out for a brunch buffet tomorrow, so the Rampage is all set and ready.  What a day!

 Training Log: Entry 2786

AM WORKOUT (0430 natural wake up) FED

**“TO VALHALLA**” Week 1, Workout 4: **“BATTLE AT STAMFORD BRIDGE”*

* 30 minute workout: Death by Viking Armor Building Complexes (ABCs are 2 cleans, 1 press and 3 front squats)

* 90lbs loaded on the axle

* “Death by” means start with 1 at minute 1, 2 at minute 2, etc until you get beat by the clock

* Between rounds: baseball bat strikes against mats (sledge to tire would be ideal, but gotta use what you got)

* Once you die: do a full round of strikes, then start over at 1 (I died a LOT)

OFF CAMERA

In 13 minutes

50 squats-25 swings-50 squats-50 swings-50 squats-25 swings-50 squats-50 swings-50 squats-100 push ups-50 squats-50 push ups-25 push ups-25 push ups-25 push ups-35 push ups (time expired, will get in the remaining 40 somewhere in the day)

BREAKFAST

2 mile walk (combo of walking kid to school and taking dog for walk)

Notes:

* This workout moved incredibly fast, which is a good sign.  The slogs tend to mean boredom, but I was always moving and those next rounds would whip by.  Meanwhile, you can see the sheer fatigue it’s generating through the rounds.   I genuinely would have liked to push it to 40 minutes, but schedule got the best of me.  I’ve been using this week to get in some much needed sleep as well.  Total Viking deload.  But this workout can absolutely be a keeper.

* I’m using a baseball bat I bought off amazon called the “Cold Steel Brooklyn Crusher” that is supposedly heavier than a traditional bat and meant to develop strength in batters

 

* I wrapped it in a pool noodle and some gorilla tape so that I wouldn’t shred my mats when I hit them.  I will need to re-inforce my tape job a touch so I can put some more “uumph” into the strikes, but this answered the mail for today: I was constantly moving.

* This was just an awesome workout, flat out, and a great way to kick off a Friday.  Gonna get in some Tang Soo Do later, and aiming for some beef ribs for dinner tonight.

* Snapped a physique update last night before bed, which means it’s technically my “most bloated” shot for the night.  I’m absolutely peeled these days

 Training Log: Entry 2785

AM WORKOUT (0430 natural wake up) FED 

**“TO VALHALLA”** Week 1, Workout 3:  “Carried Away By Valkyries Linda and Cindy”

"Valkyrie Linda" is as follows:

* 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 of
* Viking deadlift: 270lb loaded onto axle
* Axle bench: 181lbs
* Keg clean: 155lbs

"Valkyrie Cindy"

* 5x40kg kb swing
* 10 push ups
* 15 squats 

Linda was done in 26 minutes and some change, then 15 rounds of Cindy for a 40 min workout 

And this was bodyweight this morning, so Linda was stupid heavy

Notes:

* Just an absolute fantastic morning of training. Linda has been on my list for a while, and this was a great twist on it. Logistics was always the limiter, and opting for the keg was a great solution. If it wasn't so damn loud, stone would be great too. But KB cleans are an option next time too.

* Took a few rounds of the deadlift to figure out what ROM felt like. Used smaller diameter plates to get in a longer stroke.

* Ideally Cindy would run the full 20 minutes, but time was short. Great way to get in some of my daily training. About to go get my walk in while my truck gets an oil change.

* That is the lowest I have weighed in 20 years. I am a pound lighter than I was 3 years ago when I was at my leannest, and I am living SO much better now than I was then. Still not even trying to lose weight; just absolutely wild.

Got in the remaining push ups and squats in the PM