Training Log: Entry 3567

AM WORKOUT (0355 natural wake up, snoozed until 0400)

*Tactical Barbell Operator* Cycle 2, Week 4, Workout 3

MAIN WORK

SSB Squat

3x5x305

ALTERNATE w/

Axle strict press from rack

3x5x156+1 push press rep per set

6 chins between sets

(3) Texas Deadlift Bar Mat Pulls (12 deep breaths between attempts)

12+5+5x425

ASSISTANCE

4 rounds of

* 10x80lb rows

* 20x270lb reverse hypers

* 10x53lb axle curls

* 6 hanging leg raises

Notes:

* After having about 4.5 days off of work and my knee and back feeling really awesome and then coming back and the pain returning, I think I’ve identified that sitting too much at work is causing me issues.  Going to try to work around that.

* Things felt heavy today, so I was glad it was just 3 sets.  I’m thinking about making all of next week 3 sets, in preparation for the comp.  I could also do 4-3-4, or 4-3-5 or play around in other ways.  

* Deadlifts are really just feeling great again.  It used to basically be a competition to see how long I could endure the pain of the deadlift, but now it’s just another exercise.  Good to be back to that.

* Made it through the full 4 rounds of the assistance work.  After those deadlifts, it’s exhausting.

* Weighed 81.6 again: same as Monday.  That was after sweating quite a bit, but it also does mean I have a little wiggleroom for making weight.  Balancing act of being confident I can make weight without losing so much that I get weak before the comp.  Contemplating just brining a ketobrick to the competition and eating it post weigh in, to have one less thing to worry about.

* Tang Soo Do again tonight.  One of our black belts is going to test for the next rank, and it requires being able to do 50 push ups, 50 sit ups and 50 jumping jacks at the end of the test, and we’ve been told we’ll be ending all classes with that same requirement until they test, so that we can all get stronger.  That said, we completely didn’t do that last class, but maybe we’ll be held to it for the remainder.  Be good to get in a little more fitness.

 Training Log: Entry 3566

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

*Tactical Barbell Operator* Cycle 2, Week 4, Workout 2

“CHARON’S TRINITY”

5 rounds of

* 1 minute row

* 1 minute 24kg KB swings

* 1 minute burpee

* 1 minute rest

Notes:

* This continues to be a really awesome conditioning workout.  I appreciate how full body it is.  Between all 3 movements I’ve got everything covered.

* I made a point to focus on making that 1 minute rest a workout in and of itself.  Specifically, the goal was to get my breathing and heart rate back to normal.  “Active resting”: instead of just dying for a minute, specifically focused on trying to slow down my breathing and calm myself.  It’s a valuable skill in competition. 

* On that note, my resting heart rate has returned to 38, according to my watch, and I even had a few days at 36 last week.  I’m sure this vacation time was good on my recovery.  I’ve been able to sleep in 5 days in a row now, which is pretty awesome.

* Yesterday was physically exhausting.  After the workout, I ended up doing lawn work for around 2 hours in the sun during the hottest point of the day.  Today we’ll be doing some Tang Soo Do.

* Did some quick calculations today and figured out I shaved off about 500 calories from my breakfast by switching from leg of lamb to piedmontese steak tips.  Funny how that works out.

 Training Log: Entry 3565

AM WORKOUT 1 (0510 wake up via Valkyrie's alarm)

*Tactical Barbell Operator* Cycle 2, Week 4, Workout 1

MAIN WORK

Axle strict press from rack
5x5x156+1 push press per set

6 chins between sets

AM WORKOUT 2 (0800)

MAIN WORK

SSB squat
5x5x305

6 chins between sets

ASSISTANCE

6 rounds of

* Press (98lb trap bar/95lb BtN/93lb axle) 3x10, 3x7
* Dips to failure
* 2x17/4x16 10lb lateral raise
* 2x17/4x16 band pull aparts

Standing ab wheel
5x6

CONDITIONING

6 rounds on rower (30 seconds max intensity/1 minute rest)

Notes:

* Got the day off work, so slept in and split my workout.  Got the pressing done before I had to get the kiddo up for summer program, dropped them and the puppy off at doggy day care, came back home and finished out the workout.  Had the garage door open because I was waiting on some landscaping folks to come by and didn't want to miss them in case they showed up. 

* My neck isn't 100%, but it's substantially better than it was on Friday.  Annoying little tweak.

* Back in business in general.  My folks made it back home yesterday and I'm back on the program.  19 days until my competition: I'm feeling good.

* Weighed in at 82.9kg first thing this morning, then 81.6kg post workout/BM.  I've had slow digestion through the holiday weekend, and imagine things will even out over the next few days.

* Cut the conditioning on the rower once my power started to fade.  Doing my best to make all training intentional.  Be strong on the strength workouts, struggle on the hypertrophy workouts, be powerful on the power workouts.

* Fasted through breakfast and treated myself to a fantastic post training lunch of 2 piedmontese grassfed beef chuck bone-in short ribs alongside 3 pastured eggs, 5 whites and some beef liver

* Also finally hung up the flag I got from the renaissance faire.

 Training Log: Entry 3564

AM WORKOUT (0930)

*Tactical Barbell Operator* Cycle 2, Week 3, Workout 5

MAIN WORK

SSB Squat
3x2x365

Axle strict press from rack
3x2x186+1 push press per set

Notes:

* Snuck this in quick for the holiday.  Pinched a nerve in my neck on the second set of presses.  Kept it bare minimums just to get in the practice.

 Training Log: Entry 3563

]AM WORKOUT (0355 wake up via alarm)

*Tactical Barbell Operator* Cycle 2, Week 3, Workout 4

“GO RUCK YOURSELF” (Basic)

Treadmill

Speed: 3.5

Incline: 1.0

Distance: 5.25 miles

Time: 90 minutes

w/20.4lb vest

Notes:

* To keep it at basic level, I wore the lighter vest and kept the incline at 1.  It was hard to fight my instincts to push harder on this, but I’m sticking with the protocol of easy conditioning to support the hard lifting.  Helpful for recovery from that deadlift work.

* My right knee has been a little achy this morning: maybe it’s from Tang Soo Do.  

* Schedule is going to be a little off the next few days with family and holidays.  Fasted through breakfast this morning because I’m going to eat at a work BBQ for lunch.  Still preferring 2 meals a day.

 Training Log: Entry 3562

AM WORKOUT (0400 wake up via alarm)

*Tactical Barbell Operator* Cycle 2, Week 3, Workout 3

MAIN WORK

SSB Squat

3x2x365

ALTERNATE w/

Axle strict press from rack

3x2x186+1 push press rep per set

6 chins between sets

(4) Texas Deadlift Bar Mat Pulls (12 deep breaths between sets)

13+5+4x425

ASSISTANCE

4 round circuit of

* 10x80lb DB row

* 20x270 reverse hyper (skipped 4th round)

* 10x53 axle curl

* 6 hanging leg raise

Notes:

* Another morning where training just didn’t sound like an awesome idea, and it was just the notion of breakfast and not being able to fit this in anywhere else today that got me out of bed.  The prospect of deadlifting excited me, and knowing it was the day of the week where I do only 3 sets made it a bit easier to negotiate.  Was just feeling beat and blah though, and actually ended up figuring out a way to get MORE chin ups in during the warm ups BECAUSE I didn’t want to do them: instead of just a set of 10 before squats, I did a set of 5 before squats, a set of 5 AFTER squats and a set of 5 after chins, getting in 15 reps per warm-up round vs 10.  Still cut it at 50 before the main work started, but this can help me accumulate some more reps in the future.  Total of 80 for the workout.

* Trying to focus more on sitting back in the squat.  I see myself on the video reverting to old habits of just sitting straight down and not loading the hamstrings.  I’m doing this because my back is sore from the SSB squat, but in doing so I’m putting more pressure on my hips and knees.  This, once again, speaks to the value of rotating the bar between cycles.

* The mat pulls moved incredibly well.  I slid my knee sleeves down over my shins, and it made a significant difference in not snagging the bar on the concentric portion.  Things just moved smooth, and none of the sets were taken to my absolute limit.  Hip is feeling awesome on these as well: figuring out the starting position and pull has really gone a long way for my longevity.

*  I cut that final round of reverse hypers on the circuit, primarily for the interest of time.  I figured my lower back had seen enough work for the day.

* Another Tang Soo Do class tonight, and then we’re done for the week.  My parents come into town tomorrow to celebrate the holiday, so schedule will be a little off.  Also, we got our essay assignments for our belt test in August: “What is mental discipline, describe a time in your life when you have exercised it, and describe a time in your life where you failed to employ it and what you learned.”  I am bummed we only have 1 page to cover the topic.

* 25 years ago today I made the decision to "turn the ship around".  I was 14 years old, and had been a fat kid my whole life.  Years later, I learned I was set up for failure, having been born at a low birth weight, resulting in my bottle formula augmented with cereal to bring my weight up, but I was also a product of poor decisions, like having Koolaid as my primary hydration choice and a lifestyle of processed/fast food.  But on 2 Jul of 2000, I decided I didn't want to be that way any more, and set out only with effort and some stories from my dad as my North Star.  I cut my food intake to a third of what it used to be, switched to water and diet coke, and used the money I had saved up to buy a standard weight bench with a preacher curl/leg extension/leg curl station and 2 spinlock dumbbells with 130lbs of weights and set about changing myself.  I lost 20lbs that summer and came back to school radically transformed and learned that my physical fat was within my control, which was one of the most valuable lessons I ever learned.

 Training Log: Entry 3561

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

*Tactical Barbell Operator* Cycle 2, Week 3, Workout 2

“CHARON’S TRINITY” (basic)

3 rounds of

* 1 minute rower

* 1 minute KB swings w/24kg bell

* 1 minute burpees

* 1 minute rest

Notes:

* Hard week of lifting means basic week of conditioning.  For the trinity, it means 3 rounds vs 5, but it certainly doesn’t mean that those 3 rounds don’t absolutely suck.  Coming into this post carb up meal, I was definitely itching to go full throttle, and I was gassed at the end of that third round.

* I remain a fan of this modification to the original Devil’s Trinity as I feel like the rower helps answer a lot of the questions left from the swings and the burpees.  This is very full body, and the order of the exercises also lends itself well to the rhythm of the conditioning.  

* Tang Soo Do is on the schedule for tonight.  It’s basics/forms week, which tends to be a pretty good workout.

* I’ll post my meals later, but I’m keeping up on those venison burgers for breakfast, and it’s honestly amazing how simple it is to make them.  Take a pound of ground venison, break it in half, smash it flat into patties, cover with salt, put in the air fryer at 450 for 9 minutes, flip at halfway point.  No real meal prep needed.  I can see myself making use of this strategy for the future.