Hello
I have decided to track my progress here. Online logs are something I’ve attempted in the past but usually stop using in favor of good old paper logs, but I thought I’d give this a try again.
Some stats and precursor:
I weigh between 170-175 pounds. I’m 30 years old and I’ve been lifting pretty religiously since about 15. I have been visiting this site since 2007, about the age of 16/17.
Back in Jr High my wrestling coach got me into lifting weights. In 7th grade I wrestled varsity so I was practicing with the big boys. Wrestled and played football throughout grade school as probably many of us did. Played a year of college ball, and went on to compete in BJJ where I am a simple white belt, and did a tour in professional wrestling. I was trained under Harley Race and held the NWA Missouri Championship twice before retiring it. This belt was popularized by Race and was used back in his day as a stepping stone to the NWA Worlds, which he is most famous for.
Anyways, I’m not 100% sure how this will go. My methods frequently rotate between a select few things that I have found to work supra well over the years, as far as training and diet are concerned.
At the moment I am predominantly eating meat (mostly pork, I am a 6th gen hog farmer, sometimes beef or chicken, and more infrequently, fish), eggs, and fermented vegetables (which I make at home, my favorite is beet and red cabbage kraut but I also fermented tomatoes, radishes, green cabbage…).
Kind of awkward to start one of these on a Sunday, as today I won’t be training. This week will mark Week 3 of a Russian Strength-Skill / HP Mass type of hybrid.
Week 3 will look like this:
*on these first 4 workouts, these are cluster sets
*on the last workout, this is a back and forth between exercises
*I also usually do some kind of hip/groin stretch or downward dog between reps
*I will also do a variety of different types of chin-ups throughout the day or the workout, towel grip, rope grip, underhand, overhand, etc)
Monday
hip thrust (upper back is elevated by about 4 inches)
205 x 9 x 1, 165 x 3 w/ slow eccentrics and pauses
zercher lift (done from the floor, see Thibadeau for reference)
165 x 9 x 1, 115 x 3 w/ slow eccentrics and pauses
Tuesday
hip thrust
205 x 10 x 1
zercher lift
165 x 10 x 1
Wednesday
off
Thursday
KB windmill (from a snatch)
35 x 9 x 1, 20 x 3
KB snatch
44 x 9 x 1, 35 x 3
some push ups and dips
Friday
KB windmill
35 x 10 x 1
KB snatch
44 x 10 x 1
Saturday
KB snatch
35 x 30 x 1, 20 x 2 x 5
zercher lift
95 x 30 x 1, goblet squat 53 x 2 x 5
I am always experimenting a little with meal timing, but I use a time-restricted approach. I don’t time anything or worry much, I just try to maintain the habit.
I’m usually drinking coffee all morning, and lately have been training fasted. About 3-4pm, after I’ve trained, I’ll drink a concoction of green tea, Power Drive and Superfood while I cook food. Then I’ll have some meat, eggs, veg, but not a particularly big meal. Usually go back to work or whatever, and have another meal a couple hours later with some Elite Pro Minerals.
Twice this week I have my first meal before lifting and that went well also, so I think I am going to start having lunch again. The kicker is making sure I don’t over do this meal or I will become quite tired and require a nap. So; coffee, lunch, lift, dinner, bed.
I also occasionally enjoy marijuana products, but in waves. So the last bud I was using worked REALLY well for this cluster style of training. Just a one-hit made me hyper-focused and the movements felt so good. Not all kinds do that, so I cherish when I find one that does. Last December I was doing Mass Made Simple and happened to find a great bud that got me through the best squat training of my life. I’m guessing this is due to dilated airways.
I also make my own edibles but don’t really use them in conjunction with training, unless post-workout, and only after supra-intense stuff that would typically give me trouble sleeping due to high heart rates. Think, Litvinovs, 30-10-30’s, these things usually have me wired for a very long time, so an edible will help mitigate that.
Once I complete the third week here, I will probably drop the hip thrust for now in favor of single leg variety of glute bridges. Other than that I will also probably stick zerchers on Saturday’s only with light KB snatches. I’m thinking for the work week practice sessions of doing snatches, bent press/windmill, deadlift and goblet squats. I may even do some wave loading instead of clusters, I guess we will see. Dips, push-ups, chin-ups, extra deltoid work, stretching and some ab or band work always find their way in so I don’t plan or worry about it. I was gonna try floor pressing here too so maybe I will.
Any nutritional changes that I can foresee may be making my own fermented whole grain German style bread, and possibly adding rice and potatoes back into my diet once or twice a week. I also considered doing a week of a quart of half&half per day (a pint 2x/day then dinner), followed by a week of Metabolic drive (2 scoops 2x/day to replace the half&half, and then dinner per usual), and then a third and fourth week of regular diet, meat & eggs twice a day, with 1 or 2 carb feeds a week (potatoes, rice, figs). Maybe work some nuts back in there.
Anyways, what else is there?
Oh, did I mention my home gym is in a horse stable?