Horse Barn Diaries

What’s a day of work look like on a hog farm?

@jshaving, hey brother, so that’s gonna take a pretty detailed post but I’d be happy to get into it!

We raise Holstein cattle, Angus cattle, a variety of hog breeds, sheep, and dogs. Use to raise goats as well. I’ll get into my day sometime here in the near future.

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Horse Barn Diary - Day 2

This post is late, but is for 5/18/20, Monday.

After rising I had a cold shower and a glass of cold green tea with Power Drive and Superfood. Then took the dogs on a lap around the farm. After this, much of my day was spent between our various farmsteads doing groundskeeping work.

Had breakfast around 11am

  • 8 oz kombucha
  • 1 pound ground pork w/ 1/4 cup of lard
  • 1/2 c walnuts
  • several garlic cloves and some fermented tomatoes
  • 1 Flameout fish oil

Back to work for a few hours.

Strength training:

  • Kettlebell snatch + windmill 44x5x1, kettlebell snatch 35x5 (kettlebell stuff is always “per side”)
  • Trap bar deadlift from 4’ block 265x5x1, 215x3
  • 5 or so sternum chin-ups
  • this workout also had some intermittent glute bridges, push-ups, neck work, some foot and hand flexion/extension exercises, nothing strenuous though
  • post-workout took another perimeter lap with the dogs

After I came inside I had another cold shower and 5 Elite Pro Minerals. After my shower I had 2 cups of whole fat Greek yogurt with a scoop of chocolate Metabolic Drive. Read two chapters of the Odyssey, and only two chapters left to go. What a story!

Horse Barn Diary - Day 3

It’s Tuesday, 5/19/20.

Started my morning with more of the same, cold shower and cold green tea concoction.
Farm walk with dogs.
Am inside now taking care of some calls, emails, and writing.
Broke my fast at 11am (just a short bit ago) with coffee and pistachios. Still munching as I type.

Today’s workout will be:

  • Kettlebell snatch & windmill 44x6x1, snatch 35x5
  • TBDL from block 265x6x1, 215x3
  • some sternum chin-ups, usually do these hanging from a towel or rope, but will do a rep or two from the bar too
  • between sets I’m usually doing deep Cossack squats, down dogs, or some juggling
  • post workout I hang from a pull up bar and do a few stern-ups, lay on the spine roller and breath for a few minutes, and spend another minute or so in down dog

Since I have broken my fast now at 11am, I must have my lunch and any other foods before 5pm. I allot myself 6 hours for an eating window, which, digestion included, comes out to about 8:16 type of fasting diet. That meal will be the same as yesterday, but with some eggs instead. Since I am about to polish an entire bag of pistachios I doubt I’ll be hungry for any yogurt later though. :smiley:

I forgot to mention that I usually weigh on Sundays after I chow with my mother (she has a scale and I don’t lol) and I came in at 174.8 pounds.

Another note I’ll make while it’s on my mind, I do not warm-up for these strength sessions. I mean for them to be integrated into life; as in, I want to be able to walk up to a heavy object and just pick it up.

Example, yesterday I loaded my mothers Cub Cadet walk behind garden tiller into the back of a pick-up. Very awkward, heavy machine. Dropped into a deep squat, bear hugged that fucker and set it on the tailgate Atlas stone style, without much effort. I’m not gonna spend 10 minutes doing birddogs and jump ropes for that, ya know? So that is how I train my body. I do this a couple times per week with a walk behind weed-eater as well as I’m making my groundskeeping rounds between farms.

Evening update:

Been working in the garden most of the day. Lots of manual labor and walking.

Strength practice is out of the way, and having a late lunch (or early dinner). Just finished eating my meal at about 5:20pm. About a pound of side pork and a few eggs cooked in lard, some tomatoes and kombucha. Now going to head back out for more yard work and dog training.

See ya’ll tomorrow!
Cheers, Howie

Horse Barn Diary Day 4 - 5/20/20

Holy shit folks, what a night. Tossed and turned until 5am, then slept for a few hours. My heart rate was above 100 BPM all through the night. I am trying to contemplate the source of this stress. All I can think of is the time I’ve spent lately in the sun and the sunburn accompanying it.

Just before noon, having coffee and some nuts. Will have lunch soon. Today’s training, if anything, will be some lower body mobility work. Breathing has been very tight last couple of days, due to some sort of stress.

Lunch noon-1p:

  • leftover side pork, just a few slices
  • 6 eggs w/ 1/4 c pork lard
  • red cabbage kraut
  • 1 Flameout

The lower body session I will propose today is influenced by Paul Carter’s recent article on BW leg training at home:

  • single leg glute bridge, 3x max reps w/ 3 second holds
  • bilateral glute bridge, 3x max reps w/ 3 second holds and a 10 sec hold on the last rep
  • Bulgarian squat, 2x max reps w/ 3 second holds in the bottom, 10 sec hold on the last rep
  • Body squat half reps from the bottom, 3 sets rest-pause style

I’ll finish with a light farmer walk (maybe) and some hangs. Might work some catch-all mobility movements into there too; looking for no more than a 15-20 min session. Should be easy and with the mindset of recovery and mobility. I have no intention of reaching anything near failure or actual max reps, just want to work the kinks out of the hips and shoulders, and single-leg work with pauses is King of hip mobility as far as I’m concerned.

UPDATE:

So Wednesday’s workout was the above, plus I also followed the same parameters with band pull aparts and push-ups. Was a nice workout to get blood flowing without causing any serious stress.

For dinner I had a huge salad with cheese, olives, olive oil, the works, and a monster chicken quarter.

Folks, I was thinking, a couple times per week, of posting some articles and various studies on various topics that I have found interesting and useful. Would any readers thus far be interested in that? I’ll start will some T-Nation articles that have inspired me over the years, and we’ll get into psychology, biology, chemistry, whatever.

Horse Barn Diary Day 5 - Friday 5/21/20

Bright and early; it’s now six but I was up at 5 having a cold shower. Now sipping a cup of coffee before I head out to the field to till some more.

Today’s workout will be (sometime in the afternoon):

  • kettlebell snatch 53x5x1, 44x3
  • kettlebell clean & press 53x5x1, 44x3
  • some bodyweight dips, just singles focusing on perfect reps
  • between sets, yoga-plex (see article from yesterday on T-Nation): been doing stuff like this for a while, but I love this comprehensive guide - Yoga-Plex: The Very Best Mobility Exercise
  • also do some juggling between sets

I am still experimenting with what I feel is a solid diet; it will go something like this today:

  • coffee
  • breakfast at 10am or so: 2 pork chops, possibly a couple eggs with pork lard (I love this lard as it actually has quite a bit of meat to it), fresh garlic cloves cook with the meat and some red kraut, 1 Flameout
  • second breakfast at 1pm or so: not sure today but my menu options are Greek yogurt with protein powder, mixed nuts, or a peanut butter cup (I make these from scratch with whole ingredients, very low sugar, about 3g per cup from maple syrup, otherwise mostly fat and some protein)
  • post-workout: kombucha with Power Drive and Superfood (had this yesterday and was delicious and filling)
  • before bed: Elite Pro Minerals, red vinegar (tablespoon in a glass of cold water

Dude, what’s up? Where ya been?