Kdjohn: Physical Philosophy & Iron Insights

My garage is regularly unheated, but has some mild insulation and an electric wall heater I turn on when working out.

I fail to see why I would need antifreeze for a sand-filled keg, unless there’s a joke I’m missing.

Any type of loaded carry is a winner. I just happen to be using a keg because it’d large an awkward and most closely resembles the pain-in-the-ass that will be the Husafell stone.

Zercher carries are a superb loaded carry as well, if you want some front carry work. If you have the farmer’s carry handles that are just a tube with a handle on top, load it up and carry it zercher-style with your arms on either side of the handle.

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Do you have bumper plates? You could always just get a loading pin and stack them together for a carry

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Based on the weight, I assumed it was water filled.
edit: just looked up a keg size, 60L. I guess 150 lbs is heavier

Nah, just sand. The keg itself, empty, is about 30ish pounds, and I’ve loaded a total of 120lbs of sand into it. I don’t have an exact weight for it because I’ve never weighed it, I just know the average weight of an empty keg from when I was bartending, plus the amount of sand I’ve purchased.

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So it’s about 1/2 to 3/4 full I’d imagine?

Maybe I should get myself a keg.
$50 deposit is less than empty sandbags these days.

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Kegs are awesome.

Technically, paying a deposit and not returning a keg is NOT you “getting a keg”. …but it is how many people find themselves in possession of one…

EDIT: Actually, if you want cheap sandbags, muscle-pirate should still be doing a sale of half off with code “50OFF” at checkout.

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True but that also seems to be the going rate on Kijiji for an empty

In university I worked for a year as a bouncer/security/host. The start of my shift was always carrying all the new kegs down the stairs and into the fridge. No where near as bad as maneuvering the CO2 tanks but still a good 15 minute workout to start my night. I’d have to spend a few minutes in the fridge room afterwards to cool off.

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Yeah, to legally own a keg I had to purchase from beverage factory. Ran about $120. Came fully pressurized, which was fun, haha.

I 100% lucked out and just asked the owner of the bar if I could buy an empty keg off him. He ended up giving it to me for free and eating the return cost. Best boss ever.

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03/11/2021
AEROBIC INTERVALS

0645hr start
-1°C, clear

Running

  • 4x5.5/3.5 min; quick run/slow jog

Pushed just before the point that my lungs would start burning. Felt like I was recovering on those jogging sections so quickly.

Additional notes:

  • I’ve moved both my aerobic and strength sessions to the same days, with the former being in the mornings and the latter at night. The other days are just yoga in the evenings for recovery. It makes for some days of the week loaded with activity and the others not, but doing strength training in the evening followed by early morning cardio the next morning meant I was getting less-than-stellar sleep most days and wrecking myself. Gonna need to keep recovery in check.
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03/11/2021
VALHALLA OR BUST, W1 D2

2050hr start

Progressive Pulls

  • P. Clean, worked up to 210x3
  • Clean high pull, worked up to 260x5
  • SLDL, worked up to 310x5; 290x5, 270x5
  • BOB row, 3x8 @ 220
  • Snatch-grip DL, 3x5 @ 170

If you ever want a killer back workout, do this sequence. Instant favourite. Those last couple power cleans were a bit rough.

Fat-grip tricep bar curls

  • 3x4-1 iso countdown @ 105

Reminder: iso countdown is an isometric hold for the allotted time, followed by the same amount of reps, working your way down. So in this case it was a 4-second hold, followed by 4 reps, then a 3-second hold, then 3 reps, etc etc. Fantastic protocol.

Additional notes:

  • This will probably end up being my favourite day of the week. It’s such a simple but primal session.
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Nice pulling.
For the progressive pulls, what’s your thought behind the rows and SG Deads at the end? I thought the idea was the go up in weight for each movement.

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It’s an option Marty Gallagher suggested in an updated article about Progressive Pulls; you’ve already got a loaded bar sitting there that you’ve got to unload, so why not make use of it?

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05/11/2021
AEROBIC CONTINUOUS

0650hr start
-3°C, partly cloudy

Running

  • 11km

I’ve started running in just a base-layer shirt and track pants, with light gloves and a toque on colder days. Trying to get those “brown fat” gains. Cold adaptation happens much quicker than most people think, it’s just that we generally enjoy warmth and comfort more than the few days-to-weeks of discomfort needed to reach the point of adaptation.

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Tell me more. (Please. And we can take it up in my log, if you prefer.)

Edit: Go figure: googling “brown fat gains” yields up some interesting info.

Brown fat – more appropriately known as “brown adipose tissue” – is another way your body can keep itself warm aside from shivering. It’s kinda spongey in nature, and when you’re prevented from shivering, it starts gobbling up white fat to make energy and thus heat. Infants and young toddlers generally have high amounts of brown fat since they don’t have the musculature to shiver properly, which allows them to maintain warmth in colder temperatures. We generally lose brown fat as we age, since we gain the ability to shiver, but also because we wear warm clothing and live in warm abodes.

Frequent cold exposure tells your body it’s a good idea to produce more brown fat. The biggest upside to this is natural and progressive cold “immunity”; you still feel the cold, since your skin’s receptors recognize the temperature, but you don’t feel cold. Another upside is that, and your brown fat seeks a way to warm you up, you start shedding bodyfat.

This isn’t something you can do willy nilly though, you need frequent exposure to cold temperatures for this adaptation to take place, otherwise your body will just want to use shivering to stay warm. Ending your daily shower with a few minutes of cold, cold/ice baths and activity outside in as little clothing as possible to allow your skin to experience cold, will all help adapt you to the cold and work towards brown fat production.

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Fascinating! Thanks for the reply.

I said recently I needed to toughen up against the declining temperatures here—absolutely true, it seems, but I didn’t really know what I was saying. Cool stuff.

Does it leave your body quickly?
I’d rather shiver in the cold then be extra hot in the summer.

To my knowledge, yes, because it’s a survival mechanism. Much like many things our body does, when it’s no longer needed, it just dissipates.

But don’t think about brown fat as a way of making you warm, think of it as a way to make you not cold.