They really need to give you an affiliate link haha. Thanks for the heads up!
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@mr.v3lv3t Itās hard not to feel like a shill sometime, haha. I WISH I could snag a deal with them, but I like them enough that Iām just gonna keep selling their good name, just like Jamie Lewis.
@alex_uk Appreciate you chiming in. As Dan John says āItās simple: not easyā.
Gonna do a quick sum-up, as itās already late.
Mrs. is away until Friday on a business trip. Got up and did that 10 minute conditioning circuit (3 prisoner squats, 2 push ups, 1 chin) for 33 rounds. Then my Valkyrie made me an amazing breakfast before I took the dog for a quick walk, we got on the road and I dropped her off at the airport.
Took the kiddo on a Costco run. Had lunch there. My kid had a slice of cheese pizza, I no joke ate off a rotisserie chicken. Since they tend to baste those things in a lot of seasonings, I pulled off all the skin, and then ate all the dark meat (2 thighs, 2 wings, and 2 drumsticks) and brought home the white meat for this upcoming famine. Costco hack: ask for 2 extra plates when you get your foodcourt item, so you can put the chicken youāre going to eat on one plate and then pour out all the rotisserie juice/skin onto another to throw away, leaving behind the chicken carcass with the white meat to bring home.
Came home, mowed the lawn/did yardwork for about 80 minutes, then went straight into that keg/stone conditioning workout, then took the kiddo for a 2+ mile walk before coming home and watching the Cowboys win again. During the game, I smoked the t-bone and the biggest beef liver Iād ever seen in my life along with some spare pieces of bacon. Did 220 for 45 minutes for the liver, around an hour for the steak and 30 minutes for the bacon. After smoking the steak, I threw it on my grill for 4 minutes per side with a little spray duckfat. It was a little TOO done for my barbaric liking, more on the medium side vs medium rare/rare, but it was absolutely delicious. I ate it off the bone, and the rest of my meal with my hands, because I earned that right.
Since Mrs is gone and I have no lunch obligations, gonna use this as a āhigh complianceā week as far as Velocity Diet/Famine week goes, and have protein powder for lunches. I have skipped my carb-up for the week, as, once again, I had no social reason to do it and I wasnāt going to make poison for myself to eat when I could have a 28oz t-bone instead. Amazingly, I was still hungry after it was gone, which is most likely a positive sign for just how on fire my system is. This famine is going to prime it hard. Iām planning on only running it for 5 days vs 14, since I do have a competition coming up in 13 days (which I have done no training for, because Chaos is the Plan) and then will go from there.
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No āspecificā training
I know what I meant to say 
I understood you fine, I am just a bit anal.
But thatās what I am getting at. It was the correct statement. I havenāt trained for THIS comp. I have been training, yes, but not for the comp. I legit donāt remember what the events are. I am just coming in to compete again.
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Got back to Santa Cruz where groceries are ridiculously expensive. Bought a whole chicken, spatchcocked it, brined it, barbecued it, ate the dark meat immediately, ate the breasts the next day.
Will repeat.
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@The_Myth Good to see some great minds thinking alike here! I love being able to cook a whole bird when I get the chance. SO much good meat.
AM WORKOUT (0425 wake up via alarm, sleep seeking)
JUGGERYOKE Week 5, Workout 1: Log and Front Squats
GIANT SET CIRCUIT (log-squat-shoulders)
Log clean and push press away
6x3x170 (3 reps anyway I could get them)
4x3x165
Front squats
10x3x220 (re-racks toward the end due to bar slipping rather than strength failing)
Band pull aparts
5x20
Lateral raises
4 sets
GIANT SET CIRCUIT (dip-chin-abs)
Weighted dips
5x3x117.5
Weighted chins
5x3x37.5
Hanging leg raise+10 lat shrugs
4x5
Breakfast
Walk w/dog
Notes:
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With no carb-up yesterday, I came into the morning feeling fatigued as hell, but once I started hitting work sets things clicked along well and I was strong. That very first set of log press was outstanding, and I had zero blackout issues. Timing was the biggest barrier to success, but my knee is holding out well. Kept having the bar slip on the front squats. I used an actual rack position for the warm-ups, and though I could manage it, it was beating up my connective tissue a bit too much. Something to strive for.
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Shaved a set of abs and lateral raises due to time. I slept an extra 20 minutes. If Iām seeking sleep, Iām embracing it.
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Those dips continue to move in an outstanding direction. Iāll have to make sure theyāre still a regular feature in my training.
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Some thoughts/observations:
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My weekday posts are very detailed and my weekend ones are very sparse. Thatās a recent change. It used to be that, irrespective of day, my posts were detailed. Whatās changed? In truth, my relationship with my family is so much stronger now that I am healing. I realize now how much I was āhidingā from them on weekends, basically isolating myself with training and food prep. I was cohabitating, but not at all being a member of the family. Now, we spend so much time together, and weāre TOGETHER. In turn, my training time and internet time is reduced, and thatās absolutely outstanding. To say nothing of the fact Iām also able to finally sleep long enough to actually sleep in on a weekend, how my nutrition has opened up enough to share so many more meals with the family AND how itās also streamlined enough that āmeal prepā is really a non-entity.
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Letās talk about that piece too. I used to exist in a state of nutritional denial. There was SO much food I wanted to be eating that I wasnāt, and being around it would cause me some sort of regret. Thatās not quite the right word, but it hits close. Iād constantly wish that I could just stop caring and be that guy that sits on the couch eating Cheetos watching the game. But these days, I walk through the grocery store and legit do not even register these boxed items, cardboard carbs and frankenfats as āfoodā. Like, no joke: it doesnāt resemble food to me, in much the same way that a cow would look at a plate of bacon and not register it as food, or a tiger looking at a field of grass. Which, in turn, means no middle of the shopping aisle meltdowns when I pass a package of Red Velvet Poptarts or all the Pumpkin spice goodies that are out this time of year. Itās been rather amazing the psychological piece to finally getting my eating to match with my needs.
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That also holds true to eating TIMING. Iāve written about this a bunch already, so Iāll keep it on the short end, but I have finally managed to shake 37 years of a voracious appetite. I ate twice on Saturday, and last year alone that idea would have been unfathomable. I was eating something every half hour at one point. For me, this is legit like a super power: being able to go long durations without eating and being OK with it. No weakness, inability to focus due to hunger, concern about āwasting awayā: I know that, when the next meal comes, I can feast. I really dig Robert Kiltz āintermittent feastingā idea.
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Caffeine is almost entirely out of my life. I went from 2 energy drinks and a pot of coffee a day to 1 Zevia and some sugar free green teas practically overnight. And that probably also speaks to my improved sleep quality.
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Iām at a much better place as far as having awareness of my bodyweight goes, but I still find myself struggling with the notion of being so light. Having been a weightclass based athlete since I was 14, I still associate value to the number, and that includes strength and simply ādegree of dangerousnessā. āA good big man will beat a good little manā. I still appear large and muscular, but being 30lbs lighter than I was in Mar is tough to swallow sometimes, and I still find myself wanting to GFH whenever I watch professional strongman.
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But on the above there, I also just plain donāt want to eat in the way that would promote that growth. I have it in me to do that, for sure, even abiding by carnivore principles. As we saw with that 28oz t-bone: I can put away food. I was, truthfully, not full when I was done with it (which checks, considering I ate a 4.5lb cheeseburger before). But having FINALLY found a way that works, I donāt want to abandon it now. āFor once in my life I feel complete/and I still wanna ruin itā. And this includes the fact that Iām coming into my next competition 11-15lbs underweight. I like the 2 week light/4 week heavy nutritional approach Jamie laid out, and Iām also finding ways to make THAT more flexible (like this current short-famine, or the 3 day PSMF I ran recently). I like being able to regularly practice a form of fasting on the daily so that, when the meals DO come, I can just eat without thinking and stop when Iām done. I love how natural this all is. But it might also mean itās time to consider moving away from Strongman, where Iām simply going to be undersized. But I feel like Iāve reached a good balance by picking local competitions where there is minimal travel/financial burden to encounter.
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Genuinely really glad to hear that.
All of these personal growth things are really good.
Iāve been slowly working my way through your old log from between when I left and now, and Iām amazed at the consistent level of detail, both in terms of training/eating/energy and worldview. You seem to be in a much better place now than you ever have been. Not to say it was bad before, just that much better now.
(Also, some of your old posts about nutrition are pretty funny to read in light of where you are now.)
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I appreciate what you wrote dude.
Iām glad funny is what comes through, because for me its the words of someone with disordered eating and damaged psychology. I was so incredibly damaged. Itās amazing to finally be healing.
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AM WORKOUT (0420 natural wake up)
JUGGERYOKE Week 5, Workout 2
20 minutes of burpee chins, EMOM do 1 ab wheel rollout
116 burpee chins total
GIANT SET CIRCUIT (curls-crushers-abs)
KB hammer curls
5x3x35
Skullcrushers
5x3x110
Hanging leg raise w/10 lat shrugs
5x5
Walk with dog BEFORE breakfast
Notes:
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Schedule is going to be tight these next few days, so cutting stuff where I can, re-arranging where possible, and shaving off time here and there.
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Was moving slow on the burpee chins. Combination of getting a little beat up yesterday (pulled something on my left glute during a warm-up of all things) and most likely the Famine eating.
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Hammer curls were really stressing the right bicep well today.
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Got in the walk with the dog before breakfast so I could get to work a little earlier.
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Weighed in at 166.2 this morning, so really, not much need for a famine at this point. Iām primarily doing it so that, when I bring in the high volume of food again, Iāll experienced improved nutrient uptake, but Iām absolutely peeled as far as bodyfat goes, just flat.
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Got full video that is currently uploading. Will post later.
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Great recent updates here, so many wins on the sleep, bowel, and most importantly more family & dad time sir. Dialing it all in nicely.
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@Raven78 Thanks so much dude! Itās definitely the best place Iāve been for a LONG time.
AM WORKOUT (0425 wake up via alarm)
JUGGERYOKE Week 5, Workout 3: Pull, bench and squat
GIANT SET CIRCUIT (pull-bench-pull)
Trap bar high pulls
6x5x195
Axle incline bench
6x5x176
Band pull aparts (front and overhead)
6x10
GIANT SET CIRCUIT (pause bench-abs-raise)
Axle pause bench
6x1x246
Standing ab wheel
1x7
4x6
Full ROM plate lateral raise
5x8x10lbs
Buffalo Bar Squat (3 min on-1 min rest-3 min on)
1x50
1x36
3 rep PR on total reps
OFF CAMERA
Tabata push ups w/2 KB throws during the 10 second rest (86 push ups total)
Breakfast
Walk w/dog
Notes:
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Another instance of feeling beat coming in and crushing the workout. Knee is really trending well, and Iām able to be much more explosive on those high pulls. Incline bench felt very strong today. Pause bench was solid. In general, my horizontal pressing is really taking off. Part of that could be the program, and part could be that I went without doing it through all of Easy Strength that I got to do some of that āsoftening upā that John McCallum and other spoke of.
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So pleased with that squat set. Along with getting a rep total PR, I got 35 reps done in the first round before having to pause. This timed squat is probably the highlight of the program. Along with driving a growth response, itās definitely āstrongman friendlyā as far as prepping for events goes. Derek Poundstone has spoken about this sort of lactic threshold/pain tolerance training, and itās really been transformative for me. When I factor in that Iām dropping bodyweight while this is happening, thatās pretty awesome. My left hip was a little buggy these past few days, so I wasnāt anticipating a 3 rep PR, but I kept digging and it showed up.
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Conditioning at the end was just ad hoc. Trying to fit in the daily push ups, but didnāt see a need for even MORE squatting.
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Didnāt log yesterday that I had Tang Soo Do. My kid got a stripe on their belt and will be able to test for the next rank in November, so thatās exciting. With the Mrs out of town, I got paired with our instructor for one-steps, so I got to get some one-on-one instruction, which was pretty cool. Iāve also been getting in some evening walks with the kiddo when possible: just not logging.
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Pretty proud of my creation from last night. I stole inspiration from the KFC double down and made a venison and swiss burger using the leftover chicken breasts from my rotisserie chicken as the buns. VERY satiating.
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Thatās ridiculous.
I had to do a few takes before I realized it wasnāt a bun.
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@LoRez Ridiculous is how I roll! Haha. Jamie Lewis has written about how colonial era Americans would use turkey breasts for a similar effect. Theyāre dry enough that you can hold onto them without the hands feeling too disgusting.
AM WORKOUT (0424 natural wake up)
JUGGERYOKE Week 5, Workout 4: Arms
GIANT SET CIRCUIT (crush-curl-abs/pull apart)
Grenade ball chain skullcrushers
10x10
Grenade ball chain reverse curls
10x10
Hanging leg raise w/10 lat shrugs
5xAMRAP
Band pull aparts
5x20
Poundstone curls
100xAxle
CONDITIONING
20 Tabata rounds of burpee into 24kg KB throw w/squats on odd round rest and push ups on even
Half mile walk
BREAKFAST
Walk with dog
Notes:
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Iāve once again grown bored with arm work and had to work a gimmick in, but a big part of that was that I just wasnāt getting much pump out of the skull crushers. The chain grenade balls allowed for a better ROM for me. It also seemed to be quicker execution.
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Poundstones are not RX, but a great way to round out the day.
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That conditioning workout was effective. Jumping to and from locations adds a nice bit of suck.
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The mini-famine has definitely achieved itās goals. I saw myself in the mirror yesterday and I had achieved that level of leanness and definition that typically comes the day after a carb-up AFTER my 2 week famine. Iāve really grown pretty talented at this nutritional manipulation.
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