EVERYONE’S FAVORITE: BULLET POINTS

 

 

* The 4” plug in electric skillet by Dash is a gamechanger for eating while traveling.  I’ve used it to cook eggs, beef, toast, chicken, make tacos/quesadillas, etc etc.  It’s stupidly portable as well: throw it in any suitcase.  Just make sure to put a hotel towel underneath it, as it has such a small circumference that it tends to drip.

 

* “New” (to me) movements that I dig: devil presses, KB snatches and thrusters.  Pretty much any way you can get weight from floor to overhead is going to be good, especially as it relates to conditioning.  Seems to be the missing element for most.

There is a long established relationship between pressing stuff overhead and being jacked, strong and conditioned

* On the above, taking my reps from the floor for pressing has been awesome.  Doing it before each rep is metabolically taxing but even doing it just for the first rep onward primes me body for pressing.  It’s just more “primal” too. 

 

* Been using Apple Cider Vinegar for a while now.  Like creatine, it’s so cheap, you may as well use it.  I take it 15 minutes before big meals, and before bed.  Sometimes first thing in the morning as well.

 

* When I was junior in my training, I would go on vacation and “lose all my gains”.  Now, I go, come back and am stronger than when I left.  Quickly gained, quickly lost…but also quickly regained.  So quit stressing.

 

* Digestion is the unmentioned part of gaining and recovery.  If it’s not working well, you aren’t absorbing well, which means you are wasting effort.  Not everything “good for you” is good for you.  I had to cut out blueberries, mushrooms and raw broccoli from my diet, because they were wrecking my guts.  Things are better now.

 

* On the above, it’s also why I’m a fan of small frequent meals.  We were told it “stoked the metabolic fires” in the 90s, and that may have been bunk, but what it DOES do is make it so you’re not feeling full all the time so you can get in more food IN TOTAL compared to trying to eat 3 massive meals.

 

* People get upset when authors/coaches change their view on training.  Aren’t we supposed to be growing, evolving, adapting and learning?  Them thinking a NEW thing doesn’t invalidate the OLD stuff; it means there are even MORE avenues to success.  That is a GOOD thing.  If you don’t like the new stuff, stick to the old stuff.  I still listen to my Green Day albums from the 90s.

This is legit the first CD I ever bought...from a Sam Goody...at a mall...and you now have the baseline to "Longview" in your head

 

* Got my hands on the Ironmaster 120lb add on, to go with the heavy handles.  The company makes great products.  Not too tough to change out weights.  Powerblocks WERE easier for changing, but didn’t feel as good in my hands.

 

* I hate going out to eat and having that person at the table ask what everyone is ordering before the wait staff takes the order.  Go make your own decision: this is between me and the dude bringing me my food.

 

* I get bugged when I vouch for something and get asked a “yeah but” question.  “Is there really enough chest volume in Building the Monolith to grow?”  If there wasn’t, would I have vouched for it?  Your question is effectively “are you actually a liar?”  Do you expect me to go “Hah!  You caught me!  Here is the REAL program”.

 

* One of the greatest bits of comedy out there is how COVID forced Eddie Hall and Thor to keep up a fake feud for WAY too long for a boxing match no one really wants to see.  It’s like delaying the premiere of a Pauly Shore film.  And now Hall’s bicep injury just makes it last even longer.

 

* “How do you find the discipline?”  How do you expect me to answer that question?  It’s right up there with “Do you have any tips for lifting?”

 

* If you are gaining right, a cheat meal means a skipped me.  My wife asked what I wanted for dinner one night, and my answer was “nothing.”  And it was amazing.

This post is taking a surprising turn for the 90s

 

* In that regard, I find I need to force myself to eat some sort of carb, because, again, I have zero desire to eat them after stuffing myself with fats and protein.  And I observe zero training issues with low carb.  Fats seem to provide adequate fuel.  Avocados, in particular, are amazing.

 

* I still can’t get into proper bodybuilding training, as it’s too nuanced.  “Hold this contraction” “3 second negative”, etc etc.  Its why I always liked DoggCrapp: the nuance is in the effort vs the execution.

 

* “Athletes that train hard NEED intraworkout nutrition”.  Counter point: athletes that train hard won’t be able to consume intra-workout nutrition due to risk of puking.

 

* On that note, apparently 1 lifting workout and 2 conditioning workouts a day isn’t “training hard”…

 

* For the first time ever, my squatting really seems to be taking off.  I attribute 2 things to it: my Juarez Valley front squat conditioning workout I do once a week and the inclusion of belt squats for 1 big dropset.  Which probably indicates the value of quads after spending so much time hammering my posterior chain.

 

* In a similar regard to the above, my current training block (the 26 week hypertrophy program I wrote of earlier and have been doing reviews of along the way) has been a great hypertrophy block for me, and the common variable is the inclusion of front squats for an extra workout along with my “daily work”.  The last time I had a great hypertrophy block it was the exact same way.  This is a lesson I need to remember.

Front squatting helps you get jacked: who knew?

 

* There is a recent trend in trainees being concerned about face fat and jawlines when gaining.  What Instagram hero do I need to thank for THAT one?  At least it means the same kids quit talking about face pulls now…

 

* “Why don’t they live stream World’s Strongest Man?”  The same reason they didn’t live stream “Game of Thrones”.  Don’t confuse a TV show for a sporting event.

 

* “I wanna train strongman but have no plans to compete.”  Lifting weights.  What you mean to say is “I want to lift weights”  Do your conditioning too until a competition shows up.  THAT is training strongman. 

 

* There are too many barbells on the market these days.  How different could they all REALLY be?

 

* “Did you see the latest study?”  Dude, Pat Casey figured out how to bench 600lbs raw in the 60s.  We know how to get big and strong already: the “trick” is compliance.

Meatloaf sandwiches apparently helped as well

 

* I’ve read enough $10 e-books to learn that I prefer reading from authors who lift vs lifers that write.  And some of you dudes watch these cats talk on youtube?  How?!

 

* That said, “mindful reading” is critical.  I am baffled at how many people completely miss/misunderstand/incorrectly recall what an author wrote.  And make sure you read WORD FOR WORD and quit playing the telephone game.  “Jim Wendler keeps contradicting himself!”  No: the internet keeps attributing quotes to him he never said…

 

* The above is why I only ever say things like “What I would do if I were you”.  The instant I see someone say “MythicalStrength told me to do X”, I know that didn’t actually come from me.

 

* Training programs are just permission and faith.  Train however you want.  But if you want permission and faith in an approach, follow a program.

 

* On the above, “Never pay money for a training program”.  Ok then, how WILL you give back?

 

* Let’s learn to cook before we learn how to fit ice cream into our diets.

Those are STILL 320 calories you could have used on ANYTHING else.  And hell, if you're gonna cheat, go all the way

 

* Competition makes clear to the competitors and confuses the non-competitors.

 

* Have fewer rules. 

* On the other side, limitations are liberating, as we are no longer slaves to the optimal.

 

* You don’t get to be a picky eater as an adult.

 

* Thrusters and KB snatches play VERY well together.  Knees vs hips.  Alternate them in a conditioning workout and watch your heart do funny things.

 

* “Bury yourself with training and dig your way out with a spoon”

 

* Sunbutter (sunflower seed butter) is one of my new favorite nutritional discovers.  Organic sugar free sunbutter is effectively zero carb: solid fat source with a decent amount of protein, and I actually prefer the taste to peanut butter.  I put it in my breakfast burritos (using an egg wrap instead of a tortilla) because I am a deviant, but I got the idea of eggs and peanut butter from Harry Selkow on eliftefts.

 

 

“NOTHING IS TRUE, EVERYTHING IS PERMITTED”

 Nietzsche wrote that “Nothing is true, everything is permitted” is what is written above the guild of assassins, but in truth you could find no better motto to carve above any manner of gym.  Primarily because trainees in pursuit of getting bigger and stronger should always be aware of both points: “nothing is true” AND “everything is permitted”.  These guiding principles, along with “effort, consistency and time” truthfully provide all that a trainee needs in order to achieve great things in the pursuit of getting bigger and stronger, as it cuts away from all the distractions, nonsense and insanity that is currently being peddled by those interested in attempting to cash in on what is effectively “hard work over time”.   Don’t fall for any tricks, voodoo, scams or snake oil: nothing is true, everything is permitted.

You gotta listen to a dude with that sweet of a mustache...

 

What do I mean “nothing is true”?  I refer to the myriad of “rules” that trainees want to handcuff themselves to when it comes to training.  You HAVE to train a muscle group twice a week as a natural?  No: that is not true: and in point of fact people have successfully gotten QUITE bit and strong training muscle groups only once a week for decades.  I mean, really, of COURSE you’re only going to train a muscle once a week: because when you dedicate a whole day to it and absolutely nuke it, it’s gonna need 6 days to recover.  Carbohydrates are necessary for training hard and gaining muscle?  Nope: sure aren’t.  There’s enough successful low carb trainees out there right now that this “truth” simply isn’t.  You need to rest a muscle for 48-72 hours after training it in order to get big and strong?  The “hypertrophy rep range”?  Low reps for strength?  Beginner programs vs intermediate programs?  Maximal digestion rate of protein?  Nothing is true folks: we know this, because we keep seeing people succeed “in spite of” these truths.

 

And what does this, in turn, mean for us?  The second half: “everything is permitted”.  If nothing is true, this means everything is allowed.  I am notorious for the phrase “you can train however you want: there are no rules”, and I HAVE to say this all the time because people constantly ask for permission.  “Can I do curls everyday?”  Yes: go ahead.  “Can I gain muscle eating only 50g of protein a day?”  You sure can.  “Do I have to train abs?”  Only if you want to.  Nothing is true: everything is permitted.  Go ahead and TRY to lift weights wrong.  It’s REALLY hard to do.  So long as you abide by the guiding principles of effort, consistency and time, you’re GOING to get big and strong.  This is why gyms are full of jacked dudes “training wrong”: they just showed up for long enough and busted their butts often enough without long breaks that they eventually just got big and strong.

 

Never gonna get a strong deadlift with form like THAT dude...

Why is it so important to recognize that nothing is true and everything is permitted?  Because, again, trainees are actually INHIBITING themselves from succeeding by attempting to follow all the rules of success.  One of the biggest culprits I observe is the notion that one MUST train a muscle group twice a week for “optimal” muscle growth.  I’ve legit seen trainees develop depression like symptoms from this “truth”, as they feel locked in to only one style of training as a result and cannot fathom how else to train except for a 6x a week Push/Pull/Legs split.  My friend: consider yourself free!  Nothing is true: everything is permitted.  Go ahead and do DoggCrapp, or 5/3/1, or the Juggernaut Method, or design your own split, or Super Squats, or Deep Water, or HIT, or etc etc.  I assure you: if you lift weights hard and eat well, you will grow.   Will it be optimal?  No: but no one will get optimal results, as we live in a sub-optimal world.  Who cares about optimal: right now, you’d be hard pressed to find people operating at simply “good enough” levels.  If you’re putting in work, you’re head and shoulders above others.

 

Folks, I knew a trainee that felt like they had to choose between training OR eating because they made up a rule about how long they needed to wait between when they ate and when they trained.  If they trained too soon after eating, the food “wouldn’t work”.  This is the level of insanity that exists in a world WITHOUT solipsism.  “Nothing is true, everything is permitted”: Dan John had kids eating PBJs DURING workouts, because we understand that food is really anabolic and it’s probably a good idea to have a lot of it when you’re trying to get bigger and stronger.  “I NEED 8 hours of sleep if I want to get bigger and stronger”: sure dude, if that’s what you want to permit yourself.  Personally, I like knowing that I could sleep 3-4 hours a day and STILL get bigger and stronger so long as my food intake is on point and I’m busting my butt in the weight room.

Here is a good start

 

Have FEWER rules.  Operate with LESS truth in your life.  In your pursuit for truth, you’ve been deceived, because you’ve been led to believe that there are LIMITED avenues for success when, in truth (hah!) it’s damn near limitless.  Go ahead and TRY to design a terribly diet and training program, and then execute it with skullsplitting intensity and devotion: you’ll surprise yourself.  The body is incredibly adaptable, and when you place the signal on it to grow from hardwork and repeated effort, it’s going to grow, even IF you’re not following all the rules.  As cool as science is, there is art to be found in this process, along with alchemy, voodoo, witchcraft and plain ‘ol magic f**king powers.  Don’t deny your own innerpower and contribution to this process: nothing is true, everything is permitted. 

 

So go permit yourself your success, however you want to go about achieving it.     

ON COACHING

 

Consider this the sequel to “how much ya bench?”, because the inevitable response whenever someone is asked this question and they’re too ashamed to answer it is “some of the best coaches didn’t lift much/can’t currently lift much”.  So let’s talk about coaching, specifically because, once again, peoples’ credentials are called into play whenever they start offering advice on the subject of training and bringing up coaches like this is, quite honestly, very stupid.  I thought about titling this post “you’re still a Halfling even when you ride on an ogre” to continue my DnD thing, but felt it would get people focusing on the wrong part of the story.  Anyway, let’s cut to the chase on this one: being a coach is NOT about having an encyclopedic knowledge of training, to include having read a million different studies (what, I mean abstracts….wait, I REALLY mean “watching youtube videos of dudes who read abstracts explain the abstract”...if even that), and if I have to explain that to you, it means you’ve never actually been a coached athlete before…which means you should honestly shut up about coaches.

 

Man, I’m getting heated about this.  It honestly does upset me when people bring up coaches to defend their own ineptitude, and maybe it’s because I owe so much to the coaches I had in my life that to see them employed as a means to excuse their weakness hits me on a personal level.  So for those of you that have never actually been coached before, here’s what a coach does: it produces the best results in an ATHLETE and/or a TEAM.  They don’t just produce a spreadsheet with numbers and throw it at an athlete and say “Here: I calculated all of this based off the latest and greatest studies on exercise science, combined with 30 years of formal education and produced the most optimum and perfect program for you”.   If you were an athlete and a coach did that, you’d assume that coach hated you.  A coach WORKS with the athlete, because the relationship between the coach and athlete is a HUMAN relationship, that depends heavily on the understanding of the psychology between the two individuals and, if in team sport, how that builds into an effective team.

 

A coach isn’t simply an information ATM: a coach is a teacher and mentor that helps guide an athlete to reaching their potential.  Part of that is a coach has an eye FOR said potential, and the knowledge on how to unlock it.  And this requires an ability to understand the athlete as an individual, which flies completely in the face of those dudes that want to read a million studies and then think they found the universal answer to all training problems.  That’s the easy way out, which, in turn, means it’s the less effective way out.  And speaking of less effective, that’s another funny thing about coaches: sometimes they employ SUB-OPTIMAL (GASP!) methods with athletes because they understand that said particular athlete is simply going to respond better to that method compared to the optimal method…which means producing SUPERIOR results with inferior methods.  Madness?!  No: reality.  Because humans are flawed, and, in turn, perfection is not only impossible but often the pursuit of it results in unrealized potential compared to a more realistic approach.

How do you like them apples?

 

If you’re a coach and you have an athlete that is just 100% Viking berserker heritage, you’ll understand that telling them to keep 3 reps in the tank and a program that’s all percentages and math just plain isn’t going to work with them.  They’re not wired for that.  So you figure out a way to harness that energy and spirit into something productive without burning them out.  You give them prowler conditioning sessions where they can blow their lungs out, understanding that the concentric only nature of the movement will make it so that they don’t tap too far into their recovery while still allowing them to feel like they went “all out”, or you employ the max effort method with regular movement rotation to allow them maximal strain without frying their body.  Meanwhile, if you have that shy, reserved introverted genius kid, you’re not going to scream at them in the middle of a set and call them names to get them amped up: you’re gonna give them some quiet cues to focus on and make sure they’re drilling speed and technique with every rep.  A good coach knows ATHLETES and humans: they know how to produce results in these athletes.

 

And, in turn, sometimes awesome coaches DON’T know the latest and greatest in exercise science, medicine, nutrition, etc etc.  Why?  Because, to quote Kroc: they “don’t have to”.  Do you really think Cus D’Amato knew about the prepilin chart, or the impact of simple carbs on glycogen stores?  No: but he sure knew how to produce heavyweight champions.  “Psh, that’s boxing!”  Ok, first of all, dude coached Mike Tyson, who was jacked, strong, and absolutely terrifying, but ok then, Derek Poundstone is coaching Rob Kearny, who set the American log press record of 475lbs.  What’s Derek’s profession again?  Police Officer.  He hasn’t been in the lab getting his PhD, running tests and experiments: he has the bonafides of competition experience AND hands on experience working with athletes and has learned what works and what doesn’t from that, and ALSO understands how to bring out the potential of athletes under his wing.  Derek describes his training as “pain tolerance training”, and much of what he prescribes is about just doing things “because they suck”: SUPER unscientific, and SUPER effective for producing champion strongman athletes.  Because Derek understands that these are valuable attributes for a strongman competitor…primarily because he COMPETED at the top of the sport.  Hey look: “how much ya bench?” shows up once again.

Yeah: dude might know how to press a log

 

I’m going to just spell this out at this point, because I want to put this to bed and it’d be great to just have a “so there” paragraph for those kids that want to invoke coaches when their credentials are called into play.  Having read a bunch of studies does NOT make you qualified to offer advice on the subject of getting bigger and stronger.  You are negatively impacting the signal to noise ratio of whatever space you are in when you “contribute”.  Big and strong guys DO have right of way.  Why?  Because they’ve demonstrated that they can at least make ONE person big and strong.  Guys that have coached athletes have right of way: they have demonstrated they can make SEVERAL people big and strong.  People who read a lot of studies have done neither.  There is nothing special about reading a lot: they give high school diplomas to those people.  In higher education, you have to actually DO something with that knowledge before they give you a degree.  It’s cool you’re excited and passionate about your hobby: continue to make it better by NOT giving advice to new people and, instead, making room for people that actually have something worthwhile to say.  Wouldn’t you rather get advice from someone worth listening to?  Do unto others.

 

 

***SECRET BONUS TIP***

 

Hey kids, if you DO want to give advice, try this sometimes: just say what YOU would do in the situation, vs what the other person should do.  You still aren’t helping signal to noise much there, but at least the person on the other side can make the evaluation of “well…do I really want this guy’s advice?”

INTENSITY IS A GIVEN

 

 

I just watched Jon Andersen most recent appearance on Mark Bell’s podcast, and I’d say a good 80% of the dialogue, if not more, was focused on diet.  This makes sense, given the fact that Jon is a bit of an anomaly in the world of getting bigger and stronger as he (for those that are unfamiliar with his work) is staunchly low/anti-carb.  He has compared carbs to drugs, refers to people that eat carbs as “carb users”, and expresses an idea of utilizing them only in extreme circumstances in limited dosages, to include while trying to hold onto bodyweight while recovering from surgery and for fuel during INTENSE competitions.  All this said, here I am, now also talking about nutrition, when my plan was to express my disappointment in how little Jon talked about his training.  Jon is ALSO unique in the world of getting big and strong just by how brutally hard he trains.  He regularly had a feature in Mark’s “Power” magazine that discussed Jon’s training sessions and, with it, the origins of the “Deep Water” philosophy…but when pressed to talk on the subject, Jon always likes to discuss how training only does about 25% of the work for results, whereas nutrition makes up the other 75%.   Jon isn’t unique in expressing this ideas, as many other successful trainees have had quotes ranging anywhere from 75-100% of results being a product of nutrition.  What’s interesting about these quotes on nutrition is what is left UNSAID about training: specifically, that intensity is a given.

Admit it: you tried to go Super Saiyan at least once...

 

Before I go further, I have to do this every time I talk about “intensity”: I am NOT referring to the super nerdy exercise science definition meaning “percentage of 1rm.”  Why THAT got to be how we define intensity, I’ll never understand.  But anyway, I’m using it in the way any normal human would understand it: how hard we break ourselves in training.  And I’ve written before on just how difficult it is to explain intensity to someone that has never actually pushed themselves before: they lack the necessary frame of reference to even understand the dialogue.  Like trying to explain the color red to someone that was born blind, language simply lacks an ability to adequate convey the sensation.  But those that know know and, in turn, for those people, intensity is a given…but what is the implication there?

 

Jon talks about how the training doesn’t matter, and even I have said “it’s hard to lift weights wrong”, because when taken from the 1000 mile perspective it’s very true.  There are SO many avenues to success in training, but all these avenues ASSUME that the trainee is going to apply 100% skull splitting intensity into whatever it is that they do.  Once again: it’s a given.  It’s honestly taken for granted: every author of every program is assuming that the trainee is going to work as hard as they can in order to actually AFFECT growth.  Yes: even submax training ala 5/3/1.  Listen/read how many times Jim Wendler talks about barspeed and rep quality: even when you aren’t pushing your body to its breaking point, you’re still applying “maximal intensity”: it’s simply being invested in rep quality rather than stressing the muscles.

 

THERE is your intensity

Once this necessary degree of intensity is established, training really DOES become easy: just repeat what you’re doing and do it for a LONG time without long breaks.  We’re back to my “3 variables”: effort, consistency and time.  Those last 2 are easy as long as you get the first one figured out and can keep replicating it.  From there, pick any way of training that you like and keep it up.  Different individuals respond better to different training from a PERSONALITY standpoint: some need percentages, some hate them, some are single set dudes, some are high volume dudes, etc.  Don’t try to force a square peg into a round hole on this one: you’ll work against your nature and, in turn, be unable to bring the necessary intensity to your training to be able to actually drive any sort of physical transformation.  Instead, pick a method of training that you gravitate toward such that you can put maximal intensity into its execution, EXECUTE it, keep doing so for a long time and you will observe some significant growth. 

 

Once this intensity IS a given, THEN we start manipulating nutrition and observing the changes.  But that intensity has to be there FIRST.  How many times have we seen the trainee with the “perfect” diet: all organic, free range, healthy food in the right macronutrient rations, perfectly timed…wondering why all they did was get fat on a bulk and scrawny on a cut?  It’s because the intensity WASN’T a given for that individual: they put all of their energy into their food and none of it into their training.  Yes: a sound diet can have you looking better than the AVERAGE person, simply because you’re caring about what you put into your body and this can easily reflect outward, but in order to achieve some manner of actual physical transformation, one must place a demand on their body TO transform, and this comes from intense training that pushes past comfort zones and taps into dark parts of the mind in order to get things done. 

Like "lone berserker killing 60 English soldiers" dark parts

 

And this, in turn, is why we hear the stories of frustrated young trainees wondering why all the big dumb meatheads at their gym are seeing such awesome results while the trainee is floundering: you’re observing dudes that found a style of training that resonates with their personality such that they’re willing to pour in the necessary degree of intensity to affect change, and from there they eat well enough to cause growth to occur.  And why do these big dumb meatheads only eat chicken, rice and broccoli and drink water from gallon jugs?  Because we’re starting to figure out that getting jacked REALLY doesn’t require you to be all that smart and, in fact, intelligence might be holding you back: what’s mattering here is intensity and compliance, and sometimes being a little dumb makes those two things a lot easier to obtain. 

 

Get out of your own way on this one.  It’s honestly tough for me to read about training METHOD book because there just doesn’t seem to be anything worth talking about when it comes to training.  I’ve found what resonates with me, and at this point all I care to read about or look up is just various means of achieving that effect.  I like reading about new training MOVEMENTS, just so I can throw them into a brutal conditioning circuit (which, on that note, I’ve been doing Devil’s presses a TON recently, and they’re legit).  I like seeing psycho WODs people have come up with that I can slot into a daily conditioning challenge.  I like reading about challenge workouts that are just one offs rather than part of an actual program.  And beyond that, I just like reading people talking ABOUT lifting but not actually talking about lifting, ie: most of what Paul Kelso and Dan John’s work is about.  The intensity is a given: what we do with it really doesn’t matter.   

DEEP WATER BEGINNER REVIEW II: THE MYTHICALSTRENGTH REMIX

  

INTRO

Yeah: it's about this crazy

I remember the last time I ran Deep Water it effectively traumatized me.  I had a cut-off Punisher t-shirt I wore for every squat day on the program that I had to get rid of once it was all over because it was so saturated with fear sweat that it smelled like an open grave and NO amount of washing could get the smell out.  I walked like a toy soldier 6 days a week while I waited for the soreness to go away, I constantly had to field the question of “are you ok?”, my wife frequently found me on the floor in the garage with my head propped up on a furniture dolly to prevent me from drowning in my own sweat, I learned to take an excederin between sets 7 and 8 of the squat workout to chase away the inevitable exertion headache that ALWAYS happened (followed by a Rockstar right after the workout), and I remember “running out of time” on my lunch breaks, just eating as soon as the window opened and stopping when my break was over, HOPING I had put away enough food to recover from my previous workout and be able to train for the next one.  I also remember saying on multiple occasions that it was the most effective program I had run in 21 years, and that’s what I had to remind myself when I decided to take it on again.

 

And, of course, me being me, I couldn’t just do the same thing twice, so I’m going to start this review talking about all the stuff I did that was DIFFERENT from before, and how that worked out for me.

 

Without further ado…

 

SIGNIFICANT DEVIANCE

Yeah that about sums me up

Since I’ve already run this program before, I allowed myself to play around and experiment.  BUT, along with that, my schedule forced me to deviate quite a bit as well.  Specifically, I had 2 one week interruptions within the 6 weeks of the program: one a visit to my in-laws, and one a work trip.  I STILL wanted the program to take around 6 weeks to complete, which meant I took on the task of running the program WITHOUT days off.  I’d run 5 days of week 1, then 5 days of week 2, then 5 days of week 3, etc.  I figured the 14 total days off would give me enough of a break to recover from that.  It shook out that my 1 week break occurred between week 2 and 3, and between week 5 and 6.  During those weeks off, I did a TON of conditioning work, using a weighted vest and a kettlebell while at my in-laws (to include a 100 burpee workout with an 80lb vest and some other terrible WODs) and bodyweight and bands during my work trip (reference my recently posted “Hotel Room Conditioning Insanity” post, which included 2 different 500 burpee workouts among other variants).

 

On top of that, here are other ways I deviated.

 

·       I kept up my daily work.  Every day, I did 50 chins, 50 dips, 50 band pull aparts, 40 reverse hypers, 30 GHRs, 25 band pushdowns, 20 standing ab wheels, and 11 neck bridges in 4 different directions.  Exceptions being, if a movement was featured in a Deep Water workout, I wouldn’t do it as part of the daily work.

 

·       I continued doing conditioning daily, and frequently multiple times a day.  I rotated through a variety of Crossfit style WODs, to include Grace, Fran, Legion of Doom, Black and Blue, 30 thrusters for time w/135lbs, and just other nasty things with barbells, kettlebells, and burpees.  I’d include some running and weighted vest walks as well.  For the ACTUAL conditioning day of Deep Water, I’d do the Juarez Valley front squat workout.  I actually found that I recovered FASTER by forcing myself to do a lot of conditioning with an emphasis on squatting.

 

 

·       On that note, for the “technique work” on the Deep Water days, I took to including those 30 total reps into a WOD, done later in the day.  For squats, I was a fan of doing 10-5-15 of squats at 275, chins and dips, and then for deadlifts I’d do 12-9-6-3 of deadlifts, chins and dips, always trying to beat time.  It was a good way to kill 2 birds with one stone: get in the reps, practice technique, and get in conditioning.

·       I added significant work to the back day.  I did all the prescribed work, but also added a high rep set of axle shrugs against bands (starting at 75 and working up to 100 total reps), a set of kroc rows, and 50 band pull aparts.

 

·         On press days, I stuck with my lateral raise dropset and Poundstone curls vs the prescribed sets and reps for lateral raises and curls.  I also tended to include band pull aparts between presses, as they made my shoulder feel better.

 

·       Instead of hyperextensions and sit ups, I would do a circuit of reverse hypers and standing ab wheel.

 

·       All presses done with an axle, taken from the floor and pressed away.

 

·       Benching and close grip was done with an axle: incline was done with dumbbells.

 

·       Lunges were done with a safety squat bar.

 

NUTRITION

I honestly stuck very close to what Jon prescribed.  Organic whenever possible, high quality nutrition sources.  Still went “Deep Mountain” in that, if I allowed myself variance, it was typically something John Meadows was ok with.  This meant a daily inclusion of some dark chocolate…and honestly that’s about it.  I tried including wild blueberries in my diet, but they were wrecking my guts, so I dropped them.  And honestly, I was eating so much food through this process I lost my appetite for “treats”.  In 2019, I was eating 4 quest bars a day, and now I was at the point where I’d eat one every 2-3 days.  I preferred tuna for a quick protein dose.  My wife and I’s favorite local pizza place has a keto crust pizza that is really top notch, but I found myself going for the bone in wings in the program.  I just wanted more food to recover and couldn’t find a reason to eat any junk.  After 12 weeks of BBB Beefcake and Building the Monolith, I think I was just getting burnt out from food and was becoming robotic about it.  That having been said, the program and all the conditioning drove my appetite to even crazier levels, and I was pretty much eating every half hour on shift at work.

 

SNAPSHOT: DAY IN THE LIFE

Yeah it feels like this sometimes

People seem to find this fascinating, so I’ll write it up.  I’m a shift worker, so this was a day I was coming off night shift, working from 2200-0600.

·       0630: Arrive home, eat 2 whole organic free range eggs, 1 egg white, 2.25oz of grassfed beef, grassfed butter, fat free cheese and half an avocado all on an “egglife” wrap smeared with organic no sugar added sunbutter as a breakfast burrito w/organic sour cream.  2 small Birch Bender keto pancakes with nuts n more spread and sugar free raspberry preserves.

 

·       0700-0815 Deep Water back workout Week 5 w/aforementioned adjustments

 

·       0820: 9oz of Eggwhites Intentional drinkable egg whites mixed with 1 scoop of whey protein and amazing grass greens supplement.

 

·       0850: ¾ cup of fat free skyr mixed with a protein scooper full of Naked PB peanut flour, cinnamon, and salt

 

·       0900-1515: Sleep

 

·       1530: 30 thrusters w/135lbs done for time (got it done in 3min 54sec)

 

·       1630: 2 piedmontese beef jr hot dogs on 2 natural ovens keto hot dog buns, each slathered with 1/6 of an avocado, some sugar free ketchup, mustard, and topped with fat free shredded cheddar cheese, side of 5 asparagus spears with some mashed cauliflower.  Hot dog night is a Tuesday tradition at my house stemming from a tight connection between when my wife gets off work and when my kid needs to get to sports practice.  Otherwise, this tends to be unprocessed meat and veggies.  However, the piedmontese hot dogs are about as high quality of a hot dog as you’ll ever find.

 

·       2000: 1/3 cup of lowfat grassfed cottage cheese mixed with 2 whole organic free range eggs, 1.75oz of grassfed ground beef and 1/6 of an avocado, 3 celery stalks topped with Nuts n More spread, a slice of keto bread with almond butter and sugar free raspberry preservers, 1 cup of unsweetened almond/coconut milk

 

·       2100: 5 rounds of: 10 power cleans w/135lbs, 10 burpees (time: 9:54)

 

·       2200: Arrive at work, eat 1 Lite n Fit fat free greek yogurt and 1 Oikos triple zero fat free greek yogurt

 

·       2230: 1 mini dark chocolate Reese’s peanut butter cup

 

·       2300: Sandwich: 2 slices of Natural Oven’s keto bread with Miracle Whip light and mustard, 2 slices of organic turkey, 1 slice of extra lean ham, pickle, lettuce, tomato and a slice of fat free cheese.

 

·       2330: Lilly’s dark chocolate no sugar added peanut butter cup

 

·       0000: Ahi tuna pack (26 grams of protein, 1g fat, no carbs)

 

·       0030: 1 slice of organic turkey deli meat, 3 asparagus spears, 5 organic mini carrots

 

·       0100: Low carb spaghetti (Costco “Healthy Noodles”: 30 calories a serving, 5 carbs mixed with organic ground turkey, no sugar added red sauce and mushrooms)

 

·       0130: 6 walnuts, 6 macadamia nuts, 1 60 calorie square of 92% dark chocolate

 

·       0200: Same as the 0030 meal

 

·       0300: 6oz of seafood mix (mussels, octopus, squid, surimi, shrimp) mixed with mashed cauliflower and greenbeans

 

·       0400: Archer Farms zero sugar grassfed beef jerky

 

 

RESULTS, OUTCOMES AND EXPERIENCES

Traps like these not guaranteed 

On the final day of the program, I set a front squat rep PR of 225 for 15, done first thing in the morning at 0330, with at least one more rep in the tank.  This was part of my Juarez Valley conditioning protocol, and done AFTER a week off from weights due to work travel.  In turn, this speaks to just how “on” this program got me, because I hit a 500 burpee workout on the day I traveled back from work to home and then got up at 0530 the next day and crushed the week 6 10x10 deadlift workout with 2:00 rests.  Lotta folks talk about feeling weaker after a deload/week off, but every time I go to the well I keep finding more and more.

 

I wrote about this in the nutrition section, but to repeat: I have been eating so much that I’m just plain sick of it.  The first time I ran the program, I was obeying the idea of “eat a lot of meat and fat”, but wasn’t abiding by “organic”, and I was eating a LOT of saturated (and trans) fats.  This time around, I slashed saturated and got them from quality sources and focused more on monos.  It’s meant eating so much all the time that there’s no room for junk.  In fact, one night, my wife asked me what I wanted for dinner and my answer was legitimately “Nothing”.  THAT was my “cheat meal”.  The first time I ran the program, I’d have a cheat meal each week the night before the lower body workouts, and typically it was Panda Express with a LOT of rice and orange chicken.  This time, I had zero craving for junk, and my “cheat meal” was typically chicken wings and 3 or 4 of my wife’s curly fries at the local restaurant we like.  I also had a 2lb tomahawk ribeye to celebrate a few things all at once coming back from my work trip, which I ate off the bone caveman style and found myself STILL looking for more meat when I was done.

 
Berserker shirt worn on purpose

 

And despite all this eating, I put on no appreciable amount of bodyfat.  Again: still not weighing myself, but I have the after photos AND my powerlifting belt, which has STILL not moved a notch from when I started at 177lbs back in Oct.  I’ve had days where I was bloated and it felt snug, and days where it’s fit just right, but I’ve NEVER had a day where it simply wouldn’t latch, whereas typically I’m operating at LEAST one notch out from this point when I’m really chasing bodyweight and eating big.

Before

 
After

 

Once again: aggression and libido took an uptick while on the program.  Finding myself drawn to combat sports yet again, and though options are limited, just the fact I wanna fight again is a sign of all that.

 

Coming into the program with a solid conditioning base was huge.  I completely blew away my old squatting numbers on the program and never once had to lay down on the floor like I did the first time.  My breathing was able to get back to normal much quicker than before, as was my heart rate.  I’ll keep beating this drum: conditioning matters. 

 

I did notice my times on the Grace WOD got worse through the program, but I attribute that to how much more fatigue I was carrying compared to the 5/3/1 programs, which checks out.  Jim writes programs for athletes, with the understanding that the weights are just a part of what you’re doing, so it manages fatigue and has room to play as far as conditioning goes.  Deep Water is supposed to be all inclusive, so taking onto it like I did is gonna come with some consequences.

 

IMPRESSIONS ON HOW EVERYTHING HAS FIT TOGETHER

Some things just go together well

When I originally came up with the 26 week protocol of BBB Beefcake-Building the Monolith-Deep Water, it was honestly a bit of a “so there!”: just something to throw out and shut someone up if they didn’t know how to eat and train.  But going through it, I’m really pretty pleased with how it all fits together.  BBB Beefcake lays down a GREAT foundation to kick-start the whole time off.  You get to practice a lot of reps and develop some solid conditioning with the time constraints, and you have plenty of opportunities to get in more conditioning.  Meanwhile, the weight is on the lighter side, so you aren’t thrashing your connective tissues or digging too deep into your CNS recovery well (yeah yeah, CNS boogieman: you know what I mean).

 

BtM comes along and it’s SUPPOSED to be “5/3/1 for Size”, and though it DOES do that, it’s really like an intensification block from BBB Beefcake.  You’re lifting heavier weights for fewer reps and getting in most of your hypertrophy work in the assistance stuff.  The 5s pro in BBB Beefcake meant only hitting heavy work for 1 REAL set, but BtM has you hitting 3-5 sets across: it’s INTENSE.  Meanwhile, widowmakers are building up some high rep squatting ability, and the conditioning element to it is teaching you how to recover from intense work.

 

Deep Water comes along and kicks you straight in the junk, BUT, all that work from 5/3/1 has you ready for it.  When I first ran Deep Water, I wasn’t really doing anything intense beforehand, coming off of strongman comp preparation vs real accumulation work, and it broke me down HARD.  But coming off BBB Beefcake I was already doing HALF the program on the regular (5x10 vs 10x10), while BtM gave me a bit of a break from that to focus on getting stronger but not so much that I lost my touch for high rep sets, and throughout all that time I had been driving my conditioning so far into the red that I was totally prepared.  I also had a fairly good idea what weight was challenging for me for a set of 10 from BBB Beefcake, so there wasn’t any real need for 1rm testing and minimal guesswork.  This went from just a wild guess to something VERY viable, and may become a regular-ish thing.

 

NEXT?

Deep Water intermediate, with more deviance. Since I still don’t really have a solid grasp of my 1rm, nor any intention to test it, I’m going to pick challenging weights to concur, and then smash myself with conditioning until something breaks. After that, I’m going to take a break from eating so much goddamn food. I’m contemplating some DoggCrapp style training, as I think single hard set work will be an excellent contrast to this super high volume stuff, and the variety of movements will be good to balance so much time spent doing the same thing.