TacticalBarbell.com

Pre Base Building (PBB) Week 1 (27 Dec - 2 Jan)
SE Cluster: Overhead Press (OHP), Bent Over Row (BOR), Back Squat (SQ), Romanian Deadlift (RDL), Sit-ups (SU)

12/27: SE 3x10 @ 45lbs (empty barbell); no rest between exercises and 90s rest between sets. Definitely felt old and out of shape and struggled to keep the time hacks.

12/28: E LSS for 15:00; actually ran 16min, 1.43 miles, 156avg and had an 11:24 pace

12/29: SE 3x10 @ 50lbs; felt better with 1min rest between exercises and 2 min rest between sets. Really worked on my form and felt good

12/30: E LSS for 15:00; actually ran 15:27, 1.4 miles, 147avgBPM, 164maxBPM, 11:01 pace

12/31 - 1/3: No formal training. Went on a few walks with my kids and did some local hiking with my wife but basically fell off the wagon 4 days in and decided I need to restart PBB Week 1

PBB Week 1 v2.0 (3 Jan - 9 Jan)

1/3: Really lethargic and did not do any formal training. Took the kids for a 1 mile walk but that was the extent of my activity.

1/4 (morning): SE 3x10 @ 50lbs; lowered my rest to about 45sec between exercises and 2 minutes between sets. Actually felt really good. Motivation was lacking until I woke up in the morning and saw a message on reddit asking how my progress with Week 1 had been. Forced myself out of bed to knock out the SE since I was ashamed.

1/4 (evening): E LSS for 15:00; actually ran ~22:00, 2.01mi, 148avg, 166max, 10:36 pace; running so slow is painful, but I have to run that slow to keep my HR down. That said, I have found the last few runs really enjoyable just being out late in the evening and running in the dark around my hilly neighborhood.

1/5: No formal training. Missed my window of opportunity in the evening after I put the kids to bed. I will need to make up that SE work on 1/6.

1/6 (morning): Had the thought process that I would wake up early and do SE and then do the scheduled E LSS tonight. Yeah, woke up, put on my gym stuff, went downstairs and just sat there on my phone until waking the kids up. I MUST do the SE tonight (I can't wait until the kids are in bed, I need to just get home and knock it out. Otherwise I may be too tired or exhausted to do it after the kids go down) and then move the E to Friday morning with SE Friday night and still be able to do the longer E LSS and Saturday. MTF tomorrow when I update my weekly post to here.

1/6 (evening): SE 3x10 @ 50lbs; rest between exercises down to 30 sec and 1:30 between sets. Only took about 20 minutes. Really focused on breathing and bracing for when I get to the bigger weights down the road in MxS. Definitely need to work on my ankle mobility for the squat.

1/7: E LSS for 15:00; actually ran 19:35, 1.75mi, 146avg, 167max, 11:12 pace; a little bit of soreness in my left achilles but it loosed up about 5 minutes into the run. Otherwise, it felt good, although I do feel like I am plodding since I pretty much have to shuffle to keep my heart rate below 150.

1/8: Ended up taking the day off. Everyone in the house was sick (except me) so I ended up playing nurse to the wife and kids. Thankfully it seems like only a 24 hour bug (just in case we got COVID tested and all were negative). Was too exhausted from taking care of everyone to work out.

1/9: E LSS for 15-30min; actually ran 30:02, 2.7mi, 148avg, 169max; 11:06 pace; instead of making up the SE workout I went for the long E LSS run. It felt good, although the first few minutes always seem to suck (probably because I live halfway up a ridgeline so I always start my run going up towards the summit). With that, we will call it a wrap on Week 1 2.0 of PBB and move on to Week 2 tomorrow.

PBB Week 2

1/10: Only got 3.5 hours of sleep so I didn't work out.

1/11: SE 3x20 @ 50lbs; 90 seconds between exercises and 2:00 between sets. Took me 41:31 to complete. I will DEFINITELY be sore tomorrow. Took a little longer between reps but really noticed a difference when I braced properly and the few times I did not.

1/12: E LSS for 20:00; actually ran 25:17, 2.16mi, 142avg, 162max, 11:43 pace

1/13: Didn't work out. Felt depressed and had some gastro-intestinal issues going on so I figured it would be best to just call it a night.

1/14: SE: 3x20 @ 50lbs; ~60 seconds between exercises for the first two rounds, 1:30 for the last round; 2:00 between sets. Took me 35:50 to complete. Depression is really hitting me hard today though. I'm feeling really lethargic and just had to force myself into the gym to knock this out. Tried my best to maintain form but I really was just focused on getting in, knocking the reps out and getting out.

1/14 (evening): E LSS for 20:00; actually ran 25:52, 2.24mi, 139avg, 157max, 11:33 pace

Hope you feel better soon man. Just keep putting that work in. I believe in you

First of all welcome to the forum.

Secondly, just keep doing what you’re doing, and I hope you’re finding someone to talk to, whether it be a friend, family or professional. Don’t try get through it all completely on your own.

You’re definitely doing well by sticking to your training.

I hope everything improves for you soon! Even if it’s a slow grind small steps forward are better than none.

All the best.

Thanks Adksi and @tk_swag1234! I appreciate it. Depression comes and goes in waves for me so it'll be a lifelong battle.

1/15: Depression got the better of me and I just did nothing but sit around, play video games with the kids and read a little bit. Forced myself to take the kids to the playground just to get out of the house.

1/16: Not a formal workout but took the wife and kids on a scenic (but short) hike up to the Makapu'u Lighthouse. 2 miles in 2 hours and mam it was hot but the viewsade up for it. Definitely got a workout carrying my kids on my back for portions of it.

PBB W3

1/17: 3 x 30 @50lbs; 2min between exercises and sets. Took 53:53 to complete but I got it done. Started breaking exercises down into smaller chunks by 10s or 5s in the second set depending on how tired I was getting. Grinded out those last few on the last set but got it done.

1/18: E LSS for 25:00; actually ran 26:26, 2.3 mi, 140avg, 162max, 11:30 pace. Felt really strong on the run. Had a lot of gas in the tank and could've kept that slow pace for much longer. Felt in a really good headspace considering how depressed I was a few days ago. "Determined" would probably be the best way to describe it. Put on my "Go To War" mix that I listened to on deployments and before pretty much every patrol and it just hit me differently. I put my head down and just went to work and felt good doing it.