Hello, everyone. My name is Jon. I'm a 40 year old dedicated family man. I'm also a desk jockey, a USAF veteran, and a former marathon/ultra-marathon runner. I intend to start logging my training here now that I have base building and 2 blocks of Operator/Black Pro under my belt.
Goals
Strength, strength, and more strength. Improved body composition. Maintaining as much of my endurance base as possible. Improving other, formerly neglected areas of conditioning (HIC, speed work).
Training Background
I was very active and athletic from a young age. Throughout my teens and most of my 20s I pursued distance running. Strength was a necessary evil during these years and I never took it very seriously. I stopped exercising completely by my late 20s and was detrained and out of shape by my early 30s. I picked distance running back up and quickly progressed into full marathons and eventually ultra marathons. I still wasn't taking strength seriously during all of this time.
In my late 30s, I picked up kettlebells and calisthenics. As I closed the chapter on my 30s, I began to realize that I no longer wanted to pursue marathon+ distance running events. With that in mind, for my 40th birthday, I purchased myself a squat rack + a-bar, a barbell, 200 lbs. in bumpers, and 300 lbs. of iron plates.
Greyskull LP
My goal with an LP was to put time under the bar and learn the compound movements. As such, I started my LP journey very light. My press at 65 lbs., bench at 95, squat at 95, and deadlift at 155. I ran GSLP for 14 weeks, where I started to hit regular plateaus, and decided it was time to migrate to TB. GSLP uses AMRAP but I never pushed myself to failure on the last set. At first, I was often hitting 8-10 reps but eventually settled into the 5-7 rep range on most of the lifts.
Basebuilding
Basebuilding went well. I stuck to the minimums on E and ran a cluster of mixed KB and bodyweight movements: 1H KB swings, diamond push-ups, KB goblet squats, inverted rows, band pull-aparts, and band face pulls. In week 5, I swapped to fighter for MS and used a training max based off of my last GSLP sessions. Everything went perfectly.
Operator/Black Pro
I'm now on the last week of my second block of Operator with Black Professional. My cluster is back squat, bench press, weighted chins, and I option DL for 1 working set once a week. I'm also using the finishers as prescribed by JMadd in Ageless Athlete; 2 sets of KB swings and alternating carries with plank and shank.
For my first block, I stuck with the TM based off of my last GSLP sessions. Everything went perfectly.
For my second block, I forced progression on all lifts: 10 lbs. for upper body and 20 lbs. for lower body. This second block has also gone well, save for a couple of minor hang ups.
- I don't feel comfortable with conventional barbell deadlifts and, after seeing this article by Greg Nuckols on the trapbar DL, I decided to switch to trapbar DLs. I am very happy with that decision.
- I started to develop some bicep tendonitis from, I believe, low bar back squatting and swapped to the high bar position on week 4. So far, so good, but I am going to keep my squat weights the same for a while to get some more time with this position / the movement and to build more confidence with it.
- I also switched fully to rings with a neutral grip for pull-ups during this block.
Short Hills, Standard Issue Hills, and Fobbit Intervals are my go-to HICs because I can execute them very quickly -- I live in the foothills of a nearby mountain range and have numerous hills available to me within minutes of my front door, and I *really* like the KB snatch and want to keep it in frequent rotation. I also played around with some of the GCs and some of the sprint based sessions, like OD 101, BoO II, and 600m Resets.
The speed work is really incredible but I have to be careful with it. I have a hard time regulating myself when I run fast and often find myself pushing too hard and then my recovery suffers.
LISS runs and rucking are my go-to E sessions. Every few weeks I'll get out for a mountain bike ride in the nearby mountains with a couple of friends but these rides are very casual.
Progress
From the end of December last year to today.
- Bench Press: 95 lbs. for 3x5 -> 165 lbs. for 3x2.
- Back Squat: 95 lbs. for 3x5 -> 200 lbs. for 3x2.
- Chin-ups: Bodyweight for 3x8 -> +35 for 3x2.
- Deadlift: 155 lbs. for 3x5 -> 285 lbs. for 1x2.
I am going to be swapping to Fighter with Black Professional for the remainder of this year. My wife and I are expecting our 3rd child in the next 5-6 weeks and I am hopeful that I will be able to continue training with Fighter.
I'm going to force progression on bench and weighted chin-ups by 5lbs. each and DL by 10 lbs. Squat will remain the same.
My E and HIC sessions will remain pretty static throughout the remainder of this year. I do plan to experiment with adding in Apex Hills and Meat Eater II.
