Sprints and Stuff- training/questions 1k and below

[Anth_F]

I like reading up on all the training in here. Some really interesting stuff!!!

And nice work you guys.

[Shawn Baker]

Again 500m with plan for 1:20.0 with a rate cap of 30 spm- hit 1:20.5 at 29 (and likely should of had 1:20.2-3 as I didn't fully pull last stroke with about 8m to go - felt pretty good with efficiency on each stroke and barely had any fade at the end

So, pleased with this I will move up to 33 spm and targe 1:18.0

A little bit of jump rope then

205lb jump squat triples/75lb med ball push press releases to 10'6" ceiling- 8 sets (managed to hit ceiling 4 times, and was fairly pleased to do it as I e only hit ceiling 1 time before)

18" step ups with 205lb barbell (5 reps each leg, alternating) x 4 sets

Finished with another ring pull-up PR of 11 reps (which is decent for my monkey long arms)

Overall decent work- relatively low volume today

[Shawn Baker]

First go a 33 spm for the 500m- was targeting 1:18.0 but didn't get after it like I should have- will go again tomorrow
(1:19.5 at 34spm)
Did some 50lb ground to ceiling med ball throws 10 sets of 3 reps

Decided to work some 100m intervals at low rate- was targeting 1:15.0 at 40 spm- this was fairly easy to do (despite a missed start on rep number 2)
Avg 1:14.9 at 36 spm 5 reps on 2 minutes rest
Thought I'd try a stand alone 100 - despite falling off seat for last 3 or 4 strokes, managed to type my PR and say a low of 1:04- should be able to improve on this fairly soon
13.8 sec (1:09) at 58 spm

[GJS]

Good going, Shawn.

A solution to the coming off the seat issue would be nice. Sprinkling a little water on the seat helps me just a little.
Not recommended for gym users.

[hjs]

Strenght is great Shawn, pure speed is tricky.

[Shawn Baker]

So only training today was to just do a single 500m rate restricted row

1k wu followed by 50 jump ropes

Felt that motivation was decent got off to a decent start- it is a bit of an art to get pace down quickly and not overshoot pace or rate- saw a 1:14 on 4th stroke and then quickly settled in on 1:18s- a little bit of inefficiency throughout the row and only a slight loss of power down the stretch- while I wanted 1:18.0 at 33 (which I think is achievable), I still was not too disappointed as I am pretty sure this is my best 500 at high altitude- will pick things back up on Tuesday as I travel back to California and sea level on Monday (tomorrow, I have a deadlift goal I want to hit and rowing before will compromise it and afterwards I'll be too spent to row)

Thanks guys

Henry, yes strength is coming along- I'll likely test low pull after I get all my record attempts done, so as to not unnecessarily tire out back beforehand!

[GJS]

Yesterday's piece. A repeat of an effort 5 or 6 days ago. 30r capped. 165df. Very slightly quicker.
No more easy gains here.

To go quicker I'll need to develop additional strength and power. A fat lump I need to lose 15 lbs of blubber too. All the while my endurance capacity is degrading, which I need to get back on top of. (The thought now of spending more than 5mins of the erg is laughable to me. )

What's the point if it's not a challenge?

[Shawn Baker]

Just a quick one today before taking kids to play at the local "ninja park"

Row easy 1k wu

Jump rope x 100

Deadlifts to an easy 455lbs x 10 reps (no belt)

12 ring pull-ups

Not to sound like a broken record, but it is clear to me that all meat diet is clearly making me stronger(and it's pretty darn cool!)

[left coaster]

Yesterday's piece. A repeat of an effort 5 or 6 days ago. 30r capped. 165df. Very slightly quicker.
No more easy gains here.

To go quicker I'll need to develop additional strength and power. A fat lump I need to lose 15 lbs of blubber too. All the while my endurance capacity is degrading, which I need to get back on top of. (The thought now of spending more than 5mins of the erg is laughable to me. )

What's the point if it's not a challenge?

Garry, just rate up! 30sr is a long way from 45, a sr many have used for this distance (including me). You can break 1:30 easy.

[left coaster]

Not to sound like a broken record, but it is clear to me that all meat diet is clearly making me stronger(and it's pretty darn cool!)

Shawn, you live like a well financed monk and train just as religiously. Is it possible you would be getting stronger on a more traditional diet as well? I'll admit, the idea of just eating meat makes me want to barf, so perhaps I'm biased. Being a few percent stronger in exchange for eating in a more sustainable way... seems like an expensive price.

[Ombrax]

Not to sound like a broken record, but it is clear to me that all meat diet is clearly making me stronger(and it's pretty darn cool!)

Doesn't look broken to me...

[GJS]

Garry, just rate up! 30sr is a long way from 45, a sr many have used for this distance (including me). You can break 1:30 easy.

Aye, LC. That was a capped piece. My PR is 1:23.8, r45.

[Shawn Baker]

Pretty encouraged by today's 500 for a number of reasons

1- it was a fairly decent time for the limited stroke rate cap of 33
2- it was a fairly conservative attempt for several reasons- I spent 12 hours in car driving yesterday so a little bit tired- I had a fairly big deadlift day 2 days ago so back is a bit fatigued still- going to high altitude I end up getting my drag up quite a bit (going from 185-230 or so) and so I'm a little conservative until I get used to the bigger drag- my first 5-8 strokes were definitely "feelers" for the higher drag
3- effort here was pretty darn comfortable for a 1:18 row (by no means easy, but definitely very much controlled)
4- had very little fade at all down the stretch

Based on this I will be fairly disappointed with anything worse than a 1:15.x over the next week or so

After row went to gym and had a pretty solid medicine ball workout- with 175 very aggressive various slams an throws, and finished with just a little bit of upper body bodybuilding fluff

Lefty- just to address your comments

5 years ago I would have said a low carb diet was stupid, 18 months ago (despite being on a ketogenic diet) I would have said an all meat diet was crazy-and yet here I am and I'm enjoying the best health of my life

A picture from 6 years ago when I was still training extremely hard and was by anyone's standard very strong (I was at 44 still deadlifting 700 lbs, drug free and had recently won the masters Highland games world championships)- my training back then was very similar to what I do today and in fact I probably had more volume back then- at that point my diet was filled with fruits, vegetables, healthy grains, meat, seafood and low fat dairy, with fairly minimal junk food (I never drank sodas, rarely drank alcohol, only occasionally ate desserts)

Despite training my ass off I had a gut that just wouldn't go away, I was getting sick, developing metabolic syndrome and sleep apnea




Fast forward to today and I'm lean and still strong and am capable of things most 50 years olds wouldn't even consider- I see too many guys slowly getting fatter, weaker, sicker and injury prone- they try new workout routines and maybe make a little progress for a bit and then they get hurt or stop making progress and the gut either doesn't go away or quickly returns- libido flags, they are frequently tired or depressed, their joints hurt and at some point many of them start to turn to the bandaid of hormone replacement or even frank steroid usage, which just goes to further mask the problem, but they are for a time a little stronger or a bit leaner only to see a diminishing effect over time and an ever increasing need to up dosages

I've found that an all meat diet to be easily sustainable, every meal is ridiculously delicious and satisfying-I waste zero food (no moldy fruit or wilted vegetables) I spend around 500-600 US dollars a month on meat-I spend zero money on supplements, vitamins, protein shakes etc...- I take no medications- my meal prepping and shopped time is extremely easy and fast- I have seen tremendous health gains (as have many thousands that do the same, many for decades now)

I've been training and lifting for 36 years now and I am seeing about a 6-8% increase in my lifting capacity across the board, which at my level is very significant (considering steroids purportedly give a 10-15% increase)-my training is very focused and dialed in and as such I only spend about 6-8 hours per week training- some days 15 minutes, others 90- but on average about an hour- so I'm not sure that qualifies as monastic or religious? I'm not eating only meat out of ideology or dogma, it is what has given me the best health and athletic performance- I've already eaten every dessert, fruit, pie, ice cream, curry, pasta or bagel that I need to taste- the prospect of spending 5 minutes enjoying some food item is not in my mind worth giving up the way I feel and perform now

[Anth_F]

Pretty encouraged by today's 500 for a number of reasons

1- it was a fairly decent time for the limited stroke rate cap of 33
2- it was a fairly conservative attempt for several reasons- I spent 12 hours in car driving yesterday so a little bit tired- I had a fairly big deadlift day 2 days ago so back is a bit fatigued still- going to high altitude I end up getting my drag up quite a bit (going from 185-230 or so) and so I'm a little conservative until I get used to the bigger drag- my first 5-8 strokes were definitely "feelers" for the higher drag
3- effort here was pretty darn comfortable for a 1:18 row (by no means easy, but definitely very much controlled)
4- had very little fade at all down the stretch

Based on this I will be fairly disappointed with anything worse than a 1:15.x over the next week or so

After row went to gym and had a pretty solid medicine ball workout- with 175 very aggressive various slams an throws, and finished with just a little bit of upper body bodybuilding fluff

Lefty- just to address your comments

5 years ago I would have said a low carb diet was stupid, 18 months ago (despite being on a ketogenic diet) I would have said an all meat diet was crazy-and yet here I am and I'm enjoying the best health of my life

A picture from 6 years ago when I was still training extremely hard and was by anyone's standard very strong (I was at 44 still deadlifting 700 lbs, drug free and had recently won the masters Highland games world championships)- my training back then was very similar to what I do today and in fact I probably had more volume back then- at that point my diet was filled with fruits, vegetables, healthy grains, meat, seafood and low fat dairy, with fairly minimal junk food (I never drank sodas, rarely drank alcohol, only occasionally ate desserts)

Despite training my ass off I had a gut that just wouldn't go away, I was getting sick, developing metabolic syndrome and sleep apnea




Fast forward to today and I'm lean and still strong and am capable of things most 50 years olds wouldn't even consider- I see too many guys slowly getting fatter, weaker, sicker and injury prone- they try new workout routines and maybe make a little progress for a bit and then they get hurt or stop making progress and the gut either doesn't go away or quickly returns- libido flags, they are frequently tired or depressed, their joints hurt and at some point many of them start to turn to the bandaid of hormone replacement or even frank steroid usage, which just goes to further mask the problem, but they are for a time a little stronger or a bit leaner only to see a diminishing effect over time and an ever increasing need to up dosages

I've found that an all meat diet to be easily sustainable, every meal is ridiculously delicious and satisfying-I waste zero food (no moldy fruit or wilted vegetables) I spend around 500-600 US dollars a month on meat-I spend zero money on supplements, vitamins, protein shakes etc...- I take no medications- my meal prepping and shopped time is extremely easy and fast- I have seen tremendous health gains (as have many thousands that do the same, many for decades now)

I've been training and lifting for 36 years now and I am seeing about a 6-8% increase in my lifting capacity across the board, which at my level is very significant (considering steroids purportedly give a 10-15% increase)-my training is very focused and dialed in and as such I only spend about 6-8 hours per week training- some days 15 minutes, others 90- but on average about an hour- so I'm not sure that qualifies as monastic or religious? I'm not eating only meat out of ideology or dogma, it is what has given me the best health and athletic performance- I've already eaten every dessert, fruit, pie, ice cream, curry, pasta or bagel that I need to taste- the prospect of spending 5 minutes enjoying some food item is not in my mind worth giving up the way I feel and perform now

Really enjoyed reading all this, Shawn. Looking good too

This is me as well "I spend zero money on supplements, vitamins, protein shakes etc...- I take no medications- my meal prepping and shopped time is extremely easy and fast- I have seen tremendous health gains"

[cannondalerugby5]

Great article Shawn
You are spot on when you highlight all the aspirational,challenging ,distracting points that an ageing athlete faces.
You are evidence of the extreme mental strength needed to reach world class goals.
I passionately want to shed the "middle age spread"
As you righty state I have considered all options,some not sensible or safe.
My challenge is that when I shed fat it appears to leave my face first,not my gut,and I look like shit.
I also enjoy socialising at weekends ,this always involves lots of ales and Indian/Italian food.
That's enough of my excuses,I need a bit of your mental strength and much more focus on what goes in.
The Success of your strategy is plainly evident from your looks and results
Thanks for the "re boot"
Of to check what your 400 lbs deadlifts are in kg