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Meat Tanking : Dual Class System I didn't participate in the previous challenge. If anyone actually kept up with my battle log, you'll know that I actually made a rather drastic change to my workout environment and implementation. I drank the kool-aid, I gave in to the hype, I signed up for Crossfit. I just recently finished my first month. If you'd like to talk about the advantages and disadvantages that I've found so far, I'd be willing to do that at some point. I'll tell you this much, when I was at a point where I was okay with mixing up my goals and trying new things, this is hitting the spot. It provoked me to wonder, can a meat tank dual class? Now, I'm not going warrior priest or anything silly like that. I'm just throwing a few points into Dexterity, maybe picking up a bow or throwing knives. Don't try and tell me that you wouldn't love to see someone sniper a few mobs before bum rushing into the thick of things to off tank.. Everyone knows that dual class characters are hacks, and as anyone that has gamed with me will tell you, I try to hack any situation that I'm in. So, I'm going to give this a shot. Is there a possibility that my power lifting total will fall? Oh it's a certainty. Is there a possibility that I'll be someone who can run a mile, then squat 4 plates? I'd certainly like to think so. I'll let you know how that goes. Main Quest I'm in a wedding the week that this challenge ends. My mission is to be in the best possible shape that I can be, because Warriors clean up damn well in tuxedos. I'd like to stay within the 195-205 pound range, but with the body fat percentage that I ended the first Armor Free Challenge. The goal is to complete this goal without affecting any overall fitness through my new workout regime. Goals That Serve A Purpose Goal 1: Drop 2" off my waist. I ended the first weight loss challenge at 198.5 lbs and a 36.75" waist. I'm currently at ~202 with a 38.5" waist, most of that from the week I just spent in London where the amount of fucks I gave about my eating was approaching absolute zero. [[updated 7/27 to reflect current sizing]] Over the last challenge, I learned that I needed to add carbs into my diet in order to be prepared for class. Going into a WoD at ~10 carbs for the day was leaving me gassed. So, instead of CKD, I'm going to try TKD. Targeted Keto is a variant of keto where you drop a couple carbs directly before and after your workouts, supplying just enough sources to fill your overall glucose levels and provide excess for muscle glycose levels. Doing a bit of research at the moment, but it looks like I'm going to be taking 20g of carbs before and will most likely wave the post workout carbs. The end game goal is 36-37" waist at around 200 lbs. That is my ideal. I look pretty damn good at those levels, and the drop is completely manageable in the time constraint. Bonus: Be under 200 for the wedding. Goal 2: Get to class 3x a week. Now, we're not going to get there just through diet alone. Body recomp is 80% diet, but it still requires me to be active for the left over 15%(5% has to be left as a buffer for genetic nature). I think I've figured out what my schedule can look like in terms of classes. It only took me a month, but that's just me. I have routines and it takes me a while to get them setup; afterwards, it's damn near impossible for me to break them. I'm looking at a Mon/Wed/Thur class routine. This leaves me with Saturday afternoons for open gym. That's when I get to go and be a meat head still. I'm still on a 3 times per week plan there, which may change at some point. But for the time being, this schedule is optimal. If I skip a class, I need to setup a 'fatty jar' or something. More on that, once I find a jar. Bonus: 3x a week plus open gym(or equivalent) every week. Goal 3: Add 10% to Snatch. BigM and I threw out the idea of seeing who could get to a bodyweight snatch first. We both started moving from pure PL to WL around the same time and he is an amazing athlete with which I can compare myself. It's fun for us to look at each other in terms of statistics because we are almost polar opposites in terms of what we're built to do. He has a huge leg up here as he's settling into a program with a coach that I've actually read articles printed by, someone of that notoriety. That said, I'm just really fucking stubborn and am good at whatever I do. I've been receiving real life coaching at class from our Oly certified coach. Everything that I try to remember from JDanger and AngelaTheGeek from their online feedback is reaffirmed immediately and in my face every Thursday night. Anywho, 10% will be ~16.5 lbs. That would require me to hit a 182.5 lb snatch. I think that's doable. I'm still at a place where my main weakness is form. I could probably go out there and power/muscle snatch that up... but that doesn't count. I want that shit to look pretty. Means I'll probably be snatching at least once a week, twice if at all possible. Bonus: Hit BW Snatch first. Life Goal: Putting myself out there. About two months back, I signed up for OKCupid. It's been an interesting experience, to say the least. I met and courted a girl for about a month before breaking things off. It's allowed me to try and be more social, in a very restricted and nerdy and safe way. That's a great start but... I want more. I have trouble with social anxiety and I'd like to try and stare down that monster. The goal here is going to be to interact with one random person per week. There's a caveat of course that Crossfit doesn't count, at least not people at my gym. So, this is people on the way to work, at the pub, around town, where ever... I always like to move outside my comfort zone when I'm travelling, but I don't do it here. I want that to change. Bonus: Get out with another fine young lass?

Meat Tanking : Level 8 No, it's not exactly Summer yet, but it's coming. And this Warrior is not prepared. I'm not saying I'm haughty, but a brother likes to look good. So, as a bit of comradeship, there is a Weight Loss PvP between myself and a few other warriors(insert link here). That's one of the main parts of this challenge. The other is the SpringStrengthShowdown. Gotta bring the fury to that thing. I may be the lowest number on the lifts leaderboard thanks to my inability to pick 500lbs off the ground. So, I'll need to catch up in other areas. Goals Drop below 200lbsI know, I know. Adult males weigh over 200lbs. I'll eat again, promise. I'm just pretty sure I need to get under 200 to win the PvP."How will you do this, Setheth, we all know you love to eat your face off." Good point, I'll be eating under these specifications. Check MyFitnessPal if you want to keep up with how I'm doing.And, as usual, I get by with a little help from my friends. Break 1100 @ SSSOkay... this one is going to be iffy. It relies on me hitting 4 wheels+ on squats, which I haven't done yet high bar. This is what I'll be looking for:Squat 405+Bench 250+Deadlift 440+I've toyed with the numbers on my Texas Method spreadsheet. It's more of a 3x5 now, but it still hits the lifts I want. Mobility Work at least once a weekNot sure why I ever stopped doing this, probably because I'm an idiot. If you're not working specifically on mobility once a week, you're doing it wrong.Establish a financial planI have a few loans that I'm capable of closing out in the upcoming months. I'd like to get a plan put together on how to accomplish this. So, there's the basic write up. If any of you have actually followed those links, you'll notice two things: the diet is keto and the lifts are almost the same weights as last time around. Keto should be fun, I already eat at around 60-80g of carbs, so dropping down under 20-30 shouldn't be too tough. I've started this already but am just working on getting my calories down to where the sheet says I should be. I have trouble eating below 2600 calories at this point. Need to take off another 300kcal on top of that, bleh. As for the lifts, well, the end of my last challenge was less than stellar. I've reset a lot of the numbers to reflect that. I'd like to be able to continue this linear progression, but I have no idea if I'll actually be able to. That's why I've moved from 5x5 to 3x5. We'll see how this goes. I've been adding in finishers and more technical stuff the more I read through the olympic weightlifting book I picked up. Those are always a fun way to burn through an extra 10-15 minutes of grueling form work. My bruised thighs say hello. The other two goals are self explanatory. Stretch more, find a band to tack with, and just figure out how to get your hips more forward in your squat. Finances? I suck at money, so I want to spend some time actually looking at it in the upcoming months. I'd like to have a bit of a nest egg for when I head to Vegas in September. I'm not saying I'm gonna blow it all, but I might...

Meat Tanking: Everything IS bigger in Texas Level 7 Interesting side note, that photo up there, that I've been using for a few levels now, is the top returned image on google if you search for "meat tanking". As with my last challenge, I'll be sticking with the Texas Method for my lifting. This cycle is a bit customized to my wants/desires/needs and incorporates a few more lifts. It is still the same Volume/Light/Intensity weekly breakdown with a weekly linear progression, so I'm sticking to the core ideals. I just added in a few things here and there based on my own feedback after last challenge ran through the vanilla method. So the basic break down is now... Mondays(volume) : Back Squat / Bench / Deadlift Wednesdays(light) : Front Squat / OHP / Rows(pendlay) Fridays(intensity) : Back Squat / Bench / Cleans At the end of this cycle, I should be at the following numbers, so consider them Goal #1... Back Squat : 5RM @ 385 Bench : 1RM @ 255 Deadlift : 5RM @ 405 Goal #2 : Catch AngelaTheGeek at Front Squats. Ange, I love you, but I've just gotta come after you on this one. I hit a 285 front squat yesterday night, just to see if it was possible to catch up. She's at ~303lbs, I want 315 but will settle for 305 at the end of the challenge. Goal #3 : Start running again? Let's put a 2 mile stipulation on this. I haven't run in what seems like forever, but spring is coming. And spring means getting back into Soccer and all the random 5k's I get talked into. Goal #4 : Find somewhere to live.My roommate, bless his heart, has fallen for a lady and they're moving in together in September. This means that Setheth is all alone now. My current apartment is actually within my price range even if it would be me alone in a three bedroom, but I feel like I want to try somewhere new. So, lock down 3 possibilities for apartments by end of challenge. New Spread SheetPhotos, in Battle Log thread

Meat Tanking: Preparatory Measures Level 6 Overview: This will be brief as I'm cold and sick and still haven't figured out how to make this new editor format things in the manner that I want. Besides, I already rambled for a good while in my 2013 Battle Log thread. This challenge will consist primarily of prepping myself for the larger picture challenge that I'm setting up in that thread. So, a small part of the whole, with a lifting goal thrown in just because I get bored if I don't tax myself in some way. Gonna drop the points thing this time around, I enjoyed it at first but at the moment, I'm not in the mood to deal with it. Fitness Goals: Get back into the habit of logging food intake. Calories ~ 2000-2400 Protein > 200g Carbs < 60g Fat ~ everything else Snatch 135lbs I hit 125 down at my brother's over vaca, but it didn't feel good. I need to work on balance and form, like a shit ton. PLP Challenge This one seems fun. Besides, I like the benefits that people found on it. Inch and a quarter off my waist? Sure! Instead of 60 day, it'll be 6 week. That's like... 42 days, right? Life Goals: Finish my books. I'm currently reading and need to finish both: Primal Mind, Primal Body Practical Programming Summation: So there you go, simple and clean. Each of these things leads towards what I plan on being a great yearly challenge. But to start that journey, I need to finish up this prep work. Still working out if I want to log daily in here and then weekly summation in my battle log... or the other way around. We'll see how the week goes. Anywho, onward and upward. Workout Plan: Texas Method Food Blog: The Strength Agenda