Metabolic Triad Training, 2021: Cycle VII

Bare Lee

Barefooters
Jul 25, 2011
6,103
6,617
113
Saint Paul
Assessment of Last Cycle.

Still pretty consistent for walks, but not for lifting and conditioning. Started to find a groove in the late-morning/noon time slot. With my time-restricted diet, I found if I eat breakfast around 10am, then I’m good to lift 60-90 minutes later. By that time, my metabolism feels much more warmed up than if I had tried to lift first-thing in the morning.

On my walks I found subbing one hill for another added about 90 feet of elevation gain over about the same, two-mile distance. This is probably the most efficient route over two miles to get maximal elevation gain in my neighborhood. When I add another 0.8 miles to get in the neighborhood’s other really steep hill, along with a gentler one, to get in a total of seven hills on my “Roman Hills” walk, I only gain an additional 60 feet or so. With a two-mile walk, plus 30 minutes of lifting and, ideally, 10 minutes of conditioning, the whole workout takes about 80-90 minutes. By then it’s lunchtime.

For the lifting, I tweaked my Ramp protocol towards the end of the cycle when I began trying to get in 2-3 sets at the Target load. I felt like just one set at Target load wasn’t enough volume, even though the last two Ramp sets are very close in weight.

Goals for this (mini) Cycle.

Continue to work on consistency, starting off super light with the lifting until I find a good groove, then begin to push things a bit. Hopefully by the end of these coming four weeks, I’ll be doing the first training block’s Target load for three sets comfortably, and doing my Push-Pull conditioning on the machines for 5-10 minutes afterwards. Then go on a version of my hills walk.

5 Ramps to Target.21.09.jpg

So the plan is to do everything at once most of the time, starting late morning and then segueing to lunch, although as the temps drop, I may want to walk a bit later in the day when the day’s high has been reached, around 3pm here in the winter. Still, ideally, I’d get everything done at once with no further interruption.

---------------Week 1: Cycle VII---------------

Sunday, 21.12.05
EARLY AFTERNOON
Persistence
2 mi "New Five Hills" walk with dog. 207ft. Snowed a bit last night, so wore my Skinners. Success!

Monday, 21.12.06

Tuesday, 21.12.07

Wednesday, 21.12.08
MID AFTERNOON
Persistence
4.2 mi walk down by the river with dog and two old friends. 18F, 10F WC. My feet got numbed up pretty good by the end of the walk, even with Skinners on. Next time I'll wear socks.

Thursday, 21.12.09

Friday, 21.12.10
EARLY AFTERNOON
Persistence
2 mi "New Five Hills" walk with dog. 207ft.

Saturday, 21.12.11



---------------Week 2: Cycle VII---------------

Sunday, 21.12.12
LATE AFTERNOON
Persistence
2.5 mi "Woods, Fields, and Campus" walk with dog. It had been a while since I did this route. I went because I was already in the car after dropping of my son for sledding. We got 8-10 inches over Friday afternoon and night.

Monday, 21.12.13
NOON
Persistence
2 mi "New Five Hills" walk with dog. 207ft.

Tuesday, 21.12.14
LATE MORNING
Persistence
2 mi "New Five Hills" walk with dog. 207ft.

Wednesday, 21.12.15

Thursday, 21.12.16
Cabin trip on North Shore. Snow has all melted so no x-county skiing.

Friday, 21.12.17

Saturday, 21.12.18
AFTERNOON
Persistence
1.5 trail walk up to half-frozen falls with kids and dog in Tettegouche State Park.

---------------Week 3: Cycle VII---------------

Sunday, 21.12.19

Monday, 21.12.20
NOON
Persistence
2 mi "New Five Hills" walk with dog. 207ft.

Tuesday, 21.12.21

Wednesday, 21.12.22
NOON
Persistence
2.5 mi "New Five Hills" walk with dog plus another hill to get back to car after dropping of son at rec check. 250ft. Walked the dog without a leash for most of the walk as it was borderline glove temp and I kept my hands in my pockets to stay warm. The dog did a great job of staying close. If not for other dogs towards the end of the walk, I could've walked her without a leash the whole way. We really lucked out with our pup. So docile and obedient with zero real training.

LATE AFTERNOON
Resistance
PD: 3 @ 100
OP: 3 @ 45
SQ: 3 @ 95

Trying to get back to it after way too much time off. Will start very light, and maybe eventually get back to a six-lift workout as discussed earlier.

Thursday, 21.12.23
NOON
Persistence
1 mi walk with dog, interrupted after dropping off son at Rec Center for bowling outing, and having to come back to give him money. Opps. So I just came home.

Friday, 21.12.24

Saturday, 21.12.25
LATE AFTERNOON
Persistence
2 mi "New Five Hills" walk with dog. 207ft.


---------------Week 4: Cycle VII---------------

Sunday, 21.12.26
EARLY AFTERNOON
Resistance
OP: 3 X 3 @ 45
PD: 3 X 3 @ 100
SQ: 3 X 3 @ 95
SLDL: 3 x 3 @ 135
RW: 3 x 3 @ 135
BP: 3 x 3 @ 95

Just focused on getting all six lifts in for full sets and reps. Man, my joints feel stiff as heck. It's going to take a while to get back to decent loads it seems.

LATE AFTERNOON
Persistence
2.8 mi "Roman Hills" walk with dog. 270ft.

Monday, 21.12.27
NOON
Persistence
2.8 mi "Roman Hills" walk without dog. 270ft.

Feel nicely sore from yesterday's lifting. I'll probably stick to the EOD schedule for the rest of this week, see how it goes, maybe make that the new tweak for Cycle I of 2022.

Tuesday, 21.12.28
AFTERNOON
Persistence
2 mi "New Five Hills" walk with dog. 207ft.

Wednesday, 21.12.29
NOON
Persistence
2 mi "New Five Hills" walk with dog. 207ft.

LATE AFTERNOON
Resistance
PD: 3 @ 100/120/140/160
OP: 3 @ 45/65/85

Shoulders are a little less stiff from Sunday. Still, taking it easy. Then it occurred to me maybe next cycle I could try a Upper/Lower Split. Hmnn, something to think about. My shoulders are the area that gets cranky with ED lifting, so with an U/L Split, they'd still get 47 hours of recovery, but I could still lift everyday. Doing all six lifts in one workout is still a little daunting, even if it's EOD.

Thursday, 21.12.30
NOONish
Resistance
SQ: 3 @ 45/95/135

Persistence

3 mi "Eight Hills" walk with dog. 285ft.

OK added another hill to round up to three miles almost exactly according to Google Maps and Map-o-Meter. My knees seem to be tolerating the greater distance well. My Skinners started to slip off. They need to go up higher on the ankles. So I got the Whitin Aqua Socks version yesterday, and they seem like an improvement. The material goes a little higher and the sock doesn't slip at all. My feet still get cold, but it's usually enough protect to keep them from any danger. Yesterday I wasn't quite sure though.

I was going to try a lower body workout, but got interrupted by my son needing a ride. When I got back, I went straight into the walk. But it seems like a Lower-/Upper-body split might work. Mentally, I definitely like having only two heavy lifts to do, might balance nicely with four less heavy lifts on alternate days. I guess I'll make that the plan for next cycle and see if it sticks.

Friday, 21.12.31
Moved a few couches.

Saturday, 21.01.01
 
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Onto the short cycle!
Assessment of Last Cycle.
Well 2 out of 3 of the general goals were successful last cycle so overall pretty successful.

The rehab work seems to be beneficial, I still have some achilles/ankle soreness and pain however it has been greatly diminished and with a little massage with a thera-gun most soreness is easily fixed. The back pain has been non-existent for a few weeks now.

The new rep scheme is working better too, I have been really happy with dropping rep counts and just going by feel on the top out set. I also push the last rep or so but there is definitely a couple reps in the tank. I have had virtually no soreness on the new rep scheme and progress has been great so far. Feels like I am getting close to my younger self's max levels on quite a few of the lifts.

Weight loss has been a fail. I haven't weighed myself in a couple weeks but it has been pretty stable. I guess now I am supplementing creatine that has a lot to do with it, I typically gain 5-10 pounds alone when I am on it. It also might be a contributor to the strength gains.

Goals for this (mini) Cycle.
The other parts are all going well, I guess I will need to focus this one on weight loss. I will do a weigh in on Tuesday and then shoot for 5lbs. for the 4 week cycle. I will try to weight myself twice a day this cycle.
I have a 50k scheduled for Saturday the 11th, another goal will be to finish it hopefully a bit faster than the last one in Sep.

---------------Week 1: Cycle VII---------------

Sunday, 21.12.05
AM LIft
WU Squats
Calf Raises - 5@225, 285, 315
Squats - 5@135 3@185,205,225 1@245
Press - 10@95, 5@115,135 2@155
Low pulls - 5@160,175,190
Bench - 10@135 5@185,205 4@225 1@245
Pull downs - 3x5@175
GHD SU - 3x10@10

Walk - 1:09

Monday, 21.12.06
Power walk - 0:44 20lbs
Power walk - 0:47 20lbs

Tuesday, 21.12.07
AM Lift
WU Front squats with bar and push ups
Calf Raises - 3x5@225
Front Squats - 5@135 3@155,175,185,195 1@205
Press - 5@115 2x4@135
Bench - 10@135 5@185,205 4@225
Hip Thrusts - 3x5@90

Ran out of time so no back work. Will go heavy on Thursday. This session was much harder overall and I did increase my time between sets.

I did my weigh in a bit late, but 205... time to get serious.

Wednesday, 21.12.08

Thursday, 21.12.09
AM LIft
WU Squats
Calf Raises - 3x5@285
Squats - 5@135 3@185,205,225
Press - 5@115,125,135 2@155
Low pulls - 5@160,175,190
Bench - 5@135,185,205 3@225
Pull downs - 4x6@160
Hip Thrusts - 3x5@90
GHD SU - 3x10

Friday, 21.12.10

Saturday, 21.12.11
50k Trail run/hike - ended up taking a tad bit longer than I was hoping, 10:15, although I sat down and watched the sunset for about 30 minutes towards the end.


---------------Week 2: Cycle VII---------------

Sunday, 21.12.12
Walk - 0:56

Monday, 21.12.13
Walk - 1:12

Tuesday, 21.12.14
AM Lift
WU Front squats with bar and push ups
Calf Raises - 5@225,315
Front Squats - 5@135 3@155,175,185
Press - 10@95 5@115
Bench - 5@135,185,195
Low Pulls - 6@160 8@160
Pull Downs - 6@160 5@175

Still pretty run down from the race Saturday.

Wednesday, 21.12.15

Thursday, 21.12.16
Afternoon Lift
WU Squats
Calf Raises - 3x5@225
Squats - 5@135 3@185,205,225,235
Press - 6@115 5@135
Low pulls - 5@175 3x6@175
Bench - 10@135 5@185,205,225 1@245,250
Pull downs - 6@160 5@175

Friday, 21.12.17
Trail run - 1:32

Saturday, 21.12.18



---------------Week 3: Cycle VII---------------

Sunday, 21.12.19
AM Lift
WU Front squats with bar and push ups
Front Squats - 5@135 3@155,165,175,185 1@205,215
GHD SU 3x10
Pull Downs CG - 8@160 2x6@190
Press - 5@115,125,135
Bench - 8@135 5@185,205 4@225
Low Pulls - 8@160 2x6@190
Hip Thrusts - 6@90

Monday, 21.12.20
Walk - 1:21

Tuesday, 21.12.21
Walk - 1:04

Wednesday, 21.12.22
AM Lift
WU Squats and Pushups
Squats - 5@135 3@185,205,225,235 1@245
GHD SU - 3x10@15
Press - 5@115,125 3@135
Low pulls - 3x7@175
Bench - 10@135 5@185 3@205,225,235
Pull downs - 3x8@160
Calf Raises - 3x5@225
Hip Thrusts - 3x5@90

Walk - 0:41

Thursday, 21.12.23
Trail Run - 0:55
SNowboarding

Friday, 21.12.24
AM Lift
WU Front squats with bar and push ups
Front Squats - 5@135 3@155,175,195,205
Pull Downs CG - 3x16@130
Press - 5@115,135 3@145 155 fail
Bench - 8@135 5@185,225 3@235
Calf Raises - 3x5@395

Trail Run - 0:54

Most of the lifts are still improving, I have been doing a lot of home improvement projects this week of Christmas and not on my computer at all, sorry about the late updates. Weight is sitting around 203, still a bit frustrated about it but body composition is improving. And the lifts are still going up!

Saturday, 21.12.25
Snowboarding on Christmas

---------------Week 4: Cycle VII---------------

Sunday, 21.12.26

Monday, 21.12.27

Tuesday, 21.12.28

Wednesday, 21.12.29

Thursday, 21.12.30

Friday, 21.12.31

Saturday, 21.01.01
 
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Onto the short cycle!

Well 2 out of 3 of the general goals were successful last cycle so overall pretty successful.

The rehab work seems to be beneficial, I still have some achilles/ankle soreness and pain however it has been greatly diminished and with a little massage with a thera-gun most soreness is easily fixed. The back pain has been non-existent for a few weeks now.

Feels like I am getting close to my younger self's max levels on quite a few of the lifts.

Goals for this (mini) Cycle.
The other parts are all going well, I guess I will need to focus this one on weight loss.
Yah, it's cool how this half-cycle ends exactly as the New Year begins. This will be a sad one for me, however, as my wife was diagnosed on New Year's Eve day last year.

Glad to hear your rehab is proceeding well. And wow, great strength gains! You both put me to shame and provide inspiration.

I wonder if I should go back to the everything at once approach as well. It's just hard to motivate on a daily basis, and, obviously, it hasn't been working for me. It would then be something like a morning walk and a late afternoon lifting session three times a week, and then, now that we have a little snow, perhaps some sled and conditioning working on the off-days? Probably easier to psych myself up for one big workout three times a week than six medium ones.

It's pretty hard to do both weight loss and strength gains at the same time, but, given my modest goals for both, perhaps doable, possibly even synergistic. The time-restricted dieting is taking hold, but I haven't lost any weight recently, so that could be because I haven't lifted much for a while. I know everyone says lifting doesn't do much for weight loss, but I've always found that lifting in combination with aerobic work is at least half the solution. It sure worked for me 6-7 years ago when I got down to 210 during my peak running and lifting days.
 
Yah, it's cool how this half-cycle ends exactly as the New Year begins. This will be a sad one for me, however, as my wife was diagnosed on New Year's Eve day last year.

Glad to hear your rehab is proceeding well. And wow, great strength gains! You both put me to shame and provide inspiration.

I wonder if I should go back to the everything at once approach as well. It's just hard to motivate on a daily basis, and, obviously, it hasn't been working for me. It would then be something like a morning walk and a late afternoon lifting session three times a week, and then, now that we have a little snow, perhaps some sled and conditioning working on the off-days? Probably easier to psych myself up for one big workout three times a week than six medium ones.

It's pretty hard to do both weight loss and strength gains at the same time, but, given my modest goals for both, perhaps doable, possibly even synergistic. The time-restricted dieting is taking hold, but I haven't lost any weight recently, so that could be because I haven't lifted much for a while. I know everyone says lifting doesn't do much for weight loss, but I've always found that lifting in combination with aerobic work is at least half the solution. It sure worked for me 6-7 years ago when I got down to 210 during my peak running and lifting days.

I can imagine the holidays are especially difficult without her around. Hope you and the kids are holding up as well as you can.

I always prescribed to the alternating body parts and more frequent lifting days before too, the main thing I have noticed though with just hitting everything at once is much less general fatigue/soreness on a daily basis. If I take 1 rest day between workouts I notice a very apparent drop in strength stamina on the second workout, on 2 days rest I feel fully recovered and can get in a heavier overall workout. I also think that when doing mostly compound lifts it's very difficult to isolate specific body parts without affecting others, so when doing alternating lifts you still seem to get limited rest. Funny how age is affecting me that way, like I need more work to keep improving but at the same time more rest???

Yeah I do need to figure out the weight loss issue, overall the only way I lose weight is when I manage to deal with being hungry pretty regularly and most aerobic work ends up feeling pretty bad and slow. It is definitely much harder now days to get the weight off though, I feel like before I could just increase the mileage and keep the input the same and that would work. Now days it seems like both intake and burn need to be spot on, and it still is slow going. I do feel like the lifting might not directly support weight loss, but I do think the body composition changes are worth it. Sometimes my appetite gets a little out of control, but if I get in a protein shake that seems to help.

Have you thought about getting a weight vest for your walks? It definitely increases the effort compared to walking unloaded. Actually I just use a back pack with a weighted blanket.
 
I can imagine the holidays are especially difficult without her around. Hope you and the kids are holding up as well as you can.

I always prescribed to the alternating body parts and more frequent lifting days before too, the main thing I have noticed though with just hitting everything at once is much less general fatigue/soreness on a daily basis. If I take 1 rest day between workouts I notice a very apparent drop in strength stamina on the second workout, on 2 days rest I feel fully recovered and can get in a heavier overall workout. I also think that when doing mostly compound lifts it's very difficult to isolate specific body parts without affecting others, so when doing alternating lifts you still seem to get limited rest. Funny how age is affecting me that way, like I need more work to keep improving but at the same time more rest???

Yeah I do need to figure out the weight loss issue, overall the only way I lose weight is when I manage to deal with being hungry pretty regularly and most aerobic work ends up feeling pretty bad and slow. It is definitely much harder now days to get the weight off though, I feel like before I could just increase the mileage and keep the input the same and that would work. Now days it seems like both intake and burn need to be spot on, and it still is slow going. I do feel like the lifting might not directly support weight loss, but I do think the body composition changes are worth it. Sometimes my appetite gets a little out of control, but if I get in a protein shake that seems to help.

Have you thought about getting a weight vest for your walks? It definitely increases the effort compared to walking unloaded. Actually I just use a back pack with a weighted blanket.

Yah, I agree, with 47 hours rest, you get a fuller recovery. That's actually how I always used to lift, one day on, one day off, with running on the off day. They say frequency is important as we age, but I think three times a week is already fairly frequent. And the few times I've been able to lift pretty much every day for a few weeks, my shoulders do seem to get a bit cranky.

Anyway, I guess with the mini cycle, I can just use it to experiment a bit more. It is mentally hard to lift every day, that's for sure. Perhaps I'll try daily pre-lunch walks and pre-dinner lifting alternating with conditioning every other day.

The main thing is to get to it in some way or another, it's already the fourth day of the cycle and I haven't lifted anything yet except the garbage on Monday.

I think for men at least, having more muscle mass to maintain boosts our metabolisms, so it should help with weight loss. From a recent article in T-Nation:

"In a study of male and female endurance athletes, the best predictor of RMR [resting metabolic rate] in men was muscle mass. We expected that. But in women, the best predictor was calorie/food intake (1). In short, women with the highest metabolisms ate a lot and trained a lot. They lifted weights, they did cardio, and they were not shy at the dinner table."

But yeah, with the time-restricted dieting you do have to get used to being hungry for the first 4-5 hours you're awake. Somehow it's different though, because if I do eat first thing, then I'm really hungry just a few hours later, before I would've had breakfast with the time-restricted schedule. Funny how that works.

I gave my weight vest to my nephew. I don't think the repetitive loading would be good for my knees. Too much loading or too much repetition seems to be what makes them cranky, so repetitive loading would be the worst of both worlds I think. That's probably why low-rep squats have worked so well, despite two orthos telling me to stop squatting.

Anyway, congratulations once again on the strength gains! Very motivating.
 
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Yah, I agree, with 23 hours rest, you get a fuller recovery. That's actually how I always used to lift, one day on, one day off, with running on the off day. They say frequency is important as we age, but I think three times a week is already fairly frequent. And the few times I've been able to lift pretty much every day for a few weeks, my shoulders do seem to get a bit cranky.

Anyway, I guess with the mini cycle, I can just use it to experiment a bit more. It is mentally hard to lift every day, that's for sure. Perhaps I'll try daily pre-lunch walks and pre-dinner lifting alternating with conditioning every other day.

The main thing is to get to it in some way or another, it's already the fourth day of the cycle and I haven't lifted anything yet except the garbage on Monday.

I think for men at least, having more muscle mass to maintain boosts our metabolisms, so it should help with weight loss. From a recent article in T-Nation:

"In a study of male and female endurance athletes, the best predictor of RMR [resting metabolic rate] in men was muscle mass. We expected that. But in women, the best predictor was calorie/food intake (1). In short, women with the highest metabolisms ate a lot and trained a lot. They lifted weights, they did cardio, and they were not shy at the dinner table."

But yeah, with the time-restricted dieting you do have to get used to being hungry for the first 4-5 hours you're awake. Somehow it's different though, because if I do eat first thing, then I'm really hungry just a few hours later, before I would've had breakfast with the time-restricted schedule. Funny how that works.

I gave my weight vest to my nephew. I don't think the repetitive loading would be good for my knees. Too much loading or too much repetition seems to be what makes them cranky, so repetitive loading would be the worst of both worlds I think. That's probably why low-rep squats have worked so well, despite two orthos telling me to stop squatting.

Anyway, congratulations once again on the strength gains! Very motivating.

So I am taking the idea of training a lot with more interest. I do think more regular endurance training has always been favorable to my weight. I am going to try to run more frequently, a bit longer too, 60 min time frame and put in more miles. The calf raises seem to be working slowly for my achilles pain. I have also been walking for a mile before I run to make sure I am warmed up appropriately.

Realistically I probably need to be averaging 40-50 miles a week come next summer, if I can get my base up to 25 a week over the next 4 months I think that will be good for the race schedule next year. The 50k was definitely hard and I also need to up my long runs but I am hoping dropping some weight first will help more in the long run.

Are you having a mild winter? I saw you were not able to ski. Hope you had a good Christmas!
 
So I am taking the idea of training a lot with more interest. I do think more regular endurance training has always been favorable to my weight. I am going to try to run more frequently, a bit longer too, 60 min time frame and put in more miles. The calf raises seem to be working slowly for my achilles pain. I have also been walking for a mile before I run to make sure I am warmed up appropriately.

Realistically I probably need to be averaging 40-50 miles a week come next summer, if I can get my base up to 25 a week over the next 4 months I think that will be good for the race schedule next year. The 50k was definitely hard and I also need to up my long runs but I am hoping dropping some weight first will help more in the long run.

Are you having a mild winter? I saw you were not able to ski. Hope you had a good Christmas!

All I can say is I'm envious of your progress! You're getting it done, one way or the other. I've been in a slump, and I'm starting to feel my blood pressure increase, so it's kind of a Catch-22. I don't want to lift heavy until that comes down again, but I know lifting is part of what keeps it down. So I think I'll keep it super light for a while and just focus on consistency and see if reinstating the EOD, 6-lift protocol helps at all. I'm glad you brought that up. Hopefully the switch will help bring back my motivation.

I've also got to be a bit more dogmatic about the daily walks, that has become my foundation for heart heath. I may try the longer "Roman Hills" walk again now that my knees haven't been cranky for a while. Then I'll know if it was the Merrells or the longer distance. The Skinners I bought are working well as winter footwear, although I think I need one size smaller. The ones I have now slide around just a bit. They'll probably be best on the coldest days when I need to wear a sock inside.

On Amazon I saw that there are identical socks with thin rubberized soles for less than half the price. So either someone is knocking them off, or the same factory is selling them under different brand names. I ordered the smaller size from one of the cheaper brands.

Anyway, I'm also glad to see your niggles dissipating. That must be a relief not to worry about those issues so much! Just as your calf raises are helping heal your Achilles, I feel like if I don't get back to lifting decently soon, little tweaks and pulls may start appearing again. I love how lifting kind of bulletproofs you from minor aches and injuries.

We got a good snow many weeks ago, but then a brief warm-up before X-mas week melted most of it. And it was warm again on Christmas Eve Day too, so now they are re-flooding the rinks. It's been a bad December for winter sports. My son should be skating every day. The temps are normal now, just have to wait for fresh snow, but at least he'll be able to skate freely soon. The hockey team takes two weeks off for the holy daze.

Speaking of which, Christmas was OK. My niece has small children, and for me, that's basically what it's all about, them getting excited about presents, trying to be patient through dinner. We all got tested beforehand, but one of my nephews tested positive so had to stay home. Today he's skiing on artificial snow nearby with mild cold symptoms. He's been out West in your area a lot lately.