Hyde’s Strength Odyssey

That is awesome on the training video opp, definitely link the video in here whenever it gets released.
 
10oz seared walleye a few hours later.
Seared walleye is the good stuff!
Yeah, wife scored me a 2.5lb pack on sale for $9/lb at Sam’s when I had sent her for some Tilapia (just jonesing for some white fish for some reason). Got to have it 4x over 3 days, just rubbed it with some Cajun seasoning and toss it in a pan sprayed with Pam for 5 minutes/side before I’m ready to eat.

ahhh, I was going to ask if you guys had someone supply it or if you found some for sale somewhere. I don't think I have EVER seen walleye for sale out here but man it is good!! Definitely a step up from tilapia!
 
ahhh, I was going to ask if you guys had someone supply it or if you found some for sale somewhere. I don't think I have EVER seen walleye for sale out here but man it is good!! Definitely a step up from tilapia!
Hmmmm, I have never had walleye i don't think. I do love me some tilapia though, I hear a lot of tilapia hate for some reason but it tastes fine and does the trick when I want white fish. i am not a fan of COD.
 
ahhh, I was going to ask if you guys had someone supply it or if you found some for sale somewhere. I don't think I have EVER seen walleye for sale out here but man it is good!! Definitely a step up from tilapia!
I do have to friends that live on the lake so I get quite a bit every year.
 
Hmmmm, I have never had walleye i don't think. I do love me some tilapia though, I hear a lot of tilapia hate for some reason but it tastes fine and does the trick when I want white fish. i am not a fan of COD.

I don't mind tilapia either, I actually probably "like" all fish. but I have to admit I do lean towards properly cooked COD over most for probably the same reasons some people don't like it... more fatty content. I think black cod is one of the healthiest in terms of fish fat/omegas IIRC. But I can see how super fatty fish would turn people off. Lake Trout (makinaw) are really good for the same reason to me. It's like they're cooking in their own butter.

I do have to friends that live on the lake so I get quite a bit every year.

jealous! I get about 1 meal a year lol. but our closest walleye lake is about 3-4hrs away for me.
 
Yep. Today was 12.5mg ephedrine, 500mg L-carnitine IM, and Bucked Up Woke AF I scored for 40 cents/pack thanks to @MrKleen73 looking out on the deals.

Plus the things I always take preWO like creatine, ubiquinol, taurine, & electrolytes.

They are down to 30 cents a pack, I’m gonna grab another box.
 
I probably have a year and a half of Preworkout now.
If you end up going back the Rival Nutrition Ignite is legit AF, I really really like it for the $5 it is worth grabbing a few. I was very pleasantly surprised and actually choose it over my Pump Addict on occasion.
 
I probably have a year and a half of Preworkout now.

Honestly, I do too. At least 2 containers of Pump Addict, one of Iconics new All Out, one of Ghost with stim, one Ghost without stim (pump matrix), and that Ryse stuff I snagged in an emergency a while back. But you caught my attention with packets cause I'd like some for travel.
 
Honestly, I do too. At least 2 containers of Pump Addict, one of Iconics new All Out, one of Ghost with stim, one Ghost without stim (pump matrix), and that Ryse stuff I snagged in an emergency a while back. But you caught my attention with packets cause I'd like some for travel.
100 packs for 29.99 hard to beat, hard for me not to go grab a 100 pack myself. Bucked Up ain't no joke it is a very nice high stim preworkout.
 
ahhh, I was going to ask if you guys had someone supply it or if you found some for sale somewhere. I don't think I have EVER seen walleye for sale out here but man it is good!! Definitely a step up from tilapia!

Walleye are plentiful in the lakes and streams around IL and MO. This package said it was caught in one of the Great Lakes.

Hmmmm, I have never had walleye i don't think. I do love me some tilapia though, I hear a lot of tilapia hate for some reason but it tastes fine and does the trick when I want white fish. i am not a fan of COD.

The hate I assume is primarily because of the farming practices; the tight quarters usually mean antibiotic exposure is mandatory, and eating lots of feces and cannibalism is pretty common.

But it doesn’t change the macros

Cod just has a stronger taste/smell; I’m not a fan myself of it unless it’s breaded up or in a chowder/seafood dish.

But if you’ve ever ordered fish sandwiches at any restaurant anywhere, you have probably had Walleye/Alaskan Pollock. That is THE fish normally for sandwiches. It’s very mild.
 
On the COD< I have probably been spoiled a bit because my brother has that hook-up in Alaska so my wife and I bought like a 10lb box of halibut and 20lb box of cod for less than 1/2 price of what we pay in the grocery stores around here. The quality might be what makes me love it.

I told my wife how great rockfish is and she showed up with some pink fillets one day... I was like WTF is this? 😅😅
So I got some rockfish later from our alaska hook up and she's like oh, that's actually pretty good 😅

Walleye are plentiful in the lakes and streams around IL and MO. This package said it was caught in one of the Great Lakes.

yeah you guys have some amazing outdoorsman opportunities in your region!
 
If you end up going back the Rival Nutrition Ignite is legit AF, I really really like it for the $5 it is worth grabbing a few. I was very pleasantly surprised and actually choose it over my Pump Addict on occasion.

Dang I ordered before seeing this! Maybe I’ll send another order haha!
 
Walleye are plentiful in the lakes and streams around IL and MO. This package said it was caught in one of the Great Lakes.



The hate I assume is primarily because of the farming practices; the tight quarters usually mean antibiotic exposure is mandatory, and eating lots of feces and cannibalism is pretty common.

But it doesn’t change the macros

Cod just has a stronger taste/smell; I’m not a fan myself of it unless it’s breaded up or in a chowder/seafood dish.

But if you’ve ever ordered fish sandwiches at any restaurant anywhere, you have probably had Walleye/Alaskan Pollock. That is THE fish normally for sandwiches. It’s very mild.
Oh okay, I may have had some and not known. Although I have to be honest I don't think I have ever ordered a fish sandwich when other options are available. Yeah, maybe I should be worried a bit more about the possibility of antibiotics in the tilapia, but the eating feces or cannibalism don't bother me at all. All fish eat other fish, and fish eating feces is nothing new. They have livers so not too worried about that part of it. Like you said the the macros are still legit, and the taste is light and not too fishy. So it is a win for me.
 
I just got invited to go train at EliteFTS next Wednesday so they can film some content with Swede Burns (creator of 5th Set) coaching me for their channel.

Been reading their website & watching their videos for probably 13 years, and now I’m going to be a part of it.

Sometimes, you win some, boys
Just got caught back up Hyde…..Man that is awesome you get to train and be in an EliteFTS Swede Burns training video. Hopefully you can post a link so we can check it out. Hey that could open up more opportunities.💪
 
Just got caught back up Hyde…..Man that is awesome you get to train and be in an EliteFTS Swede Burns training video. Hopefully you can post a link so we can check it out. Hey that could open up more opportunities.

Hyde is back and with feets up PRs! And elitfts tomorrow?!?! Congrats man that is so badass!

Yeah I’ll definitely post it whenever they put the clip up.

I have no idea if I will be the only person he’s coaching, or how long a clip they intend to make, or what to expect - I’m honestly just really pumped to get to go train at Elite and talk with Dave & Swede. Should be a cool experience!
 
08/13/24 - Day 55
BW 227.0

No training today; skipped squats so I’d be fresh for the trip to Elite tomorrow (and so my wife could switch her Wednesday morning training to today for me).

Fast all day yesterday went well. Just a little 15 min walk in the sun on lunch after meal #3 today. 4 meals down now and at least one more planned; filling up nicely
 
08/13/24 - Day 55
BW 227.0

No training today; skipped squats so I’d be fresh for the trip to Elite tomorrow (and so my wife could switch her Wednesday morning training to today for me).

Fast all day yesterday went well. Just a little 15 min walk in the sun on lunch after meal #3 today. 4 meals down now and at least one more planned; filling up nicely
Man 227…..you probably got abs peeking through now. Do you have a goal of how low you want to get to?
 
damn 227 is getting low for you, I feel like the lowest I remember seeing you in recent memory was like 218 weigh-in or thereabouts?
 
I feel like a kid Christmas day waiting for Hyde’s EliteFTS update
I imagine it will be a little bit, they probably go through some serious post editing, and probably shoot videos well in advance.
 
What to say, and where to begin… the trip to EFS yesterday was truly awesome. Definitely surreal, being somewhere you’ve seen for so long and knowing all the impact it’s had on you, and all the people who have come through before you.

The compound is tucked away off the road totally hidden from view; if you don’t have GPS you would never accidentally find it. But the building itself is very slick and modern, and all of the staff who greeted me were very friendly. After signing a waver, I was invited into the gym to warmup and do whatever I wanted while Dave & Swede finished their podcast. The staff said it’s a gym, not a showroom, and Dave likes people to work out while they record because he wants listeners to feel that.

I proceeded to do my usual warmup, as well as played with a handful of awesome machines that I desperately wanted to try - and not a single one disappointed. The EliteFTS equipment is just top notch, and I am trying to figure out how I can make that Beltsquat with built in box pads fit in my garage. Their GHR is still the best ever, too.

I realized much later that I never got to meet Dave! He bolted after the podcast, and I have had a hunch he’s actually quite shy. But nobody else was, especially not Swede, and he was very open to listening to where I was at and us deciding on what they’d film us working on together. He’s been working on and himself doing a new off-season hypertrophy protocol for 5th Set they’re releasing on EliteFTS this month, and with me up for whatever we decided he’d coach me through a full Chest/Tricep day!

Swede was a bodybuilder long before he was a powerlifter, so the emphasis was on both technical execution as well as achieving big ROM with exaggerated eccentric tempos before a violent concentric. Everything was intense, concise, and very high effort for every work set. It took all of my effort to barely achieve 9 reps for one work set of Dips, and normally in the protocol you will do 2! (Swede told me on both of those dip sets he personally does mechanical dropsets to girl pushups on his knuckles after failing). He also showed me how he does his entire bracing and activation warmup, as well as walked me through how he teaches the setup & execution for a SSB Hi Boxsquat for raw lifters. Just a couple inches over where you’d squat to in a meet, and the emphasis is definitely on sitting back and keeping the sheer off the knees with a much wider stance than your comp. It never felt weird that there was a camera on us; the instruction was organic & I enjoyed all of the coaching thoroughly.

Swede took time after to let me pick his brain on lots of things regarding his programming, ideal PED use, all of it - he was both an excellent coach and very giving of his knowledge & time. The man has passion for what he does, no doubt, and just a cool dude to lift with.

Tom Sheppard came in for his training as we were wrapping up, and I was invited to stay and play in the gym for as long as I wanted until Tom had to lock up. Spent the next couple hours chugging energy drinks from their fridge, cranking 5 Finger Death Punch, trying all the scented ammonias, chatting with Tom while he trained, and doing some lower body accessories before squatting on Dave Tate’s personal Spider Bar, in his favorite monolift (there must have been 5-6). I took some pads off the box and skipped the reverse bands, but I had 5 chains a side on it and that bar totally kicks ass like you can’t believe. It pulls you backwards HARD; you instantly load the hamstrings just unracking it. I didn’t go crazy, but I was probably standing up with 470-500lbs at lockout. Just had an awesome time talking shop and lifting with Tom; excellent coach and very helpful - a real one!

Both Swede & Tom shared their contact info, inviting me to keep in touch - and honestly they’re the type of people I’d really like to. It was a really great day of learning & fun, even with almost 12 hours travel, and I’d go back in a heartbeat if I ever get the chance.
 
Invalid Link Removed
Invalid Link Removed
Invalid Link RemovedInvalid Link RemovedInvalid Link RemovedInvalid Link RemovedInvalid Link Removed
Invalid Link RemovedInvalid Link RemovedInvalid Link Removed
 
8/14/24 - EliteFTS

10 min walk
McKenzies
Cat Camel
McGill Curlups
Bird Dogs
KB Suitcase Carries
Band Facepulls, Pressdowns, Rows

15-20 reps each:
BB Shrug
Standing Machine Chest Press
Hatfield Beltsquat to box
CSR
GHR

Low Incline Smith Machine
100x10
150,200x3
220x2,8,8

Cable Machine Converging Chest Press
70x5
110,150,210x3
250x8

Chest Dips
BWx3,9

Incline DB Flyes
15,25x15
30,35,40,45x6
50 2x10

Reverse Hyper
BW 2x10

Standing Glute Drive/Kickback Machine
Light 2x10

Lying Leg Curl
60,80,100x12

ss w/ Ab Wheel Rollout
2x10

Spider Bar 2” Hi Boxsquat
80 2x5
170x5
+vs 200 chain
80,170,220x3
260 2x3
310 2x3
350x3
 
Last edited:
WOW sounds like an amazing day. One for the record books. Must have been insane to do the meet n greet, and then train. You also had me at Five Finger Death Punch and energy drinks! Plus all that 45lb plate porn!!!!!
 
What an awesome energy and toy room to get to work in for the day. How are you feeling afterwards? Did you feel like you had an extra gear you had to pull back on a bit with that energy?

Swede took time after to let me pick his brain on lots of things regarding his programming, ideal PED use, all of it - he was both an excellent coach and very giving of his knowledge & time. The man has passion for what he does, no doubt, and just a cool dude to lift with

Did you find his experience/feedback to be validating to your existing approaches or do you feel like you grabbed a lot of new info?
 
I dont comment much but I still check in from time to time. Very happy you got to check out EFS. I can say Dave is shy, I met him once but it was not much of meeting, likes to keep to himself and his lifters when off camera. I got to partake in an underground strength session, ect, at OBB some years ago.
 
Awesome experience @Hyde so glad you got to participate! Link us to the vid when available.

Also, re: tilapia I find it to be one of the more bland fishes. We used to eat a lot, but honestly got tired of it because 1) easy to overcook the edges given how thin they are, then it gets tough, 2) needing to find new recipes to keep it interesting, 3) sustainability / farming practices. These days I'd much rather have something like halibut if I can for a white fish. Much more expensive, but a lot tastier.
 
Awesome experience @Hyde so glad you got to participate! Link us to the vid when available.

Also, re: tilapia I find it to be one of the more bland fishes. We used to eat a lot, but honestly got tired of it because 1) easy to overcook the edges given how thin they are, then it gets tough, 2) needing to find new recipes to keep it interesting, 3) sustainability / farming practices. These days I'd much rather have something like halibut if I can for a white fish. Much more expensive, but a lot tastier.
I think that is why I like it, I am not a super huge strong fishy flavor kind of guy. Tilapia is like the rice of fish, it will taste like whatever you put it into or on. As far as sustainability which is an interesting word when it comes to food and farming, I don't see how a fish farm is anything but sustainable. It does not effect the natural ecosystem at all as it is separated from it completely. Very sustainable. I just find it odd that people worry about that but don't have a problem getting beef from farmed cattle. If it had an effect on the environment I would get it but fish farming ain't hurting any ecosystems, and they definitely aren't catching dolphins or other unintended animals like wild caught fishermen do all the time.
 
@Hyde, that experience sounds awesome, too bad you didn't get to meet Dave, that would have been super cool too. Sounds like a blast, I would love it if I got invited to RP or something to train with Jared or Dr Mike which would be about the same level of wow for me as that trip must have been for you.
 
They told me today that I should expect the videos to probably get released in October, FYI. I’ll like them when I see them!

What an awesome energy and toy room to get to work in for the day. How are you feeling afterwards? Did you feel like you had an extra gear you had to pull back on a bit with that energy?

Did you find his experience/feedback to be validating to your existing approaches or do you feel like you grabbed a lot of new info?

Yeah, I didn’t want to risk anything with my back and knew I had a long trip home. But I also knew I would probably never be back, so I definitely wanted to stay and soak in as much as I could. Dave’s Spider Bar really was next level cool, and I’m glad I stayed to squat on it.

Both, really. For example, his ideal steroid use philosophy for the enhanced lifter is very low & slow, like the training really. He hates orals because of the health consequence (besides meet day), he hates short esters, he believes in daily injections for even levels and recommends cruises be whatever keeps you top of the natural scale and total gear on blast generally not to exceed 800mg/wk. For someone who was trying to be a pro bodybuilder over 300lbs in the past, that’s truly nothing. But he has a lot of client experience helping him formulate his opinions - not just his personal past use. So his opinion has had radically more input than most people get to experience. He was even speaking out on the podcast while they were finishing up that way too many competitors are taking too much, leaning too hard on the bottle and it’s not worth it or going to be sustainable.

He said they never take 200lbs off the reverse hyper at Keyhole Barbell - it’s purely for light tractioning. There’s so many better options for posterior chain development, so he doesn’t believe in heavy or strict reverse hypers. They are purely to move the spine into end ranges of motion as safely as possible with next to no load. You want the swinging, and you don’t want to worry about trying to grow off them. But he does place a lot of value on them for those reasons.

He also really made it apparent that intent of execution, having really blazing focus & intensity, is the core of how he programs. When you put everything into every work set, you don’t need a million exercises and sets. And that’s an important point in succeeding with his templates. Quality over quantity. I can tell you I got more out of that single set of just 9 dips than probably any other set of dips I’ve ever done.

I dont comment much but I still check in from time to time. Very happy you got to check out EFS. I can say Dave is shy, I met him once but it was not much of meeting, likes to keep to himself and his lifters when off camera. I got to partake in an underground strength session, ect, at OBB some years ago.

Thanks, Lou! I bet that was a very good time; it usually is when everyone starts working up

@Hyde, that experience sounds awesome, too bad you didn't get to meet Dave, that would have been super cool too. Sounds like a blast, I would love it if I got invited to RP or something to train with Jared or Dr Mike which would be about the same level of wow for me as that trip must have been for you.

You would have dorked out on all the machines they had available. I’m telling you most of the professional level EliteFTS machines are truly top notch. I have used more expensive pieces at times, but not really better ever - there’s just a lot of little things that make them a cut above. Not in how they look, but how they feel. Many are downright ugly, but the feel is like someone who really lifts and has used a lot of crappy pieces actually thought about how to make them better.
 
Wow what experience it must have been to be at EFS! Thanks for sharing! I’ll be looking for the video come fall!

I’m excited to see how it comes out! I really enjoyed it.

The smith machine we used was epic, but it’s 100lbs empty starting weight. So we only had a little change on each side to get to 220.

No free weights were lifted, it’s going to look like I only had 120lbs on the smith machine, you can’t see that I was basically doing the stack on the chest press machine, and I only did 9 dips. So I’m probably going to look like a dork But hopefully I will at least look like I lift weights!
 
8/16/24
BW 230.4 yesterday

Tspine Stretch
Cat Camels
Bird Dogs
Side Planks
Glute Bridges

Reverse Hypers
BW,45,90x15

Hangs from Chin-up bar

NG Chin-ups
1x2, 4x12

HS CSR
90 2x12, 2x15 (low overhand, wide neutral)

Incline DB Rotators
Incline DB I/Y/T complex

Just got everything flushed out & core activated, trained my lats, and tested out reverse hypers since I had pushed and squat 1.5 days prior. Reverse hypers felt great, & back is still feeling great 24 hours later. Seems like they were all positive, which speaks well for my nerve recovery from the previous impingement. Glute firing is also feeling much more even between sides lately too.

This is a composition update from Thursday, at 230-231:

IMG_9740.JPG


Brought my power belt in another 2 notches when I broke it out at Elite, and it was still on the loose side!
 
Also dropped the 2iu GH, 100mcg T4, 20mcg Clen, and 10mg Var on this day. I am done with the hard cut effort so no need to continue that exposure. I may do a little extended fasting shortly to shave a couple more lbs, but otherwise will be trying to find maintenance cals.

Doing 30mg test e daily, 10mg GW, and however often I can inject 500mg l-carnitine.
 
Last edited:
I think that is why I like it, I am not a super huge strong fishy flavor kind of guy. Tilapia is like the rice of fish, it will taste like whatever you put it into or on. As far as sustainability which is an interesting word when it comes to food and farming, I don't see how a fish farm is anything but sustainable. It does not effect the natural ecosystem at all as it is separated from it completely. Very sustainable. I just find it odd that people worry about that but don't have a problem getting beef from farmed cattle. If it had an effect on the environment I would get it but fish farming ain't hurting any ecosystems, and they definitely aren't catching dolphins or other unintended animals like wild caught fishermen do all the time.
Inland fish farms are the way to go. We farm salmon to release to the wild, and they do well. But the net pens they run are where the issues pop up. Most locals here won't touch "Atlantic" salmon both because of flavor and because of how they raise them in these huge pens made of nets in Puget sound.

The theory is they are in natural saltwater and it's easier to net pen farm/raise them than inland but they over pack the net pens so bad that they tend to spread disease. A couple years ago the pens failed and Atlantic salmon escaped everywhere into the Sound here locally. Fisherman I believe were told to "please" catch as many as you can (vs our normal 1 Chinook limit etc).


I mean I raise fish in my house. I'm a huge fan of fish farming. If I had the time I'd be farming tilapia right now because you can literally do it in barrels or kiddy pools and if you're real smart you set it up so their fish water then cycles into your garden full of nutrients and rain barrels keep a constant flow of fresh water for your fish farm. It's a genius setup!
 
I’m excited to see how it comes out! I really enjoyed it.

The smith machine we used was epic, but it’s 100lbs empty starting weight. So we only had a little change on each side to get to 220.

No free weights were lifted, it’s going to look like I only had 120lbs on the smith machine, you can’t see that I was basically doing the stack on the chest press machine, and I only did 9 dips. So I’m probably going to look like a dork But hopefully I will at least look like I lift weights!
Na I highly doubt you'll look weak or dorky. I've seen Dave's videos with free weights, such as "light" bench work at say 135-225 and even though the focus is all on form correction and development you can tell by the way the athlete/guinea pig is pausing, holding, and essentially just doing whatever Dave says, that it's clearly not 1rm territory

On another note you're looking fuckin yoked man. At this BF the way you hold mass is awesome, biceps look plump, pecs filled out, looking like the rhino is ready for to audition for the next marvel movie!
 
8/16/24
BW 230.4 yesterday

Tspine Stretch
Cat Camels
Bird Dogs
Side Planks
Glute Bridges

Reverse Hypers
BW,45,90x15

Hangs from Chin-up bar

NG Chin-ups
1x2, 4x12

HS CSR
90 2x12, 2x15 (low overhand, wide neutral)

Incline DB Rotators
Incline DB I/Y/T complex

Just got everything flushed out & core activated, trained my lats, and tested out reverse hypers since I had pushed and squat 1.5 days prior. Reverse hypers felt great, & back is still feeling great 24 hours later. Seems like they were all positive, which speaks well for my nerve recovery from the previous impingement. Glute firing is also feeling much more even between sides lately too.

This is a composition update from Thursday, at 230-231:

View attachment 244859

Brought my power belt in another 2 notches when I broke it out at Elite, and it was still on the loose side!
I’m like Anthony Mackie’s character when he meets the Rock in Pain and Gain……”how many grams of protein you eat…….amino acids before or after you workout…”
Invalid Link Removed
 
Na I highly doubt you'll look weak or dorky. I've seen Dave's videos with free weights, such as "light" bench work at say 135-225 and even though the focus is all on form correction and development you can tell by the way the athlete/guinea pig is pausing, holding, and essentially just doing whatever Dave says, that it's clearly not 1rm territory

On another note you're looking fuckin yoked man. At this BF the way you hold mass is awesome, biceps look plump, pecs filled out, looking like the rhino is ready for to audition for the next marvel movie!

Thanks man; I believe since I have been ramping training back up these last 3-4 weeks a lot of my muscles have started to pop more again. Shirts that fit looser in the yoke a month ago are tighter there and looser yet in the belly; I can genuinely wear my XL stuff again but if I do put on a 2XL I’m not completely swimming in it. Same for legs on my underwear; I can see my quads & glutes better but they push the legs more and waistline less.

That’s also funny for me because my son loves the Spidey & His Amazing Friends show on Disney, and he loves to pretend he’s the Green Goblin & I’m Rhino
 
8/18/24
BW 229.4

Tspine Stretch
Cat Camels
Nerve Flossing
10 min walk
Bird Dogs
Side Planks
Glute Bridges
Reverse Hypers
BW Squats

Squat, Duffalo bar
55x10
145x8
211x6
265x5
299x4
327x3
355x2
+belt
380,405x1

Kabuki Hi Handle Trapbar
+standing on 2” mats
65 2x10
155,245,295,335,375,405x5

Kabuki Trapbar FFE Split Squat
65x10
115 2x8

BB Shrugs
225x5
250 2x25

Priority was deadlifting, but I felt great and really had it in my mind to take 405 today on squat first - today is exactly 2 months post nerve impingement, so squatting and pulling that was something I wanted to do if I felt ready. It was a beautiful, smooth, very easy squat: it felt terrific! An awesome powerlifting Sunday

Invalid Link Removed
 
Back
Top