Slicin' and Dicin'
- Thread starter Dustin07
- Start date
Dustin07
Legend
on the west side we have blacktail, east side of the state is whitetail and mulies, we've pretty much hunted all of them. My brother has taken I think 2 elk on mom and dads fields, but they're a bit harder to get at in that area without a predation tag (and blackpowder only). I was hoping to take a blacktail this year (archery) off our woods this year, its just going to come down to time/schedule! actually, on the west side everything is hard to get at unless you go way up north to snohomish area and have access to a lot of farm land, most of our public hunting land on the west side has such a thick underbrush its just miserable to hunt lol.
Dustin07
Legend
I shouldn't complain though cause WA in general is such a mild state, we don't have to worry really about snakes, poisonous spiders, scorpions, etc. We do have rattlesnakes but you rarely see them, black widows and brown recluse, but not really an issue. worst thing I've encountered hunting in WA was ticks during turkey season but even that wasn't too bad, I had 2 on me and neither were drawing blood so I just flicked them off lol. I did open my tacklebox that afternoon after the turkey hunt though to go fishing and there was a black widow in it, so that was a pretty buggy day, ha.
Dustin07
Legend
both actually- on the west side we have the Roosevelts pretty much wide spread from OR - Canada, west of the mountain range. On the east side in the highlands with the mulies we have the Rocky Mountain Elk. They're all big but when you come across a heard of Rocky Mtn's after growing up around Roosevelts they look kina squatty like someone cut off 6" of their legs lol.
here's a cougar/mountain lion I had on my front porch last fall:
gphagan1
Legend
Great work on your OHP, and way to get back after 200 and getting it after the initial miss. You did that 200 in a joker set after you had already hit your 5/3/1 sets…. I guarantee you that you probably would have been able to get 205 if you weren’t already pre-exhausted. And those are some impressive push press numbers too.
Dustin07
Legend
Thank you, Sir! With my strength numbers going up and my focus being pretty locked in, its really hard for me to not play with more oly stuff. Right now the occasional front squat and push press joker seems to be OK and appropriate (rather than a focus).Great work on your OHP, and way to get back after 200 and getting it after the initial miss. You did that 200 in a joker set after you had already hit your 5/3/1 sets…. I guarantee you that you probably would have been able to get 205 if you weren’t already pre-exhausted. And those are some impressive push press numbers too.
It is sorta weird that 225 is a heavy feeling with me sitting at my previous OHP highs, even though I have jerked 270 overhead when my OHP was probably 190-200 at BEST. I know that overloading and excessive jokers could be a detriment if I'm not careful, but I think getting those heavy weights on my body is helping a bit.
Definitely building a different kind of strength right now, and a totally different set of skills than when I was more oly focused...
Dustin07
Legend
Deadlifts
5 x 165, 205
3 x 250
3 x 290, 330
6 x 370
Joker
2 x 405
3 x 405
BBB
5 x 10 x 205
Notes
405 was light as hell today. I had at least 5-6+ in that first effort but I got my belt in a bad spot and it pinched the crap out of my oblique after 2 so I put it down to adjust and reset.
That's all I got time for today. Took a half day from work so could snag a short gym session before heading out to salvage some lumber off that old cabin.
5 x 165, 205
3 x 250
3 x 290, 330
6 x 370
Joker
2 x 405
3 x 405
BBB
5 x 10 x 205
Notes
405 was light as hell today. I had at least 5-6+ in that first effort but I got my belt in a bad spot and it pinched the crap out of my oblique after 2 so I put it down to adjust and reset.
That's all I got time for today. Took a half day from work so could snag a short gym session before heading out to salvage some lumber off that old cabin.
Dustin07
Legend
they felt good! the first rep is always the hardest for me, once I have it up, I can usually tell if I have a few more. This was supposed to be week 3 of cycle 4 and I somehow missed a deadlift session in this cycle so I can either go for broke and try to get one more pull in on Sunday, then have a full 7-8 days of rest/deload, or I can skip session 3 deads for this cycle. I'm a little on the fence with it because I feel like deads being so taxing don't quite need the same volume as squats and pressing for me.Nice strong pulls, especially those jokers.
I crashed hard and early on the couch last night, fell asleep around 7 I think lol. went to bed, woke up around 3am and my brain was going like crazy . I realized this was a very hard effort/solid week. no wonder my body is taxed!
benched 280 x 2.5 and 315 x 2 slingshot
squatted 320 x 5 and 350 x 1
OHP 170 x 6, 200 x 1, and 205/225 for push press reps/sets
pulled 370 x 6 and 405 x 5
all that plus consistent BBB work all week. so for me, these are pretty high output numbers. the 3 week on/1 week off approach with 531 has been really good to me this year.
weighed in at 200lbs this morning, so up a lot, but weight belt still solid on hole 2, and my shorts are going full hootchie daddy so I know that at least some of the weight gain has been positive/lean mass.
Dustin07
Legend
I'm also still running life raw, with nothing but my pump addict preWO in my system and occasional creatine (usually on Sundays since I have Steves SNS stuff in stock at home for the wife). I feel like there has been some sort of bounce back with my system where it's responding positively to a supplement break at the moment. I don't expect it to last forever but its saving me money in the short term lol. I have taken the occasional ZMA, Maca, or Tribulus, but honestly libido has been on point as well so even those types of things haven't been necessary.
It is summer though and I'm getting a lot of natural sunlight + weekend hard farm work so all these things are making positive contributions I'm sure. sunrise is much later already, so I have been back to hitting my redlight in the mornings before jumping in the shower.
It is summer though and I'm getting a lot of natural sunlight + weekend hard farm work so all these things are making positive contributions I'm sure. sunrise is much later already, so I have been back to hitting my redlight in the mornings before jumping in the shower.
Dustin07
Legend
I see a lot of debates online about machines vs barbell, specifically for legs and I think this run on 531 has also verified what I already knew. There just isn't any replacement for barbell work for leg hypertrophy for me. This is probably about the largest my legs have been since my xfit days when it was massive squats daily, and I've hardly had any additional time to hit leg machines this year. since may its been 99% barbell work.
gphagan1
Legend
Yeah you’ve been killing it man…. I wouldn’t worry too much about missing that one Deadlift day, because your pulls are still progressing. I would just stay on schedule…if you weren’t progressing or had a lax or slow week I could see that extra deadlift session added in, but you’ve been balls to the wall so I believe you will be fine.
Dustin07
Legend
Cycle 4 was my hardest mentally to keep showing up and chasing those numbers, I've never survived 531 past 3 cycles before, but now as I enter my deload, I'm getting pretty optimistic about chasing Cycle 5/Week 1 numbers! Plus with my birthday in Oct, it gives me a short term goal to aspire towards for some decent numbers.
Dustin07
Legend
Friday I fit in a late afternoon golf game, then my wife found more "free" rocks lol. about 1/2 man to 1 man sized so I loaded up somewhere around 1000lbs+ (I load until the truck is just starting to squat, I figure no need to trash the drivetrain for free rocks).
Saturday, butchered all my cornish cross, got them plucked and bagged. made a video for my wife's channel lol.
Unloaded the rocks with my boy, then we got more fence posts in. Random farm work etc. Sunday was mostly a chill day, roasted up one of the chickens (tastes amazing).
This week is deload so I'm cutting calories and mostly "chilling". I'll hit my deload sessions for sure, but I'll take this week to enjoy the gym. light cardio, sauna, maybe pool etc. My body is feeling pretty taxed so I'm looking forward to relaxing.
still no rain in the forecast, but we are having a beautiful Monday morning. pretty clear which is nice, the past few weeks we have either had a thick marine layer that wouldn't burn off till afternoon or smog from the eastern wa fires.
I have 15 more Freedom Rangers to butcher, probably will do that the weekend of Aug 29th.
then I have 8 American Bresse, plan is to butcher 4 and keep 4 (hoping to have one rooster) so they can hatch me out some meat birds next spring... maybe.
At least one of our birds is a rooster and there isn't much funnier than listening to a prepubescent rooster trying to learn how to crow lol. like a teenage boy with his voice breaking.
Saturday, butchered all my cornish cross, got them plucked and bagged. made a video for my wife's channel lol.
Unloaded the rocks with my boy, then we got more fence posts in. Random farm work etc. Sunday was mostly a chill day, roasted up one of the chickens (tastes amazing).
This week is deload so I'm cutting calories and mostly "chilling". I'll hit my deload sessions for sure, but I'll take this week to enjoy the gym. light cardio, sauna, maybe pool etc. My body is feeling pretty taxed so I'm looking forward to relaxing.
still no rain in the forecast, but we are having a beautiful Monday morning. pretty clear which is nice, the past few weeks we have either had a thick marine layer that wouldn't burn off till afternoon or smog from the eastern wa fires.
I have 15 more Freedom Rangers to butcher, probably will do that the weekend of Aug 29th.
then I have 8 American Bresse, plan is to butcher 4 and keep 4 (hoping to have one rooster) so they can hatch me out some meat birds next spring... maybe.
At least one of our birds is a rooster and there isn't much funnier than listening to a prepubescent rooster trying to learn how to crow lol. like a teenage boy with his voice breaking.
Dustin07
Legend
Cycle 4
Week 4
Deload
Cardio
LISS - 20 min
Squats
10 x 150
2 x 5 x 185
2 x 5 x 215
Sauna
15 minutes
Pool cool down
(Few laps)
Notes
Running a 20:4 to cheat a slight deficit this week. Otherwise using the lift to practice form and bracing, enjoying the gym facilities and chilling.
Week 4
Deload
Cardio
LISS - 20 min
Squats
10 x 150
2 x 5 x 185
2 x 5 x 215
Sauna
15 minutes
Pool cool down
(Few laps)
Notes
Running a 20:4 to cheat a slight deficit this week. Otherwise using the lift to practice form and bracing, enjoying the gym facilities and chilling.
Dustin07
Legend
Got home last night and the misses had organized my junk heap and yet-to-be-chopped madrona rounds of firewood, cleaned/organized the shed, and was sitting at the dinner table with colored pencils and paper drafting her ideal layout of the new garden setup.
she's inspired by this ladies setup:
so once I get the land properly deer fenced (it will be weekend work for the rest of this year) she can start out. the garden will be 5-10x current size. the orchard area is sloped a lot so she's working with tiers with taller plants like tomatoes and sunflowers towards the back, harbors off the man gate with beans and peas, long rows of everything else. then just outside the fence line we'll do a row of tobacco and lavender since they could compliment each other and deer won't eat them.
towards the back I'm likely going to build a small barn, I can go to 600sq ft without permitting, so I think I can fit 3 stalls. one for meat birds, one for pigs, and one I'm not sure about yet. I still haven't done my tilapia/fish project yet so I'm looking at these huge above ground pools that I could settle like 1ft to 18" into the ground to be a partially buried pond to grow meat fish....
its going to take some time. I still haven't pulled the trigger on a tractor yet. I'm 99% certain a small subcompact will work. the Kubota BX23 series is probably the easiest score with backhoe/trencher attachment and I can get an auger and box grader from dad, but I'm keeping my eyes open on deeres and new hollands as well. deere would probably be my preference from an American standpoint, but I think locally Kubota will have the best service/dealers available... plus dads Kubota is like 1995 and its still great so that gives me confidence.
Dustin07
Legend
its crazy good! sorta like pizza or lasagna it honestly tastes even better the next day to me. these were all cornish cross chickens, I haven't butchered the last 15 freedom rangers yet which my wife says are even tastier, and after that will be the American Bresse which I'm super excited about. Bresse are one of the only breeds that will actually collect fat marbelling intramuscularly, whereas other birds only collect fat subcutaneously or around organs. so the bresse are considered apparently, to be a french cuisine/delicacy... i'll let you know.
the upside is you can butcher cornish cross in 6-8 weeks and get 4-7lb birds (or bigger)
Whereas the freedom rangers need at least 12 weeks, and the bresse probably 16.
i'll probably butcher the rangers aug 29th which will put them 12.5 weeks
Dustin07
Legend
I'm not 100% sure what keeps me motivated on the meat bird thing. we don't have enough space really to run cattle, but mom and dad do that anyways. There is something about growing your own meat that feels good though. the first bird I butchered last weekend projectile pooped all over me after I had its head cut off. I think I got some in my eye. its sorta a gross process but once the birds are plucked, cleaned, and laid out on the counter bagged up and ready for the freezer it feels good to put all that meat away.