Hey there,


First of all, given the nature of your job, it is absolutely integral for you to work out as regularly as possible. As part of the emotional survival aspect of law enforcement, stress release is an absolute necessity. That being said, it may be unpleasant in the moment, but overall the exercise will possibly save your life. My advice is to make it a routine that you work out on your lunchbreak or "10-40" as the LEO's down here say. The workouts can be as little as 30-45 minutes a day during work, and an hour on non-work days. You don't need to go hard to the point of physical fatigue, but you certainly need to engage the muscles and get your heartrate up to the 130-150 range consistently.

With that in mind, I would recommend the following:


Workout 1 -

5x5 Bench Press (80% 1RM for each 5 rep set)
3x12 Dumbbell Flies (going up in weight each set)
3x12 Tricep Pulldowns (going up in weight each set)
3x12 Dips (going up in weight each set)
15 minutes of cardio (HIIT preferred)


Workout 2 -

5x5 Squats (80% 1RM for each 5 rep set)
3x12 Leg Extensions (going up in weight each set)
3x12 Leg Curls (going up in weight each set)
3x12 Calf Raises (going up in weight each set)
15 minutes of cardio (HIIT preferred)



Workout 3 -

5x5 Deadlifts (80% 1RM for each 5 rep set)
3x12 Bent Over Rows (going up in weight each set)
3x12 EZ or Straight Bar Curls (going up in weight each set)
3x12 Seated Hammer Curls (going up in weight each set)
15 minutes of cardio (HIIT preferred)


Workout 4 -

5x5 Military Press (80% 1RM for each 5 rep set)
3x12 Dumbbell Shoulder Press (going up in weight each set)
4x12 Front/Lat Raises (going up in weight each set and 2 sets of each front and lat)
3x12 Dumbbell or Barbell Shrugs (going up in weight each set)
15 minutes of cardio (HIIT preferred)



Optimally, you want to work out a minimum of 4 days every 7 day week. A 5th day would be preferred and I would recommend doing whichever of the above workouts you need the most (the muscle group(s) that are lagging behind the most).

Lastly, you will also need to train abs/core at least 2x a week, preferably 3x a week outside of the actual workouts. I recommend planks, alternating crunches, hanging leg raises, full situps, and standing knee raises. If you have it in you to do more cardio on your days off, it would also be highly recommended.


Insofar as dieting goes, this is one of the times that intermittent fasting really shines. My advice would be to follow a 16/8 or 18/6 (fasted/fed) intermittent fasting plan.

Assuming you are working night shift:


Wake up at 12:00 Noon
Meal 1 (2PM)
Meal 2 (5PM)
Meal 3 (8PM)
Continue normal schedule until eventually going to sleep and repeating the following day


Obviously these hours can be modified as long as you have at least 16 hours straight without eating (preferably 18 hours straight).



Insofar as actual diet goes, you want to stick to the basics and try to keep the excess carbs down. By this I mean a 50/30/20 diet would make the most sense. This means 50% protein, 30% carbs, 20% fat. If you feel a severe lack of energy, increase to 40% protein, 40% carbs, and 20% fat. Calories should be in the area of 2,500-2,800 per day for fat loss. If you notice severe energy depletion and/or lack of strength, you will need to increase diet by 500 cals and re-assess.

Sample meal plan:



Meal 1 - Quest Protein Bar (try it microwaved for 10-15 seconds), 1 tbsp peanut butter, 1 banana, 12 oz milk (fairlife preferred) w/ 1 scoop whey isolate. 60g protein, 30g carbs, and 10g fat (450 cals)

Meal 2 - Chipolte (or homemade) - 8 oz chicken (double serving at chipolte), 1.5 cups brown rice, 1/2 cup black beans, veggies, 1/4 cup sour cream or guac (not both), salsa. 80g protein, 100g carbs, 30g fat (990 cals)

Meal 3 - 8 oz steak or ground beef, 1 large sweet potato, 2 cups broccoli or other green veggies, 2tbsp olive oil, 1 large serving of fruit (your choice) - (1200 cals)

Total is 2,640 calories (approximately).



You can also change this around as you see fit - but this is just a sample.


I hope this helps.

Any advice on benching. I have been stuck at around 280-295 for years now. Meanwhile I can deadlift in the 600s I can squat well into the high 4s when im training them and they progress. My bench on the otherhand, nothing.

I bench 3x per week right now. One day doing 5x5s at around 75%. Bench day 2 varies, I do a range of sets up from 50% to as high as 90% with volume varying and day 3 I do one AMRAP set with 80% usually.

The only real accessory work I do if you want to call it that is weighted chin ups or weighted pullups which I do twice a week in sets ranging from 5-8 with 50-80 pounds attached.

I have a pretty big upper body but its largely due to back development as a result of deadlifts. I do zero isolation exercises. I go hard on compounds and I find I just cant focus through doing multiple isolation accessory exercises making them feel useless.

This post was edited by SBD on Nov 18 2021 04:00pm

Hey there. There can be quite a few reasons for this. As you know, bench press utilizes quite a few muscle groups, mostly including the pectorals, deltoids, and triceps. Lesser utilized muscle areas include the traps, lower back, abs, and rotator cuff muscles. That being said, there is a possibility that there is a technique issue, a muscle strength issue, or both.

First of all, grip type on the bench press directly correlates to the muscle engagement. 2x the width of the chest (wide grip) creates maximum chest engagement. 1x the width of the chest (mid grip) engages the triceps and shoulders about equally with the chest. 0.5x the width of the chest (narrow grip), places most of the stress on the triceps and front delts.

Additionally, the manner of your grip (traditional or suicide grip both can make a difference as to how much chest is used and how much forearm stabilizer is used. Suicide wide grip gives the absolute maximum chest engagement.



The solutions:


1. Dramatically increase accessory work for the bench press, ie: triceps and front delts. You should train these muscle groups 2x per week with a general focus on strength. 5x5 may be extreme for these groups to start with, so perhaps go into a traditional ascending pyramid of 5 sets, for a total of 2-3 exercises of each, 3x workouts a week. Exercises should include triceps pulldowns, triceps kickbacks, dips, skullcrushers, and close-grip bench (smith machine is good for this also).

2. Switch over to hypertrophy workouts for chest to shock the muscles. You can do double-breakdowns, supersets, etc. twice a week (chest only), with a minimum of 30 sets each time. I would run this for at least 4-6 weeks before going back to pure strength for chest and seeing if that managed to break through the wall. Sometimes a dramatic shift of the type of training you're doing will make all the difference.

3. Increase chest isolation exercises such as DB presses (flat/incline/decline), DB Flies, and cable flies. The major focus here to both build up your support/stabilization muscles as well as to stimulate muscle growth in the actual pectorals.



You should be able to make some progress this way. Also please see this guide:

http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=21269614&f=60&p=382232412
Stubborn Chest Guide



edit: Let me know regarding your progress and I will see if we should make any modifications.

This post was edited by SKCRaynor on Nov 23 2021 11:11am

ooh i came to ask a question and saw you came back. i hope you're doing ok?

around 5 years ago, i self-diagnosed myself as lactose intolerant. i would get a reaction whenever i consumed dairy (butter, cheese, cream, milk, ice cream; both cooked and uncooked). but i did not get a reaction from whey or lactose-free milk. when i eat the same foods with lactase pills, then i would not get a reaction. i'm also asian. so instead of going to the doctor to give me an official lactose intolerance test, i self-diagnosed as lactose intolerant. usually even a small amount like 0.2g lactose (eg: slice of cheddar) will give me a reaction so i need pills. typically i would use 1 pill per slice of cheese.

i'm looking at my notes and 4/25/21 is the last time i verified i had a reaction when i didn't take enough pills.

now last week something changed. i was trying about a cup of milk which has around 13g lactose, which is 20x+ my tolerance. i didn't take any pills, so i expected to camp out by the bathroom. to my surprise, i had no reaction. i waited for the next day and my bowel movement was perfectly normal. in the past week, i verified i'm not getting a reaction with cheese. i tried bubble tea with 2 pills and not getting a reaction (normally i would expect 10+ pills needed). next step is to try more dairy without any pills at all.

should i be worried? i don't understand how i can be lactose intolerant for 4-5 years, then suddenly in the past 7 months i'm not. i can understand if this was super gradual, but this seemed to have changed very suddenly. the only thing i can think of that changed in 7 months was i got the covid vaccine in may, but i can't imagine that would impact it.

This post was edited by carteblanche on Nov 24 2021 01:47pm

Hey there. This is quite common and typically reflects a gradual repair of the digestive system from damage. It could very well be the consistent lack of inflammation to the small intestine that has now rendered you no longer lactose intolerant. However, don't celebrate just yet. Constant lactose can eventually lead to the same symptoms as you increase inflammation in the small intestine. The overall best choice is to minimize lactose, period. A good example would be using ultra filtered lactose free milk (like fairlife). Cheese in moderation would probably not be an issue however.

Hey,

Very excited to find this post hope you're still around! Such an awesome service you are providing for the community.


I have been interested in Strongman for some time now.

I am committed to starting training for strongman competitions for the 2022 year. Not aiming to Win, just aiming to be able to compete. I am overweight and out of shape, I let myself go pretty bad one year before Covid due to surgery, and then Covid made it all too easy to continue to be lazy.


Past few months I've cut back on my food consumption and am doing light exercise. I went from 275 LBS to 250 LBS and was happy with that little progress. Contacted a fitness trainer to help me develop a routine to start with in 2022 and am waiting for a referral to a nutritionist from my doctor.
My diet has been my biggest crutch and am I excited to make some big changes...

Not looking to get a shredded 6 pack or look like a bodybuilder, I am moreso aiming to look like Eddie Hall from 2017 WSM or Tom Stoltman from 2021 WSM. Would love to get up to 300LBS of muscle, without the love handles and saggy man boobs.
I have the body type and frame to be big, but I need to learn how to get that big properly.

I've done tons of research on gym workouts and splits and some basic diets but have a hard time making progress so I hope to get help from the 2 professionals and I will make big improvements.


I was wanting to know if you had any specific advice about Strongman. Any specific tropes or cliches to avoid? Should I start with something else before jumping into strongman? Also wondering your supplement recommendation for strength/strongman training.
So far I've just been using a fat burner in my water at the gym to help me sweat as I was trying to lose weight. Nothing else.



Thanks in advance - Very excited to start this journey now that most of the prep is done. I will also be starting my own blog of progress and my meals and workouts on JSP.

Excited to get healthy again.

This post was edited by Erodish on Dec 8 2021 09:44am

Hey there. Thank you for the well wishes. I am sorry for the delay, but without further ado lets get down to it.

For Strongman competitions, you will be preparing with extremely rigorous training each day (approximately 4-5 hours daily split into 2 sessions). You will also be GREATLY increasing food consumption to the point that it's a full time job unto itself.



Before we go any further, I need to know your current height/weight/body fat % as well as if you have any food allergies or foods you will NOT eat. Please let me know and I'll have a plan made up for you.

Interested in a conversation, i do power lifting my stats

6'2 -220 compete weight walking around 240-250 but been up too 270.

deadlift 550

bench 385

squat 500

Never followed a program but want to walk around at 220 year round as i much leaner and better looking aesthetically.
Came off a distal bicep tear in September finally able to train.

would love to know about nutrition timing and realistic calories for resting vs workload to maintain that weight.

Hey there,

Great deadlift for 220 lbs and also a very good squat!


Anyway, in order to give you a clear cut answer, I would need some additional information.

1. Age
2. Metabolism generally (do you tend to be mesomorphic, ectomorphic, or endomorphic WITHOUT exercise/diet considered). If you happen to have an actual BMR study done, please share.
3. Do you have insulin resistance or insulin sensitivity?
4. Do you have any medical conditions that you know of?
5. Do you take any prescription medications including HCG/Testosterone/etc.?

4 to 5 hour strongman training daily ?

I think not... Unless you are world's strongest man competitor ??? Lol..