Log and leave.
Read the direction, not the last data point.
The whole protocol. Fat-loss-first recomp · cardiovascular health · muscle preservation · nervous-system regulation.
| Mon | Lift A — lower-biased · gym, late morning |
|---|---|
| Tue | Zone 2 30–40 min + evening sauna rounds |
| Wed | Lift B — upper, lighter · evening after office |
| Thu | Quality run — 4×4 / strides, alternating · governed by recovery |
| Fri | Lift C — posterior + squat pattern · gym |
| Sat | Long Z2 — 8–10 mi capped + evening sauna single |
| Sun | Rest — deep reset · non-negotiable |
Why this week works: three full-body lifts hit every muscle ~3×/week — enough to preserve and slowly build muscle in a deficit. Conditioning is 2 Z2 days + 1 quality day. Thursday alternates real Norwegian 4×4 one week, easy Z2 + strides the next — a real VO₂ max stimulus every other week without the sympathetic load that flares the upper traps. Saturday's long Z2 is the aerobic-base and fat-oxidation anchor. No hard-hard stacking — every intense day is followed by Z2 or rest. Sunday is the only true rest day and is non-negotiable. Every 6th week is a deload.
Priorities: NON-NEGOTIABLE do this even on bad days · IMPORTANT aim for most days · NICE TO HAVE great when you can.
🚦 The governor — read before deciding today's session. This is the only hard conditioning of the week and it is conditional on recovery. Primary check is body-first: did I sleep reasonably? Do I feel recovered, not run-down? Was last night manageable? Yes → intervals. No → Z2 or a walk. HRV is a tiebreaker only — if the subjective call is ambiguous, glance at the multi-day trend once, decide, and stop looking. The number never overrules how you feel. Taking the Z2 fallback is the protocol working as designed, not a failure. Never make up a missed session later.
The job of lifting in a deficit: not chasing PRs — giving your body a reason to keep the muscle it has while you lose fat. Muscle is metabolically expensive; in a deficit the body sheds what it isn't forced to use. Hard, consistent training + 180g protein is the "keep this" signal. Strength may stall or dip slightly — that is expected, not failure. Maintaining your lifts while getting leaner IS progress. The scale and the mirror are the progress markers now.
| Group | Sets/wk | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Quads | 8 | Hack squat + Fri squat pattern + leg ext |
| Hams / glutes | 10 | Hip thrust + RDL + leg curl |
| Back / lats | 11 | Highest volume — your largest upper group |
| Chest | 7 | Moderate — conservative for the neck |
| Shoulders | 5 | Lateral raises + machine press |
| Arms | 6 each | Direct work each session |
| Core / scapular | 4–6 | Pallof, dead hangs, Y-raises |
Keep the weight, add reps across sets first. Only add load when all sets hit the top of the rep range at ≤3 RIR, then drop to the bottom of the range at the new load. Example (3 × 8–10): 8/8/8 → 9/8/8 → 9/9/8 → 10/9/9 → 10/10/10 → add weight, back to 8/8/8. Adding one rep counts as progress. In a deficit you often won't add weight weekly — same load for more reps, same numbers at a lower body weight, stable strength while the waist drops: all wins. Pick 1–2 progression priorities per session; the rest just match last week.
Rehab / PT work doesn't chase load. Progress there = better control, longer holds, cleaner range, fewer symptoms — not more weight.
The principle: a partial week done consistently for months beats a perfect week you can't sustain. Protein, not training volume, is the non-negotiable that protects muscle on light weeks.
Per-exercise prescriptions, cues, the pre-lift neck/back prep, and the post-lift downshift live in the Train tab where you log.
Five protocols + the pelvic-floor work — each with a purpose. This is your strongest real-time lever for anxiety and HRV.
Double inhale through the nose (sniff + sniff), one long slow mouth exhale. First thing every morning, before meals if stressed, any moment tension rises, before sleep. Fastest-acting downregulation tool that exists — 3–5 cycles, 60 seconds.
Inhale 4 → hold 4 → exhale 4 → hold 4. Mon/Wed/Fri mornings, between sets, when you need focus without agitation. 5–6 rounds, 3–4 min. Controlled arousal without a cortisol spike.
Inhale 4 → hold 7 → exhale 8. The extended exhale activates the vagus nerve directly — the most powerful parasympathetic protocol in the stack and a direct HRV-raiser. Also builds CO₂ tolerance. 4–6 rounds; mild dizziness at first normalizes.
Nasal-only on every easy run. Produces nitric oxide, forces diaphragmatic breathing, trains the aerobic system at lower ventilation. 8–12 weeks → faster pace at the same HR. Test: can't hold a conversation nasal-only? You're above Z2 — slow down.
Body scan 5 min → slow nasal 10 min (in 6 / out 8) → gratitude + week review. 20–25 min, lying down, before the walk — the one day the order flips.
Doctor-confirmed hypertonic pattern — the training is relaxation and coordination, NOT Kegels. Kegels would make it worse. Same nervous-system pattern as the neck/traps, different location.
Always sauna first, cold finish. Heat raises core temperature; the cold-accelerated drop triggers deep-sleep onset and the anti-inflammatory response. Consistent sauna use in men (4–7 sessions/week, 20+ min, 175°F+) correlates with elevated growth hormone, better cardiovascular markers, and lower all-cause mortality. Cold is your strongest trainable nervous-system signal.
| Sauna | 170–190°F | hotter is not better past this range |
| Cold plunge | 50–59°F | 2–3 min max — benefit plateaus at 3 |
| Cold shower (sub) | max cold | ~55–65°F seasonal · 2–3 min · ~60–70% of plunge benefit |
Expect: wk 1–2 brutal (normal) · wk 3–4 breath control in the cold noticeably easier — the same adaptation that reduces daily anxiety response · wk 6–8 measurably better sleep on sauna nights, HRV trending up, better morning energy.
Why fat-loss-first: the May 2026 bloodwork reframed this from aesthetics to health. Losing visceral fat directly improves the one real medical issue (LDL-P / ApoB, triglycerides, insulin sensitivity), raises free testosterone, lowers inflammation. Muscle is preserved — not maximized — for 3–4 months. A surplus adds fat: wrong direction given the cardiovascular picture. Revisit a muscle-focused surplus once the cardiovascular numbers are being actively managed.
| ~2,500 | cal/day | ~500 below maintenance. Modest and sustainable by design. |
| 180 g | protein, every day | ~0.95 g/lb. The single most important number. Never skip it. |
| ~250 g | carbs, flex | protect at pre-lift breakfast + post-lift meal; flex elsewhere |
| ≥70 g | fat, floor | ≈0.35 g/lb minimum — dietary fat is a direct testosterone precursor |
2,500 is an estimate — the scale is the truth. Track weight as a 7-day rolling average only (daily weight swings 2–4 lbs on water and stress; chasing it feeds anxiety). After 3 honest weeks: losing 0.5–0.8 lb/wk → hold, change nothing. Losing nothing → drop to ~2,300, reassess in 2 weeks. Losing >1.5 lb/wk → eat more (~2,700); too-fast loss costs muscle, training, and sleep. If you didn't hit the targets, the data isn't valid — adjust on followed weeks only. Recomp is slow by design: 0.5–0.8 lb/wk ≈ 6–10 lbs of fat over 3 months while keeping muscle. Resist the urge to accelerate.
Protein → calories → everything else. Protein is the muscle insurance; it's the one you never sacrifice.
Rebuilt around the May 2026 bloodwork. The stack serves two priorities: the one real medical issue (ApoB 131 / LDL-P 2477, family history of CAD + bicuspid valve) and the recomp. Supplements are ~5% of recomp — training, protein, deficit, sleep, consistency do the actual work.
Look for NSF / Informed Sport / USP on labels; fish oil IFOS 5-star, triglyceride form. Bring to the cardiology visit: ApoB/LDL discussion, CAC score question, echocardiogram for bicuspid screening (father confirmed bicuspid), statin vs. icosapent ethyl conversation, CoQ10/berberine "if statin" questions.
🍵 Green (morning/early afternoon, cut by 2 PM) — calm focus. 🌿 Chamomile or passionflower ~9 PM — pairs with the wind-down stack. 🫚 Ginger after meals — digestion.
Reference instructions only — deliberately no tracking here. Logging thought-counts is the scanning pattern with a database.
Seek care for: objectively measurable new symptoms; symptoms that persist and worsen consistently over weeks regardless of anxiety level; any genuine emergency. Apply ERP to: sensations that fluctuate with anxiety, symptoms already medically cleared, second-opinion urges after reassurance. Rule: one medical evaluation per genuine new symptom. Further checking after a clear result is a compulsion — treat it as one.
Expect: wk 1–2 it feels worse (attention makes thoughts seem more frequent — every non-response is a deposit) · wk 3–6 urges lose intensity, gaps appear · mo 2–4 waves peak lower, fall faster, Tier 3 becomes rare · mo 4+ thoughts still arrive but carry less weight.
The Regulated Man. You're not training for a race. You're training for the next forty years — a hormonally vital, lean, calm, physically strong body that stays that way. Every walk, every breath, every lift, every meal, every cold exposure is a vote for the man you're becoming: rising testosterone, a shrinking waist, a nervous system that doesn't flinch, and a presence your wife and child feel in the room. The nervous-system work isn't separate from the performance work — it IS the performance work. A regulated man is leaner, stronger, clearer, and more present than an unregulated one at the same fitness level.