Thanks! I just placed the order for the equipment late Monday and hope to have it in hand next week. No word at all on the expected shipping time yet and no notification that the process has begun.

The platform is just a couple sheets of plywood with a 3/4 inch rubber stall mat on the top. The stall mats might have a little bit of compression to them but I don't notice any - one 4 x 6' stall mat weighs ~100 pounds. As the garage floor is not perfectly level I did what I could to level the platform but there are a couple spots that do compress a bit when stepped on. No plans to use dbs at this point but who knows. The garage is directly under my four year olds room so I'll probably be trying not to drop anything too much but when he finally does go to sleep he is pretty much out cold so noise shouldn't be a huge factor.

I ordered two bars, one for me and one for my wife. I have little girl hands so I expect that I can use her bar as needed to help with setup times. If that makes me feel too effeminate I'll consider ordering another man one. Or lift in heels.

I'll have to take a closer look at the pics/vids your logs for the carpet you speak of. So far my footwear has just been converse chuck taylors. Grip seems pretty good but I have very little practical experience so far. The mats I have are pretty similar to what is used in the gym I have been going to for the last few weeks.

Thank you!

The magic lifting carpets in Aidan's gym are pretty apparent. Not sure how I missed them. I still haven't found yours yet though.

June 1 – 147.9 lbs

21 mins mobility work and stretching.

Rower – 2000m, 8:27.5
Did a big fade on the last 750m.

2410 cal/234 carb/70 fat/219 protein/44 fibre

the incline bench and base of the cable pull station are on top of the rug so you won't see it that often because I hardly do any exercises on there that warrant form checks etc.

My DL, Squat area is just the thinnest of polymer material with some texture on it and provides good grip so long as you don't have nylon socks on. That's why I think the magic carpets are better because they provide good friction with any type of footwear so long as it's not too thick that some cushioning is going on. Then you will lose some power to the compression transferred on the carpet fibers.

June 2 – 148.3 lbs

Mobility work and stretching done between exercises.

Goblet Squats – 16kg – 21/21/21
Pushups – 21/21/21
Kettlebell Bent Over Row – 16kg – 11/11/11 x2
Alternating Kettlebell Press – 12kg – 9/8/6 x2
Chinups – 9/8/8
KB Single Leg RDL’s – 16kg x 2 – 9/9/8 x2

2469 cal/230 carb/80 fat/225 protein/53 fibre

Yeah, I can see how those carpets would provide really good grip.

June 3 – 148.9 lbs

16 mins mobility work and stretching.

Rower – 3 x 1000m, 4:06.3, 4:10.6, 4:35.8, 3min rest between
Almost stopped after only two but added an easy third.

2321 cal/218 carb/75 fat/211 protein/55 fibre

June 4 – 147.5 lbs

No exercise. Spent the day doing an Experienced Rider’s Course on my motorbike which mainly entailed slowly poaching myself in my helmet and leather jacket under the sun in a hot parking lot for 8 hours.

2770 cal/297 carb/78 fat/200 protein/70 fibre

June 5 – 148.2 lbs

Mobility work and stretching done between exercises.

Goblet Squats – 16kg – 22/21/21
Pushups – 22/21/21
Kettlebell Bent Over Row – 16kg – 12/11/11 x2
Alternating Kettlebell Press – 12kg – 9/8/7 x2
Chinups – 9/8/8
KB Single Leg RDL’s – 16kg x 2 – 9/9/9 x2

2720 cal/259 carb/93 fat/231 protein/61 fibre

June 6 – 149.1 lbs

12 mins mobility work and stretching.

Rower – 5min, 1083m; 1000m, 4:08.8
Was almost 10pm by the time I got around to doing anything resembling exercise so I just rowed light for 5min and then did a 1k.

2510 cal/237 carb/80 fat/218 protein/43 fibre

June 7 – 148.2 lbs

Pulled something in my neck a couple days ago which had me whiney, was on the road for work all day which had me whiney and felt generally tired and miserable which had me whiney so took the night off of everything other than unavoidable house duties. Just lied on the couch with a slightly guilty conscience, watched UFC 199 and further screwed up my neck. Was way short on macros after dinner so made a bowl of oats with chia seeds, hulled hemp seeds, milk and a scoop of protein and overshot everything.

2613 cal/248 carb/85 fat/234 protein/75 fibre

June 8 – 148.6 lbs

Had the poop of all poops thanks to yesterday’s fibre overdose. Neck is still quite sore (not from the poop) but I managed to work out through it just fine on Monday so kicked my arse back into gear tonight.

Mobility work and stretching done between exercises.
Goblet Squats – 16kg – 22/22/21
Pushups – 22/22/21
Kettlebell Bent Over Row – 16kg – 12/12/11 x2
Alternating Kettlebell Press – 12kg – 9/8/8 x2
Chinups – 10/9/8
KB Single Leg RDL’s – 16kg x 2 – 10/9/9 x2

Felt surprisingly good during that workout. Everything felt fairly easy with the exception of the last few pushups and OHPs. Made some decent headway on chin-ups after being stuck for a while. I am sneaking up on 10 x 3. Thanks owed to SS and his pinky tip he posted somewhere recently. I remember that he mentioned to wrap your outer fingers first and make sure you are gripping as tight as possible with your pinky fingers. And something about trying to place your tail bone into the nape of your neck while exhaling through your eyelids and trying to turn your shoulders inside out making sure not to flare your elbows. I may have some of that mixed up but am pretty sure I got the pinky thing right.

2575 cal/202 carb/90 fat/245 protein/44 fibre

June 9 – 148.3 lbs

13 mins mobility work and stretching.

Rower – 30min, 6754m
An improvement over the last time I did 30min but I don’t do those often due to fear of premature death.

2663 cal/266 carb/87 fat/221 protein/67 fibre

June 10 – 149.1 lbs

Mobility work and stretching done between exercises.
Goblet Squats – 16kg – 22/22/22
Pushups – 22/22/22
Kettlebell Bent Over Row – 16kg – 12/12/12 x2
Alternating Kettlebell Press – 12kg – 10/9/8 x2
Chinups – 10/9/9
KB Single Leg RDL’s – 16kg x 2 – 10/10/9 x2

Managed to add another chin-up using pinky hax again.

2581 cal/276 carb/71 fat/218 protein/49 fibre

June 11 – 150.0 lbs

15 mins mobility work and stretching.

Rower – 2000m, 8:36.4
Took a lot of self-convincing to sit on the rower even for a mini row after a couple hours of prepping fences for staining. I haggled myself down to a 2k from a 5k. After the 2k I felt like I should do more. I didn’t though.

2339 cal/223 carb/72 fat/211 protein/33 fibre

June 12 – 149.8 lbs

I spent about twelve hours straight working around the house on cleaning and organizing a tiny fraction of what ultimately needs to be done at some point. Most of this time was spent outside organizing the shed but also managed to relocate a pile of stones, cleaned up a few kitchen cupboards and sent my brother off with a rug, couple lamps, some curtains and curtain rods and a jar of mysterious marmalade or jam of some sort. Our entire house needs a good dose of organizing, cleaning and purging. If you need something, please stop by. We are currently out of curtains, curtain rods and mystery marmalade.
I intended to workout but made the fatal mistake of sitting down first. No go. Rogue fitness order is in limbo still.

2461 cal/246 carb/72 fat/231 protein/60 fibre

June 13 – 148.8 lbs

Mobility work and stretching done between exercises.

Goblet Squats – 16kg – 23/22/22
Pushups – 23/22/22
Kettlebell Bent Over Row – 16kg – 13/12/12 x2
Alternating Kettlebell Press – 12kg – 10/9/9 x2
Chinups – 10/10/9
KB Single Leg RDL’s – 16kg x 2 – 11/10/10 x2

2363 cal/204 carb/74 fat/235 protein/49 fibre

June 14 – 149.8 lbs

15 mins mobility work and stretching.

Rower – 3 x 1000m/2min light, 12:47.5 for the 3k and another 680m during rest periods

2514 cal/231 carb/73 fat/243 protein/45 fibre

June 15 – 149.1 lbs

Mobility work and stretching done between exercises.
Goblet Squats – 16kg – 23/23/22
Pushups – 23/23/22
Kettlebell Bent Over Row – 16kg – 13/13/12 x2
Alternating Kettlebell Press – 12kg – 10/9/9//9 x2
Chinups – 10/9/9//5
KB Single Leg RDL’s – 16kg x 2 – 10/11/11 x2

Squats were easy for a change but the last set of pushups were tough tonight as well as everything that followed. I wasn’t able to add any reps to the presses and I fell back by one rep on chin-ups. I went back and added another set of each (1/2 set for chins) between sets of rdl’s.

The Rogue Fitness order finally shipped out today. No clue how long it will take to get up here.

2528 cal/218 carb/79 fat/241 protein/53 fibre

June 16 – 149.1 lbs

12 mins mobility work and stretching.

10min+ swim

Equipment should arrive by end of day Monday. 1,305 pounds on two pallets on it's way from London now having gone from Columbus to Detroit first.

2469 cal/250 carb/85 fat/195 protein/54 fibre

June 17 – 148.9 lbs

Mobility work and stretching done between exercises.
Goblet Squats – 16kg – 23/23/23
Pushups – 23/15/15//16
Kettlebell Bent Over Row – 16kg – 10/10/10//10 x2
Alternating Kettlebell Press – 12kg – 9/9/9//9 x2
Chinups – 10/8/9//6
KB Single Leg RDL’s – 16kg x 2 – 10/13/11 x2

Super tired and came up short on just about everything. Added a fourth set of pushups, rows, presses and chins at the end. Didn’t get started until 10pm after a few hours of yard work. Been moving soil, planting hedges, moving stone and other random backyard stuff all week while work is being a gigantic douche so have been getting home after 7 all week. Considered taking a pass on any exercise tonight but am out tomorrow night (going to UFC Fight Night 89) and have to work most of the day so not likely to be able to squeeze anything in until Sunday. Need more sleep, more food maybe and less other stuff.

2556 cal/266 carb/70 fat/235 protein/70 fibre

June 18 – 148.8 lbs

Mini swim.
Lots of beer and lots of walking. UFC event was pretty awesome.

3646 cal/338 carb/89 fat/242 protein/70 fibre + or - a beer or 2, probably +

June 19 – 148.6 lbs

No exercise. Fair amount of yard work and indoor cleaning. Wife is away for the better part of a week and it looks like carving out time to exercise is going to be tricky.

2286 cal/179 carb/79 fat/219 protein/42 fibre

June 20 – 148.7 lbs

No exercise. Spent most of the night watering new sod. Power outage from 4pm until 11pm made things fun. We just got a year’s worth of meat delivered on Saturday that had me a bit anxious. All neighbors to our left and across the street still had power, to the right and behind were without. I plugged our fridge and freezers into the neighbors at some point. Thanks Neighbor!
UPS are dip****s. I might still get the Rogue order eventually though.
I will be eating ice cream bars and doritos until my weight starts moving up.

2932 cal/252 carb/124 fat/199 protein/50 fibre

June 21 – 148.6 lbs

No exercise again, looks like I’m taking a week off. Yard work continues.

2500 cal/247 carb/79 fat/214 protein/59 fibre

June 22 – 149.1 lbs

Rogue Fitness gear finally arrived. Other than hauling all of that stuff into the garage and setting it up no real exercise took place. Fiddled a bit with pin and pipe safeties which resulted in a handful of bar only squats and benches but that was it. If not tonight, then Saturday I’ll get to try it all out hopefully. Need to find a home for the GHD before I bother assembling it.

2641 cal/244 carb/77 fat/211 protein/69 fibre

Before pics:


After pics:

Looks awesome. Time for squats and milk?

Yes! It's time!


June 23 – 148.1 lbs

Mobility work and stretching done between sets. Picked up where I left off with CoachTrainerDude at the end of May and just added a few pounds to everything. OHP was super difficult, last reps of each set were pretty sketchy. Failed really early on third set of chins, not sure if I cut the rest too short or was just tired. This session took way long as I spent substantial time on set ups. Odd weights due to treating bar as 45 pounds before realizing it is 20kg.

Squats – bw x 10, 44lbs x 10, 79lbs x 20
Bench – 44lbs x 7, 69lbs x 10 x 3 sets
Bent over rows – 44lbs x 7, 69lbs x 10 x 3 sets
OHP – 56.5lbs x 10 x 3 sets
Chin ups – 10/9/6
Dips – 9/8/8
Curls – 56.5lbs x 10 x 3 sets

3060 cal/354 carb/83 fat/230 protein/58 fibre

I think I will just treat the bar as 45 pounds from now on even if it is not quite. I have informed the folks at Guinness World Records I will be doing so just to be sure to avoid any misunderstanding in the future.

Cool setup bro. I'm jelly.