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Plan: 8-week strength rebuild (Feb 1 – Mar 28). Cut short at Week 6 — upper body hit MRV, systemic overreach confirmed.

What happened: CNS readaptation outpaced the plan. Every lift ran 1–3 weeks ahead of schedule. Progressed too fast, accumulated fatigue faster than tissue could recover.

W6 peak numbers (LGW):

• Bench: 75 kg 3×6 (last set RIR 0 — first time)
• Leg Press: 145 kg 3×8
• Squat: 60 kg 3×8
• Hip Thrust: 80 kg 3×8 (still had margin)
• Bulgarian: 2×16 kg 3×6/leg
• DB OHP: 24 kg 3×8 (test 26 kg ×6)
• DB Press: 30 kg ×8 (controlled, with pauses — potential for 34)
• Seated Row: +1 full plate beyond previous max
• Lat Pulldown: 80 kg ×5 (heavy)

Red flags at W6:

• Chest/shoulder “tearing” sensation under load for 3 weeks — not DOMS, likely micro-strain or early tendinopathy. Pain only during exercise, not at rest.
• HRV dropped from ~120 → 96.
• Sleep deteriorated for 2–3 days before deload decision.
• Upper body had zero reserve. Lower body still had 2–3 weeks of gas.

Body comp (bad): +1 cm thigh, 0 cm bicep. Classic AMPK-dominant partitioning — calories going to fat, not muscle. Started leucine + HBCD protocol around strength sessions to shift mTOR signaling.

Lessons:

• Upper body MRV: ~6 weeks at this progression rate. Lower body: 7–8 weeks.
• The “tearing” needs monitoring during deload — if not resolved in 7–10 days, see sports physio.
• Deload = active (-20%, 2 sets, RIR 5). Never passive zero. Confirmed again empirically.

February 10th, 2026 — starting my fourth cycle of brain-health supplementation (NeuroForge 4.0). Two months on, three months off. Same principle as always: structural building, not stimulation.

Lion’s Mane returns to the stack — it was part of an earlier cycle and I’m bringing it back for NGF signaling alongside the BDNF I get from running.

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Daily protocol

Morning (with breakfast — must include fat)

Supplement	Dose	Role
Uridine	250 mg	Synaptic membrane building, synergy with DHA + Alpha-GPC
Alpha-GPC	300 mg	Acetylcholine precursor → focus, processing speed
PQQ	20 mg	Mitochondrial biogenesis
CoQ10	100 mg	ATP production, mitochondrial support
ALCAR	1000 mg	Fatty acid transport, mental stamina, neuroprotection
Rhodiola	500 mg	Adaptogen → mental endurance under cognitive load
Lion’s Mane	1000 mg	NGF promoter → neuroplasticity, nerve regeneration
Thorne 2/Day	1 cap	Micronutrient base (AM)

Midday (after lunch)

Supplement	Dose	Role
Bacopa	1 tab	Long-term memory, cortisol modulation, calming
Thorne 2/Day	1 cap	Micronutrient base (PM)

Evening (2–3 hours before bed)

Supplement	Dose	Role
Neuro-Mag (Mg L-Threonate)	3 caps (144 mg Mg)	Synaptic density, working memory, deep sleep
Phosphatidylserine	100 mg	Lowers evening cortisol, neuronal membranes
ProDHA Xtra	2 caps (960 mg DHA + 410 mg EPA)	Neuronal structure, myelin, overnight repair

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What’s new in Cycle 4

• Lion’s Mane — back in the stack. NGF pathway, complementary to BDNF from running.
• DHA doubled — from 480 mg to 960 mg. I carry a genetic variant limiting endogenous synthesis.
• Rhodiola replaces Ashwagandha — different mechanism: monoamines and MAO inhibition vs HPA axis. Better fit for sustained cognitive output.

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Architecture, not a pharmacy

Structural core (building materials): DHA, Uridine, Phosphatidylserine, Mag L-Threonate — literally what neurons are made of.

Energy infrastructure (power on the construction site): PQQ, CoQ10, ALCAR — mitochondrial biogenesis, fuel, and fatty acid transport.

Growth signals (the architect’s instructions): Lion’s Mane (NGF), Bacopa (memory consolidation), Alpha-GPC (signal transmission).

Environment (weather protection): Rhodiola (stress resilience), Thorne 2/Day (micronutrient insurance).

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Timeline

• Full stack: 2 months (February–March 2026).
• Rhodiola: 8 weeks, then pause.
• DHA, PS, Neuro-Mag, Thorne: may extend to 3 months.
• Next cycle: earliest June 2026.

NeuroForge 4.0 begins.

I barely played chess in 2025 — maybe three months total.
But for pure brain hygiene, I jumped back in on Dec 28.

Warm-up: Lichess alt, pure chaos (in a good way)

I created a fresh alt account on Lichess and played 8 games.

• Result: 8/8 wins
• Rating jumped to 1975 — obviously provisional with high rating deviation
• The “this might not be a fluke” moment: I beat a player rated 1848 with 4500+ games

Yes, provisional spikes are noisy. But still: you don’t accidentally go 8–0 while playing like a tourist.

Reality check: Chess.com and the “stop hiding” moment

Then I moved to Chess.com:

• On an alt, I hit 1434 with provisional volatility.
• On another account, I had 1426 — also likely a good streak + deviation doing its thing.

At that point I thought: fine. Enough ego games.
Time to go to the main account and finally earn 1400 properly.

Main account: no free lunch

Four–five months earlier I tried to push to 1400, failed, and even dropped below 1300.
This time the story was different:

• Losses started showing up (good — it means I’m actually in my pool).
• RD (rating deviation) stabilized around 64.
• After 19 games, on Jan 4, I hit 1407 on the main account.

Three accounts at 1400+ is not “lucky variance” anymore.
Call it validated.

What actually changed

The progress didn’t come from nowhere — I could feel my game was simply stronger.

This time I played around exchanges and restriction: I traded only when it reduced my opponent’s piece activity and made their pieces less effective.
I’d read Hellsten’s Mastering Chess Strategy before and couldn’t apply it — now the Exchanges ideas finally clicked.

Next target

1400 is done. Next: 1500.

This wasn’t about big money. It was about applying the method properly.

I had a negotiation coming up — small scale, modest stakes — but a rare opportunity to test principled negotiation in real conditions. So I did my homework. Around eight hours of preparation: analyzing the offer, planning the approach, mapping priorities.

I followed Fisher and Ury’s framework step by step:

• Separate the people from the problem
• Focus on interests, not positions
• Invent options for mutual gain
• Insist on objective criteria

Early conclusion: the offer was already fair. But I pressed on — this was training ground.

I found a few cracks. Minor leverage points. Trade-off opportunities. Enough to work with.

Then came the actual discussion. And the offer turned out to be even more fair than I’d assumed. I was losing ground. At that point, saying YES would have been perfectly reasonable.

But I’d prepared for eight hours. And then Lockley’s voice came back: just ask. And Rohn’s: ask for what you want — nicely, but ask.

So I asked. For a better price. With a BATNA I wasn’t even confident in.

The other side grimaced. I felt the relationship strain for a moment.

That’s when I shifted. Instead of defending a position, I revealed the interest behind it: constraints, obligations, the need to optimize. I even mentioned considering a smaller scope as an alternative.

Something changed. She stopped defending and started problem-solving. Asked about my actual budget. I told her — honestly. And she found an option that worked for both of us.

That’s the shift Fisher and Ury talk about: from positional bargaining to joint problem-solving. It only happened because the rapport was already there. Soft on the person, hard on the problem — it held.

Result: ~7% off. Relationship intact.

Fisher and Ury also say: calculate when it’s worth negotiating. Financially? This barely broke even — prep time versus savings. But as practice, as process, as proof that the method works even from a weak position?

Worth it. The experience stays. That’s the real return.

For almost two months I went all-in on GoWOD.

At first it was 8 minutes a day, then I got hooked and it became closer to ~16 minutes daily.
My mobility score climbed (about +17%), the streak was strong, and for once this felt like a clean, sustainable system.

And then — instead of a reward — I got a penalty.

On 18 Dec 2025 during pancake and some hip “push-out” style drills I felt a warning in my lower back.
Later that same day I still went to the gym and trained lower body (Bulgarian split squats + Romanian deadlifts).
That’s when I got a sharp “my back just went out” moment on the right side of my lower back.

The next day was brutal.
Day two wasn’t better, so I took a tablet to help it release faster.
It improved, I could move and train again — but the area stayed sensitive.

On 26 Dec 2025 I tried to “help” with passive long-sit stretching (legs straight forward) plus hip rotations… and it flared again.

This is uncomfortably similar to what happened two years ago: big flexibility gains, then a twist, then the worst back episode of my life.

So I’m done outsourcing this to an app.

Plan

• quit GoWOD (the habit stays, the app doesn’t)
• build my own short mobility sessions as a Garmin workout list
• keep a strict “do-not-do” blacklist for movements that irritate my back
  (especially deep end-range flexion + rotation)
• bias toward active mobility and stability over passive end-range stretching

Two months of work did build one valuable thing: consistency.
Now I’ll keep the consistency — and remove the randomness.