Hello all. Long time lurker and T-Nation addict posting for the first time. I was thinking of taking a pause from my normal strongman routine (been going strong for a solid year now on this particular program) and trying Dan Johns 40 Day program. Was wondering if doing it with some strongman lifts would be wise or if it should be used with more basic movements like the program suggests.
Was thinking:
Deadlift
Loglift
Supinated grip rows
Keg/Bag toss
Farmers
Would this allow for the proper development within the program?
Im looking forward to the break from squats to be honest. My all time favorite lift but my hips need a break. Cant get them to stop feeling strained at the moment (back squats mon/front squats fri currently. combined with Deadlifts Wed/ sumo Deads fri)
At the same time it just doesnt seem like a complete workout without Squats to me. Thats why I opted for deadlift and loglift as opposed to bench etc so I could keep legs involved.
Anyways any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks for you time and looking forward to learning more from you guys.
I am not familiar with that program - would you be able to provide a high level overview of what it involves? Or a link to the article if that is where you read about it.
For the next 40 workouts, do the exact same training program every day. (For the record, I find that most of my goals are reached by day 20 or 22, so you can also opt for a shorter period.)
Pick five exercises. I suggest you do a squatting movement like the goblet squat or overhead squat as part of the warm-up, as you donâ??t want to ignore the movement, but it might be fun to focus on other aspects of your body.
Focus on these five movements:
â?¢ A large posterior chain movement (the deadlift is the right answer)
â?¢ Upper body push (bench press, incline bench press, military press)
â?¢ Upper body pull (pull-ups, rows, or, if youâ??ve ignored them like me, heavy bicep curls)
â?¢ A simple full-body explosive move (kettlebell swings or snatches)
â?¢ And something for what I call an â??anterior chainâ?? move (an abdominal exercise). I think the ab wheel is king here, but you can also do some other movements best suited for lower reps.
Only do two sets of five reps per workout for the deadlift and push/pull exercises, and one set of 20 to 50 for the explosive move. Do a solid single set of five reps for the abs.
Never plan or worry about the weight or the load. Always stay within yourself and go heavy â??naturally.â??
Donâ??t eat chalk, scream, or pound on walls. Simply do each lift without any emotion or excitement and strive for perfect technique.
Warpaint, did you decide to give it a try? Coming from Dan John, I’m really surprised there’s nothing in there about weighted carries as part of the routine.
I’ve done it before and it works as advertised. I’ve never done strongman so I don’t know how to tailor it to your needs, but reasonable substitutions should be ok as long as you pick an exercise from each category. Low bar squat would count as a posterior chain exercise imo if you still want to squat.
I decided to go for it with the program I put up for questions. Im into day four so its to early to say much.
I will say that the workout is very short compared to what im used to. That being said repeating it all again the next day makes me understand why it is such low volume. First day I was a little to conservative with the weight so I bumped up a bit the second day to a more effective load. Takes some tweaking to figure out.
For the first time in a long time im not dead ass sore all the time so thats weird and new.
Ill update more after ive made some more progress into the program and let you guys know how it goes.
Hoping to set some PRs after!
Reason I havent updated. Had a motorcycle accident. Ill have to restart this program to give an accurate measure of progress once im healed up. Ill get to it as soon as im able.