-1.1 mile run
-Bar hang
-30 second goblet sit
-20 minutes EMOM work
-1.1 mile run
The EMOM work was supposed to be:
1 snatch 95lb, 1 burpee. But after round 7 the barbell broke irreparably. So without time to think about it, I did the last 13 minutes as:
5 burpees.
Notes:
First mile felt easy.
The snatching was fine, was working on catching it lower, 20 rounds would have probably helped a lot with technique.
The second mile still wasn’t hard, but I clearly have plenty of room to improve.
I’ll need to get a new bar soon. Can get by with sandbag+burpees+other activities for a while. And can always go back to my gym if I need to.
Amazingly enough, Easy Strength is actually what I would think is the absolute right call here. But it needs to be used the way it was designed: you do Easy Strength for STRENGTH, and then you do whatever else you need for SPORT.
So in this case, you’d still be doing Easy Strength 15 minutes a day 5 days a week, and then you’d have 45 minutes a day ( assuming 1 hour of training) to become a better Spartan Racer. Whatever needs bringing up and focus gets it.
Appreciate the nod, and always happy to spitball on this.
Roger that, got it!
Ya know, I was over-complicating by thinking of the entire “Easy Strength with Olympic Lifting for Fat Loss” program as one immutable object. In which case, mobility and warmup are 6-8 minutes, lifting is 15 minutes ish, and a long weighted walk takes up the rest of the hour.
So to be fair, my new approach, which is:
-1 mile run
-20ish minute lifting session
-1 mile run
Would work perfectly fine by doing the Easy Strength rx as the middle of the sandwich, and the runs take the place of the long walk!
That being said, I do think it’s more important at this moment to focus on conditioning-heavy movements between the runs, to develop a high tolerance for non-stop exertion for long periods of time; not that snatch and C&J aren’t perfect for this - they are! - but to get the most out of ESOL I need to be able to focus on technique, rather than what I feel is more important for the Spartan prep.
AND having broken my barbell today, I’ll have a few sessions to think about it while I do non-barbell movements!
Since I have your attention @T3hPwnisher (thanks for dropping in by the way) I noticed my cheap bar is $75 at Academy, whereas an olympic bar from rogue/titan/etc is often $500+.
Do you think it’ll last 8x as long with repeated heavy drops? Or some other quality factor is at play?
A quality barbell will absolutely stand up to more abuse than a cheapo one. Now, actual honest to goodness abuse (like intentionally dropping it onto pins) is still screwing with equipment, but a rugged weightlifting bar will stand up to a LOT of weightlifting.
I have a Rogue echo bar that I put through the ringer on the regular and it’s doing just fine. You don’t need to go absolute top of the line, but you can still get quality.
Oh just noticed one other thing @T3hPwnisher - ES is 5 days per week, as you pointed out, and i’m only training 3x/week. So i do also feel it appropriate to get a little more work in those sessions. Suppose i could stack 2 ES sessions into each session though…
I’d feel like the frequency of ES is key to its success. You’re ultimately just practicing strength: frequent practice is necessary. You can’t cram for a swim test. With Easy Strength workouts being so short, I’d try to keep the frequency of it, even if it’s the ONLY thing I did on that particular training day.
Indeed. I felt that the past couple weeks, while doing it at reduced frequency.
However, even 15 minutes is too much to ask right now on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Maybe someday…
3/29/23
1 mile ish run, to a “hill” (slight incline actually. There are no hills around here).
5 rounds: 10 pushups, 1 “hill” sprint
1 mile ish run back home.
I’ve ordered a barbell: Rogue “Boneyard” (that’s the discounted scratch-and-dent section) Echo bar. Thanks @atlas13 I’m pretty sure you recommended the boneyard. Apologies if it was someone else.
Meanwhile, I’m planning to use the 100lb sandbag tomorrow. Concerned though because both of my elbows, but especially the right, are bothering me. This probably correlates with weight loss.
I will work hard regardless, but I don’t need to be injured. I pick up babies and kids a lot and a damaged biceps or whatever-the-hell-it-is in my elbow won’t make that easier.
I never found she sand bag effected my elbows. maybe you could just throw it on your shoulder and walk as afar as possible in 10 mins, then 3 min break and repeat but beat the first distance. shouldn’t be too hard on the arms.
Oh great idea. I had planned a lot of sandbag-over-shoulder, which would hit the elbows every rep. But thanks to you im going to try something ive always wanted: 1 mile carry. But in the shoulder position so the elbows can catch a break!
24 hours later: both elbows are pretty inflamed - that walk was much harder on them (and harder in general) than i imagined.
And my traps up both sides of my neck are crazy sore.
Did get 2 more miles of walking with the family yesterday.
4/3/23 Monday
No sessions over the weekend- was pretty beat up from the mile bag carry.
Did chop a couple pines down with an axe, and took lots of walks, so sufficient activity I’d say.
This morning:
1.1 mile run
10x6 burpees, EMOM
1.1 mile run
Barbell should arrive Wednesday afternoon, so Wed morning session will be without it and then a new normal can be established Friday.
4/7 Friday
1.1 mile stroller push walk
1.1 mile run
20 minutes EMOM snatches
1.1 mile run
The EMOM:
first few minutes were warming up, using a dowel, then a pipe, then empty bar.
Then slowly added weight so the last several rounds were singles with 95lbs.
8/9 easter.
Some Sunday morning fun.
Haven’t benched in weeks so this was cool.
Worked Bench up to 3x185 and 1x205. Not redlining just checking.
Then deadlifts up to 1x345
Felt very weak and my lower back wouldn’t stay straight, had to end it there. But no worries, that goes with the territory losing weight and focusing on other things.
1.1 run
10 minutes EMOM: 3 front squats 135lb
1.1 run
Whoa. Around minute 5 of FS i cramped up in nearly every lower body muscle. Glutes, hams, quads, flexors… started drinking a propel between sets but stuck with it and kept up with the timer.
The weight never felt heavy.
Idk if its dehydration or something else.
Anyway the subsequent run felt like rubber bands were holding my legs back. They wouldn’t thrust FORWARD to catch the next step… after a half mile or so i think it loosened but now I’m back and just sitting down i can feel everything tighten again. Weird.
Quick soreness update: VERY.
Seriously I’ve had DOMS but this is more like IOMS. As if that were a thing.
And it wasn’t heavy or what I’d consider a ton of work.