Played around with a few different ways of rigging the chain and by the end had it just about dialed in with a setup where the chain is almost totally resting at the bottom and almost totally off the ground at the top. Will alternate weeks of “eight doubles with 225 plus some chains” and “work up to a heavy double with straight weight” for a couple of cycles.
My longer-term idea is to have some fun with a little randomness, using coin flips to decide by week (straight weight vs chains), (dynamic effort vs max effort) and doing a similar thing for deadlifts. But for the next few months I’ll alternate weeks to build the base a little more.
Couple things going on here. First, my back and shoulders still feel run down and I want to take another few days off pressing.
Second, deadlifts are feeling really great.
Third, I remembered this Dan John article from years ago about a half-hour deadlift challenge (his version was doing 60 reps with 315 - either a double every minute or a single every 30 seconds) and I am pretty sure sometime in 2016 or 2017 I did a modified version (30 singles with 405) and encouraged others on here to do the same. I think I made a thread about it.
These days I am older, have less time to train and am not quite as strong (though I feel good about the way things are heading now) so I decided to try 30 singles with 315.
Loved it. Feel like a million bucks.
I might try to do this semi-regularly on my Friday deadlift days, maybe once or twice a month. 315 is a sweet spot for me - light enough that it shouldn’t beat me up but heavy enough to mean a little something.
So I had to drop in on yours now, and liked a ton of posts. Still love your simple but effective and organized method. And you still have a great level of every day/any day strength! Good stuff!
Posting a quick summary update here since I’ve just checked in with some old friends who may pop in to see what I’m up to:
had hernia surgery last August
took the prescribed 4 weeks off lifting anything heavy after that, then started with some kettlebells for awhile before touching a barbell
have been enjoying somewhat of a “ground-up” rebuild of the barbell lifts
currently squatting on Mondays, deadlift variations on Wednesdays and Fridays, and sometimes extra deadlifts when I just can’t resist
but mostly…I should be doing kettlebell workouts on the non-MWF days, resisting temptation to do more deadlifts than I’ve got scheduled already
post-surgery, have done an easy box squat double at 260 and deadlifted 440 in both sumo stance and conventional stance without anything like “max” effort (the sumo feels especially good right now)
my goal by summer’s end is to manage a 495 deadlift in both sumo stance and conventional stance and then evaluate where to go long term, I’ve got some ideas that I feel really good about
For those that don’t know, I had about a five-year period in my early/mid 20’s (right after finishing 4 years of college football, when I still was young and energetic and needed to keep those competitive/athletic juices flowing) where I was a semi-serious long distance runner. Best times of 4:56 in the 1500 meters, 18:20 in the 5K, and 1:27 for a half marathon.
Once we moved out to the suburbs (our neighborhood is terribly hilly and not at all pleasant to run in) and had kids, I gave that up as I found lifting in the garage gym both more doable with kids and more desirable as a primary fitness interest - but from time to time I do still have a hankering to do at least a little running! Somewhat along the lines of Alan Thrall’s recent videos…being able to jog 15-20 minutes once or twice a week would be good for general health, it would also mean when I’m traveling I don’t always have to find a gym or kettlebells, etc.
My wife also has a bit of a running history, and she ran a 6-mile leg of the marathon relay with our church’s team in this year’s Pittsburgh Marathon. So that’s kicked me over the edge into “I’m gonna start running at least once a week” and see how it goes. Lifting is still my primary fitness interest but now I’ll be adding a Sunday morning run, no major goals other than being able to run 2-3 miles at something mildly above a light jog. Starting with an easy 15 minute jog around 10 minute mile pace, thinking over the next year or so I’ll get this up to something like 3 miles in 25 minutes. No intention of being a full on marathon runner again, but at least in good enough shape that I could do a turkey trot 5K or something on a lark, and while I’m traveling at least have the option of “just go for a run” if a gym is not easily accessible every day.
Montour Trail is really nice. Packed/crushed limestone for the most part. I’ve ridden my bike on it, and at times can lose track of how far out I’ve gotten. Most sections are +/- about a 3% grade.
The section from the valleybrook trail head is very flat from there to the bike rental/icecream shop!
Yeah, that’s definitely the best place to run locally and I probably should start actually taking advantage of it. Just need to get over my pride a little at the thought of getting in the car and driving somewhere for such a short run!
In my youthful running prime, sometimes folks from the group I was training with would come out and run the Montour Trail on Saturday mornings, but that’s because we were doing like 14-16 miles and it was actually worth a drive. Feels a bit silly for me to get in the car and drive somewhere (though from my house it wouldn’t be far) just to trot 2 or 3 miles. But I may have to, because my neighborhood is awful - just huge steep hills in any direction no matter which way you go - can’t leave my house in any direction.without a big uphill in the first half-mile, And it’s not like I can’t run any hills - I was running in Pittsburgh - but at least in the city you could come up with routes that were mostly rolling gentle hills. Around my house it’s just uphill or downhill constantly.
Oh yeah, I’m familliar with the terrain. I feel the same way about biking too. My current and previous house was down a nice hill, then right on to the trail. Its awesome. Until you come back!
Way back when I used to run I used to get shin splints something fierce, I think in part from foot slapping down some big asphalt hills. I don’t know a whole lot about running though.
Still nudging it up 5-10 pounds at a time. I’m gonna keep this up through a late-June trip I have planned, then start with my fancy cool new programming idea.
I’ll just say the high-level idea now though: it’s a spin on Westside-style Conjugate programming with varied exercises and dynamic/max effort days. My fun twist is that I’ll choose the variations each week using daily coin flips to choose the implement (barbell vs axle/SSB depending on the exercise), loading (dynamic vs max effort) and resistance (straight weight vs chains).
Really excited about this. I think it should be a sustainable way for me to train long-term and maybe even break some PR’s without grinding myself down.
Yeah I even thought about making some loose “rules” to protect against that - limits on the number of max effort days in a week and/or weeks in a row doing max effort for the same exercise. I wouldn’t really mind if I get three dynamic effort workouts in a row - they are fun and don’t beat me up too much.
I also considered the idea of using dice instead of coin flips and stacking it so I’m more likely to get certain options. But I think I’ll just use the coin flip, reserving the right to set some limitations or call audibles like you suggested.
The cool thing about this idea is that with even just the coin-flip to choose between “2 options” each for implement, loading, and resistance - that’s eight different “variations” of a squat workout! Great way to work on some subtle variety and give the chance to keep setting sort of “local PR’s” on those minor variations.
I want to get my “495 in both stances” deadlift this summer, and then we’ll see where to go from there. Right now…I have to admit that I would really like to make a push to pull 600 again next summer (on or around my 40th birthday). I cracked 600 in August 2017 and pulled an all-time best of 620 in September 2018. I was frankly too fat for my liking in 2018 (though I don’t think I really realized it at the time) so while that was my all time PR, I’m still sort of seeking a more satisfying all-time PR; I want to log a 600-plus deadlift at a healthier body weight, like 220 or so. Now that I’ve mastered hook grip and have a pretty good thing going with sumo stance, I think a comp-legal 600 at 220ish next summer could be in the cards with some renewed focus and this training approach to build up weak points.
