As in you are doing too much ? Or you cant find time ?
Good thought re using conditioning to kill two birds with one stone and fill a potential gap. Obviously not the sort of work that will win powerlifting comps or bodybuilding shows, but for someone looking to streamline due to business and still keep a solid standard of leg strength and development it should work on well I’d have thought.
26/02/26 - Morning weigh in 206.75 climbing fast, but going to let it for the time being, my history tells me I’ll level out soon and getting past that sticking point will be a mammoth effort, so take the easy whilst it’s here.
Mobility work - check
Walk - check
Walk was super short (10 mins) due to work time constraints. Still routine maintained, another brick in the habit wall.
Side note, way less screens and more walking = noticeable improvement in mental health (and I wouldn’t have said it was poor before hand).
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It’s mostly due to time for me, but I’d say my mental capacity gets in the way, too. I had no problem spending 2-3 hours in the gym 10 years ago. Now I just don’t want to. I’d like my sessions to be close to an hour and lately they’ve been 75 minutes consistently. That’s fine from time to time, but there are days I can’t go that long without putting more pressure/stress/responsibilities on my wife. If my plan requires more time than I have, then I’ll cut stuff on the fly. I’d prefer to pick a plan I can stick to and complete.
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I had no problem spending 2-3 hours in the gym 10 years ago. Now I just don’t want to
This mental switch hit me like a train. Came out of the blue, although it truthfully probably aligned with me getting my hormones sorted out and my head straight as a result, but yeah. I just completely lost my appetite for living in the gym and just wanted the minimum effective dose.
But what’s cool is: BECAUSE of all those years spend accumulating all that time in the gym, we can get away with minimalism.
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I am very thankful for the work I put in from age 17 to 30. Without it, I would probably be an average American which means overweight or obese. Something I probably don’t consider enough is how hard it would be to face drastic weight loss with my current level of motivation and mental resources.
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@simo74 I have to admit that I have options. I could try to squeeze in conditioning on days I don’t lift. I should probably take a page out of @SvenG’s book and use the Schwinn Airdyne bike that’s in my basement.
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26/02/26
LWIWWIW
LH TBDL:
68, 108, 148kg x 5
168kg x 3
188, 198kg x 1
148kg x 12
Hilariously you can hear both of my knees crack just after I break the floor! (Ignore the video name, it’s 198kg, miscalculated, disappointingly).
Bench:
60, 80kg x 5
90kg x 3
100, 110, 120, 125kg x 1 dropset into 100kg x 10
Didn’t think I’d done a 5/3/1 week so did it this week, turns out I did one last week, I was already up to top set deads when I discovered it (went to look for what I did last week!), rolled with it, aligns with the squat week now so that works. Felt good on the deads so went a bit harder. Think I’ll use 178kg as my TM for my first 531 program. Start light, long run way and all that.
Bench was decent, pushed a little bit on last week. The dropset really torched my pecs.
Ran out of time, will do accessories tomorrow.
Edit - still haven’t worked through 531 forever, need to make some time for it, but in the meantime I’ll hit the 531 week on squats and OHP then determine TMs - I’m keeping LH TBDL and Front squat as my main lifts for the foreseeable (probably until I hit 5 plates on the deads, and get thoroughly fed up of front squats, which might be next week!).
I’m really looking for 3 day a week strength focused program with days that don’t last too long.
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You and me both, but its amazing how hard it is to find 15 mins on non gym days. I find I am always balancing the need to train and feel like I am progressing (or at least maintaining) with spending time on other important things like family. The stupid thing is, I will miss doing a 20 min sandbag workout under the excuse of being more present at home, only to find my kids in their own rooms and my misses working on the lap top from home. I then waste that time doing basically nothing.
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This is me. Well, you know, with a husband instead of a misses.
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I like what I’ve been doing for conditioning lately. It only takes 10 minutes max. But if I do it as a standalone workout, it will take 25-30 minutes because of the warm-up and mobility stuff. So I just I’m currently training longer than I’d like per workout, but it’s saving me time in the long run. 
But then again, I would probably benefit from more warm-ups since I’m trying to give mobility some attention. And then I’m back to training more days per week which makes my schedule tight. My 4 days per week approach gives me flexibility to be human and not come off as obsessive.
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I know there are a ton of options in the push/pull/legs part but one of my favourites that I’ve run a couple of times is 1000% Awesome. You could also run Krypteia but that starts as a 4 day week
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Thanks, had a quick look, ticks the boxes and there’s a couple of interesting variations, did you run the first version in the book?
27/02/26 - 205.5
Mobility - check
Walk - check
Accessories follow up from yesterday:
GS1:
Trap bar rows: 68kg x 8 x 4 sets
DB Inc bench: 25kg x 12 x 4 sets
Cable side bends: 40kg x 8 e/s x 4 sets
GS2:
Chin ups: bwx 5, 10kg x 5 x 3 sets
Dips: bw, 10kg x 5 x 3 sets
Ab roll out: 10 x 4 sets
GS3
Ez curls: 23kg x 12 x 3 sets
OH tri cable ext: 30kg x 15 x 3 sets
HLR: 8 x 3 sets
GS2 was rudely interrupted by the 10kg plate which decided tobreak free of the belt (somehow, no idea I didn’t change it during sets) and fall directly onto my foot. No surprise that it caused a fair bit of pain (no choice words today!) caught me on the left foot, metatarsal and phalange on the big toe. Finished the session hobbling,with a lot of throbbing in my foot, bruising showing up already!
Session wise I kept it in line with Jim’s ethos, controlled feeling the muscles, keep the ego out.
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The squat and bench twice a week and OHP and DL on the midweek version?
I did that one and ended up getting a PR on squats despite being in a deficit. Was quite enjoyable and all the sessions were sub 1 hour quite comfortably from what I recall.
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Thanks for the suggestion! I just looked at it and it seems like it’s another template that will fit well with my current goals and mental capacity. As much as I hate to admit it, conditioning needs to be on my radar for the remainder of my life. I can’t reach my goals of being fit and athletic-ish without it.
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The template does leave plenty of capacity to hit conditioning. I remember thinking that I wish I’d discovered it when I used to play rugby as it would’ve fit in nicely with pre season and all the conditioning that entailed
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I’ve tentatively laid out a plan to run the Strength and Conditioning template next. It’s three days per week, too. I have one week left of my current leader, then a week to test TMs, then three weeks for the anchor. That should get me to warmer weather where I can get outside and run a bit.
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I will second this big time.
I rand Cleans instead of DLs and it worked just fine.
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I like the look of that one, I actually have a prowler in my home gym but got nowhere to use it.
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02/03/26 - 208.5
Away over the weekend, didn’t keep my routine (intentional, I want to be free mentally, I want useful habits, not burdens).
Had a great time with friends at an escape lodge (like an escape room but the whole accomodation is part of a much bigger escape - very well done and good company, we smashed it). Didn’t sleep well though and had absolutely zero desire to do this. Today it feels like I have the body heaviness of being absolutely baked on weed, without any of the fun.
Because of work commitments, I wanted something done today, so just came out to OHP, which went surprisingly well. Then decided to try front squats and see how they went, it’s 531 week so mentally easier.
OHP
40, 50, 60, 70kg x 5
52.5kg x 15
(Ignore the video label, clearly not with it today, definitely 70kg not 75kg, unfortunately!) Lost my head slightly rep 4 & 5, felt myself give a bit of knee wiggle rep 4 and thought that won’t do, then over thought rep 5 and was a bit out of rhythm and place, still got it though.
Front squats
60kg x 5
80kg x 3
90, 100, 110, 120kg x 1
Zero desire for a back off set - high rep front squats can do one today.
DB curls - 12.5kg x 10 x 3 sets
S/s ab rollout 6 x 3 sets
Called it a day here, took a long time to get this done, worked a very lazy pace. The supposedly token gesture with the abs and arms (just to keep myself doing what I said I would), ended up being a little more than that by virtue of having about 30 seconds break between supersets, fastest I moved all session.
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Thanks, and thanks @aholding88 - 1000% awesome it is.
Looking to keep front squats as the main squats and TBDL (low handle) as the main deadlift, bench and OHP will be standard.
Basing TMs on the following 1rms (which aren’t true 1rms):
Front squat: 120kg, that was comfortable earlier and had considered attempting 130kg, but decided to take the slower steadier route.
TBDL: 198kg, pretty confident that I have more than this, despite the cracking knees, so happy to use this and think it’s still conservative.
Bench: 125kg, feels pretty conservative, and that’s where I want to be.
OHP: 70kg, not sure if this is conservative enough, time will tell.
Leaving me with:
85% / 90%
FS: 102.5 / 107.5kg
TBDL: 167.5 / 177.5kg
Bench: 105 / 112.5kg
OHP: 60kg / 62.5kg
Glad I’m not the only who buys gym kit without having the space to use it!
Next thing is to take a other look at the program, figure out which version and the conditioning, then get some sort of idea of when to start.
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