Easy Strength for Fat Loss
Sunday - 04 February 2024
Workout: Easy conditioning, 1140-1235 (55 minutes)
1-pump burpees + 32-kg KB swings - 2x(25 + 25), 25-second rest between sets
WV walk - 30 kg - 30 minutes
Fasted. Slept in, so I got a late start, but it’s all good.
Easy Strength for Fat Loss
Sunday - 04 February 2024
Workout: Conditioning, 1705-1735 (30 minutes)
Push-up - 25, 25
??? - AMRAP, 15 minutes
BPA - black - 3 hi + 3 mid + 3 lo
BFP - black - 9
Assault bike - 10 cal
Rounds: 7 + 2 (8 full rounds in +1:22)
Still fasted—once again, just because (@alex_uk).
About those squats yesterday: It was a full 3 weeks since I last did some reps, and I’ll admit: I was a bit apprehensive about how they would go. But I got under the bar, and it all came back to me: No problem whatsoever. I think I might’ve actually done 21 or maybe even 22 reps, and there were definitely still more in the tank when I racked it. So yeah:
(Thanks, @shaneinga!)
Dropping dips and moving to 2x25 on push-ups daily this week. I find that I can control my pec activation much better with push-ups—in fact, there was a period of time when 100s of daily push-ups were my only “training” and I swear my chest was never bigger. Anyway, a nice pump and a bigger chest are what these daily reps are for this time around, so I guess we’ll see how it goes this week and adjust as necessary.
Oh, and I smashed the last 10 cals on the bike in 0:17 today—not that it means anything at all! But I like gamify’ing stuff sometimes, particularly because I do all of this alone, so it really is just me and the log book…
Easy Strength for Fat Loss
Monday - 05 February 2024
Workout: 6 of 40, 0435-0555 (80 minutes)
Alpha Male - 0430
Warm-up
Bar hang - 30 seconds
Goblet squat - 32 kg - 15
Begin: 0448; End: 0501; Duration: 13 minutes
Waiter’s walk - 4x25 yards - 35 lbs
Press - 140 lbs - 3, 3, 3
Chin-up - 5 lbs - 3, 3, 3
Deadlift - 280 lbs - 3, 3, 3
Ab mat crunch - 10 lbs - 10
Walk - 45 minutes
Fasted.
Maybe should’ve taken the deadlifts up by 10 lbs—5 lbs increments aren’t going to get me anywhere, really. On the other hand, I didn’t notice the increase at all, and maybe that’s just exactly how it should be?
I think I’ll try 285 tomorrow and see how it goes.
Easy Strength for Fat Loss
Monday - 05 February 2024
Workout: Conditioning, 1715-1755 (40 minutes)
Alpha Male - about 1130
Push-up - 25, 25
Seated calf raise - 170 lbs - 20, 20, 20
Bear complex - 95 lbs - 8, 8, 8
Assault bike - 50 cal
Haven’t done bear complexes in awhile, and man! do they suck or what? For some reason I thought 8 reps per set would be better than 5. I was wrong.
Managed the bike in about 3:24 today. It was tough because my legs were toast after the bear complexes, but I got it done.
Easy Strength for Fat Loss
Tuesday - 06 February 2024
Workout: 7 of 40, 0435-0600 (85 minutes)
Alpha Male - 0430
Warm-up
Bar hang - 30 seconds
Goblet squat - 32 kg - 15
Begin: 0446; End: 0502; Duration: 16 minutes
Waiter’s walk - 4x25 yards - 35 lbs
Press - 140 lbs - 3, 3, 3
Pull-up - 5 lbs - 3, 3, 3
Deadlift - 285 lbs - 3, 3, 3
Ab wheel - ramp (19) - 7, 3
Walk - 45 minutes
Fasted.
285 moved fine this morning, no real difference over 280 yesterday. I’ll stick with that for now. Not sure what’s up with the ab wheel: I’m tentative and the reps are sketchy—it’s like they got in my head for some reason.
Easy Strength for Fat Loss
Tuesday - 06 February 2024
Workout: Conditioning, 1625-1655 (30 minutes)
Alpha Male - about 1140
Push-up - 25, 25
??? - AMRAP, 15 minutes
Assault bike - 12 cal
Bench press - 225 lbs - 5
Bulgarian split squat - L/R - 2x30 lbs - 5
Rounds: 5 + 12 (6 full rounds in +1:50)
Bench press went much better today: Got all 5 reps in one shot in all 6 rounds. Not sure what last week was about—someone must’ve turned up gravity or something…
Easy Strength for Fat Loss
Wednesday - 07 February 2024
Workout: 8 of 40, 0430-0555 (85 minutes)
Alpha Male - about 0420
Warm-up
Bar hang - 30 seconds
Goblet squat - 32 kg - 15
Begin: 0442; End: 0456; Duration: 14 minutes
Waiter’s walk - 4x25 yards - 35 lbs
Press - 140 lbs - 3, 3, 3
Chin-up - 5 lbs - 3, 3, 3
Deadlift - 285 lbs - 3, 3, 3
HLR - 10
Walk - 45 minutes
Fasted.
Easy Strength for Fat Loss
Wednesday - 07 February 2024
Workout: Conditioning, 1625-1655 (30 minutes)
Alpha Male - none (I ran out!)
Push-up - 25, 25
??? - AMRAP, 15 minutes
Assault bike - 12 cal
Wendler row - 115 lbs - 10
Alternating DB hammer curl - L/R - 25 lbs - 10
Rounds: 5 + 12 (6 full rounds in +2:06)
Man, Wendler rows are some kind of magic! I wonder what would happen if I committed to daily reps?
No I don’t! I know exactly what would happen: I’d make real strides at looking like this guy.
Hmmm…
Easy Strength for Fat Loss
Thursday - 08 February 2024
Workout: 9 of 40, 0430-0555 (85 minutes)
Warm-up
Bar hang - 30 seconds
Goblet squat - 32 kg - 15
Begin: 0442; End: 0456; Duration: 14 minutes
Waiter’s walk - 4x25 yards - 35 lbs
Press - 140 lbs - 3, 3, 3
Pull-up - 5 lbs - 3, 3, 3
Deadlift - 285 lbs - 3, 3, 3
Ab mat crunch - 10 lbs - 10
Walk - 45 minutes
Fasted.
Deads were tough today. I was trying to consciously involve my legs, but it still felt like most of the work was in my lower back. On the upside, press felt better today than yesterday.
Nice work.
One way I have found to get my legs involved and firing is to pull myself to the bar with slightly bent knees and think of my hamstrings as a spring. Then I slowly straighten my legs while I slightly stand up to load up my hamstrings. Then resume position and pull.
Thanks, @shaneinga! And I appreciate the spring analogy: I like visual cues, particularly if they’re only in your mind’s eye—I actually get a lot out of pre-visualization for stuff like this. I’ll give it a shot in the morning!
Easy Strength for Fat Loss
Thursday - 08 February 2024
Workout: Conditioning, 1715-1750 (35 minutes)
Push-up - 25, 25
Standing calf raise - 65 lbs - 20, 20, 20
Neck extension - 17.5 lbs - 20, 20, 20
Neck flexion - 17.5 lbs - 20, 20, 20
Assault bike - 60 cal
I was supposed to do 70 lbs on the calf raises, but I messed up the loading…
Hey, look! The world didn’t end.
Easy Strength for Fat Loss
Friday - 09 February 2024
Workout: 10 of 40, 0430-0555 (85 minutes)
Warm-up
Bar hang - 30 seconds
Goblet squat - 32 kg - 15
Begin: 0442; End: 0457; Duration: 15 minutes
Waiter’s walk - 4x25 yards - 35 lbs
Press - 140 lbs - 3, 3, 3
Chin-up - 5 lbs - 3, 3, 3
Deadlift - 285 lbs - 3, 3, 3
Ab wheel - ramp (19) - 6, 4
Walk - 45 minutes
Fasted.
Easy Strength for Fat Loss
Friday - 09 February 2024
Workout: Conditioning, 1730-1755 (25 minutes)
Push-up - 25, 25
??? - AMRAP, 15 minutes
Assault bike - 12 cal
OA cable row - L/R - 40 lbs - 5
Arnold press - 2x25 lbs - 10
Rounds: 5 + 22 (6 full rounds in +0:56)
Wow, my legs are feeling it, whatever IT is. Maybe I’m getting more out of being deliberate about that with my deadlifts—certainly @shaneinga’s spring cue helped this morning!
Easy Strength for Fat Loss
Saturday - 10 February 2024
Workout: Easy conditioning, 0745-0840 (55 minutes)
1-pump burpees + 32-kg KB swings - 2x(25 + 25), 25-second rest between sets
WV walk - 30 kg - 30 minutes
Fasted. Slept in again, but got it done.
Easy Strength for Fat Loss
Saturday - 10 February 2024
Workout: Extra work, 1525-1600 (35 minutes)
Push-up - 25, 25
Donkey calf raise - 70 lbs - 20, 20, 20
Breathing squat - 235 lbs - 20
DB pullover - 25 lbs - 20
My legs were trembling today, and my elbows went numb, but I got it done. Remembered the pullovers this week, too!
Kick ass squats man. Inspirational hitting over 2PPS for 20 reps. When I went to do my 1+ at 250 this week I remembered Sven would knock this out for 20. Made ten seem much more reasonable.
Glad that cue worked for you.
@shaneinga - Thanks, my friend! I’m glad my squats put things in perspective, haha.
Seriously, though, it’s like that deadlift cue you gave me: We’re all just here pushing each other to be better!
Easy Strength for Fat Loss
Sunday - 11 February 2024
Workout: Easy conditioning, 1110-1205 (55 minutes)
1-pump burpees + 32-kg KB swings - 2x(25 + 25), 25-second rest between sets
WV walk - 30 kg - 30 minutes
Fasted. Got up about 0430 this morning, but Sundays have become my calm-before-the-storm, so I just enjoyed the quiet.
Totally worth it, too.
Easy Strength for Fat Loss
Sunday - 11 February 2024
Workout: Conditioning, 1410-1455 (45 minutes)
Push-up - 25, 25
??? - AMRAP, 15 minutes
Assault bike - 12 cal
Standing single-arm cable flye - L/R - 5 lbs - 8
Rear delt flye - 2x12 lbs - 12
Rounds: 4 + 37 (5 full rounds in +0:23; 6 in +3:38)
Still fasted. Not worth adjusting things to prevent this, so instead I’m just leaning into this OMAD thing on Sundays now. Not sure if it’s helping with the “cut,” but it’s also not hurting anything, so…
Messed around for about 10 or so minutes with different bands and setups for chest flyes, but I couldn’t find anything that gave the right tension, even with very deliberate MMC. In the end, I opted for high-to-low with the single-arm cable version, and I think it served its purpose.