2/25/25 - Daily Work
12 chins/42 pushups/66 BW squats in 5:00
2 mile walk w/ 20lb vest
Found a strongman competition nearby I might signup for. Oddly enough, I only went browsing because my boss randomly asked if I had any on the horizon. I told myself I was pretty much done competing in anything unless it was something that was close, looked fun/not too blatantly injurious, and that it wouldn’t require major changes to my programming; i.e. I could just show up and have at it. The events are car squat, log press away, keg carry/drag medley, rolling thunder hold, and sandbag to shoulder. It’s all the way in the fall and the early bird price is good until June, so I have an absurd amount of time to make a decision.
2/26/25 - Brian Alsruhe’s “45 Master Sessions”: Week 4, Day 4 (Light Squat)
Strength (20 minute time limit to get to top set):
A1) Bottoms Up Squats - 133/155/177/199/221/232/243 x 4
A2) Hanging Knee Crunches - 7 sets of 5
Volume (10 minute EMOM):
B1) Bottoms Up Squats - 155 x 5 x 10
B2) Ab Wheel - 10 sets of 3
Assistance (10 minute EMOM):
C) Bulgarian Split Squats - 29 per hand x 5 each leg x 10
45:23
This program is making me fall in love with squats again… didn’t see that coming. This day is so pedestrian on paper but it’s an absolute barnburner in reality. The Bulgarians, after the 17 sets I had already done, were just cruel.
Progression from Cycle 1: Strength 199 x 5 > 243 x 4, Volume 122 x 5 x 10 > 155 x 5 x 10
Outstanding work in here, absolutely inspiring, loved this:
I’m now back to 3 meals a day (but oats with water in the microwave, greek yogurt, whey and blueberries is hardly a meal, takes 2-3 mins max) but I’m genuinely delighted by eating good food, I “discovered” adding chocolate whey to plain yogurt creates some sort of awesome chocolate pudding, sure this is well known everywhere, but I was delighted, it’s the only non-single ingredient thing I eat. But I feel like you with your eggnog discovery.
100% with you here, I’m eyeing up some heavier sandbags to make this sort of thing more awful but I’m glad I don’t have to program it in with LP because yea it messed up my head with the whole lower/upper/randomwhattheheckdoicategorisethisas/lower/upper thing, that and it just destroys you when you still have half a week to finish off.
2/26/25 - Daily Work
12 chins/42 pushups/66 BW squats in 5:00
2 mile walk w/ 20lb vest
@alex_uk I love really good food too! That’s the driver behind the change honestly. I want eating to be a treat, not a chore. I’ve tried to look at eating as “sustenance” before; doesn’t work for me. I’ve already lived spartan-like enough in that way and others, I have no desire for it anymore.
Not sure what you consider “heavier”, but I have a 200lb bag. I can carry it… and that’s pretty much it, but with Brian’s EMOM format, its gonna be sitting in the corner for awhile, haha. Goals one day for sure though!
Looking forward to following along with your run of LP!
Not the best nutrition wise, but back in college we had grab and go vanilla protein Greek yogurts. Every day after working out, I’d have one of those, but I’d add in a spoonful of chunky peanut butter, a drizzle of honey, and just a dash of salt. To date, one of my favorite sweet dishes I’ve ever made
Same, I’m so thoroughly enjoying eating high quality food that eating this way is a delight, I’m keen to eat more again, but that’ll come after this leaning out phase, everything in it’s own season!
Currently got a 50kg/110lb and 75kg/165lb, eyeing up a 100kg/220lb and a 120kg/264lb, they’ll be bags I grow into for sure!
Yea I’m excited to do it, and looking forward to seeing how this full year of Brian works out for you, particularly as I know you’re someone who really commits and gets the work done!
You say it’s not the best, but I think this is one of those things like @T3hPwnisher says, when your worst is like this/when your worst is what most would consider best, then you’re definitely in a good place! (Sorry awful summary of what he says!).
Sounds tasty and definitely something I’m willing to try when gaining (might just go plain on the yogurt, add chocolate protein and smooth pb - make it reese-esk!).
Nah, that was a very good summary. All about raising your floor, rather than your ceiling.
While we’re talking protein yogurt abominations, one of my favorite dirty dtricks was to mix the yogurt with the protein powder, but then crumple up a protein bar on top. Now the thing is LOADED with protein, and the protein bar crumbles function like mix-ins with a yogurt/ice cream. A nice chewy texture to offset the creamy of the yogurt. It’s actually why I’ve taken to mixing in beef gelatin with my protein powder these days: it creates a more caramel like texture.
Man I love Bench day. It took a few sets to find the right grip width (there’s wide grip and then there’s “snatch grip”…), but I could have kept working up if I didn’t take so small of jumps and had more time.
The assistance was my design using Brian’s principal of “lift against a time limit”. Awesome way to totally salt the earth at the end of an upper body day with just a power tower and a rope thrown over it. The pushups were absolutely hilarious doing them immediately after the dips. My body just said “nope”.
Plan is to do the next workout tomorrow, which will be light deads. This will get the dreaded “5 session week” monkey off my back, and then it’s 4 days a week from here until vacation.
Progression from Cycle 1: Strength 161 x 4 > 177 x 3, Volume 111 x 4 x 10 > 133 x 4 x 10
2/27/25 - Daily Work
2 mile walk w/ 20lb vest
12 chins/42 pushups/66 BW squats in 5:00
2/28/25 - Brian Alsruhe’s “45 Master Sessions”: Week 5, Day 1 (Light Deadlift)
Strength (20 minute time limit to get to top set):
A1) Deficit Deadlift - 133/177/221/254/276/287 x 4
A2) Flutter Kicks - 6 sets of 20
Volume (10 minute EMOM):
B1) Deficit Deadlift - 177 x 5 x 10
B2) Dip Bar Crunches - 10 sets of 5
Assistance (10 minute EMOM): “60 Sandbag Sessions 012 - Dad Strength”
C) Sandbag Front Carry - 150 x 50ft x 10
45:05
All these Deficit Deads 48 hours after all those Pin Squats and Bulgarians was certainly an experience. But, this was probably the only chance I was gonna have to stack light squats/deads like that and knock out 5 sessions in a week. Now it’s 4 per week from here until vacation.
I need to study that Catalyst Athletics page of “core work for lifters” again. Running out of fresh movements after doing 2 different ones every day. Definitely feeling the benefit of all the trunk work though. Feels like I could take at least one gut punch from Mike Tyson. Ok, “The Hangover” Mike Tyson, but still.
I love sandbag work to finish off a deadlift day. That was really the whole reason I bought his sandbag ebook. Picking something different from that will probably be the plan for each DL day going forward.
Progression from Cycle 1: Strength 265 x 5 > 287 x 4, Volume 166 x 5 x 10 > 177 x 5 x 10
lol @SvenG I didn’t actually have a tally going until after I got back inside and at that point there was zero chance I was going back out for what would have been session 4. Trying not to chase numbers on the daily work too much anyway.
3/1/25 - Daily Work
12 chins/48 pushups/72 BW squats in 5:00
3/2/25 - Daily Work
10 chins/40 pushups/60 BW squats in 5:00
3/3/25 - Brian Alsruhe’s “45 Master Sessions”: Week 5, Day 2 (Heavy Press)
Strength (20 minute time limit to get to top set):
A1) Pin Press from eye level - 67/89/111/122/133/139/144 x 2
A2) Ab Wheel - 7 sets of 5
Volume (10 minute EMOM):
B1) Pin Press from eye level - 115 x 3 x 10
B2) Hanging Knee Crunches - 10 sets of 3
Assistance (10 minute time limit):
C1) DB Z Press - 22’s x 13/12/12/11/11
C2) Lateral Raises - 11’s x 8/7/7/5/5
C3) TRX-style Face Pulls - 10/10/10/10/10
43:06
Man I love Press days. It’s like every day of this program is becoming my new favorite day. I love going heavy (who doesn’t?). And that finisher I stole from one of Brian’s “Specific Conditioning for Overhead Press” videos or something similarly titled. Awesome upper body pump.
Progression from Cycle 1: Strength 133 x 3 > 144 x 2, Volume 107 x 3 x 10 > 115 x 3 x 10
3/3/25 - Daily Work
12 chins/42 pushups/66 BW squats in 5:00
2 mile walk w/ 20lb vest
3/4/25 - Brian Alsruhe’s “45 Master Sessions”: Week 5, Day 3 (Medium Events)
Carries (10 minute EMOM):
A) Offset Carry (Farm-to-Tables) - 29 + 73 x 100 ft (turn halfway/no drops) x 10 (switch sides each round)
Back (10 minute EMOM):
B1) Close Grip Chins - 5 sets of 4, 5 sets of 3 (+1 total reps over last cycle)
B2) Dip Bar Crunches - 10 sets of 5
Loading (10 minute EMOM):
C) Sandbag over bar at chest height - 100 x 2/2/2/2/2/2/3/3/2/3
38:49
Realized I did the carries wrong last cycle. When he said “Offset Carry” he didn’t mean just different weights in each hand, he meant “Waiters Walk one hand, Farmers Walk the other”, or as someone in the YouTube comments section eloquently put it, “Farm to Tables”. Definitely changes the effect, especially since yesterday was heavy press. Really satisfied with how my conditioning has come along on these carry EMOMs though. Week 1 totally floored me, but not anymore.
Still dismayed over how weak my chins are when following the carries, but just trusting the process that they will be there in a different program when they are given more breathing room. It’s almost a mental thing; my hands are so done after the carries that I’m afraid of ripping a callous so my brain shuts down the muscles.
The sandbag over bar was kind of a miss. Firstly, I don’t have a rack, just stands, and although I tried to weigh down each corner with a plate, there were still a few near-catastrophes where the whole setup almost tipped over. Also, there were quite a few times I sent the sandbag over too far and missed the mats I had setup to catch it, so it landed in the grass and got a little muddy. I baby my equipment so that was pissing me off. I may just make all my loading to the shoulder unless I can come up with a better solution. I thought about stacking bumper plates on top of my keg, but that’s not really tall enough and doesn’t exactly scream stability either. Extensions/high pulls/one-motions are some other options that don’t require any extra equipment. If anyone has any input here, feel free to chime in.
Could you still incorporate it into EMOM but just do the pick only or set it up on a platform so you only do the walk part without the pick. Not sure how light Brian recommends in his EMOM stuff but these are options if you want to use a heavier bag.
Hey @simo74 I think the pick-to-lap would be great for an EMOM with the 200 even if it’s just 1-2 reps a minute. That would fit great as the “heavy” day in a rotation. Likewise I think having the bag up on the keg and just doing a carry without the pick each round is a great idea, but I’d probably sub that in for whatever farmers variant there is that week, rather than the loading variant. I’ve been thinking about sandbags some more today and I think my goal should be to work on one-motions with the 100 and building my reps there, shouldering and doing extensions with the 100 & 150 and building my reps there, as well as front and shoulder carries with both those bags as well. A lot of paths to success here, which is good!
3/4/25 - Daily Work
10 chins/40 pushups/60 BW squats in 5:00
2 mile walk w/ 20lb vest
@simo74 What a coincidence - the day after we have this discussion, Brian posts a video on the very same topic. Some very useful information in this one!
3/5/25 - Daily Work
2 mile walk w/ 20lb vest
10 chins/40 pushups/60 BW squats in 5:00
3/6/25 - Brian Alsruhe’s “45 Master Sessions”: Week 5, Day 4 (Heavy Squat)
Strength (20 minute time limit to get to top set):
A1) High Box Squat - 155/199/243/287/309/331 x 2
A2) Ab Wheel - 6 sets of 5
Volume (10 minute EMOM):
B1) High Box Squat - 265 x 3 x 10
B2) Hanging Knee Crunches - 10 sets of 3
Assistance (10 minute EMOM):
C1) Forward Sled Drag - 88 x 50ft x 10
C2) Backward Sled Drag - 88 x 50ft x 10
41:46
Upon video review, squatting to my bench has me at slightly above parallel, but it works out in this case as an overload movement, the same way as the rack pulls and board presses, etc. The heavy day is for really working the top end strength; I’m working the bottom end through the pin squats and will incorporate pauses and 1 1/4’s next cycle. I think I can rig up a low box setup using the cinder blocks I use for rack pulls, as well.
Sled work was an awesome way to finish this day. By the last few rounds my quads were just toast. Also have the option to really pile the plates on here and only do half the distance (so forward one minute, backward the next).
Progression from Cycle 1: Strength 309 x 3 > 331 x 2, Volume 247 x 3 x 10 > 265 x 3 x 10
3/6/25 - Daily Work
2 mile walk w/ 20lb vest
10 chins/40 pushups/60 BW squats in 5:00
3/7/25 - Brian Alsruhe’s “45 Master Sessions”: Week 5, Day 5 (Light Bench)
Strength (20 minute time limit to get to top set):
A1) 1 1/4 Close Grip Bench - 89/111/133/150/161/166 x 4
A2) Russian Twist - 44 x 12 x 6
Volume (10 minute EMOM):
B1) 1 1/4 Close Grip Bench - 107 x 5 x 10
B2) Lying Leg Raises - 10 sets of 5
Assistance (10 minute time limit):
C1) DB Hammer Curls - 13s x 12/11/10/10/11
C2) OH Tricep Extensions - 33 x 12/10/11/11/11
C3) TRX-style BW Curls - 9/9/8/8/7
C4) TRX-style BW Tricep Extensions - 11/11/13/13/12
41:10
Low motivation for this workout. Dealing with some life stuff. Trying to figure out if its internal or external.
May do some kind of “halfway point” report on this program if work isn’t too crazy today. My main takeaway is I am totally bought in to most of his principles, but I think I prefer a full-body split and am excited to start his RPM program after vacation.
Progression from Cycle 1: Strength 155 x 5 > 166 x 4, Volume 100 x 5 x 10 > 107 x 5 x 10
3/7/25 - Daily Work
12 chins/42 pushups/66 BW squats in 5:00
2 mile walk w/ 20lb vest
Thoughts and observations on Brian Alsruhe’s “45 Master Sessions” from the halfway-ish mark
Background
I’ll try not to go full memoir here, but coming out of the holiday season, I went through an especially bad case of fuckarounditis, wherein I tried to combine 2 protocols I had successfully employed before (5/3/1 and the “Chaos Is The Plan” method by @T3hPwnisher) into some sort of Frankenprogram. That went about as well as you’d expect, which is not well at all. Tired of trying to self-program, I started looking for something more prescriptive to follow. I had heard of Brian Alsruhe before, but always thought his programs were a little legendary, like something you try for a week before you realize there’s no way you could survive. Sort of like Smolov or something similar. It wasn’t until I started following @alex_uk and saw him running this very program that I started to think I could actually make it work. So, I read through his writeup of the program, picked his brain a little, bought the ebook, and here we are.
Things I like
The supersets/giant sets and the EMOM work. This is what Brian is most known for and although this program isn’t quite as crazy as some of his others in this department, they are still a regular feature. My core strength is going way up from doing so many reps of abs between main movements, and I have definitely surprised myself with how much weight I can handle on the 10 minute EMOM blocks, once I adapted to them.
The conjugate approach to choosing main lifts. I think if I could only do conventional squat/bench/deadlift/press for the rest of my life, I would probably quit training or choose an entirely different modality of fitness. Rotating in rack pulls, BTN presses, board presses and other movements has me training the muscles in new ROMs and opens up new ways to progress.
The hard back work. Brian is a big believer in strongman movements for back work, as well as heavy chins and rows. This particular program puts the row as more of an assistance movement, but carries, loads, and chins are all trained hard. The carries and loads specifically are probably my favorite part of the program, as they’re new to me and I’m able to see some fast gains.
How prescriptive it is. Everything is strictly laid out, right down to the rest periods. I chose my own lift variations compared to some of his suggestions, and I’ve occasionally deviated on assistance work (more on that in a bit), but you could easily follow the PDF to the letter and have to do zero thinking. That is a big part of what drew me in, compared to some other popular “programs” that are more like templates in my eyes.
Things I don’t like
The split. Specifically, it goes “Lower/Upper/Back/Lower/Upper”. I’ve seen other programs offer this option too, but unless you train 5x a week, your schedule shifts every week, which drives me nuts. Also, having the carries/chins/loads all on the same day mean that they can’t be trained quite as hard as if they were separated.
Things I’m indifferent towards
The assistance work. Some of the days were total winners (looking at you “DB Press to Waiters Walk to Face Pull”), some days were meh, and some days just had me scratching my head. I’ve seen Brian get flak for throwing things like burpees into a workout with no blatantly obvious purpose, and I can see where people are coming from there. I ended up buying his sandbag ebook to have some extra ideas for assistance work (I may write a review on that too), and I’ve scoured his youtube for ideas as well, but I’ve also just done my own thing some days using his guiding principles.
No true light days. Every day you are working up to a 1-5RM, then doing volume work. Now, if you’re smart you will put some easier movements in your rotation so they become self-governing, but even a Deficit Deadlift is still pretty taxing. Regardless of the labeling, the press day really becomes the light day each week, by default.
Results so far
I’ve been able to add weight to all rep maxes and volume work so far in cycle 2, with huge gains in the squat and deadlift variations specifically now that I’ve adapted to the volume demands. Additionally, my average morning BW is up a few lbs, from the 182-183 range at the beginning of the year to more like 186-187 now, and honestly, I think I look better here. I’d like to think that all the heavy work has resulted in some quality mass gain. I’ll post a before/after when I complete the program.
Looking ahead
I am 100% certain I am going to run his “Reps Per Minute” program after this. It’s a full-body split, based around doing lots of those aforementioned 10-minute EMOM blocks. I have always been a fan of full-body training, I care more about the big movements than doing a ton of assistance stuff, and I think I’m still at a level where I get more out of multi-set work (as opposed to “work up to a top set”), so its kinda perfect for what I want. The higher frequency also means even more opportunity for variations in the big lifts. Klokov Presses and Snatch Grip Deadlifts, here we come!
