KB Goblet Thruster (44lb) - 10x10
Pullups - 3x5
TRX-style Curls on ropes - 3x10
TRX-style Face Pulls on ropes - 3x15
28:30
Wanted something easier after yesterday’s medley and this seemed to fit the bill.
Never done any kind of thrusters before. I like them. I think KB Thruster/KB Snatch would make for a good “rainy day stuck inside with 1 KB” kind of workout.
False alarm on the viking handle purchase. Guy was farther away than I thought. Doesn’t make sense to spend a full tank of gas driving to buy something 2nd hand. Sort of defeats the point. Will keep my eyes open on Marketplace, as I still think that would be a cool piece of gear to have.
I’m very much digging these shorter 5 per week workouts compared to the thrice weekly hour-long workouts I was doing before. I feel like I’m recovering better, maybe because I’m never really hitting that zone where I’m out of gas and still trying to push the pedal? Ultimately, the why doesn’t really matter to me. All I care about are results, and I told myself I wouldn’t do something if it made me feel like crap all the time again. I finish these workouts feeling like I could’ve done more, and I think that is key.
@simo74 Glad to have you along. I would love to add some natural stones to my collection. I live in Suburbia so it’s a little tricky here as there aren’t a ton of areas where you can just steal a big rock without at least attracting some eyeballs. But I always have my eyes peeled for things that are just begging to be clean & pressed.
Sometimes you see people put them on facebook market place. Often if they are doing a garden renovation and want to clear an old rockery. Rocks can be found anywhere. LOL
Rope Chins - 5 sets of 3
Pushups - 5 sets of 10
Heels-elevated Squats - 5 sets of 15
29:37
This was my first workout using the dice roll for Axle C&P. These are the choices I gave myself-
German Volume Training/Deep Water (10x10)
Boring But Big (5x10)
Boring But Strong (10x5)
531 Prilepin (from a recent EFS blog post, not in any of the books)
Spinal Tap
Dealer’s Choice
Going to let next week be a bit of a deload, whatever that means on this protocol. 3 weeks of pushing with 1 week of coasting has always served me well.
Absolutely love watching you make this your own, and I’m excited to see how a deload shakes out. And no shame in turning this into a food log too! It’s good for folks to see what nutrition looks like first hand.
And for the last of the food porn - lamb curry. Girlfriend and I were both off today, we don’t see each other much due to her being in grad school, so she treated me to breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I am a lucky man.
Now THAT is a complex. Just complete upper body destruction. There wasn’t a muscle that wasn’t pumped after the 5+5. This might be my standard way of doing axle snatches from now on.
Pulled the trigger on ordering a viking press/landmine combo. I couldn’t find something used locally that the person wasn’t basically asking to be reimbursed their original purchase price. I’ve been itching to do the movement lately so figured I would treat myself to a new toy.
That viking press and landmine will open up SO many opportunities: outstanding dude. Viking thrusters are really pretty clutch. And that complex you came up with is downright evil.
Forgot to mention it yesterday but pullups/all pulling movements have been feeling much easier. I think all the odd implement work has really increased my grip strength.
I’m really seeing an increase in skill with the different implements due to the increased frequency. I’ve never gotten 6 reps in a minute with that stone before. And with the keg, I used to need a “clean & push press” technique, then graduated to “clean & strict press”, but today I unlocked basically a viper press. For the last 2 sets I was pretty much ripping them from my lap to overhead in 1 motion without pausing at my shoulders at all.
Had an epiphany this morning that I could be using the sled for leg assistance work. There is a common area of grass right outside my fence where I have dragged it forwards/backwards before. That could be a really kickass edition to this. Just takes a little extra setup/teardown time to drag everything over there and back, but worth it.
Yeah I have been really sleeping on thrusters. I think it was the crossfit stench that kept me away, haha. But that’s no reason to neglect a useful movement. Like I said earlier, I think movements that use more quads/lapping are very important to this method.
As far as complexes, yeah I think those are super useful too. Anything to increase that time under load is going to lead to some positive adaptations. Bear Complexes, ABCs, etc. I don’t like the ones with like 8 different movements though, too much to remember when I’m oxygen deprived, haha.
Prowler for assistance is a brilliant move. Jim Wendler writes that out in “5/3/1 for Hardgainers”. For myself, I did one of those “desert island” experiments, and if I could only do 2 movements, it would be log viper and high handle prowler push. I feel like you’d develop the whole body that way and become scary.
That keg “one motion” you talk about is an excellently brutal move. Total whole body.
6 round circuit, start a new exercise every 90 seconds or so:
Circus Dumbbell Clean & Press each rep (51lb) - 6 sets of 2 (alternating hands)
Double Kettlebell Clean & Press each rep (2x35lb) - 6 sets of 6
Sled Drag (+90lb) - 6 sets of 20yd (alternating forward/backwards)
26:01
The Circus DB (mine is really just a fat-grip dumbbell handle, but the mechanics are identical) is a tricky beast. Because it sits so far out on the shoulder, it’s almost like a Klokov press with the angle you have to press from. Hoping it leads to some bigger shoulders with increased practice.
I’ve really gotten in a groove with the KB pressing. It’s taken me a few weeks to remember the technique, but the cleans don’t beat me up anymore, and the presses feel really natural.
The sled is definitely a winner for leg assistance work. I’m pulling it on grass, so it doesn’t take much weight to really crank up the resistance.
30 minute EMOM:
Axle Bear Complex (Clean + Front Squat + Press + Back Squat + BTN Press) - 88x1x15
Pullups - 5 sets of 5
Pushups - 5 sets of 10
Heels-elevated Squats - 5 sets of 15
29:20
Murph meets the Bear Complex. If I wanted to make this workout a real challenge, I could wear a weight vest through the whole thing. The axle is smooth so I wouldn’t have to worry about it scratching the vest like with a bar’s knurling. I may have to try that one day.
Just putting this down as a self affirmation - if I overreach on this protocol, I want it to be because I was putting too much goddamn weight overhead, not because I got cute with assistance work trying to copy some new exercise I saw someone doing online. So if these workouts look light on assistance, that is why.
This is another N=1 thing, but I always end these workouts feeling like I could do more, and sometimes even feeling stronger than when I started. Some might say you need to go scorched earth at every workout, but for me personally, I like to leave a little meat on the bone.
Loving the n=1 stuff. I had similar thoughts when I went through it: it was exhausting, but I wasn’t exhaustED.
I like what you came up with here, and trying this with a vest would be absolutely gnarly. For the bodyweight work, did you do the 5 sets of each movement all the way through (so 5 sets of pull ups, then 5 sets of push ups), or was it alternating, so that you’d do a set of pull ups at one minute, push ups on the next, squats on the next, then back to pull ups?
