EOD Training, Eternal Warrior, and Progressing Over 40

Bigger Stronger Leaner Christian Thibaudeau Coaching
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Hey CT,

With all of the new recommendations coming out, I’d like to know your thoughts on how to progress on an EOD routine, with the philosophy of Eternal Warrior, but being over 40.

You presented triple progression for a lot of folks, but recommend not doing “sets across” for those over 40 years old. So, I’m just trying to figure out how I could measure progression at this point in my lifting career. I’ve been mainly just working up to 1 heavy set of 3-6, but I don’t know if that’s enough stimulus. Obviously I’m not going to really get stronger at this age, so I’m getting frustrated. Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated.

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My thoughts/approach, as someone over 40 and following this template. I have been training full body 3x/week for years using 531, tactical barbell, Chad Waterbury, or Dan John programs or templates for the most part.

I set up my training like this:

Workout A (main strength-circuit portion):
OHP 5x6 @ 115 lbs
Front SQ 5x6 @ 135 lbs
Weighted pull ups 5x6 @BW+18 kg

Workout B (main strength-circuit portion):
BP: 5x6@205 lbs
KB Front SQ: 5x6@44 kg
Weighted pull ups: 5x6@BW+18 kg

Your weights will vary. I have done these exact workouts (alternating them) 3x-through each, really. “owning” the weight. No grinding, no loss of form. I am going to use the Pavel step progression: I will add one heavier set (+10 lbs) for the barbell moves, and add one rep fo the WPU’s and KB front squats. So, now that I want to progress, my second set will have these heavier weights, the other four sets the weights listed abvove. If this goes well, I will keep replacing one set with the heavier weights until all 5 sets are donee with the heavier weights. I think as we get older, I don’t mind staying with the same weights longer and really dominating them until I move up. Meaning, I may stick with the same “step” for a few workouts.

For assistance, I will go by feel and swap out new ones every few weeks. Currently rotating between two circuits (DB curls, DB skull crushers, HLR; and reverse curls, lat raises, side bends). I stay in the 8-12 range for these. I do these immediately after the strength circuits.
Then finish with either 100 KB swings or farmer’s walks (taking no more than 5 minutes total, keeping the pace high). I start and end with 2 miles on the Airdyne. Total time ~60 min.

I think of it more as improving my work capacity rather than worrying about “really getting stronger”. For example, if I can rack the BP after 6 crips reps, move straight to weighted pull ups, then move onto to KB front squats with only a deep breath or two between the exercises, that’s real progress. Sure, my top single of BP may not be progressing as fast as other methods or when I was younger, but I’ll take these results over those any day.

(Sorry for the long post and not being CT)

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antiquity,

I appreciate the advice. I guess I do need a mindset shift as far as my fitness goals go. Getting older sucks, but it beats the alternative!

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