Goodluck with the wedding.
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Thanks man!
Week 26: 5/3/1 (C4,W2,D2)
Trap Bar Deadlift
110kg: 5
130kg: 5
145kg: 9
(no belt)
Crosstrainer
20min
I’m full of the cold right now, so kept this to an absolute minimum. I adjusted my training max for trap bar deads to 170kg, so my top set today was 145kg and I’m happy with the 9 reps I got. I felt terrible though, so didn’t do squats or any assistance work. One good thing is that I confirmed that the trap bar weighs 27.5kg, so my max was 197.5kg!
Week 26: Summary
Bodyweight: 95.6kg (measured twice on non-training days)
Training: Good all things considered - 6 hour hike and two minimalist strength sessions. Still feeling ill.
Nutrition: Poor
I haven’t done much training this week, but it’s been complete chaos and I’m glad that I’ve got the basics in. The 6 hour hike was new ground since my injury, and it’s great that my leg could do it, although it was painful for days afterwards.
Ha! Sounds very similar to what a group of my friends did when the first of us got married a few years ago. Camped in the woods for three days, did a canoe trip the first full day, did a Warrior Dash (obstacle-course race) the second day, packed up and went home. Very cool that your father and brother were game for such adventures, and best on the wedding!
Thank you very much @ActivitiesGuy! Currently working on my speech atm 
That life PR…
That 10,000 swing routine is quite good fun, I went at it with a 24kg kettlebell and got my times from the mid 40s to approaching 20 minutes, which felt like a short workout. I think a heavier kettlebell is a sensible way to make them last a bit longer. That, or end up having it as a conditioning session at the end of a strength workout.
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Week 27: Summary
Bodyweight: Unknown
Training: Nil
Nutrition: Poor
Great week - got married and spent loads of time catching up with friends and relatives. It was all a huge success. In terms of exercise I haven’t done any training as such, just a few short hikes and a lot of dancing. My conditioning is way below baseline, which became really clear during the dancing at the wedding. The hiking also really highlighted how much weaker my right leg is - I was relying so heavily on my good leg that I kept getting a huge pump in it. My bad leg was very weak and I had no confidence in it.
Although it probably makes more sense to continue 5/3/1 and increase my single leg work and conditioning I feel like specialising for a bit to give myself a kick start. I think I’ll do swings and bodyweight split squats (in the style of Dan John’s 10,000 swings) for around 2 weeks along with occasional upper body days. Then I’ll get back into a longterm strength routine (probably 5/3/1 but maybe something based on high frequency deadlift like @ActivitiesGuy) . I just think this will be a fun break and will hammer my weaknesses with high volume and frequency.
Week 28: Kettlebell Conditioning Phase - Day 1
Bench Press
100kg: 3x5
Neutral Grip Pull-Ups
BW: 3x5
Kettlebell Conditioning
500 total kettlebell swings (20kg) and 30 bodyweight lunges, in 46min 16sec.
Stairs
5 sets of 8 floors - walk up, lift down
Bodyweight: 97.0kg
This was a solid first day back - as above my goal for the next couple of weeks is to really hammer conditioning before returning to a well-rounded routine. My priority is to do 500 swings and 30 lunges (as per Dan John’s routine) every day, but I also want to keep my barbell work ticking over when I can (low frequency, low volume). Today I also did a bunch of stair climbing as I wasn’t quite ready to stop after the kettlebells and I figured it would be a nice low-impact way to get more work done.
Some Thoughts
I just wanted to note down some of my lessons from running the 10,000 swing routine before. The biggest mistake I made was to approach it from a strength point of view - it calls for a 24kg kettlebell and I only have 20kg and 28kg, so previously I’ve always gone for the heavier kettlebell. The main problem with this is that grip strength becomes a limiting factor long before conditioning, and that renders the whole program a little redundant (unless your only goal is grip endurance lol). Another way this attitude messed me up last time is that I focussed my progression on increasing weight in the strength movements as opposed to decreasing my time. By the end of the 5 weeks I had increased all of my strength movement numbers, but my time hadn’t improved at all. This time I’m using a 20kg kettlebell and a relatively easy strength movement (although one that is weak following my injury) and I’m going to focus all of my energy on bringing down my total time.
As above hiking has really highlighted how far I am from complete recovery and this has been a great thing. I feel like I was beginning to get complacent again, especially having hit those deadlift PRs, and this has really fired me up. I’ve not yet worked out concrete goals for the end of the year, but I know I want to be much fitter and stronger than ever before. My strength goal will probably be either a 200kg conventional deadlift or a 220kg trap bar deadlift, but I’m unsure of a fitness goal. Something like a 10k run would be the obvious choice, but I feel like that is a long way off with my bad leg. Maybe something involving swimming? Who knows. I’ve also been toying with the idea of getting back into boxing, but we’ll see.
Week 28: Kettlebell Conditioning Phase - Day 2
Kettlebell Conditioning
500 total kettlebell swings (20kg) and 30 bodyweight lunges, in 41min 52sec.
Stairs
5 sets of 8 floors - walk up, lift down
Bodyweight: 97.3kg
Most things hurt today lol, especially my glutes and hamstrings. I paced myself better and dropped almost 5min on yesterday’s time which is great. This is a cruel routine though! I’m soaking my carpet in sweat and have an insane forearm pump.
Edit: did stairs later in the day
Goals
Strength: 227.5kg (501lb) trap bar deadlift
Conditioning: 50mile walk
Previous bests are 197.5kg trap bar deadlift and 34mile walk (with no prior training). These challenges will be very fun to train for and are unlikely to injure me. My training (after this current phase) will be based around frequent sub-max deadlifting, kettlebell conditioning and stair climbs in my hiking boots (foot/calf endurance was the limiting factor on my 34 mile walk).
Congratulations on getting married!! Make sure to not get the carpet too sweaty and nasty after your swings and lunges. The wife will REALLY test your conditioning chasing you around the house with a frying pan if you get her carpet sweaty and dirty. Speaking from personal experience here!! 501 on Trap Bar Deads is serious work! Keep up the good work
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Haha thanks man! Yeah the 501lb trap bar deadlift is still a way off (66lbs to be precise) but I hope to make some quick gains initially, as I haven’t trained the movement regularly before.
I’m liking that goal, dude!
You’ve inspired me to try the daily dose deadlift routine @ActivitiesGuy! Well I think I’ll stick with 3 plates per side for all sessions as that’s about 75% for me and I don’t want the hassle of calculating 70% and 80% etc. Far too lazy for that. Deadlift and some kettlebell conditioning, perfect combination!
Awesome, man.
For those who like minimalist training, I think the Daily Dose Deadlift is a great program to run. 6-10 good singles in the 70-80 percent range, done 3-5 days a week, working up to 90-plus percent once every few weeks. You will probably hit that 227 / 500 mark in a couple months.
FWIW, I first pulled 405 in late January, and hit my 500 just under six months later with a rough adherence to the Daily Dose Deadlift template.
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Thanks @ActivitiesGuy, I’m very excited to give it a shot.
Week 28: Kettlebell Conditioning Phase - Day 3
Kettlebell Conditioning
500 total kettlebell swings (20kg) and 30 bodyweight lunges, in 37min 30sec.
Stairs
5 sets of 8 floors - walk up, lift down
Bodyweight: 97.1kg
It’s really nice to see the time continue to drop, although I’m sure it’ll start getting harder to improve soon. I hate these sessions lol, but I want to continue a scaled down version when I begin my high frequency deadlifting routine. Some sort of kettlebell ladder, maybe working up in weight instead of reps.
Week 28: Kettlebell Conditioning Phase - Day 4
Kettlebell Conditioning
500 total kettlebell swings (20kg) and 30 bodyweight lunges, in 34min 15sec.
Heavy Swings
40kg: 3x10
E2MOM
Good session today, I’ve now dropped more than 10min since my first session (although I’m sure that says more about how terrible my first session was, rather than how much I’ve improved). After the conditioning portion I did some heavy swings with the 40kg to work on power development. They didn’t have as much “pop” as usual, but that’s unsurprising.
My forearms are getting absolutely hammered by this routine, so I’m going to take a day off swinging tomorrow. I’ll hit the gym and do some cardio, as well as possibly some pressing.
Week 28: Kettlebell Conditioning Phase - Day 5
Kettlebell Conditioning
500 total kettlebell swings (20kg) in 38min 18sec.
Kettlebell Rows
40kg: 2x5
Bodyweight: 97.8kg
I was going to do something different today, but I decided to man up and swing instead (although without any lunges). I spent the entire time trying to think of excuses to stop early, but thankfully I stuck with it. I wanted to get some upper back work in too, so did a couple of sets of heavy rows. My forearms really weren’t coping, so I didn’t do much at all. For the next four days I’m doing 12 hour shifts so I’m probably going to have to take a couple of rest days.
EDIT: I ate too much, so also did some stair climbing later on - 5 sets of 8 floors. Sounds lame but is definitely working!
Alternative Goals
I did some more thinking about my goals and I’m going to switch my conditioning goal to 40kg single arm swings for 5x10 in 5min. It’s the swing goal from Simple and Sinister, and it’s been at the back of my mind for a few years now. I feel it’s a much better target than the 50 mile walk, as it’s a better test of conditioning (rather than just determination and pain tolerance lol).
I’m undecided about switching my 227.5kg trap bar deadlift goal to a 200kg conventional deadlift one. The trap bar definitely feels a bit better, but in some ways it lacks the legitimacy of the barbell. I think I’ll decide closer to the time.
In terms of training I think I’ll basically run the Daily Dose Deadlift routine and Simple and Sinister (swings only) simultaneously. A few deadlift singles and 5x10 swings almost every day, with an occasional upper body day thrown in for balance.
These need not be mutually exclusive 