Trap bar deads + EMOM low bar squats got me like…
Really happy with Monday’s run, didn’t think I’d be cranking out 7:20 miles for another month or two, cooler temps helped for sure
Also 315 pause bench was awesome, only 10lbs under touch and go pr
Saturday
ME
Ring pull up 4x10
Push press 2x10x135 5x185 4x195
Standing ab roll 4x5
Volume
Ring pull up 3x10
Push press 15x150 2x10x150
Standing ab roll 3x5
Dynamic
EMOM bench press 10x3x225
Assistance
Weighted neutral pull ups 4x5x70
Face pulls 4x15x100
1 arm dbell push press 4x5x90
Woodchops 4x15x90
Sunday
ME
Kbell swing 6x15x40
Front squat 2x8x135 3x185 3x205 3x225 3x245
Deadbugs 6x10
Volume
Kbell swings 3x15x40
Front squat 9x195 2x8x195
Deadbugs 3x10
Dynamic
EMOM conventional deadlift 10x3x255
Assistance
Face pulls 3x15x100
Hip thrusts 3x15x275
Plank 3x60s
Monday
3 mile run 22:04
Tuesday
ME
Cheat rows 2x10x135 5x185 4x5x205
Pause bench 2x8x135 5x185 3x225 1x275 1x295 1x315
Standing ab roll 7x5
Ring pull up 7x8
Volume
Cheat rows 3x5x185
Pause bench 3x5x255
Standing ab roll 3x5
Ring pull ups 3x8
Dynamic
EMOM overhead press 10x3x125
Assistance
Weighted neutral pull ups 3x10x45
Face pulls 3x15x100
Incline dbell press 3x8x85
Draw the sword 3x12
Woodchops 3x15x90
Wednesday
REST
Thursday
ME
Kbell swing 6x15x40
Trap bar deadlift 8x135 2x5x225 5x315 5x335 5x345
Leg raise 6x15
Volume
Kbell swing 3x15x40
Trap bar deadlift 7+7x275 (got a phone call so short break) 2x10x275
Leg raise 3x15
Dynamic
EMOM low bar squat 10x3x275
Assistance
Hip thrust 3x15x305
Farmers walk 3x30sx80
Face pulls 3x15x100
Friday
3 mile run - easy
Nice work man. I’m in. I’m running darkhorse also. There are about 5 of us doing it currently…
I’m in too, running Darkhorse as well.
Nice lifting mate.
I can do the same with my shirt on lower body days
when’s the comp?
Awesome, how do you guys feel about the program so far? It’s pretty different from anything I’ve ever done. My only complaint is all the sweat, going to ruin all my shirts (and possibly shoes too)
Competition is Aug 4, doing Michigan’s strongest man. Probably should have chosen a lighter one for my first one, I think the press medley (maybe keg toss too) is the only event I have a chance of being competitive in. Events are:
Car deadlift (550 lbs)
Yoke and sandbag carry (600 and 200 lbs for 60 feet)
Keg toss (6 kegs, 2 at 20,25,30 lbs over a 12 foot bar)
Press medley (200lb axle and log, 130lb dbell, 160lb block)
Then top 8 in each weight class move on to an atlas stone series (200-280 lbs)
Looks fun. either way it’s good experience
I would have said i yesterday, but forgot.
Brian says that you can do strongman stuff or conditioning stuff as the fourth exercise.
It could be a short farmers walk/yoke walk, sandbag carry if you have kegs you could throw them or throw something else, just to get the motion of the throw stuff in.
Some days i just take a 25 kg unhandy bumper plate and lift it from ground to overhead for 5-6 reps.
So far I’m enjoying the new lifts and just lifting heavy. I just started my third week (half way done really) and I hit a bit of a wall. I think it is due to a bug I picked up not CNS fatigue.
I’m wondering if it is working…I wonder am I getting stronger or just lifting heavy stuff every gym session.
That’s the attitude I’m trying to approach it with
I bought a kettlebell to throw around, just haven’t gotten to actually doing it. One of these next paychecks I’m thinking of buying a sandbag too. Little bit of a break because I’ll have to bike home first, no place to throw things near my gym but all the heavy stuff will be finished at that point so not the end of the world
I know what you mean, it’ll take a few cycles but hopefully the daily 1,3,5 RM sets start to climb. For me, I think I’ll see strength improvements just because I never drop below 5 reps unless I’m peaking and when I do sets of 5 it’s never a 5 rep max. Just getting practice with pushing heavy weights should show some benefits (hopefully)
Okay thoughts on last week:
Replaced front squats with paused back squats, don’t think I have enough practice with fronts to be pushing this hard, lots of upper back rounding and some knee pain. THESE WERE HARD. Absolutely killed me, volume sets required rest and I knew I was skipping assistance work before I even did my EMOM set.
Hours at 2nd job picked up so I’m choosing sleep over running on MWF.
225 push press gives me some confidence for the 200 log and axle for the competition.
Still trying to find the right weight for EMOM overhead press, it keeps going up. Also bumped up bench EMOM to 235
My off the ground deadlift strength sucks, it’s the only exercise where my volume work for a 1RM is fairly easy because I can’t seem to get my top set heavy enough
Saturday
ME
Ring pull up 6x10
Push press 2x10x135 3x185 1x205 1x215 1x225
Standing ab roll 6x5
Volume
Ring pull up 3x10
Push press 3x5x185
Standing ab roll 3x5
Dynamic
EMOM bench press 10x3x235
Assistance
Weighted neutral pull ups 3x10x45
Face pulls 3x15x100
1 arm dbell push press 3x10x75
Woodchops 3x15x90
Sunday
ME
Kbell swing 6x15x40
Paused low bar squat 10x135 5x185 5x225 5x275 5x295 5x315
Deadbugs 6x10
Volume
Kbell swings 3x15x40
Paused low bar squat 10x255 2x5+5x10
Deadbugs 3x10
Dynamic
EMOM conventional deadlift 10x3x255
Monday
3 mile run easy
Tuesday
ME
Cheat rows 2x10x135 4x5x185
Pause bench 2x8x135 5x185 3x225 3x275 2x285
Standing ab roll 6x5
Ring pull up 6x8
Volume
Cheat rows 3x5x185
Pause bench 3x5x255
Standing ab roll 3x5
Ring pull ups 3x8
Dynamic
EMOM overhead press 10x3x135
Assistance
Weighted neutral pull ups 3x5x70
Face pulls 3x15x100
Incline dbell press 3x5x95
Draw the sword 3x12
Woodchops 3x15x90
Wednesday
REST
Thursday
ME
Kbell swing 6x15x40
Trap bar deadlift 8x135 2x5x225 3x315 1x365 1x385
Leg raise 6x15
Volume
Kbell swing 3x15x40
Trap bar deadlift 10x305 2x5x305
Leg raise 3x15
Dynamic
EMOM low bar squat 10x3x275
Friday
Rest
Looks like you had a great week man.
Yea can’t complain about a 225 push press, moved quick too but 235 wasn’t even close, such a hit or miss movement for me.
385 trap bar dl is 20lbs over my conventional max but the fact that I hit 80% of that for an easy 10 on the next set tells me I have a lot of work to do on the singles.
Week 4 in the books!
Compared to week 1:
Push press 3RM +10 lbs
EMOM bench +10 lbs
EMOM deadlift +10lbs
Pause bench 5RM +10lbs
EMOM overhead press +30 lbs
Trap bar deadlift 3RM +40lbs!!!
Couldn’t even crack 405 off the ground for a single last week so to hit it for a triple is insane
Think I finally found the right weight for EMOM OHP, maybe a little cheating but I’ll take it. Same with EMOM deadlifts, double overhand grip starts to be an issue near the end
No running this week, workouts are going great but I’m tired all the time so prioritizing recovery instead of running, I’ve gone down this road a few times haha. Always starts with being sleepy all the time (even with 8-10 hours of sleep) then workouts start to stall.
Saturday
ME
Ring pull up 5x10
Push press 2x10x135 3x185 3x205 0x215
Standing ab roll 5x8
Volume
Ring pull up 3x10
Push press 10x165 2x8x165
Standing ab roll 3x5
Dynamic
EMOM bench press 10x3x235
Assistance
Weighted neutral pull ups 3x6x70
Face pulls 3x15x100
1 arm dbell push press 3x5x90
Woodchops 3x15x90
Sunday
ME
Kbell swing 7x15x40
Paused low bar squat 10x135 5x185 5x225 3x275 1x315 1x335 1x365 0x385
Deadbugs 6x10
Volume
Kbell swings 3x15x40
Paused low bar squats 3x5x295
Deadbugs 3x10
Dynamic
EMOM conventional deadlift 10x3x265
Monday
Rest
Tuesday
ME
Cheat rows 2x10x135 4x5x185
Pause bench 2x8x135 5x185 5x225 5x255 5x265
Standing ab roll 6x6
Ring pull up 6x8
Volume
Cheat rows 3x5x185
Pause bench 10x215 2x9x215
Standing ab roll 3x5
Ring pull ups 3x8
Dynamic
EMOM overhead press 10x3x145
Assistance
Weighted neutral pull ups 3x3x90
Face pulls 3x20x100
Incline dbell press 3x5x100
Draw the sword 3x12
Woodchops 3x15x90
Wednesday
REST
Thursday
ME
Kbell swing 7x15x40
Trap bar deadlift 8x135 2x5x225 3x315 3x375 3x385 3x405
Leg raise 7x15
Volume
Kbell swing 4x15x40
Trap bar deadlift 4x6x325
Leg raise 4x15
Dynamic
EMOM low bar squat 10x3x275
Friday
Rest
Last set of EMOM OHP (slight cheat?)
3x405 trap deads
Sweat from laying down after EMOM squats (in an AC gym!)
Week 5 in the books!
Compared to week 2:
Push press 5RM +10 lbs (sooo close to +20lbs)
Pause bench 1RM -10lbs
Trap bar deadlift 5RM +40lbs!
Not too worried about bench, although it’s my best lift I’m fairly inconsistent. When I worked up to my 325 touch and go PR there were days I struggled to hit 275 for a triple so a 10lb difference is pretty good.
Back bugged me on conventional deadlift EMOM which is frustrating, fairly light weight but just can’t figure out the form.
Total of 94 pull ups Tuesday, that’s a little crazy to think about because I didn’t realize it was so many until looking back at it
Saturday
ME
Ring pull up 5x10
Push press 2x10x135 5x185 4.5x205 5x195
Standing ab roll 5x8
Volume
Ring pull up 3x10
Push press 13x155 2x10x155
Standing ab roll 3x8
Dynamic
EMOM bench press 10x3x245 (slight wrist irritation)
Assistance
Weighted neutral pull ups 3x3x90
Face pulls 3x20x100
1 arm dbell push press 3x3x100
Woodchops 3x15x90
Sunday
ME
Kbell swing 7x15x40
Paused low bar squat 5x135 5x185 5x225 3x275 3x315 3x335 3x345
Deadbugs 7x10
Volume
Kbell swings 3x15x40
Paused low bar squats 3x8x275
Deadbugs 3x10
Dynamic
EMOM conventional deadlift 7x3x265 lower back irritation, don’t want to push through it
Monday
Rest
Tuesday
ME
Cheat rows 2x10x135 6x5x185
Pause bench 2x10x135 5x185 3x225 1x275 1x295 1x305 0x315
Standing ab roll 8x8
Ring pull up 8x8
Volume
Cheat rows 3x5x185
Pause bench 3x5x245
Standing ab roll 3x8
Ring pull ups 3x8
Dynamic
EMOM overhead press 10x3x145
Assistance
Weighted neutral pull ups 3x10x45
Face pulls 3x20x100
Incline dbell press 3x10x85
Draw the sword 3x12
Woodchops 3x15x100
Wednesday
REST
Thursday
ME
Kbell swing 5x15x40
Trap bar deadlift 8x135 2x5x225 3x315 5x385
Leg raise 5x15
Volume
Kbell swing 3x15x40
Trap bar deadlift 3x10x305
Leg raise 3x15
Dynamic
EMOM low bar squat 10x3x275
Friday
Rest
Nice work! I’ve got one more day to finish week 5. Tomorrow we do Swiss bar incline bench.
Will you survive. Others are dropping like flies.
I’ve noticed that! I’m still loving the program, I was training everyday for a few months leading up to this so even though the workouts are intense I’m used to having much fewer rest days. And if I’m being honest, I’m kinda a glutton for punishment when it comes to exercise. I have noticed I’m more tired throughout the day though. Workouts are going well but I’m becoming more mindful of recovery.
I just bought a groupon for a 1 month membership at a gym that has all kinds of toys that I want to play with, only problem is no staff is there the 2 times I drove over! Just looking around I saw a swiss bar, SSB, yoke, log, stones, reverse hyper and so much more. Will try my luck again tomorrow, need to get in some technique training with the contest approaching.
I’m kind of torn between doing what I’m doing and what you’re doing with switching out the exercises. On the one hand, I can look back a few weeks to compare my rep maxes to see if I’m making progress. On the other hand, with daily rep maxes followed by percentage work, you should be making progress as long as you’re giving an honest effort each workout so more variety may be beneficial.
I switch because this is a conjugate based program. The master of westside (Louie Simmons) says he switches exercises every week for advanced lifters and up to three weeks for intermediates and novices. That is the point body adaptations begin to halt max gains.
I had the same questions going on in my head same exercise or switch.
I would be able to track progress on the variation lift, but ended up doing the switch exercise each 3 weeks.
Some good lifting going on here Log