Dan John Mass Made Simple (Article Version) Write up:
Okay, after nearly 6 weeks I am wrapping up the article version of the Mass Made Simple program by Dan John
This review is tough to do without also comparing it to the Book Version, which I reviewed here
Overall I would say this was a more interesting approach to the squat-till-you-hate-it ethos of MMS. Where the book version has one meat and potatoes workout you keep trying to ratchet up until you ultimately squat your body weight for 50 reps, this version feels more like a “training program” in that you have 2 different “real” workouts, one with a heavier squat emphasis and one with the volume approach, and then the 3rd bonus workout in the week you are adding all the filler in you miss with the big workouts.
I did enjoy that part a bit more than the singular focus on the book version. It gives a couple different things to shoot for, and doesnt have the daunting challenge of the “to-fifty” set looming over every workout you do. If someone was to ask me for a mass program that wasnt a “lifer” in the lifting game I’d probably give them this one as it seems a bit more user friendly in that you arent just asking someone to kill themselves every time they go to workout (although perhaps people like @T3hPwnisher enjoy that more so than the average gym goer haha), and it has the bonus of seeing lots of numbers move up over the weeks which can be motivating. You have the PR sets on the 5/3/1 movements, the complexes if you choose to increase those weights/reps, and then the squat numbers all moving up.
The numbers all went up for the most part (at least initially), and while there was a bit of sandbagging perhaps in the first week or so on some of the 5/3/1 PR sets, I was giving a genuine all out effort on the to-fifty style sets, which ultimately culminated as follows.
Squatting 205 with a regular straight bar now. Writing this out as Reps in first set/Total after 2 sets/Total after 3 sets
Week 1: 22/38/50
Week 2: 30/50 (only needed 2 sets from here on out to get it)
Week 3: 32/50
Week 4: 35/50
Week 5: 25/50
Soooo as you can see there was a big fall off there, although ultimately I resolved to still finish 50 in only 2 sets and I did manage that. I felt it in the gym too, motivation was super low, felt very sluggish even while things moved as they should. and while the weight didnt feel particularly heavy or anything in the beginning of the set my body just didnt have it in it to keep pushing like it normally does. I suppose
My bench numbers did something very similar. PR set went 9,10,10,8, 8 … So something seemed to catch up to me and was weighing my numbers down.
I took this as a sign that, for the time being, I have gotten what MMS can give me and Its time to move on to the next thing.
Pics and such coming tomorrow as I forgot to weigh myself and record my waist measurement today. Cant even remember if I recorded that at the beginning of all this, but thats generally the measurement I use the most these days. Subjectively I feel very sloppy but we will see what the objective stuff comes out as tomorrow