Magick's Training Log v2

Training Training Logs
1982

Easy Strength Round 2 Day 24
Dan John’s Complex Ex8 with a bar
Flat Bench- 135lb, 2x5
Snatch- 85lb, 3x2
Back Squat- 205lb, 2x5
DB row- 2x5
2x3 hanging leg raise
8 total sled pushes with 90lb. Went down the path, 20 second rest, then back.

Messed up the complex and did rows instead of front squats.
Body is feeling sore and tired. The bench press felt ok. Muscles the snatches a bit. Squat felt sore on the legs but lighter and easier on the mind.
I almost went into a sprint with the sleds because of how light it felt, so I slowed it down a bit. Felt great until the 5th one or so. Felt very tired by the end.

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1983

Easy Strength Round 2 Day 25
Dan John’s Complex Cx8 with a bar
Flat Bench- 135lb, 2x5
Snatch- 85lb, 3x2
Back Squat- 205lb, 2x5
DB row- 2x5
1x10 sit-up
4 sled pulls back and forth with 70lb. One minute rest between sets

I’m consistently seeing that the first set of the movements feel very good, verging on easy, but the second set doesn’t feel as good. This is particularly true for the squat. I think I’m not resting enough, but I want to get through this as quickly as possible, so eh.
I wrote that I did 6 sled pull back and forth last week, but I think that’s wrong- I must have meant 6 total pulls, like how I’d write it if I was talking about the push. I need to standardize what I write here.

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1984

I read through a lot of my old log (2021-2022ish) and reminded myself that I spent a good chunk of post-covid training doing lifting on top of a lot of push-ups or burpees. And I had lost a lot of weight, going down to 158 at one point! I was wondering why I’m having such a hard time dropping weight even though I’m walking more. I thought it might be because I’m eating carbs at every meal, but I’ve also drastically reduced my portion sizes.

Rereading through my logs reminded me that I was just simply moving a whole heck of a lot more back then. So I’m going to do that again. I want to do 10x10 EMOM burpees daily again- but that is frankly not realistic with how overweight I am atm-last time I attempted bringing this kind of burpees back I paid the price, so I’m doing the next best thing- EMOM push-ups.

Starting with 10x3 EMOM daily and adding reps as it gets easier. Hopefully I don’t burn something out.

1985

Easy Strength Round 2 Day 26
Dan John’s Complex Ax8 with a bar
Flat Bench- 135lb, 2x5
Snatch- 95lb, 3x2
Back Squat- 205lb, 2x5
TRX row- 2x5
1x10 sit-up
4 rounds of trap bar carry back and forth with 185lb

I’m probably rushing it with the snatch progression. This is a challenging weight- have a hard time getting power all the way up to the top. The bench and squats felt ok/goodish.
I can move pretty fast with the trap bar now. Felt pretty easy until the last set. That one suddenly felt hard, as though the fatigue just came out of nowhere.

Easy Strength Round 2 Day 27
Dan John’s Complex Bx8 with a bar
Flat Bench- 140/150/160/170/180/190lbx1
Snatch- 95lb, 3x2
Back Squat- 185/205/225/245/265/285lbx1
DB row- 2x5
1x10 situp
4 KB waiter’s carry with 28kg back and forth. Switched hands at ‘back’ and ‘forth’. 45 second rest after each set.

Didn’t pause on the bench and squat today. They both felt really good. I’m scared of bench pressing anything above 185lb for some reason, hence the no pause. Spending a month on paused rep definitely built strength. This is probably a PR? I might have done a 195lb bench a long time ago but I don’t know if it’s true or not and I can’t be bothered to check. Squat felt effortless till 265lb. 285lb felt smooth but my muscles didn’t like moving that weight. It’s been nearly 3 years since I squatted this heavy, so I’ll take it.

My left shoulder is starting to get cranky. It is probably due to the snatches and the overhead squat. We’ll see if it gets worse.

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1986

Easy Strength Round 2 Day 28
Dan John’s Complex Ax8 with a bar
Flat Bench- 95lbx10
Back Squat- 135lbx10
DB row- 2x5
4 sets of sled push back and forth with 90lb. 30 second rest between sets.

Injured something in my right upper back after pull-ups yesterday. It hurts to do various things, particularly overhead stuff. Couldn’t get a good tight back on the bench, getting under the bar for the squat felt painful, but the movements themselves could be done without pain. Tried a bar snatch, felt pain, and gave up on that. Same with the sit-ups- I get back when I go back down. The sled push felt a lot easier if I’m not sprinting (duh).

Going to drop the snatch and sit-up for the time being and reduce weight on the bench and squat so that I can do them even more easily. Hopefully injury fixes itself soon.

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1987

Easy Strength Round 2 Day 29
Dan John’s Complex Ax8 with a bar
Flat Bench- 145lb, 2x5
Power Snatch- 95lb, 3x2
Back Squat- 215lb, 2x5
DB row- 2x5
1x5 hanging knee raise

8 total sled pulls with 90lb. Went down the path, 30 second rest, then back.
Fortunately upper back has recovered pretty quickly. There are twinges of pain and odd things here and there but I found that I can get into position for all the strength movements without feeling pain.

I am avoiding overhead squats because those are hard and I’m looking for any excuse to avoid something that puts more strain on my upper back. I write power snatch but in reality these were more like muscle snatches- just pulled the bar all the way up without any attempt to dip under.

Easy Strength Round 2 Day 30
Dan John’s Complex Ax8 with a bar
Flat Bench- 145lbx5, 165lbx3, 185lbx2
Power Snatch- 95lb, 3x2
Back Squat- 215lbx5, 245lbx3, 275lbx2
DB row- 2x5
1x5 hanging knee raise

I initially thought that I wouldn’t be doing this and would instead do 2x5 to avoid lifting heavy with a tweaked back. Then I said fuck it. I’m glad I did. No pause on the bench and squat to avoid strain though. They all felt fine. The top set of bench and squat felt a bit tough.

4 total sled pushes with 180lb. Went down the path, one min rest, then back.

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1988

This is stream of consciousness-like.

I’ve been spinning ideas in my head the last couple of days of what to do after this run of Easy Strength. I wrote that I wanted to do a year of 5/3/1 starting from 2026 and that seems like a fine idea, but I’m also frankly in love with the fact that I’m getting pretty darned good strength gain just from Easy Strength, so I also want to explore doing that more, but with a more conditioning focus.

I recently wore my Apple Watch again after about a year of not wearing it and… apparently my true resting HR fluctuates between 58-63, depending on the situation. Honestly very surprised by that. Apparently doing roughly 10k walks a day, daily strength lifting, and short loaded carries is enough to get your HR to a good place.

So now I wonder if I even need a conditioning focus, at least from a heart PoV. I also got a stellar blood test when I got checked back in July, which surprised me a lot because of my current bodyweight and what I assumed was less than stellar eating habits.

I maybe finally learning what makes my body work better. Easy Strength seems to click with me- makes me recover/build strength easily without needing to bust anything up. I’ve never really done loaded carries, especially heavy loaded carries, with intent before and they may be helping me a lot.

One idea that I did have was do Easy Strength with the 3x3 rep scheme while keeping the load VERY light- right now I let it creep up from very light to not so light as the weeks go by- and do one of Dan John’s complexes or one of the HIC from Tactical Barbell right afterwards.

Anyways, today-

I wanted to begin doing some conditioning work on Saturday, so originally I thought of carrying my 50lb sandbag around outside for 30+ min, sort of like rucking with the load in front of me. I’ve been carrying the child around a lot outside and realized that, if a 26lb or so child feels heavy after a while, imagine what would happen with a 35lb child. So let’s practice that by carrying the 50lb sandbag. Genius!

Then the child woke up in the middle of the night and refused to sleep for two hours, enraging mom and dad. Early morning wake up cancelled.

I walked a lot at an amusement park afterwards. Then, after we put the child to bed, I decided to carry my 50lb sandbag for ~15 minutes. I walked outside and decided that the slightly inclined walk at the back of the townhouse complex would be a nice place to do this. I ended up doing 2 laps at ~12:53 and realized that I have a terrific place to do loaded carries right in my backyard. I am going to do this every Saturday if I can going forward.

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1989

Easy Strength Round 2 Day 31
Dan John’s Complex Ax8 with a bar
Flat Bench- 145lb, 2x5
Power Snatch- 95lb, 3x2
Back Squat- 215lb, 2x5
DB row- 2x5
1x5 hanging knee raise
4 rounds of trap bar carry back and forth with 225lb
90 second rest on the carries

I woke up to my right knee feeling stiff and progressing to feeling tight and painful at times. Ignored it and it felt normal during the workout. Back to slightly tingly now but much better than in the morning.
The bench and squat didn’t feel as easy as they normally do on the Monday afternoon session. Honestly I’d say the squats felt slow and tough coming out of the bottom. Could be the 50lb carry session on Sat. The carries felt great. Power snatch actually has power in the second pull and I can get that bar up ‘powerfully’.

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1990

Easy Strength Round 2 Day 32
Dan John’s Complex Ax8 with a bar
Flat Bench- 145lb, 2x5
Power Snatch- 95lb, 3x2
Back Squat- 215lb, 2x5
DB row- 2x5
1x10 sit-up
4 KB waiter’s carry with 28kg back and forth. Switched hands at ‘back’ and ‘forth’. 30 second rest after each set.

Most everything felt the same as yesterday. Squat might be a bit easier. Waiter’s carry feel tough.

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1991

Easy Strength Round 2 Day 33
Dan John’s Complex Dx8 with a bar
Flat Bench- 145lbx5, 170lbx3, 190lbx2
Power Snatch- 95/115/125lbx1
Back Squat- 215lbx5, 255lbx3, 285lbx2
DB row- 2x5
1x10 sit-up
4 empty sled pushes back and forth

I woke up feeling sore and tired and didn’t want to lift.
Took 2 min rests for the doubles- both felt good. I can def. tell that I can do more on the bench if I wasn’t scared of it. Body seems fine with squatting heavier weight. 125lb snatch felt hard but I felt like I properly snatched the bar up instead of doing some upright row kind of thing, so there must be some technique improvement going on.

No rest on the sled pushes. Tried my best to maintain a consistent pace on the sled pushes. This goes from feeling like I’m pushing nothing to immense fatigue in the lower body in just 1.5 laps, so it’s a struggle to maintain pace on the third and fourth laps.

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1992

Easy Strength Round 2 Day 34
Dan John’s Complex Fx8 with a bar
Flat Bench- 145lb, 2x5
Power Snatch- 95lb, 3x2
Back Squat- 215lb, 2x5
DB row- 2x5
1x6 weighted sit-up with 10lb plate
4 total sled pulls with 110lb. Went down the path, 30 second rest, then back.

I’ve been going to bed too late the last couple of days again. It’s sapping my will to do this. Most everything felt flat. Technique on the power snatch must be improving because I feel quicker and more powerful on the second pull than last week. Doing that 125lb heavy single probably primed me too. Squat felt physically tough but mentally easy.

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1993

Easy Strength Round 2 Day 35
Dan John’s Complex Ex8 with a bar
Flat Bench- 145lb, 2x5
Power Snatch- 95lb, 3x2
Back Squat- 215lb, 2x5
DB row- 2x5
1x6 weighted sit-up with 10lb plate
4 total KB suitcase carry with 20kg back and forth. 1 lap, then switch arms, etc.

Went to bed at a more reasonable time today, so felt more ready + coffee hit me harder. Legs are starting to feel a bit beat up. 215lb squat and sled push and pulls don’t go well together yet I think.

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1994

2 laps at the backyard trail with 50lb. Took ~10:08.

Much faster than the last attempt. Very very hard.

I wanted to log that it timed how long it takes to go up and down that trail at a casually brisk pace- ~4:30 or so. So takes about 2 and a half min to go up and 2 min to go down.

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1995

Easy Strength Round 2 Day 36
Dan John’s Complex Ax8 with a bar
Flat Bench- 145lb, 2x5
Power Snatch- 95lb, 3x2
Back Squat- 215lb, 2x5
DB row- 2x5
1x5 hanging knee raise
2 rounds of trap bar carry back and forth with 225lb
90 second rest on the carries

Feeling very tired. Something about the weekend completely wiped me out and that continued into today. Somehow I managed to do the normal weights for everything. Bench is feeling slightly easier, aside from continuing to feel some strain in the pecs. Dare I say that 95lb power cleans feel easy now, and the squats felt surprisingly easy too- no strain anywhere.

Fatigue showed up bigly on the carries though.

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1996

Easy Strength Round 2 Day 37
Dan John’s Complex Bx8 with a bar
Flat Bench- 150/160/170/180/190/200lbx1
Snatch- 95lb, 3x2
Back Squat- 205/225/245/265/285/305lbx1
DB row- 2x5
1x10 weighted sit-up with 10lb plate
4 suitcase carry back with 24kg back and forth. Switched hands after each lap and took a short break after two laps.

Didn’t pause on the bench and squat. 2 min rests for the final sets of the bench and squat. Bench felt pretty good with the longer rests. ROM on the 305lb was probably cut a bit short and that felt like a proper hard rep.

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1997

Easy Strength Round 2 Day 38
Dan John’s Complex Cx8 with a bar
Flat Bench- 115lbx10
Snatch- 95lb, 3x2
Back Squat- 155lbx10
DB row- 1x10
1x10 weighted sit-up with 10lb plate
4 laps of sled push back and forth with 50lb. No rest besides when I gasp for air because this was pretty stinking hard.

The sets of 10s felt pretty easy. This was done continuous style. The bench felt quite easy, failed to hold my breath for the back squat but the reps themselves felt easy.

Sled pushes are amazing. It’s ‘easy’ to keep pushing even when you’re fatigued. It really is a good and safe way to work with fatigue.

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1998

Easy Strength Round 2 Day 39
Dan John’s Complex Dx8 with a bar
Flat Bench- 155lb, 2x5
Power Snatch- 95lb, 3x2
Back Squat- 225lb, 2x5
DB row- 2x5
1x5 hanging knee raise

The weight is a tad too high now, but this run is almost done and I think it would be nice to push a bit in the last two sessions.

2 sled drag back and forth. Once with an empty sled and next with 90lb.
Tried dragging the sled. Not easy because I feel the sled and the straps I used to pulled with slacken with each step I take. Empty sled was easy as expected but +90lb didn’t move well.

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1999

Easy Strength Round 2 Day 40
Dan John’s Complex Ex8 with a bar
Flat Bench- 155lbx5, 175lbx3, 195lbx2
Power Snatch- 105/125lbx1
Back Squat- 225lbx5, 255lbx3, 285lbx2
DB row- 2x5
1x10 sit-up with 10lb plate
4 suitcase case carry with 16kg. 2 laps with each hand. No rest in between

No pauses on the bench and squat. Muscles feel tired and don’t have much pop. I’m pleasantly surprised that I can indeed do 195lbx2 feeling like this. Lacked power and speed on the power snatch- pressed the 125lb a bit at the top. Same with the squats- lacked the ease and speed that I’ve been seeing with no paused reps in the past weeks. It’s all good- I’m done with this run of Easy Strength and I think it’s good to end feeling slightly tired with the strength movements.

I restarted doing those daily push-ups and squats- currently doing 10 EMOM sets of 5 and 6 respectively- and I think that’s the main reason why the strength movements are lacking pop right now. It’s ok.

And that ends round 2 of Easy Strength. I am now going to go into a conditioning and work capacity focused Easy Strength. I simply lack the time in the morning to get 45-50 min walks in, but should have time to do a 15-20 min conditioning session, especially if I can get the strength portion down to be done in 15 min.

I have successfully regained my strength aside from vertical pulls. I’m too fat to do lots of pull-ups atm. Let’s now regain my strength endurance and conditioning and see if that leads to fat loss too.

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2000

Sat-
2 mileish walk with 20lb backpack. Took ~35 min. Felt good and easy aside from when I tried to walk quickly without breaking into a jog.
20x 2 push-ups and 2 squats with 20lb backpack.
Did this without any timed rest. I wanted to be able to maintain a good rhythm, but failed to do so.

Today-
Easy Strength Round 3 Day 1
Dan John’s Complex A- 55/60lbx8
Flat Bench- 115lb, 3x3
Back Squat- 185lb, 3x3
1x10 sit-up with 10lb plate

15 min AMSAP of-
20lb sled push back and forth
10 KB thrusters with 12kgs
10 breathes in between sets. Did a total of 8 sets.

Just to note- I’m only ever noting the weight added to the sled and not the total weight. No clue what the total weight is and I frankly don’t care.

The idea is simple-
-Do 2 sets of complexes with progressively heavier weights to add in a progressive overload factor into it. I want to stick to doing 8s but will wing it as the days pile on.
-Do the absolute bare minimum of Easy Strength, will do pull-ups at home later.
-Wave between a hard conditioning work for 5-20 minutes and nothing days.

Plan is to start out with 2 hard conditioning session of 15-20 min, 1 tabata something, and 2 nothing days. If I can I’d like to get the nothing days to something days, but we’ll see how my body handles this.

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2001

Easy Strength Round 3 Day 2
Dan John’s Complex B- 55/60lbx8
Flat Bench- 115lb, 3x3
Back Squat- 185lb, 3x3
1x10 sit-up with 10lb plate
3 laps of right hand suitcase carry with 16kg.

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