S&S day 4
16kg
chin-up-3x3
flat bench- 175lb, 2x5 2 min rest
30 min treadmill walk
Trying to find a way to not sabotage myself as best as I can while still making myself feel like the gym membership is worth it when I can do all of this shit at home. The bench felt good and pretty easy for the most part.
The basic idea is to do just ONE strength movement a day. Something like-
Bench on Mon/Thurs
Squat on Tues/Fri
We’ll see how it goes.
S&S day 5
20kg
S&S day 6
20kg, swings in 5 min
back squat- 225lb, 2x5 2 min rest
chin-up 4/4/3
30 min treadmill walk
S&S day7 (today!)
20kg, two armed swings, swings in 5 min
flat bench- 175lb, 2x5 2 min rest
chin-up-4/4/3
30 min treadmill walk
20kg is a more appropriate weight for this. Legs have mostly adapted, and how it’s the upper body control that’s more challenging. Doing 100 swings in 5 min isn’t easy- just on the verge of starting to feel out of breath with these, but I like that up in intensity.
The back squat felt easy- legs have recovered from the earlier overload, but boy are they sore today. The bench felt tougher today and I think that’s mostly due to the full body soreness+the 20kg being harder on the body.
Forgot to mention that I’m doing KB halos and one armed KB squats for warm-ups. Using 8kg for the halos and the same S&S weight for the KB squats.
S&S day 8
2x5 KB halos with 8kg
2x5 one armed KB squat with 20kg
20kg, one armed swing
deadlift- 225/275lbx5, 2 min rest
30 min treadmill walk
The getups are starting to feel easier on the body overall. Now the arms and keeping things stable as I fatigue are the main limiter.
Deadlifts felt easy.
S&S day 9
2x5 KB halos with 8kg
2x5 one armed KB squat with 20kg
20kg, one armed swing
flat bench- 175lb, 5/4 2 min rest
chin-up- 4/3/3
30 min treadmill walk
Probably could have done that last rep of bench, but it would have been a struggle. I was wondering how I’d do with higher intensity work and I think I finally have my answer- I upped the intensity just a bit and I’m already struggling. I think my upper body just responds a lot better to lots of submax work. Good to finally confirm! Wish I knew about Easy Strength a lot earlier!
S&S day 10 on last Friday
2x5 KB halos with 8kg
2x5 one armed KB squat with 20kg
20kg, one armed swing
Today-
Easy Strength + Barbell ABF program 1 day 1
snatch grip deadlift/power snatch/overhead squat- 45lb, 3x5
Flat Bench- 145lb, 2x5
Low handle trap bar deadlift- 155lb, 2x5
Continuous Clean and press- 45/55lbx8, 65lb, 3x8
BB curl- 45/55lbx8, 65lb, 3x8
a lap of suitcase carry with 24kg
30 min treadmill walk
Done in a little over an hour. Felt good. BB curls irritate my right wrist, I think because it doesn’t like the straight bar. If it continues to irritate it then I’ll probably just switch to DB curls.
snatch grip deadlift/power snatch/overhead squat- 45lbx5
power snatch into overhead squat- 65lbx3, 85lbx2
pull-up-3x3
10 sled sprints- 4x95lb, 1x145lb, 5x115lb
Done in ~13:24
The 95lb felt way too easy- I started out with 1 min rest between rounds and felt my HR go up mildly after the first four, so upped it to 145lb and that felt WAY too hard- I can walk with this but a sprint was out of the question. 115lb was the happy middle- I could sprint with this and it felt hard. Upped the rest period to 1:30 min and I had begun to struggle sprinting through the entire length by the 9th and 10th sprint.
35 min treadmill walk
Legs felt ok like 15 mins into the treadmill walk.
Easy Strength + Barbell ABF program 1 day 2
snatch grip deadlift/power snatch/overhead squat- 45lb, 3x5
Flat Bench- 145lb, 2x5
Low handle trap bar deadlift- 165lb, 2x5
Continuous Clean and press- 45/65lbx8, 75lb, 3x8
BB curl- 45/55lbx8, 65lb, 3x8
a lap of suitcase carry with 28kg
20 min treadmill walk
Got sciatic pain when I woke up today. My best guess is that the trap bar deadlift + the sled sprints triggered something. Stingly painful to walk at times but I didn’t feel any pain during the strength movements themselves. Slowed me down though, and that cumulated time meant I had less time to walk.
75lb is a better weight for the clean and press. Feels ok and then have to strain somewhat on the last set.
47ish min walk with a 20lb backpack.
Easy Strength + Barbell ABF program 1 day 3
snatch grip deadlift/power snatch/overhead squat- 50lb, 3x5
Flat Bench- 145lb, 2x5
Low handle trap bar deadlift- 175lb, 2x5
pull-up, 3x3
Continuous Clean and press- 45/65lbx8, 75lb, 3x8
BB curl- 45/65lbx8, 75lb, 3x8
a lap of suitcase carry with 32kg
30 min treadmill walk
Left shoulder feels slightly irritated, but nothing bad.
Sat-
~54 min walk with a 20lb backpack.
Every lap of the circuit-so about every 6-7 min- do 15 push-ups/20 squats. Did 5 sets/6 laps total.
I originally wanted to do 20 push-ups/20 squats, but that wasn’t happening with the push-ups. Last 2 sets were a real struggle with the push-ups.
Easy Strength + Barbell ABF program 1 day 4
gym was very busy, so I skipped the initial warm-up complex
Flat Bench- 145lb, 2x5
Low handle trap bar deadlift- 185lb, 2x5
pull-up, 3x3
Continuous Clean and press- 45/65lbx8, 80lb, 3x8
BB curl- 45/65lbx8, 80lb, 3x8
Overhead squat- 55lb, 3x5
cable row- 2x5
a lap of suitcase carry with 32kg
Holy crap did I feel really sore with the flat bench. It felt odd- the actual lifts felt near effortless, but I felt REALLY sore and achy.
Trap bar deadlift is feeling easier and easier. I think I’m getting adjusted to the movement.
pull-ups suck.
The clean and press felt pretty good. Didn’t feel any shoulder irritation and overall this felt easier than last Friday. I think not doing the snatch beforehand helped, so I may just skip the warm-up complex entirely and do overhead squats after.
80lb curls are too heavy- began using more body English than I’d like on the last set.
52ish min walk with 20lb+4kg backpack. Basically 3 miles.
I notice that my HR stays pretty low- 122ish- for nearly 2 miles, then it begins to spike up to high 130s on the third mile.
Easy Strength + Barbell ABF program 1 day 5
snatch grip deadlift/power snatch/overhead squat- 55lb, 3x5
Flat Bench- 150lb, 2x5
Low handle trap bar deadlift- 195lb, 2x5
Continuous Clean and press- 45/65lbx8, 80lb, 3x8
BB curl- 45/65lbx8, 80lb, 3x8
cable row- 2x5
a lap of farmer’s carry with 40kgs
Got up late today, so couldn’t find time to walk.
I had intended to do Meat Eater 2 and go for a walk on yesterday, but I had an immensely stressful day on Weds, so I couldn’t get up in the morning. Did Meat Eater 2 in the afternoon and then immediately went on my daily walk/playtime with my son instead.
Finished in ~16:40. Predictably began to get pretty rough after set 5-6ish
Today-
Easy Strength + Barbell ABF program 1 day 5
overhead squat- 65lb, 3x5
Skipping the power snatches because I think I’m overdoing it with my shoulders atm.
Flat Bench- 150lb, 2x5
Trap bar deadlift- 195lb high handle, 1x5, 1x3, low handle, 1x2, 1x5
Continuous Clean and press- 45/65lbx8, 85lb, 3x8
BB curl- 45lbx8, 65lb, 4x8
a lap of suitcase carry with 28kg
20 min treadmill walk
Bench felt very bad today. Had no idea just how sore and tired my pecs were until I began this. It felt incredibly slow and stiff and strained. Wasn’t good at all. Need to rethink placement of burpees or high rep push-up stuff with the others, or do enough to get my body used to this again.
I forgot that I did 195lb last session on the trap bar deadlift, hence the repeat. Further, I wasn’t paying attention and so did these with the high handles instead of the low handle… until I realized just how easy this felt and noticed it. Switched mid set and did an extra set to compensate. Felt fine.
The clean and press feel ok. 85lb is a good weight, but I’m not sure if I can do the front squats with this on the last set. Probably will drop down in weight a bit when I get there.
Sat-
32min/2mileish walk with 20lb backpack.
Found a short .3ish mile loop near my house. It’s convenient when I’m doing a short walk. Pushed the pace and tried to move as fast as I can while keeping my HR at the my estimated zone 2 ceiling. HR spikes when I’m going up the hilly portion and I have to move pretty fast when I’m on the flatter and downhill portions.
Easy Strength + Barbell ABF program 2 day 1
overhead squat- 65lb, 3x5
Flat Bench- 150lb, 2x5
Low handle trap bar deadlift- 205lb, 2x5
Continuous Clean and press and BB curl superset- 45/65lbx8, 75lb, 3x8
a lap of suitcase carry with 28kg
20 min treadmill walk
My chest felt recovered by Sat, but triceps felt REALLY sore. They still feel sore and I felt them in the bench. But overall much smoother and easier compared to Friday. Learning that I need to be really careful with additional pressing movements atm. Not used to high rep and the barbell ABF work is a lot of arm work.
Trap bar deadlift felt easy. The clean and press + curl superset felt tough near the end. This is going to be great fun once I add the front squats in.
34ish min/2mileish walk with 20lb+6kg backpack.
I wanted to walk for an hour and set my alarm accordingly. Then I slept in.
Easy Strength + Barbell ABF program 2 day 2
overhead squat- 65lb, 3x5
Flat Bench- 155lb, 2x5
Low handle trap bar deadlift- 215lb, 2x5
Continuous Clean and press and BB curl superset- 45/65lbx8, 75lb, 3x8
a lap of suitcase carry with 32kg
30 min treadmill walk
The curls felt harder today. The trap bar deadlift is slowly requiring more and more effort.
5 hill runs. First one was a warm-up and the rest were all out runs.
36ish min/2mileish walk
Easy Strength + Barbell ABF program 2 day 3
overhead squat- 75lb, 3x5
Flat Bench- 155lb, 2x5
Low handle trap bar deadlift- 225lb, 2x5
Continuous Clean and press and curl superset-
45/65lbx8, 80lb, 3x8 on clean and press
45lbx8 barbell curl, 25lbx8, 15lb, 3x8 DB curl
a lap of suitcase carry with 32kg
20 min treadmill walk
Gave up on doing BB curls. Too much body english and I don’t like how they limit my clean and press weight. 25lb curls felt way harder than I anticipated, so I went very light. The clean and press felt pretty fine.
Sat-
1hrish/3.7mileish walk with 20lb backpack.
Tried to move as fast as I reasonably can. Felt my calves and heels really cramp up and get sore in the first 30 min or so when I tried to move fast, so I really couldn’t. Then it ‘loosened’? Or it was due to the change in the path. Either way, could move a lot faster after 30 min. Same thing with HR- couldn’t get it past 125 for 30 min, then it spiked and averaged somewhere in the mid 130s and going up into the low 140s on the hilly portions. Good stuff.
Today-
Easy Strength + Barbell ABF program 3 day 1
overhead squat- 80lb, 3x5
Flat Bench- 155lb, 2x5
Low handle trap bar deadlift- 235lb, 2x5
Continuous Clean and press and front squat and curl superset-
45/65lbx8, 80lb, 3x8 on clean and press and 5x3 on the front squat
15lb, 58x DB curl
a lap of suitcase carry with 36kg
17 minish/1 mile treadmill walk
I’m finding the bench a bit hard on the last couple of reps. Deadlifts now require effort. The clean and press + front squat complex feels fine. Suitcase carries with 36kg is good work. I had morning errands to do, so I cut the walk in half.