Being a dad ‘sucks’- The baby takes up too much of my time and I barely get to do what I want- whether that be work, exercise, fun time, etc.
Being a dad is freaking amazing. I can honestly say that there are few better things than when your kid beams at you after they did something or when you just give them a nice hug.
It is a severe and constant whiplash between those two. I’m glad that he’s now big enough, and my wife has recovered enough, that I can get to go to the gym without being worried.
Easy Strength Day 3-
Goblet Squat- 10 with 28kg
Double KB clean- 10 with 16kgs
Incline Bench- 95lbx5, 115lbx3, 135lbx2
Deadlift- 185lbx5, 245lbx3, 275lbx2
6 pull-ups
5 hand walkouts
10 rounds of plate overhead carry with 25lb back and forth as 3/3/2/1/1
Flat benches in use again… At this rate I’m just going to be alternating these movements daily… I really don’t want to wait for equipment atm, and as long as either a flat or incline bench is available I’m going to use it.
The 2s all moved well.
I have something off going on with my mobility that’s causing form on the deadlift to feel a bit weird, and I’m pretty sure I pulled the 275lb a bit high.
The plate overhead carry started to get tough on the triceps and whatever stabilizer muscles are up there pretty quickly- far quicker than I expected.
Legs a bit sore from the sled pushes. Core a bit sore.
Easy Strength Day 4-
Goblet Squat- 10 with 28kg
KB Swings- 25 with 28kg
Incline Bench- 95lb, 2x5
Deadlift- 185lb, 2x5
6 pull-ups
5 hand walkouts
6 rounds of KB suitcase carry with 24kg back and forth, alternating arms at the ‘back’ and ‘forth’.
Glute felt sore and lower body didn’t move as well. The deadlifts felt easier though. The barbell lifts moved well- can do a slight pause on the incline bench without issue. The pull-ups on the other hand felt a bit worse.
Easy Strength Day 5 on Friday-
Goblet Squat- 10 with 32kg
KB swings- 25 with 32kg
Incline Bench- 105lb, 2x5
Deadlift- 205lb, 2x5
6 pull-ups
5 hand walkouts
10 rounds of KB goblet carry with 40kg back and forth.
Bear Complex WOD- 45/50/55/60/65lb
32kg for the squat and swings were a mistake. These get too hard to be an ‘easy’ warm-up and I think it impacted the incline bench.
Upped the weight on the bench and deadlift because they’re feeling, well, easy. But the incline bench felt maybe a bit hard? But I suck at benching and have shitty stability with it, so that’s probably it. The actual pressing felt fine; it’s holding the bar that I have difficulty with.
Scratched my shin during the deadlift and it bled.
One minute rests for the goblet carry. I started to feel pretty sore in my left leg and general area- likely muscle that isn’t used to holding itself up well. This is why I honestly find the goblet carry harder than double KB front rack carry- I’m forced to be more ‘honest’ with my movement and it’s hard.
About one minute rests between each round of bear complex, though I started to slacken on the strictness of this near the end. This got hard. I’m glad I used 5lb jumps. My legs felt extremely sore Sat and Sun.
Easy Strength Day 6-
Goblet Squat- 10 with 28kg
KB swings- 30 with 28kg
Incline Bench- 105lb, 2x5
Deadlift- 225lb, 2x5
6 pull-ups
5 hand walkouts
10 total sled pulls with 50lb. Went down the path, 10 deep breathes, then back.
Easy. The sled pulls felt easier than I perhaps wanted. Just slightly fatigued instead of being really fatigued.
Easy Strength Day 7-
Goblet Squat- 10 with 28kg
KB swings- 25 with 28kg
Incline Bench- 95/115/125/135/145/155lbx1
Deadlift- 225/275/315/335/355/365/370lbx1
The incline bench felt pretty solid. Like a moderately heavy 80-85% or so?
I miscalculated with the deadlift. 225/275lb both felt good so I pushed the weight up too quickly. Speed began to drop dramatically 315lb onwards, hence the progressively smaller and smaller jumps. The lifts themselves felt good- zero chance of failure, but gosh were they slow!
I miscalculated and did a seventh rep. This one felt the slowest and it took a while for the bar to get off the floor. Overall felt good- it’s been years since I deadlifted heavy and being able to do these first thing in the morning with just a hook grip makes me feel good about my strength level. Though I am now sitting at 200lb so… quite a bit heavier than before.
1/2/1/2 pull-ups
5 hand walkouts
10 total laps of single arm KB front rack carry with 24kg, alternated between arms.
Tried to extend my arms out further with the hand walkouts. I wanted something that I can do quickly for the loaded carry- this felt tough but I didn’t need to do any actual timed rest between laps.
Easy Strength Day 8-
Goblet Squat- 10 with 28kg
KB swings- 25 with 28kg
Incline Bench- 65lbx10
Deadlift- 135lbx10
6 pull-ups
5 hand walkouts
10 total sled pushes with 95lb. Went down the path, 9 deep breathes, then back.
I get why Dan John added a tonic day. Body didn’t even feel sore or tired, until I started moving weights. Definitely a good idea to just go through the motions today.
I put on my weighted backpack for our daily family walk yesterday and felt it in my traps and legs, so that was another hint.
The sled pushes felt hard. Couldn’t stick to 9 deep breathes by the end.
Easy Strength Day 9-
Goblet Squat- 11 with 28kg
KB swings- 30 with 28kg
Incline Bench- 105lb, 2x5
Deadlift- 245lb, 2x5
2/2/2 pull-ups
5 hand walkouts
Chest has been feeling sore since the 6 singles and that continues here. Not sure if I’m fatigued or just feeling sore from actually doing chest work with appropriate weight.
The deadlifts felt easy. They should- I was doing 10x5 with 245lb just a couple of weeks ago.
6 total rounds of KB farmer’s carry with 44kg. Went down the path, 1 min rest, then back.
Felt pretty solid.
Easy Strength Day 10-
Goblet Squat- 12 with 28kg
KB swings- 30 with 28kg
Incline Bench- 105lbx5, 125lbx3, 145lbx2
Deadlift- 245lbx5, 285lbx3, 315lbx2
Either something was off with the barbell or my setup for the incline bench. I felt really off on the first set. Somehow adjusted for the other sets but didn’t feel as stable as normal. The pressing itself went ok but 145lb felt a bit slow.
315lb felt a bit slow.
The hardest part of Easy Strength so far is indeed determining load. Am I going too heavy? I have no idea! The weight moves fine. So is it easy? Or am I just trying to get back to my old strength too quickly? Is the weight moving fine because I’ve done considerably more on all these lifts (aside from the incline, which I’ve never seriously done) and so it’s just muscle memory coming back? Probably! But that does that mean I should push the weight increase this aggressively?
2/2/2 pull-ups
5 hand walkouts
Pull-ups didn’t feel as good today.
Bear complexes-
1/2/3 reps with 95lb
About 8-10 deep breathes between rungs. Felt pretty fine. The 3s got me breathing a bit.
I realized that I forgot to do the loaded carries as I headed over to shower.
Easy Strength Day 11-
Goblet Squat- 12 with 28kg
KB swings- 30 with 28kg
Incline Bench- 105lb, 2x5
Deadlift- 245lb, 2x5
Everything felt good. Incline bench felt a lot more stable and strong. I may need to start searching for bars instead of using whatever is on the station- I don’t know my grip width and am probably changing it every time. Deadlift flew up. Felt very powerful. I think this is where my experience level with the lifts show up- I’ve deadlifted significantly more weight before, so there’s more room to build back up to, whereas with the incline bench I’m building new connections, so it’s taking time.
2/2/2 pull-ups
5 hand walkouts
10 total sled pushes with 95lb. Went down the path, 30 second rest, then back.
This felt like really hard after the fifth round. Wow this was hard.
Easy Strength Day 12-
Goblet Squat- 13 with 28kg
KB swings- 30 with 28kg
Incline Bench- 115lb, 2x5
Deadlift- 255lb, 2x5
Felt good. Bench felt tougher, could have easily added more weight to the deadlift.
2/2/2 pull-ups
5 hand walkouts
3 rounds of KB farmer’s carry with 40kg back and forth. 90 second rest between rounds.
Armor-building complex with barbell- 95/115/135/145lb
Push-pressed on the last rep, more out of fear of the weight than necessity honestly. My power clean is garbage now.
Easy Strength Day 13
Goblet Squat- 12 with 28kg
KB Swings- 30 with 28kg
Incline Bench- 115lbx5, 135lbx3, 150lbx2
Deadlift- 255lbx5, 315lbx3, 345lbx2
Everything felt good. Every set of the incline bench felt really strong and solid. 315lb and 345lb still feels slow, but much faster and easier than before.
1/2/3 pull-ups
The last set didn’t feel great.
5 hand walkouts
Cook drill with 16kg KBs-
Went out with waiter walk, back with front rack carry, then out again with suitcase carry. This is one set Did 6 of these total, alternating arms with each set.
This really fatigued my shoulders- still sore even now.
Easy Strength Day 16
Goblet Squat- 13 with 28kg
KB Swings- 35 with 28kg
Incline Bench- 115lb, 2x5
Deadlift- 255lb, 2x5
My triceps feel sore on the bench, but otherwise good. Deadlift flew again. Used a thicker bar than the Eleiko bars that are here and it made the hook grip harder to maintain- less pain though.
2/2/2 pull-ups
6 hanging knee raise
4 rounds of waiter walk with 24kg. Went down the path, switch arm, then back. 30 second rest between rounds.
Easy Strength Day 17
Goblet Squat- 13 with 28kg
KB Swings- 25 with 28kg
Incline Bench- 115/125/135/145/155/165lbx1
Deadlift- 255/285/315/345/375/405lbx1
Bench felt good. 155lb felt good and 165lb felt grindy.
Did a soft lockout on the 405lb. Felt heavy but manageable but my thumb began to slip as I went up, so I wasn’t able to get to the very top and hold it. Therefore this would officially be a miss. =( 375lb felt pretty good so I’m bummed that this happened. Probably didn’t rest enough between sets for my grip to recover fully.
6x1 pull-ups
6 hanging knee raise
4 rounds of KB goblet carry with 40kg back and forth.
I shouldn’t have done this. Muscles felt pretty darned fatigued- the deadlifts took a lot out of me.
Easy Strength Day 18
Goblet Squat- 13 with 28kg
KB Swings- 25 with 28kg
Flat Bench- 95lbx10
Deadlift- 225lbx10
Bench felt stupid easy. Did a regular grip on the deadlift and that felt a bit off- but the fact that I can do 10 reps with a regular overhand grip is good onto itself. I always had a hard time past 225lb. Glutes felt very sore.
2/3/1 pull-ups
6 hanging knee raise
8 rounds of KB bottoms up waiter’s carry with 8kg
Alternated arms on the back and forth. 30 second rests.
Wanted something that would be easy to do.
5 reps of bear complex with 95lb
Strict pressed the first three reps, then went ‘flowy’ with the others. Felt easy. I wanted to do more but I ran out of time.
Easy Strength Day 19
Goblet Squat- 14 with 28kg
KB Swings- 35 with 28kg
Incline Bench- 115lb, 2x5
Deadlift- 265lb, 2x5
Deadlifts feel too easy- like I’m just standing up after bending a bit. Used the ‘thicker’ bar again and grip felt harder to maintain. I’m liking that this doesn’t hurt the thumbs though.
2/2/2 pull-ups
7 hanging knee raise
4 rounds of KB farmer’s carry with 40kgs back and forth. 90 second rests between rounds.
Last one felt a bit tough on my shoulders. They’re still sore 2 hours later.
Easy Strength Day 20
Goblet Squat- 14 with 28kg
KB Swings- 30 with 28kg
Incline Bench- 115lbx5, 135lbx3, 155lbx2
Deadlift- 265lbx5, 315lbx3, 325lbx1
Bench felt ok. First rep of 155lb felt hard due to pause, didn’t pause for the second rep and it went smoothly.
Deadlift was a mess. Grip gave out on me on the 315lb and I failed the second rep of 325lb. This was with the ‘thicker’ bar again. I’m wondering whether this grip weakness is the bar vs built-up fatigue that is now showing up.
2/2/2 pull-ups
7 hanging knee raise
10 one arm KB front rack carry with 20kg back and forth. No rest.
Think it’s a good idea to take it easy on the deadlifts next week and let my grip recover.
Halfway through the program. I had ambitions of getting close to my old maximal deadlift strength or perhaps even exceeding it because of how rapidly deadlift strength returned, but now I’m seeing that may be too ambitious. I’d be happy with getting a clean and smooth 405lb at this point.
