Minimalist Training Log

Training Training Logs
41

14-33
Wednesday Training

First Period:
Bench: 185x 21, 6 reps in the first set, added the slingshot knocked out 10 additional reps
Band Pull-aparts: 40
Pull-ups: 50

Bench was a little shaky, stabilizing the bar was difficult due to sore lats and pecs, I improved, but I think if I had more rest between workouts, I would have performed better on this workout.

Second Period:
Farmers Walks: 205 for roughly 30 seconds, 6 times, this felt pretty good
Bear Crawl: Roughly 30 seconds, 6 times, I slowed down a little, focusing more on doing this properly, and just decreased the distance to keep the time domain the same.

67 training days to go.

42

14-34

First Period
Deadlift: 245x60,15 reps on first set, sets of 6-8 for remainder
Leg raise: 64, did 8-10 reps per set, no knee raise this time

Second Period
Tore my hand up too much on Deadlift to do Pullups, did prowler push instead
1 lap with 90, then 3 laps with 140, switched between normal prowler pushing and upper body push, this was much more exhausting than I expected, need to do these more often.

66 training days to go.

43

14-35

First Period:
Press: 135x25 (6,4,3,2,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1)
Chest-supported Row: 55x60 (8,8,8,8,6,6,6,5,5)
Band Pull-apart: Redbandx10x4

Second Period:
Sled Push 30 yard, 90x1, 140x2, 180x2
my vastus medialis cramped up hard after the last set of 180, or I would have done more, still did more sets than last time.
My hands are still somewhat torn up form last week, hence sled pushing again instead of farmer walks. The change has been productive, as it is definitely a weak point in my conditioning.

65 training days to go.

44

14-36

First Period:
Squat: 205x39 (6,4,3,3,3,2,2,2,2,2,1,2,2,3,2)
Frog kicks: 100

Second Period:
Sled Push: 140x5, 30 yards, 15 high/15 low
Pushups: 95

Squat felt better today, I’ll look to add more weight after the next workout. Sled push definitely left me broken, walked down some stairs after the workout, and wished I had taken the elevator by the time I got to the second flight. I’ll be happy when.net hands are healed up enough to start incorporating pull-ups and farmer walks again.

64 training sessions to go.

45

14-37

Moved Friday’s training session to Thursday, since I’ll be at drill tomorrow.

First Period:
Bench: 185x22, +9 wi/sllingshot (7,4,3,2,1,1,1,1,1,1; 3,2,2,1,1)
Chin-up: 49
Band Pull-aparts: 40

Second Period:
Sled Push: 180,140,90,90
Battle ropes: 4 sets

Felt tireed going into this session, so this definitely wasn’t my best. Still, I was able to add a rep to my first set, 1 more rep to sets with straight weight, and holding steady on total reps, so it wasn’t a complete loss. I was pretty well wiped from sled pushing yesterday, so just focused on getting the sets in, and pushing some blood through my legs. I finished the workout, and by next week I should be back on a normal training schedule again.

63 training days to go.

46

14-38

First Period
Bench: 185x33 (9,2,2,2,2,1,1,1,1,1,1, w/slingshot 4,2,2,1,1,1)
Pull-ups: 50
Band Pull-aparts: 40

Second Period
Farmer Walk: 205x5
Spiderman Crawl: 5

Took last week off becasue I felt sick and worn down all week, so I restarted this week. Even after working my butt off over the 3 day weekend, including shoveling and wheelbarrowing over 3000 lbs of mushroom manure, mulch, and river rock to get the house ready, I still felt pretty good today. I’ll add 10 pounds to bench press next session, and 10 lbs to the farmer walks. Staying conservative with reps after the first all out set definitely helped me add more volume this time. Since this is a short week, I’ll be deadlifting tomorrow, so we’ll see how well that goes.

62 training sessions to go.

47

14-39

First Period
Deadlift: 265x51 (11,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5)
Leg Raise: 67 (8,8,8,8,8,8,6,6,7)

Second Period:
Sled Push: 140x5, alternated pushing with legs and pressing the sled for an upper-body workout.

I think my performance suffered on the deadlift partially due to all the grip work I got over the weekend and the farmer walks on Monday, still not bad, I’ll stick with this weight for another workout or two. At least my predicted 1RM is up from the last workout, so I’m still making progress. Probably could have knocked out more reps on the leg raise, but wanted to conserve energy for the deadlift, and I still managed to beat my reps from the last workout.

My conditioning on the sled seems to be improving. Took less than a minute to recover from each set. I was still a little sore from bench on Monday, so I ditched the push-ups, and just focused on pressing the sled forward every few strides to provide some recovery and extra volume for my upper-body.

Definitely glad for the rest day today, and looking forward to the Press on Friday.

61 training sessions to go.

48

Diet

So my strength and conditioning seems to be steadily improving, but I’m going to have to start paying closer attention to my diet to really maximize this. For the most part, I’m on auto-pilot right now, I drink two protein shakes while at work, for about 140-160 grams of protein, take 10-15 grams of BCAA’s in my shaker bottle for pre/intra workout nutrition, then eat a larger meal in the evening, normally whatever I can get my hands on with lots of carbs, some veggies, and healthy fats. On a day when I’m feeling particularly famished, I may add in a snack before or after my workout, something along the lines of paleo trail mix (good days) or a small bag of combo’s (bad days).

Approximate calories per day:
300-340 calorie shake before noon
300-340 calorie shake after noon
300-360 calories from snack
1000-1500 calories in the the evening

So right now I’m getting between 1600-2540 calories a day. Which explains why I’m able to make some progress in the gym, but if I can increase my overall average caloric intake, this could definitely improve. I always have coconut oil around the house for cooking. If I add 2 tablespoons per day, that would add roughly 300 calories to my caloric intake, which would be enough to keep me around 1900 calories even on my light days. I’ll try this for a few weeks, and then adjust from there.

49

14-40
Friday’s Training

First Period:
Press: 135x27 (7,4,3,3,3,2,2,1,1,1)
T-bar Row: 65x60

Second Period:
Farmer Walks: 205x4 for 70 yards each
Spiderman Crawl: 4 by 35 yards

60 training sessions to go.

50

14-41
Monday’s Training

First Period:
Squat: 205x42 (5,5,4,4,4,4,5,4,2,3,2)
Frog Kicks: 80

Second Period:
Pull-ups: 40
Elevated Push-ups: 60

59 Training sessions to go.

51

14-42

First Period:
Bench: 195x29 (7,3,3,2,2,1,1,1,1,1,1,1, w/slingshot 3,2,1,1,1)
Pull-up: 48
Band Pull-apart: 40

Second Period:
Sled Push: 140x5

decided to bump up the weight on bench this time, lost 2 reps total, but still got 7 reps on my first set, which indicates a strength increase, while my total volume is still in the same ballpark.
Decided to do the sled push to get some blood circulation into my legs, which are still very sore from squats on Monday, and to keep my grip fresh for deadlift on Friday, we’ll see how that goes. Conditioning seems to be improving, I think I may have actually done six sets, but time started to get a little fuzzy toward the end, and I managed to keep all of my rest periods to about a minute or less this time.

58 training sessions to go.

52

14-43

First Period:
Deadlift: 265x54 (11,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,3)
Leg raise: 80

Second Period
Sled Push (Upper body emphasis): 160x5
Jump Rope: 5 sets

Deadlift went a bit better this time, I’ll stick with this weight until I can break 15 reps on the first set.
Had to change the way I do sled pushing this time. Normally I go the width of the gym, back and forth, for one set. This time there was a class doing conditioning halfway through that path, so instead I just pushed it back and forth half way a bunch of times, until my arms and shoulders started to give out, then switched to jumping rope, and would rest for about a minute before starting over again. This gave my shoulders and arms a massive pump, I may start doing a variation on this more often, as I definitely like how this feels. I also tried a variation of the sled push where I moved my legs the same way I would when shooting for a takedown. Really enjoyed this. I really enjoy having access to a prowler at the gym, definitely allows for some great training variations.

57 Training sessions to go.

53

14-44

First Period:
Squat: 205x44 (7,4,4,4,4,2,4,3,3,3,3,3)
Frog Kicks: 80

Second Period:
Sled Push: 180x2, 140x3, 90x1

Managed to get a few more reps on both the first set and total on the squat, so I’ll chalk this up as a good workout. Truthfully, I had enough time to knockout another short set, but the last time I did this workout, I was sore for 4 days, so I’m trying to keep the volume increases small. In fact, if I can continue to increase the reps on the first set, I will probably look to keep the total volume the same. I did notice the squats tapped pretty deeply into my conditioning, my shirt was pretty well drenched by the time I started on the sled. Even getting the sled moving took more effort than normal, and after the first set, I had to increase my rest periods from one minute to two minutes. Still I put the work in, and my legs are feeling okay right now.

56 training sessions to go.

54

Random thoughts on training

After I finished my workout yesterday, I began to think about how I could further simplify my training. I’ve been doing prowler pushing and farmer carries fairly frequently now, and enjoy the training effect I’m getting. I’m considering, not now, but perhaps this fall after I finish the maximum strength cycle, moving to a program based almost entirely upon farmer carries and prowler push/pull variations, with some power cleans and pull-ups thrown in for good measure. Heavy prowler pushing could replace the press, bench press, and squats; prowler pulling and farmer carries could replace the deadlift and some back work, and the power clean and pull-ups would allow for fairly complete total body development. However, since there’s very little eccentric, and the weights don’t add up exactly, I would have to do some research and self experimentation to figure out what weights to use, and how much volume would be required to actually make strength gains. One potential drawback is that the conditioning requirement to gain enough volume may require quite a bit of adaptation.

Right now my initial thought for this program would be an A/B split, done 3x/week.

Workout A:
A. Power Clean and Press: ramping weight for 5 sets of 3
B. Sled Push, High handles, Upper Body: 5 sets of 5 heavy pushes
C1. Sled Push, High handles, Upper Body: 5 sets for as many reps as possible, at roughly 60 percent of the heaviest weight
C2. Sled Pull, Low handles: 5 sets for as far as possible
D. Pull-ups: 50 reps, or as many as possible in time remaining

Workout B:
A. Power Clean and Press: ramping weight for 3 sets of 5
B. Farmer Carry: 5 sets, heaviest weight possible
C1. Farmer Carry: 5 sets, 60% of heaviest weight
C2. Spider Crawl: 5 sets, as far as possible
D. Pull-ups: 50 reps, or as many as possible in time remaining

Probably plenty of bugs to workout, but something to work on over the next few months.

55

[quote]drew6 wrote:
Random thoughts on training

After I finished my workout yesterday, I began to think about how I could further simplify my training. I’ve been doing prowler pushing and farmer carries fairly frequently now, and enjoy the training effect I’m getting. I’m considering, not now, but perhaps this fall after I finish the maximum strength cycle, moving to a program based almost entirely upon farmer carries and prowler push/pull variations, with some power cleans and pull-ups thrown in for good measure. Heavy prowler pushing could replace the press, bench press, and squats; prowler pulling and farmer carries could replace the deadlift and some back work, and the power clean and pull-ups would allow for fairly complete total body development. However, since there’s very little eccentric, and the weights don’t add up exactly, I would have to do some research and self experimentation to figure out what weights to use, and how much volume would be required to actually make strength gains. One potential drawback is that the conditioning requirement to gain enough volume may require quite a bit of adaptation.

Right now my initial thought for this program would be an A/B split, done 3x/week.

Workout A:
A. Power Clean and Press: ramping weight for 5 sets of 3
B. Sled Push, High handles, Upper Body: 5 sets of 5 heavy pushes
C1. Sled Push, High handles, Upper Body: 5 sets for as many reps as possible, at roughly 60 percent of the heaviest weight
C2. Sled Pull, Low handles: 5 sets for as far as possible
D. Pull-ups: 50 reps, or as many as possible in time remaining

Workout B:
A. Power Clean and Press: ramping weight for 3 sets of 5
B. Farmer Carry: 5 sets, heaviest weight possible
C1. Farmer Carry: 5 sets, 60% of heaviest weight
C2. Spider Crawl: 5 sets, as far as possible
D. Pull-ups: 50 reps, or as many as possible in time remaining

Probably plenty of bugs to workout, but something to work on over the next few months.[/quote]

Looking at your abbreviated style of training I reckon the Hepburn 8x2 building to 8x3 type routines would suit you well it might be worth your while looking it up.

56

Tredaway: thanks for the suggestion. I’m a fan of Hepburn’s 8x2, I actually finished up a cycle of that a month or two before I started this log. I may go back to it in late fall/early winter, when I’ll probably be looking for a program with a size over strength focus.

57

14-45

First Period:
Bench: 195x27 (8,1,1,2,2,1,2,2,1,1,1; w/slingshot 2,1,1,1)
Pull-ups: 50
Band Pull-apart: 40

Second Period:
A1 Sled Push: 90x2,110x2, 140x2, 160x2
A2 Burpees: 5,5,5,5
A3 Med Ball Slams:: 8,8,8,8

I was supposed to do this workout last Friday, or yesterday, but have been busy with work. Managed to get it in today, and then I’ll train again on Thursday, returning to my regular schedule next week.
Mixed feelings on Bench. On the one hand, I got more reps on first set, on the other hand, I think I may have lost some reps overall because I pushed a bit too much (some of the doubles took nearly 30 seconds as I pushed through the last few inches of the second rep). Still, I’m making some progress.

Tried another conditioning variation today, which once again kicked my butt. I think it’s been over a year sincce I’ve done a burpee, and it definitely showed today, I think I’ll keep throwing these in on occasion.

Overall not the best workout I’ve had, but at least I’m back in the gym.

55 training sessions to go.

58

14-47
Monday (5-3-1)

Press: 95x5, 110x5, 125x9, 110x5, 95x10,10
T-Bar Row: 70x45

Sled Push: 200x4, 160x4, 110x2
Curls: 45x10,10,10

It felt good to get back in the gym after last week’s break. As usual with 5/3/1 weights felt good this week, could probably increase the volume of pressing without negative effects, even though I’ve increased the volume since my last press workout by over 1000 lbs, and the first half of the workout took less than 15 minutes. I may add more volume, or assistance work to the next 5-3-1 cycle.

Just a final note, this is session 47, session 46 was just half an hour of pushing the sled at various weights. I was supposed to deadlift that day, but my back just didn’t feel right.

53 training sessions to go

59

14-54
Monday

Press: 85x10, 95x10, 105x10
Squat: 95x5, 135x5, 175x5, 185x5, 205x5, 225x5, 235x5 (had to stop for a breath between fourth and fifth rep)
Hand Stand Holds: 25, 35, 25

Complex (Thruster, Push Press, High Pull): 105x12, 105x3, 105x5, 105x5

I’ve been travelling for the past few weeks. I managed to get in a few 5/3/1 workouts, but mostly just ran, and did push-ups situps, and some dumbbell work at the hotel gym. Between lack of sleep, constant dehydration, and a less than optimal diet, I’m not about to jum pback into 5/3/1. On the one hand, I feel like a program hopper right now, which is something I try to avoid. However, given everything that’s going on in my life, I’m going to take a page form Dan John, and use some less structured workouts that hit a little bit of everything, just focus on getting in the gym and putting work in.

That being siad, I was pretty happy with my squats, Only a few weeks ago I was only getting 205 for 7, and yesterday i got 235 for 5. Granted, I had to rest-pause the last rep, its still a fairly significant improvement, considering the only leg work I’ve done in the past two weeks is sprints.

46 training sessions to go.

60

14-65
Tuesday

Press from clean: 105x10, 115x10, 125x8
Squat: 230x3, 240x2, 250x2, 245x3, 255x2, 275x1
Frog Stand Holds: 16, 22, 26, 18
1 Mile Run

Haven’t had as much time to post recently, although I’ve been able to stay fairly consistent in the gym. My press has been progressing pretty well, now that I’ve topped out at 125, I’ll back it down a bit and go with straight sets for a few weeks. Squats felt good, 275 went up pretty quickly, approaching my 1RM, but I think I could’ve put another 10 lbs on the bar without a problem. Normally I do a handstand hold before frog stands, but couldn’t find a free wall that didn’t have a mirror on it. The one mile run could have gone better, I’m going to throw this in more often.

One of the nice things about the way I’m working out right now is that I’m working through some of the rep schemes Christian Thibaudeau posted in “22 Proven Rep Schemes.” So far I’ve used wave-loading, 5-4-3-2-1 , and heavy doubles a few times. I’m deliberately trying to avoid rep schemes I’ve used often in the past, and I’m getting a very good feel for which methods work best for me.

35 Training sessions to go.