This is a repost of what I just put in my log.
It’s long and a little rambly. The short of it, is, this is a good program if done correctly and definitely one to take a stab at at some point in your lifting career. I’d suggest it to folks coming off a gaining or peaking phase who are interested in a tempo change and getting back into shape.
The Program: Dan John’s Easy Strength
I bought his Omnibook based on glowing reviews from @T3hPwnisher. Truth be told, you can definitely do this program using only the free articles here on Tnation, but the book is great and really helps you buy into the whole idea of the program.
Before Easy Strength
Prior to my Easy Strength run I had just finished up a really successful run of Jim Wendler’s Boring But Big Beefcake, followed by an “anchor” of widow-makers. While I set some great training PRs, particularly in the squat, that program took its pound of flesh as well. I walked away with a buggy shoulder by the end, more on that later.
Needing a change
As we all know, training gets stale. My modus operandi is generally to do programs or workouts that simply suck. Not that they’re bad or ineffective, but that they’re miserable experiences. The reward is being done with that workout, and also being more awesome than the other guy when the going gets tough. After years, basically, of doing that, everything about training sounded awful. I needed to change things up to keep my head in the game or I’d start half-assing it in the gym. We full-ass things here.
Enter Dan John
As I finished up reading Easy Strength during a burpee and running based deload week, I had some renewed vigor for training. The idea of getting my strength training done in 15-20 minutes was massively appealing to me. I detest sacrificing our brief summer for gym sessions. I want as much outdoors time as possible. It’s rained 80% of the time since then of course.
I had some ideas about how I wanted to execute this program. I was going to get my lifting done in the morning, so my afternoons were available for either a second training session or something fun. Without going back and checking, I’d guess I got about 30 out of the 40 lifting workouts done in the morning. That 15-20 minute window was easily achievable. I did them fasted for the most part upon waking, then had my breakfast and coffee. I didn’t really even sweat during the workouts, so I didn’t feel the need to shower, just some fresh clothes and I was good to go for the day.
The program is meant for athletes, and athletes do things other than lift. That meant I had to too. The plan initially was conditioning sessions and trail runs, but life had other plans for me.
C’mon Life, Let Me Live
So that buggy shoulder I mentioned earlier. That became my mortal enemy during this program. My quality of life was impacted quite a bit by this thing, and I still don’t know exactly what’s going on with it. I had to cut out a lot of movements that were aggravating it while putting effort into the things I could do.
I was having a hard time getting creative on ways to do conditioning without a lot of shoulder involvement, but Dan John came to the rescue. Swings and carries supersets became a go-to for me. Dan you marvelous man. The program calls for either/or daily, but I decided to do swings every day no matter what and do the carries as my conditioning work. I included a bit of assistance work after the carries because my plan for bodyweight work went up in flames before it every really got started.
What about those trail runs I mentioned? Well, it turns out I may have developed a heel spur and I haven’t figured out how to work around that yet. It’s not a big deal day-of, but the day after a run is tough. I need to figure out a shoe solution or something because from what I understand, I’ve got that little sucker for life.
Luckily I could carry things without any worries. I did a lot of those workouts outside when I could in my driveway. Again with the whole raining a ton thing, opportunities were limited.
The Rest
Not squatting for an entire program is so weird to me. I did as Dan said, and included goblet squats in my warmup to keep the pattern trained. I also did belt squats on most Mondays in the afternoon.
Not squatting for an entire program has my lower body feeling great right now. I can pull all day long without issue but squats beat me up.
If you run this program, make sure you spam the ROM on your chins. For a few years now I’ve cheated away from the very bottom and top of the ROM when doing chins. That’s worked well for building muscle, but it becomes too easy to cheat your way to bigger numbers. I got noticeably stronger at the terminal positions and that’s probably a good thing for my long term health.
The sets and reps are pretty solidly laid out for you for most of the lifts, but not the swings. I took a lot of liberties with how I approached these. Mainly sets of 10, 15, and 25. On I think two occasions I ran the numbers up higher and got them done in two sets. For the final workout I knocked them all out in a single set. Most of the time I did the swings in the warmup, along with goblet squats and band pull aparts. I’d finish them at the end with the ab wheel. Other times I’d super set them with the lifting movement throughout the workout.
My appetite wound down as the program went on. I suspect that was due to adapting to the training, and the total volume coming down as I eliminated things seeking shoulder relief. I lost about 2-3lbs over the 6 weeks without making any effort to change things.
I followed Dan’s “eat like an adult” guidelines for the most part. I wasn’t training in a manner that would support a gaining phase, but I made no effort to cut. I ate when I was hungry and stopped when I felt satisfied. I was not a perfect human for these six weeks. I drank a little too much, rediscovered my love of kettle cooked potato chips, and probably had a bit too much cheese and bread for a “clean” lifestyle. All that said I rode that 80/20 line on the razors edge.
My physique was actually more satisfying than I thought this type of training would provide. Multiple times in the last couple weeks my fiancee has made comments that I’m “jacked”, “yoked”, or my favorite “whoa”. I think it’s mostly because my arms and shoulders filled in a little, at what feels like the expense of my quads and lats. I don’t know how real any of that is, it’s just a feeling, but the external feedback is there in droves right now.
What Next?
I haven’t decided completely on what to do next, although I’m currently leaning towards switching up the movements and running this right back with some lessons learned.
I have two lift options that both look good to me: BTN press, NG chins, BB deads, ab wheel, or DB press, NG chins, trap deads, ab wheel. I have a week to decide.
I used the 6th week of the program as a pseudo deload by only doing the strength work. I don’t feel like I need a deload for the mind or body, but I do want that shoulder to keep mending up.
I think the rest of this week will be silly workouts that shouldn’t stress that joint too much and then I’ll get back to it.
I have some ideas about how I can better implement the afternoon conditioning sessions I wanted this next time around.