Which of Brian’s programs have you tried? I think I remember you saying you’ve done a couple.
Not Velvet or Dagill, I did his Darkhorse and it just buried me to the ground, that shit is hard work.
I remember something like this in Pwns log. Looks nasty, Will try it out at some point.
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@kdjohn Hey dude, I’ve done three of his programs. The Linear one, Next Level Linear, and Powerbuilder. All effective in their own way, but the latter two are definitely the more interesting options. I’d be happy to go into more detail about any aspects you’re curious about.
@mortdk I can’t speak to that one but it definitely looks like the most taxing one he’s put out on paper. I would like to give it an honest try sometime when I can rig up an accommodating resistance setup I’d be happy with. Those giant sets are definitely a killer.
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That’s good to know. I was looking at his 4 Horseman program simply because it seems to tick all the boxes I’m looking for right now, especially the fact that he emphasizes it’s good for someone trying to find a way to “fit” the gym in; with an 8 month old and a busy job, programs that factor in time constraints are awesome.
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Ah yeah, that one looks pretty solid. Could have been aptly named ‘Dropset Extravaganza’ haha. I was between that and the Next Level last time I ran one of Brians programs and wound up with the latter.
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5/27/20
TM test day
Power clean: (+jerk during warmups)
45x5+5
65x3+3
95x3+3
115x3+3
135x3 (clean only)
145x3
155x3
165x2 (should’ve been 3)
Axle incline bench:
80x10
120x5
140x5
160x5
Trap bar lift:
135x5
185x5
2255x
275x5
325x5
375x3
Deadstop loading pin rows:
75x3x8
TM testing was a good idea just to see where the past 2 months have brought me. Looks like the only thing I lost was some capacity to grind, which is fine and was expected.
Plan moving forward is 2x/week in my gym for main lifts, 2x/week at home for assistance, and 1-3x/week other stuff. I stumbled across this setup a couple years ago while traveling for work. I was running God is a Beast from Forever and needed to make some modifications for it to work. Now that my gym isn’t at home it’s the most sensible approach to me.
The initial run through I’m going to pull the loading scheme for GIAB again, and will follow a similar pattern in subsequent cycles but I’ll toy around with different protocols from Forever. Should be fun!
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5/28/20
Assistance day
DB bench: (pre-fatigue and dropset)
10x10
20x10
30x10
40x10
50x9
40x9
30x9
20x9
10x9
DB row:
50x2x20
Bulgarian split squat:
BWx2x20
Band pec fly:
x30/side rest/pause
Band pushdown:
x50 rest/pause
Band hammer curl:
x50 rest/pause
Ab wheel:
2x10
1x14
Nothing fancy today aside from that bench set, just got some reps in and called it a night.
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How are you setting these up? I’ve tried and failed numerous times to achieve anything other than feeling like I’m flapping my arms around.
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I either hang it off the neutral handle of my pullup bar or loop it through the railing on my porch. I think the trick is to find the right foot placement so you can get some real solid tension at the end of the rep and hold that for a moment. I don’t pay any attention to what kind of tension I have in the stretch position, figure the benching and dips will cover me there.
I’ve also had much better luck standing perpendicular to the anchor point and pulling it across my body, rather than standing in line and mimicking more of the cable crossover you’d see in a gym. Helps me with getting the squeeze
I’m going for and saves my arm hair from the wrath of the band haha.
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Try lying down on your back, knees bent, feet anchoring the band to the ground, and performing an upwards fly, starting wide at lower-ribcage-level, and finishing nearly knuckles touching, arms extended at ~130 degrees relative to your torso.
The times I’ve done them have been most brutal after a heavy chest exercise like dips. Something like dips to failure, followed by the band to failure, followed by a weighted stretch, like holding a pushup position with your chest an inch from the ground, til you drop.
This is assuming you have either a band with handles or two small bands to achieve this setup, hah.
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Had to read the explanation a few times to figure it out, but I like the sound of it. I’ll give it a try.
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5/30/20
Hiking
~3.5 miles
~1,500 ft elevation gain
Nice little half day with some friends. Hot as hell but the wind kept it manageable.
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6/1/20
Main work day 1
Power snatch:
45x5
65x5
75x3
80x5x3
Axle press:
50x10
60x5
75x10x5
SSB squats:
45x10
95x10
115x5
145x5
165x5
185x5
155x5
175x5
195x5
SUPER SETS (rows - core)
Deadstop BB rows: (from 7 mats)
135x8
145x8
155x8
155x6
Toes to bar:
4x8
Solid first day on the new program. Took 60s between the pressing sets, and 90s between snatches, squats, and super sets. Plan is to go beltless on the BBS work, but I’ll assess that as the lower body days might warrant it. On my 9th pressing set my neck started locking up, definitely a trap issue and one I’ve dealt with before, just annoying. I work at a hospital and see a ton of spine surgeries so when it feels like my neck is jacked up I always have to remind myself I didn’t just blow out a disc and that I’m fine.
@kdjohn I had to re-read @flappinit’s suggestion like three times before I could visualize it haha. I have loop style bands so I’m not sure they’d work well that way.
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I used to get this ALL the time. I found the issue was that I wasn’t using my lats as a “shelf” to press off of so my traps were trying to pick up some slack. Don’t know if that helps you at all.
EDIT: Meant lats as a shelf, not traps. Whoops.
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6/2/20
Assistance day
Jeff Cavaliere pullup/pushup workout: (explained below)
Pullups: 15-13-11-9-7-5-7-9-11-13-15
Pushups: 20-18-16-14-12-10-12-14-16-18-20
Banded reverse lunges: (heavy band)
3x10
1x20
GIANT SETS (core - quads - hams)
Standing ab wheel:
4x5
BW leg extensions:
4x10
Sliding hamstring curl:
4x5
So that push/pull workout by Jeff Cavaliere is pretty solid. During the descending portion you have 60s to complete your pushups and pullups, followed by 60s rest. During the ascending portion it doubles to 120s to complete the work and for rest. A couple times during the descending portion I ran over my work limit, so I just treated it as lost time on the rest. During the ascending portion, I only observed the 120s rest periods as I was able to complete the work in under two minutes… at first. The last couple rounds pushed it to the time limit again.
The banded lunges are an excellent variation, should have tried these long ago. Was pretty smoked after this so just finished up with some ab work and leg pump stuff to get my knees feeling good.
@kdjohn Yeah I totally got what you meant haha. I think the biggest factor was that I hadn’t really worked with a bar in a couple months and jumped right into 10 sets of it after power snatches which I don’t really ever do. It was also pretty light weight with quick rest periods so I wouldn’t be surprised if I slacked off on my setup towards the end. Feels a lot better already today.
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6/3/20
Conditioning
Broad jumps: (reset each rep)
3x5
Vertical jumps: (reset each rep)
3x5
Hard base runs: (increasing intensity)
2x each direction
Shuttle runs: (using infield)
x5
Side step shuffles: (pitchers mound to homeplate)
x4 each direction
Back peddle sprints: (pitchers mound to homeplate)
x5
As far as workouts go this was pretty fun. Drove down to a public field where there was once a baseball diamond but is now just a mowed field with a sand spot.
For the base runs I just looked at where I figured a base may have once lived and used it as my rough marker. Did some ascending intensity runs around the bases in either direction. Nothing too crazy as the ground isn’t maintained so I didn’t want to hit a hole too hard.
Then I did shuttle runs from the pitchers mound, to home base, to somewhere around second base, and finished back at the pitchers mound. I haven’t done a shuttle like that since highschool, I was actually pretty good at it back then and it felt “right” today. Which inspired finishing off with some really basic footwork drills.
I think I’m going to make something like this at least a bi-weekly conditioning session. It’s been so long since I’ve done any real athletic training. I think I’ve maintained most of my speed but it’d be cool to see if I can get anywhere as nimble as the younger me.
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Damn Velvet that looked like a cool workout, how long time where you at the field?
The pullup/pushup workout looked fine too.
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6/4/20
Main work day 2
Power clean from mats: (+jerk during warmups)
45x5+5
65x5+5
95x3+3
115x3+3
135x5x3 (cleans only)
Incline axle bench:
50x10
80x5
105x10x5
Trap bar lift:
135x5
185x5
225x5
265x5
305x5
245x5
285x5
325x5
SUPER SETS (row - core)
Loading pin row:
75x4x8 (last set rest/pause)
Hanging oblique crunch:
4x8
Went with 90s rest between the cleans, trap bar, and supersets again, 60s rest between sets of bench.
I’m so looking forward to the day I have bumper plates and a high enough ceiling for them. Dropping the bar from overhead sounds rad.
Trap bar lifts just feel so foreign to me. I opted for this because I was thinking it might be easier to recover from. Too soon to tell, but the lower working weight and higher difficulty of use makes for a kind of zero-sum effect.
I am insanely sore today, tomorrow is probably going to be rough. Have my second assistance day planned and then some outdoor climbing, but that shouldn’t be too crazy. Could possibly get another hike in this weekend if the weather is right. Active recovery!
@mortdk Hey dude, I was probably at the field for about 40 minutes or so. I was having fun and could’ve kept going with drills, almost did, but figured I should save my lower legs a bit of pain. Was the right move since I had the cleans today. That pullup/pushup workout is a good one, recommend it next time you’re having a challenge kind of day.
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6/5/20
Climbing
Sport: 1 pitch
Well, got rained out shortly after arriving. Still good to get something in though, bit of a hidden gem we stumbled across. Fun pitch nonetheless, mostly slab with a couple mantles up to a roof right before the anchors.
Assistance
Jeff Cavaliere 10 minute shoulders: (all with 10lb DBs)
1.5 lateral raise: 45s on/15s off x2
H raise: 45s on/15s off x2
W raise: 45s on/15s off x2
Urlachers: 45s on/15s off x2
Speed presses: 45s on/15s off x2
Tricep Superset
Band pushdowns:
2x20
DB skull crushers:
20x12,10
Bicep Superset
Band hammer curl:
2x20
DB curl:
20x11,8
Body saws:
2x8
1x4
Mostly upper body today, legs are feeling it from the barbell stuff and the sprints the other day.
6/8/20
Main work day 3
Power snatch:
45x5
65x5
75x3
85x5x3
Axle press:
50x10
75x5
85x5
95x5
80x5
90x5
100x5
SSB squats:
45x10
95x10
115x5
145x10x5
SUPER SETS (row - core)
Deadstop BB row: (7 mats)
135x8
145x8
155x2x8
Toes to bar:
4x8
90s rest between the snatches, presses, and super sets. 60s rest between the squats. Everything felt pretty solid today, moved well. These first two weeks are definitely a break-in period, should get interesting as the weeks go by on these low rest times.
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