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Steve Rogers

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Hello everyone,

My goal is to complete the S&S workout plan up to the 48kg Beast. I don’t have a timeline because I want to do this right. I also don’t want to sideline myself with an injury. I’m 32 years old. 160lbs. At 5’ 7”. My purpose for this training log is to get feedback from this community. I’m completely open to blunt observations and I have committed to following your wisdom instead of my experience.

Injuries: I have had 2 hernias back in 2005 which I have no issues with. I have had Rhabdo last year which I have also completely recovered from.

Current level of fitness: I workout 3 times a week for an hour and a half. I start with 45 minutes of rucking with a 45lb pack on Monday’s and Wedndays, and I ruck for the whole hour and thirty on Fridays. Usually the ruck is also a workout with 60lb sandbags and push-ups, squats, buddy carries, and other military-style workouts with the pack on. On Monday and Wednesday after the 45 minute ruck workout I usually do a boot camp style workout for another 45 minutes. This workout is usually push-ups, burpees, running, squats, lunges, and core work.

Background: I have spent years doing military-style workouts that match my current training, but I haven’t done much with barbells, dumbbells, or kettle bells. I tried Cross-Fit, but I’m worried about the Rhabdo encouraging mindset and no real enforcement on proper form (your experience may vary). I’m not even sure how I came across StrongFirst, but I started S&S last year and have found the “missing piece” in my pursuit of fitness. I had to stop training because of my Rhabdo, and I am ready to try again.

My first question is: With my current workout plan should I modify the S&S plan? My fear is that I might be overtraining if I do S&S everyday on top of my rucking and calisthenics. I would like to follow what @Pavel recommends (every day), but I don’t want to push too hard.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I look forward to getting to know you better.
 
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Welcome!

I'd probably start by doing S&S on non-ruck days and see how you feel.

Are you in the military or training for a specific goal other than S&S?
 
@kbell12 , thanks!

No I’m not in the military- I am training for a GORUCK tough event. If you aren’t familiar with GORUCK, it is a 12-14 hour endurance challenge that involves a lot of heavy lifting and workouts with a 30lb pack on.

I have really been leaning towards doing S&S on Tuesday and Thursday like you suggested. I have tossed this out in another thread as well and I am weighing out my options.

I think I would really love to do pure S&S at some point but right now I may just use a modified version to build up my strength until I can complete this event.
 
Update: Did not do S&S this morning. Shoulders and knee felt really rough. I realized that I haven’t done any stretches which may be hurting my recovery from workouts. I plan on doing some foam rolling to loosen up around my knee and shoulders, do some light goblet squats and go from there tonight.
 
Started back on a very modified S&S plan

Foam rolled quads, hamstrings, ITB, glutes, and shoulders. Felt great in my knees and shoulders so decided to proceed...

Warmup: 16kg

3x5 goblet squats (very slow)

3x5 halos

3x5 bridges

Workout:24 kg

5x10 Swings

Rest until I can talk between sets

I tried to focus on correcting my form. That’s kind of hard when all I can do right now is record myself and keep a 24kg bell from killing my back!

Did not do any Get ups yet - I was interrupted and that was the night. I may stick with perfecting the technique with a shoe in the future though. I’m also thinking about using a 16kg to work on correcting my form without killing myself with a heavier weight if things go south. Thoughts on this?
 
Ahh, I get it now.

There is no shame in the shoe -- Dan John makes D1 athletes start with it as well. I would keep doing it till 5+5 feels good and then go to the 16kg.

Probably good to post a thread in the KB forum when you have some video to get some more eyeballs on it.
 
Last night: FELT GREAT!

Felt so good I jumped straight into Swings. I did not have a plan to do the program minimum. I just wanted to focus on my form and not gas out.

Swings: 16kg 10,10,20
24kg 10,10,20, 17

Get-up: 1/1 with a shoe

I started working on my form with the 16kg but found it way too light. Upped to the 24kg bell and found that actually helped in fixing my form. Still not confident enough with my tweaks to post a video (I made several). I will post my get-ups in the S&S FAQ forum under S&S: Doing it right
 
Steve, I'll be following along with your log. How'd the swings feel last session? I met with a SFG1 trainer and that ultimately is what helped me to lock in my swing form, I can't recommend that enough!
 
@NoILSteve - The swings felt good. I was still getting gassed after the 5th set and noticed my form slacking at the 8th set so I called it after that. I know meeting with a trainer would be good for me but I don’t know of any in my area. Or how much a session would cost! I have been saving up though.
 
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The reason I deviated from my training plan yesterday was I caught a head cold which kept me from outdoor calisthenics and aerobics. Back on track

Foam rolled
2x5 Goblet Squats
2x5 Halos
Rest 1 minute

9x10 Swings 24kg
Resting until I can pass the “talk test” before next set

5/5 Get ups 16kg
I did 5 in a row right then 5 in a row left instead of alternating. I focused on keeping my hand in closer, not activating my down leg, and staring at the bell before the high kneel.

Ran out of time to complete my last few sets of Swings and Getups. That’s because I was experimenting with my HR and the talk test.
 
This week has just been an off week for me. Sickness and my kid waking up all night has taken a toll on my schedule and my energy.

Today during down time at work I focused on gauging my base Heart rate.

Foam rolled quads, hamstrings and glutes 20x each

Swings with the 16kg bell: 10,10,10L, 10R, 10L, 10R, 10, 10L, 10R, 10L, 10, 10, 10L, 11R, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10L, 10R

Wore a Garmin forerunner 35 wrist heart rate monitor. Not sure how accurate it is but I used the A+A method where I stayed at 10-15 seconds of work with rest until my heart rate slowed down to 100. I decided to push to 153 towards the end (I did hard style swings) but I think my bell was too light. My max heart rate was 146 at the wrist. My biggest jump in heart rate was from 110-136 when I started hard style swings. I started getting tired towards the last two sets so I stopped. I will probably have to do this again with the 24kg that I normally use for swings because the last time I monitored a session I spiked at 167. My guess is those numbers will skyrocket.

I may do Getups tonight. Still not 100%. My kid was up again last night. Not sure if I will do a ruck beat down tomorrow because I’m physically/mentally exhausted. If I don’t do a ruck run I may do an lsd run instead.
 
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I'm calling it a night because I feel that if I don't let my body rest it will just take longer to kick whatever sickness I have. I will re-evaluate tomorrow morning on whether or not I will do the ruck run or lsd run.
 
Did not end up doing the LSD run or ruck run Friday due to my kid waking up at about 2AM again. Went out of town and decided to try to rest as much as possible. My goal is to start back up tomorrow morning and see how I feel.
 
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Started back up this morning. Did 45 minutes of calisthenics.

None-Strongfirst workouts:

Warmup-
Jumping jacks 25
2 Burpees
Stretch
4 Burpees
Stretch
6 Burpees
Stretch
8 Burpees
Stretch
10 Burpees

3 rounds of squats, lunges, sprints, flutter kicks, and bear crawls

Decline pushups 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1
Dips 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,10
Box jumps 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
dry docks 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1
Mason twists 1,2,3,4,5
Situps 1,2,3,4,5

Run to the bottom of a short steep hill

Do 5 starbursts run up the hill, and do 5 mini jumping jacks
Do 10 starbursts run up the hill, and do 10 mini jumping jacks
Do 15 starbursts run up the hill, and do 15 mini jumping jacks
Do 10 squat jumps
Do 10 pushups

Finish up with
1,2,3,4,5,6,7 situps and then 2,4,6,8,10, 12, 14 mason twists
 
Foam rolled 15 times each muscle

Goblet Squats 3x5
Hip Bridges 3x5
Halos 3x5

Swings 5x10 24kg
Get ups 5/5 16kg

Stayed under target heart rate for swings. Alternated get ups (left, then right). Felt really sore from Yesterdays workout, but foam rolling and warmup helped me feel ready for swings and get ups.

Feeling accomplished. Staying on track with workout log so far. Slowing back down to get used to the weight and the number of sets. This log has really helped me stay on target!
 
Tried an lsd run for 45 minutes due to time constraints. It was great to be able to look around and breathe. Hitting S&S in the morning. Feeling good!
 
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