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Best of Both Worlds

WhatWouldHulkDo said:
3/28

WGS sequence
EZ strength D32
C210k W3D2 28min 1.9m

Sad commercial gym story for today: I watched a kid (late teens, early twenties) doing squats with a range of motion of around 6 inches. Not even deep enough to call them quarter squats, I'd say. I so wanted to go discuss squat depth with him... but, in my old age, I have learned that nobody wants unsolicited gym advice.
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Good choice. I have a rule: do not give help to someone who doesn't ask for help. Even if you have the best intentions you may become the bad guy.
 
4/2

WGS sequence
EZ strength D36
C210k W4D1 35min 2.4m

About a week left of easy strength... I'm definitely feeling ready to do something else. It's been good and all, but need some variety.

Things are pretty good on the injury front. Not feeling the plantar fasciitis, achilles feels good, shoulder has improved a lot (there's still one particular movement that bothers it)... just waiting on the wrist to feel ready to swing/snatch again.
 
4/5

WGS sequence
EZ strength D38
20min row 4.2k

4/6

WGS sequence
EZ strength D39
C210k W4D3 43min 2.9m

Was exhausted for most of the day afterwards... woof. Easy strength isn't that demanding on the legs, but all the same, stacking a run on top of it feel like a lot.

4/7

AM
Agile 8
Joint integrity

PM
Hard court volleyball. Played well - other team had a kid a couple inches taller than me who could jump way higher too, but I was hitting around him pretty good.
 
Took Monday off - schedule was packed, and I was feeling a little soreness in the PF foot after Sunday volleyball.

4/9

WGS sequence
EZ strength D40
C210k W5D1 38min 2.6m
- Added 20s strides x3
Joint integrity, isometrics only

There it is, first pass through easy strength is in the books. My thoughts:
Pros:
  • Great program when you're working through some injuries and can't handle a lot of intensity
  • Fast (I got the sessions done in about 30 minutes), and leaves energy in the tank to do some cardio work afterwards
  • I feel huge - feels like I packed some meat onto my shoulders & chest in particular. I reckon the volume must have some hypertrophic effects.
Cons:
  • It's the same thing every day
  • It's the same thing every day
  • It's the same thing every day
I definitely got a little weary of it at the end. But I think the one mindset change I'll take away from it is that not every cycle has to be a progression over the last - repeating sessions with the same weights & reps still works.

Hoping to do a little testing later in the week, and looking forward to a little more variety/intensity next week.
 
WhatWouldHulkDo said:
Took Monday off - schedule was packed, and I was feeling a little soreness in the PF foot after Sunday volleyball.

4/9

WGS sequence
EZ strength D40
C210k W5D1 38min 2.6m
- Added 20s strides x3
Joint integrity, isometrics only

There it is, first pass through easy strength is in the books. My thoughts:
Pros:
  • Great program when you're working through some injuries and can't handle a lot of intensity
  • Fast (I got the sessions done in about 30 minutes), and leaves energy in the tank to do some cardio work afterwards
  • I feel huge - feels like I packed some meat onto my shoulders & chest in particular. I reckon the volume must have some hypertrophic effects.
Cons:
  • It's the same thing every day
  • It's the same thing every day
  • It's the same thing every day
I definitely got a little weary of it at the end. But I think the one mindset change I'll take away from it is that not every cycle has to be a progression over the last - repeating sessions with the same weights & reps still works.

Hoping to do a little testing later in the week, and looking forward to a little more variety/intensity next week.
Click to expand...
You might want to check out Dan John’s workout generator on his website for some variety…
 
WhatWouldHulkDo said:
Took Monday off - schedule was packed, and I was feeling a little soreness in the PF foot after Sunday volleyball.

4/9

WGS sequence
EZ strength D40
C210k W5D1 38min 2.6m
- Added 20s strides x3
Joint integrity, isometrics only

There it is, first pass through easy strength is in the books. My thoughts:
Pros:
  • Great program when you're working through some injuries and can't handle a lot of intensity
  • Fast (I got the sessions done in about 30 minutes), and leaves energy in the tank to do some cardio work afterwards
  • I feel huge - feels like I packed some meat onto my shoulders & chest in particular. I reckon the volume must have some hypertrophic effects.
Cons:
  • It's the same thing every day
  • It's the same thing every day
  • It's the same thing every day
I definitely got a little weary of it at the end. But I think the one mindset change I'll take away from it is that not every cycle has to be a progression over the last - repeating sessions with the same weights & reps still works.

Hoping to do a little testing later in the week, and looking forward to a little more variety/intensity next week.
Click to expand...
It is amazing that you also built some muscle with easy strength. I always thought that this is the only thing missing from this program. What percentage of 1rm were you using? About 60%?

I am considering doing a high frequency-low volume routine, but changing the intensity everyday. Something like: 1x6 @70%, 1x5 @75%, 1x4 @80%, 1x3@85%(less frequently, 60-80% for most workouts), 1x6 @60% etc. Maybe you could something like this, so that you don't feel that every workout is identical. Or every 4-5 weeks you could change the exercises variations. Conventional deadlift to sumo, back squat to front etc.

repeating sessions with the same weights & reps still works
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Exactly. I wish I knew it many years ago.
 
Spartan Agoge said:
It is amazing that you also built some muscle with easy strength. I always thought that this is the only thing missing from this program. What percentage of 1rm were you using? About 60%?
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65%. It may be a matter that I just haven't done this kind of volume training at all in the past - typically I only hit a given lift once or twice a week, generally for only 15 or so total real work reps. So, certainly this was a lot more total weekly reps than I'm used to.

Spartan Agoge said:
I am considering doing a high frequency-low volume routine, but changing the intensity everyday. Something like: 1x6 @70%, 1x5 @75%, 1x4 @80%, 1x3@85%(less frequently, 60-80% for most workouts), 1x6 @60% etc. Maybe you could something like this, so that you don't feel that every workout is identical. Or every 4-5 weeks you could change the exercises variations. Conventional deadlift to sumo, back squat to front etc.
Click to expand...
I believe I read somewhere that one way to vary the program is to always do 10 reps, but vary the rep/set/intensity scheme. 2x5 some days, (4,3,3) some days, (5,3,2) some days.
 
4/10

Volleyball in the evening. Played OK, though no great hits. First time I've played without an ankle brace on since the achilles soreness showed up, no pain the next day - good sign.

4/11

WGS sequence
KB1HS 10x10 24
TGU 10x1 24
C201k W5D2 35min 2.4m

Going to do some light S&S for a while - not as the primary program per se, but just to ease my wrist back into swinging. Wrist feels normal on most things, but even these light swings made it kind of give off warning signs - not pain, but feels like it would probably hurt if I stress it too hard. No pain the next day, so that's another good sign.

Was surprisingly fatigued during the run - just felt heavy.
 
4/12

Test day!
DL 315#x3, 365#x3, 405#x3, 435#x3
OP 115#x3, 135#x7
SQT 275#x3, 315#x6
BP 185#x3, 205#x3, 225#x4
Pullups x5
Ab wheel 3x5
KB farmer's carries 2x24

Well, certainly didn't lose any strength on easy strength... some definite gainz there, good day.

The main focus of the day was to put some points on the "big plates" threads. But, I felt like doing a rep max on deadlifts would have wiped me out for the other lifts, so I stayed with triples there. Felt like there was probably another rep in the tank for bench press, but it didn't feel safe to try it without a spotter. Pullups was a little disappointing, but my shoulder started popping, so I cut it off before something started hurting.
 
WhatWouldHulkDo said:
4/12

Test day!
DL 315#x3, 365#x3, 405#x3, 435#x3
OP 115#x3, 135#x7
SQT 275#x3, 315#x6
BP 185#x3, 205#x3, 225#x4
Pullups x5
Ab wheel 3x5
KB farmer's carries 2x24

Well, certainly didn't lose any strength on easy strength... some definite gainz there, good day.

The main focus of the day was to put some points on the "big plates" threads. But, I felt like doing a rep max on deadlifts would have wiped me out for the other lifts, so I stayed with triples there. Felt like there was probably another rep in the tank for bench press, but it didn't feel safe to try it without a spotter. Pullups was a little disappointing, but my shoulder started popping, so I cut it off before something started hurting.
Click to expand...
Strong AF!
 
Took Saturday largely off to recover from test day. Did a little bit of joint maintenance work, but not enough to call it a full session.

4/14

AM
Agile 8
C210k W5D3 40min 2.8m

PM
Hard court volleyball - double header. Between the morning jog and 2 hours of volleyball in the evening, I was completely wiped.
 
4/15

WGS sequence
DL 300#x5, 345#x5, 390#x5
OP 105#x5, 125#x5, 140#x5
Pullups x4,3,2,1
Glute / shoulder circuit x3
- Single-leg glute bridge x10
- Wall handstand 30s
- KB press 20 x10
Bar hangs x3
Ab wheel 3x(4,4)
- (4,4)=4 standing, 4 kneeling

Managed to get that all knocked out in about an hour. Top sets felt heavy - but, felt good to feel something heavy.
 
4/16

WGS sequence
KB1HS 10x10 24
TGU 10x1 24
C210k W6D1 41min 3.0m
- strides x4

Wrist is still a little shaky on the swings. Honestly, the biggest lift I'm doing right now is wrestling my ego and accepting that the 24 is all my wrist can handle right now.ROFL It's interesting how a 400# deadlift or a pullup with this big old body doesn't bother it, but a 53# swing does - some combination of the ballistic forces and different force angles, of course.

Back up to training pace with the jogging, plantar fasciitis has not yet returned... making progress.
 
4/17

Volleyball got cancelled, so:

WGS sequence
Burpees 30x2
Bent press 14x1 16,20,24x5

Kept the intensity on burpees relatively low, since I haven't done this in a while. Feeling no pain the next day - which seems to have become the default way I measure the goodness of a training session.
 
4/18

WGS sequence
SQT 235#x5, 275#x5, 310#x5
BP 165#x5, 190#x5, 215#x5
Pullups x4,3,2,1
Squat + pushup circuit x3
- Hindu squats x20
- Knee pushups x16
--- man, I suck at high-rep pushups... particularly when stacked with the bench press fatigue
Bar hangs
Ab wheel 3x(4,4)
 
4/19

WGS sequence
KB1HS 10x10 24
TGU 10x1 24
C210k W6D2 37min 2.7m

I paid close attention to where my wrist gets a little grumpy with the swings - not surprisingly, it's in the hike back, where I'm reversing the bell's momentum. What I realized while doing this is that sometimes I'm rounding my back a little to reduce the force on the wrist - not good! It helps if I overgrip the bell, but it's clearly not safe to swing much weight until that all resolves. I am working on increasing density to make up for the low weight - this was done at 1.5x Simple pace.

Strides felt surprisingly "springy".

4/21

Agile 8
C210k W6D3 43min 3.1m
Pullups x4,3,2,1

Hard court volleyball in the evening.
 
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