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My Busy Dad protocol - a GtG success

Rower
25 minutes
5000 meters

Definitely felt easier at first. Went at it and felt sluggish in the middle. Took a few rests and was able to finish the last 2,000 m with regular rests in between 200 m splits. And with those rests, my total time still added up to 25 minutes. Next time I get on the rower, I'll try to do splits throughout the entire length with higher speeds and periodic rests.
 
Zercher squat

5 singles to test form 135 lbs.

Tried directly off the floor and from knees.

Found that my shoulders seem wider than I thought. Exaggerated sumo stance seemed necessary to get elbows under the bar from knees. And also off floor. Low back lordosis was compromised off the floor. But, seemed strong at this weight. And from knees was scary and akward at threading my arms under.

More practice needed.
 
Zercher squats
2x5 155lbs

Wide sumo stance makes it much easier to put elbows under the bar. Squat from 6 o'clock position degrades to 8oclock position when quads notice the tension.

More practice needed.
 
Deadlifts
1 single 335
Missed rep
1x5 320

Lower back feels uncomfortable.
Monitoring...


EDIT:

After you carefully monitoring my back, and hanging and stretching today, I got a little more work in.

Goblet squats
1x5 32kg
1x5 40kg
1x5 48kg

Swings
5x5 48kg
 
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Deadlift

1x5 250 lbs
1x5 225 lbs

Kettlebell push press

1x4 40kg
1x5 32kg

After rapidly increasing the weight on my brand new conventional deadlift practice, it seems I've hit a wall. None of this was programmed or planned this way, so I'm taking stock of what I've been experiencing the past couple of weeks.

Today and the other day my deadlifts feel weak and ineffective. Tension is not high enough throughout the body, and the valsalva maneuver is not as well braced as before. Seems to be mental if not also physical.

I was without ground beef which I'm accustomed to eating about 2 lb per day resulting in about 5 g of creatine per day with plenty of salt and seasoning. I've been substituting eggs and chicken, and I have not been certain that this is the cause, but it's a primary difference. Sleep has not changed exceptionally.

Also my training by volume /session and peak weight is more aggressive than it's ever been in my life, this may have taken a larger toll on my systems than I thought.

I am brand new to barbells, and it seems I explored them rather quickly. This may have been a mistake of sorts. I will look again at guidance for novices.

For now. I'll be looking to rest and recover. And go back to Q&D with the 24kg bell asap.
 
Adachi said:
Deadlift

1x5 250 lbs
1x5 225 lbs

Kettlebell push press

1x4 40kg
1x5 32kg

After rapidly increasing the weight on my brand new conventional deadlift practice, it seems I've hit a wall. None of this was programmed or planned this way, so I'm taking stock of what I've been experiencing the past couple of weeks.

Today and the other day my deadlifts feel weak and ineffective. Tension is not high enough throughout the body, and the valsalva maneuver is not as well braced as before. Seems to be mental if not also physical.

I was without ground beef which I'm accustomed to eating about 2 lb per day resulting in about 5 g of creatine per day with plenty of salt and seasoning. I've been substituting eggs and chicken, and I have not been certain that this is the cause, but it's a primary difference. Sleep has not changed exceptionally.

Also my training by volume /session and peak weight is more aggressive than it's ever been in my life, this may have taken a larger toll on my systems than I thought.

I am brand new to barbells, and it seems I explored them rather quickly. This may have been a mistake of sorts. I will look again at guidance for novices.

For now. I'll be looking to rest and recover. And go back to Q&D with the 24kg bell asap.
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I’m in exercise physiology for school right now. I was just reading how your initial gains are almost all neural connection gains. Makes the individual muscle fibers work quicker, more efficiently, and in unison.
Just something to think about, could be that you’ve made such big gains due to that and now it will be the slow grind to muscle adaptation.
 
LarryB said:
I’m in exercise physiology for school right now. I was just reading how your initial gains are almost all neural connection gains. Makes the individual muscle fibers work quicker, more efficiently, and in unison.
Just something to think about, could be that you’ve made such big gains due to that and now it will be the slow grind to muscle adaptation.
Click to expand...
I appreciate the comment and the terminology. I find it to be helpful.

I'll definitely think about this more, as I contemplate my equipment , my approach, my goals, and how they fit together.
 
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Zercher squats

3x5 165lbs

Wide sumo stance makes it much easier to put elbows under the bar . Knurling irritates elbow pit.

Kept hips low, valsalva was tight. Back felt stable and true.

Need more rest between sets. Didn't time it, and I can feel the accumulated stress fairly acutely

Note to self, clasping of hands helps elbows to avoid the knurling.

More practice needed.

Edit. Went with push presses today. 32k push press is starting to feel light. Minimizing that push feels good. Gonna be more strict press than push press soon.

1x5 40kg
4x5 32kg
 
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Zercher squats

1x5 175 lbs
1x5 160 lbs

Form degraded from 6 o'clock position to 8 o'clock position today. Maintaining good form, I went with it.

Both sets were difficult feeling today. Will take a 5lbs increase for the rest of the cycle. I'm about half way through my initial 8 step cycle I wrote. Will see how this one goes.

Bruising on the forearm is evident on both arms. Hopefully this subsides. Didn't prevent me from my session today. May want some padding in the future

Kettlebell push press
1x5 40kg
2x5 32kg

Presses definitely felt easier today. Took lots of rest. Felt fresh.

Presses are evidence I'm on the right track for one of my goals, put more in than you take out. Corollary: May move to step loading on barbell as well ...
 
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Zercher squat

1x5 185 lbs
1x5 165 lbs

Pulled from floor in elbows . Will not be able to do that soon as weight increases.

Felt easy today. in 8 o'clock bottom position now. Sleep was shorter than usual at 6 hours last night . Had less coffee than usual today , but more meat and cheese today at lunch .

Kettlebell Push press

1x5 40kg
1x5 32kg

Felt tough today. Missed the clean in the 40k left. Seemed a simple undershoot. Should've been more careful. The clean didn't rack, and I let it fall. No harm done. Tried again and it racked.

More rest probably needed. Didn't time it. Didn't take long, though.
 
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Zercher squat

1x5 195 lbs
1x5 175 lbs

Squats felt easy today. I am fascinated by the variation of perceived exertion. Squats were to 6:00 position today. Dead lifted the bar on to knees, and then positioned the bar in my elbow, and squatted from there.

Kettlebell push press

1x5 40k
4x5 32k

Presses felt easy today. Terminated presses on the 4th set of 32, because reps slowed down. Hopefully this method of pressing will help me graduate to the 48k at some point.

Reminder of my goals at this point, long-term goals include timeless sinister, and pressing half body weight overhead. Which is currently about 56k. Current body weight is 235 lb.
 
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Zercher squat

1x5 205 lbs
1x5 185 lbs

Today was the worst day by far, technique wise. Maybe repeat this weight next time as a do-over. Elbows bumped into my thighs had to reset my stance noticed the bar felt uneven tried to reset my carry. Depth was probably at its shallowest. Not confident not cool not calm not collected. What a comedy of errors.

Kettlebell push Press

1x5 40kg
1x5 32kg

Form continues to improve with the 40. Bicep getting closer to my ears, as I learn to lean into to offset with a proud chest leaning into the top of the press. 32 is starting to get boring and is hard to pretend to need to push the press. Will probably just strict press soon as the 32 becomes more easy and less interesting.
 
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Adachi said:
Zercher squat

1x5 205 lbs
1x5 185 lbs

Today was the worst day by far, technique wise. Maybe repeat this weight next time as a do-over. Elbows bumped into my thighs had to reset my stance noticed the bar felt uneven tried to reset my carry. Depth was probably at its shallowest. Not confident not cool not calm not collected. What a comedy of errors.

Kettlebell push Press

1x5 40kg
1x5 32kg

Form continues to improve with the 40. Bicep getting closer to my ears, as I learn to lean into to offset with a proud chest leaning into the top of the press. 32 is starting to get boring and is hard to pretend to need to push the press. Will probably just strict press soon as the 32 becomes more easy and less interesting.
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Did you just put this program together yourself? I like the idea and have never done a pp program before.
 
@LarryB Yes I did put this together based on power to the people. Seems simple enough.
2 lifts.
Deadlift , and press.
1x5 at working weight, and 1x5 at 90%. Additional sets at 80% for the bear program.
I'm using two kettlebells to simulate that in the press.
 
2H swings
48k , 5 swings EMOM , 10 sets

Sneaking in a workout in between watching the kids.
Kettlebell is much faster setup and teardown.
Wanted to do more zercher squat. Just didn't fit it in this week.

Definitely a shock to the system after zercher squats .
Very good form today . Lots of hip snap, and bracing at the top. Felt tension in the glutes at the bottom. Lower back noticed. Maybe back to the 40k for 5s next time.

Per GtG protocol experience - 50-100 reps a day with a heavy bell is more than enough to drive progress.

Schedule for barbell got out of control. Might have to take a de load next week.

EDIT: Kettle bell push press EMOM.

1x5 40k
4x5 32k

Push press above the shoulders felt good and easy. Clean was penalized by swings earlier. A sign that 40k is the more suitable swing bell, for 5s , for now.
 
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Boris Bachmann said:
Do you just not note the warm-up sets preceding the work sets or do you just get right into the work sets?
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I just get into the work sets.
I do not perform warm up sets.

Caveat: I did do warm up sets the first times I was trying out the deadlift. Starting at 135 lbs. And climbed from there. Caused me to think that my kettlebell exploits may have robbed me of a certain amount of newbie gains. Haven't really done warm up sets since that day.
 
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You inspired me to try out push presses with the 40k. It’s doable, but tough. I like the approach, I don’t have a bb but I’m thinking dbl front squat + the pp post marathon Training.
 
Sneaking in a few reps before bed.

Clean + press 32kg
2x5 each arm

Another shock to the system. Just trying clean and press on for size. I'm sure Geoff knows what he's talking about.
 
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