I’m really interested to see how this works out for you. I could be wrong, but it doesn’t seem like you did that many variants of the big lifts besides front squats. Could be an interesting change.
A couple years ago I finished one of Brian’s programs and moved onto another for a bit before the pandemic disrupted things. I remember the first program doing good things for my press (for once), and I made the greatest amount of progress in a few month stretch ever on bench despite how few sets there were.
Loved catching up on this, as you know I’m a massive Alsruhe fanboy, excited to watch you discover why! It’s insane, every session is 100% whether you want to give it or not, I started with Dark horse which puts the 10 mins conditioning at the front and I’ve done it that way ever since (it would be too easy for me to skip it otherwise). Once you’ve done with minimalist give DH a look!
RE strength gains, you’ll be seriously surprised how quick these come up on Brian’s programmes, DH was my best ever jump in strength. Just make sure you eat for recovery I think my first 4/5 weeks on DH I actually lost weight despite shoveling food, really need to keep an eye on the food intake.
Good luck, so excited to see the progress and transformation!
1/17/2022 Monday
Block pulls, top set was 3x315. Way harder than I expected. Elevating a deadlift by 4.5" should make it easy, right? I guess I have no practice starting from this height though, so again, a different stimulus.
Backoff: 10,5 x 255.
Oh, and my blocks… suck. The idea is great, but these are too imperfect. So much rebound they are bouncing around and walking away, could get dangerous! I’d have had all 15 backoff reps at once if I weren’t chasing these bastards across the floor. May or may not invest the time and materials to make a good set, and call these “prototypes”.
The giant sets called for DB snatches. What a disaster. I… don’t know how to snatch? I executed some kind of power snatch, but it would be interesting to put in some technique time learning the snatch. Program also called for side-band-or-cable-twisty-thingys and I the closest I could come up with was a sideways KB swing. Potentially an interesting, if dangerous, ab/core exercise. Again something to follow through with more in the future.
The finisher: Called for an EMOM of carries and deadlifts. I used my 150lb sandbag, and it sucked. I front-carried it up and down my driveway for 10 one-way carries, EMOM; the first few rounds, I also deadlifted it 4xEMOM, but at round 4 (I think) I was running into the next minute and had to eliminate the bag deadlifts. This nearly broke me. I felt something in my very-low back I’d never felt before but kept going. So far no damage.
Plywood sheet I can stand on would prevent effing up my nice garage floor. Great ideas @boyce79@simo74 .
Even if I don’t do that, I think I understand why my blocks are so bouncy and as I’m a pretty good woodworker I can make better ones.
People always think this is the case, but it can honestly be much more difficult to pull from this height. It’s why I like to start a ROM progression cycle off with a 12 rep max vs a low rep max: it gives wiggle room to lose reps on the way down.
Thanks. With that in mind, could you point me to a typical rom progression rep scheme? I assume you’ve logged it before but that could take some digging
I go for something I can pull for a topset of 12 reps and will try to keep that amount of reps all the way to the floor over the span of 6 weeks. After that, I’ll add 15-30lbs (I can usually do 30lbs between cycle 1 and 2 and only 15 after that) and pull AMRAP for the start of the new cycle and repeat. Typically observe a 1-2 rep drop off between cycles. As cycles get heavier, I’ll start to observe a 1-2 rep drop off WITHIN the cycle. Once I can only pull 3 reps at the end of a cycle, I’ll reset the weight by about 10% or so and start over. For the next round, I’ll employ a rest pause after that topset to get in some more reps. Eventually, I was able to start using 2 rest pauses. That’s where I’ve settled. It’s VERY taxing.
Rubber patio pavers. I originally started with 7 per side, and would skip the 1 per side week, going straight from 2 to the floor. I’ve since switched to starting at 6 per side, just because it aligns well with 3 week training cycles ala 5/3/1.
re: the BSS yesterday. I had DOMS in my glutes just 8 hours after the workout, so you know it’s gonna be bad… sure enough, this morning it was nearly crippling! Quads are tender, glutes are extremely so; lower back isn’t happy either. And, my shins (tibialis?) - no idea what’s up with that. But it was also my first heavy squat session of the year yesterday. So who knows.
1/21/2022
The Minimalist Wave 1 Week 2 Day 4: Bench Focus
Pendlay Rows and Floor Press, up to 3x195 on each, then backoff work.
IDK what exactly a Pendlay row is supposed to be; I did strict rows with a distinct pause just off the floor, then resetting to the floor, after every rep.
Had never floor pressed before so that was an adventure. It’s kinda cool because you can “rest” with your triceps on the ground, and also not risk dying; but the liftoff is crazy hard. I used my blocks to make it a little more manageable.
The finisher included high reps of pushups and DB shoulder presses, and my wife joined me for those. I dragged the baby out from underneath her during some of my breathing periods LOL.
The finisher took me less than 12 minutes so I’m not totally dissatisfied, but as always it shows how much room for progress I have.
