Minimalist Training Log

14-06
Wednesday

Squat 275x 2,2,2,2,1,1 225x8

Press 135x8,3 115x8,4 95x9,4

Pullups 40

Dips 50x12

Sprints 5

Pushups 40
Abs 50

Definitely feel like I’m getting stagnant on this program. My plan is to finish out this week, then move into a more hypertrophy focused program, either Mass Made Simple, or Jim Wendler’s 6 Week Rest Pause Challenge.

94 Training days to go.

14-07
Monday

Squat 180/210x 5/5, 235x8, 180x12

Bench 155/175x 5/5, 195x5,2 155x5

Ring Chins 5,13,3

BB Tri Ext 40x12, 60x 7,5,3

Sprints 7x 20 second (11mph/3 incline), 1 minute rest

Not a bad start, but not great either. I’m out of town this week, and while the gym here has a great bench, I could only find 2 chips and 2 5’s, which basically threw-off all my poundages for the bench. Still, at least I got in the gym. I plan to do a light workout tomorrow, just because I can.

Skating went really well this past weekend. Got to really put in some reps on backwards skating and some intermediate skills. As long as I continue to progress at this rate, I’ll be good to go for hockey next fall.

93 training days to go.

14-08
Wednesday

Just some different cardio and conditioning
Farmers Walks
Jacobs Ladder
Kettlebell Swings
Jiu Jitsu Conditioning

92 Training Days to go

14-09/14-10
Thursday/Monday

With everything else going on, I’ve gotten a bit behind in workouts and the log, so a quick update just to keep things going.

5/3/1 Deadlift w/down set
5/3/1 Press w/rp

Kroc Rows rp
BB Curl rp

5/3/1 Squats w/down set
5/3/1 Bench w/rp

Pullups rp
BB Tri ext. rp

90 training days to go

Update

The weather over the past few weeks has absolutely killed any chance of making it to the gym and taking care of my other responsibilities. Cannot wait for the weather to clear up somewhat. I hate to abandon a training program at this point, but I think, at least until I can get back into the swing of things, I’m going to take a back to basics approach, with a primary focus on heavy lifting, and conditioning. I"m reworking my program right now so that I can get in and out of the gym in 30-40 minutes.

14-11
Tuesday

Made it into the gym last night, just did a quick tune-up session

Squat 145x5, 165x5, 185x5, 205x5, 225x5, 245x3, 185x10

Close-grip Bench 135x5, 155x5, 175x5, 185x5, 195x5w/slingshot

Pull-ups 30

89 training days to go

14-12
Friday

Managed to grab a quick session after work

Single Leg Romanian Deadlift, all sets for 8: 60, 80, 100, 120, 140

Bulgarian Split Squat 40x10

Incline Bench 135x10, 145x5, 95x10, 115x10

Dumbbell Shoulder Press 45x8

Pull-ups 15,8,7,5

Jumped in the sauna for 7 minutes afterwards

88 training days to go

14-13,14,15

for sessions 13 and 14, just did some squats bench, deadlifts, and some accessory work.

Trying to get to the gym in the morning or after work has just been impossible between my workload, the weather, and army reserve duty. So I’ve switched to a new gym thats right next to my office. This way I can go during my lunch hour, and go to the gym more frequently. So while I’ll still be doing minimalist training, the focus will be minimal movements so that I can get in and out quickly.

Session 15 was a variation on the 10,000 swing program, although based on how sore and tight my back has been, I’m going to cut the volume on swing by a little under half in order to give my body some time to adapt.

I ended up doing 10,15,25 with 2 25 lb kettlebells, and 50 with a single 25 lb bell, which was a little too easy. I did single arm shoulder press with a 55lb dumbbell, which felt very easy, so I’ll be bumping this up to 60 for the next workout.

85 training days to go.

14-16

Did a variation on the 10,000 swing program today. I’m going to have to experiment with the weights a little more, but I’m getting closer to something that’s doable given how little I’ve done swings in the past.
Kettlebell swings, 5 sets of 10,15,25,10, used 50-55 pounds for the sets of 10 and 15, and 25lbs for the sets of 25 and 10.
1 arm dumbbell press, used 55 for 5 sets of 1,2,3. Need to use 60 next time as this was too easy

84 training days to go.

14-17

Kettlebell swings 10,15,25,10 55 lbs for 10 and 15, 35 lbs for 25 and 10
Pullups body weight plus 35 lbs, sets of 1,2,3

Workout took about 35 minutes. Looking forward to a break tomorrow.

83 training sessions to go.

14-18

Kettlebell swings 10,15,25,10 55 lbs for 10 and 15, 35 lbs for 25 and 10
Dips body weight plus 55 lbs, sets of 1,2,3

Time for workout was 27 minutes

82 training days to go

14-19

Kettlebell swings 10,15,25,10 55 lbs for 10 and 15, 40 lbs for 25 and 10
1-Arm Press, 60lbs, sets of 1,2,3

Total time for workout was a hair over 27 minutes.

81 training days to go.

14-20, 21, 22

Same set-up with Kettlebell swings
Pullups with 40 lbs, dips with 55 lbs

Time for each day: 28, 27, 26

78 training days to go.

14-23 through 14-27

Kettlebell swing challenge, decreased overall time for press and swings to 22 minutes.
Started: 496 pounds lifted per minute
End: 781 pounds lifted per minute

Ready to being next phase of program.

73 Training days to go.

Next Phase

This phase is a general strength and conditioning phase. Emphasis is on building volume/density in the big 4 lifts, while continuing to maintain and further develop conditioning. estimate 8-12 weeks for this phase.

Workouts are structured as follows:
15 minutes: Big four lift density training, supersetted with opposing muscle group and light accessory/rehab/prehab active rest.
3-5 minute break to wipe down equipment, set-up for next period
15 minutes: Full-body Conditioning

14-28

Did this yesterday

First Period:
Bench Press: 185 for 20 total reps, added slingshot, knocked out an additional 8 reps (need to bring a notepad next workout to better track rep breakdown, as I recall it was 5,4,3,2,2,1,1,1,1,4,2,1,1)
Band pull-apart: Red Mini-band, 40 reps, 4 sets of 10
Pullups: 40 (7,6,5,6,5,4,4,3)

Second Period:
Farmers Walks: 185 (my body weight plus 10) for roughly 30 seconds, 5 times (need to increase weight on this, as it was way too easy)
Bear Crawl: Roughly 30 seconds, 4 times (tore my hand up on the fourth set, didn’t want to get blood all over the gym floor, need to bring gloves next time)

The bear crawls totally kicked my a$$, after every set I was completely winded, this is going to be an interesting phase.

72 Training days to go.

14-29

Wednesdays’ Training

First Period
Deadlift: 225 for 61 reps, goal was 20, moving to 245 for next deadlift session
Leg/Knee Raise: 80 reps, goal was 40 reps, will switch more reps to leg raise next session
May add an accessory exercise in, as I finished everything in 12 minutes.

Second Period
Push-ups: 72 reps, switching to feet-elevated push-ups next session
Pull-ups: 24 reps
Lunges: 72 reps, need to grab two light dumbbells for next session

71 Training days to go.

14-30

Friday’s Training

First Period
Press:135x22 (will drop down to 125 next session)
Chest supported Row: 45x70 (jump to 55 next session)
Lateral raise: 10x40

Second Period
Farmer Walk: 225x5 (working in with someone who was deadlifting, probably should have used 215)
Bear crawl: 5 (hands were still torn up from last session, used 5lb dumbbells, which saved my hands, but made this so much worse)

Conditioning portion went better than last time, but this is still an a$$-kicker.

Disappointed in my press numbers, luckily this program will definitely allow me to improve.

70 training days to go.

14-31
Skating

Made it to the ice rink with my son this weekend. Placed more emphasis on improving hockey stops and backwards skating. Sprinted straight-away, hockey stop, backwards skated the turns. did this for about an hour, stopping to play tag with my son every once in awhile.

Made for a great Saturday afternoon.

69 training days to go.

14-32
Tuesday’s Training

Missed this yesterday, but was able to get into the gym today

First Period:
Squat: 205x29 (3,3,3,3,3,1,3,2,2,2,2,2)
Deadbug/Bicycle: 40/60 (deadbugs were bothering my hips, so switched to bicycle after the first 40 reps)

Second Period:
Chin-up: 40
Feet elevated Push-up: 82
Lunge: 82 (Did the first 2 sets (20 reps total) with a 25 pound plate, found that this greatly slowed down the reps, so switched back to bodyweight for the remaining sets)

Much better performance on the bodyweight circuit this time, so this is encouraging. I don’t think the push-ups were taxing enough to affect my bench workout tomorrow.

68 training days to go.