OLAD, Week 1

Taking the good advice of Dan John (and Dollar Bill), I started OLAD Monday, and I’ve been having fun ever since.

Breaking it down, the week looks like this:
Day 1: Weighted Chins
Day 2: Weighted Dips
Day 3: Deadlift
Day 4: Off
Day 5: Military Press
Day 6: Clean (or is it “Power Clean”? From the floor, anyway…)
Day 7: Off

I’m still not 100% comfortable with the concept of wave-loading, but I generally hit my max weight on set 4 or 5, wave it down and then see how far I can wave it back up again. I may have undershot the maxes a bit, but that’s OK. No need to burn out. I’ve also done a set or two of ab work on some days. Just because I can.

I haven’t really done any cardio/energy systems work, except a long hike in the mountains on day 2. This made deadlifting a bit more… interesting… on day 3. I’ll probably add some running and/or hill sprints later, but no rush.

Anyway, so far, so good - the workouts are brief, uncomplicated and just plain fun! I feel stronger and better than I have for a very long time.

Looking forward to doing 6x3 next week!

Well done in completing week 1!

I noticed you were wondering if you were doing cleans or power cleans. Both can be done from the floor. The difference is that a power clean is performed by catching the bar with only a slight squat, whilst a full clean is done with a full front squat, as in the “clean and jerk” you see in weightlifting competitions, usually because you are using more weight and can’t pull the bar as high.

Congrats on your OLAD experience. Believe me, it only gets better from here. You’ll consistently UNDERestimate your max sets until your second or third cycle. Don’t sweat it. Just work hard and watch your old PR’s go in the trash can!!!

Aha! I’ve been doing Power Cleans, then! Thanks for clearing that up, BG100.

Jeff, thanks for the encouragement! I’m going to take it nice and slow this time, and crank up the intensity a tad next cycle.