Oh I am so ready for the day I can buy/make my own equipment. Sadly right now that’s not an option for me. I’m military, on a base where we aren’t allowed to leave for 5 days out of the week, and then only slightly on weekends, so i’m forced to use base facilities. Couple of us actually tried to bring some stuff in to the gym but were told we couldn’t because of liability issues. Two more years…
AM WORKOUT
JM walks, chains+5lbs
50 minutes
Notes: Clipped 2 2.5lb plates to the chain rig. Easy way to add some weight. I like this conditioning for how uniquely miserable it is. I’m not huffing wind, but I am beat down when it is done. Seems a little easier on my knees too.
Woke up at 196.2.
BUILDING THE MONOLITH WORKOUT 5
AM WORKOUT
Deadlifts (texas deadlift bar)
5x135
5x225
1x315
5x355
5x405 (straps here on)
2x5x460 (touch and go)
1x5x460 (deadstop)
Axle bench press
5xAxle
5x66
5x136
5x186
3x231
3x266
9x301
17x231
Curls 45
5x10
Hammer curls 45
5x10
DB rows 105
2x12
2x11
1x10
Notes: Definitely easier than the first time. I planned to do deadstops the whole time, but I forgot to vector in that my wife sleeps in on Wednesdays, and I don’t want to be slamming weights to wake her up. I timed the last set to right around when her alarm woulda been going off, but I’ll see what my plan is moving forward. Got the whole thing done in about an hour again. Hamstrings aren’t sore like they were last week; think I’m adapting. Right ankle got torqued on one of the sets of deadlift warm-ups, but otherwise everything held up.
General notes: Woke up at 195.4. Helped my neighbor move a washer and dryer into their moving truck and got rewarded with 4 5lb and 4 2.5lb tubs of whey protein. Only 1 has expired, and trying it yesterday it was just fine. Think I’m going to throw a shake onto daily protein intake for the routine, as this seemed like some sort of omen.
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Pwn, what time did you start your workout, and how much time after you woke? Did you eat anything prior?
Just curious.
I’m used to afternoon workouts and went straight from bed to my garage gym to squeeze in a workout before a family beach trip. It was NOT EASY! Lots of warmup sets haha.
Hey dude,
I woke up at 0445 and started the workout at 0505. I ate 2 cups of wild blueberries with about 2-3 tablespoons of raw honey before lifting.
Training in the morning is radically different compared to the afternoon, which is why I lable my AM workouts for the sake of tracking. I’ve noted a 50lbs dropoff in deadlifts in some instances. As long as you’re training under the same variables though, things work well. Eventually you adjust.
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I am excited to announce that my wife and I have welcomed a new addition to our family. She finally arrived today
At 20"
and 130lbs (unloaded)
Already smashed a finger getting it in the house.
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Oh my god Pwn! Congratulations, she’s gorgeous. 
EDIT: Did you happen to see them deliver it?
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No delivery viewing sadly; been working late all month. Consequently, I was down to 194.4 this morning, as even with the surplus of food I think I’m burning off a lot of energy.
On the plus side, it means I get to eat more, haha.
Hey I seem to recall you mentioning that you ran WS4SB. Do you have a log of it anywhere I could read through? I’m looking at it myself for later in the year and it’d be an interesting read.
Oh man, yeah I do have a log on it, but that woulda been back in 2006 or so, and I definitely didn’t know then what I know now. I woulda done it a lot differently compared. I could gladly field some questions on it, but I really don’t think you’d get much from reading what I wrote then.
Yeah that makes sense, thank you anyway. In terms of questions I was wondering how many ME lifts do you think I should cycle through and how many weeks I should do each one for? Oh and also what do you think about using overhead press as one of the ME lifts? I noticed its not listed in the program but can’t figure out why.
Joe DeFranco is notoriously opposed to the overhead press and has written about it on many occassions. It’s part of the reason he developed the “shoulder shocker” circuit. That said, I’ve used it as an ME lift before, so it’s viable.
I’d go with 3-5 ME movements to rotate through. Stick with them for 2-3 weeks. Use the first week to kind of learn how to do the movement and hit it for the higher end of the rep range. Use the follow up weeks to try to lift maximal poundages in the lower rep range.
That’s interesting I’ll try and look into it and see why. I was thinking about what you said which is great. Thank you for your help, you may have just become my go to man for WS4SB unfortunately though.
More than happy to help dude. It’s a solid program.
Stone of Steel over bar EMOM for 7 minutes
Notes: I have no idea what the height was, but this was an asskicker. Couldn’t last the full 10. Time for me to start learning how to do triple extension.
Not sure why the video repeats.
Woke up at 194.4 this morning. I’ve been holding strong on the diet trying not to overcorrect, but I am clearly losing weight. Made a concentrated effort to eat more.
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Usual great work here. .
I like the new toy. Video makes you left foot look vulnerable for injury.
Thanks dude. It’s not the video; that is a very dangerous event, haha.
1 Like
BUILDING THE MONOLITH WORKOUT 6
AM WORKOUT
Buffalo bar squat
5xBar
5x100
5x140
3x190
1x230
5x260
5x300
5x340
Log clean once and press away
5xLog
10x5x110
NG chins w/95lbs
5x5
Band pull aparts
5x20
Farmer’s walk shrugs 115
5x20
Standing ab wheel
3x8
Buffalo bar squat 230
1x20
Notes: Very light and fast day here; prepping me for Monday. In my next life, I might clean/viper reach rep of the log to make it more challenging. Ran it like before, with giantsets all over the place. The 20 rep squats were semi-challenging, but nothing terrible. Threw in the ab wheel work because I had room for it and wan’t to keep some manner of ab work in.
General notes: Woke up at 194.8 this morning. Work is vetoing my constant eating of eggs, and I can live with that. I’ll have to eat more at home. Going to try to go big on a cheat meal today.
Prowler w/200lbs loaded
8x50’
Notes: Better than last week, but still sucks. Don’t want to push much harder since tomorrow should be a challenging squat workout.
Woke up at 197.4. Cheat meal is working.
BUILDING THE MONOLITH WORKOUT 7
AM WORKOUT
Buffalo Bar Squats
5xBar
5x100
5x140
3x190
1x230
1x280
5x300
5x340
5x5x380
Axle strict press
5xAxle
5x66
5x136
5x161
5x186
5x206
8x161
Chins (various grips)
17x6
Band pull aparts
5x20
Dips
120
Notes: Giantsets as before, dips at the end. Squats didn’t feel as awful as week 1; I might be adapting to the workload. I belted up for the topset of press, which was most likely the deciding variable. I may need to start bringing that back into the rotation. Dropped the TM on press by 5lbs to make this managable. Workout took right around an hour. Upping chin reps each week, which has the added benefit of being done earlier.
General notes: Woke up at 199.2 this morning. Still think a lot of that is weekend bloat, but it’s at least moving in the right direction.
BUILDING THE MONOLITH WORKOUT 8
AM WORKOUT
Deadlifts (texas deadlift bar)
5x135
5x225
1x315
5x405 (straps)
5x460
3x5x515
Axle Bench Press
5xAxle
5x66
5x136
5x186
5x226
5x251
3x281
5x316
9x251
DB rows 105
3x12
2x11
Axle curls
1x100
Notes: Ran about 70 minutes. Part of that was I re-pulled my glute on the right side on rep 3 of the first workset of deads, so I was resting a little longer between sets to recover. Was in a good bit of pain earlier today, but seems to be fading. I crammed in 2 workouts back to back because I’m sleeping on the jobsite tonight and woudln’t have a chance to train in the morning on wed; just going to move training around as needed. Bench took a hit since I couldn’t get decent leg drive with the tweaked glute. Kinda liked bringing the Poundstone curls back as something a little more time efficient.
General notes: Woke up at 197.2 this morning. Nutrition still going strong.