Conditioning | 20min | Walking lunges, crab walk, kettlebell suitcase carry

The grab bag of conditioning. Throw 3 things together and do them as much as possible for 10-20min. 

I'm not sure what made my back feel uneasy last weekend, so I'm reintroducing things one at a time. It was either:

• single leg RDL's (this is the most likely culprit, they felt off)
• keg explosive presses (2nd choice)
• kettlebell suitcase carry (felt fine)

If today goes well, I'll try incorporating a keg carry next week.

Conditioning: 20min | Rounds of

• Walking lunge = across my lawn 1 way
• Crab walk = halfway back across the lawn 1 way
• Suitcase carry = 2 lengths of my lawn (1 way = 1 hand then switch)

I'm not going to be strict on rest periods. Just do as much work as possible. My right shoulder has been hurting a tiny bit lately, and I've found that exercises that pull my shoulder DOWN (i.e. suitcase carries) have been more helpful than band presses UP. Weird enough, the biggest fix to my left shoulder last year was the last time I attempted cleans. Fixed my shoulder (in an almost jarring snap) but made my back feel like shit. You're a dick body.

Result:

Left knee feeling a little wonky after all of the lunges, but otherwise this as great.

calisthenics | rest pause | pike pushups

Pike pushups 

35x7,3,2

15x15,5,2 

Bwx16,5,3

Minor accessory (1 set per row, bands only)

Tricep extensions

Rear delt raise

Added another cinder block for height this session. Definitely feeling the intensity rachet up a bit.

Conditioning | Light Day 12min

So, apparently either the keg stuff or single leg RDL's made my back unhappy. This is frustrating but managable. Couple of edits:

• Conditioning can be animal walks and runs. 
• Next week, my XPO sled gets in. Cannot fucking wait to try it out and incorporate this madness.

Rest Pause | Pike pushups

I'm tired. I also kinda like the idea of hammering RP on a single exercise. I don't have to leave anything in the tank or worry about affecting the super set pairing. Misc accessory is also streamlined to match the movement.

Pike pushups: paralettes, feet elevated on blocks
30x9,4,2
10x12,5,2
BWx15,6,2
5min rest between sets
~30-45s between pauses

Misc Acc
Tricep pushdown banded
Rear delts

Conditioning | 20min of hell

Pulled today's workout out of my butt and it ended up being something great. I don't know if I should be writing these down as repeatable or what. Just, choose 3-4 things and do them for 20min. Donezo.

Time: 20min
As many rounds as possible

• Keg clean and press x5*
• Single leg RDL, 45lbs KB, x5 each side
• Suitcare carry, length of my lawnx2. Switch arms and repeat.

I got maybe 6 rounds in 20min. Not great.



*Press is as violent as possible. The keg is filled with a tiny amount of sand, but it's not heavy yet.

back to basics

Pike pushup 

54lbsx3

24lbsx9,8,8,7

Ring row, bw only

100ish reps?

Minor accessory

Tri

Bi

Shoulders

Will need to see the difference between rest pause and this method.

Wisconsin Method | Ring rows | Day 3

Wisconsin
55lbs x 11
More weight than yesterday and pulled the same number of reps. Really grooving into the aggression factor.

Good news! I'm adding more weight tomorrow.
Indifferent news! I'm going to run out of weight soon. Good problem to have.

My weight vest tops out at about 74ish pounds. Once we get there, I can just strive for more reps until I start to backslide. Adding a band looks, weird. Can give that a shot if we must.

Non-Wisconsin
Band rear delt raises 1xamap
Single leg RDL: shit is magic
20min walking / bear walking / bear running aka the best conditioning until I get a sled

Wisconsin Method | Ring rows | Day 2

Morning: Wisconsin Method
Ring rows BW+50lbs x11

Afternoon: Conditioning
Medicine ball slams x 5
Burpees x 5
Bear run my lawn

I got in 10min of conditioning before lightning became a problem.

Wisconsin Method | It's been a long time dude

Whenever I'm having internal conflict over what methods to use - Reps, sets, movements, whatever -  The best thing I can do is simplify my approach. This is expressed best in one of two methods:

• One lift a day
• Wisconsin Method

And fuck me I like the Wisconsin method. I definitely sacrifice some size gains, but it takes the guesswork out of lifting. What am I doing today? Morning - bodyweight rows. That's it dude. Anything else in the morning is minor assistance I'm doing to get blood into muscles. Anything else later in the afternoon is conditioning.

Workout

Ring rows 50lbs+BW x9

Minor Acc

• Ring curls
• One leg RDL (still love this shit)

Home made gym equipment | Medicine ball

Super easy way to build a cheap medicine ball.

Supplies needed:

• Basketball (~$20)
• Sand or pea gravel (50lbs for ~$5) 
• 1 roll gorilla tape ($8)
• Scissors 

Total cost ~$33 for a 30ish pound medicine ball.

How to:

Make an incision around the air valve of the basketball. Try to make the piece you cut out a single piece so it's easier to tape back later.

Create a funnel (I used a piece of cardboard) and slowly add your sand/pea gravel. It helps to use a small cup to transfer the sand/gravel instead of pouring direct from the bag.

After the ball is filled up, replace the piece you cut out to its original spot or as close as possible. Use the entire roll of gorilla tape around the ball. 

conditioning | afternoon workout | kegs, bear crawls, and dynamic pushups

10min total
Station 1: Empty keg push press x 10
Bear run to station 2
Station 2: Once overs dynamic pushups x 5
Run back to station 1

As always this is humbling. I love and hate it.

rest pause | ring dips and rows | fuck you i like this

Ring Dips
42x5,2,1
20x13,3,2
BWx12,3,2

Ring Rows
20x11
10x15,3,2
BWx13,2,2

Accessory (bands):
tri ext
rear delt raise
rows

Adding rows to replace pullups made a huge difference here. Dips felt solid even though I hit well under my rep goal. Found out the dip rings were crazy off centered. Fun beans yo. I kinda like this day as a strength/hypertrophy day with 2 full rest days in between (although both are used for conditioning).

I like the amount of volume I'm able to get in here. Not sure if Doggcrapp (which, while this is rest pause, it def isn't Doggcrapp) would render higher strength and size results at a higher frequency and a lower volume, but I like getting more volume at the lower intensities.

condition | morning workout

10min

Ring rows, bodyweight only 

- fail - 2 reps

- multiple heights per set

Depth explosive pushups x5

Run the length of my yard x6

wisconsin condition | phased approach

Wisconsin ish style

Ring Dips 60x1. More in the tank.

Ring rows 1x20

Rear delts bands

Condition

5x3 bss jumps

10min 

Medicine ball slams x5

Bear run 

Crab walk

Back not feeling bad after slams but not great either.

1 month. Back recovery yo. Bear runs**, on the other hand, feel great.

strength | dips | last time we go to failure

Going to failure is literally burning me the fuck out man.

I'm buying full into Ross' performance based training, and performance ain't based on going to failure.

Dips 35x9
Dips 15x16
Dips BWx13

Good sets regardless

conditioning | more burpees fuck it

More or less repeated the last conditioning workout. It was 10x easier, but I wish I mixed things up as suggested. Next time.

Round1 x 60s
2 x45s
3 x30s
4 x15s

Movements
Burpees (god help me)
Chinups
Bear walks
Pushups

Rest pause | ring dips and chins | punch the clock

1 rep gain on both pullups and dips. Arms and shoulders are getting noticeably bigger. Nothing really to report otherwise.

Ring dips
35x7
15x6,2,1
BWx4

Ring pullups
25x7,2,1
10x6,2,1
BWx5

Accessory: Added BFR. All movements below used bands with cascading sets.
Tricep extensions
Rear delt
Shrugs
Curls

conditioning | rosstraining | mah work capacity

Been reading ross trainings book "never gymless" a ton recently. That dude is:

1. motivating as fuck. Hes in his 40s and has maintained a stellar work capacity

2. On an ethos plane of existence that i can get behind.

Im still getting bigger and stronger doing what i do, but the worst part about age is feeling lethargic. Thats not because you cant have energy past age (fill in the war story blank). Its because god mode slowly gets turned off and you have to work harder for what you want.

In never going to abandon size and strength, but Ross' ethos is rooted in conditioning and power. I need that in my life right now.

This workout told me my work capacity absolutely sucks. Just fucking abysmal. This is a great thing. It means im going to level up quickly because theres a ton of room to improve.

4 rounds

Burpees

Ring Pullups

Bulgarian split squats 

Pushups 

Round 1 60s per exercise

2 45s

3 30s

4 15s

The only thing i would change here is switching out burpees with bear/crab walks. My back just isnt up to jumps yet.

This workout has an optional footnote of isometrics later in the day. To be continued.

Edit: Isometric workout
[
One arm chinup holds 3x6 seconds (3 joint angles)
One arm dip holds 3x6 seconds (3 joint angles)
]
x6

Today I ran like a fucking bear

All fours. Sprinting as fast as I could in small intervals. Did this for about 12min. Neighbors think I'm psycho fuck-em.

I'll tell ya what man:

• This is rough conditioning. Conditioning is best when you're doing things you're bad at. And bubbee, I'm bad at running on all fours.
• I feel an odd amount of stability in my abs, back, and knees I haven't felt in months. Weird. good weird.

This is actually the second time I ran like a bear this week. I'm a fan. I'll eventually get filmed by the college kids across the street. Yolo.

Actual workout:

• Bulgarian split squat jumps. 5x3 per leg.
• 12min bear runs

Edit 7/10: Surprising outcome. Running like a bear is really laborious on the traps. My traps felt sore earlier this week as well but I discounted it. Today, my traps, legs, and glutes are all lit up (no doubt also in part to jumping BSS). 

Straight sets | Dips and chins | Bodyweight only

Was having a tough day yesterday. I decided to get some tonic work in instead of burning down my house.

Ring Dips BW
14,11,8,5,4

Ring Chins BW
12,,10,8,7,4

~3min rest between super sets

Accessory: Add BFR bands cause why not, all band work
Tricep extensions
Lateral raise
Shrug
Curls

Rest pause | dips and pullups | punch the clock

Nothing crazy to report here. All lifts are progressing slowly but are progressing.

I dialed back assistance a bit because it's been taking way too long wen I have a billion movements.

Ring dips
35x6,2,1
10x11,3,2
BWx12,3,2


Ring pullups
25x6,2,1
10x9,3,2
BWx11,2,2

Assistance (bands, multi set)
Press 45 deg
Low row
Tricep extension
Hammer curl (only to try out BFR bands)

Gettin the itch to play up Wisconsin again. Shit is addicting as hell and great for strength. The one thing I really love about my current setup is I can plan when to break a fast.

Rest Pause | Ring dips and pullups | -10% workout

First set of dips went well. Literally everything else did not. -10% workout across the board.

Workout
Ring dips
30x10
10x5
BWx10

Ring pullups
25x4
10x8
BWx10

Acc: Bands
Pulldown
Tricep overhead extension
One arm row
Curls
L raise
Shrug

Rest Pause | Ring dips and pullups | Band Accessory

Good workout all things considered. Taking 2 entire days off between sessions (i.e.: lift OFF OFF lift) has been difficult to do but a good call. I feel rested, can actively see strength progress, and look bigger. All good shit.

Ring Dips | Rest Pause
30 x7,3,1
10 x12,4,3
BW x11,3,3

Ring Pullups | Rest Pause
20 x8
10 x11,3,2
BW x11,5,2

Band Accessory
Standing rows
Tricep pushupdowns
Hammer curls
Shrugs
Standing rows
Lateral raises

Notes on accessory:
I like the idea of starting and ending with rows and lateral raises. They take very little effort wise and work on body parts I need bigger.

Cut out of accessory

• Bent over rows because they were a shittier version of standing rows. 
• Band bench presses. Haven't found a good way to do these incrementally. May try standing one arm press forward next time. EDIT: Just tried this and fuck ya I'm doing this.

Edit2: add band pulldowns dude.