easy strength and giant sets

There is no right way to do this. In dan John's easy strength omnibook, he suggests taking as much rest as you can manage, but the program also lends itself very well to short (15min) workouts. 

Giant setting can get the best of both worlds - reasonable rest between sets of the same muscle group + keeping the overall time investment low.

Example

[Giant set1]

Inc press 1x3

Single leg rdl 1x3

Rope climb 1x3

Repeat x3

[Super set1]

Palloff press 1x5

Carry x1

Repeat x2

This is a lot of high quality of work with little to no rest between rounds required. By the same token, working other movement patterns (especially the first Giant set) introduces reasonable rest periods before the next set without having to gage readiness.

This works.

easy strength: little and often. FOR A LONG TIME

The caps are caps are caps are caps for a reason.

This doesn't necessarily apply to easy strength either. The absolute best progress i made was when I stuck with a training method for a LONG TIME that used slow progression. I.e. step loading. And here is the deal. It is not that training to failure, linear progression, basic periodization, rest pause, etc does not work. Far far from it. These methods all work great for me. The problem for me with failure training is I generally feel like dogshit most of the time. The visual and strength progress comes quickly but leaves just as quick. There is definite value to physical transformation with these methodologies but it just isn't my bag. I want to feel good MOST OF THE TIME. Training to failure for the sake of muscle growth does not support that goal.

I want to see how much a non hypertrophy program - easy strength - can introduce hypertrophy over a long period of time. Even given the low daily volume, the weekly volumes (50-70 reps per movement) with high intent and effort are not anything to sneeze at. 

Part of the secret sauce I was missing in the last round due to injury were loaded carries and mobility - both during and after easy strength. I fucking love carries, and i think they are underrated as mass/cardio supplements to a basic strength program. 

Use case on carries was my old power calisthenics program. I.e. 3x a week bodyweight only movements to failure and 2-3x a week farmers walks. I got weirdly big from this shit in my arms, traps, and legs despite the only weights used being the farmers walks (typically around bodyweight carries for 30min). I retired the same program a long time later with only the calisthenics. And wouldn't you know, I didnt gain shit for size. The strength in reps still increased at the same rate, but nothing grew and I found the actual contractions of motions didnt feel as solid. 

The camp that is carries are bad for hypertrophy are looking at them from a stimulus fatigue ratio compared to classic lifting (i cant argue there) or using them as a just do this movement. Team carries are great for hypertrophy use them to compliment other lifting. Do your carries. Just do everything else too.

you dont get it for free

Precursor, mobility has been going great. The way I move and feel now is crazy compared to juat a few months back. I want to affirm what I've always believed. You didnt get old, you just stopped getting benefits for free.

Think about this. What positions are you usually in on a regular basis? Standing, sitting, lying down. Then you want to put your body under load???? Lawd. You didnt suddenly have a bad back or bad knees at 30-40. You got 30+ years of free pain free movement. Chances are, you also gained weight without height over this time. It isn't that your body sucks now, but you dont get to feel good for free. This is where mobility rocks. And mobility does not need to be boring, or even unweighted. Mobility is low gear strength training.

Think about your body like a corporation. Anything that isn't being used gets tossed. I.e. if you never move your spine, or sprint, or sit in a squat do you really think there is any incentive to spend resources with that upkeep? Fuck no. Mobility is slowly nudging your body to spend resources building strength in full ranges of motion. Keep in mind this process is SLOW. Do not expect to see reasonable changes until 6 weeks of consistent work in pain free ranges of motion.

A fun side benefit of mobility (besides generally feeling pretty damn good) is increased blood flow and demand for food. My appetite is through the god damn roof and im not getting fatter. I wish past me knew about this so future me could benefit.

minimalist gym

Again with the thought experiments. These are just for fun, but i like to parse through in the case I move or have to give advice to a friend.

If I rebuilt my gym, what would I do?

3 sets of Olympic rings

- dips, rows

- pullups, hangs

- pushups 

1 rope for climbing, rows

Back extension or applicable rig

Nordic or applicable rig

Adjustable bench. Way more useful than what I bought it for.

A few maces and sandbags 

done 

Kratos dominoose- further in the Kratos hole

This has been going GREAT. Small tweaks have been made but otherwise we gucci.

METHOD

- daily calisthenics base.

- emphasize strength endurance.

- rest periods are mobility for the limbs that are not being used.

- EMOM 30min with progression via volume cycles.

Each upper day ends with juarez valley arms. Lower day ends with juarez valley back extension.

I want to build back to where afternoon kettlebell, mace, and sandbag work (same EMOM structure) is in the cards.

inefficiency is the goal

Are weighted dips better than bodyweight dips for size and strength? Absolutely. No contest. IF you are trying to take the fastest route to size and strength. What if efficiency is not the goal? What do you get by doing more work for less progress? Ill tell ya.

First off, endurance and cardio benefits. The ability to do more for longer. If you stack advanced calisthenics movements (note: or add basic intensity techniques) into this equation, this takes care of the strength aspect without ever having to add weight.

Second, fatigue doesn't slap the same way. Quite the opposite, I feel fucking great all the time. 

Third, tendon strength. Expanding on the 2nd benefit, less fatigue means i can hit the same muscle groups very often. Having mobile joints is great. Having mobile joints with extremely tough tendons? OP.

Kratos dominoose, moves plugged in

PULL FOCUS 

Rack pullup 

Ring row

Parallel pike pushup

Mace

Rope row climb

Rope row

Straight Pike pushup 

Mace

PRESS FOCUS

Ring Dip

Dip

Bar row

Mace

Psuedo pushup

Close pushup 

Rope row

Mace

ARMS

Close tri ext, tri ext

Ring pelican, ring hammer

Pike shorties top, pike shorties bottom

Every training day ends with one arm movement. Use juarez valley rep schemes and vary volume/intensity/control. Mace stands for ab dominant movements.

All normal rep schemes are 5/3/2 per cycle. Add intensity to the lighter movements (ex: 8/6/4) first before adding reps to harder movement. Intensity may also be injected using pause reps, 1.5 reps, etc.

I dont want to know the weights

When i know the weights, I get obsessed. What is too much or too little? What is the right rep and set scheme etc?

No thanks.

With a static weight you can get better at moving it faster, move it for more reps, or find a way to make it harder to move. Kind of a grand step loading.

I think this is why I gravitate towards implements where the weight is static or hard to change - bodyweight, sandbags. Am I bigger when I add weight? Absolutely. For a LITTLE WHILE. The tradeoff is i invariably get hurt or feel run down.

this feels fucking good

A few weeks in of calisthenics circuits and mobility. I. Feel. GREAT!

Joints feel fantastic because im never quite going to failure or repeating the same movement pattern too often. My cardio is in a place its never been before lol. Physique likewise is doing good. Injuries slowly healing. 

I like that there is no plan for weight, just difficulty. Can I do X progression today? If only for a few reps, I can pivot to something else easily. 

The easy secondary push or pull is a great lever for progression as I can increase the reps there first without burying myself.

All in all, stellar.

My personal trainer noticed how much improvement im making in basic mobility and my ability to not gas out. All this in a few weeks.

Kratos dominoose revisited

PILLARS

- Strength endurance

- Move yourself

- Move other things 

- Freedom of movement 

CALISTHENICS - AM DAILY 

- Press focus row+dip+abs

- Mobility+lower juarez+back ext

- Press focus pullup+pushup+abs

- Calves+tibs+lower juarez+back ext

- Pull focus row+dip+abs

- Mobility+lower juarez+back ext

- Pull focus pullup+pushup+abs

- Calves+tibs+lower juarez

CALISTHENICS NOTES

- ladders (5/3/2) for rep schemes.

- progression: 5 sets in 30min, increase reps of easy movement, increase main movement reps, change to harder variations.

- avoid failure.

- rest in full squat.

- sub in mace for ab work.

MOVE OTHER THINGS

- carries for time.

- get some sun.

GGBB revisited

I keep coming back to the general gains body building (GGBB) concept. Its a great progression model that takes autoregulation into account while respecting the need for both body building and conditioning as a base. What always rubbed me wrong were two aspects:

- t3 (light sets)

- t2 half sets

I had a lightbulb moment yesterday and needed to write it down.

T3 sets

How I've treated these in the past is their own individual exercise. I cant emphasize this enough, THAT ISNT HOW THE PROGRAM WAS WRITTEN LOL. T3 exercises were meant to be part of a super set with T2 - either the same or opposing muscle group is up to the user.

This can drive a set deeper into stimulation without feeling like i have to go to failure on these Tricep extensions and oh god what am I doing with my life.

Example

T2: Ring dips x11

T3: tricep extension x20 or planche lean x20s

Rest 60-90s

T2 secondary sets with T3 super set

T2 Half Sets

These are exactly what they sound like. After the initial T2 set, the following secondary sets use half volume until the overall volume has doubled. Using the example above:

Ring dips x 11

Ring dips x 5

Ring dips x 5

Ring dips x 5 

Ring dips x 5

If in subsequent sessions the primary set is still 11 reps, progression can be made through adding secondary volume. 

These secondary sets always felt too far from failure to be useful. Ideas:

- do nothing but how it is written. Adding the t3 into the mix could easily bridge the gap. do this first!

- go for 1 rep in reserve every set regardless of the rep count. The positive here is the increase in failure proximity. The negative is definitely the fatigue and blurry lines in progression. How many sets or volume does one add if the first set fails to move? By default this could be '1xhalf set reps'.

Example

Ring dips x 11 (failure to get 12)

Ring dips x 5

Ring dips x 5

Ring dips x 5 

Ring dips x 5

Ring dips x 3-5 (progression set)

the back problem, always have a plan

Yesterday, was bad. Very bad. I did back mobility and nordic curls thinking my dosc herniations would play nice.

Ron Howard VO: they didn't

Bad sleep and many pain pills later, im brought back to a YouTube channel lower back ability - a sister channel to knees over toes. Sometimes you see the right thing at the right time and NOW is the right time. 

Do i have any right to work my abs, legs, and back like I dont have nerve damage and live in low to medium pain? Fucccck no. This is my mistake. Keeping my eye so hard on the prize (lifting sandbags, kettlebells, maces outside) I've ignored the stepping stones to get me there. What we need is a plan. And I fucking love plans.

The plan

Upper body: keep doing what you're doing. This rules. No need for us to give up a jacked upper body while we work on the middle and lower.

The legs: keep doing mobility. Add in vertical bodyweight movements to ease back into deeper ranges of motion. Take it SLOW. Sled work outside is how we spend our lunch.

The abs: not sure. The McGill big 3 dead ass does NOT feel good right now. I tried standing landmine tosses for obliques and they felt pretty rad.

The back: getting schwifty. 

May-June: NOTHING! And answer on a low back ability video had to do with someone asking how soon they could start after a herniated disc. Homeboy said we'll if you just injured yourself 3 weeks ago then no. Thats a YIKES from me dog. Id like to see my daily pain be at his regular 3/10 before setting off on step 2.

July: buy a back extension. Begin static holds. 

August: consider dropping PT and starting a low back ability sub.

what does mobility look like?

Here's an example that works for me.

Knees over toes

Tib raise x20 + calf raise x20

Tib raise x20 + knees over toes calf raise x20

Tib raise x20 + Jefferson step 2x20

Mobilize spine

Bent over QL reaches 2x12 + upper isometric

Cat cow 2x10 + upper isometric 

Glute bridge (bridge progression) 3x50. Do not push until failure.

Stretches

Adductor + upper isometric

Hamstring + upper isometric

Hips

Downward dog into forward step

This is easy, repeatable, and offers movement to stiff joints. The upper isometric offers a way to flush blood into areas that were worked the day prior.

bulldozer rest pause

AM push/pull

Press x5

Press x5

Press x6

Tricep x6

Rear x6

Pull x5

Pull x5

Pull x6

Biceps x6

Rear x6

Rest 2-3min between exercises

Rest pause

- x5: 30,30,45,60

- X6: 15,15,30,30,40

PM

Work up to carries

OFF

Mobility, rope flow, calves, neck, glute bridges 

calisthenics kelso shrugs build commective tissue

For the life of me, I cant find evidence of kelso shrugs on YouTube unless its a literal shrug with weight. In kelsos actual book of shrugs, he expanded the core concept (barbell row shrug) into any kind of movement. This being said, I think kelso shrugs are horribly misrepresented when it comes to building connective tissue where it matters.

Take my current 6 week block of movements:

Ring dip, ring row 

Dip, side row

After these are all done, knocking out 2 sets of kelso shrugs with the ring row and dip can both be done under fatigue and build tissue where the movement is initiated. This lays bricks for future workouts like gangbusters.

train what you can. build what you cant

Going to use my current situation at a lever here. My right knee is an ongoing situation, and my back is a new situation. I can probably squat and deadlift a barbell or light kettlebell without discomfort or pain but that's about it. Knowing that, does it really make sense to stress building strength with damaged body parts using weights that would have been considered way too light the first time I touched a weight? Fuckkkkk no.

One of my big regrets from when I built my home gym in 2020 was i lamented my inability to squat and deadlift - movement patterns all of my programming has always encircled. In retrospect, by now I could have had 5 years of pullup and dip mastery with what i had at the time. All the while working on fixing my injuries in parallel to 'real' training. I won't make the same mistake twice.

My upper body feels awesome if slightly uncomfortable due to the constant ebb of back sciatica. Assuming this current back injury lasts nearly as long as its 2 brethren, I can dig in years of quality upper body hypertrophy. In parallel, there is no reason why back safe work cant be in progress via nordics, hamstring curls, lunges, etc. 

This injury is a gift.

its only 30min

This is a stick to the plan post.

Easy strength + mobility only takes about 30min. If you just do the lifting its easily just 20min. It doesn't wear you down for the rest of the day, and its rare my next day of lifting feels wrong.

Other programs have a large advantage on size no doubt, but the fatigue can be absolutely brutal. We dont even know the possibility of size increases on this program because we haven't seen results of long term adherence. There is no way that moving from a daily 150x2x5 to a daily 200x2x5 does not increase size.

Stick to the plan.

the long way is the short cut

Again, watching lower back ability videos. Homeboy is talking about taking 2yrs to build up progressions of this basic movements to the point where your back has the tissue build that it needs. Sounds like a lot right? Wrong.

I've been in cycles of pain for the last 12yrs. That is 6 two year cycles. My back will get better for a bit, I think im fine, then I get hurt again. When im hurt, im not making progress. Things like Jefferson curls and back extensions are developmental exercises for a reason. They are developing armor that allows you to do whack shit. 

Take the long road because its the short cut. Jumping back into exercises that push weight because that's how you will get bigger and stronger before you're ready isn't the hack you need it to be.

why fasting

My wife gets weirded out when I engage in daily fasts. It isn't because she thinks I have an eating disorder. Its because her body reacts the polar opposite when she goes without food.

Me without food: energized. 

Her without food: angry. Low energy. 

I thought through more of my why's.

- when I do eat, I feel more efficient. There is no 'low energy' period unless I eat garbage.

- better food choices are easier. Like it or not, some days fasting is more work than others. Do you really want to do the work to throw it away on a glorified protein candy bar? Thats definitely a choice, but the draw is MUCH less pronounced.

- weight loss without morning lifting shitting the bed. Weight loss is a foregone conclusion if fasting reaches 24hrs or more (note: younger really got to try to mess this up). That being said, if all of my calories are dropping between 5-8p, then more 630a weight training sessions still feel fed. 

- more efficient disposal. Poops have been great. Nuff said

5-3-2 : favorite easy strength rep scheme

Dan John proposes a ton of rep schemes to use with easy strength (note: also an even easier strength). They ALL work, but I've found the more static rep schemes dont allow for bad days as much as 5/3/2.

Why 5-3-2? The 5 is more or less the warmup. Easy to moderate difficulty that you have proven you can do sick dying or dead. You should be able to walk in and do this with 0 warmup for the actual movement minus joint prep. The 5 is also where the magic is:

- easy? Press on.

- feels moderately difficult? Do another 3-5 at the same weight and call it. Removing weight is also an option.

- didn't get 5 reps? Dont move up weight until all 5 are cake.

You can always fake a 2-3 rep set even if the 5 is difficult. Don't do it! If the 5 is tough, use this as a tonic day. Come back tomorrow and try again. Frequency drives progress, not pounding yourself into the ground.