easy strength worked so well I stopped doing it

Adding a quote from Dan john on easy strength

When you get to a certain age, you can not keep throwing yourself into the wall.

Reigning myself back in from a bad week of training lol. I was feeling awesome and strong and stable after weeks of easy strength, so of course I try to 'improve' it. 

Here is what I did

- add a flailing 5/3/1 day. It went poorly and put my recovery in a hole for the rest of the week.

- add a deadlift only day. This actually went really well (+50lbs over easy strength base while still feeling easy) and spiraled me towards reworking my program into a one lift a day type deal 

The second option honestly wouldn't be super bad, but it flies along the same thing Dan says is a pitfall for his atheletes. I don't 'feel' this working. Or it was working so well I stopped. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.

The truth is I've got diet to keep my weight down and conditioning to cover the 'everything else'. Looking good isn't a matter of finding the right training magic bullet to overcome a diet infraction.

Tldr keep doing easy strength. Slowly nudge the baseline UP.

easy strength and dealing with the 'everything else'

Mentioned this on other posts, but I don't play a sport. I don't intend on playing a sport. I'm full quadrant 3 gen pop park bench 4 life type of lifter.

Easy strength is an awesome starting point. An excellent way to START a day. My 'everything else' ends up looking like conditioning work. Keeping it real real simple here folks.

0-7 days a week  

Push

Pull 

Lower

Repeat

Reps? GTFO. Do enough to be hard but not enough to fail.

Sets? As many in 30-60min.

Variations? Be creative and try not to repeat a workout.

For me this usually looks like:

Push: Pushup variation, dip variation, KB press variation.

Pull: Mace (something), sled drag.

Lower: KB swing, KB snatch, KB dead, burpee.

knee recovery: what is working

Brain droppings on good ideas put to use. 

Warming up, sometimes with bfr bands

Spanish squats for high reps

Kettlebell swings for medium high reps

Goblet squats for low reps

Form

All squats start and end with a glute contraction.

All squats use a pause at the bottom and top of reps.

Feedback

When anything feels tight, STOP. My knees will feel tight a few minutes before they feel pain. Tightness is gone the next day. Pain is not.

The goal is to slowly increase the amount of time and reps before tightness occurs. String good days together edges towards recovery.

This is super important and I MISSED it. I lamented the idea that sled pulls weren't working for me. this isn't true. Sled pulls work great, but I kept pulling through tightness and was upset how quickly tightness occurred.

It's ok to be a pud. This is really tough and I've failed this test a ton. The contention is that you need to work with regressed movements and weight until you can turn up the heat. Rushing the process means backsliding. A great example would be loaded carries. They flat out hurt or cause tightness and pain for days. You know what doesn't? Marching in place with weight. Almost the same stimulus without the baggage.

more easy strength musings

Easy strength

Focus on barbell strength and absolute load

Stay with light weights longer (1-2 weeks)

Move light weights FASTER

Upper body calisthenics pulls can be weighted to work towards more complex skills in the same movement pattern (ex: bw row, add weight to row, tuck lever row, and so on)

The goal is raising the floor of what is piss ass easy. 

Do not skip warmups (humane burpee) and cool downs (basic mobility)

At no point should the weights feel heavy

Everything else. I e. I ain't got no sport lt Dan.

Focus on non barbell strength. Kett bells, sandbags, clubs, bodyweight. These implements aren't magic, they're just easier to transport into a sunny area.

Easy strength is the warmup. 

Stop when things get tight. You are coming back tomorrow.

Think less in terms of programs and splits and more in the case of practicing key full body movements.

Final

This is not a route to hypertrophy, but hypertrophy and fat loss will happen.

The biggest nag I feel is that bodyweight circuits make me FEEL better. More blood flow. This sounds more like an afternoon lifting problem than an easy strength problem.

Lady gains: Fast until lifting has happened. If possible fast until dinner. 

when to stop

With recovering body parts, I've noticed that the poison is volume. Too often over the past few years I've be feeling good going into a set only to suddenly feel tight then trigger a pain response. The solution was right in front of me for the longest time, but I've only recently put it into practice.

When the tightness comes, you're done. Stop. Cease.

This can be on the first set of the 10th. The deal is in order to keep coming back and push the threshold of where danger exists. you can't do that if you have pushed into pain. We want to program in the response that what we are doing is ok. And can be resisted 

easy strength: 5 days means 5 days

The last time I tried easy strength, I was confused why my progress stalled despite all attempts remaining easy. With this latest iteration, I have some thoughts.

1. Do the warmup dummy

Dan talks at length about using the humane burpee to warm up. It takes 5min or less, and takes care of squat movements, swings, and level changes. Low impact, endlessly repeatable.

Humane burpee

15 swings

5 goblet squats

5 pushups

15 swings

4 goblet squats 

4 pushups

Etc

2. 5 days a week means 5 days a week

My last iteration became daily easy strength. While the actual work is low intensity effort, each day adds on the previous. With no off days, it becomes harder to move the easy floor up.

Off doesn't mean do nothing. Off still means a humane burpee followed by small body parts bodybuilding (calves, tibs, etc).

3. Wave loading > straight 3x3

This is where Dan and I disagree a bit. He says that if he could do it all over again he would stick to 3x3. Maybe I'll take this advice in my own future run, but his even easier strength template wave loads weights on a way that makes sense.

Example in a 2 week cycle

2x5

2x5

5-3-2 (heavier day)

Off

2x5

2x5

Off

4. Everything else can really mean everything else

Dan made this program for athletes. Meaning he expects you to do easy strength for 15min, then play your sport for hours every day. If your sport is 'i like lifting weights' then you have a pretty wide net of what that could mean!

Right meow I want me sport to be loaded carries and mace work. But it could also be bodybuilding. Ya get me?

Easy strength is the base. The minimum. It works but it was never meant to me done on isolation.

building architecture. injury feedback

Strength training can be summarized in a single sentence: go build shit here.

Shit can be a lot of things. Connective tissue, muscle, blood flow, satellite cells. If you are not training a body part or a range of motion, you are also sending a signal: I don't need shit here. Simple, and frustrating. 

When injury occurs,.your body gives all the incentives to prevent you from saying build shit here. Mainly, pain and tightness. Both prevent movement, but one is a red flag and the other a yellow flag. When recovering from injury, the best thing you can do is get pain free movement in an impacted area as soon as possible and as often as possible. Signaling I still need this! I've lost years signalling the opposite then wondering why my shit hurts for so long. Why herniated discs and knee tweak recovery is measured in years instead of weeks or months.

When training an injured body part, I've found the following to be helpful:

- start with walking. Always walking. Emphasize motion in the injured body part in pain free ranges of motion.

- when retraining the body part, start with regressed variations. No floor is too low. Your ego needs to take this short term.

- low reps, far far far far from failure. The goal is blood flow and recovery, not growth.

- higher sets and frequency is better than higher intensity and low sets/frequency.

- if you feel tightness (yellow flag), STOP! it will fade quickly and you can likely restart tomorrow. The goal is to stack as many good days together as possible until you only have good days.

high frequency: managing fatigue

Not an expert, just putting down on paper what is working for me. Inspired by Jim wendlers weight vest and chad Waterbury high frequency training. Embarked on because my right side seized up mid sandbag clean a few weeks ago. Vertical type movements are the only thing that feels extremely safe 

How we do:

1-2x daily

1st session: ring pullups, ring dips, legs.

2nd session: repeat, or ring rack pullups and dips.

Legs use a grab bag of goblet squats, banded reverse lunges, or bodyweight squats 

After stuff

Nuances:

All reps are done PAUSED. We are not thoughtlessly banging out reps. We are building connective tissue and work capacity that LASTS. 

No sets are done to failure. High frequency only works if you can recover day over day. 

Progression (upper):

Start with 5x3 per movement.

Every week, add a round (6x3, 7x3, etc) until completion in under 30min isn't possible.

Reset to 5x4 and repeat.

When the marriage of reps and sets is no longer feasible, rest to 5x3 and add weight or use a more difficult progression.

Progression (lower):

This is VERY specific to me. My legs are incredibly detrained. Anything I try to do that is 'theraputic' like sled drags just HURTS. I've found that pain enters the chat with medium volume regardless of weight. The reps, progressions, and weight is VERY low on purpose because I am working on rebuilding connections to my body as opposed to building size and strength.

The long term plan is to either continue using light weights/progressions indefinitely in the morning (with heavier kettlebell work in the afternoon) as a warmup to live the joints, OR progress to more extreme ranges of motion. Examples being sissy squats, atg split squats, wide stance lunges, etc. Lots to work on that has a benefit!

After stuff:

1. Recovery

Band pushdowns, curls, rows, etc. many different grips for extremely high reps (30-50). The goal is to push blood in the area without accumulating additional fatigue.

2. Minor body part for high reps.

Calves, tibs, neck work really well here. Use a rep goal with high reps (ex: 3x50 to increase weight) while avoiding failure. Choose one movement per day and go to town. Like the main work, feeling the muscle through large range of motion is more important than increase weight and banging out reps.

What works really well is to use one of these movements are a rest period between rounds of mains.

Example:

3 ring pullups

3 ring dips

3 goblet squats 

35 seated calf raises

Shit hurts, what do now:

Couple of options...

- Switch movements temporarily or permanently. 

- Reduce volume. As long as it takes.

- Rest. 

In a more isolated sense, if your joints hurt focus more on post workout band exercises to force blood into your joints. I've def seen a difference with and without this method.

Never under any circumstance lift through a painful range of motion. We want buttery joints.

Benefits?

I'm still very new to the party. This early on, I can tell ya my day to day energy is amazing. That alone is worth the price of admission. Body composition is slightly improved but nothing to write home about. I won't really be able to evaluate how much or little this does for aesthetics for a few months. 

Overall, a+ experience. I'm more into feeling good than looking good. And this makes me feel very very good.

building tolerance

Little, but often.

Reread an insta post about recovering from injury. One of the steps highlighted low volume and high frequency. This really really spoke to me. I've been able to dip my toe back into leg exercises, but after a few reps shit starts to get tight and hurt again. Maybe, just maybe, it's because the tissues involved have 0 tolerance for load or volume. They haven't gotten any blood in...years! I've been moving back towards daily training for my upper body, but failed to realize that injury recovery with the lower can use the same rubric. 

Little bit often. 

I'm not training through pain or discomfort. The goal is to flush blood in areas that I can't FEEL right now. 

yur a beginner harry

This one hurts to write. I picked up momentum in the past couple of weeks combining sandbags and calisthenics. I was feeling STRONG. And in the middle of a set where I felt amazing, the right side of my body seized up so hard I blacked out. For days I was unable to walk. Today being the first day in 2 weeks where I'm not in pain. Dips and chinups are already back on the menu, but I've made some observations as I've slowly become human again.

1. My lower body is at a beginner level again due to disuse.

Combine this fact with just not being 20 anymore, it's time to (sucks through teeth) restart at a beginner level. This means squatting, deadlifting and so on at a ridiculously low level. The strength is still there, always is, but the supporting joints and tissues have regressed to the point before I started lifting in my early 20s. 

2. Dynamic effort isn't for me right now.

Gotta crawl before you can walk. This ain't a bad thing.

So here's why this is a great thing. Beginners make progress fast AF. In a couple of months I can either be where I want to be, or on my way there. The catch is I've got to be a piece of shit now so I can fly later. And coming off of 15yrs training history that is a very hard pill to swallow. I'm talking about starting a beginners kettlebell program with a 12kg weight. Ridiculously easy. Embarrassingly easy. And that's ok.

Upper body is a different story. While not even close to my peak, upper body is in great shape structurally. I'm gonna milk that shit for all its worth.

rebuilding my gym

I love this type of thought process. I avoided getting a home gym for YEARS because I thought the investment too large and my space too small. In retrospect, I could have saved thousands on gym fees, prevented all of my worst injuries, and had 24/7 access to equipment. 

The tldr is that the barbell and hundreds of pounds of weight + a power rack is not a prerequisite for working hard or making progress. These tools make progress easier, but if I had to rebuild from scratch it's not what I would buy.

Minimal gym purchases

Sandbags - 50-150 in 25lb increments.

Olympic rings - pullups, dips, and rows length.

Dip bars.

Light and medium bands. 

Loadable dumbbell.

Loable mace.

Paltry amount of weights (50lbs in 2.5, 5, 10).

sandbag bodybuilding - Nov 2024

ADHD is strong this year. Training to failure works for muscle growth, it really really does. The downside is more tied to general fatigue during the week. I've seen a pattern in my posts since August. Whenever I introduce big compounds to failure (notably exempt are isolation and calisthenics, more on that later) I need more coffee to function and just are generally more irritable. I'd rather feel powerful and good than be bigger and feel tired. And nothing makes me feel as good as sandbag training. 

Sandbag training 

It's the epitome of get more out of less weight. If you barbell deadlift 2x bodyweight, congrats you are no longer a beginner. If you can shoulder a sandbag that's 2x bodyweight, you are world class. The YouTube channel 'the stone circle' has spoken often in this next topic, but I agree heavily - lifting sandbags makes my back feel 'solid' in a way that classic training does not. As someone who has experienced multiple herniations then nagging pains from doing normal human things, feeling like you are unbreakable is a premium worth it's weight in gold. It's safe to drop the weight for your floors and your feet. And finally, if you enjoy Olympic weightlifting there are a ton of parallels. I feel that a sandbag to shoulder shares a lot more in common with a power clean than I ever did with kettlebell cleans and snatches. 

The program

- 4 days required.

- 2 isolation days optional.

Sandbag Day 1

Shoulder 5-15x1

High pull 5-10x3

Row x3

Lap (low pull) x1

Back extension x1

Pullover x1

Mace x1

Calisthenics Circuits Day 1

(10 down, 5-3-2, Juarez, etc)

Pull

Press

Ab wheel 

Pull

Press

(10min optional Isolation)

Optional Isolation Day 1

Pick a movement. 

Perform 3 reverse pyramid sets to failure.

Long rest between sets.

Rotate movements when progress halts 

Sandbag Day 2

Push press 5-15x1

Shoulder 5-10x1

Squat x3

Lap (low pull) x1

Back extension x1

Pullover x1

Mace x1

Calisthenics Circuits Day 2

same as day 1. Different movement set 

Optional Isolation Day 2

Same as day 1.

return to sword and shield

Still trying to find a balance with training my lower and upper body given my lower body isn't conditioned to hard training yet. Any set taken close to failure HURTS for days. Like I said with my last post, I'm training my upper body while fixing my lower. This doesn't mean the lower body is ignored entirely. Oh no no, we have learned from that mistake. Unless I'm feeling pain or symptoms get worse, movement is medicine. In the interim, I'm adding more and more movement where I can.

Sword and shield is not my program idea (credit bells and bodybuilding). This version is closest to V2 of his insta page. 

AM

Warmup: rope flow, jump rope

Lift: 

- bodybuild (2x week) upper.

- lower singles (2-3x week).

- rest or calf days as needed.

Cool down:

Stretch adductors, hips

PM

Mace endurance

Easy Carries

Bodybuild

2-3 different variations. Cycle movements as needed.

Upper Press 50 in 5 ss Upper Pull 50 in 5

Bi, tri, shoulders 60 in 4

Lower singles

Hinge or squat. Goal is power not weight. We are trying to rebuild not get bigger. Stop when any yellow or red flag (tingle, tightness, pain) rears it's head. In terms of how many singles, set a timer and go to town (as many in 20-25min).

Mace

Change variation and weight daily 

Carries typically suitcase carry marches. Focus on ab contraction.

Examples:

- two handed swings for time.

- one handed swings for time.

- swings for strength. Pyramid up sets of 10-20. Back off sets.

- mace flow.

In the 'for time' swings, progress is measured by increasing rounds, decreasing rest, then increasing weight.

train it or fix it

I'm a big fan of decision trees applied to training. As with most blog posts, this is a lesson I have to learn over and over and over. But the premise is simple: train it or fix it.

Train it

Can you push sets hard without aggravating an existing injury? Do it.

Fix it

Does training a movement make all metrics worse? I.e. sciatica flares up, your knees feel like someone hit them with a bat? Are you not able to train with any intensity other than baby light? Fix it.

It's not worth trying to make progress with a movement or body part that you cant push close to failure without serious ramifications. This doesn't mean you leave this movement or limb to rot. It means you are LUCKY. You get to put all your training capital into things that are working NOW. Fixing things can be done every day, but the goal isn't the same as actual training. The goal is to restore and not physical transformation.

Food for thought.

daily conditioning + dessert only

Let's. Fucking. Go.

Let's assume you read the last post and said nah chat. I don't give a shit about bus bench workouts. I just want to build work capacity, feel great, and look good doing it. Bro I've got you. 

Remove the actual 'training' blocked workouts and replace with conditioning + dessert only. Increase weight or reps when it's disgustingly easy, or mid workout. Whatever. Have fun. Membuh fun? I membuh.

Conditioning - 30min circuits

Press + mace/club + quads

Pull + ab wheel + hams

Fill in whatever exercises you want. Don't repeat workouts often. Regress movements as needed. Strength isn't the goal but you will build strength. Size isn't the goal hit you will get bigger. No sets are taken to failure.

Dessert - 1 move/day to failure

Same deal as before. You can do this sick dying or dead. Don't repeat movements often, and work whatever has the most horsepower at the moment.

Examples

Tri pushdowns, tri extensions

Pelican curl, ring curl, hammer curl 

Leg curl, hip flexors, calves

Rear delt raise, front plate raise 

more on daily conditioning + actual training

To be clear I'm gonna use Dan John terms.

Park bench: no expectation on going anywhere.

Bus bench: I'm expecting to go somewhere.

Programming usually falls in one bucket or the other. If you're a generalist like me, why not zoidberg (see: both)? Personally I'm more in the park bench court nowadays. I have seen amazing dividends from daily conditioning, and I'm gifted small amounts of size and strength as a bonus. Actual bus bench training doesn't have to be anything more than increased effort over time. If you're spending your entire week building work capacity, really how hard are 4 difficult sets to failure a week? 

The setup - morning 

Mon-fri: alternate

- push + mace/club circuits. 1 set of dessert. 

- pull + mace/club circuits. 1 set of dessert.

Sat

Deadlift variation - top set and back off set.

1 set of pulldown dessert.

Increase weight every week. Drop weight after 4-6 weeks or rotate movement pattern.

Sun

Bench variation - top set and back off set.

1 set of tricep dessert.

Increase weight every week. Drop weight after 4-6 weeks or rotate movement pattern.

The setup - afternoon

Mobility and yoga.

I'm surprised too. But I suck at it and I'd like not to.

Conditioning 

Press: pushups, explosive pushups, dips, ring dips.

Pull: swing, sand row, gorilla row, snatch.

Dessert 

One all out dropset of a movement you can do sick dying or dead. The goal is not to count reps, just do work and get a sick pump. Add regressions where possible (ex: add bands to pullups).

Good dessert options

Pullups, chinups, pulldowns, pelican curl, ring curl, hammer curl, band curls, band rows.

Seated calf raises.

Tricep extensions, tricep pushdown, tricep overhead.

Rear delt raise, plate.raise.

daily lifting - balancing conditioning with linear periodization

I said recently that I was goaded for years into thinking lifting more often was better. I proceeded to lift 4-7x a week for damn near a decade before overuse injuries overcame me. During that decade, I also regularly felt sad, tired, and stressed. As I healed, I found I was getting bigger and stronger while lifting heavy 2x a week. As of late, I've said that daily conditioning has made me better than I have in a long time. Both of these things are still true and can coexist.

Lifting heavy 2x a week doesn't have to mean a drawn out session. It can mean two balls out sets (1 heavy, 1 light + rest pause) to failure. All in all this takes maybe 15-30min a week to do, and can still drive linear progress week to week. Surely, you have 4 hard sets a week in you, right?

Every other day? Conditioning. Possibly multiple times a day if energy and time allows. The body has enough parts to where you shouldn't ever have to reuse the same worked section 2 days in a row. 

Example

1)Heavy press: floor press

2)conditioning: pull, swing, calves, tibs, lunges, squats, single leg rdl

3)conditioning: press, (ditto)

4)Heavy pull: power clean

5)conditioning: press, (ditto)

6)conditioning: pull, (ditto)

Rest or repeat

Press = calisthenics presses. Use down, Juarez, straight sets, emoms

Pull = sandbag row. Normally this is a good place for calisthenics pulls as well, but that shit aint serving me at the moment.same type of rep models.

I list a ton of movement patterns after press/pull as a potential grab bag. Use whatever isn't tired. If you are going back and forth with dip Juarez valley and seated calf raises, guess what. The calf raises are your rest periods. They're filler episodes.

are you actually hungry?

I found a really easy method for discerning between actual hunger and the general desire to consume/craving.

If your body screams FOOD NOW, ask back - can you eat 6 eggs? If the feeling or response back is fuck no. It's a craving. Ignore. If the answer is yes, eat the eggs.

I'll take my money now.

conditioning is the assistance

Main work is easy to program. Work up to a top set. Do some backoff sets or a backoff set.

Assistance is a minefield of endless decisions with regards to movement choice, volume, and intensity. 

Conditioning saves a fuckton of time and energy. Assistance is dead. Conditioning is now also your assistance. Long live the new hotness.

look good versus feel good

I have to remind myself  of this fact daily: I feel amazing right now, but I also look objectively worse than 12 weeks ago. 

What changed?

12 weeks ago

- tired as fuck without copious caffeine.

- I trained full body 2 days a week. Everything to failure and beyond.

- goal was strength and size.

- off days were mace and stretch days. 

- Get some sun daily 

- I was damn near useless the day after lifting but soreness otherwise wasn't a thing.

- sex drive = not great

Today

- energy levels are amazing. Drinking less caffeine then I have in years.

- I train daily. With few exceptions (see: the occasional set of arms) nothing is to failure 

- goal is endurance.

- there are no off days.

- get some sun daily.

- low grade soreness every day, but it doesn't actually do anything.

- sex drive = constant. Not 20s levels but it exists

I gotta tell ya, my brain keeps trying to edge me back into looks good territory but in fighting it hard. I love the way I feel right now, and I'm just a few weeks in to this style of training. More to come in the future, but I need a reminder in print for the next 30min when I wonder if a 5/3/1 bench has a place in my life (narrator: it doesn't).