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03-31-22 09:43 AM - Post#918522
I've always found the whole vagueness of 'easy' to be somewhat frustrating, since my brain interprets any set where I don't grind as easy.
I realize Dan doesn't like percentages, but even something like "Do ten reps with a weight you could do for a tenRM, but make sure to do it in 2 - 5 sets" would be helpful.
I admit this might just be me.
Same. Find the 60-80% guideline Kyle Ardron very useful posted for this reason.
Ya I can agree here too. I really liked Kyle's clarifications to it. I want to reduce my thought process in the gym. Picking 3 main exercises. I like the hinge, push, pull as 3 big moves. Then tag on abs and farmer walks on the end. Yes that makes 5 moves, but splitting them into major and minor exercises seems to help mentally. Any lengthy list immediately shuts me down. It's the main reason I have such a hard time with mobility routines. Mobility seems to always come in packages of 10 or more 'things'.
I remember reading through the first book and thinking 'it's in the title, this should be easy'. The amount of options and routines thrown in there definitely all fit the bill as 'easy'. However picking where to start and what to do was anything but. But my analysis of the first book is it wasn't selling a routine, it was selling an idea. It did an excellent job laying out that you don't have to be in the gym 6 hours a week to get strong. But I continually want to return to things like 531 because it's 'just do this'. The routine can fit on one page. A simple calculator can tell me exactly what to do for the next year.
However it's this continual problem right? Adaptation. Nothing works forever. That's a tough one. It's why Jim released 531 forever with a couple dozen variations and the leaders/anchors. The whole thing got a lot more complex than the original simple idea. Enough people were asking 'what do I do when...' This was the hardest concept for me to grasp when I first came to this forum about 2 years ago. Most gym goers follow their routines ad nauseam. I used to run routines for months on end, sometimes years. Here, and in the kettlbell world too, it's these short bursts of 'this' and then you go do something else. Here's something for the next 6 weeks. But my immediate reaction is, 'but then what. What's after?' Well it can be anything really. Here's this giant list, just pick something. Paralysis sets in. I have no idea what to do. So now instead of just doing the routine and not thinking, I'm thinking about what's after this. Now my life has become a rotating door of routines. I start something, initially excitement is high, then I start thinking well what's next after this? I search around. Oooh I found some shiny new routine. Ya I'll do that next. 2-3 weeks in I'm getting bored with the same bag of movements I've done for the last few weeks. That shiny new routine sure looks... ya it looks good. Maybe it's better than this. You know... I'm gonna do it anyway may as well just start now. Cycle repeat.
I really like the concept of bus and park bench as a macro look at things. Maybe it's my personality, but I just need to have an overarching plan. Even in crossfit there was a while that some of the top games competitors didn't have 'routines'. They would hang out in their gym and decide what they were doing that day. It drove me nuts. There must be some kind of plan! You don't get to that level without a plan! Not just for today or next week or 6 weeks from now.
This is where some of the simpler things on this forum, like the lifetime warrior or DMPM really shine. Because they are endlessly repeatable. Just change the exercises once in a while if you want to 'change it up'. No need for a completely different 'do something else'.
But this is really target audience dependent. I'm 34, a wife, toddler and baby, an old house that I'm constantly working on (I think this is the straw that broke the camels back - if I didn't have reno's to do , and a professional career that takes 95% of my daily brain power. It's a stage for me. Even 5 years from now it'll be different and I might get really into weights again. But right now, I don't have time or mental capacity to think about the gym. Heck I hardly have the energy to do anything in the gym at all right now. Just tell me what to do, but keep it really really simple. Like if all I can do today is a couple sets of a couple exercises (2-3 of 2-3) then I want to be allowed to do that. 5 days is also a lot, even if it is easy.
Does any of this make sense? I hope something here is helpful to you Dan.
Also, can anyone clarify the prescription changed for half body movements? Originally it was 15-25 for any upper push or pulls. In the last few years it seems to have gone down to just do 10 reps total no matter what it is.
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