09-28-19 05:40 PM - Post#888342    

Oh, and I’ve had good success. Here are before and current:

Squat 255 to 280
Bench 205 to 215
Row 175 to 180
bodyweight 205 to 197.

I’m 46 and have been lifting off and on for 30 years and consistently for the past 3 years using 3x5 then 531. Have not had any success increasing my lifts with these programs and figured at my age I should be happy to maintain. So I’m stoked to be getting stronger again especially while loosing weight.

09-30-19 11:34 AM - Post#888397    

Congrats...that is some excellent work here.

Daniel John Just handing down what I was handed down... Make a Difference. Live. Love. Laugh. Balance work, rest, play and pray (enjoy beauty and solitude) Sleep soundly. Drink Water. Eat veggies and protein. Walk. Wear your seat belt. Don’t smoke. Floss your teeth. Put weights overhead. Pick weights off the floor. Carry weights. Reread great books. Say thank you

10-03-19 11:10 PM - Post#888586    

• Kim Philby Said:

Bodyweight for 200 yards would destroy me!

40 Day workout users...
10-30-19 05:44 AM - Post#889674    

I gave a friend of mine the 40day workout, he did it while mountainbiking three-four times a week at a fairly high level.
This is what he had to say:

Today I officially finished Easy Strength (ES) after 43 workouts. I added some extra workouts due to 6 days off after some lower back pain. In general I liked the program, as it's never "heavy" and rarely makes you feel fatigued afterwards. ES is a bit frustrating as it takes some time to get results (people usually get results in the second half of the program) and you don't workout hard. I didn't feel much strength increase in the last five workouts.

My results are the following:
Sumo DL: I quit this exercise as bad technique hurt my back. Did squats and romanian deadlift instead, but didn't do them the "ES way".
Bench press: From 50 kg (2x5, felt light, could probably have lifted more at that time) to 70 kg (3x3, would probably have made 2x5 at 67,5 kg, didn't find the correct weights at the gym today).
Chin-ups: From half-chins bodyweight (2x5) to BW+12,5 kg (2x5).
Forward bent reverse flies w/squeeze (https://youtu.be/16ZFEUpFEv4?t=151): From 4 kg (2x5) to 8 kg (2x5).

I also improved in strength in loaded carries (Farmer's walk (FW), one-handed FW (suitcase walk), waiter's walk) and high leg raises.

SinisterAlex

Edited by SinisterAlex on 10-30-19 05:44 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

11-05-19 01:58 PM - Post#889916    

The exercise choices are original, that's for sure. The chin up improvement should be enough to recommend this to anyone.

Daniel John Just handing down what I was handed down... Make a Difference. Live. Love. Laugh. Balance work, rest, play and pray (enjoy beauty and solitude) Sleep soundly. Drink Water. Eat veggies and protein. Walk. Wear your seat belt. Don’t smoke. Floss your teeth. Put weights overhead. Pick weights off the floor. Carry weights. Reread great books. Say thank you

40 Day workout users...
11-05-19 11:04 PM - Post#889942    

Question for you guys.

I’d like to do another round of EES. This time with.
Deadlift
Overhead press
Pull-ups

Swings 80-100
Carries body weight for 200 yards

However, my main goal is weight loss. Does it make sense to do the above in a caloric deficit?

Edited by Kim Philby on 11-05-19 11:04 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

11-06-19 11:52 AM - Post#889960    

I'd say yes. The value of (E)ES lies in its ability to develop strength by targeting neurological capacities with the exclusion of metabolic damage. That's why most people report that these workouts "don't feel like much". There's no huffing, puffing, or build up of metabolites causing weakness or endocrine disruption.

It should be possible to train this way without additional nutritional requirements as you're not stressing metabolic pathways, but rather neurological ones. When I went through the 40 days my diet wasn't optimal, and while I did gain strength I don't think it was due to a caloric surplus. Especially since my calories weren't of great quality at the time.

As is usually encouraged around here I'd say try it and report back!

my training log: What Mr. Kent is Doing Now

11-06-19 10:52 PM - Post#889992    

Thanks for the input Mr Kent. I will be starting this program in about 2 weeks and will certainly report on my progress.

Onward!

11-07-19 02:10 PM - Post#890029    

I think ES is ideal for such a purpose. As already mentioned, it’s pretty low stress, meant to work in conjunction with other training. Or, meant to work when other stressors, like life or diet play a role. I say go for it, but use the brevity to include plenty of low intensity aerobic work.

11-13-19 08:18 AM - Post#890263    

I fasted hard during one round of Easy Strength and I think the short daily workouts support the discipline of holding on to the fast.

So, yes: I am actually wondering if this is something a university should study. The Fast Mimicking Diet might be a great tool to use during the ES run.

Daniel John Just handing down what I was handed down... Make a Difference. Live. Love. Laugh. Balance work, rest, play and pray (enjoy beauty and solitude) Sleep soundly. Drink Water. Eat veggies and protein. Walk. Wear your seat belt. Don’t smoke. Floss your teeth. Put weights overhead. Pick weights off the floor. Carry weights. Reread great books. Say thank you

Re: 40 Day workout users...
11-15-19 01:30 AM - Post#890377    

• Kim Philby Said:

I did exactly this last fall. Same exact movements, only difference being that I went far shorter on the carries. Went as low as 1,800 calories a day for the last few weeks, lost gobs of fat, and my deadlift still went up. Pull-ups gains were awesome. Press went completely flat, unfortunately. But I consider it a big success.

In fact, I ran a similar cycle just a few months ago. Combined with 30 minutes of outdoor walking every day, and piles of vegetables, I think it's the easiest, most successful fat loss program I've ever run. Reasonable and effective all the way around.

Edited by Jordan D on 11-15-19 02:17 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

Re: 40 Day workout users...
11-15-19 01:20 PM - Post#890396    

• SinisterAlex Said:

The person SinisterAlex is talking about is me.

The reason why I added the rear delt flies variation was to try to cope with my shoulder impingement.

Some background information is that I had pain in my right shoulder for the last 1,5 years when doing vertical plane exercises (chins, overhead presses, also deadlifts). I went to two different physical therapists to fix my shoulder, both diagnosed me with shoulder impingement due to weak muscles in my back (rotator cuff).

The prescribed treatment was mainly external rotation exercises to strengthen the rotator cuff. As many here might know, the muscles that make up the rotator cuff are small and take ages to strengthen. I kept doing those exercises and kept on with a regular strength program, except for chins, overhead presses etc. The results weren’t satisfying.

One day, SinisterAlex told me that I should try ES to cope with my impingement. I immediately quit the program that I was doing at that time and started with ES right away. As you’ve seen from my results above, my strength increased a lot. My weak muscles in my back (rotator cuff) became significantly stronger, not only by the rear delt flies variation, but also (probably) caused by having better technique due to lifting “light” every time (e.g. easier to pull back shoulders with doing chins).

1-2 weeks after I finished ES, my shoulder pain disappeared more or less. Probably because the inflammation disappeared as the the cause of it was removed (weak muscles). Now, three weeks later, it’s still almost non-existent. So I can say that my 1,5 year long shoulder problem is gone after one period of ES. Because of this, Easy Strength can also be used for rehab purposes.

06-23-20 02:12 PM - Post#899499    

Coach, You may have touched on this before, but I don't remember. If you know a 1RM in say the deadlift what % of that number would be best to start a 40 workout with?

Thanks, miss you guys. Life has been rough for awhile, but Im on the positive side of the dirt for now.

06-23-20 03:00 PM - Post#899503    

Welcome back Brian.

"Coyote is always waiting, and Coyote is always hungry."

06-23-20 07:24 PM - Post#899512    

I have stated...a million times...not to use percents in the program

Daniel John Just handing down what I was handed down... Make a Difference. Live. Love. Laugh. Balance work, rest, play and pray (enjoy beauty and solitude) Sleep soundly. Drink Water. Eat veggies and protein. Walk. Wear your seat belt. Don’t smoke. Floss your teeth. Put weights overhead. Pick weights off the floor. Carry weights. Reread great books. Say thank you

06-24-20 08:57 AM - Post#899529    

Brian this is intended to easy and intuitive. Start with a weight that is really easy for two sets of 5 and listen to your body. Day two if you feel like it add a bit of weight. The idea is to stay fresh and not let fatigue accumulate. Watch your recovery.

"Coyote is always waiting, and Coyote is always hungry."

06-24-20 09:34 AM - Post#899537    

Groovy, thanks Steve. You have a good Idea of the Hell I have been through, and might be going through again. Biopsy is the 30th

07-28-20 04:09 PM - Post#900806    

Hi

I am on workout 12 of a 40 day workout EES cycle.

I think things are starting to click & part of that may be me taking it a bit easier on swings.

Anyway what I was going to ask is if this programme works & my strength goes in the direction I want is there any reason one can't extend the programme until the gains cease?

Or would you advice taking a month off to do some other programs & just come back & do another 40
day cycle later?


I am getting a hankering for ETK ROP at some point.

07-28-20 06:18 PM - Post#900810    

I've run through a couple of cycles of ES, and am just finishing one up currently. Before I answer your question, have you seen this article of Dan's?:

https://danjohn.net/2011/06/even-easier-s trength-perform-better-no tes/

Personally, I'd recommend either to keep on keepin' on if you don't feel beat up in any way. My current cycle didn't include enough easy days and I'm experiencing more fatigue than I would have anticipated, so for me I'm moving on to something else. However, before I reached that point I had considered changing the exercises slightly (this is 'option two' laid out in the article above). I believe if I had done this I probably would have gotten a bit more mileage out of the program.

Your decision should depend on your goals. Myself, I was using the program as a means to 1) keep myself in the gym, and 2) maintain a minimum level of strength during the uncertain schedule of having an infant in the house (in addition to work demands as my occupation is 'essential' during the previous lock down). In this way it served me very well as I was able to maintain a semblance of health and fitness during limited time. If you really want to push a certain lift it might be wise to continue to milk the program if you're seeing improvement. If you're getting any systemic fatigue you may want to change up your exercises slightly, but maintain the spirit of the program. If you are bored to tears and cannot bear to face the same(ish) workouts for another 40 sessions it may be best to switch to something else entirely.

Just my $0.02

my training log: What Mr. Kent is Doing Now

07-29-20 03:44 PM - Post#900831    

Thanks.

That has helped.

I guess I was thinking the same if I am making gains why stop?

08-04-20 02:58 PM - Post#901030    

I ran variations of ES for just about a year in 2018. I found you could make progress indefinitely, but it reaches a point of diminishing marginal returns where the little aches start increasing faster than the weights.

Squats were slightly different. As Dan's often noted, it just doesn't work for squats the way it works for deadlifts. But. I could still increase my "easy" back squat at a rate that worked out to about 5lbs a week, and I did so for a very long time. I only stopped because of a weird pain in my T-spine that needed some rest.

Now, I believe the best strategy is the one Kyle Aaron outlined in this stickied post:

• Kyle Aaron Said:

So, swap to a same-but-different movement, start LIGHT again, and repeat for another 6-8 weeks.

08-06-20 05:17 PM - Post#901115    

• Jordan D Said:

Thanks for the insight.

09-20-20 02:23 PM - Post#902593    

40 day EES results

Fat grip deficit deadlift 74kg X 6

Normal width chin up BW X 10

One arm OHP 24kg KB L X 6 , R X 7

AB Wheel full standing X failed but I can do standing partials of around 5-7 .

So some of these exercise are unfamiliar to me so I don't know exactly where I was to start. Mainly the far grip dead I would say this for. I think I got a little stronger though.

Chins I hadn't done for years & my max was probably 3-5 going into this so I would say this was where I made my best gains. These reps were pretty clean & all were shoulders to bar which I would of struggled to do at my pull up peak 10 years ago.

The press I am not sure where I was already as I don't test max reps but I think I made some improvement.
My max is around 28kg KB which I could sometimes get a single with I think I have managed a double in the past.

The AB Wheel I have never managed a full standing rep but I have improved as the partials are easier.

I took a week off to test & I am going on holiday for a week but will start another 40 days on my return.
Aiming to do.

Snatches DBL KB
Side presses
Bent over rows
Skater squats
Resistance band standing rotations

10-09-20 09:16 AM - Post#903291    

I just finished a new cycle of ES. My results were good, although some of the results probably can be contributed to the fact that I've been stronger before than I was at the beginning of this ES cycle. Nonetheless, I am very happy with the results.

Results:

Snatch-grip RDL: From around 55 kg 3x3 (a bit light) to 3 reps at 85, 87,5 and 90 kg.

Chins: 3x3 BW + 5 kg to (4,5) reps at BW + 20 kg.

Dips: 3x3 BW + 5 kg to 2x5 reps at BW + 20 kg.

Front squat: I tried adding light squats every day, but my legs eventually felt constantly fatigued. However, doing harder squats 2-3 times a week with a day's rest in between worked well.

12-06-20 07:40 PM - Post#905370    

DBL KB Snatches
Side presses
Bent over rows
Skater squats
Resistance band rotations

This is what I went with in the end & will soon be finishing the 40 workouts.

I found with the weights I had available Snatches ended up being about 10 reps to keep it easy.
I actually really enjoyed side presses aswell.

The biggest take home from this is that this routine really seemed to help my movement quality using a few standard tests like deep lunge rotations.

However since there are three movements I have never used before I don't know if it was a singular movement or all three that helped.
These were:
Side presses (have done past experience with bent presses),
Band rotations,
DBL KB snatch (have alot of experience with 1 arm in the past).

Results
The snatches definitely feel easier.
Skater squats feel alot more solid.
My side press max is probably about 36kg. The 24 & 28kg feel easier though.
Rows don't feel these have changed much.
Banded rotations feel more controlled.

I think the main issue with these moves is they don't lend themselves well to testing 1RM. Except for rows.

04-28-21 08:15 AM - Post#909949    

I've got a lifter of mine to report on.

Programme: Accessible Lazy Progression to Swole, aka Kyle's easy strength

49yo male lifter accomplished 20 workouts in 6 weeks, not counting the establishing and final workouts. Was sick in a middle week.

Bodyweight stable at 80kg, small drop in waist size and increase in shoulder size.

Clean & press - 52.5 to 60kg
Rows - 75 to 85kg
Deadlift - 110 to 130kg

Did a 30-60' walk each day, and 2-3 x 30-60' runs at MAF weekly - excepting the sick week. Resting heart rate from 75 to 69.

Athletic Club East Strength in numbers

04-28-21 08:27 PM - Post#909972    

That looks like a success to me.

Daniel John Just handing down what I was handed down... Make a Difference. Live. Love. Laugh. Balance work, rest, play and pray (enjoy beauty and solitude) Sleep soundly. Drink Water. Eat veggies and protein. Walk. Wear your seat belt. Don’t smoke. Floss your teeth. Put weights overhead. Pick weights off the floor. Carry weights. Reread great books. Say thank you

04-29-21 06:02 AM - Post#909981    

I think so. I like the way he was able to do running, too. That's the thing with easy strength - it's the programme you can do with other stresses, whether those other stresses are a sport, running, dieting, work or whatever.

Athletic Club East Strength in numbers

40 Day workout users...
05-24-21 11:19 PM - Post#910615    

Programme: Accessible Lazy Progression to Swole

27yo female lifter (history of back injury, does shift work) accomplished 18 workouts in 6 weeks, not counting establishing and results workouts.

Bodyweight stable at 65kg - she's 162cm.
Clean & press 35 to 40kg
Clean & front squat 52.5 to 57.5kg
Rows 60 to 65kg

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPR9PVCg2E8/

The day after this she did an establishing workout for the next run. She did,

Clean & jerk 50kg
High-bar back squat 80kg
Chinups 2

Incidentally, this was done May 24th, she has not done jerks since June last year, or back squats since February 20th. Her previous back squat PR was 75kg.

It does work for squats, and if your front squat improves, so does your back squat.

Athletic Club East Strength in numbers

Edited by Kyle Aaron on 05-24-21 11:22 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

05-31-21 05:23 AM - Post#910775    

James, shift worker, 40s, 6 weeks of the Accessible Lazy progression to swole.

Squat 135 -> 145
Press 60 --> 67.5

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPhnQPVgWcT/

Athletic Club East Strength in numbers