My 1st run through of MMS -

01-17-19 02:34 AM - Post#876643

I wanted to take the time to give my experience going through MMS, especially since I found this website very helpful and encouraging. Plus it's pretty cool Dan replies to post and is pretty active on this forum.

Overall, I loved this program. Unfortunately, due to some life happenings I was not able to follow it exactly as laid out. My first issue is I was having some pain/soreness in my rotator cuff shortly after starting. Part of this might have been starting to play tennis about a month before starting MMS (stopping during MMS), but I think it might have been more due to going to heavy too fast in the overhead presses. So after about a week or 2 I backed off the upper body workouts and focused on core strengthening and shoulder rehab. After a week off my rotator cuff began to feel better and I started back in on the upper body and complexes. The other variance came at the end of the program. I had a family member become very sick and spent a lot of time in hospitals and rehab rooms. (said family member is doing better now!) I got through workout 13, then the incident happened and it was a week later before I was able to do workout 14. During that week I didn't do any exercising and was getting 2-6hrs of sleep. To my surprise I was able to do all 50 reps of 135lb pretty easily. Then it was another week off before I could do workout 15. Again little sleep and no exercise. I unfortunately only made it to 33 reps at 185lbs.
I was pretty disappointed because I had been killing the squats and honestly, during the 13 workouts I did I had no doubt in my mind I would be able to complete all 50 reps at 185lb. But my mind and body just weren't there for me at the end.

Overall, I still thought it was a fantastic program. I will definitely be doing it again next winter, or possibly sooner. Right now I need to get back into doing some cardio. I'm a little surprised how much I missed doing cardio during that time.

I didn't really gain a whole lot of mass, as expected since I didn't complete the program exactly as laid out, but I definitely got stronger, and I filled in a good bit. My quads got more defined, my hamstrings became fuller, and even my pecks became a little more defined. My posture also improved. Also reading The Actual "pull" Article (https://www.davedraper.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/26930/) was really helpful.
I normally do intermittent fasting, but tried to fully commit to eating. That was probably one of the harder parts for me. I did eat a few PB&J's for snacks but usually opted for apple and PB. I also tried to focus on getting enough fiber with all this extra calorie consumption. The experimenting w/ when to take protein was also helpful.

Again, I really loved the squats. The mental and physical grit and perseverance really made me happy and gave me a feeling of accomplishment.
I was really tempted to go through the program again, but decided against it right now because of some of my other training goals and the sports I'm preparing for. I will definitely be taking parts of this program and sprinkling them into my workouts though. And I will certainly be going through this program again, hopefully as written.
I also liked how it got me in the habit of logging my workouts. Something I didn't really do as much in the past.

I could write a lot more about my experience with this program, but I think this is a solid gist of my experience. At least until my next go through of MMS.
Thanks to Dan and this forum!