04-07-22 07:10 PM - Post#918750    

I've been reflecting on the push, pull, squat, hinge quadrant idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZcc4fpR0to&a mp;ab_channel=DanJohn

I'm starting to think this might be the answer to what I would tell my younger self if I had the opportunity. (Now that I think of it, Dan, if you could take a copy of the Easy Strength Omnibus with you when you go back to talk to your younger self and have you mail it to the younger me, it would be much appreciated. Like, life changing, even. I just have to go back and make sure I actually read it and pay attention. Younger me can be such an idiot, sometimes. Not older me, though, nope, not at all.)

When I think back on my life and the times I felt strong vs. the times I got injured, I think there's a correlation with whether I was working on my engines (hinge/pull) or trying to force myself to meet standards I'm not suited for.

What I'm noticing now is that "easy" may mean something different for my engines than for their counterparts-- like I can recover from a higher perceived level of intensity by the next day on my engines. I work out in the mornings, and I'm noticing that I can do a hinge and pull tonic in the afternoon that leaves me feeling better (so far) without feeling drained, which has not been the case with other combinations.

It seems like squats and hinges are very complimentary, so it makes sense how you could work one and just pattern the other, but I'm not sure how that translates to push/pull. Do you just get to a minimal standard on your "not you" and then call it good and do a minimum to maintain it while you grow your engine as big as possible? Or does it even matter for push/pull-- if you just do reasonable load/reps they will improve themselves or not as per their nature and you don't need to worry about it?

04-08-22 12:59 PM - Post#918763    

• Brian Hassler Said:

Oh wow. That video is really good.

What if you're awful at everything but pulling? Do we have to sit on top of the quadrant? Maybe put a set of bleachers up there?

Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
04-08-22 01:55 PM - Post#918769    

• Brian Hassler Said:

I always had problems with dropping below parallel when squatting, so that lift lagged far behind my deadlifts. After a few years, I finally gave up and trained to maintain a double bodyweight squat while busting my ass every meet cycle, shooting for a triple bodyweight tug. In spite of successfully building that engine for over a decade, the squat never moved much.

Pretty much the same story with upper body push/pull. Between deadlifts, weighted pullups/chins, and heavy rows, I have built a pretty thick upper back, but it's never helped my "just okay" military and bench presses. That said, I loved to bench press and didn't give up until my shoulders did.

Be strong. Be in shape. Be a man among men, regardless of your age or circumstances.

Edited by AAnnunz on 04-08-22 02:03 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

04-08-22 03:55 PM - Post#918770    

• Jordan D Said:

Yes, well, my initial thought is that I'm weak at everything, therefore I am equally *strong* at everything, therefore I'm a genius!

(Reminds me of one of my favorite DJ quotes: "I love it when people disagree with me about something and later on I find out they deadlift 245. With both hands.")

04-08-22 05:19 PM - Post#918772    

Brian, I love my quotes. I laugh because I rarely remember them!!!

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

04-09-22 03:59 PM - Post#918800    

• Dan John Said:

When I got to this one at 3:34 of the Bodcast episode on MMS with Tim Anderson, I literally laughed out loud, and then had to go back and listen to it again. Such a beautiful nugget of understated wisdom.

"It's funny because people are just listening, they're not actually squatting their body weight right now.."
https://youtu.be/T1RbM9tRUgY?t=214

I honestly think you don't get recognized enough as a teacher and presenter. It's like an old roadie told me one time that he would always go to see Genesis or Pink Floyd when they came to town, because they really knew how to put on a good show, no matter what music they were playing.

You're the Pink Floyd of lecturers. (You can use that on your promotional materials, if you want. You'll have them lined up around the block...)

04-10-22 09:43 AM - Post#918810    

Money!

You're the Pink Floyd of lecturers.

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

04-10-22 01:09 PM - Post#918813    

Has anyone tried alternating vertical push/pulls with horizontal push/pulls daily?

So something like:

Swings
Deadlift
Press
Pulldowns
Ab Wheel

on Monday then

Swings
Deadlift
Bench Press
Rows
Ab Wheel

On Tuesday and back and forth?

04-10-22 02:16 PM - Post#918814    

• Dan John Said:

"If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding."

Mark it Zero.

04-10-22 03:37 PM - Post#918816    

• Justin Jordan Said:

That is very similar to what I do. My program is four days per week alternating:

Deadlift
Bench
Cheat Curl
Ab Wheel
Swings

with...

Squat
Overhead Press
Lat Pulldown
Ab Wheel
Swings

At 70 years old I tend to detrain very quickly. If I alternate workouts every two weeks as Dan recommends in his EES article, I find that I just end up starting over on the movements I haven't trained for two weeks. Of course, YMMV.

04-10-22 07:51 PM - Post#918822    

• DanMartin Said:

A flight of fancy on a windswept field.
Standing alone. My senses reel.

Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
04-11-22 01:27 AM - Post#918832    

After much thought over the weekend, I am going to trial ES/OS for the next one year starting from today.

There will be some months or weeks where I will not be able to train for 5 days a week but that is o.k. Over the long haul, this shouldn't have too much affect.

A couple of other things I have factored in. Each month I will have a same but different approach.

E.g
Month 1
Deadlift - nod heads
Overhead press - rock backs
Pull ups - egg rolls
Swings - crawl
Hanging knee raises - I call it the crucifixion stretch (lie on back, bring one shoulder across, let momentum carry you over, roll back.)
(Bar hang cool down)

Month 2
Swings - OS type exercise
Incline Press - OS type exercise
Batwings - OS type exercise
Carries - OS type exercise
an ab exercise - OS type exercise
(Bar hang cool down)

Daily 45 minute walk with the dog each morning.

I believe the benefits for this programme will be:
a) increase strength (obviously.)
b) increase lean body mass
c) increase power to weight ratio
d) will have 5 x mobility sessions a week (OS)
e) daily walk gets my body moving and blood flowing before day even commences.

Andrew Gunn



Edited by Gunny72 on 04-11-22 02:12 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

04-11-22 09:45 AM - Post#918837    

That's a lot of good movement...excellent. If you need help keeping going, I'm here for you.

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

Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
04-12-22 05:33 PM - Post#918875    

• Dan John Said:

Many thanks Dan. I should have no issues. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense to me to train like this in the 40 to 50 year old bracket.

I will check in on this thread every 4 to 6 weeks with my observations and will be seeking your advice as well.

For once in my life, I am going to keep a good training journal and document everything. Will share some insights in twelve months time. Hopefully, I can share some beneficial key learnings to all in sundry.

Boredom will not be an issue at all. I like my workouts short and sharp and would rather finish in 1/2 an hour then meander along for over 1 hr achieving nothing.

Andrew

Edited by Gunny72 on 04-12-22 05:39 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

Re: Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
04-13-22 07:37 AM - Post#918885    

• Gunny72 Said:

Great stuff Andrew!.

I tweaked my version based on your inputs. At the risk of it now not being easy strength, i wanted to add the following to my version

warmup before ES/OS:
- Few minutes of backward sled drags or backward running
- a couple sets of unweighted/lightly weighted KOT Single leg squats
(alas i have drank the Knees over toes Koolaid)
- Then for each ES Exercise i'm doing do i would do two sets of isometrics of the same exercise, one at 50-75% and one all out...for 6-10 seconds each "Set"

Seems like a lot but the goal is for all that to be done in 10 minutes

Weekly adds
- throughout day, hangs and hanging out at the bottom of the goblet squat
- Once a week or every other week 20 minutes of easy sprints ending with a hard one at 80%-90% effort
-other random unscheduled stuff: hikes,walks,tandem rides w/wife, hitting heavy bag & double-end bag

Ps. the worldfit iso trainer is great for isometrics, it can also double as a suspension trainer. Isochain is the bomb also but very expensive.

04-13-22 11:35 AM - Post#918891    

A lightbulb went on for me Monday when I replaced goblet squats with the goblet squat to broom handle overhead squat drill.

The brilliant insight with that is that I have always considered the O lifts and overhead squats out of reach, but now I have a sane and consistent practice protocol. Because of that, I actually do think I will be able to at least do the exercises at a patterning load, which opens the door to all kinds of new variations of lifts and complexes, etc.

So the brilliance of ES is that it's practicing the lifts. And, it being practice, that means that one could probably learn new things as well as just ticking the boxes with things one already knows.

I think Dan has said that something like 500 times. It's not that those of us in the back of the room aren't smart, it's just that we're sitting so far back that sometimes it takes a little longer for the sound waves to travel all that distance.

Re: Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
04-13-22 05:21 PM - Post#918898    

• padddleperson Said:

So glad I could assist.

Just be careful though. I can recall my very first attempt of ES in 2017. I was trying to do similar things to what you are describing but it was a little too much for my body.

I learnt from 2018 onwards what makes the programme work is that doing less is better.

I hope this helps.

Andrew Gunn

04-14-22 02:11 AM - Post#918903    

• Brian Hassler Said:

Yes. I've said this many times. If you're minimalist, you can choose two "strength" moves, and a third "practice" move. And honestly, it's arguable how much of the improvement in strength from any of the moves comes from the load during those 4-6 weeks, and how much comes from practising the movement.

Athletic Club East Strength in numbers

Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
04-15-22 09:25 PM - Post#918954    

I was doing an Easy Strength-ish program that was two rounds of carries with a round of log clean and press in between. After six weeks, I rebooted it to be an actual ES program, and have been doing that for the past two weeks.

Today I stumbled upon this example ES workout video that Dan did:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZiQ9l76AA8&a mp;ab_channel=DanJohn

At the end, he says that out of five workouts, you might have one good one, one less good one, and three "punch the clock" workouts. So far in my eight weeks of ES-like training, they've all been punch the clock workouts.

I think for where I'm at, that might be appropriate. Kind of like the DJ quote that someone had in their signature: "You're not good enough to be disappointed." I think maybe I'm not strong enough to have good days and bad days, and just punching the clock and getting the foundation might be the right thing to do.

Edited by Brian Hassler on 04-15-22 10:53 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

04-15-22 10:24 PM - Post#918955    

• Brian Hassler Said:

I’m not sure how strong you are or aren’t or if it matters, but I believe you are absolutely right about “punching the clock.” My standard expression with trainees is “building a wall.” You can PR every lift in the book, move 44,000 Kg in one day, and annihilate the record books. That is one brick. Or, you may take a needed, well-timed rest day. That is one brick. What kind of wall did you build this year with your 365 bricks? I guarantee that over 300 of my yearly bricks are punching the clock.

Just my 2¢

04-16-22 11:21 PM - Post#918972    

It works for work, it'll work for workouts. Punching the clock is how most of us pay the rent and put food on the dinner table.

Athletic Club East Strength in numbers

04-18-22 01:04 PM - Post#918998    

In the interest of chasing one rabbit - in this case, dropping fat - I'm biting the bullet and doing Easy Strength and upping my walking.

I'm not 100 percent sure I really have the weights right, but they felt good today, so it's at least a start.

04-18-22 01:08 PM - Post#919000    

This is how I reremembered walking...from the new book:

The Quarterly Review

The Two Numbers Goal Sheet is one of my favorite tools for helping people (including myself) achieve goals. After doing a few other simple assignments, I like to come up with two hard numbers for goal achievement, if possible.

Numbers are measurable. That might be the most obvious thing I ever wrote, but it is also a profound point. Measuring “I want to be happy” is going to be a tough one. Famous Amos taught us that “Happiness is an inside job” and Abraham Lincoln basically reminded us that we are as happy as we choose to be. I agree with both points.

It still makes happiness a tough thing to measure. However, when I set one of my two numbers to a bodyweight goal, to lift as a 96-kilogram lifter (211 pounds), every morning I can step on the scale and see whether or not I am closing in on my goal. True, bodyweight might be a horrible tool to measure, but I must weigh in at Olympic lifting meets and that’s the rules.

The daily weigh in is fraught with issues. Traveling in planes, getting a cold, and certain kinds of food combinations tend to make my bodyweight go up. Other things, remarkably simple and repeatable things, tend to make my bodyweight go down.

Earl Nightingale reminds us in his wonderful work, Secret Advantage, that every so often on our goal achievement journey that we stop and check in with ourselves. Every day, I write down my goals (the numbers). Every day, I follow my Pirate Map and do my To Do List, meditate, eat veggies, lift, and walk (and all the rest).

Every day. At the end of each day, in my journal, I write, list, or note what I did on the path towards this goal.

And “every day” has a LOT of value. But every so often it’s nice to stop and check in. Earl recommends to us that we should occasionally review our weeks and months and see what we are doing to keep the momentum on our goal setting.

There is nothing new here. Few of you might know that on January 8, 1932, my father, Albert John, turned in a book report on The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. I hope I don’t have to tell anyone who wrote this autobiography.

My dad had a few spelling errors and earned a C+. He would do much better in school as he moved along! By the way, my sister found our father’s collection of Book Notes and I have been enjoying reading my dad’s insights on Don Quixote, Longfellow, and, among others, Franklin at the wizened age of fourteen.

My dad noted: “I would advise everybody to read this autobiography.” Franklin spent the largest part of this book, I read it after following dad’s advice, on thirteen habits that he wanted to be better at in life. Each week, he would focus on one, so that each virtue, like humility or temperance, would have four weeks a year for his focus.

I like Franklin’s idea. Somehow, reviewing an attempt to change one’s life gives clarity. I think four times a year is a good idea. Simply, I stop for a moment, look over my journal, note the ebbs and flows and then look deeply at the OTHER things I did to assess my steps.

For my physical goals, I did an interesting thing. I read and reread a number of people on appropriate body composition changes. I have a large collection of the works of Rusty Moore and Greg O’Gallagher. Rusty’s body composition materials are focused on looking good for weddings, photo shoots and yachting. His materials on the “Yacht Bod” made me snicker at first and then I dug deeply into his work. I discovered that what we do in elite performance is great for competing and throwing things. That’s not the same as looking good in a wedding or reunion picture.

To sum: if you want to look good in the pictures, read Rusty.

Greg focuses much more on the “look.” He combines intermittent fasting, walking, and heavy targeted lifting to look good at the pool and beach. I complimented Greg in a video once and trolls told me that they “had lost respect for me.” Somehow, losing the respect of an anonymous poster on the internet doesn’t impact me as much as these typists can imagine.

To sum: if you want to look good at the pool, read Greg.

After reading and rereading all of this, I went to Clarence Bass’s site and bought (for the second or third time) his collections called Ripped and The Lean Advantage. These are a total of six books. I think I have his whole collection, but I knew there was something in these books that was speaking to me.

I found it.

Walking

I leafed quickly back through my journal and noticed something: when I added in an additional walk daily my bodyweight trended downward. I always (since I started taking this seriously) walk after I lift. Rusty, Greg, and Clarence all discuss the importance of getting some extra walking in.

This is fairly simple, I think. I need to get back to what I WAS doing: adding an extra little stroll into my evening or afternoon.

I just sat down after a half hour, two-mile walk. I fully expect, if I continue to do this one little thing, to see my bodyweight nudge downward again.

This is the value of the quarterly check in. Yes. Yes, the daily Pirate Map is crucial. But there is also a good chance that you or I might miss something simple and obvious like the additional daily stroll. Or the gut biome stuff. Or the sleep quality. Or whatever.

By the way, it was also fun to read all this material with the vision of looking for MY issues, my answers. I was taught this was called “active reading” as a child, but I might hazard to say that this is truly selfish reading. Don’t take “selfish,” as a negative word here: I was looking for an answer and I found it.

Certainly, adding some additional walking might help you, too. It might be fun for you to reread some other materials and see what leaps out to you as you look to evaluate your progress to your goals.

On the financial goal, I stacked up a few things on my desk. I see:

Earl Nightingale’s book, Your Success Starts here
All of Derek Sivers’s books, my favorite is Your Music and People
Nic Peterson’s book, Bumpers
Another of Earl’s books, Transformational Living
Earl’s DVDs and CDs, Secret Advantage
Online, I took the course How to Speak So That People Want to Listen by Julian Treasure

These are the works recommended to me by friends to strengthen and understand my work online and the speaking circuit. People are amazed, and this might sound odd, when I tell them how nervous I am before every public speaking engagement. I suffer, like many, from the fear of public embarrassment and handing me the microphone does little to calm me down.

So, I take courses on public speaking, stand-up comedy, and acting to help prepare me for the various gyms, clubs, and auditoriums I find myself speaking in. My business books from this past quarter seem to be focused on, well, being focused. I’m clarifying my work and simplifying my business model.

My goal for my business is just ONE number. I measure things, like Earl Nightingale taught me, by having a goal that is reasonable and measurable. The number certainly stretches me, the opposite of my bodyweight goal, but it is doable.

Every quarter, I must send in my quarterly payments to the Internal Revenue Service. As I write this check, I am also grabbing my journals and notes to review my Two Numbers Goal Sheet.

None of this takes very long. My walk today, literally in a pause while writing this, took longer than the entire process. I finished my daily Two Numbers Goal Sheet as well as my quarterly review AND wrote about it in a very short amount of time.

Including the half hour walk, I think the process took an hour. If you skip the walk, you are looking at a two-hour investment a year. Two hours. Per year.

That’s a reasonable price to achieve your goals.

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

Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
04-18-22 04:56 PM - Post#919008    

• Justin Jordan Said:

Good on you Justin. I started ES last week with a bit of OS and walking. Let's do this journey together.

Andrew Gunn

Edited by Gunny72 on 04-18-22 04:57 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

04-18-22 07:24 PM - Post#919009    

Four miles of walking for me today.

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

04-18-22 07:25 PM - Post#919010    

I have - somehow - been gaining muscle and losing fat on ES, with no real changes to diet other than increasing my protein intake. Considering I've been away from barbells for many years, I'm counting it as noob gains. That said, my plan is to finish this round of ES with the goal of just doing the program, then to do it again for fat loss, and then do something either ES or hypertrophy for the next four weeks to give me 20 weeks. By that point, I should have done 1000 deadlifts in my 20 weeks. I am both fascinated by this idea of "practice" and convinced that after doing 1000 deadlifts, good things will have happened.

04-18-22 09:03 PM - Post#919012    

• Justin Jordan Said:

Justin,

Read this. This will get you going with your walking and ES.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-09/walk-d ont-run-simple-exercise-c omeback-parkrun-fitness-h ealth...

Andrew

Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
04-18-22 09:04 PM - Post#919013    

• Dan John Said:

45 minutes for me. Am feeling good.

P.s I couldn't help myself. I reached out via email to the journalist/editor who wrote that walking article last week. I told him it resonated with a lot of people.

Andrew


Edited by Gunny72 on 04-18-22 09:07 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

04-18-22 10:19 PM - Post#919015    

I really should start walking to work. It’s a 35 minute walk at 1.75 miles. That’s for free. Walking has the benefit of working in a range of weather.

However I value that time enough right now that I’m still driving. That or I’m just lazy. But an extra ~ hour of time to get things done at home is worth a lot in this season.

04-18-22 10:46 PM - Post#919016    

• Jordan Derksen Said:

Jordan,
I only took up walking since we got the dog 8 years ago. Would be lost without it. Gets my head clear for the day ahead at the office.

I find with my walks, I do it as soon as I wake up. Have clothes and shoes ready to go. No excuses. Just get up and do it and get it out the way for the day.

Andrew

04-19-22 09:47 AM - Post#919031    

• Gunny72 Said:

That's excellent.

Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
04-19-22 10:01 AM - Post#919033    

Thank you for taking the time to post your goals and how you plan to get there, Dan. I, too, review my notes several times a year.

My present goal is to get body fat down to around 10% (per my calipers) by Memorial Day weekend, when our community pool opens. To get there, I've dropped back to one beer a day, dropped after dinner snacks, increased daily walking time by a half hour, increased training time under tension by taking ramp up sets into the ultra high rep range, and reduced rest between sets to 30-45 seconds.

Be strong. Be in shape. Be a man among men, regardless of your age or circumstances.

Edited by AAnnunz on 04-19-22 02:47 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

04-19-22 12:36 PM - Post#919038    

• Gunny72 Said:

That's a great article, but I have some bones to pick with it.

• Quoting:

While it's easy enough for us workout nerds to parse, statements like that annoy me. In sales, the ultimate rule is "never give them a reason to say no." And vague assertions that walking isn't as efficient as running, that you have to walk for hours, and that exercise can be damaging...yeah, it's all technically true, we all know what they mean, but it doesn't make for a great sales pitch. I know a lot of folks who'd read that and think it's overwhelming and order diet pills instead.

I don't want folks finding magic exercise spots. I just want them walking 10 minutes a day. The rest will work itself out in time.

04-19-22 03:59 PM - Post#919047    

• Jordan Derksen Said:

Walking is for sure time-intensive, relative to other things. When I was in your shoes (new kid(s)), walking with them was one of my things. When we just had one, I wore him. When the second came along, I wore her and pushed him in the stroller. Sometimes I'd wear them both at the same time, but not often. Lot of great time outdoors with the new ones, and gives mom a half hour or an hour of rare and invaluable quiet.

05-06-22 06:26 PM - Post#919371    

I've been challenging myself a bit lately in terms of overall activity levels, and at the moment I'm finding that the easiest way to adjust my ES workout is with the carries. Everything else, I just do the reps, and then go heavier or lighter or longer or shorter on the carries depending on how I feel. To me, carries are kind of the measure of how strong someone is, so it feels "right" to me to make my adjustments there.

Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
05-07-22 04:16 AM - Post#919373    

• Brian Hassler Said:

I like this: finding out if you have become stronger by testing something other than the lifts.

"I think we often spend too much time focusing on max fitness and not nearly enough on maintaining our minimums. It seems we need to think sustainable rather than obtainable. Meaning whatever we do today, we can do it again tomorrow. Never taking so much from ourselves that we can't." Dan Martin

Edited by iPood on 05-07-22 04:19 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

Re: Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
05-07-22 12:42 PM - Post#919377    

• iPood Said:

I like this too. It's really the true test of "strength."

If your deadlift has gone up, but you're no better at farmer's walks, have you really gotten stronger? Or just more technically proficient at deadlifting? If the latter, are you really any better at your sport? At life?

Re: Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
05-07-22 11:59 PM - Post#919385    

• Jordan D Said:

This is the great conundrum of what the hell is “Dad strength” and “blue collar strength”. Sure I can out bench you but can I survive a day of physical labour or would I want to wrestle that guy who is just “strong”.

Re: Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
05-08-22 12:19 AM - Post#919386    

• AusDaz Said:

Just a random aside that this made me think of, but I think "lift with your legs, not your back" is a terrible saying. It should be "lift with your hinge."

Re: Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
05-08-22 02:08 AM - Post#919387    

• iPood Said:

This is so true. What made me sit up and take notice about something I was doing in my training, was not actually what I was noticing whilst training, but the effects it had on me moving 600kg's of slabs, compost bags etc when completing an afternoon's gardening.

Or a very sporadic bike ride with a friend (who is just amazing on a bike) and keeping up with him on hills.

Or hitting new forwards/backwards crawl time PB's.

Richard

Re: Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
05-08-22 11:33 AM - Post#919390    

• Brian Hassler Said:

A few years ago, I was thinking about how my grandfathers and uncles, who were brick layers, pushed wheelbarrows laden with bricks or cement to journeymen all day when they were apprentices. To walk a few yards in their shoes, I did walking trap bar deadlifts with about 60% my 1 rm -- perform a triple, hold the last rep, walk a few paces, put the bar down for a few seconds, and repeat until my grip gave out.

This was a finisher to my powerlifting sessions, so of course, it caused recovery issues, and I only did it a few times. However, your comments have me thinking. How would you guys feel about a 30/30 (or lightning rounds or ES) version, using trap bar or a pair of kettlebells/dumbbells -- total load 3/4 to 1 times bodyweight x 3 reps in 10 seconds, carry 20 seconds, rest 30 seconds, repeat for 15 rounds? Too much? Would certainly fill a lot of squares.

Be strong. Be in shape. Be a man among men, regardless of your age or circumstances.

Edited by AAnnunz on 05-08-22 02:33 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.

Re: Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
05-08-22 12:23 PM - Post#919392    

• AAnnunz Said:

I like this. Recovery should be fine if you don't do too much other lower body and grip work.

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

Re: Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
05-08-22 12:42 PM - Post#919394    

• Steve Rogers Said:

Reminds me of a time when I couldn't squat/deadlift because of injuries, and spent 8 weeks dragging a heavy sled for 20-minute sessions, 4 days a week. My quads and calves added an inch of muscle each. Worked so well I...yep...stopped doing it. But it might be the only time I've ever approximated old man strength.

That said, acquiring this old man strength stuff is HARD.

Re: Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
05-08-22 01:23 PM - Post#919395    

• AusDaz Said:

This kind of discussion always makes me think of Walter Dorey. You could put me in a tank and I’d still just NOT mess with that man…

Just my 2¢

Re: Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
05-08-22 02:54 PM - Post#919396    

• WxHerk Said:

He's amazing. Love his mantra: "Consistency and diversity."

Be strong. Be in shape. Be a man among men, regardless of your age or circumstances.

Re: Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
05-08-22 05:41 PM - Post#919399    

• WxHerk Said:

Indeed. I always enjoyed his posts. This prompted me to read reread a couple of his articles on Breaking Muscle.

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

Re: Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
05-08-22 09:07 PM - Post#919400    

• AAnnunz Said:

I view this stuff from a slightly different perspective. I look at the work/rest intervals and how that relates to what energy system you’re predominantly using.

Your uncles/cousins weren’t doing anything like metcons because you can’t get though a day of physical labour if you’re redlining with lactate in the first 15 minutes. They were getting through their day by staying out of lactic for the most part.

30/30 with a decent load is very lactic intensive. I would lighten the load and extend the duration of the work to make it more aerobic. Then rest between sets until you can breathe comfortably through your nose. When the time that takes starts to blow out you’re done.

At the moment I’m doing sets with a single KB of 8 one arm swings, 5 cleans, 3 presses, 8 front squats x left and right. One set is both sides and takes about 80-90 seconds. Much more aerobic than doing something like 2:1:3 clean/squat/press with double kbs.

The strong first guys would probably also make an argument for alactic stuff.

Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
05-09-22 09:36 AM - Post#919403    

Took down a really tall pine tree on the weekend. Cut it all up. Did various loaded carries to bring the cut up trunk sections to my firewood area. Stacked branches in piles and dragged them backwards to my garbage pile.

I am sore everywhere.

To me the most practical gym exercise by far is loaded carries. The majority of work seems to be just carrying stuff around. The rest of it is stay mobile and supple.

When I was early 20's I had a strong shoulder press. Strong shoulder press, strong shoulders right? I thought so. Until one day me and an old guy held drywall sheets overhead with one hand and tried to screw them in with the other. They don't weight that much... but it was the overhead hold, much like a waiters walk, all day long. He had no problem with that work. Walked away humbled after that experience. I later learned that he worked out every day... doing basic body weight exercises.

I always think of the scene in the punisher where he says to that kid "You look like a strong kid. You must work out. Ever try isometrics? This antipersonnel mine weighs eight pounds. Not much, but try holding it with an outstretched arm." Then ties the trigger to an overhead beam.

To tie this all back in, this really is where the beauty of easy strength is. If it's important do it every day. A heavy set of 5 once a week in the big 3 will get you strong at the big 3. I'm at the point now where I see a lot more benefit in doing a couple easy sets of 5 everyday.

This stuff works.

05-09-22 11:23 AM - Post#919408    

For those whose goals are more in the health and "be ready for life" realm than in breaking age group lifting records or whatever, daily or near-daily training really is the way to go.

As Dan Martin has written with respect to the DMPM, it works particularly well for those that actually do it.

Re: Latest and greatest version of ES/EES/40 day
05-09-22 03:04 PM - Post#919412    

• AusDaz Said:

Thanks, mate. I gave the idea a shot today, at the end of a high volume upper body workout. Besides following Steve's recommendation to leave out other lower body work, I followed yours to lighten the load. Was surprised by the results. Breezed through 16 rounds (extra round because deadlift triples took less than 5 seconds). Pulse never got higher than 100 bps (70% of max for my age), and the 140 lb load (87.5% of bodyweight) was never even close to challenging. Guess I should have used your suggestion to add time to the carry, too.

My goal for this type training is improved conditioning, strength-endurance, and body comp. Over the past few months, I've successfully used Dan John's variations of Rusty Moore's lightening rounds, Vince Gironda's 6x6 method (30 seconds between sets), and sled work to move me in the right direction. I thought the idea I'd come up with after reading through this thread would produce even better results.

Be strong. Be in shape. Be a man among men, regardless of your age or circumstances.

Edited by AAnnunz on 05-09-22 03:26 PM. Reason for edit: No reason given.