As I said in my blog post, I’m going to be focusing more on proper movement patterning by way of primarily body weight exercises. Yes, I will be doing some deadlifting with a very light weight on the barbell, but aside from that, every exercise I will be doing will be body weight focused.

In a way, this decision is somewhat convenient given the current COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of gyms, so this might help to give you some ideas for your own training if all you are able to do right now is body weight type stuff for the time being.

Of note for the workout below, I took nothing to complete failure, except for maybe the pull-up volume but that’s simply due to my base level of strength on vertical pulling is fairly low, so the total volume I wanted to accumulate was relatively high. Additionally, everything was done as non-competing super sets. For instance, I did a set of body weight squats, and then went immediately into pull-ups. I went back and forth until I accumulated the total volume for one of those exercises (squats), and then started super setting the pull-ups with push-ups, and so on until all exercises were completed.

My goal for this workout was to get all of the calisthenic/strength work completed within 30 minutes. I had no idea how long this would take, but the point was to be able to devote 30 minutes to aerobic conditioning. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, but I did restrict myself to 60 minutes for the whole workout. In general, I think this is a good idea, and will give me a good barometer for progression over time.

Here’s the workout:

A1. Body weight squats – 200 total reps

A2. Pull-ups – 100 total reps

A3. Push-ups – 200 total reps

A4. Back raises – 50 total reps

A5. Olympic ring fallouts – 50 total reps

Total time: 40:30

B1. Airdyne – remainder of the hour (18:42 total time)

With the squats, I moved around my stance every set, and tried to hit my lower body from a variety of angles. Generally, my knees felt a ton better after about 60-75 total reps of squats, and I’m hoping that number will improve over time. I did the same with pull-ups moving my grip in and out, and supinating and pronating as I felt like. Push-ups were done on handles (The Perfect Push-up) and back raises were done with very strict tempo. For the Olympic ring fallouts, I set the rings to the height from where I do inverted rows, and started with my feet at the back of the squat rack, and fell out to the front of the rack.

I have a few concepts for progression moving forward from here:

1. Faster completion
2. Fewer sets per exercise
3. Pain free execution of movements

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be able to gauge my progress mostly based on feel, but the number of sets per exercise will speak directly to my conditioning and work capacity.

As far as fatigue management, and periodization across the weeks, I’ll be taking a slightly undulating approach. I’m going to try and have 4 different workouts that I will rotate through every 4 days, with the goal being to workout 7 days per week. The workout above is focused almost entirely on bilateral movements and a very high volume. The next workout will be moderated down in terms of volume, and will use 1 or more unilateral movements. The workout after that will go back up to a higher volume overall, but still utilizing unilateral movements, and then back down for the 4th workout with a return to some bilateral movement. That’s the plan at least, we’ll see how it all goes as I move forward. The majority of the unilateral/bilateral switches will occur with my lower body movement selection, simply because I don’t have the capacity yet to do any upper body unilateral body weight movements. Maybe one day.

Wow, this was a really challenging workout. There is no other word for it. I was completely smoked after the ME Lower work, and then the DE Upper took me for a whole new spin. I didn’t have nearly the strength capacity that I thought I would have on the speed work, but I’m ok with this. Just a stepping off point as I get my programming dialed in.

I did make one big adjustment on the fly and brought my total volume way down today. Since I planned on increasing the lower body volume by incorporating a super set of trap bar deadlifts with my ME Lower work (front squats), I realized that I couldn’t handle the same amount of squatting volume, nor could I manage an equivalent number of sets for trap bar deadlifts as I had planned.

Additionally, my DE Upper work straight weight loading was lowered from what I programmed, and I didn’t do a close-grip AMRAP set after the speed work. And then the accessory work took a huge hit, even though I actually hit a decent PR on my pull-ups.

Anyway, here we go:

A1. Front Squat vs. 1 Chain per Side – Work up to a heavy set of 5 (RPE 7-8)

• BWx20x2
• 45x10x2
• 45×10 (add chains)
• 95×5
• 135×5
• 185×5
  • I wanted to hit a conservatively heavy set of 5. I definitely had way more gas in the tank for a top set, but since it’s the first week of a 3 week cycle, I didn’t see any reason to go balls to the wall. I had originally planned to use 2 chains per side, but figured 1 chain per side was fine for the first, especially since I haven’t used any accommodating resistance in a long while.

A2. Low Handle Trap Bar Deadlift – 1×10

• 75x10x4
• 165×10
• 185×10
  • Just feeling the movement out, as a simple super set with the front squats. Opted to use low handles as I want this to have some carryover to my conventional deadlift, in terms of range of motion.

B1. Front Squat vs. 1 Chain per Side – Down sets 2×5 @ 80% of top set

• 150x5x2
  • Originally had planned to hit 3 down sets, but was feeling my body starting to flag a bit as I hit the first down set. Opted to only do 2 down sets, additionally because of the accumulated fatigue resulting from the trap bar pulls super set with the front squats.

B2. Low Handle Trap Bar Deadlift – 2×10

• 185x10x2
  • Again, just getting the work in. I’m very happy with how these moved. The weight was challenging enough, given the number of repetitions I was doing, as well as given the lack of pulling that I’ve done.

C1. Speed Bench Press vs. Doubled Mini Bands – 95x3x9

• 45x20x3
• 45x5x3 (add bands)
• 95x3x9
  • Ok, using new doubled mini bands took me for a ride! Doing the sets with the empty bar was eye opening, and then the first 3 sets with 95, that were meant to be warm-up sets actually scared me a bit. In retrospect, if I had taken sufficient rest between the first 3 sets, I probably could have used the programmed weight. That said, I’m still happy with how these felt. I didn’t bother monitoring my rest intervals between sets, but just made a point to go again before I was fully recovered. I think I’ll keep the weight static for this wave, and just increase the sets for the next 2 weeks.

D1. Pull-ups – 2xAMRAP

• 10/7
  • I’m really happy with that first set of 10. It’s the first time I’ve been able to do 10 pull-ups straight in a long time. So this first set was definitely a PR, especially given how easy the set felt for the first 8 reps. The second set was still pretty good, and then I was done.

D2. Dips – 2xAMRAP

• 20/10 (7+3)
  • This is where I really decided to cut this short after the second super set. The first super set wasn’t terrible, but when I couldn’t hit the requisite reps for the second set, I knew I was toast. I just didn’t have it in me to gut it out for a few more forced reps to hit the reps.

I’m really excited to see what kind of progress I can make on this cycle as I move forward with the increased weekly volume and overall intensity that I’m hitting these workouts with.

Alright, so here we are on Day 2 of this new block with an upper body supplemental workout and damn it was a solid day! Everything was more challenging than I had hoped for, but frankly, it’s all to be expected. It’s the morning after while I’m typing this and I am seriously sore, but also really looking forward to my ME Lower/DE Upper workout this evening.

Here’s the workout:

A1. Dumbbell Bench Press – 50x20x3

• 10x10x2 (Dumbbell Flyes) + 10x10x2 (Press)
• 30x10x2
• 50x20x2
• 50×12
  • This was a really great weight to start with. I took 2 minutes rest intervals, which I thought would be more than enough to get all 3 sets of 20, but instead only got 2. The first set was fine, the second was a good challenge set, and the 3rd set really got my pecs burning. I’m going to repeat this weight again next week and see if I can get all 60 reps.

B1. American Cambered Grip Bench Press (Grip 2) – Heavy set of 6, repeat for total of 4 sets

• 38x10x2
• 88×6
• 128×6
• 148x6x2
• 148×5
• 128×6
  • Again, far more challenging than I thought this would be. The extra range of motion makes benching with this bar ridiculously challenging. I thought I would be able to get all 4 sets with 148, considering it’s mockingly light for me, but like I said, that range of motion really challenged me. This is especially true given the dumbbell bench I did first.
  • Not sure what was going on during the 3rd set, but my right arm was having trouble really locking out the weight. I can’t tell if it was an issue with my shoulder or my triceps, but everything felt awkward.

C1. 2-Arm Dumbbell Rows – 50x10x5

• 50x10x5
  • Nothing to really write home about. My lower back felt a little funky, but not too bad overall. I used the squat rack to lean against as I was bent over, and I think this helped a lot.

D1. 1-Arm Barbell Row – 55x10x3

• 45×10
• 55x10x3
  • Again, nothing to really write home about. I’ve done these with a little more weight and more volume, but just wanted to get the reps all in and reintroduce the movement without killing myself. I think this did the trick.
  • I need to adjust my stance to try to really make the movement hit my lats rather than my upper back and traps.

D2. Barbell Russian Twists – 55x10x3

• 45×10
• 55x10x3
  • First time doing these, and I have my work cut out for me. On the bright side, I did feel it challenging my core pretty significantly.

E1. Barbell Curl – 45x8x5

• 45x8x4
• 45×5
  • I can’t remember the last time I actually made an effort with my biceps work, but I’m honestly happy I did these. My biceps will always be a weak point for me unless I do something to improve them. I get ample triceps work through all of the pressing I do, but biceps tend to be lacking.
  • Tried to really feel the contraction hard on each rep, just bringing the bar to my chin and keeping my elbows tucked to my sides. Last set was really, really challenging and I went to true concentric failure on that 5th rep.

 

A1. Close Stance High Bar Squat – Work up to heavy set of 6, repeat for 3 total sets

• BWx20x2
• 45x8x2
• 95x6x2
• 135×6
• 185x6x3
  • Sleeveless and beltless, 2 minutes rest between sets. This was challenging, took forever for my left knee to feel comfortable under the load, and my mobility is definitely questionable. That said, my knees did eventually stop hurting, and I was able to get all 3 sets with decent range of motion, and minimal ankle collapse (I think).

B1. Romanian Deadlift vs. Monster Mini Bands – Work up to heavy set of 8, repeat for 4 total sets

• 45x10x2
• 45×10 (add bands)
• 95×8
• 145x8x4
  • Not great, it took me a while to figure out the band set up, but I eventually got there. I was feeling these more in my glutes than my hamstrings mainly because the bands dropped off so fully at the bottom of the range of motion, so my hamstrings really didn’t get a great stretch. That said, as I increase the straight weight load each week, I’ll probably have that fixed up.

C1. Back Raises – 3×15

• BWx15x3
  • Stuck with body weight for these for the time being, and really focused on a steady pace for each rep with a solid contraction at the top and a solid stretch at the bottom. Really enjoyed how these felt on my hamstrings.

C2. Reverse Lunge – 3×15

• BWx15
• 10×15
• 20×15
  • These were pretty brutal. I got bored doing just body weight on the first set, so I added one dumbbell. That felt ok, but I wanted more, so I grabbed the second dumbbell on the third set, and that really hit everything just right. Going to work on getting all 3 sets with this loading next week before increasing volume or overall loading.

D1. Ab Wheel Rollouts – 3×10

• BWx10x3
  • Nothing to really write home about these, except for the fact that I was able to get decent sets of 10, which had been a challenge in the past. I want to put more emphasis on my core training over this 3 week block and see if that helps my lower back issues, and more importantly my anterior pelvic tilt.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Overall, a great first supplemental day getting into this block, let’s see how the soreness feels moving into the next few days!

Since the whole coronavirus (COVID-19) issue has really effected my work schedule, I haven’t really spent much time outside. So for this workout, I made it a point to get outside into the sunlight, since the weather warmed up, and get some real fresh air.

With my knees in the condition that they’re in, running is out of the question for the time being, so I went for a 2 miles walk with a weight vest on. I tried to keep a fairly brisk pace, but even still I only made it in a little over 30 minutes. Not an amazing pace, but not terrible really. Unweighted, I can usually walk at 15 minutes per mile pace, so this is just a little slower than that. Just something to work at over time, as I progress over the next few months.

After the walk, I decided to do some shadow boxing (unweighted of course), just to kick the cobwebs off on my boxing…I didn’t get rid of all of the cobwebs, because everything was rusty. Just hit 3 2-minutes rounds, with 30 seconds rest in between.

Now, I know I said running is out of the question, but frankly, I lied a little bit. I really shouldn’t have done any running, but I had a sudden urge, so I did a few short sprints. They were probably only 10 yards or so, and I paid for it the next day with increased knee, hip and back pain, but no regrets over here. It felt good just to get my lower body moving dynamically and explosively!

Last day of this first cycle on the condensed conjugate program, and overall I’m very happy with how this workout went. One negative, however, is that my lower back was feeling weird since doing the pause squats 2 days prior. I don’t think it was the squats specifically that caused this, but it certainly didn’t help since I was really pushing on that workout. That said, I’m really happy with how the speed squats went and felt. The speed was solid, and I felt confident under the weight regardless of how my back was feeling. so here’s the workout:

A1. Wide-Stance SSB Speed Box Squats – 8×2 @ 245

• BWx20x2
• 65x10x2
• 115x5x2
• 155×3
• 205×2
• 245x2x8
  • Again, these felt strong and fast, I think I probably could have gone a little bit heavier, but I’m glad that I didn’t push this too hard today. This is still only my first cycle of this Condensed Conjugate program and I don’t want to kill myself…not yet anyway.

B1. Wide-Stance SSB Box Squat – 1xAMRAP @ 245

• 245xAMRAP (3)
  • Again, not happy with this. My back was just feeling funky and while the strength was there, I just didn’t want to keep pushing my luck with my lower back. I scrapped it after 3 reps and have no regrets.

C1. Seated Pin Shoulder Press (Pin 18) – 1×5 @ RPE 8-9

• 45×10
• 65×5
• 85×5
• 105×5
• 125×5 (RPE 9.5)
  • I’m very, very happy with this set. I know I really wanted to push for 135 for a top set of 5 for this block, but frankly, I wasn’t sure I was going to get it. I just really wanted to be able to press some kind of weight, for reps that I’d never been able to hit before and this set got me there. It wasn’t perfect, and was practically a rest-pause style set, but I still got all of the reps.

D1. Seated Pin Shoulder Press – 3×5 @ 85% of heavy 5

• 110x5x3
  • This was a brutal bunch of down sets. The weight was still heavy enough to be challenging, and I think I got myself a pretty decent strength and hypertrophy stimulus out of this.

E1. Bodyweight Bulgarian split Squats – 5×15

E2. Band Goodmornings – 5×30 @ Light band

• Yeah, this was pretty brutal from a conditioning aspect. The volume isn’t too bad for my quads, but I definitely felt it in my lungs and my glutes/hamstrings with the band good mornings. Next week I push for 6 sets…so here we go!

This was a successful workout for multiple reasons, although I’m a little annoyed that I skipped out on the accessory work. I was running short on time during my lunch break from work, so it was just forced by circumstance to cut the workout after hitting the ME Lower and DE Upper work. That said, everything felt solid, and I felt surprisingly strong.

One thing I noticed, though, is that I need more lower body work per week. I’m going to start getting more lower body work on my extra workouts, either through more squat pattern training, or simply by way of moving more throughout the day.

A1. SSB Pause Squats (2 count pause) – Work up to a heavy set of 5 (RPE 9-10)

• BWx20x2
• 65x10x2
• 115x5x2
• 155×5
• 205×5
• 245×5
• 265×5 (RPE 9.5)
  • This set was tough, way tougher than I would have expected it to feel, but this is largely why I’m thinking I need more lower body work throughout the week moving forward. That said, I’m really happy with the weight that I got for this 3rd week. I’m running 3 week cycles for each of max effort movements, so this was a great number for me to switch on.
  • I was certainly feeling something in my lower back on the left side, not pain, but a odd tightness. It’s the day after today, and it’s definitely tight, but luckily not restrictive or painful.

B1. SSB Pause Squats (2 count pause) – Down sets 3×5 @ 85% of top set

• 225x5x3
  • To be fair, 85% of 265 was actually 225.25, which means I should have rounded up to 230 for these sets, but I couldn’t readily find my 2.5lbs plates, and I was too lazy to search for them. I’m not unhappy about it, the extra 5lbs wouldn’t have made a significant difference on these sets. They were light and easy, without any issues.

C1. Speed Bench Press (3 grips) – 9×3

• 45x20x3
• 95x10x3
• 115x5x3
• 135x3x9
  • The warm-up volume might be excessive, but I’m fine with that. I need to learn how to generate maximal acceleration and velocity in a fatigued state, so I’m still happy with how these sets went. I definitely noticed a significant decrease in peak velocity with 135 compared to 125 from last week, but not slow enough for me to feel like I wasn’t training the appropriate attributes here.
  • The medium grip sets definitely felt the best, and I’m thinking this is simply just my strongest grip on bench press, and should be my competitive grip. The grip with pinkies on the rings really hit my pecs, and the closest grip lit my triceps up like crazy.

D1. Close-Grip Bench Press – 1xAMRAP @ Speed Bench Weight

• 135xAMRAP (16 reps)
  • I really wanted to hit 17 reps with this again, but by rep 10 my triceps were gassing out hard, and rep 16 was basically a RPE 10 effort to lock it out. I’m still happy with this. I got only 15 with 115 during week 1, 17 with 125 on week 2 and 16 with 135 on week 3. That’s a pretty decent progression, and my elbows, triceps, shoulders and pecs are all still feeling good. I can’t ask for much more at this point.

Anyway, like I said, I had to skip on the accessory work of pull-ups and dips, but frankly, I have a feeling that dips would have been a major challenge to hit the requisite reps. My triceps were completely fried by the end of my bench work.

For the next 3 week wave, I think I’m going to switch over to some front squats for ME lower body work, maybe throw some chains on the bar and go for a top set of 8 (I really want more volume on these), and I’m also considering adding in a secondary lower body movement that I can do super set with the front squats. Right now, my first thought is trap bar deadlifts as I would like to reintroduce a hip hinge, with a bar that won’t conflict with the front squat. Ideally, I’d just pick a static weight and do sets of 5, something in the RPE 6 range for the first set, and perform them with a higher hip position to really hit the posterior chain.

For DE Upper work, I’m going to drop the bar weight to 105 and throw some doubled up mini bands onto the bar, and increase the volume over the 3 weeks. Week 1 will be 10 sets (with a static grip), week 2 will be 15 sets and week 3 will be 20 sets. I’m going to try and stick with the 30 seconds of rest between sets, but will allow for up to 60 seconds as the number of sets increases week to week.

I’m going to keep the accessory work the same, and really just try and push the vertical pulling volume overall as I go.

That’s it, just have to rest up and do some extra work for my hamstrings and back today, and prepare for tomorrow’s DE Lower and ME Upper work!

Since I’m working from home full time right now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I started to figure that I had the time to spread out my workouts from the 2 times per week that I’m currently programmed for. After some thought, however, I opted to stick with my main programming schedule and start getting in some extra workouts. This is something that Westside Barbell is well known for doing to increase each lifter’s general fitness by way of GPP training. GPP stands for General Physical Preparedness, and is in essence base conditioning. The better an athlete’s GPP, the better able they are to recover between sets during a workout, and better they can recover between workouts.

In Westside, the general mode of GPP is sled work, where they will pull and push the weighted sled with a variety of different movements. I don’t currently have access to, or the space to use, a sled, but I do have an AirDyne, as well as a medicine ball, a ton of bands and a handful of extra equipment.

I’ll write a longer post about extra workouts, but here’s what I did for yesterday and today.

March 23, 2020

A1. Face Pull – 3×30 @ 35lbs

A2. Chin-ups – 3×6

B1. Overhead Triceps Extensions – 2×20 @ 35lbs

B2. Body Weight Calf Raises – 2×25 @ BW

March 24, 2020

A1. AirDyne

• 15 minutes steady state
• 4 minutes (10 seconds high/20 seconds low x 8 rounds)
• 6 minutes steady state

B1. Band Pec Cross Overs – 3×20 @ Mini Bands

C1. Band Pressdowns – 3×20 @ Monster Mini Bands

Damn, this was an absolutely awesome workout! Increased volume and weight on everything and just feeling great across the board. Here’s the breakdown:

A1. Glute Ham Roller Hamstring Curls – 3×10

• I want to hit these every day, working up to a total of 100 reps daily. For days that I’m lifting, I want to be more strict and focused on solid reps and contractions and less on accumulating volume. The goal is to warm-up my hamstrings and my knees to ensure no pain during squats, and frankly, it worked!

B1. Wide-Stance SSB Box Squat – 8×2 @ 225

• BWx20x2
• 65x10x2
• 115x5x2
• 155×3
• 205×2
• 225x2x8
  • Overall, nothing to really complain about. I was able to stick to a very strict 30 seconds rest interval between sets, and had no knee pain at all. Got some interesting contraction in the glute medius, which I’m very happy about and looking to see how this moves forward.

C1. Wide-Stance SSB Box Squat – 1xAMRAP @ 225

• This set felt much better than I could have hoped for. I stuck to a 10 rep cap, again to play it safe, as I did last week. I’m thinking that next week, I will go for broke and push for a RPE 9 with whatever weight I’m using, ideally that will be 245lbs. Overall, good pace, felt the tension on glutes and hamstrings, which was the point, and had a solid brace from beginning to end.

D1. Seated Pin Shoulder Press – 1×5 @ RPE8-9

• Again, just trying to get more weight on the bar with a movement that I’m weak at. I worked up to 105, which is 10lbs more than last week, and I’m very happy with that. This set was a true RPE 8. I definitely had another rep in the tank, and probably could have pushed out a second. Additionally, I really just wanted to be able to keep tight in my core, and make sure that I got my head “through the window” on each rep, to ensure that I wasn’t cutting anything short.

E1. Seated Pin Shoulder Press – 3×5 @ 85% of heavy 5

• Just getting the volume in here. The reps felt really solid, and didn’t feel overly fatiguing, which tells me that I have more room to grow next week. Stuck to a strict 1 minute rest interval between sets.

F1. Body Weight Bulgarian Split Squat – 4×15

F2. Band Goodmorning – 4×30 w/ Light Band

• As I said last week, my goal with this assistance work is simply to grow the volume. I stuck to a strict 1 minute rest interval, and I was seriously feeling it by the 4th set. Getting a 5th set next week is going to be an interesting challenge, and I have no idea how it’s going to feel as I continue to push the total number of sets.
• It will be very interesting to see if this has any positive carryover to my squat, or if it contributes to lessening my general lower body pain and tightness.

G1. Single-Leg Eccentric Glute Ham Roller Hamstring Curls – 1×10 per leg

• I had originally planned to get 2 sets like this, where I perform a bilateral leg curl, and then a unilateral eccentric, but I barely had enough juice left in my legs to get through 1 set without crapping out.

Today definitely went better than last week, and last week was a damn good workout. Nothing extra to write about, here’s the breakdown:

A1. SSB Pause Squats (2 count pause) – Work to a heavy set of 5 (RPE 8-9)

• BWx20x2
• 65x10x2
• 115x5x2
• 155×5
• 205×5
• 245×5 (RPE 9)
  • Still beltless, and just trying to get a few more pounds on the bar. Overall, everything felt fine, no big deal. Top set was probably a RPE 9 which is basically where I wanted to be. I’m hoping next week, I’ll be able to throw on a few more pounds with a similar RPE.

B1. SSB Pause Squats (2 count pause) – Down sets 3×5 @ 85% of top set

• 210x5x3
  • These sets felt even better than the 195lbs sets I did last week. I have a feeling that this is mostly because of the contrast between the down sets and the top set. Stuck to a strict 1 minute rest interval between down sets.

C1. Speed Bench Press (3 grips) – 9×3 @ RPE 6

• 45x20x3 (switch grips each set)
• 95x10x3 (switch grips each set)
• 125x3x9 (switch grips each set)
  • Sticking with the 3 different grips, and just trying to move the bar as fast as possible through eccentric and concentric. I don’t think the bar speed dropped off significantly, so I feel comfortable adding a little more weight next week.

D1. Close-Grip Bench Press – 1xAMRAP @ Speed Bench weight

• 125xAMRAP (17 reps)
  • Really happy with how this set went. I was able to get more reps with more weight than last week, and that’s always a good measure of progress. I would have been happy with the same number of reps with more weight, but seeing a double progression is always a nice plus.

E1. Pull-ups – 6xAMRAP

• 8/7 (wide grip)
• 4/3 (medium grip)
• 3/2 (supinated grip)
  • Few more reps on the wide-grip, so all in all, good stuff again.

E2. Dips – 6 sets double reps of pull-ups

• 16/14/6+2/5+1/5+1/4
  • Dips took a hit this week. I had to do more rest-pause sets to hit the requisite numbers for 3 sets this time, whereas last week I only had to do it once. Just have to keep working at it. Sticking with 1 minute rest between super sets is probably a bit too short, but that’s ok. Just have to keep at it.

Here’s a brief snapshot of my workout