Training Ramblings; The Road to 300/400/500, PRs, Muscle Mass and Russian Proverbs
I’m closing in on the end of the strength program I’m on. It’s called Easy Strength, from Pavel Tsatsouline and Dan John.
For 40 workouts in a row, you pick up to 4 movements, a squat, hinge, push and pull. And do each of them, never changing the exercises, for 10 reps. And the 10 reps should feel extremely easy. The goal is to increase the max by improving the foundation.
For even more simplicity, I chose only 1 exercise, the back squat. Since it’s easy, you up the frequency of your training sessions, instead of back squatting once a week, I have been hitting the lift 4-6 days a week since September 5th.
When I started, the squats didn’t feel great. Part of the motivation for this project was dealing with hip and lower back issues from heavy squats earlier this year. I hoped that, through upping a my exposure, I would overcome any movement deficiencies. I was treating squats like my sport, hitting it every day, and working on the skills and technique.
About the halfway mark, I got too aggressive with the weights. I after the second week, I made a big jump in weight, it felt easy after all. What I didn’t account for was how my body would handle that weight 7 or 8 squat sessions later. I was beat up and instead of feeling easier, it was getting harder. I started taking more rest days, only squatting 4 or 5 times a week rather than 6 or 7, and lowered my daily weight back to 225 from 275.
I started to feel more recovered, and my squats started feeling much snappier. Desire to train increased as well. I started doing some more barbell lifts this past week, seeing how things are feeling. My bench press, power clean and deadlift are feeling crazy strong. I benched 225 for 10 reps, doubling my best, at the classic challenge.
I’ve gotten some runs in too, and despite being neglected for the past 10 or so weeks, since my ultra mountain run in August, my aerobic system is holding up well. Any conditioning besides those few runs have been kettlebell circuits, usually with a 53 pounder for 10-20 minutes.
After rounding out the 40 workouts, I’ll test for a new “training max.” Meaning, I won’t go for an all out max, but will try to leave a little in the tank. I’ll then use percentages of that number to create squat workouts for another month or two, until l feel ready to hit a powerlifting total; the accumulation, in pounds, of a one rep max squat, bench press and deadlift.
I last did this in December 2021, hitting 350 back squat, 250 bench press and 455 deadlift. All PRs at the time, (pulled 500 sumo, this was conventional), and I’ve since beat those bench and deadlift marks at 265 and 490.
An important note with all these PRs and big weights, is that while I’m no doubt feeling stronger than ever, I’m also heavier than ever. For years my walking around weight was 200 pounds. When I started running, I dropped a lot of weight and slowly gained it back, settling around 195 in 2020. Since then, I’ve been running less and less each year and lifting more and more. I adjusted my diet to eat more protein, and for the past two years have been walking around at 220-225. I don’t feel too heavy, but I’m less lean, maybe a fair trade for so much added strength. I felt weak when I was mostly running. Now, I still feel nimble tip-toeing down mountains and can crank out 15 pull ups.
As the old Russian strength coach proverb goes (probably), mass moves mass.
Justin Miner
@justinminergain
