Elected to run ES because I was re-reading Mr. John’s books and had a period of time about 6 uninterrupted weeks. I ran the training sets, reps, and days as outlined in Attempts. I ended up running the lifts as two super sets. The goal was to do a program involving lifts I don’t typically focus on.
A. 1. KB Squat/Swings 2. Incline Bench 3. Lat pull down
B. 1. Sumo Deads 2. Weighted carry (alternated SA KB farmer, double KB farmer, and waiter carry) 3. Pull up, HLR, L pull up
I would then finish with Zone 2 runs of approximately 20 min. Being hard headed and not wanting to give up squatting or benching I did 3 easy sets of 10 on Saturday following my training and do a LSS run for about an hour.
4 weeks in there was several events going on at my location. I ended up turning it into a weekend pentathalon. I did all the lifts except the deadlift in Saturday morning, did a deadlift contest that night and pulled 560 sumo at bw of 199lb, did the Army 10 mile run the next morning in 1:31, then did a yoga class and taught BJJ that night. I rewarded myself with a massage the next day. As expected this jacked up the next week so I repeated week 1 as a “deload”. Given there is a component of daily undulating periodization built in this worked out fine. Total program was thus 7 weeks as I repeated week 5 twice.
Lift choice: I’ve always struggled relatively with incline/OHP work so I elected to work on my incline press. I finished with a double at 275 which is more than I’ve previously done. The most I pulled sumo was the 560 and felt like I was good for probably 30-50lb more. In retrospect, I would have pushed that more but was concerned about the run the next day. This is up from the 555 hit during the mock meet a couple months ago at a bw 5-10lb heavier. I’ve generally been a conventional puller, so I wanted to keep practicing the sumo and am pleased with this decision. I train in the morning and I had some concerns about deadlifting in the morning. It ended up being completely fine, just had to listen to my body and not be dumb. The pull up complex I would do 5 pull ups, 5HLR then hold the last leg up and do 5 more pull ups.
Other activity: I teach BJJ 3 days a week. On off days I go for walks. Based on my current lifestyle, my steps are way up. I’m averaging around 21,000 steps per day. I was doing yoga on Sundays for the first three weeks, then the instructor left.
Training time: Given the two supersets the training was very efficent and took 30-40 min. With the run training time was close to an hour.
What went well: I feel good. Leaving training feeling good is not typical for me and I never felt exhausted or beat up leaving training. I was able to practice sumo and incline bench. The shorter training time was a nice change. The ability to vary the weight, while maintaining an easy feeling allowed me to not feel guilty about hitting certain numbers no matter how I felt.
What didn’t go well: honestly nothing. Struggling a little bit mentally with a decreased body weight. Haven’t been sub 200lb since playing lacrosse in college. I attribute this to not squatting, increased steps, and not drinking. Dropping the squats and consistent running took mass off my legs. Mentally hit a low when one of my BJJ students said I had skinny legs…
What I learned: maybe one day when I’m not dumb, I’ll run this program repetitively.
Who it’s good for: anyone
What’s next: I read Tactical Barbell and felt a connection with the goals listed in that book. I’ve trained with elite powerlifters and I know I have no desire to put in the effort to reach the top at that sport. Many of the insights in that book are consistent with what I’ve learned in my own training in the past 15+ years. I also want to have great conditioning and keep training BJJ. I’m planning on starting the base building phase in the next couple weeks, then running the operator black protocol. At the end of that 17 week block, I’ll need to make a decision on if I’m going to compete at master’s worlds in BJJ and may have to make changes to accomodate that.
Stay strong and Happy Halloween
Seeking Progress 