Exodus Strength

I'm doing an experiment to see how low I can get my volume (sets per week) and still make progress. I always felt like 1/4th-1/3rd of my training was unnecessary and I'm finally willing to actually test the hypothesis. I'm making a log here because I think there could be some fun discussion, no matter how it goes.

Previous base line: Squat and Dead x 8-12 sets per week / Bench x 16-20 sets per week. I'll be going down to 6 for the big lifts and 12 for bench. I'll throw in a couple of slots for upper back work and that's it.

A set for me is counted as anything over 70% and 3 reps on comp lifts, or anything over 5 reps and @6+ on accessories, or a top single, as I tend to hit 1 @ 6 & 7 on the way up and I figure 3 reps >85% can count as a set, too.

My intention is to really make everything count, either by high technical transfer or a great SFR. I'll be doing it ES style and tracking e1rms.

Anyway, here we go, I've all ready done two days of the plan:

Sun 2 / 28

Bench vs. Red Bands - 185 x 3 / 205 x 3 / 225 x 3 @ 9
Barbell Row - 155 x 8 / 175 x 8 / 185 x 8 @ 10
Close Grip Incline - 135 x 10 / 155 x 10 / 175 x 9 @ 8

Time - 1:15

Tues 3 / 2

Squat - 530 x 1 @ 8 (575 e1rm) / 430 x 3 x 2 sets
Tempo (silent) Deadlift - 315 x 6 / 335 x 6 / 365 x 6 @ 7

Time 1:52

Interesting!

mgil wrote: ↑Thu Mar 04, 2021 6:24 pmInteresting!

Hopefully so

Thurs 3 / 4

Bench - 286 x 1 @ 7.5 (316 e1rm) / 265 x 3 / 253 x 3
Pull Ups - BW x 8 @ 8 / EMOM x 4, 3, 3, 3
Floor Press - 205 x 6 / 215 x 6 / 225 x 6 @ 9

Time - 1:29

Sat 3 / 6

Deadlift - 485 x 1 @ 7.5 (535 e1rm) / 397 x 3, 3
Pin Squat - 385 x 4 / 405 x 4 / 425 x 4

Time - 2:00

485 was supposed to be my last warm up, but it felt good enough, so I called it there. Down performance.

Week one in the books.

Sun 3 /7

Bench vs. Red Bands - 205 x 3 / 215 x 3 / 225 x 3 @ 8.5
Barbell Row - 165 x 8 / 175 x 8 / 185 x 10 @ 9
Close Grip Incline - 155 x 10, 165 x 10, 175 x 10 @ 9
Side Lateral, Push Down, Hammer Curl - myo reps

Time - 1:29

The next three workouts (comp days) should be good data. Normally the e1rms climb pretty consistently for weeks 2-4. We'll see what happens.

Tues 3 / 9

Squat - 535 x 1 @ 8.5 (e1rm = 570 (-5lb)) / 430 x 3, 3
Tempo Deadlift - 335 x 6 / 355 x 6 / 375 x 6 @ 7

Time - 2:21

Not the greatest info as I more or less repeated last week's performance. We continue forth. I do feel like I can do more, maybe a quad and/or ham accessory, or an extra set or two on my secondary lift, but I'm just gonna keep on with the experiment. My energy levels are way up, so that's nice.

Wed 3 / 10

(W 2 / D 3)

Had to get this one in a day early

Bench - 287 x 1 @ 7 (e1rm - 321 (+5lb)) / 275 x 3 / 255 x 3
Pull Up - body weight x 9 @ 9 / EMOM x 3, 3, 3, 4
Floor Press - 205 x 6 / 215 x 6 / 230 x 6 @ 9.5
Push Down and Face Pull - myo reps

Time - 1:34

Following. I'm very interested in your experiment.

JohnHelton wrote: ↑Thu Mar 11, 2021 7:20 am Following. I'm very interested in your experiment.

Awesome. So far it has been good for bench, but we're gonna have to make some adjustments for the lower body.

Sat 3 / 13

W 2 / D 4

Deadlift - 496 x 1 @ 8.5 (e1rm - 528 (-7lbs)) / 397 x 3, 6
Pin Squat - 385 x 4 / 405 x 4 / 425 x 4 @ 8
Hyper Ext - 50 x 12 / 70 x 12 / 90 x 12 @ pump

Time - 2:30

I impulsively goosed my last down set and added a hamstring accessory because I didn't like how the top set went. I think this is what I'm gonna do going forward. Instead of 2 x 3 @ 75% on my down sets, I'll do 2 x 4-6 @ 75% (RPE ~6) and I'll add a quad accessory to squat day and a ham accessory to deadlift day. If that gets things moving, then we know that this current volume/stress is too low. I've done 6 ES blocks now and I've never gone backwards before, so it's at least good info.

Sun 3 / 14

W 3 / D 1

This is going really well for bench. I think I've learned that I was previously doing too much bench volume, which makes sense because it was stalled, but a more or less appropriate squat and deadlift volume, which also makes sense cause they were making progress. It was just difficult to see it that way because the squat and deadlift work is so much more fatiguing in the moment.

Bench vs. red bands - 210 x 3 / 220 x 3 / 230 x 3 @ 8.5
Barbell Row - 175 x 8 / 185 x 8 / 195 x 8 @ 8
Close Grip Incline - 165 x 10 / 175 x 10 / 185 x 9 @ 9.5
Tricep ext, Curl and Side Lateral - myo reps

Time - 1:36