Yeah nevermind, I definitely did it wrong. Lol reading comprehension.

Read the sentence above the one you quoted.

Shorter: no

Edit: slow ponied

A2S Week 1 Day 2



I should push myself more to finish my sets until I hit a true RPE7. Prob taking it too easy, but next week should be better/harder with more weight.

Push press I overshot my starting weight, was def too hard for 5s (while keeping 3 in the tank).

A2S Week 2 Day 1

3RIR
Squat 5x4x240 (2:30 rest time)
Bench 4x4x170 (2:30 rest time)

4RIR
RDL 8x6x190 (2:00 rest time)
Seated OHP 2x6x85 (3:00 rest time)

Seated OHP still way too heavy to leave 4 reps in the tank, so just did a couple sets with lower weights and will adjust my sheet so next week will be better.

Squats a little harder than should've been cause I did lots of FS and DU during CrossFit yesterday. And with the new & improved form of course. Overall weaksauce but happy to be back at it.

A2S Week 2 Day 2

3RIR
Deadlift 3x4x305
Push Press 5x3x115

4RIR
Front Squat (skipped this cause CrossFit)
CGBP 8x6x135

A2S Week 3 Day 1

2RIR
Squat 4x3x255
Bench Press 6x3x180

3RIR
RDL 9x5x210
Seated OHP 5x5x90

A2S Week 3 Day 2

2RIR
Deadlift 4x3x310
Push Press 5x3x120

3RIR
Front Squat 6x5x165
CGBP 7x5x145 (had to go home, could've done many more)

A2S Week 4 Day 1

3RIR
Squat 6x5x235
Bench Press 10x5x165

4RIR
RDL 5x7x190
Seated OHP 5x7x80

Performance is quite swingy because of CrossFit sessions, sometimes I'm fatigued and sometimes I'm not. I'll probably do a little more strength focus for a while combined with basic cardio cause my membership just ended and I feel like changing things up a little again.

A2S Week 4 Day 2

Changing to kg

3RIR
Deadlift 5x5x127.5
Push Press 5x5x50

4RIR
Front Squat 5x7x70
CGBP 9x7x60

These workouts take me quite long (2hrs+) and I notice I often just stop doing sets when I have several more with the prescribed RIR. I'm gonna have to do the extra effort if I want this program to work for me.

Rest time alone is already 1hr using the 2-3min minimum

I don't see why anyone should rest for that long for RPE <5 pressing sets. I'm early in the A2S cycle and rest around 2 for sq/dl and 1-1.5 for most bench and press sets.

That's a good point actually lol

A2S Week 5 Day 1

3RIR
Squat 2x4x112.5
Bench 4x4x80

4RIR
Seated OHP 3x6x40
RDL 6x6x100

Lel

Redid W5D1 so that my count makes sense again. Also I'm gonna change to 3x/wk cause these sessions are too damn long when I do them right.

A2S Week 5 Day 1

3RIR
Squat 6x4x112.5
Bench 3x4x80

4RIR
RDL 6x6x100

Box jumps up to 44inch for some challenge with friends (which looks like I'll win)

Push Press 12x4x52.5kg (3RIR)

extremely short summary of the past couple years

I'm married & have two sons
frontsquatted 170kg (375lbs)
benched 140kg (310lbs)
ran a marathon
recently got into bjj

still look and weigh around the same (95kg/210lbs)

hoping to one day to reach a 200kg squat

juggernaut method for squat and bench, I don't deadlift anymore because of lower back issues

mainly wanna log to keep track of stuff and it will help keep me accountable

6 Jan 2025 [ Cycle: 8s / Phase: Realization ]

Squat 8RM
8x120 @RPE8 = estimated 1RM 160kg

Strict Press
4x12x30

BOR 3x12x60

Bicep Curl 4x12x7.5

Congrats! That video is exactly what H&F needs.

nice squat. deserved a few cheers or whoops from other gym goers

he's probably got some more from when we trained in a powerlifting gym in chengdu

I've been away for a while, what did you mean by this?

Fwiw I'm weak again now, I spent most of last year running.

Getting a heavy squat in under the eye of a couple gym buddies is the best feeling ever for sure

Also adds strength because of adrenaline and ego

This place in the video was dead as hell though lol

tbh, I can't believe that a 170kg FS doesn't equate >> a 200kg BS.

was it that you weren't doing BS/couldn't find time for a 1RM when you were in 170kg FS shape?

I injured my lower back deadlifting drunk some time in 2022 and it took me a long time to figure out how to train around it, eventually I gave up backsquatting because it kept making it worse again. I found out having the more upright back angle in FS seemed fine, so for a year or so I trained only FS+bench and some accessories. Maybe I was capable of it at the time but I was too afraid to try. I seriously doubt it though given how awkward my BS felt by that time.

Welcome back!

Do you have a brief trip report for the marathon?

It was just a bucket list kinda thing, I've always wanted to do it just to unlock the achievement, nothing more. My only goal was to finish in time.

I hated the training and always felt it was boring. Also because I ran on heart rate (140-150) which usually meant 10-11min/mile, running sessions were long and slow.

The first few months were okay because the distances were short but I got incredibly demotivated as soon as I was supposed to hit 15-25km several times a week. I dreaded it even though it was not hard or anything. Just boring and it didn't even make me feel good. I got zero endorphins from it. Also for a while I tried mixing it with strength training but at some point I realized I was just making it harder on myself cause I was always tired and it made my legs feel heavy and stiff.

Eventually I just quit the gym and tried to stay consistent with the running and not worry about the distances anymore. I did two normal runs and one interval session a week for a couple months straight and slowly started seeing clear improvement (my pace went up and my hr went down). I never went over 15km the last few months.

I was super excited about the marathon day itself, but then as soon as I started I realized my heart rate was way higher than usual. Probably nerves or something. But my plan was to just run the marathon the same way I trained, I stuck to the heart rate, which means I now ran even slower.

I finished in 5:15 by easy jogging start to finish, there was no moment where I felt like giving up, no pains, no struggle. Just extreme boredom. Some time around 25-30km I started calculating and realized if I absolutely killed myself I might have been able to finish within 5hrs, which seemed like a really dumb strategy (it's still not impressive and I might not have made it). So I just kept to the plan and finished with a smile.

Maybe it sounds stupid but I had really mixed feelings after. On one hand I was super excited I finally did it and I hit my goal exactly as planned. On the other hand, running in the back of the marathon you're surrounded by old people, overweight people, out of shape females, people with diseases, etc. So I suddenly felt like my achievement wasn't all that impressive anymore lmao.

Either way, I don't think I'll ever do it again. I just don't enjoy the training at all.

Probably not all that unusual of a story; it's hard to keep doing something you don't get a lot out of. I'm pretty surprised that I've enjoyed it as much as I have, though I had a fair number of hiccups at the start. I originally started running because I thought Hyrox looked cool and I wanted to give one a shot, but here we are over two years in and I haven't done one yet and I'm running 5 days a week. Life, man.

Regardless, finishing a marathon is very impressive; I'd assume having a bit more of an actual training plan that's specific to the marathon distance (i.e., locking in on a race pace based on your lactate threshold and training around that as well) would have gotten you a faster time, but that seems to have not been the goal, so successfulvulture.gif. I think being a HYBRID ATHLETE ^TM is probably "better" than solely lifting or solely cardiobunnying (of course, bathtub tren is better than both), but chasing quasi-optimality over what you actually enjoy doing doesn't seem like a recipe for success for me.