Easy Muscle : Week 1

I started Easy Muscle, this time on Schedule A which is the "clean-and-press only" schedule. I spent the previous 6 weeks on Kettlebell Strong! Foundation to prepare myself for Schedule A. Maybe it was not possible to develop perfect technique in the two component exercises - double clean and double press - of the double clean-and-press, but I thought it would be worth investing 6 weeks to practice these exercises before taking on Schedule A.

One of the principles of this program is "autoregulation". The number of reps per set for a given session is specified, and a timer is set to 20-30 minutes. The autoregulation part is the time between sets. It is up to the trainee to decide when they have rested enough and are ready for another set. Autoregulation is used in a lot of programs authored or co-authored by Geoff Neupert, including the free Dry Fighting Weight.

The very first session on Monday was challenging for me because I had never done double kettlebell clean-and-press for 20 minutes, even with the amount of rest allowed under autoregulation. Just one rep of this move requires more effort than one rep of a double KB clean or a double KB press. I did 7 sets if I counted correctly.

The Wednesday session was a little tougher because the prescribed reps per set was a little higher. I got only 5 sets done within the 20 minute period, because each set took more out of me compared to Monday.

The Friday session felt the easiest because the prescribed number of reps was the lowest. I did 8 sets. Afterwards I was able to hang from a pull up bar for about 20 seconds with feet on the floor to reduce the load on the shoulders. This was exciting because once I regain the ability to hang from the bar with my full bodyweight, my progress towards full range of motion in the double KB press will accelerate.

I did GMB Mobility sessions on Tuesday and Thursday. It's still a valid approach, although some of the stretches in the program like the kneeling lunge might be considered obsolete by those who have embraced ATG split squats and other ideas promoted by Knee Over Toes guy. The locomotion exercises for training the body to be confident with increased ROM, like Spiderman, Monkey 180, and Sumo Frogger remain unique to GMB programs.

I was glad I did the 6 weeks of Strong! Foundation. It's difficult to focus on perfecting the cues for the double clean and the double press when I'm doing the double clean-and-press. It was much easier to focus on those cues when working on the component exercises separately. The volume in Foundation was lower, but there was enough ramp up in volume so that the volume in Easy Muscle didn't feel as overwhelming.

I have to admit that as I was finishing up my Isochain 6x6 training block, I was tempted to start Easy Muscle, Schedule A the very next week, because I was eager to try buildng muscle mass again under Easy Muscle. I experienced some muscle growth in the arms from the previous Easy Muscle training block, although my bum shoulder restricted my range of motion. I couldn't wait to get on Schedule A because my shoulder had healed enough to allow me to press a KB overhead for a decent ROM - maybe enough to stimulate more growth in the arms as well as the shoulders. However if I had gone from Isochain 6x6 to Easy Muscle without taking the time to learn and practice these double KB exercises, my conditionining would not have been up to the the task, nor my technique and I probably would have hurt myself.