Easy Muscle B: Week 2

1/19

Chinup - 24 total reps
Dips - 24 total reps

1/21

20kg Clean+Press - 15 total reps
Double 16kg Front Squat - 35 total reps

1/23

Chinup - 28 total reps
Dips - 28 total reps

I changed my warmup routine to the GMB 15-minute mobility boost. I was inspired to try it again after seeing a recent GMB video about warmup carryover to your main workout. The 15-minute mobility boost is sort of an advertisement for GMB's program called Mobility. However the 15-min. routine features some exercises that I didn't notice appearing too much or even at all in Mobility - for example World's Greatest Stretch. Anyway, I'll stick with it for now.

Another change I made this week was to resume practicing the hollow body hold, after each Easy Muscle session. I'd previously achieved a 60-second hold but last week when I tried it, I was barely able to do 25 seconds. I did 3-4 sets of 15-20 seconld holds.

Hamstring Flexibility Exercises and related activities

I studied this video by Range of Strength


I decided to adopt the following hamstring flexibility exercises:

Wall Tibialis Raise - B tier - as part of warmup for all training sessions.

Supine Hamstring Stretch - C tier - as part of warmup for my calisthenics and Sore Joint Solution sessions

Split Stance Stiff Leg Deadlift - A tier - as part of cooldown for my KB sessions. I found the weight of double 16kg kettlebells was not enough pull my torso down into the stretch. I still have to engage my hip flexor, quad and core to initiate the stretch and hope that the KBs provide assistance.
I'd like to eventually try the S tier exercise Straight Leg Deadlift but I feel like I should work with the Split Stance Stiff Leg Deadlift first.

I also started working on the Side Lying series in Geoff Neupert's Sore Joint Solution program. To get to 30 breaths per side I adopted a density training idea from the RMax days - do 60 total breaths per side, per session, and start with 6 sets of 10 breaths. Over time I will increase the number of breaths per set.

I also started practicing the hollow body hold again. Last year I worked up to a 60-second hold. Nowadays my max hold time is nowhere near that. The main reason I started working on the hollow body hold again is I notice that my shoulder flexion improves as I practice it.

Easy Muscle B: Week 1

1/12

20kg Clean+Press - 16 total reps
Double 16kg Front Squat - 36 total reps

1/14

Chinup - 25 total reps
Dips - 25 total reps

1/16

20kg Clean+Press - 12 total reps
Double 16kg Front Squat - 36=5 total reps

Per the program instructions, I took it fairly easy this week. I rested a lot between sets. When I was asked to do 3-rep sets of clean+press I had one failed rep on the left side, which I of course made up by doing a rep on the left side after completing my right-side reps.

I was inspired by Brett Jones' Mind The Gap to include a single leg exercise in my warmup. On my kettlebell days I finished my warmup with single leg deadlift of the 20kg KB for about 3 reps. On my calisthenics days, I finished my warmup with hover lunge. I do the hover lunge as a regression of the Shrimp Squat.

Beginning my 2026 fitness journey with Easy Muscle B

I was going to start 2026 with The Giant 3.0, then decided to do Easy Muscle Schedule B instead. Both programs incorporate the kettlebell clean+press with a 5RM weight - i.e. a weight you can clean+press for at most 5 reps. The difference is The Giant 3.0 is focused on clean+press, while Easy Muscle B incorporates KB squat, chinups and dips. The workouts are organized into Session A, in which KB exercises are practiced, and Session B in which the chinups and dips are practiced. The greater variety of exercises is one reason I chose to do Easy Muscle B. Another reason is more opportunity for hypertrophy, because of the additional exercises. Clean+press with a 5RM weight tends to produce strength gain more than hypertrophy.
I already knew I could do 5 reps of C+P with my 20kg KB. I had to test my repetition max in the other exercises to make sure I'd be working with appropriate loading. These are the results.

• Double 16kg KB Front Squat - 10
• Chinups - 10
• Ring Dips - 8

The testing comfirmed a feeling I had of being able to do 10 reps of double front squat with 16kg KBs. My chinup and dip performances were about what I expected. Before my previous execution of Easy Muscle B, my rep max in the dip was about 6 so I had to pause during some of my dip sets. Thus my gains from dips were compromised. This time I should see better gains from the dips. This will be the first time I've done Easy Muscle with chinups so I should see gains in bicep muscle and strength as well.

After testing my double front squat, I did a workout based on Session B. I chose to do 4 reps per set of each exercise. I ended up doing 5 sets for a total of 20 reps per exercise. Since this was kind of a preview workout I rested for a generous amount of time between sets. On the following day I noticed minor soreness (DOMS) in the chest and anterior deltoids, which can be attributed to not practicing ring dips for almost 2 years.