Lifting Club: PPL 4X

This is the program we're running in the "30 Minute Physique New Year Kick Start Challenge," which you can learn all about here: https://www.30minutephysique.com/post/the-30-minute-physique-new-year-kick-start-challenge-1

It's straight forward and each session should take just around 20-30 minutes. I often clock these sessions in the 15-20 minute range when I'm doing just 2 sets per exercise and limiting my rest periods to just 1-2 minutes.

Train 3-6 days per week on this plan. I aim for 5-6, but I'm accustomed to brief, frequent lifting sessions.

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Warm up before each session with 1-2 sets of any core exercise + glute bridges or clam shells

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Pull

Ex 1: pullups or lat pulldowns-2-3x5-10

Ex 2: single arm rows-2-3x8-15

Ex 3: incline dumbbell curls or concentration curls (or any curl)-2-3x6-12

Ex 4: incline hammer curls, hammer curls, or towel curls (towel looped through handle of kettlebell)-2-3x6-12

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Push

Ex 1: overhead press variation (I like single arm kettlebell press)-2-3x5-10

Ex 2: pushups or incline dumbbell bench press-2-3 x amrap or 2-3x8-15

Ex 3: cable/band pushudowns or skull crushers or lying rolling tricep extensions-2-3x8-15

Ex 4: lateral raise or upright row variation-2-3x10-15

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Legs

Ex 1: Bulgarian split squats or standard split squats-2-3x8-15

Ex 2: single leg RDL, RDL, or glute bridges-2-3x8-15

Ex 3: heel elevated narrow stance goblet squat or alternating reverse lunges-2-3x12-20

Ex 4: calf raises-2-3x15-30

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One thing I'm focusing on during this month is doing some jump rope each week. I don't have any rigid guidelines or structure about jump rope right now. It's just something I'm trying to commit to doing – in some fashion – each week or even briefly each day. I think jumping rope is a fantastic "exercise snack" to begin doing regularly.

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Lightning WOD Squad: Big 6 Full Body

As always this one is for those of you wanting to complete training in 10-15 minutes. Hence – "Lightning." Aka, fast!

This routine focuses on only the big 6 movement patterns and you have a couple options to choose from for each movement pattern, each session. I'll provide some examples you can choose from.

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Warm up with 1-2 sets of abs and glute bridges.

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Session A

Ex 1: goblet squat (heels elevated) or split squat or reverse lunges-2x8-15

Ex 2: pullups or lat pulldown-2x5-10

Ex 3: overhead press variation or lateral raise-2x5-10

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Session B

Ex 1: RDL variation, glute bridges, or KB swings-2x8-15

Ex 2: row variation-2x8-15

Ex 3: pushups or bench press variation-2x8-15

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Again, try working in some brief jump rope practice a couple days each week. It doesn't need to be much – 2-5 minutes of jump rope a couple days per week will go a long ways towards greater health, lower body fat, higher levels of conditioning, and stronger ankles and calves.

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Lift & Read Book Club, Issue 17

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Fiction:

"Subterranean" by James Rollins

I picked up another awesome book at one of my neighborhood “free little libraries” during a recent walk. I dropped off 5 books before Christmas and picked up, “Subterranean.” So far it's a thrilling mystery adventure novel. I'm really enjoying it. You never know what you'll find at these little free libraries, and often, taking a risk on an author you don't know pays off. Fun stuff.

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Physical culture:

I've got 2 physical culture books I'm reading right now. The first is, "Convict Conditioning 2."

Last month I talked about how annoyed and disgusted I was with the original "Convict Conditioning" book. It was probably the worst fitness book I've ever read. And the radically fictional author "Paul Wade" is a dope.

But, I'm commiting to reading and comparing all the most popular titles in the "bodyweight training" sub-genre of the fitness genre, so I've got to suck it up and read Paul Wade's "Convict Conditioning" series. I'm trying to knock his 3 bodyweight training books out of the way first, and reward myself with – presumably – better titles written by actual coaches and existing fitness authors that have a clue after I'm done with the "Convict Conditioning" trilogy.

"Convict Conditioning 2" is similar to the first. The author tries really hard to come off smarter than thou (while saying things that are painfully false) and, he seems very conflicted between trying to be a minimalist, hard, tough guy prisoner while also juggling being a historian of physical culture – even all the way back to having deep knowledge about the soft martial arts like tai chi and similar ancient practices. In fact, it seems like this (history of soft martial arts practices) is the only area the author actually IS knowledgeable about, which is ironic because the fictional author doesn't discuss having any training background in Tai Chi, etc. Though, it could just be because I have zero knowledge about such things and am, therefore, totally ignorant to his knowledge or lack of knowledge on the topics.

For the record, and as a side bar, I have recently had my curiousity piqued by these tai chi type practices. Not for a fitness habit, but more for a general health, movement meditation practice. I think the soft martial arts could possibly be a very good supplemental practice that fits in with the goal of living a holistic, health-oriented lifestyle.

To the credit of "Convict Conditioning 2," I do appreciate 3 of the chapters. The chapters on grip training and calf training are actually very solid and practical. The solution to big, strong firearms and calves are simple and – in my experience – the exercises and protocols Wade recommends are very effective. Though, he drags each chapter on and on MUCH longer than necessary.

The third section I generally appreciate is the one titled, "Living the Straight Edge," where he basically discusses general healthy lifestyle habits. These are pretty straightforward and pretty good. His bogus stories relating everything to – and often glorifying – his fantasy prison years is pretty hard to handle, though. But, the general (and I'm paraphrasing while summarizing) "stay away from tobacco, alcohol, drugs, and get yourself settled into a structured daily schedule, don't be a snowflake about stress, develop disciplineetc" is good advice and I mostly enjoyed the chapter.

These Paul Wade books are super long, by the way. They're text books. Unfortunately, while the books are dense, the amount of quality information within the first 2 books is sparse. It's a lot of filler stuff. It's crazy how much he rambles and beats dead horses and, honestly, overcomplicates simple training. It almost seems like he had to write a certain word count for a high school or college level presentation. It's not only a lot of fluff. The books are filled with a lot of boring fluff. I suspect most people who claim to have read his books haven't actually read any of the books all the way through. It's pretty painful. But, hey, that makes it a good character building exercise for me.

I've nearly completed 2 out of 3 Convict Conditioning books and so far, my takeaways are the author is a fraud, he's probably one of the higher ups within Dragon Door which is why so many people agreed to be a part of the books as models and write glowing reviews. "Paul Wade" makes simple training very complex rather than making complex training simple – something I wouldn't expect from a hardened prisoner who allegedly personally trained hundreds of other prisoners during his alleged 20 years "locked up" between federal and state pens, for "drug related" charges.

It's odd that Paul talks ad nauseum about simple, basic, hardcore training ("like the big guys on the inside") but he recommends hundreds of exercise progressions and then writes programs that contain 2-3 workouts per week, hitting each muscle group just once per week, and doing very low volume. It all seems to contradict his stories about training in prison. And again, I'm all for low volume training, when it's paired with high frequency! But low volume + low frequency is a recipe for low gains....especially if you're not already fairly advanced.

Pass on these "Convict Conditioning" books. I've got one more to read – "C–MASS," which I'm hoping is written by a ghost author that actually exists and trains instead of whoever wrote these first 2 Paul Wade books, but I'll keep you posted. There are, surely, better bodyweight training books to read (I have a few others on my list that I'm looking forward to reading) and there are some really great YouTube accounts that discuss bodyweight training in a super easy to apply way. 2 of my favorite YouTube accounts for bodyweight training are:

https://youtube.com/@kboges?si=uqVpKoXrxfEJyt1h

https://youtube.com/@elvisb.dimitrov?si=wv0oH1zaEHJ-QmrC

I like these 2 channels a lot. I also will warn you that they approach bodyweight training from opposite ends of the spectrum.

The "kboges" account follows and promotes a high frequency, moderate intensity, higher rep range approach for the goal of general health, fitness, and aesthetics.

Meanwhile, Elvis Dimitrov's channel is more like the Mike Mentzer of calisthenics. That is, he promotes lower volume, higher intensities, lower reps, and specifically using calisthenics to maximize muscle mass.

I could include a handful of other great calisthenic/bodyweight training YouTube channels, but I think the above 2 are probably the best and the easiest to learn from right away, regardless of where you are on your bodyweight training journey.

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The next physical culture book I'm reading is "Eat Stop Eat." I've discussed this in a previous Lift & Read Book Club but I'm still thumbing my way through it and rereading it. Unlike the "Convict Conditioning" books, Brad Pilon's "Eat Stop Eat" is a must read book for everyone interested in health and fitness. This is THE resource for all things fasting and, I'd argue a big piece of the nutrition and exercise puzzle in general.

Brad Pilon is one of the most knowledgeable, experienced, in the trenches trainer, researcher, and writer in the fitness industry. His book "Eat Stop Eat" is incredibly insightful. I'll share some knowledge bombs from it in future posts.

I cannot speak highly enough about "Eat Stop Eat." It's a game changer and you'll get clarity on nutrition and fasting and you'll be able to apply the knowledge immediately to maximize your health and body composition.

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Non-fiction:

"The Art of Focus"

I wrote about this in the last Lift & Read Book Club, issue which you can read about here: https://www.30minutephysique.com/post/lift-and-read-book-club-issue-16

I'm still working my way through this one. Nothing ground-breaking to report yet.

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That's all I've got to report today.

Enjoy your Lifting Club or Lightning WOD Squad workouts this month and be sure to train your brain – or simply relax – by reading a good book or 2 this month. As always, I spend the majority of my reading time focused on my fiction books (which is why I always have new fiction books that I'm reading while I'm often reading the same non-fiction and physical culture books for multiple consecutive book club issues). I strongly believe fiction reading will teach you many lessons – even if it's not the intention of the book (sometimes it is the author's intention, sometimes it's not) while also retraining your dopamine sensitivity by making you practice slow dopamine versus fast dopamine (fast dopamine is how TV and social media screw up our brains, attention spans, and energy levels so quickly and effortlessly).

So, my advice:

1. Train with weights and bodyweight exercises frequently and briefly

2. Read fiction and embrace the old fashioned way of entertainment

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Talk again soon!

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