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Easy Strength III: 33 days to Radiant Happiness

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Follow @mcphoo Tweet The hypothesis was that a bottoms up 16kg would correlate
with a 20kg press; the next hypothesis was that by working easy versions of one arm
push ups and headstand push ups, i could get a 16kg BU and a 20kg press - without
pressing kettlbells for the 40 days of the easy strength program. That's a lot of hope
and spit. In part 1 i gave the reasons for this set of hypotheses; in part II i talked about
dialing in the right level of "easy" and showed how progress was measured on the road.
Where we left off, i'd just successfully, actually hit target one: a bottoms up with the 16.
The next test of course would be the 20.
The 16kg BUP continued
After having bottoms up'd the 16 at the office, when i got home that evening, i decided
to give it
another go. It worked. Again. My goodness! what
a day.I then tried the twenty. It didnt go all the
way, and it ended up feeling more like a side
press, but that was a HUGE jump in progress.
More than that - yes - is possibly *feeling* this
notion of groove that Dan John was talking about
- at least i thought i might be. It seemed that to
get the 16kg BU i had to change the shape of
where the press happened and if felt like more of
the back of the shoulder was getting into the act
from this new position.
What i describe may be obvious to everyone else
alive but it has not been to me.

this is my quest: to follow this 24k bell

no matter how hopeless no
matter how far...heh now
wait a minute...

The 20k single

The next day, Saturday Nov 5, 33 days in, i retried the 20. It was back to glued on the
shoulder; recovered; bottoms upped the 16. Recovered, and retried the 20 with that
groove in my body. oh wow - it got off the shoulder, and then it started to move. At
glacier speed. It probably looked like it was stopped or stuck but i KNEW - i just
KNEW it was still moving and still going up. What IS that??? it felt like i just KNEW
those fibbers were going to recruit and get that sucker up.

b2d youtube
channel:
keeping it real
dr. m.c.'s MOVE MORE
philosophy:
o Why Move or Die?
o Why not move through pain?
o RESOLVING
CHRONIC BACK
PAIN: the issue may not
be in the back.

IT' S IN B2D SO MEW HERE ...

I must confess i was pretty happy. I expressed a bit of a whoop.

I will also confess that while i have pressed the bottoms up 16 since then - once even for
a double on the right (the left still needs coordination work), i have not repressed the
20. But im ok with that (more or less). The last time i got the 20 - by a very different
path - i also had days initially where nothing.That it had gone up was seeming but a
dream. So not surprised, though i confess further that i may have tried a little to hard
over the course of the next day to re-get that 20 and my shoulder is not thanking me
for it. Dam dam dam

FO LKS W HO GRO K B2D

BUT i feel like my hypothesis of correlation has at least provisionally been found
credible: there is a correlation between the 16k bu and the 20k press.
A quick note about that Groove Thing
Its taken to get that BU with a sufficiently heavy weight to really feel what the
movement is to manage the whole press with that grip.
BUT, by getting the groove difference with the heavy weight i started to take that back
to a lighter weight where i can get more reps grooving in that pattern. That i think is

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begin to dig: Easy Strength III: 33 days to Radiant Happiness

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important. I couldnt FEEL that shift along the back of the shoulder with a lighter bell;
i cant rep it with a heavier. Now i can apply the heavy bell feel with the lighter rep-able
load. At least that is the plan.

Mga sumusubaybay (251)

Susunod

What does this new groove feel like? well, at a sticky point actually past breaking
parallel, where it feels hard, moving back a bit recruits it seems a bit more from the
back into the shoulder and that extra fiber helps put that puppy up. At least for me.
In playing with the 12 which is my light weight in Return of the Kettlebell, i've
experimented now with arm position - how in front of the shoulder the press is vs
how"open" or more barbelly it is - just to feel what has a wee bit more effort or less. It's
subtle but getting it right a weight that feels easy, can feel easier/smoother yet by
playing with that position.
Its a Feeling (rather than % max)
What is that right level of easy effort for easy strength to work?

Sundin

I really have no way of knowing what percentage of a 1 rep max i was doing in any of
the moves i did
as i cant do a 1 full rep headstand push up or a one arm push
up. And pistols well, on good days there are reps; on other days i
hold a door and on excellent days a KB. So i just went by feel.
How far from the wall for two good reps - today - easy to adjust
the bod for each rep to nail that. The one arm push up i pushed a
little harder. Perfect form on the plank but initially didnt go
nose to the carpet. So less range of motion. I kept thinking hard
enough to require an adaptation; not so hard i cant do this every
day. Not so hard it becomes a mental challenge to get through.
Implementation of Easy Strength: Different but Same?
My easy strength series has been a little different from what i
undrestand to be the norm.
trying to be zen
about progress
I had a goal to get my BU 16k, and from that, the 20. My
understanding of easy strength is that one practices the same
moves one wants to improve: to push a deadlift, for instance, do the easy strength
deadlifts. Or use a thick bar for the deadlift - same but different.

I didnt do that. I couldnt as i didn't have those tools available.

But i did use the tools i had. Me. I am a great tool, apparently (one of the infinite tools).
It seems (though i cannot absolutely claim correlation, what else the heck is there
going on), 33 days of easy strength BUT not touching a kettle bell, just doing
bodyweight work in Easy Strength ways (a) got me a Bottoms Up PR and (b) got me
my 20 back. Only a single, but thats all it takes, isnt it, to rekindle faith that yes, my
shoulder IS recovering. Bodyweight to improve kbs. Thats different but same (as
opposed to same but different). Really? seems maybe so.

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That 24 - the main prize - maybe just got a little closer?

And i still have 7 days left.
Update: perhaps no surprise after a month on the road and hitting a PR, an
absolutely fever level cold hit me full throttle on Monday Nov - with fever, even - and
according to my sense of self, and my heart rate variability, im in no shape to train.
Indeed today (friday: 11/11/11) was the first day back to doing my easy strength in yet
another hotel room. So i can either declare success at 33 days in or keep going with it
for a week to get in the full 40 while i figure out next steps.
My sense? Even if i bag this round of easy strength now and step into some more
regular workouts or another variant of easy strength, thats fine too. Dan says his best
gains have come around the 21 day mark and thats a fine place to change up and over.
For me, its been 33. Cool.

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And on top of this plateau breaking, im also gaining some new skills. Like this
bodyweight work - thats a definite keeper for my practice. doing some handstands and
one arm pushups arent getting in the way of anything else. And i need the reps.
Where Next?
At the easy strength workshop (and ill have to check through the 14 DVDs if this made
the cut) - i think i asked Dan or someone did about why ever go off easy strength to do
something else after 40 days if this works so well? I do believe he turned aside and

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stage whispered - you dont have to - with the high

implication that you wont believe me telling you
that so were going to talk about other approaches
that work too.
I think, though, for me, where i'm at in my
practice, i have to learn to love the nudge at the
bottom end. It's something i can repeat daily and
find progress around.
I recall that in getting her beast challenge, Asha
Wagner repped and repped with only the 16 and
the 12. Dan John also saw the sense in this for
several of the iron maiden moves. I personally
sense the sanity and hope of that path - again - just speaking for myself. And i have my
own evidence now that (a) getting the right level of "easy" effort (b) leads to
transferable gains.

With my focus still on rehabbing towards an iron maiden challenge SOME day, from
steady progress, i've just started playing with changing up the pistols to box pistols
with the 8's for 2*5's, and will see how that progresses up in load. I know i felt that in
my run last night: oh that's where the gastroc origin is. Happy to learn that.
For my hinge work i'm doing 2*20s of kb dl's - the rest is staying the same. But while
i'm around kb's again i'm also practicing the bottoms up work more deliberately - but
keeping it in a grease the groove fashion.
It's an exploration.

Take Aways:
I have no recommendations about where to put Easy Strength in your practice. I just
know this approach
a) did bust a strength stall out (my 20 regained even if just the once right now)
b) did help my shoulder feel bolder - it likes this stuff
c) is with the bodyweight stuff teaching me new skills that i wish id had the
sauce and insight to work on sooner.
d) shows me that showing up and punching the clock - with the right effort - in
order to nudge the bottom as Dan John and Pavel talk about in Easy Strength
highlighting work from a pantheon of progenitor easy strengthens, seems to
Work.
e) i dont have to worry about being away from the KBs to make gains in the
moves i want to improve - at least not at the
moment perhaps.
And the biggest right now - the mental shot - is
that i *have* to believe im recovering - finally from the shoulder stuff. Now i admit i likely wont
really believe that till i press the 20 again for reps.
And then i won't likely really believe it till i press
something heavier than a 20, but its getting
closer. So stay the course.
And on the other hand: that i *can* do any of
this is, my shoulder issues have made me realize, a
gift. So daily practice like easy strength isn't a
burden or just a punch the clock thing. Really, it's a little miracle. So ya, finding a way
to move every day? i'm there.
IF you havent read Easy Strength yet, its good stuff. Especially if strength work is your
sport supplement, not your sport. Will be writing more about that in the near term. but
for now, 33 is a magic number. Yes it is. 33.
Related Posts
The amazing shoulder
Asha Wagner and Taming the Beast
Pull ups 101
The Perfect Rep Quest

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begin to dig: Easy Strength III: 33 days to Radiant Happiness

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Exploring Easy strength, part 1: making lemonade

Exploring Easy Strength, part 2: measuring progress
what if we were no longer how we define ourselves - like strong or smart
ps,
the title is a ref to a line in a joni mitchel tune from the album Hejira
"Refuge of the Roads " - given the context and motivation of this experiment, it
seemed apt:
There was spring along the ditches
There were good times in the cities
Oh, radiant happiness
It was all so light and easy
Till I started analyzing
And I brought on my old ways
A thunderhead of judgment was
Gathering in my gaze
And it made most people nervous
They just didn't want to know
What I was seeing in the refuge of the roads

See ya next time new interviews and strong gals. Tweet Follow @begin2dig

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P O S TE D B Y D R. M.C . AT 12:10

5 COMMENTS:
Roland Fisher said...
I enjoyed that. I ordered the book and enjoyed that too.
It's good to hear that progress is there and that injury be damned, you will be
stronger than ever.

strong, lean gals.

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SU ND AY , NO V E MB E R 2 0, 2 01 1 AT 7 : 2 7 : 0 0 PM GMT
FAVE S UP SO U RC E S

mc said...
Thanks Roland. It's a weird thing really. one sometimes needs to be flexible in
how progress is measured...
best
mc
TH U R S DA Y, NO VE MB E R 2 4 , 2 01 1 AT 5: 11 : 00 P M GMT
Unknown said...
Hi mc,
Your post has inspired me to start my own Easy Strength program. I'm on day

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Instead i'm digging rice protein
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rice with cool stuff like

Hemp Protein also from
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4 of the 40 day program. I have recorded my exercise data before starting and
will check the same exercises after I finish the 40 day program to see if there
was improvement.
The big advantage of ES for me will be the ability to exercise and play golf
without foregoing either. I'm an older guy who walks the course and carries his
own golf bag. That wears me out and therefore interrupts my kettlebell workout
schedule.

Get 5% off orders with this code:

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And here's a few recommended
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If ES works, I should be able to do both. I'm looking forward to your next post
on ES IV.
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Florida, USA
TH U R S DA Y, D E CE MB E R 1 , 2 0 11 A T 3: 0 8 : 0 0 AM GMT

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Unknown said...
Hello mc,
I read your blog about your experience with Easy Strength (ES) and decided to
try the program hoping to better integrate both my golf and my strength
building. I finished the ES 40 day program and can report, in your words,
bummer! No progress.

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Bicep curl: Starting - 25 lbs. - R = 10, L= 8

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A RC HIVE BY T OP IC

Power Swing: Starting - 44 lbs. - 5 reps. x2

Inspiration

Ending: 49 lbs. 10 reps x 2

Work Out Related

Nutrition & Food

In the 40 day period I worked out 34 days and had 3 breaks of 2 days each.

Philo & Sophia

Science

My goal was to workout 5 of 7 days but I would actually go beyond 5 days

without stopping when I felt good. I started the program with the weights too
light and was soon able to increase the weight or the reps. I always did 2 sets of
each exercise with not more than 5 reps.
The Power Swing was in my ES program to follow Dan John's recommendation
of having a hinge action as part of the program.

B LO G ARC HIVE

2016 (2)
2015 (3)
2014 (14)
2013 (17)

I blame my lack of progress on my age, 71, because it's probably true. Or

maybe not enough protein. Or maybe the before and after tests were not exactly
compatible. Who knows?

2012 (21)
2011 (39)

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December (2)
I was initially very discouraged until I read a recent blog posting by Mark
Reifkind. Rif recently quoted Pavel a back of iron and legs that never quit as
he wrote about his own desire to have a high degree of work capacity and be
functionally strong. Since I still play golf and carry my golf bag when I play,
perhaps I'm at the level of having a high degree of work capacity. I'd like to
think so.
Do you have any thoughts on how to make the ES method work for me?

November (3)
Easy Strength III: 33 days to
Radiant Happiness
And this was just right
Easiness - Progressing
Eas...
40 Days of Nudging Easy
Strength - part I: making ...

George Power

October (2)

TH U R S DA Y, J ANU AR Y 1 2 , 2 0 12 A T 12 : 54 : 00 A M GMT

September (6)
August (2)

mc said...

July (5)

George, thanks for writing

June (2)

probably if you saw my comment about "bummer" you saw what i did next: i

May (1)

increased the load.

April (3)
March (6)

also remember the protocol is two reps for five sets or some days three for three
or five for two but generally 2 for five.

February (3)
January (4)

so you may want to experiment with going back to two reps per set, and just
increase the load so it feels a bit more challenging. give it a go for two weeks

2010 (137)
2009 (121)

and see how that works for you.

2008 (56)
best
mc
ABOUT ME

F R ID AY , F E B R U AR Y 3 , 2 0 12 A T 4 : 26 : 0 0 PM GMT

DR . M .C .

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