In some realistic if alternate universe setting, Eddie Hall lived just a mile or two from me (totally walking distance).
Somehow I ended up training in his front yard.
A miscommunication with someone there, this having turned into some type of informal strength exhibition which saw no participation from Eddie Hall himself, just a handful of normal guys participating, saw the bar loaded downright weird – a bunch of small plates, 25s, 10s, 5s…
I’d asked for two plates, 225lbs, someone loaded it to the equivalent of three…
…I snatched it incredibly easily, loaded this way essentially from a deficit, THEN did the math!
Counting all the “change” I realized it was set to 315lbs, then ended up doing a second single a moment later.
This time around Eddie himself filmed the rep for me (to post obviously – at this point we have to film “every” lift).
It was cool that he did that. I left with video proof, imagination though it may have been.
Reality being I’ve never done a 225lb/100kg power snatch, but likely am good for it now via a couple years of kettlebell “wth effect”.
Typing this up just after midnight as a short uploads, my reel already posted for the day, I make some reflections even if the five hundred will be official in a time counted in hours vs days ie not done yet…
We here so much of strength being built between 70% and 80% of 1rm.
There is truth to that yes, and my observation with all this has been that kettlebell pressing, my inadvertent primary implement (I fell into them) works very well for this.
A big strong man doing lots of reps and volume one arm pressing a single 40kg kettlebell is going to increase his shoulder strength significantly.
Sure, you COULD do normal protocols ; 5×5, 10×3, but given the choice of minimal daily workouts by whim or nothing…well that anti scientific method will work quite well.
Like saying the same things daily about weight gain on reddit, I’ll say the truth of programming again ;
“It’s the effort and consistency that make the method, not the method itself.”
I am doing more volume again (if skewed way light on multi switch kettlebell clean & press), and have also added actually heavy back in, these both in addition to the moderate by scientific definition that is the 40kg bell to me.
A major takeaway from this now free to stop at any time but still continuing indefinitely experiment is this ;
None do enough shoulder work!
Let me say that again ; no one trains shoulders enough!
Not hard enough in any way – not frequency, not weight, not volume – nada.
No where close to enough to get the coveted boulder shoulder look (where you turn sideways to walk through a door).
I learned this in fall 2018, every day at the SoCal Bodybuilding Gym being a few military press amrap sets off of a clean, but didn’t really implement fully incorporated like into my training til five years later when this streak started.
The more overhead pressing you do the more shoulders, upper back, and trap development you will have.
Wide shoulders is a better look than a thick chest. Blame arnold for the rampart pectoralis overdevelopment, and know this ; enough chest work will give many an impressive pair of muscular moobs.
It’s just better to skew towards shoulder pressing and away from chest pressing from a looks standpoint.
I didn’t know THAT when I started my daily pushups in 2008.
In hindsight knowing what I know now the habit would’ve shifted to wall hspu for the better. Shrugs. Oh well. The thing has been done.
I’m looking forward to in 12<15 months (NERD!) getting the ten years of pushups every day.
For now my lifting continues to involve daily overhead pressing – just more implements.
I’ve already rotated barbell back in.
The kettlebell has shifted in the direction of half marathon c&p.
The SANDBAG, yes the sandbag, shall be rebuilt in the coming days.
I miss the thing and it could be a meme at this point over “I should rebuild the sandbag”.
…..
Some of us respond really well to volume and frequency.
Basically you want to do as much as possible without beating yourself up.
The barbell will be dropped back to 155lbs for this reason to build up easy like.
10×3 twice a week or so, built to 15×5 or so at 155lbs will be enough to go to 5×2 at 185lbs real easy like, from there well we’ll see.
It’d be something to get to the 300lb c&p.
Now in my 30s I’m getting very strong.
This is to be expected. I’ve trained consistently, and also it’s my opinion that “man strength” becomes an increasing factor in those who remain physical.
No man peaks in max strength to 35yo minimum.
I just have to keep training.
And even if all strongman and powerlifting type goals are out of your mind…you won’t go wrong with a high rep one bell clean & press done daily, every so often and forever increasing bell size.
Many men COULD train to 50l + 50r under girevoy inspired one hand switch rules and eventually accomplish it with the 48kg which, my opinion, was named “the beast” in a corny manner unbecoming as it psychologically is uninspiring of people actually getting to it and accomplishing much with it.
40kg is only 88lbs. Should be the big man’s main training weight for daily kettlebell play.
48kg is only 106. Aim higher.
Be strong y’all, the videos are presently on a roughly three week delay.
Daily pushups from mid teens on is a shockingly effective workout strategy.
There’s definitely a thing called “man strength”, and yes while some teenage males get to it – most need longer in the modern world.
At 21yo my hand strength shot up a couple levels.
It again, and full body strength in general, both shot up in my mid 20s.
At 30yo the results from a few years of mostly overhead pressing is now coming together, and I’m showing hella strength with kettlebell pressing NOW.
Shoulders were long a weak body part.
It’s safe to say that I’m well into the 99th percentile on strict pressing strength – the only place I’ll be outclassed is by professional strongmen.
My point is ; is that strength training is a longer than decade journey.
It doesn’t need ideal training, equipment, or diet.
Just about anything can be “right” given the effort and evaluated five/ten/fifteen/more years down the line.
When people are one arm pressing more than your bench the whole thing seems futile, especially with your teenage elbows and wrist hurting after that max bench…
But the thing is when you never quit, when you never stop you’ll be a late twenties or thirty something man who gave himself the gift of physical strength at a level stronger than 95% or more of humanity.
I don’t care where you are.
I don’t care that you’re poor and living on rice, eggs, tuna, and chickpeas.
I don’t care that you have no workout equipment…
What I want to see is you start smashing the daily pushups and your daily squats.
Right now. Tonight.
And never stop strength training.
…..
You can get jacked on milk and top ramen with a heavy sandbag.
You can get jacked eating rice and beans with a 300lb barbell under the shade of a tree.
You can even make it on machines only at a commercial gym.
There is no singular path to big and strong, no program anyway, perfect diet, or perfect gym.
You want to be bigger and stronger than you are?
Get to it!
Eat food. Large quantities, big portions of nutritious food.
Doesn’t matter if it’s peanuts and coconut oil, eggs and milk, or steak and potatoes.
You’ll go further in most cases with more volume than with minimal to the point of one set workouts… exceptions to the rule being “human forklift status” weights on high rep sets of squats, front squats, deadlifts, cleans, presses.
I’ve found that a pair of 75lb dumbbells/32kg kettlebells is essentially the equivalent to 185lbs on a barbell for overhead pressing.
These weight guidelines for a set of ten reps on the press is the start of “stronger than most – noticeably so” though not prostrongman level strong by any means.
That’s a pair of 75lbs/32kgs or 185lbs for 10 as the minimal weight and minimal reps here.
You really want to get to x30 to own a weight.
Imagine the guy pressing 30 x dbl 48kgs or 30x225lbs.
Something tells me that’s…the strongest person around (within reason and without any fluke wsm competitors happening to be hanging around).
…..
The equipment you have does not matter.
Building muscle and building strength truly both are “where there’s a will there’s a way” type situations.
Building up to x20 wall hspu is going to be a strong individual, moreso the larger a human we’re talking, and even moreso if you take a pair of cinder blocks or something and make it so your shoulders get the full range you’d get with a barbell press.
The whole concept of balanced workouts is a farce.
You don’t need to train anything equally so long as you are not getting lopsided and/or injured.
I could drop all exercises other than pushups and going for a daily stroll or two, and I’d stay pretty well developed overall.
Maybe you’d get better results with less.
Many have. Our fully stocked state of the line gym is a modern world luxury.
More people have gotten strong without it, and though I view the concept of “hardcore” as a joke – what with black and white advertising, tough guy quotes, and the like…for supplements…studies have shown (I made this study up on the spot) that a more bare bones facility will make for more getting better results than the primo gym with brand new BEST EQUIPMENT, fancy wall murals, and expensive monthly dues.
Some of those eastern european training halls with peeling paint, a busted window here and there, and kettlebells likely manufactured while america was drowning in hippies at love ins strike me as pretty ideal gymnasiums.
(when training lakeside in the summer ala hermann gorner isn’t an option)
Me?
At present I have some barbells and plates which I never touch – just leaving them in storage, and a handful of kettlebells which…I use as light as a 20lb bell, as heavy as a 48kg bell.
Off camera I’ve been training lately, shorts/reels cut from long form videos giving me about a month of zero filming leeway.
But I catch some day numbers anyway.
We’re in the Day 450s Overhead Press Every Day now.
It’s nice to train again without the camera, doing not really worth filming things like ;
1. Building to a 200 rep girevoy set with that silly light 20lb bell.
2. Going 25l+25 right on (still pretty light I last used 18kg) one bell clean & press under girevoy rules but with one bell instead of two, press instead of jerk.
I just don’t much care for jerks.
It’s press all the way.
…..
It’s only January 15, but in 2025 I’ve done handstands, bw squats, and some karate inspired kicks daily – these added to the kettlebell training which is like 50/50 between the two light things above and 40kg/48kg presses and snatches.
Of course there too are wildcards like “bell with hat” bottoms up pressing.
I never know what exactly I’ll do in my daily training til I’m doing it.
I’ve also gone for a daily walk, and have not missed a day.
Often with the fairly extreme cold lately I feel like a man on a mission.
I’m actually bundled up for these, thermals over boxers, long sleeve tucked between the two, sweater and sweatpants over these, hat, gloves…scarf.
Yes I’m wearing a scarf for my outdoor exercise.
My uncle was right. It keeps me much warmer. I thank him for the suggestion.
I’m now being very needy about wearing my scarf outdoors…but it’s often the difference between “I’m not going outside now” and “time to train”…as are the thermals.
…..
January 1st I weighed 292lbs and did x5 pullups.
It’s just become hard mentally to not give myself once a week pullups.
I’m intending to see what three months of kettlebell and walks does for my pullup ability with zero pullups in the interim.
One bell c&p hits a lot of lats on me.
Snatch is… everything back.
Pullups should go up via both any fat loss AND kettlebell “wth effect” from those two ballistics.
Two or three days ago I weighed 290lbs.
Today is my second full day fast of the year.
I’ve been eating meat, onions pretty freely.
Milk consumption is down.
Carb intake is WAY DOWN, but not keto or carnivore.
I’ve been drinking a bunch of tea.
Occasionally with cream, once or twice I’ve dropped in butter.
Mostly I drink it without fats, and not once have I added sugar.
I’m slow rolling fat loss alongside a handful of kettlebell and calisthenic training goals.
Don’t much care the details and specifics so long as those performance abilities trend up while the scale trends down.
It’s 2025! Be strong.
-J
off camera lifting music has been either the scourby reading of kjv or classical music – nothing else
