Blackshirt Proverbs

If you have limited time to workout you can make the most of it by doing as many reps as possible if any of these movement or a combination of the movements in however much time you have. For example, in 20 minutes, so as many reps as possible of 10 single arm db snatches and 4 Turkish getups. There are also plenty of standardized dumbbell workouts on the internet if you search for “Dumbbell WOD.” One of my favorites is “Hotel Hell,” which consists of 100 hang-squat-clean-thrusters with 35 lb dbs. At the top of every minute, drop the dumbbells and knock out 5 burpees. (Hang squat clean thrusters shown)

Finally, Turkish getups are in a league of their own as full body exercise with excellent carryover to real world physical tasks. Basically you’re lying down flat on the ground with a dumbbell and standing up while locking it out over head. If you want more technical advice on this exercise check out one of the kettlebell training channels on YouTube. I prefer to switch hands each rep. These are also great as a warmup exercise because you work your shoulders and hips fluidly through a variety of angles. You can even do them unweighted or trying to balance a tennis ball or water bottle on your fist.

You can combine these exercises in numerous ways, but a full body workout should generally include a pushing, pulling, and squatting movement, or movements that combine the three. For an additional conditioning element, you can superset the movement with burpees or jumps, or make a burpee part of the movement such as in a “Devil’s Press” (dual dumbbell burpee+snatch).

But to really get the most of training sessions with limited equipment, whether an occasional or routine part of your training, I recommend learning complex, full body movements. Variations of Olympic lifts that can be difficult to master with a barbell have a smoother learning curve with dumbbells and kettlebells and are extremely effective for general strength and conditioning. These movements train your body to move synergistically to generate and control momentum. Don’t worry too much about what particular muscle you are working- the objective is to move the weight efficiently. (Single arm DB snatch shown)

For legs, most dumbbell sets are probably not going to provide sufficient weight to go very heavy, so you could do really high reps, but what I prefer is to use single leg exercises, such as lunges, split squats, and single leg deadlifts (shown). These will be much more challenging even with the lighter weight and are complementary to normal two leg variations in that they train the legs the way they are normally used in real world activities and they force you to engage your core to maintain your balance.

Minimalist equipment training thread: You may be limited to a few dumbbells, kettlebells, or other minimalist gym equipment if you are working out at home, or if you are on the go, working out in a hotel or similar environment. If this is the case, there are a few different options to make the most of your training time. One is to just make it an arm day. This is pretty simple. Do supersets of bicep curls, skull crushers, presses, and lateral raises until it feels like your arms are going to explode. It is perfectly fine to do this once or twice per week, but your other body parts and physical capabilities will suffer if this is all you ever do with weights.

Even if you cannot get to a pull-up bar, you can probably find a table, bench, chair, desk, or something where you can do bodyweight rows. No excuses. Get to training.

Training for Murph is simple. Estimate where you are in your physical abilities and what you are currently capable of. Take it easy to begin with and add more volume and difficulty over the course of the next few months until you can be confident that you will complete the entire workout. https://www.goruck.com/blogs/news-stories/murph-training-plan GoRuck has some good recommendations for beginner, intermediate, and advanced trainees to get prepared for Murph. Figure out where your at and adjust accordingly. For example: Beginner Murph Workout #1 800m run or jog 10 rounds: 5 sandbag rows 5 pushups 10 squats 800m run or jog Total: 50 sandbag rows, 50 pushups, 100 squats, 1 mile running Beginner Murph Workout #2 1 mile run or jog 3 pullups, 8 pushups, 15 squats 5 pullups, 12 pushups, 20 squats 8 pullups, 20 pushups, 30 squats 10 pullups, 25 pushups, 45 squats 1 mile run or jog Total: 26 pullups, 65 pushups, 110 squats, 2 miles running Beginner Murph Workout #3 1 mile run or jog 8 rounds: 5 pullups 10 pushups 20 squats 1 mile run or jog Total: 40 pullups, 80 pushups, 160 squats, 2 miles running If this is your only training, I would recommend doing something like this every other day. If you are doing this in addition to heavier strength training in a gym, you will make progress training like this once or twice per week.

An excellent and attainable goal for anyone looking to improve general physical capacity and preparedness is to complete the classic crossfit workout “Murph” in under an hour. This is an ideal training objective for those who have limited training equipment and no gym access because Murph requires nothing but a place to run, a weight vest or back pack with 20 pounds in it, and a pull up bar. The military emphasizes this kind of training because it is the most logistically practical way to train large numbers of troops to be physically ready for combat. Even if you have access to a full gym and are able to follow a solid strength program, it will be beneficial to balance your strength training with something like this once or twice per week (use common sense and don’t go so hard that it negatively impacts your primary training objectives). Murph is a “hero workout” named after fallen Navy SEAL Lt Michael Murphy, who used to do this exact workout several times per week. It consists of 1 mile run 100 pull-ups 200 push-ups 300 air squats 1 mile run The workout is completed while wearing a 20 lb vest, body armor, or backpack. The calisthenics exercises can be broken up and completed in any order as long as they are in between the two runs. Murph is traditionally completed on Memorial Day every year. That gives you 4 months to prepare and make significant improvements to your physical fitness!

Blackshirts repping pull-ups 💪🏻

Texan Blackshirts trained this morning. Did you?

Blackshirts went to the Gym.

Make sure you are counting the macronutrients that you consume if you would like to improve your physique. Diet is equally as important as training and cannot be overlooked. In addition to eating healthily you must also avoid any excesses in your life such as alcohol. Although in moderation it is not unhealthy it is also detrimental to your physique. A proper diet for building muscle mass should include 1 gram of protein per body weight. You can still build muscle mass while cutting fat which would be a body recomposition which would be useful for most people if they are not yet in shape as it is important to build a good foundation. There are 4 calories in one gram of protein, 4 calories in one gram of carbs, and 9 calories in one gram of fat. You should also be avoiding any junk food like soda, chips, sweets, etc. in addition to it being detrimental due to its calorie count they contain many chemicals that inhibit natural testosterone production and increase estrogen which will contribute to poor physique. If you do not have the self control to take care of your body then you do not have the willpower to make any changes on any larger scale

With all of these exercises, some form of progressive overload must be applied. There are several different methods you can follow, but every time you perform a set of an exercise, you should either be adding weight or reps. This is technically a hypertrophy focused program, but you will absolutely gain strength if you train in this way. I would argue that for advanced athletes who have already become very competent with the primary four barbell lifts, this is actually a superior way to train for general strength unless you are planning on competing in powerlifting.

Day 2 BB row (Yates style) + behind the neck BB press x5 supersets DB Curls + EZ Bar pullovers x3 sets BB side bends x3 sets/ side Hammer Curls + hanging leg raises x3 supersets DB lateral raises x1 extended set of 30-40with rest pauses but not putting weight down Sandbag walking lunges 1x200 steps Day 3 BB Deadlift x2 submaximal sets + 1 amrap set with straps Incline Bench Press + weighted pull-ups x5 supersets Ring push-ups + DB lateral raises x3 supersets Unweighted GHD sit-ups + tricep pushdowns x3 supersets Day 4 Weighted ring dips + DB curls x5 supersets L-sit pull-ups + cable tricep extensions x3 sets Chest supported rear delt flyes x1 extended set Leg extensions x1 extended set Handstand push-ups + calf raises x3 supersets Day 5 Full clean and jerk x5 sets Hang power clean 5 min EMOM Chest supported DB row + incline DB bench x3 supersets Unweighted ring dips + ab wheel x 3 supersets

This is an advanced program that I have been following for several months consisting of 5 full body workout days. These days are meant to be rotated through three days per week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday). So the first week you do days 1,2, and 3 and pick up on day 4 the following Monday. This allows you plenty of recovery days or days to train other fitness attributes besides strength or hypertrophy. The program uses a lot of supersets in order to get a lot of work in each day so you will need a base of work capacity or you will be exceeding 2 hours in some of these workouts. There are also a lot of unconventional movements which I have determined to prioritize for myself personally, but you may choose to substitute other exercises. Day 1 Front Squats x 5 sets Barbell Guillotine Press + Weighted GHD sit-ups x 4 supersets Tricep Pushdowns + DB flyes x3 supersets Unweighted ring dips + BB hang snatch grip high pull x5 supersets

Finally, for most general athletes who need to train more than just strength, it might be best to do the above program just 3 days per week. Start your first week with days 1-3 and pick up the next week on day 4 and continue. This way you have a day in between each lifting day to fit in aerobic conditioning, sport specific stuff, and rest.

Other assistance work is all tertiary, as if all you have time for in the gym is to knock out the main 5-3-1 work and a 5 min BBB emom, then you can leave knowing you accomplished enough to create progress. But if you have time you can do some extra body building such as what I have in the above template. Just keep it to about 30 mins or less, no more than 3 sets per exercise, 8-15 reps per set. You could also go straight from your BBB sets into cardio if that is what you need. It’s all about individual priorities.

My favorite method for organizing secondary and assistance work to 5-3-1 is called 5-3-1 Boring But Big (BBB) and is recommended by the original program creator, Jim Wendler. This method allows you to hit each of the 4 lifts twice per training week. After your main 5-3-1 work, you do one of the other four lifts (I prefer to pair one of the presses with squat or deadlift so that ever day is full body, but it’s up to you) and do 5 sets of 10 at 50% to 60% of your training max. Since the weight is relatively light, you can even get some good conditioning out of this by turning it into a 5 minute EMOM where you do a set of ten at the top of each minute for 5 minutes.