The Strength and Honor Workout at Rich Man’s Gym will combine Escalating Density Training and German Volume Training. “Strength and honor.” This is a line from the movie Gladiator and the foundation of the Strength and Honor Workout at Rich Man’s Gym. At Rich Man’s Gym, we train not just for strength of the body, but of the mind and spirit as well. It is my deepest belief that you can build strength in all three aspects of existence with the proper conditioning of the body. The following routine has been carefully designed to strengthen and empower your body, mind and spirit.
Take a moment to examine who you are. Ask yourself, and honestly answer this question: Is there a place in your life where you are lacking strength and honor? Are you not being honorable somewhere? Is there something you KNOW you need to do? Is there something you need to stop doing? Is it possible that you believe you lack the strength to accomplish or handle a matter at hand? This can be as serious as alcoholism or adultery. It can also just be about you finally calling that girl, pitching your boss on a raise, getting your dream job, finally stopping smoking (shameless plug) or biting your nails…
Where do you need more honor in your life? Where are you weak and/or dishonorable? None of us are perfect, we all have flaws and challenges. We all, however, have this amazing strength and power of will and decision. Strength and willpower are congruent in the fact that they need training. You must anchor the strength you get from conditioning the body to the rest of your life.
Your challenge here within the Strength and Honor Workout at Rich Man’s Gym is to do just that. Use this routine to build a strong body that can withstand the demands of daily life and honor it’s creator while forging the heart of a warrior and discipline of a monk.
I want to make sure you to take these challenges as your own. This program will be laid out according to two main lifts that you will pick. One lift will need to be a pressing movement and the other lift will be a squatting type of movement.
NOTE FOR THE “WEAK” ONES READING THIS > If this means your overhead pressing a can of diet coke in each hand and your squat is literally you sitting down and standing back up again, so be it! The point here is the Strength and Honor Workout is about YOU getting stronger. Both physically AND mentally. Some people get this weird idea in their head that they have to already be fit to go to the gym. While a complete falsehood, I get it. The Strength and Honor Workout and Rich Man’s Gym allows you a safe place to train and build the strength you need to let the real you out.
WHY A PRESS AND A SQUAT? Keep in mind, we’re working on a synergistic, big picture, total strength package. The pressing movement is to represent yourself and any connection with might have with a higher power. By pressing, squatting and raising your arms and body skyward you will be doing a few things within that. #1) You will be lifting yourself up #2) When it’s getting hard, you will solicit a spot from the man upstairs. You push and he (or she, sorry Lakshmi) will pull. Obviously this is figurative, but if you’ve ever faced a significant challenge in you’re life, you will agree with me, that at some point you need to let go and let God. For the Christians reading this, the lifts will allow you to give Jesus your burden. For you Christians in the South, think “Jesus take the wheel.” The squatting motion is also about you standing up for yourself. Every repetition is you standing tall. Be rooted, humble and connected to the ground. There is something in your life weighing you down. You know exactly what that is. Now, stand up! Stand up for you! This is your life. You are truly free to choose your path. Whatever it is that you’ve been allowing to keep you down, it’s time to stand up and fight.
THE ROUTINE: The Strength and Honor workout will be broken down into small accomplishments with the one main goal. For the two main lifts, the Squat and the Press, the main goal will be 10 sets of 10 repetitions with a weight that, when you started, would have been straight up impossible.
This 10 sets of 10 reps is also known as German Volume Training. GVT was Developed in the 70’s and made famous by guys looking to pack on some serious muscle and was popularized in the 90’s by Coach Charles Poliquin. Escalating Density Training (EDT) was designed by a different Charles, Charles Staley with the intention to get as much work done in a given period of time only to return next time and do just a little more.
The Strength and Honor Workout will start you off with Escalating Density Training and then morph into German Volume Training.
First step is to pick your press and your squat. For me, I choose the Double Kettlebell Military Press and the Double Kettlebell Front Squat. Other choices based on fitness levels and experience can be Deep Knee Bends and Push Ups. There’s the soup can press and box squat. You can go Bench Press and Back Squat. You can do Hindu Squats and Hindu Push Ups if that makes sense to you. Point is, You’ve got LOTS of choices here.
Part One: Escalating Density Training.
The Strength and Honor Workout will consist of a warm up, the main lift, the finisher and a cool down.
There will be two workouts you will alternate between. One day will focus on the Press and the other day will focus on the Squat. There will be a couple supplemental drills included as well, but essentially, you’ll want to see how much work you can do with excellent, near perfect form in 20 minutes.
From the article 101 Kettlebell Workouts Part 3: Introducing Escalating Density Training, “Here’s the gist of it. Take 2 opposing muscle groups and select one compound exercise that targets that area. Alternate between the exercises for as many sets as you can do in a given period of time. Which is usually for 15-20 minutes. This is, as Coach Staley puts it, your “PR Zone.”
The opposing drill or lift will be a pull up. If you’re not ready for pull ups, no problem. Go get a book called “Convict Conditioning” by another “Coach” named Paul Wade and find the pull up movement closest to your ability. Trust me on this, it will be in there. Same goes for the squat and the press.
So on one day, you will alternate between a press and a pull up for 20 minutes and then on the other day it will be a squat and a pull up for 20 minutes. After the first part, you will do a “finisher,” then stretch out a bit before calling it a day.
Based on my training journal, here’s how the two workouts will look.
Strength and Honor Workout Day One:
- Warm Up: (highly recommend Super Joints by Pavel Tsatsouline)
- Main Lifts: Double 24 kg Kettlebell Military Press alternated with Pull Ups for 20 minutes
- Finisher: 40kg Kettlebell Swings 12 minutes as many sets of 10 as possible (at 10 x 10 add 2 reps)
- Cool Down: 5 Hanging Leg Raises + 5 Cobra/Pump Stretch + Hip Flexor Stretch 5 circuits
Strength and Honor Workout Day Two:
- Warm Up: (highly recommend Super Joints by Pavel Tsatsouline)
- Main Lifts: Double 24 kg Kettlebell Front Squat alternated with Pull Ups for 20 minutes
- Finisher: Kettlebell Burpees 12 minutes max as many sets of 10 as possible (at 10 x 10 add 2 reps)
- Cool Down: 5 Hanging Leg Raises + 5 Cobra/Pump Stretch + Hip Flexor Stretch 5 circuits
Volume Goal:
Well, ultimately it’s 10 sets of 10 in the main lifts. Now getting that handled right in 20 minutes is probably NOT a reality. Especially if the load (weight) is a challenging one. There’s also a principle I want to instill on you now. That principle is “finish stronger.” I learned this from Pavel Tsatsouline. You want to finish your session feeling stronger than when you started, not weaker, not completely destroyed. The way we’re going to implement the volume here is going to be giving you little victories every time.
- Set a goal based on a piece of the big goal,
- Establish a base line,
- Push for the goal,
- Hit the goal,
- Establish a new base line and
- Repeat until ultimate goal has been reached.
Any chance you could apply this to other areas of life? Why little victories? If you’re loosing right now, if you’re not in a place of honor, that is effecting your self image and what you believe you are worth. If you feel like a looser, you need to start winning and start winning fast. And this isn’t “Charlie Sheen” winning, this is you being better today than you were yesterday.
For example, on day one, after you warm up, you set the timer (I use a Gymboss and LOVE IT) for 20 minutes. See how many sets of 3 you can get. Do 3 presses followed by 3 pull ups. Take a short breather and repeat. Do that for 20 minutes. At the end of the 20 minutes, did you do at least 10 sets? If so, on your next workout, the challenge is how many sets of 4 can you do in 20 minutes. Then how many sets of 5 can you do in the same 20 minutes. See how this is going?
Part Two: Insert GERMAN VOLUME TRAINING
At some point, you will be at a place where 20 minutes and good form will not go together. Form first, so add time. This is where German Volume Training transitions in. Time will take the back seat and the concentration should be on good to perfect form and volume. Keep in mind, the main goal is 10 sets of 10. You can still have the timer going if that helps, but you’ll want to go to 30 minute sessions, then 40, and eventually peak at 50 minutes. Meaning, you should be able to get 10 sets of 10 in 50 minutes. That’s plenty of time. If you take 1 minute to do your press/squats, another minute for pull ups and then rest for 2 minutes, that’s 4 minutes a set. So 50 minutes gives you ample time.
The challenge will be to stick this out, stay on target and stay committed. This is about strength AND honor.
THE FINISHER
Finish the strength and honor workout with Swings and Burpees. Hate me now, thank me later! After the two main lifts, I will challenge you to finish yourself off with either Swings or Burpees. The Swings should follow the Press/Pull Up session and the Burpees should follow the Squat/Pull session.
- Swing goal: 200 swings in 12 minutes with a heavy bell
- Burpee goal: 100 burpees in 12 minutes
For those who are not ready for burpees and swings, please substitute Jumping Jacks. As many as you can in 12 minutes. Record your first attempt, add a few more next time, keep at until you’re ready to tackle the Burpee. For the mutants who stumbled on this, you can bump that burpee volume if you need too…
Wrap it up with some stretching and hanging leg raises and call it a day.
Again, I am trusting you to adjust the intensity and loading to your level. Push yourself. I think Ice Cube has a solid argument here when he says, “check yourself before you wreck yourself.”
FREQUENCY
Muscle grows and repairs itself when you’re at rest. Strength, on the other hand is a skill. Skills must be maintained and practiced. Every other day would make an agreeable target for you. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, then back to Monday. You may find yourself needing more recovery time and if that’s the case, stick with every other day, but add an active recovery workout in between the two main sessions.
Active recovery workouts are challenging, but not even close to the two main workouts. For me active recovery can look like Turkish Get Ups, Indian Club work and a run along the beach. Active recovery for you could be a pick up game a basketball, 9 holes of golf or a bike ride. Anything to get the blood flowing, heart pumping without killing yourself. My current active recovery workout consists of me practicing the one legged squat (other wise known as the pistol) and snatch work with a 16 kg bell.
THAT’S A WRAP
So, to sum up The Strength and Honor Workout:
- Pick one squat movement
- Pick one press movement
- Add a pull up variation
- Select a challenging weight/load
- One workout is for squats and pull ups, the other presses and pull ups
- Get as much work done as possible in 20 minutes
- Transition into working towards 10 sets of 10 reps in 50 minutes
- Train smart and hard
- Anchor your strength and commitment to all areas of your life
- Lift yourself up, stand up for yourself, and allow a little providence in your life
- LIVE with Strength and Honor