Here's what I found in one of Dan John's old "Get Up!" Newsletters. May be helpful for those who want to attempt the 40 day program
Volume III, Issue 9
February 2005
Get Up! The Official Newsletter of the Lifting and Throwing Page
6
The “Forty Days†Workout
Editor in Cheap
Have you ever heard something so simple, yet so “right,†that you literally
can’t wait to try it? My good buddy, Greg Watson…a young upcoming
hammer thrower…had gone back east to the Yuri Sedyck hammer clinic. When we met up in Las Vegas, he opened my eyes to a concept that simply staggered me in its “rightness."
Last summer, as Get Up!, readers may recall, I spent a week learning the
hammer from Sedyck…the world record holder. No, I’m not any good, but one thing I have learned in life should be
worthy of consideration: always, always listen at the knee of a master. Any master…any field…trust me, you will learn.
The technical stuff is important, but Greg came back with a real training
gem…the forty day workout. No, you don’t workout for forty straight days,
instead, well, let’s talk.
The key is this: for the next forty days, maybe eight weeks in total if you take two days a week off, you are going to
work out.
No surprises, so far. But, here is the difference…for the next forty days, you are going to do the EXACT same workout.
Hang on…didn’t Pavel just finish telling us that we should also adjust our training with the variation mantra of “same, but
different.†Yes, but didn’t he also tell us to “Grease the Groove?â€
Here is the program:
• Pick four to six exercises in the weightroom.
• Pick a “couple†of drills, if you are a thrower or other athlete
• Pick a throwing routine.
Now, each and every day: do it. Start light, light, light and simply add weight whenever the bar starts feeling too easy.
Each day, tick off one more off of the total count of
forty workouts. Think “Day One of Forty†or “Day
Fourteen of Forty.†No single workout is the end
all or be all of training. At the end, test yourself by competing. If you improved, you “chose wisely.â€
Examples? Sure, here is “part†of what I am doing:
Lifting
Romanian Deadlifts:
3 sets of 3 or 2 sets of 5
Incline Bench Press:
3 sets of 3 or 2 sets of 5
Chin ups:
3-5 sets of a few reps less than failure
“Isometric Abs†L-Sits or Hanging
Raises
Sneak these up to a minute…
In addition, I do the Ab Wheel and
Kettlebell Snatches in the mornings.
Throwing
Discus Drills…Nickersons, One Ball
Drill, Tech work
Snow is an issue, so I do break from the perfect system because of
weather. If I can, I try to follow a simple scheme of throws, but…until the
weather breaks and the sun is out when I get home…this isn’t perfect.
The upside of this training idea is that there is no single great workout or
lousy workout. It is simply “one†of forty.
Is it working? Well, Paul Northway donated an Incline Bench to the Institute this last autumn and I began this experiment. I decided that a 300 pound Incline Bench…with no spotters and no lift off…would be a worthy goal. Every day, for about eight weeks, I did “around†ten reps. I started with some ugly reps with 165 pounds and only
raised the weights on the bar when it felt “light.†On December 14, by myself in freezing temperatures, I benched 300 for
a double…easy. All I did for eight weeks is gently add
weight when I felt like it. My goal had been reached about six months early.
The other “members†of the Forty Day Club are reporting similar results.
What if you don’t have Forty Days. Try the idea with simply Ten or Twenty
Days. Mentally, this is a rather refreshing workout…no one day is good
or bad, it is simply one more brick on the building.
One quote that Dan likes to use is from Dan Gable: (From here:
http://www.davedraper.com/fusionbb/fbbu ... Method.pdf)
"If it is important, do it every day. If it's not important, don't do it at all."
To me this sums up the "Everyday Systems" concept.
-Dan