ABC - The Book?

[pastortony]

Please don’t spoil the program.

Initial thoughts… I’m enjoying it, having only read through part 1. It’s wordy, but entertaining. Im glad to help out Dan John; I’ve learned so much from his videos! I just finished W1D1 and had a blast - it was my first time doing a double kb workout! I’m so exhausted. It’s insightful, but exactly what you’d expect. More ABC, which is a good thing!

I do wish he was more direct in things like finding your working weight, reps/set suggestions for the non-abc days. Hopefully that information is buried somewhere in section 2 or 3?

What’s everyone’s thoughts on the book? Also, do you need to read the barbell section if you only have kettlebells?

 

[dawes]

@pastortony So you have not finished reading it? Finish it, don't jump straight into the program.

Dan's work is not prescriptive, it's quite narrative, so it lets one adapt to their own life demands. This a book about building muscles for normal people, not athletes nor bodybuilders.
He provides however two targets to work towards (100 presses, 30 rounds of abc)

The way I have set it up for myself is on a bi-weekly schedule

• heavy abc 8 sets / volume see saw presses with lighter weights 10 sets of 6 workin up to 10x10
• heavy press 5x2,3 / volume abc with lighter weights starting at 15 sets
• each day, regardless, curls and pullups

 

[pastortony]

@dawes Yes I plan to finish reading it and I did workout 1 with the targets in mind. Unfortunately, I think I started a bit heavy. Just curious to see how others are doing the workout given some loose guidelines!

 

[jeanne7]

@pastortony I read the book. If you don't want to do barbell I don't think you really need to read that section but I did. There's a writeup here on the book:

https://www.reddit.com/r/weightroom/comments/1cxbxsb/book_review_dan_johns_the_armor_building_formula

 

[tamalyn]

@pastortony I got myself a copy, it was an interesting read. I've been thinking about the programme he provides and unfortunately feel it doesn't suit my needs right now. I can only train 3 times a week. For those 3 sessions, I do ABCs with Lenny's waving density programming. It has been steadily increasing my strength and size, as well as my conditioning/work capacity/cardio or whatever you want to call it. I feel the latter would take a hit if I were to switch. However, if/when things change and I am able to do 5/6 days a week, I think it'd be a great programme to run alongside some dedicated cardio/conditioning days.

There's a nugget of wisdom in there regarding the diminishing returns of putting more and more hours into training that I found quite valuable. If I'd have read that years ago I'd have avoided a good deal of FOMO and anxiety over my training not being enough, especially years ago when I did bodybuilding style weight training.

 

[pastortony]

@tamalyn I really enjoyed his perspective on diminishing returns as well. Kinda reminds me of the 80/20 rule.

 

[lfedora]

@pastortony I just completed week 1, but with a single kettlebell. I'm traveling. Week 2 I'll start with double kettlebells. I'm happy that the program as written is flexible enough for me to be able to do that.

The non-ABC days would be the press days, right? I thought he gave at least a couple rep schemes, like the 2, 3, 5, 10, repeat.

And you're supposed to take the first two weeks of the program to figure out the appropriate weight, and to view everything as 'practice.' So if you can't do 10 reps on the press, go lighter next time. If it seems too light, go heavier next time. You have two weeks to figure it out.