By John Scott Stevens, SFGII

Once again, I’m not a fan of W.O.D.s or Workouts of the Day. Instead I prefer to stick with a few movements and hit them hard for several weeks using a program  then use a “WOD” as an occasional test to measure progress.
What follows is a nice challenging & heavy change of pace workout inspired by Dan John’s “Big 55” featured on T-Nation. My personal twist is to use slightly heavier weights and either use this as an occasional test or as a 6-12 week program.  Give it a shot and let me know what you think.

• This workout uses heavier weights and has a 45 minute time limit.
• Pick three lifts and choose a 5RM – 8RM weight for each and complete 25 total reps of each movement using sets of 2,3 or 5 reps. Example: 5,2,3,5,2,3,5
  • Two lifts should be grinds
  • One lift should be an explosive or ballistic lift
  • One of the three lifts should intentionally be a lift that is not your favorite. In other words, it is particularly challenging for you and addresses a weakness.
  • Pick lifts that compliment each other in such a way that each lift is a form of active rest from the other two. Sample technique selections:
    • Barbell Military Press + Double Kettlebell Clean & Front Squats
    • Bent Press Left + Bent Press Right + Double Kettlebell Snatch
    • Barbell Deadlift + Kettlebell Clean & Press Left + Kettlebell Clean & press Right
    • Double Kettlebell Push Press + Renegade Rows
    • Bench Press + Zercher Squats + Double Kettlebell Swings ( feel free to use a 10RM weight on swings and double the reps for the swings)

• Rest enough between sets to feel strong and complete the next set with excellent form but no so much as to cool down.
• Don’t be a slave to the numbers. Stop each set short of failure and leave at least one perfect rep in the bank.
• When you can complete the workout progress to one of the following:
  • repeat the workout and compress your rest periods
  • When you can’t compress the rest periods any more…
    replace one or more sets of 2,3 with one set of 5 until you can complete 5 sets of 5.

• When you can do 5×5 compress the rest periods again.
• When you can’t compress the rest periods, move up in weight and start anew.