Sebastian Strobl

Tag: fitness

  • Unlocking Strength and Simplicity: The Power of the “One Lift a Day” Program

    Unlocking Strength and Simplicity: The Power of the “One Lift a Day” Program

    In the vast world of strength training, few names command the respect and admiration that Dan John does. A legendary figure in the realms of fitness and strength, Dan John has spent decades mastering the art and science of training, distilling that knowledge into practical wisdom that can be applied by anyone, from elite athletes to busy professionals. His straightforward, no-nonsense approach to strength training has made him a sought-after coach, author, and speaker. One of his most enduring contributions to the fitness world is the “One Lift a Day” program—a minimalist yet highly effective routine that speaks directly to those of us whose lives are full to the brim but who still want to prioritize our health and strength.

    Who Is Dan John?

    Dan John is not just another voice in the fitness industry; he is a coach with a rich history of competitive success and decades of experience helping people achieve their fitness goals. A former elite-level discus thrower and Olympic weightlifting competitor, Dan John has translated his athletic experience into practical training methodologies that cater to a broad audience. His work spans over 40 years, during which he has authored several books, delivered countless seminars, and trained thousands of athletes. His approach is rooted in simplicity, consistency, and the understanding that the best training plan is the one that fits seamlessly into your life, especially when life itself is anything but seamless.

    The “One Lift a Day” Program: A Lifeline for the Busy Professional

    Life is busy—there’s no denying it. Between demanding careers, family responsibilities, and the myriad of other commitments that fill our days, finding time for an hour or more at the gym can seem impossible. Enter the “One Lift a Day” program—a strength training routine that Dan John crafted with the busy professional in mind. This program distills your workout down to its most essential element, allowing you to maintain and even improve your strength with minimal time investment.

    The premise is simple: each day, you focus on just one lift. That’s right—one lift per day. This might sound too simple to be effective, but it’s precisely this simplicity that makes the program so powerful. When life gets demanding, and time is at a premium, the “One Lift a Day” approach allows you to stay consistent with your training, even when you can only carve out 15-20 minutes at a time.

    Why It Works

    The brilliance of the “One Lift a Day” program lies in its focus on Minimum Effective Dose (MED). This concept is about doing the least amount of work required to elicit a positive change in your strength and fitness levels. In a world that often equates more with better, this program flips the script by emphasizing quality over quantity. By honing in on one lift, you can give it your full attention, perfect your form, and push yourself to the limit without worrying about conserving energy for the next exercise.

    Another key advantage of this program is its adaptability. Whether you’re training in a fully equipped gym, a home gym, or even a hotel fitness center with limited options, the “One Lift a Day” program can be tailored to suit your environment. All you really need is access to a barbell, dumbbells, or even just your body weight, and you’re good to go. This makes it an excellent choice for those who travel frequently or have unpredictable schedules.

    Structuring Your “One Lift a Day” Program

    The “One Lift a Day” program typically runs over a 5-day cycle, focusing on different movement patterns each day. Here’s a sample structure:

    1. Monday: Bench Press or Incline Bench Press
      Start your week with a powerful push movement. The bench press or incline bench press targets the chest, shoulders, and triceps, making it an essential lift for upper body strength.
    2. Tuesday: Row or Row Variation
      Follow up with a pull movement like the barbell row or another row variation. This complements the push from Monday and targets the back, biceps, and rear deltoids, ensuring balanced development.
    3. Wednesday: Squat
      Midweek is dedicated to the king of all lifts—the squat. This full-body exercise primarily targets the quads, glutes, and lower back, but it also engages the core and upper body, making it indispensable for overall strength.
    4. Thursday: Off
      Take a well-deserved rest day to allow your body to recover from the intense lifting earlier in the week.
    5. Friday: Military Press
      End your workweek with the military press, focusing on shoulder strength and stability. This overhead press movement also engages the triceps and core, contributing to upper body power.
    6. Saturday (Fun Day): Curl, Deadlift, Whatever
      Saturday can be an optional “fun day” where you tackle whatever lift or exercise you feel like, whether it’s bicep curls, deadlifts, or any other movement you enjoy. This day is more flexible, allowing you to add variety or focus on any areas you want to give extra attention.

    This structure allows for a well-rounded approach to building strength, focusing on major compound lifts that engage multiple muscle groups. It also provides enough recovery time between heavy lifts, ensuring you can perform at your best each session.

    Reps and Sets Scheme

    To maximize the effectiveness of the “One Lift a Day” program, Dan John recommends a specific reps and sets scheme that evolves over the course of four weeks. Each week is designed to build on the previous one, gradually increasing intensity while managing volume to avoid burnout. Here’s how you can structure your training:

    Week One: 7 Sets of 5

    In the first week, you’ll perform seven sets of five reps for your chosen lift. This is a challenging workout, especially when performing big lifts like squats, bench presses, deadlifts, or overhead presses. To manage the intensity, Dan John suggests using a “wave” approach with your weight selection:

    • Set 1: 225 lbs for five reps
    • Set 2: 245 lbs for five reps
    • Set 3: 265 lbs for five reps
    • Set 4: 275 lbs for five reps (a tough lift, may not be able to get another set at this weight)
    • Set 5: 235 lbs for five reps (a refreshing drop in intensity)
    • Set 6: 255 lbs for five reps (a challenging but manageable set)
    • Set 7: Either 275 lbs or 285 lbs, depending on your energy and spotter availability

    For added intensity, especially with squats or bench presses, consider incorporating explosive movements immediately after your set, such as jumps for height or explosive push-ups. This combination has a powerful impact on both strength and conditioning.

    Week Two: 6 Sets of 3

    In the second week, you’ll reduce the volume to six sets of three reps. This week is designed to be about 50% of the volume of Week One, but you should aim to increase the weight slightly. The reduction in reps allows you to lift heavier while still maintaining focus and intensity.

    Week Three: 5-3-2

    Week Three introduces a 5-3-2 set and rep scheme, where the double at the end of your session is treated as a near-max effort. This week is an opportunity to push your limits while ensuring that your technique remains solid. The 5-3-2 scheme is particularly effective because it encourages you to go heavy while still maintaining control.

    Week Four: Off!

    After three weeks of progressively challenging workouts, Week Four is all about recovery. Take this week off to allow your body to fully recover and prepare for the next cycle. Although it may be tempting to skip the rest week, it’s crucial for preventing burnout and ensuring long-term progress.

    Perfect for Home Gyms and Travel

    For those with home gyms or who travel frequently, the “One Lift a Day” program is especially practical. The minimal equipment required means you don’t need to invest in a vast array of gear. A basic setup with a barbell, some weights, and a squat rack will cover almost everything you need. Even in a well-equipped hotel gym, you’ll likely find enough to complete a workout—if not, your body weight can always be used creatively. The simplicity of this program makes it ideal for maintaining consistency, no matter where you are.

    Why This Is Sufficient for Strength and Health Goals

    At first glance, the “One Lift a Day” program might seem too minimalist to address all aspects of fitness. However, its focus on heavy, compound lifts—such as squats, deadlifts, and presses—ensures that you’re working multiple muscle groups and improving your overall strength. These multi-joint exercises are incredibly effective for building muscle, which in turn increases your metabolic rate and helps you burn more calories even at rest. This shift in metabolic rate due to increased muscle mass is a key factor in long-term fat loss and weight management.

    Moreover, while the program doesn’t include traditional cardiovascular exercises, the intense nature of the lifts, particularly when performed with heavy weights and minimal rest, offers substantial cardiovascular benefits. Exercises like the back squat and deadlift require significant exertion, which elevates your heart rate and improves cardiovascular conditioning. This kind of strength training not only builds muscle but also supports heart health and enhances overall fitness.

    Conclusion

    Dan John’s “One Lift a Day” program is a testament to the power of simplicity in strength training. When life gets hectic and time becomes a precious commodity, this program offers a way to stay strong, healthy, and consistent without the need for elaborate routines or extensive time commitments. By focusing on the essentials and embracing the concept of Minimum Effective Dose, you can continue making progress even in the busiest of times. Remember, it’s not the duration, variation, or complexity of your workouts that lead to success—it’s the hard work, focus, and consistency that make all the difference.

  • 20 lessons from 20 years of lifting

    20 lessons from 20 years of lifting

    I started lifting weights back in 2004, the year I graduated school and my focus shifted from playing CounterStrike and StarCraft to girls and partying. Originally I started to lose the last bit off fluff around the waist (former fat kid syndrome) so I joined up in the next best gym and did your typical bro-split for the first few weeks and months to follow.

    Lucky me, the owner of the gym I joined was a former bodybuilding competitor and took my friends and me somewhat under his wings and showed us the ropes. 6 months to the future, I was fully immersed in the bodybuilding lifestyle, reading every piece of information I could get my hands on from team team-andro, to t-nation, to the tan tight slacks of dezso ban and a lot of books, from Stuart McRobert to Arnold’s encyclopedia. Bought creating, protein powders L-carnitin, BCAAs and mostly everything else that was marketed to give you an edge.

    That went on throughout my time in university, mainly focusing on bodybuilding, before getting a real life (aka 50+ hour job, a wife, two kids and a dog) when training time took a backseat. Then I started dipping into more of the low volume stuff, powerlifting, what the oldtimers did (e.g. odd lifts) and learned some olympic weightlifting (thanks to Dan John).

    So, if you made it this far into my blogpost. Here are the 20 lessons I learned and try to apply moving forward.

    1. Strength, the skill that compounds

    Being strong will make every other endeavor in life easier. Want to throw your kids around in the pool, be strong. Need to move, or help someone to move, be strong. Want to be able to play with your grandkids and great grandkids, stay strong as long as possible. Want to feel confident, be strong. Want clothes to fit you perfectly get stronger. You get the idea I guess.

    2. 10,000 hours to be truly competent

    No matter if it’s learning how to squat properly, feeling the muscles while training them, autoregulating frequency, intensity and overall volume. It will take time to learn those things, might be close or even over 10,000 hours. With 3 strength training sessions a week and round about 90 minutes per workout mastery will only come after 42 years. This does not mean, that you can only reach your dream appearance or strength level when turning 80.

    3. Start out young and you will get laid

    It will set you apart on the dating market, if you are carrying more muscle and are generally leaner. It might even make it easier to find your soulmate. All fluffy talk aside, attraction is always first and foremost based on outside appearance. You can have the greatest character of all time, if you look like the Hunchback of Notredam you will most likely not get the girl in the end of your personal fairytale.

    4. Motivation is overrated, so is having a plan

    Don’t get me wrong, use 5/3/1 or starting strength or Madcow’s 5by5 or any other linear periodization scheme you discovered in the interwebs. But 20 years down the road, it just will not matter. Consistency is the only thing, that will. So if you go full on CrossFit, but burn out after a year or two and never touch any weights ever again, the bro-split guy that did his thing for 20+ years will be fitter and looking better.

    5. Progress is not linear, at least not for long

    There will be periods of time where you can increase the weight on the bar from workout to workout or week to week and there will be time where you can see your arms growing in the mirror. Followed by a stretch of time where nothing at all happens, but looking back to old images of 2-5 years ago, the difference might be astonishing.

    6. Try the fad diet or fad workout

    If it keeps you going in the long run, try the “how Daniel Craig trained to be James Bond” workout or the 2 weeks pickled cucumber water fast. Try as many things out as you can, as long as you have fun with it and do it for 2 to 4 weeks, to see if it has any impact, be it positive or negative. Adjust from there.

    7. I tend to always come back to the basics

    There is a reason for squat, deadlift and benchpress being the core of any power lifting meeting and any sane training plan as well. Try stuff out, but come back to the tried and true exercises ever so often. Make adjustments dependent on your age, level of fitness or injury history.

    8. Prioritize rest as you get older

    You might not be able to train twice a day, seven days a week, once you have a career and a family and all the stress that goes with it. If your 22, only starting out and still in school, training or university, or if you have rich parents and will never need to work any real job, double down on training and eat like there is no tomorrow.

    9. You are rotting, try to stop or reverse it

    Once turning 40 it will become obvious, how is strength training and how is not. Posture, skin tone, cardiovascular capacity & general immune function will tell. Get strong, be strong, get even stronger, reverse aging & set yourself apart from your peers.

    10. Bodybuilding is 100% lifting and 100% diet

    This statement might be the best version of all the nuances regarding what is more important in the quest for size and strength. But only because the two are equally important does not mean, there is no room for errors or life to happen. 20% of your efforts will be getting you to 80% of outcomes, which is mostly enough. So instead of doing 123 exercises for biceps, do some pull ups, but with real effort. The 80/20 rule is reversible as well, so try to have >80% of your meals composed of the 20% of foods that will give you the protein and fat you need to thrive. Be committed 80% of the time, and life in the other 20%.

    11. No need to track everything all the time

    Track food and workouts for some periods in time and you will be able to eyeball it in periods where training and looking great naked is not the main focus of your time on earth. Don’t feel bad if you haven’t tracked anything and slacked off for quite some while. As long as you are making healthy choices in the kitchen and staying active with your workouts you are way ahead.

    12. Supplements make your wallet lean

    Coming back to 80/20, it’s just not worth it. Instead of mixing a protein shake, buy a ball of mozzarella or a slice of chickenbreast or what ever else will give you roughly 20g of protein. Eat real food, that our ancestors might have identified as food.

    13. Minimize friction as you age & priorities shift

    Homegym anyone? If you are already overcommitted chances are, you will not commute to the gym, get into your workout clothes, train there in the post-work crowdedness, shower and drive all the way home. If you equipment is already at home you can either have additional time training, or additional time for whatever else you enjoy doing. Hang a pull up bar somewhere in the house and do a couple of those every time you pass that door frame.

    14. Training will set you apart from your peers

    The difference might not be as visible in your 20, when everyone has been playing sports for the better part of their childhood, but it will be very noticeable once you are in your fourties and have kids and the difference will be enormous once you reach retirement age.

    15. Not everybody is a fitness model

    Once you start becoming interested in bodybuilding, powerlifting, strongmen or whatever, the algorithm will show you an endless amount of people that look like they were carved from stone. Don’t become discouraged, look around in university, in the office, workshop or on the construction site or wherever you might be reading this (I hope for you it’s a beach), if you train your are already looking better than >90% of the population

    16. Your “looking good naked” will evolve

    While you might be focused on having a sixpack in the beginning, like I was this will shift as you evolve, some will go down the powerbuilding routing trying to look as strong as possible, sacrificing leanness, some will want to look like their favorite Hollywood actor or maybe your are just happy if you have no cellulitis or dumps in your skin and everything is firm.

    17. Don’t buy into the lifestyle niche

    There is more to life than training and carrying Tupperware full of chicken and rice with you everywhere you go. Your time here is gone in the blink of an eye, enjoy the days you have. Have some fun, but try to stop the fun once it is severely impacting your health.

    18. Drink more water, beer also helps

    As Arnold mentioned, milk is for babies, if you want to grown, you have to drink beer. Jokes aside, chances are you need to drink a big glass of water right now, go and drink something.

    19. It’s not a religion, don’t become dogmatic

    Do some HIT, some CrossFit, some powerlifting, some odd object lifting, some bro split. Try everything and adopt what works for you. Don’t become engaged in discussion over the internet, what is the right cadence for what lift. You know, arguing over the internet is like starting in the Paralympics, even if you win, you are still disabled.

    20. Love the process and yourself

    Don’t expect wonders to happen over night, enjoy the huffing and puffing, the sweating the eyeballs pushing out of your skull during some heavy high intensity training. Become addicted to this feeling and to the pump afterwards. Stay training for as long as you are able to move, it will improve every other aspect of your life.

    Cut yourself some slack, not every nanosecond of your day needs to be optimized.

  • So you ran yourself into the ground?

    So you ran yourself into the ground?

    So you wear eager on following through with your high intensity high volume approach, but somehow life got in the way. Kids birthday, working overtime, stressful projects, a vacation trip or even just a cold. Sometimes life has a habit of throwing panned or unplanned stuff at us, that tend to derail our efforts in the quest for size, strength and cuts.

    So maybe you tried really hard to workout 3-5 times a week, and everything was running smoothly for 2 or even 3 weeks, but for most of us, fully committed adults with kids one of the following things happens:

    • You run out of steam and get sick/tired
    • Your schedule implodes and training needs to take a setback

    But don‘t be to hard on yourself, those high commitment fitness routines are not really meant for you. Think of small spurts and enjoy them as long as they keep working. You can always throttle back a little, without losing progress and even continuing to progress along the way, if you change things up a bit and keep the effort high.

    I suggest you check out the writings of Stuart McRobert (Beyond Brawn) or Martin Berkhan form leangains.com or even Dan John’s blog. You can easily make progress no matter if on a diet or tying to bulk up, with just 2 to 3 short sessions in the week.

    High intensity, low volume training on an abbreviated routine that is. So for the zines when life is extra demanding, cut training days and training time but up the intensity and the weight lifted to get the most out of it.

    Exercise selection will be key, so I encourage you to look for one push and one pulling movement in the two major planes for upper and lower body and distribute those out evenly over two to three workout days.

    How does that look like? I‘ll give you two examples, so for a 3 day split routine, like leangains it might look somewhat like:

    Monday:

    • Deadlift 3 sets 5 to 8 reps
    • Standing Shoulder press 3 sets 8 to 12 reps

    Wednesday

    • Benchpress 3 sets 5 to 8 reps
    • Rowing movement 3 sets 8 to 12 reps

    Friday

    • Squat 3 sets 8 to 12 reps
    • Pullups (weighted) 3 sets 8 to 12 reps

    For me at least, I like to keep reps in deadlifts and benchpresses low, and the other exercises a bit higher, since it tends to feel good, but you might be different. Try it for 2 to 3 weeks, see if you can get stronger and how you feel, then adjust for the next 3 week block. High repetition benching hurts my rotator cuff more, than moving bigger weights for example. But low reps squats fry my my lower back completely, while I have no issue doing heavy singles in the deadlift. What can I say, touching 40 so maybe it’s good thing that nothing needed surgery just yet.

    If three days feel like a bit too Abiturient, even if you are only working out 30 minutes each session, you can always go with twice a week, think one of those days on the weekend, where you might have some time to yourself.

    Could look like this:

    Day one

    • Deadlift
    • Benchpress
    • Rowing movement

    Day two

    • Squat
    • Pull-up
    • Overhead press

    With 3 sets per exercise and 3 to 5 minutes rest, you should be out of the gym in under 45 minutes still.

    And of course, if you have a little extra time, or extra energy you can always add two exercises for arms per week, but don‘t let it impact the major movements!

    And with that, enjoy your lifting, give it a shot.

    There are a lot of ways to skin a cat. Main focus should be, to be in it for a lifetime!

  • Most things in life are like a marathon..

    Most things in life are like a marathon..

    ..they say at least.

    But I think that’s fundamentally wrong. Sure to everything that has some kind of outcome worthwhile, consistency is key. There is no doubt bout that. Even coming back to the marathon, how good will you be, if you did it once in a lifetime, unprepared?

    For sure you have to train consistently. But how do you train? Low intensity every day for an endless amount of time? I‘m not big on running but I suggest there is some kind of periodization, starting low volume low effort and peaking with maximum effort and huge volume, before some days of rest towards your competition.

    So I would argue everything worthwhile in life is like training for the 100m dash. High intensity, for short total daily duration over the course of a lifetime. Take rest before burning out, the ease back into the grind and give it your all every day for extended amounts of time.

    Be it a FIY project at home, crammed into a weekend or over the course of a vacation week. Be it the big project at work, the presentation you have to give to a customer, your sales pitch, that you have to deliver. You take spurts of deep focused work on the topic for some limited amount of time. Then your competition, evaluation, talk or whatever rolls around, you perform to the best of your abilities and your done, decompressing and resting before taking on the next major thing.

    This applies to mostly everything, think relationships, what’s more sustainable and will foster the deeper relationships? Small daily bursts of complete focus on the other person, or some shallow clinging to each other, while mindlessly scrolling the gram oder watching Netflix?

    And of course, more is oftentimes better, until it stops working or even backfires. Think minimum effective dose in training. Same principle can be used with everything you do. The meal you prepare will not be tasting better if you cram too much sophisticated sounding ingredients in it. Have some fat in it to carry the taste, some protein for being satiated and some seasoning/ spices and your good.

    Next time you start doing something, think of the sprint vs marathon analogy and then give it your all for a pre defined period. Afterwards give it your all to recover, rest or selfcare and then start refreshed into the next task.

    And please, don‘t take things too seriously!

  • On training down or how to get shredded for the summer

    On training down or how to get shredded for the summer

    With nearly endless information on the topic floating around the internet, why exactly should you bother reading yet another article on losing weight for the summer body and acquiring outstanding definition?

    Since there is nothing new under the sun, I want to recap a training regime that not only worked for hundreds of people including famous movie actors of several decades, but also worked quite well for me in different decades of my life. So let‘s start of with paying respects to the man who told Arnold the following straight to the face, right after Joe Weider brought him over to the US.

    You look like a at fuck to me

    I‘m obviously talking about the iron guru himself, Vince Gironda, how not only trained the first Mr. Olympia ever but a boatload of other bodybuilders and Hollywood actors and didn‘t look to shabby himself up till old age.

    So what’s the method, to get into shape the fastet way possible? Easy: train one exercise for every body part you want to improve with 8 repetitions for a total amount of 8 sets and repeat 3 times a week.

    There are nearly as many split schedules and exercise selections for 8by8 out there as there are fad diets, but I think the original schedule had you workout 5 days in a row, alternating upper and lower body days.

    Below is my selection of exercises, that is different from what Vince was prescribing, since I have limited choice (training from home) and I don‘t quite like the trap-less, v-shape look he was after.

    What to do

    Upper Body days (Monday, Wednesday and Friday)

    • Behind the neck press with a wide grip for triceps & shoulder girdle
    • Barbell Bicep Curls
    • Barbell Upright row with a very narrow grip (really feeling those in the traps during peak contraction)
    • Barbell Bench Press (narrower grip, arms nearly parallel to the torso, since wide grip is bothering my rotator cuffs)
    • Barbell Bent over Row (narrow or even underhand grip, try to feel it in the lower last, when the barbell hits your stomach)

    Lower body days (Tuesday and Thursday)

    • Barbell Squat (I‘m using front squats, since I don‘t have a squatrack in our new home yet)
    • Stiff-legged Deadlifts (try standing on a block for better stretch)
    • Standing Barbell Calf raises
    • Hanging Leg Raises

    How to do it

    As mentioned earlier , you will be doing 8 sets of every exercise for 8 reps, except for lower body days. Here Vince was suggesting 8 total sets per muscle group for 20 repetitions each.

    Choose a weight you can handle for 3 sets of 8 pretty comfortably. Move quickly and try to feel the muscles contracting, that you are working. No need for extreme yanking the weights, controlled movements with a full range of motion. But no need to think about timing or cadences. This isn‘t an overly scientific HIT workout!

    If you never trained some high volume program like 8×8, German Volume Training (10×10) or even a CrossFitesque schedule, I recommend easing into the workout by starting with 3 sets per exercise and moving up one set in each per workout for the first weeks.

    Once you are getting all the 8 reps in all the 8 sets, it‘s time to increase the weight slightly.

    Nutrition

    As for nutrition, you want to aim for maintenance calories or slightly less, stay active overall and maybe just reduce portion sizes a bit, or have less side dishes. You will need a whole lot of protein to really melt the fat but not overly loose the muscles you built during your personal winter arc. If you are over 30, I would recommend you do two easy runs a week, just for overall health benefits.

    And of course go easy on the drinking and partying, unless you are as legendary as Zabo Koszewski was in his days.

    Enjoy your lifting & enjoy your days, one never knows how many are left. Find bliss & happiness in the hardworking.