Better Is Better

Bruiser Clubbell Swipes 4x7 - 56 Days to 1000% Increase in Personal Best

Continuous Bruiser Swipes 4x7

A little over 56 days ago, I had worked myself up to being able to do a grand total of one Swipe with my Bruiser Clubbell®. For some reason, it’s one of those exercises that I could never work up the courage to tackle. Well, enough is enough I thought to myself.

So I made a plan. The pillar of the plan was Scott Sonon’s 4x7 protocol. It cycles through an intensity wave of No, Low, Moderate and High intensity over the course of four days, and repeats seven times. The secret sauce in this formula is the cycle of waving intensity which often allows you to hit a Personal Best (PB) on most of the High Intensity training days.

In this case, I managed PBs on every cycle over the course of two full 4x7 rotations. The end result, after 56 days, was a 1000% performance increase, taking my PB from a grand total of 1 to a new record of 10 consecutive Bruiser Swipes.

This is how it played out:

4x7 #1

1. 5 sets of 1/1 reps per arm
2. 5 sets of 2/2 reps per arm
3. 4 sets of 3/3 reps per arm
4. 5 sets of 3/3 reps per arm
5. 6 sets of 3/3 reps per arm
6. 4 sets of 4/4 reps per arm
7. 5 sets of 4/4 reps per arm

4x7 #2

1. 4 sets of 5/5 reps per arm
2. 5 sets of 5/5 reps per arm
3. 6 sets of 5/5 reps per arm
4. 7 sets of 5/5 reps per arm
5. 5 sets of 6/6 reps per arm
6. 6 sets of 6/6 reps per arm
7. Set of 10/10, 8/8, 6/6, 4/4, 2/2 reps per arm

The power of the 4x7 formula –– married here with a progression which echoes CST’s approach to the Density Cycle –– is a recipe for impressive results with minimal breakdown of the body’s tissues. Throughout the entire process, I never felt that my training was interfering with my daily life through fatigue or soreness. By making recovery a planned and integral part of your training, health-first outcomes are much more consistently attainable.

For more reading on the 4x7 phenomenon, you can check out this 4x7 Squidoo lens. It also provides examples of what activities can be used to achieve the various exercise intensities required of the program. Enjoy!

4x7 Training Update

Ouph!  I'm so far behind in logging my training for this 4x7 that I'm not even going to try to catch up.  I'm so used to the paper journal now that I never think to transfer it over.  What I'll do instead is provide an overview of how things have progressed.  Then I'm going to try a little experiment...

After months of resistance, I finally broke down and signed up for a Twitter account.  I'm still not quite sure what the heck to do with it, but one thing I'm going to try is quick updates on this current 4x7 program.

So what have I been up to?  Well, I left you in Montreal, where I did both the Moderate and High days from the Bodyweight Exercise Revolution fat loss program.  The sessions were both awesome, and provided a nice break from the Clubbell work.

Since back, I've been slowly increasing the volume in both the Mod and High days by either adding reps, sets or time under tension to the various exercises.  This past 4 day cycle I had to gear back a bit on the MetCon stuff, as I had a bit of a cold (my first in so long that I can't remember the last one...).  I amazed at the  volume of Swipes I can do with the Bruiser now.  Less than two months ago I could do a grand total of 1 per side at a time (some of that was psychological).  Today I did 6 sets of 5 per side, each set starting at the top of the minute - leaving about 15-20 seconds of rest between sets.  That's the power of CST's Incremental Progression and the beauty of following the 4x7 wave of intensity!

On my No Intensity days it has been "free-form" Intu-Flow, letting myself go where I needed it and spending the time where my intuition led me.  On Low Intensity days I've continued to work with Ryan Hursts Prasara Primer flows - Wind and Ocean.  They fit perfectly with the program and and great examples of putting pieces together to form a symphony of movement.  To that, I've been adding in a little custom mini-flow that I designed to offset any compensations created by the program that aren't addressed in the other two flows.

A bit scant on detail, I know, but that brings me somewhat up to date with this program.  I'm at the point now where the program is going to take a significant jump in sophistication of the exercises and their juxtaposition.  Should be interesting.

If you want to get quick follow-ups on the progress of the program, you can follow me over at Twitter:
http://twitter.com/coachsteer

Bodyweight exercises only: Day 3, Cycle 3 - Sonnon 4x7 protocol

I'm way behind on my training logs!  I'll post an update on the missing days when I get back to Quebec.  Right now I'm in a hotel room in Montreal and I just finished doing my Moderate Intensity training day right here in the hotel room.

I didn't have the opportunity to bring my Clubbells with me, so I'm taking a break from the regularly scheduled 4x7 and decided to use a few pages from the Bodyweight Exercise Revolution e-book while I'm here.

After a good Intu-Flow warm-up, I went right into a few sets of short static holds of my "cheat version" spread-eagle gymnastics planche.  Then I went through the Moderate Intensity circuit of the Fat Loss program from the e-book.  Man, I just have to say it, this sh*t is good... (I try not to cuss too much on the blog, but the explicative was warranted in this case).

I know I'm "sayin' so myself," but if you follow the programs in this e-book you will get results in spades!  Yes, I guess I'm tooting my own horn (and that of my co-author Ryan), but I'm just really jazzed up after finishing that session...

Have any of you started using the Fat Loss program from Bodyweight Exercise Revolution?  If so, drop me a comment below.  I'd love to have your impressions!

Cheers,
Adam

Intu-Flow & Prasara Primer: Sonnon 4x7 Protocol - Days 3 & 4, Cycle 1

I'm a bit behind on my program log here...  I'm already half-way through the second cycle of this 4x7 program...

At any rate here is the lowdown on the end of Cycle 1.

No Intensity Day:
Intu-Flow program - extended version of the program offered with the Bodyweight Exercise Revolution ebook.  Foam rolling interspersed with the Intu-Flow where I felt I needed it.  I like the combo of Intu-Flow and foam rolling.  The rolling juices up and releases tissues where needed and the Intu-Flow integrates the control over the range of motion subsequent to loosening things up.

Here's Coach Sonnon demonstrating some Intu-Flow
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Low Intensity Day:
Intu-Flow program offered with the Bodyweight Exercise Revolution ebook.
2 x per side Wind flow (from Coach Hurst's Prasara Primer)
1 x per side Ocean flow (also from Prasara Primer)
-> I haven't worked with these two flows in ages.  They are awesome and fit right into what I'm trying to accomplish.

And here is the teaser of Coach Hurst's DVD.  Man can he move!!
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I'll post the first two days of Cycle 2 tomorrow.

Cheers,
Adam

Sonnon 4x7 Protocol: New Year, New Goal - Cycle 1 Day 1

With the release of Bodyweight Exercise Revolution, an e-book I co-authored with Ryan Murdock, there has been a lot of buzz around the 4x7 protocol developed by Coach Scott Sonnon. The book shows how to adapt his 4x7 protocol using body weight exercise only.

So I thought it might be interesting to log my latest 4x7 creation right here on the Better Is Better blog.  This one is not body weight only, but still offers insight into how I approach an entire 28 days of the protocol.

Follow along and see how the program evolves.  Please feel free to post comments and ask questions.  Also, can you guess what the goals of this 4x7 THP are?  If so, post your best guesses to the comments.

Anyhow, without further ado…

Cycle 1 - Day 1 - Moderate Intensity

Intu-Flow warm-up

Planche Holds (cheat version): 3 x 2-4 seconds (15 sec rest) / 3 sets (45 sec rest)

Strength Set 1 (1 min rest between exercises)
A - Band Assisted Planche Press: 5, 5, 4
B - Physioball Ring Pull-up: 7, 7, 6

Strength Set 2 (1 min rest between exercises)
A - Clubbell Fly on PB (25 lbs): 40 sec x 3
B - Double Sparta Cast (15 lbs): 40 sec x 3

"Biceps Blast" - no rest
Super Slow Chin-up (15 sec concentric / 15 sec eccentric - 1 rep)
Clubbell Curl - 25 lbs - 4-1-1-0 count x 8 reps
Clubbell Curl - 15 lbs - 4-1-1-0 count x 8 reps
Clubbell Curl - Minis (with flexion at shoulder) - 1-1-1-1 count x 8 reps
DB Curl (elbow on knee) - 4/4, 5/5 reps

Mini-Metcon: 3 min x 3 -> rounds start every minute on minute
10 Sandbag Rock-Bottom Clean
10/10 Kettlebell Swings
10 Trinity Jump Squat
10/10 Clockwork Squats

Compensatory Prasara chain:
Sleeping Warrior -> Cross-body push/pull with arms -> Downward Facing Dog -> Dog Screwing Dolphin -> Upward Facing Dog -> Half-locust -> Kneeling Neck Roll -> Seiza Handcuff Drill

Overall Intuitive Ratings
RPE -> 7
RPT -> 9
RPD -> 2

Subscribe to the RSS feed in the right hand column in order to follow along with the progression of this 4x7 program as it evolves.