Hey guys!
I’m going to be returning to Fortitude Training after running various Mountain Dog Training programs over the past year and an old Phil Hernon 2 way split for the last month. I just wanted to share some ideas that I have been kicking around for how I’m going to make Fortitude Work around my schedule. In 2021 I ran the program normally and completely as a written and had probably the quickest and most drastic gains of my advanced training life in year 13 of lifting. I was not married Back then, but now I am and my wife is a nurse with a rotating schedule and my work is completely remote so I could train any day I want, but I take my rest days on my wife’s off days to maximize our time together.
This rotating schedule worked great with Mountain Dog training and the Phil Hernon 2 Way split because I could train 3 days in a row and not hit the same body part 2 days in a row. Fortitude is a different beast and anyone who’s read the book knows Dr. Scott suggests not training 3 days straight and I am the type of person who does not like to destroy the integrity of a program.
My wife’s work schedule is work Mon/Tue/Wed, off Thurs/Fri, Work Sat/Sun, off Mon/Tue, work Wed/Thurs/Fri, off Sat/Sun. Sometimes she’ll have extra days, but generally speaking, that’s the schedule. That means that my Fortitude schedule will be a little different every week. So here’s my idea on how I’ll execute the program, running the basic frequency: Lift Mon, rest Tue, Lift Wed, rest Thurs/Fri, lift Sat/Sun, rest Mon/Tue, lift Wed, rest Thurs, Lift Fri, rest weekend.. I think you get the idea. Any time I have a stretch of three days she works, I rest the middle day. If she works two in a row(weekend), I train both days. It spreads the work out slightly more and I would say on average seems to add an extra rest day per week.
These are some considerations that maybe you could make if you find yourself in a similar situation with your weekly gym time. If Dr. Scott or anyone else has any suggestions on improvements to this split or some ideas that I potentially hadn’t thought of, feel free to sound off!
I’ll also be running Fortitude from the garage this time around, which will definitely involve a lot of creativity, but I’ve been running Mountain Dog programs from the garage for the past year so my exercise “arsenal” has grown quite vast and it has forced me to be very creative! I hope everyone is having an awesome spring and enjoying the nice weather coming in!
This sounds like a very good adaptation based on your schedule, and I'm trusting of course that you know what you can adapt to given these circumstances.
Some things to consider when doing this.
1.) Some folks like to split up the Loading and Pump sets on Days 1 and 2 of the program.
2.) Along with the above, and in general, you could also use different volume Tiers on a "day to day" basis (and of course in an auto regulatory fashion) to match your training pattern. I.e., you'd used a higher Volume Tier over those periods where your frequency is less and vice versa. In your case, I'd also not be concerned with creating your own intermediate volume Tier to match your situation and recovery level.
3.) Exercise selection would also be adjusted (somewhat knowingly) given the above. You might favor isolation / machine / supported exercises on days around which frequency is higher and then favor free weight exercises / the bigger barbell exercises (BB squat variations, BB rowing / hinge movements, BB pressing) for days when you're more than likely (neurologically) recovered.
With some forethought (this might become apparent over the course of testing out what you have planned), you might be able to create a novel rotation where, for example, you might be able to high some exercises on certain days. E.g., when there's two rest days before a session, but you train 2 days in a row, you'd do exercises where your low back would be engaged the first day, but choose exercises that are more low back friendly the next day. <-- This would evolve naturally when auto regulating Muscle Round exercises, but it could be a way to squeeze in the "big exercises" you use for Loading Sets in a way you're sure you're rested up for. (The calculus of trying to figure this out now might be silly, but I imagine you'll get a sense of what would work after a month or two in your new training pattern.)
Will take a look at your training log, too - this should be pretty cool!!!
-S
(04-10-2024, 08:21 AM)DangerousDave Wrote: Hey guys!
I’m going to be returning to Fortitude Training after running various Mountain Dog Training programs over the past year and an old Phil Hernon 2 way split for the last month. I just wanted to share some ideas that I have been kicking around for how I’m going to make Fortitude Work around my schedule. In 2021 I ran the program normally and completely as a written and had probably the quickest and most drastic gains of my advanced training life in year 13 of lifting. I was not married Back then, but now I am and my wife is a nurse with a rotating schedule and my work is completely remote so I could train any day I want, but I take my rest days on my wife’s off days to maximize our time together.
This rotating schedule worked great with Mountain Dog training and the Phil Hernon 2 Way split because I could train 3 days in a row and not hit the same body part 2 days in a row. Fortitude is a different beast and anyone who’s read the book knows Dr. Scott suggests not training 3 days straight and I am the type of person who does not like to destroy the integrity of a program.
My wife’s work schedule is work Mon/Tue/Wed, off Thurs/Fri, Work Sat/Sun, off Mon/Tue, work Wed/Thurs/Fri, off Sat/Sun. Sometimes she’ll have extra days, but generally speaking, that’s the schedule. That means that my Fortitude schedule will be a little different every week. So here’s my idea on how I’ll execute the program, running the basic frequency: Lift Mon, rest Tue, Lift Wed, rest Thurs/Fri, lift Sat/Sun, rest Mon/Tue, lift Wed, rest Thurs, Lift Fri, rest weekend.. I think you get the idea. Any time I have a stretch of three days she works, I rest the middle day. If she works two in a row(weekend), I train both days. It spreads the work out slightly more and I would say on average seems to add an extra rest day per week.
These are some considerations that maybe you could make if you find yourself in a similar situation with your weekly gym time. If Dr. Scott or anyone else has any suggestions on improvements to this split or some ideas that I potentially hadn’t thought of, feel free to sound off!
I’ll also be running Fortitude from the garage this time around, which will definitely involve a lot of creativity, but I’ve been running Mountain Dog programs from the garage for the past year so my exercise “arsenal” has grown quite vast and it has forced me to be very creative! I hope everyone is having an awesome spring and enjoying the nice weather coming in!
I’m really looking forward to implementing this. Fortitude is very adaptable and I think that’s a huge part of the appeal to the program. It’s the most result-producing program that I’ve ever run, so I’m excited to get back to it with so much experience gained since I last ran it.
Regulating the volume per periods of lower frequency is also a very interesting idea. Like you mentioned, I think I should be able to find a really awesome groove after a period of a few weeks. The living, breathing science experiment that we’re performing every day in and out of the gym is really a big part of what makes this process so fun! I’ll keep my log posted once I finish this “deload” phase bridging between Hernon 2-Way and Fortitude!
This sounds like a very good adaptation based on your schedule, and I'm trusting of course that you know what you can adapt to given these circumstances.
Some things to consider when doing this.
1.) Some folks like to split up the Loading and Pump sets on Days 1 and 2 of the program.
2.) Along with the above, and in general, you could also use different volume Tiers on a "day to day" basis (and of course in an auto regulatory fashion) to match your training pattern. I.e., you'd used a higher Volume Tier over those periods where your frequency is less and vice versa. In your case, I'd also not be concerned with creating your own intermediate volume Tier to match your situation and recovery level.
3.) Exercise selection would also be adjusted (somewhat knowingly) given the above. You might favor isolation / machine / supported exercises on days around which frequency is higher and then favor free weight exercises / the bigger barbell exercises (BB squat variations, BB rowing / hinge movements, BB pressing) for days when you're more than likely (neurologically) recovered.
With some forethought (this might become apparent over the course of testing out what you have planned), you might be able to create a novel rotation where, for example, you might be able to high some exercises on certain days. E.g., when there's two rest days before a session, but you train 2 days in a row, you'd do exercises where your low back would be engaged the first day, but choose exercises that are more low back friendly the next day. <-- This would evolve naturally when auto regulating Muscle Round exercises, but it could be a way to squeeze in the "big exercises" you use for Loading Sets in a way you're sure you're rested up for. (The calculus of trying to figure this out now might be silly, but I imagine you'll get a sense of what would work after a month or two in your new training pattern.)
Will take a look at your training log, too - this should be pretty cool!!!
So as an update, I’m now on my second training blast on this rotating cycle. I had kicked around the idea of going with the family man plan, so the schedule wouldn’t have to rotate but Scott suggested that trying to fit all the muscle groups into one session would perhaps involve a little too much compromise and frankly, I agree. We also discussed potentially breaking from the upper/lower split and dividing into Push, Pull, Legs on the weeks I train 3 days straight, which I incorporated this week for Muscle Rounds. This worked fantastically well! I am definitely hellaciously sore going into the weekend!
On the load/pump days I train 3 days straight, I’ve been using the rotation of Upper Pump Day, Lower Load Day and then Upper Load/Lower Pump on day 3. I find that the pump sessions get me more sore than the load sessions, so I like to do Pump day first to give myself an extra day of rest before the load session. This has all been put together fairly intuitively week to week and with the help of some ideas thrown out both here and on Instagram by Scott himself. I’ll continue to update this thread when new ideas come to mind and have been successfully (or unsuccessfully) been put into practice. You can also check out my log if you’re curious to the specifics of how I’ve executed this up to this point!
