Still enjoying my recent PR in the deadlift set on New Year’s Eve and wanting to go higher and yet bemoaning the state of my squat, I was reminded of an assistance exercise to both the squat and the deadlift that will make the numbers of each go up considerably.

That would be the Good Morning. Westside Barbell strongly urges doing more assistance exercises like the Good Morning and less deadlifts to increase the deadlift total.

Looks like I will be adding GM’s in once a week along with some Power Cleans. It will be really interesting to test my max lifts in both deadlift and squat occasionally along the way.

While getting off to a slow start in my warm-ups, I finished totally smoked and salted in a metabolic maelstrom of Manmakers.

My buddy Mike handed me this workout he did from the Gym Jones site. Some workouts look easy on paper even if they are not. This did not even have the illusion of looking easy on paper.

21 Ring Dips

12 KB Swings, 24 kg.

6 Manmakers, 2×15 lb dumbbells with three overhead lunges to finish each.

15 Ring Dips

9 KB Swings

12 Manmakers

9 Ring Dips

6 KB Swings

18 Manmakers

Those last 18 Manmakers were as difficult mentally as they were physically. They were broken into mini sets of 2 and it was the overhead lunges that were killing.

If that weren’t enough (and it really was), after a rest I did 6 x 10 24 kg kettlebell snatches.

That concludes my toughest workout thus far, early in this new year. Manmakers are something to add to the toolbox. Cardio? I don’t need no stinking cardio. Not after a workout like this!