Today

Which week am I in

The 50 Programme · to 16 Feb 2027
Field guide

Bigger shoulder line, smaller waist, about 81kg

17 Aug 2026 to 16 Feb 2027, 26 weeks
67hard sets a week
190gprotein a day
150minutes Zone 2 a week
20-23hours a week, all in

The law

  • Compounds stop at 1-2 RIR. Isolation last sets at 0-1.
  • No maxes. Ever. Every strength number is an RPE 8 triple.
  • Power work first in the session, never after lifting.
  • Zone 2 floor is 150 minutes. It never goes below, ever.
  • No sauna, no hot baths until the clinician answers.

The week

MON 07:05 90 min18 sets
Power + Upper A
Sprint and throw fresh, then the week's heaviest press
Accelerations, two-point stancewalk-back, 90s between reps6 x 20m
Rotational med ball scoop toss4kg, maximum intent, never catch3 x 5 per side
Seated dumbbell lateral raise1s up, pause, 3s down4 x 12-15
Flat barbell bench press1-2 RIR. This is the tested lift3 x 6-10
Strict overhead pressautoregulated1 top set of 5 at RPE 8, then 3 x 6 at 85%
Weighted dip or deep-stretch cable fly1-2 RIR2 x 10-15
Face pull0-1 RIR2 x 15-20
Overhead cable triceps extension0-1 RIR3 x 12-15
Cable external rotation at 90 degreesnot counted. 3s eccentric3 x 12
TUE 07:05 85 min16 sets
Lower A, squat pattern
Heavy squat, quad volume, hamstring eccentrics, neck
Countermovement jumps, unloadedsubmaximal, priming only2 x 3
Back squatautoregulated by RPE1 top set of 3-5 at RPE 8, then 3 x 5 at 85%
Bulgarian split squat or leg press1-2 RIR. Both sides per set3 x 8-12
Romanian deadlift1-2 RIR, deliberate stretch3 x 8
Nordic hamstring or slider leg curl4s eccentric2 x 5
Leg extension, 3s down / 1s / 3s uptendon block. RPE 82 x 8
Lying neck extension + lateral flexionstart 2.5kg, +1.25kg when easy2 x 15-20
Farmer's carrynot counted. Start 2 x 32kg3 x 40m
WED 07:05 40 min
4x4 intervals on the bike
The single session that moves VO2max
Bike warm-up10 min
Intervals at 90-95% max heart rate3 min easy spinning between4 x 4 min
Cooldownlog average watts per round5 min
12-minute bike time trialreplaces the 4x4 that weekweeks 1, 9, 17, 26
THU 07:05 70 min16 sets
Upper B, pull and rear delts
Upper back width and thickness. The half seen behind
Cable lateral raise from behind the hip3s eccentric, last set 0-1 RIR4 x 15-20
Weighted chin-up1-2 RIR, 2s eccentric3 x 5-8
Chest-supported row or seal row1s hold at contraction3 x 8-12
Straight-arm pulldown or pulloverfull stretch at top2 x 12-15
Reverse pec-deck0-1 RIR2 x 15-20
Incline dumbbell curl3s eccentric, 0-1 RIR2 x 10-12
Dead hangnot counted. +5kg belt when easy2 x 30-45s
Bodyweight chin-up to failuremonthly only. Last item1 set
Evening Zone 2bike or incline walk50 min at 18:15
FRI 07:05 80 min17 sets
Lower B, hinge pattern
Trap-bar pull, glutes, second delt block, forearms
Trap-bar deadliftautoregulated by RPE1 top set of 3 at RPE 8, then 2 x 5 at 85%
Hip thrust3s up / 1s pause / 3s down3 x 10
Lean-away single-arm cable lateral raise0-1 RIR last set. Both sides3 x 12-15
Copenhagen adductor plankshort lever to week 8, then long2 x 8/side
Wrist flexion + reverse wrist curlthe only direct forearm work2 x 12-15 each
Neck flexionslow, no jerking2 x 15-20
Single-leg heel raise off a step3s up / 3s down. Achilles block2 x 8
Farmer's carrynot counted. Cap 2 x 60kg3 x 40m
SAT 10:00 75 min
Med ball + hitting
Rotational power and 60 quality swings
Step-behind rotational throw4kg, maximum intent4 x 5 per side
Half-kneeling shotput throw3kg, 60s between sets3 x 5 per side
Swings off a mid teethe one fix of the week20 swings
Alternating high tee and low teebucket toss if a partner is there25 swings
Free swings into a netfull intent. Lazy, stop at 4015 swings
Ab wheel2 sets
Evening Zone 250 min at 17:00
SUN 10:00 50 min
No lifting + easy Zone 2
Adaptation happens here. Walking or easy bike only
Easy walk, hike or bikeconversational pace50 min
Mobility12 min
Sunday reviewweight, BP, RHR, volume gate10 min

The blocks

Block A
1-5

Ramp. Baselines on paper

3,100/day

Block B
6-15

Build. Shoulder line, upper back

+250/day

Block C
16-24

Reveal. Strip fat, hold muscle

-471/day

Block D
25-26

Sharpen. Shed fatigue

3,100/day

Fuel

Protein
190g/day
Training day
3,500 kcal (Block B), 2,800 (Block C)
Rest day
3,150 kcal (Block B), 2,400 (Block C)

No day below 2,400 kcal. Ever.

Four feeds of 45-48g: 07:00, 12:30, 17:00, 20:00.

Fat floor 0.85 g/kg, about 70g a day.

60-80g carbs 90 min before, 80-100g + 45g after.

What gets measured

Trap-bar deadlift, est. 1RM
+18 to +25%

16 Feb

Back squat, est. 1RM
+15 to +20%

16 Feb

Flat bench press, est. 1RM
+10 to +15%

16 Feb

Strict overhead press, est. 1RM
+12 to +18%

16 Feb

Weighted chin-up, est. 1RM
+15kg on the belt

16 Feb

Bodyweight chin-up, max reps
+4 reps

monthly

Grip, dynamometer or hang time
+15%

fortnightly

Countermovement jump
+3cm

fortnightly

12-min bike time trial, avg watts
+12 to +18%

weeks 1, 9, 17, 26

Resting heart rate
5 to 10 bpm drop

7-day rolling mean

Bodyweight
81kg plus or minus 1

16 Feb

Waist at navel
minus 4 to 6cm

monthly

Shoulder circumference
plus 2.5 to 3.5cm

monthly

Shoulder-to-waist ratio
plus 0.10 to 0.14

monthly

Neck at Adam's apple
plus 1.5 to 2cm

monthly

Forearm at widest
plus 0.5 to 1cm

monthly

Stop and get seen

  • Breathlessness, chest pain, coughing blood, calf pain or swelling: same-day care.
  • RHR 15 bpm up over 48h, fainting, expanding bruise, blood in urine: same-day care.
  • Ask: is maximal sprinting safe on anticoagulation, and what warm-up standard?
  • Ask: sudden calf pull, tear or DVT? Get that answer written down beforehand.

Compounds stop at 1-2 RIR. Isolation at 0-1.

Three seconds down on everything but hinge and chin.

Brace on a 70% breath. No hold past 3 seconds.

Drop and retrieve. Never catch off the rebound.

If the swings go lazy, stop at 40.

Add load only when every set tops the rep range.

Read the full desk study

Every number above, with the reasoning, the evidence and the review behind it.

The desk study

Fittest, strongest, most visibly strong by 16 February 2027

Designed by a nine-specialist panel, attacked by an independent reviewer, then revised. Every number here is a delta from something measured in week 1.

Ray Castillo · Athletic performanceNadia Volkov · Longevity medicineHypertrophy & physiqueMaximal strengthCardio & metabolicPhysiotherapy & movementMasters athlete (40-60)Sports nutritionSleep & recovery
THE 50 PROGRAMME (v3, adaptive)PART ONE: THE PLAN1. THE ONE PARAGRAPH2. THE FOUR WEEKS3. WHICH WEEK AM I IN4. THE SESSIONS5. THE DROP ORDER6. WHEN IT GOES WRONG7. THE NUMBERS8. MEDICAL

THE 50 PROGRAMME (v3, adaptive)

Victor del Rosal. 17 August 2026 to 16 February 2027. 26 weeks. Target: 16 February 2027.

v2 is archived at data/programme-v2-archive.md. Nothing in it is lost; the reasoning moved to PART TWO.

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PART ONE: THE PLAN

1. THE ONE PARAGRAPH

Four versions of the same week, sized 8+, 4.5, 2.0 and under 2.0 hours. On Sunday you count the hours in next week's calendar, write one letter, and that letter is the week. A declared MAINTENANCE week is a completed week, not a failed FULL week. Sessions that were never declared cannot be missed, so nothing is ever made up, nothing is doubled, and no decision is made at 06:15. The drop order is written in advance, the re-entry ladder is written in advance, and the two dates that are certain (a tournament, Christmas) are declared 30 days out. Six things never drop in any tier. Everything else is negotiable in the right week. The target does not move: 16 February 2027, visibly strong, fully healthy.

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2. THE FOUR WEEKS

TierHours availableSessionsHard setsPreservesChoose it when
T1 FULL8.0+9 (4 lift, 1 4x4, 3 Zone 2, 1 hitting)67 (58 in Block C)Builds. Everything.Normal home week, no travel, no fixture inside 7 days
T2 COMPRESSED4.5 to 7.96 (4 lift, 1 4x4, 1 hitting)40Strength, side delts, back, most sizeTeaching block, in-season week, day 3+ abroad, week after a tournament
T3 MINIMUM2.0 to 4.42 lift, 45 min each20Strength and nearly all size for 3 to 4 weeksMarking deadline, tournament week, sick child, 2 hours exist
T4 MAINTENANCEunder 2.02 lift, 20 min each9Movement patterns and the streak. Not a build dose.Hotel, flight days, Christmas, first 48 hours in Mexico
T0 RESTany00Nothing, by designFever, illness, any section 8 escalation flag

T4 is a continuity dose, not a maintenance dose. Its job is that the log never reads zero. Steps floor: 7,000 a day at every tier. That replaces the old 150-minute Zone 2 promise, which a tournament plus an 11-hour flight breaks.

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3. WHICH WEEK AM I IN

Sunday, 11:00, 3 minutes, inside the existing 10-minute review. Run in order, first match wins.

  1. Any day next week with 2 or more competitive games? → T3, and apply rule 6.1.
  2. Any flight of 6 hours or more? → the trip runs on rule 6.2, not on a weekly tier.
  3. Is it 21 Dec to 3 Jan? → T4, both weeks, already declared on 1 December.
  4. Otherwise: count the hours genuinely free for training in the 7 days ahead, from the actual calendar. 8.0+ → T1. 4.5 to 7.9 → T2. 2.0 to 4.4 → T3. Under 2.0 → T4.
  5. Were 2 or more of the last 3 weeks below T1? → drop one tier below what step 4 gave you, for 1 week only.

Write the letter at the top of the week's log. The tier may be dropped once, on Wednesday only. It is never raised mid-week.

Arbitration. Where the tier declaration and the volume gate (6.10) disagree, the gate sets the number and the tier sets the sessions. Declare the letter, run that tier's session layout, and take the hard-set count from the gate.

Season override. Between the first and last outdoor fixture, the ceiling is T2 even if 10 hours exist: 3 lifting sessions, 45 to 52 hard sets, no Monday sprint block, no Saturday med ball. The games supply both. From the week after the last fixture to 16 February there is no fixture, so run T1 at 67 sets and stay there. That fixture-free window is the asset the calendar hands him.

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4. THE SESSIONS

Universal rules: compounds stop at 1 to 2 reps in reserve, isolation last sets at 0 to 1. Eccentric 3 seconds except the heavy hinge and the chin (2 seconds). Rest 3 min main, 2 min backoff, 60 to 90 s isolation. Add load in 1.25kg per side only when every set hits the top of the range at the prescribed RIR. A unilateral exercise counts as 1 hard set for both sides. Warm-up ramps, external rotations, hangs and carries are not counted.

Warm-up ramp, 6 sets, in front of the first heavy lift of every session: bar, 40, 55, 70, 80, 88 percent. Compresses to 3 sets at T4. Never to zero.

Equipment split. Weeks 1 to 15 (17 Aug to 29 Nov) are home only: 2 adjustable dumbbells to 24kg per hand, bands, door anchor, no bench, no bar, no rack, no pull-up bar, no cable. Weeks 16 to 26 (30 Nov on) are gym. Every session below prints both columns. Substitutions are permanent, not apologetic.

4.1 T1 FULL, 9 sessions, 590 minutes, 67 hard sets

Mon Power block + Upper A 90. Tue Lower A 85. Wed 4x4 bike 40. Thu Upper B 70 + Zone 2 50. Fri Lower B 80. Sat med ball + 60 swings 75 + Zone 2 50. Sun Zone 2 50. Mobility 6 min daily. All hard efforts start 07:05 and finish by 08:45.

Power block (Mon, 20 min, before lifting): 8 min prep (bike 3, leg swings, A-skips, 3 build-ups at 60/75/90). 6 x 20m accelerations from a two-point stance, walk-back, 90s. Rotational med ball scoop toss to a wall 3 x 5 per side, 4kg, maximum intent, never catch the rebound. From 1 Nov to 28 Feb the sprints move indoors, warm-up extended to 12 min; if no indoor surface, 6 x 8s bike sprints from a rolling start, 90s between, and that is a downgrade.

MONDAY, Upper A, 18 hard sets

Exercise (gym, wk 16+)Home, wk 1 to 15Sets x repsHardLoad
Seated dumbbell lateral raisesame, 2 x up to 24kg4 x 12-1541s up, pause, 3s down, last set 0-1 RIR
Flat barbell bench pressFloor press 2 x 24kg, or feet-elevated push-up + 3s down3 x 6-1031-2 RIR. The tested lift
Strict overhead press, 1 top set of 5 at RPE 8 then 3 x 6 at 85%Standing dumbbell press, same scheme4 total4Autoregulated
Weighted dip or deep-stretch cable flyDeficit push-up between chairs, 3s stretch2 x 10-1521-2 RIR
Face pullBand pull-apart, door anchor2 x 15-2020-1 RIR
Overhead cable triceps extensionOverhead dumbbell extension3 x 12-1530-1 RIR
Cable external rotation at 90 degBand external rotation3 x 12not counted3s eccentric

TUESDAY, Lower A, squat pattern, 16 hard sets. Opener: 2 x 3 unloaded countermovement jumps, submaximal, priming only.

Exercise (gym)HomeSets x repsHardLoad
Back squat, 1 top set of 3-5 at RPE 8 then 3 x 5 at 85%Goblet squat 24kg, or rear-foot-elevated split squat 2 x 24kg4 total4Autoregulated
Bulgarian split squat or leg pressBulgarian split squat, 2 x 24kg3 x 8-1231-2 RIR
Romanian deadliftDumbbell RDL 2 x 24kg, 5s eccentric3 x 831-2 RIR
Nordic hamstring curl or slider leg curlSlider or towel leg curl2 x 524s eccentric
Leg extension 3s/1s/3s, or Spanish squatSpanish squat, heavy band round a door anchor at knee height2 x 82Tendon block, RPE 8
Lying neck extension + lateral flexionHand-resisted, same reps2 x 15-202Start 2.5kg, +1.25kg when 20 is easy
Farmer's carry 3 x 40mSuitcase carry 2 x 24kg, add 15m every 2nd weeknot countedGym: +2kg/hand every 2nd week, cap 60kg

WEDNESDAY, 4x4, 40 min. 10 min bike warm-up. 4 rounds of 4 min at 90 to 95% max HR, 3 min easy between. 5 min cooldown. Round 1 by effort (RPE 8-9), rounds 2 to 4 by heart rate. Log average watts. If round 4 is more than 5% below round 1, the opening was too hard. Bike only, never evening. Weeks 1, 9, 17 and 26 it is replaced by the 12-minute bike time trial.

THURSDAY, Upper B, pull and rear delts, 16 hard sets

Exercise (gym)HomeSets x repsHardLoad
Cable lateral raise from behind the hipBand lateral raise, door anchor4 x 15-2043s eccentric, last set 0-1 RIR
Weighted chin-upHeavy band pulldown from door anchor, 3s down3 x 5-831-2 RIR
Chest-supported or seal rowOne-arm dumbbell row 24kg, 1s hold3 x 8-1231s hold at contraction
Straight-arm pulldown or pulloverBand straight-arm pulldown2 x 12-152Full stretch
Reverse pec-deckBand reverse fly2 x 15-2020-1 RIR
Incline dumbbell curl, 3s eccentricsame2 x 10-1220-1 RIR
Dead hang 2 x 30-45sNot available until wk 16. Substitute: 2 x 45s suitcase hold 24kgnot counted+5kg belt when 45s is easy
Bodyweight chin to failure, monthlyDeferred to week 161 setnot countedRep-standard test

Evening: Zone 2, 50 min, bike or incline walk, full sentences throughout.

FRIDAY, Lower B, hinge pattern, 17 hard sets

Exercise (gym)HomeSets x repsHardLoad
Trap-bar deadlift, 1 top set of 3 at RPE 8 then 2 x 5 at 85%Dumbbell suitcase RDL 2 x 24kg, 5s eccentric3 total3Autoregulated
Hip thrust 3s/1s/3sHip thrust off the sofa edge, 24kg on the hips3 x 1031-2 RIR
Lean-away single-arm cable lateral raiseLean-away dumbbell lateral raise3 x 12-1530-1 RIR last set
Copenhagen adductor planksame2 x 8/side2Short lever to wk 8, then long
Wrist flexion + reverse wrist curl supersetsame, dumbbells2 x 12-15 each20-1 RIR
Neck flexionHand-resisted2 x 15-202Slow, no jerking
Single-leg heel raise off a step 3s/3ssame2 x 82Achilles block, also the capacity test
Farmer's carry 3 x 40mSuitcase carry, as Tuesdaynot counted

SATURDAY. Step-behind rotational throw 4 x 5/side (4kg) and half-kneeling shotput throw 3 x 5/side (3kg), 60s between, every throw at maximum intent. Then 60 swings: 20 off a mid tee on the one fix of the week, 25 alternating high and low tee, 15 free swings at full intent into a net. Partner present: the middle 25 become bucket toss. One fix per session, film every 4th. If the swings go lazy, stop at 40. Plus 2 sets ab wheel. Evening Zone 2 50 min.

SUNDAY. No lifting, no sprinting, no cage. Zone 2 50 min. Mobility. 10-minute review: tier declaration, 7-day weight, 7-day BP, RHR vs 14-day baseline, volume gate.

Weekly tally, T1: side delts 11, hamstrings and glutes 11, quads 9, back 8, chest 5, arms 5, OHP 4, rear delts 4, neck 4, Copenhagen and heel raise 4, forearm 2. Total 67. Mon 18, Tue 16, Thu 16, Fri 17. Ceiling 70.

4.2 T2 COMPRESSED, 6 sessions, 350 minutes, 40 hard sets

SlotMinutesContentHard
Mon Upper A60Lateral raise 3, bench/floor press top set + 1 backoff, OHP top set + 1, triceps 29
Tue Lower A60Squat top set + 2, split squat 2, RDL 2, Nordic 2, neck 110
Wed 4x4253 rounds, not 40
Thu Upper B60Lateral raise 3, chin or band pulldown 3, row 3, curl 211
Fri Lower B60Hinge top set + 1, hip thrust 2, lateral raise 3, Copenhagen 1, heel raise 1, neck 110
Sat45Throws + 40 swings0

Zero Zone 2 slots; the 7,000-step floor covers it. Side delts fall from 11 to 9 sets: last accessory trimmed, first restored. In a hotel room with no equipment, T2 is run as HOTEL T2 (4.6), 3 sessions of 45 minutes and 27 hard sets. That is the abroad version of this tier and it is a complete T2 week, not a damaged one.

4.3 T3 MINIMUM, 2 sessions, 90 minutes, 20 hard sets

Session A, 45 min: ramp, press top set + 2 backoffs (3), squat or split squat top set + 2 (3), lateral raise 3, neck 1. 10 sets. Session B, 45 min: ramp, chin or row top set + 2 (3), hinge top set + 2 (3), lateral raise 3, heel raise 1. 10 sets. Book both at 06:15 as calendar events with the same status as a lecture. Loads unchanged from the last normal week. Stop at set 20 even if time remains. No conditioning, no isolation arms, no hitting. Mobility 6 min daily, 7,000 steps. Log 3 numbers only that week: sessions done (0, 1 or 2), protein hit yes/no, average steps.

4.4 T4 MAINTENANCE, 2 sessions, 40 minutes, 9 hard sets

Session A, 20 min: 3-set ramp, 1 heavy press set at RPE 8, 1 heavy squat-pattern set at RPE 8, lateral raise 2. 4 sets. Session B, 20 min: 3-set ramp, 1 heavy pull set at RPE 8, 1 heavy hinge set at RPE 8, lateral raise 2, neck 1. 5 sets. Intensity holds at RPE 8, load holds, only volume collapses. Mobility 6 min daily, 7,000 steps.

HOTEL 32, the no-equipment version of T4 (32 min, 13 hard sets). Pack list, 380g, lives in the suitcase permanently: 1 heavy long loop band, 1 light long loop band, 1 mini band, 1 door anchor.

#ExerciseSets x reps
1Rear-foot-elevated split squat, back foot on the bed, heavy band under front foot over both shoulders3 x 12/leg
2Band row, door anchor at chest height3 x 15
3Standing band overhead press, both feet on the band3 x 12
4Band RDL, 3s lowering3 x 15
5Decline push-up, feet on the bed2 to 2 RIR
6Suitcase carry, the actual packed suitcase, 4 corridor lengths2
7Band pull-apart2 x 20, not counted

Progress HOTEL 32 by tempo and range only, never by adding sets: 3s lowering, 1s pause on every band exercise.

4.5 Home progression ladder, weeks 1 to 15

Load is capped at 24kg per hand, so overload runs a fixed 6-rung ladder. Move up one rung only when the current one is exhausted. Rung 7 is load, and there is no rung 7 until week 16.

  1. Add 1 rep to every set, to the top of the range. 2. Add 1 set. 3. Slow the eccentric from 3s to 5s. 4. Go unilateral. 5. Add a band in series with the dumbbell. 6. Cut rest by 15s.

Week 16 is the first gym week: re-establish the 6-set ramp at conservative loads and test nothing until week 17.

4.6 HOTEL T2, the no-equipment T2, 3 sessions, 135 minutes, 27 hard sets

This is what "T2, day 3+ abroad" actually means. Same pack list as HOTEL 32 (380g: heavy long loop band, light long loop band, mini band, door anchor) plus the packed suitcase, which is the only load in the room. Run the band anchor protocol in Appendix G before the first rep of every session. Movements are drawn from HOTEL 32 and from the home column of 4.1; nothing here needs a gym, a bench or a bar.

Four heavy top sets live inside these three sessions, one per pattern, so floor item 5 holds abroad. Each is a single set at RPE 8 on the heavy band or the loaded suitcase, taken after the 3-set ramp, with the prescribed backoffs after it.

Session A, 45 min, press, 9 hard sets

ExerciseSets x repsHard
3-set ramp, then standing band overhead press, both feet on the heavy band: 1 top set at RPE 8, then 2 x 123 total3
Band lateral raise, door anchor low, 3s eccentric3 x 15-203
Decline push-up, feet on the bed, 3s lowering3 to 2 RIR3
Band pull-apart, band external rotation2 x 20, 2 x 15not counted

Session B, 45 min, squat and hinge, 9 hard sets

ExerciseSets x repsHard
3-set ramp, then rear-foot-elevated split squat, back foot on the bed, packed suitcase held: 1 top set at RPE 8, then 2 x 12/leg3 total3
Band RDL, heavy band, 3s lowering: 1 top set at RPE 8, then 2 x 153 total3
Slider or towel leg curl, 4s eccentric1 x 61
Copenhagen adductor plank, short lever1 x 8/side1
Lying neck extension, hand-resisted1 x 15-201
Suitcase carry, the packed suitcase, 4 corridor lengths2not counted

Session C, 45 min, pull, 9 hard sets

ExerciseSets x repsHard
3-set ramp, then heavy band pulldown from a high door anchor, 3s down: 1 top set at RPE 8, then 2 x 83 total3
Band lateral raise, door anchor low3 x 15-203
Band row, door anchor at chest height, 1s hold2 x 152
Band reverse fly1 x 15-201

Progress by tempo and range only, never by adding sets, exactly as HOTEL 32 does. No isolation arms and no conditioning: they are drop-order items 2 and 1, and they stay dropped abroad. Alongside: mobility 6 min daily, 7,000 steps, protein floor 150g met with whey in the bag and restaurant protein, and the floor's rotational exposure per the abroad clause in section 5.

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5. THE DROP ORDER

When a week compresses, things leave in this exact sequence. Stop as soon as the week fits. Never renegotiated in the moment.

  1. Zone 2 slots, all 150 min (Thu, Sat, Sun). Two weeks to rebuild; the step floor covers the physiology.
  2. Isolation arms, forearms, ab wheel: Mon triceps 3, Thu curls 2, Fri wrist 2, Sat ab wheel 2.
  3. Second-tier accessories to 1 set, then 0: dip/fly, straight-arm pulldown, reverse fly, face pull, leg extension, carries.
  4. Backoff sets on the main lifts. Keep the RPE 8 top set, delete the 3 x 5 at 85%. This alone turns a 90-minute session into 50.
  5. Hitting: 60 swings down to 20 tee swings on the one fix of the week.
  6. The 4x4. It outranks every isolation set because it is the only VO2max lever.
  7. Session count: 5 lifting days to 4, then to 2 full-body.
  8. Hip thrust, Copenhagen, heel raise, neck to 1 set each.
  9. Saturday med ball, if the week contains a tournament (the games are the exposure).

THE FLOOR: six things that never drop, in any tier, any week

  1. The Sunday declaration, 5 min. No equipment, no energy, no health required, so there is no week in 26 where it can legitimately fail.
  2. Protein at or above 150g a day, 3 or more feeds of 40g+. Substitution not addition, so it costs 0 minutes; 2 scoops of whey in the bag is 88g.
  3. The wake anchor: within 45 min of the same LOCAL time, 7 days, re-anchored on arrival. At home that local time is 06:15. Cross zones and it becomes 06:15 destination time from the first morning after landing, which is what 6.2 already prescribes. Free, and it is the input every other prescription runs on.
  4. The mobility circuit, 6 minutes daily (90/90 hip switches, half-kneeling hip flexor, quadruped t-spine rotations, side-lying windmills, then 4 in / 6 out breathing). Run the list in that order and stop at 6 minutes; what is reached is the dose. Six minutes is the floor and the only mobility number in this document. Longer is a preference, never a floor. The only item on the calendar with zero recovery cost, and the first one everybody drops.
  5. Four heavy top sets a week at RPE 8, one each in press, pull, squat, hinge, with the 6-set ramp in front of the first. Intensity is what retains adaptation when volume collapses; 20 minutes if that is all there is.
  6. One rotational intent exposure every 7 days: 3 x 5 med ball scoop tosses per side at 4kg, or 20 tee swings at full intent. Twenty, not sixty. A tournament week satisfies this automatically. Abroad, where neither a tee nor a wall for a 4kg ball exists, this downgrades to 20 full-intent shadow swings, executable in any room, and it is still forbidden inside the 48 hours after a sector over 6 hours. Pack a 4kg med ball or a swing trainer if the trip has hold luggage and the item survives the weight limit; the shadow swings are the version that never fails.

Steps floor of 7,000 a day sits alongside these and is met by terminals, dugouts, commutes and family walks.

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6. WHEN IT GOES WRONG

Arbitration, read before any branch below. When two ladders in this section both apply, run the longer one and count from the later event. That single line settles a tournament followed by a flight, a Christmas fortnight spent in Mexico, and the 5 January return. There is no judgement call: count the days in each ladder, take the one with more days, and start it from whichever event happened last.

6.0 One session missed

Delete it. Do not make it up, do not double up, do not add sets to the next session. If 2 or more days remain in the week, the next session may move forward by exactly 1 day, once. Otherwise the week is one session shorter and that is a completed week. Log MISSED with a 3-word reason. Cumulative missed-session counts are not tracked anywhere in this document, by design.

If a second session goes by end of Wednesday, drop one tier immediately and run the rest of the week as that tier.

6.1 Tournament weekend (2 or more competitive games in a day)

Counted backwards from first pitch, not forwards from Monday. Declare T3 on the Sunday before.

PointAction
T-7 to T-4Keep the sessions, cut hard sets 67 to 45 by deleting every backoff and every isolation below 2 sets. Top-set loads unchanged.
T-5Last heavy lower-body session of the block. No lower-body session after it. No 4x4 inside T-5.
T-4No sprints inside this point.
T-3Last lift: upper only, 8 hard sets at 3 RIR, no 3s eccentrics, 35 min.
T-26-min mobility + 20 tee swings at 70%. Nothing else.
T-130-min walk, 6-min mobility, 15 intent swings off a tee, 3 x 5 med ball scoop tosses/side at 4kg (skip the throws if T-1 is a travel day).
Game daysNo lifting, no sprints, no 4x4, no Zone 2. Mobility 6 min before leaving, 6 min again that night. Between games: walk, never sit more than 40 min. Cap non-game swings at 40 for the day. Feed every 3 hours, protein floor 150g, 500 to 700mg sodium per litre in heat. Second game day: add 20 calf pumps and a 10-min walk before bed.

Re-entry, counted from the final out, not the following Monday. Day 1: 45-min Zone 2 walk + 6-min mobility. Day 2: upper only, top sets only, 85% of last load, 10 hard sets. Day 3: Zone 2 50 min + mobility. Day 4: lower, top sets only, 80% of last load, no Nordics, no jumps, 10 hard sets. Day 5: normal upper returns. Power block, sprints and med ball stay deleted for all 5 days. 4x4 returns day 6. The week logs as 45 achieved, not 22 missed. Cost per tournament: about 22 hard sets. Not made up.

Two tournaments within 14 days. Do not run two tapers. Treat the 14 days as one competition block: exactly 2 sessions between them, both upper-dominant, 10 hard sets each, top sets only at 85%. Zero lower-body lifting, zero sprints, zero Nordics, zero 4x4 across the whole 14 days. T-2 and T-1 rules still apply to the second tournament. Then 1 deload week at 30 hard sets, full volume in week 2. Cost about 90 sets across 3 weeks. See it coming 6 weeks out.

Something hurts at a tournament (hamstring twinge, low-back lock, shoulder pain on the throw, or 3 consecutive at-bats where the swing feels late and heavy). Drop in this order, no improvising: 1. all between-game and on-deck free swings, keep game at-bats. 2. base-running intensity to 80% on anything not a live play. 3. the throw: move to the shortest-throw position available. 4. the game. Then 7 days: no lifting of the affected pattern, mobility only. Pain at rest, swelling, calf tenderness, chest pain or breathlessness is a same-day clinician call, not wait-and-see (section 8).

6.2 Long-haul flight, 6 hours or more

Price the trip at booking, not the week of. Spain (1 zone, 3h): 0 lost days. Mexico westbound (6 to 7 zones, 10 to 11h): 3 lost days. Mexico eastbound home: 4 lost days. Move the block's heaviest session to the 4 days before departure, and pull the nearest booked deload forward onto the trip.

Flight day: no lifting either direction, and none in the 12 hours before takeoff. 20-min walk before leaving, 15-min terminal walk. In the air: aisle seat booked at purchase, 250ml water per hour, 0 alcohol, stand and walk 5 min every 60 min (set 8 alarms before takeoff), 20 seated calf pumps every 30 min. 3 protein feeds of 40g+ brought aboard. Watch set to destination time at the gate; eat on destination time from then.

Landing (westbound, 6 to 7 zones): 30 min outdoor daylight within 2 hours, walk 40 to 60 min total. No nap over 25 min, none after 16:00 local. Lights out 22:15 local whatever the body says. No sprinting, jumping or maximal-intent throwing for 48 hours after any sector over 6 hours.

Re-entry ladder, westbound. Day 1: walk 45 min + mobility, 0 hard sets. Day 2: HOTEL 32 at RPE 6-7, 8 hard sets. Day 3: HOTEL 32 in full, 13 hard sets, 1 to 2 RIR. Day 5 on: full quality, sprinting and maximal throwing permitted. Eastbound home: add 1 day to every rung (first hard session day 4). Two override gates: resting heart rate more than 8 bpm above the 7-day average, or under 6 hours sleep, drops the day one rung. If a flight lands inside T-3 of a fixture: delete both travel sessions, mobility plus 15 tee swings only. A 10-day Mexico trip is T4 days 1 to 2 (HOTEL 32), T2 days 3 to 8 (HOTEL T2, 4.6), T4 days 9 to 10. That is a completed trip.

6.3 Marking deadline or teaching block, 2 hours exist

Declare T3 on the Sunday. Spend the 120 minutes in this fixed order and stop when the budget runs out: 1) two 45-min sessions from 4.3, both at 06:15, before email. 2) 6 min mobility daily. 3) walking, which is not counted against the 120. Do not add a third lift. Do not extend a session because it felt good. Nothing is made up the following week. Two of these back to back is fine. Three in a row means the block dates move, not the sessions.

6.4 Sick child, or a week that collapsed with no warning

Same as 6.3, T3 or T4, declared as late as Wednesday. If the week is already past Wednesday, run T4 on whatever days remain and declare the following week one tier below what the calendar allows.

6.5 Short sleep

One night under 6 hours: keep every load, cut that day's hard sets by one third. Three nights under 6.5 in a rolling 7: the whole week drops one tier, calories go to maintenance 3,100 regardless of block, protein goes UP to 190g. No extra caffeine beyond the standing 250mg at 06:30. Wake time holds; recover sleep at the front end, never by sleeping in.

6.6 Weeks missed

The honest detraining numbers are in Appendix D, in full. The one line that matters at 06:15: a gap of 14 days or fewer costs no reliably measurable strength and no measurable size, so nothing below is a rescue.

Re-entry ladder. Gap of 8 days or fewer: return at 100%, same tier, no cap. 1 week (9 to 14 days): same tier, same loads, first session capped at 90% of the last top set, add nothing; the calendar shifts forward 7 days. 2 weeks: return at T2, loads 90%, 2 sessions week 1, 4 sessions week 2, full tier from week 3. 4 weeks or more: RETURN BLOCK, 3 fixed weeks at 70% of the last recorded top set, RPE capped at 7, no sets to failure, no new exercises, no conditioning above Zone 2. Reassess at the start of week 4.

In all cases delete the missed weeks from the calendar rather than compressing what remains. The block that absorbs the loss is named in advance: Block B accumulation, never the final 4 weeks before 16 February.

6.7 Christmas, 21 Dec to 3 Jan

Declared T4 in ink on 1 December, labelled PLANNED. 2 sessions of 20 minutes a week at 80% of December loads, 7,000 steps daily (the floor number, the same one used everywhere else in this document), protein 190g held, calories at maintenance 3,100 (the Block C deficit is suspended), alcohol up to 4 drinks across the fortnight and none in the 3 hours before bed. Mobility runs all 14 days including 25 December. No weigh-ins between 20 December and 4 January. Return 5 January at T2, first heavy top set at RPE 7, full Block C calories on day one. No ramp, no penance week, no compensatory deficit.

6.8 The thought "I have fallen too far behind for this to work"

Also fires on: opening this document to rewrite it, comparing the current week against week 1, or counting total missed sessions. Two actions, in order. 1) Do the 6-minute mobility circuit now, today. 2) Write one line in the log. Then a hard prohibition: do not redesign, reschedule or rewrite this programme while behind. Edits happen only on a Sunday, only when the previous week hit its declared tier, and only one edit at a time.

6.9 A compressed week lands inside the Block C deficit

Suspend the deficit for that week: 3,100 kcal, protein 190g, resume the following Monday with no attempt to recoup. Never run a deficit week at fewer than 12 hard sets. Two consecutive compressed weeks pause Block C and the timeline absorbs it. 81.5kg with the muscle beats 81.0kg without it.

6.10 The Sunday volume gate

Run in order, first match wins.

  1. Fewer than 60% of prescribed hard sets performed in the last 7 days: prescribe the lesser of the declared tier's set count and last week's actual plus 30%, with a floor of the tier below the declared one. So a T1 week after two weeks at zero is not zero, it is T2's 40. A T1 week after a Mexico return of 10 actual sets is 40 (T2, the floor), not 13. Branch 0 can only ever slow the climb by one tier; it can never stop it.
  2. Any red morning in the last 7 days, or weekly session-RPE load above 1.3 x the 4-week mean, or heel-raise or hang capacity down more than 10% from the 4-week best: cut 30% of hard sets.
  3. Any lift whose top-set load dropped 2 sessions running: hold sets flat, add 250 kcal a day.
  4. Two clean weeks where every set hit the top of its range at the prescribed RIR: add 2 hard sets, capped at 70. Arms get them first.
  5. Otherwise: repeat the block's prescribed number.

An unplanned low week absorbs the nearest booked deload: delete it and move the next one out. Never run a booked deload in the week after a forced light week. Booked deloads: weeks 5, 10, 15, 20. Block D's taper is the fifth.

Morning gate, 5 min in bed. It runs on 7-day rolling means against a 60-day baseline. Until 60 days of HRV and RHR exist, log the numbers and do not act on them (Appendix P): amber and red fire on sleep hours and fever only, and branch 1's red-morning clause does not fire. Building the baseline is the whole job for the first 60 days. Green: run it as written. Amber (7-day HRV more than 1 SD down, or RHR up 4 to 6 bpm, or under 6 hours sleep): same exercises, same loads, cut working sets by one third. Red (RHR up 7+ bpm two mornings running, or HRV 2 SD down, or fever): T0, 30 min Zone 2, bed 45 minutes early. Amber and red days count their actual sets.

6.11 The tissue check, and the 3/10 tendon rule

The 3/10 tendon rule. Any localised tendon pain above 3/10 still present 24 hours after a session means that site drops to isometrics for a week. Soreness that settles inside a day is adaptation; soreness worse the next morning is accumulation. This sits below the escalation rule in section 8, never above it: anything on that list is a same-day clinician call regardless of what this rule says.

The four signals, logged Monday and Friday in the same sheet as everything else. Gate 6.10 branch 1 consumes two of them, so they are measurements, not observations.

  1. Minutes of morning stiffness in the worst joint.
  2. Single-leg heel raises to failure per side. Friday's set doubles as the test.
  3. Grip: dead-hang time to failure, once a fortnight. Grip is the bottleneck tissue in this programme (8 carry sets, 2 hangs and 8 pulling sets a week). There is no pull-up bar until week 16, so weeks 1 to 15 use the 45-second suitcase hold at 24kg per hand from Thursday's session as the tracked capacity number instead. Pick one on day one and never switch mid-programme; that is the number branch 1's "hang capacity down more than 10% from the 4-week best" reads until the bar exists.
  4. Session RPE times minutes, summed for the week. That is branch 1's session-RPE load.

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7. THE NUMBERS

Two baselines, because the equipment changes at week 16. Barbell deltas are 11-week deltas measured from week 16, not 26-week deltas. Every strength number comes from an RPE 8 triple. No true 1RM test, ever. Estimated 1RM = load / (1.0278 - 0.0278 x r).

The three numbers to hold in your head.

  • Half the weeks at T2 costs about 20% of total volume and lands at roughly 80% of the February deltas, spent almost entirely on arms and conditioning. That is the number that stops both the panic and the fantasy. It is also close to the design's expected case, because the season override forces T2 for the whole outdoor season.
  • The February barbell numbers will overstate the strength gain. The only measured barbell window is 11 weeks, and 8 of those 11 sit inside the Block C deficit. Much of the delta is motor learning on a lift untrained for 15 weeks. That is not a problem; it is just not strength.
  • The February metric to watch is the shoulder-to-waist ratio, because that is what the tier system protects and it is the one that survives compression.

The two baseline and target tables (week 1 home, week 16 gym, plus silhouette and conditioning) live in Appendix N. They are filled in four times in 26 weeks, not at 06:15.

Blocks and calories

BlockWeeksDatesSets (T1)Calories
A RAMP1 to 517 Aug to 20 Sep52, 56, 60, 64, deload 323,100 flat
B BUILD6 to 1521 Sep to 29 Nov67, deloads wk 10 and 153,500 lifting days, 3,150 other
C REVEAL16 to 2430 Nov to 31 Jan58, deload wk 20, Christmas per 6.72,800 lifting days, 2,400 other
D SHARPEN25 to 261 to 16 Feb40 then 27, loads held3,100 flat

Protein 190g target, 150g floor, 4 feeds of 45 to 48g at 07:00, 12:30, 17:00, 20:00. Hard floor: no day below 2,400 kcal. Fat never below 0.85 g/kg (about 70g). Last hard session Tuesday 10 February; retest 8 to 12 February. Full meal options, macro tables, hydration and the sweat test live in data/diet.md. Alcohol outside Christmas, the sleep hygiene rules and the 60-day baseline requirement are in Appendix P.

Suspended pending a clinician answer (section 8): sauna and hot-water immersion, high-dose fish oil, any vitamin K2 tablet. Until answered, none of the three.

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8. MEDICAL

THE ESCALATION RULE, which overrides every training decision in this document

New or worsening breathlessness, chest pain (particularly on inspiration), coughing blood, unilateral calf pain or swelling, resting heart rate 15 bpm above baseline for more than 48 hours, sudden unexplained tachycardia, fainting, unusual or prolonged bleeding, an expanding bruise, or blood in urine or stool: same-day medical care, immediately. Not a deload decision, not an overtraining conversation, not a note in the log.

The thirteen clinician questions live in Appendix O, to be taken to one appointment before the first heavy week and before the first long-haul flight of the block. Nothing there is a directive about medication; every item is a question for the treating clinician.

Labs weeks 1, 13, 25. Fasted 12 hours, drawn 08:00 to 09:00 Monday, 48 hours clear of resistance training, 72 hours clear of alcohol. Panel and target values in Appendix G.

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9. WATCH THIS

The clip library is the support layer. 60 kept clips of 113 in data/classified.json; 110 source items in data/lean.json. One clip, one cue, one set against that cue, log the index. Never more than 1 cue per session. Foundation-level clips in Blocks A and B, refinement in C and D, advanced only after a fix has held for 2 sessions. Where a clip cue and this document conflict on form, the clip wins: he collected them.

CategoryClipsAttach to
hitting-mechanics16The T-2 twenty-swing block, Saturday's one fix, any in-season self-scout
model-swing10Saturday tee work, T-2 and T-1
strength-power8T1 and T2 lifting, the fixture-free build block
slowpitch-craft7On-deck arc read on game day
routine-mindset6T-2, T-1, and the between-games window
self-scout4The week after a tournament, which is when to film and compare, not to fix
calisthenics-core3T3 and T4, hotel rooms, HOTEL 32
mobility-prehab3The never-drop circuit, the post-tournament 5 days
conditioning1The 4x4 and the fixture-free block
longevity-501The whole document
fielding-defense1Game day

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PART TWO: THE APPENDIX

Nothing here is executed at 06:15. It is here so nothing is lost and nothing is in the way.

A. Why the numbers are the numbers

Sixty-seven hard sets, not 94. Per-session muscle growth response appears to flatten somewhere around 8 to 10 hard sets per muscle. That is a working heuristic from the training literature, not a settled constant. A 49-year-old clears the damage from very high per-session volume more slowly than at 25: direction well supported, magnitude not established to any precise figure. The volume reclaimed is reallocated from what a shirt hides (chest, direct abs) to what it does not (side delts, upper back, neck, forearms, arms). Honest cost: slightly less total arm and chest size than a fresh 30-year-old at 94 sets.

Per-tier recalculation. T1 67, T2 40, T3 20, T4 9. T3 at 20 sets is 30% of 67; T4 at 9 is 13%. Maintenance of strength and cross-sectional area holds at roughly one third of accustomed volume with load unchanged. In young adults as little as one ninth has maintained gains for about 32 weeks; in adults aged 60 to 75 the same protocol needed about one third. At 49 he sits between those groups with no direct data, so the plan takes the older-adult fraction. T3 is therefore at or just above the safe floor and buys about 8 weeks of protection. T4 is below it and is honestly labelled a continuity dose.

The three-week ratchet. Three or more consecutive T3 weeks: from the start of week 3, at least one set per major pattern must go above 80% of the last recorded top-set load, and one 4x4 (bike, hotel treadmill, or 4 x 4 min of hard walking hills) must happen every 10 days minimum. Protein floor rises from 150g to 165g. Home dumbbells cap absolute load, so under a long compression intensity is the variable that silently drops, and intensity is what maintenance depends on. Without the ratchet, weeks 4 to 8 of compression cost 5 to 10% of top-set load and about 10% of VO2max. With it, about 20 extra minutes a week.

Why the drop order is in that order. Zone 2 goes first because aerobic base is the fastest-rebuilding quality in the document (roughly 2 weeks to restore what 4 weeks built) and it is 25% of the structured week for the smallest contribution to a visual and strength target. Isolation arms go second because they are the least load-bearing sets in a programme whose stated aim is a silhouette driven by delts, back and legs. The 4x4 survives to position 6 because it is the single VO2max lever, and VO2max carries the strongest association with the dementia-risk and all-cause-mortality concerns in the brief. Backoff sets go before top sets because the top set carries the intensity signal.

Why the tiers exist at all. The v2 document defined 1 week (590 minutes, 67 sets, 9 sessions, a 07:05 start) and 2 exceptions (Christmas, hotel gyms). Every other week in 26 was undefined, which means improvised, which means either a guilt spiral or a double session on Friday. A plan with one path has a 100% failure rate the first week reality deviates, which for a lecturer who flies 10 hours and plays for Ireland is roughly week 3.

B. The fuelling arithmetic

Maintenance estimated at 3,100 kcal, not 2,850. Weeks 1 to 3 are the measurement: hold 3,100 flat, weigh fasted 4 mornings a week, and if the 7-day mean moves more than 0.3kg in either direction across weeks 2 and 3, adjust maintenance by 150 kcal and re-run. Every number below moves with it.

  • Block B. 4 lifting days at 3,500 + 3 days at 3,150 = 23,450 a week, 3,350 a day, surplus 250 a day and 1,750 a week. At roughly 7,000 to 8,000 kcal per kg of mixed tissue, 0.22 to 0.25 kg a week, so 2.2 to 2.5kg across 10 weeks: 82.6kg to about 85.0kg, of which 1.0 to 1.5kg is honestly lean tissue. The rest is fat, glycogen and water.
  • Block C. 4 lifting days at 2,800 + 3 at 2,400 = 18,400 a week, 2,629 a day, deficit 471 a day and 3,297 a week. At 7,700 kcal per kg of fat, 0.43 kg a week, so 3.9kg across 9 weeks less the 2 Christmas weeks held at maintenance. Net about 85.0kg down to about 81.2kg. Round the promise to 81, not 80.
  • Block C fat floor check. 2,800 kcal minus 190g protein (760) minus 80g fat (720) leaves 1,320 kcal, which is 330g of carbohydrate. It closes. The old Block C left 25 to 43g of fat a day sitting underneath a free-testosterone target, which nobody can hold.
  • Protein arithmetic at 82.6kg. 1.6 g/kg = 132g. 1.8 g/kg = 150g (the floor used in PART ONE, chosen above the strict 1.6 figure because it is easier to remember and easier to hit). 2.0 g/kg = 165g (the extended-compression figure). 2.3 g/kg = 190g (the normal target). Requirement rises, not falls, under both energy deficit and reduced loading. Anabolic resistance rises with age, so per-feed dose matters as much as the daily total: target 40g+ with roughly 3 to 4g leucine. The frequently quoted 35g-per-feed threshold at 50 is a reasonable working target, not an established cut-off.
  • Corrected feeds, each actually landing 44 to 46g: 145g cooked chicken breast; 190g cooked white fish; 55g whey powder (most are 75 to 80% protein by weight); 250g 0-2% Greek yoghurt + 25g whey; 400g yoghurt + 1 egg; 200g cooked 5% beef mince. The 20:00 feed is 55g casein or the 400g yoghurt option. The old plan's 40g whey (about 32g) and 250g yoghurt plus an egg (about 31g) both missed the stated 45g.
  • Around the lift. 60 to 80g carbohydrate 90 min before, 80 to 100g plus 45g protein within 2 hours after. The 4x4 gets 40 to 60g carbohydrate in the 90 min before. Dinner carries 30 to 50g of slow carbohydrate every night including rest days.
  • Hydration. 35 ml/kg baseline (2.9L) plus 500 to 750ml per training hour. Sweat test once, Tuesday of week 2: weigh nude before, drink a measured volume during, weigh nude after. Loss = (pre minus post in kg) + litres drunk. Replace 125 to 150% over the next 4 hours. In heat, 500 to 700mg sodium per litre.
  • At T4, hold protein at 1.8 g/kg and drop 300 to 400 kcal, because training volume fell but the recomposition target did not.

C. The three-variable interaction, the one state to forbid

Reduced volume alone: safe for about 8 weeks with load held. Energy deficit alone at 190g protein and full volume: safe, that is the whole design of Block C. Short sleep alone: costly but survivable for a few nights. Any two together: manageable. All three together is the only state in this programme that reliably costs lean mass in a 49-year-old, and it is the state the tier system exists to forbid. Hence 6.9 (a compressed week suspends the deficit) and 6.5 (three short nights do the same).

On sleep specifically: restricting sleep to about 5.5 hours during an energy deficit shifted the loss away from fat and toward lean tissue by a large margin in controlled work (roughly 55% less fat loss and about 60% more fat-free-mass loss versus 8.5 hours). Short sleep also suppresses muscle protein synthesis and raises perceived effort at fixed load, so the sets get worse as well as more expensive. Sleep is not on the never-drop list as a separate floor because it cannot be executed on demand; it is enforced as a trigger instead, which keeps every rule executable without a judgement call.

D. The detraining evidence, in full

Numbers from detraining literature in trained adults. Well-supported directional magnitudes, not precision figures for one individual. Re-check against a primary source before quoting publicly.

Maximal strength, complete cessation. Days 0 to 14: no reliable measurable loss, and some studies show a small increase at 7 to 10 days as accumulated fatigue clears. Weeks 3 to 4: roughly 5 to 10%, the early portion neural (rate of force development, motor unit firing) rather than tissue. Weeks 8 to 12: roughly 10 to 15%. Adults over 60 lose faster at every timepoint; at 49 he sits closer to the young curve than the old one, but the plan assumes the middle.

Muscle size. Week 1: essentially unchanged. Any 1 to 2kg scale drop in the first 7 to 10 days is muscle glycogen and its bound water (roughly 3g water per 1g glycogen) plus reduced gut content. This is the single most misread number in any programme, which is why the return-day weigh-in carries an explanatory line. Weeks 3 to 4: roughly 5 to 10% fibre CSA. Week 8: roughly 10 to 15%, larger in type II fibres, which is exactly the tissue the 50th-birthday silhouette depends on. Myofibrillar protein synthesis falls within days of unloading, but net atrophy lags because breakdown does not rise proportionally in the first week.

VO2max, the fast one. Weeks 1 to 3: roughly 4 to 8%, most of it a 5 to 12% fall in plasma volume reducing stroke volume. A fluid change, not a mitochondrial one, and it returns within days of resuming. Weeks 4 to 8: roughly 10 to 20%. Week 12+: 20% or more in highly trained individuals. Mitochondrial enzyme activity falls faster in percentage terms than VO2max itself, and rebuilds fast.

Retraining. Regaining strength after a layoff runs substantially faster than the original acquisition; nuclei added during hypertrophy persist through detraining, so the tissue is primed. That is the mechanism behind the 90%-on-return, full-load-by-session-3 rule.

The arithmetic that stops the panic. One missed week costs approximately 0% strength, 0% size and 3 to 5% VO2max, recovered inside a fortnight. A rigid plan turns a rounding error into an abandoned block. Six travel weeks a year at 2 sessions instead of 5 costs about 18 sessions out of 130, roughly 14%, and strength is fully recoverable from that.

E. The cost ledger: what the sport calendar actually takes

EventHard sets forgone
One tournament (taper + games + 5-day re-entry)about 22
Two tournaments inside 14 daysabout 90 across 3 weeks
One long-haul round tripabout 40
One 2-hour weekabout 47 to 59
Christmas fortnightabout 116

Worst realistic case in 26 weeks (3 tournaments + 2 long-haul trips) removes under 6% of total programme volume. That is the number that stops the panic in the moment. It is reference material, not an instruction.

Tournament load arithmetic, which is why games count as training. A tournament day is 6 to 10 games, 3 to 5 at-bats each, 8 to 12 on-deck swings, plus base-running accelerations: an estimated 25 to 40 maximal or near-maximal efforts across a 4-day event and roughly 300 maximal-intent rotations across a weekend, plus 8 to 12 hours on feet. That is more maximal-intent rotation and more accelerations than any Monday power block in this document. Adding training to it is adding a fifth maximal exposure to a week designed for three. These are estimates from typical slowpitch game structure, not measured figures.

Why the taper is 7 days and not 3 or 14. Fatigue masks fitness for about 5 to 7 days after a heavy lower-body session. Strength and power are held by top-set intensity, not by volume, so cutting sets while keeping load is how you arrive fresh without arriving detrained. The specific 7-day figure is a coaching convention rather than a settled constant. The 4x4 leaves at T-5 while walking stays because a 90 to 95% max-HR session inside 5 days of a tournament buys nothing and costs legs; eccentric and cardiac-drift costs are not the same cost.

Why hamstrings and low backs cluster in the 72 hours after competition. Eccentric tolerance is down in that window, which is why Nordics and depth landings are deleted outright rather than merely reduced, and why re-entry runs top-set-first at 80 to 85% rather than volume-first: it preserves the strength signal while the tissue catches up.

Why missed sets are logged as achieved-at-a-lower-target. That is an adherence argument, not a physiological one. A week logged as 45 achieved is a completed week; the same week logged as 22 missed is the first week of not counting.

F. The season-shape argument

A competitive season and a hypertrophy block are physiologically in tension: one spends power and connective-tissue tolerance, the other requires accumulating fatigue. In-season, the games ARE the power training, and lifting exists to hold what the games spend. Running 67 hard sets in a live fixture week is not conservative planning; it is a direct trade against on-field performance.

The asset in this calendar, which v2 never named, is the window from the last outdoor fixture to 16 February 2027: no fixtures, which is the cleanest 18-week build a 49-year-old will ever be handed. That is where the 67-set weeks live. Two weekends of softball do not cost him the fiftieth birthday; pretending they are ordinary weekends does.

The 17 February ramp of hitting to 3 sessions of 80 swings a week is the start of the next season's cycle and sits outside these 26 weeks.

What I could not stamp: the actual 2026 WBSC Europeans dates and the Irish domestic fixture list. Every rule in 6.1 is therefore written relative to first pitch. Someone with the fixture list should stamp real dates onto section 3's season override and onto 6.1.

G. The flight and travel reasoning

Circadian. The pacemaker shifts roughly 1 hour per day eastbound and up to 1.5 westbound, because the free-running human day is slightly longer than 24 hours and is therefore easier to lengthen than to shorten. Seven zones is 5 to 7 days to full alignment, longer coming home. Peak force output recovers well ahead of full alignment, which is why the ladder puts the first hard session at day 3 rather than day 7. Planning heuristics drawn from applied sports chronobiology, not constants.

Why light and meal timing, and not supplements. Outdoor light and food timing are the two zeitgebers he can control for free in any city. Anything pharmacological, including melatonin, sits with his clinician, particularly alongside anticoagulation. PART ONE deliberately contains no supplement instruction for travel.

Post-flight decrement. Long-haul flight produces mild hypoxia at cabin altitude, dehydration, plasma volume reduction, prolonged immobility and circadian disruption. Measured consequences for 24 to 48 hours after landing include reduced peak power, reduced reaction time and elevated perceived exertion at fixed workload. Direction well supported; magnitude not established to a precise figure. That is why the 48-hour ban on sprinting and maximal-intent throwing is a physiological rule and not a caution: the first hard rotation after a cramped 10-hour sit is the most reliable way to strain an oblique.

Why Spain was separated from Mexico. Dublin to Spain is 1 zone and about 3 hours; the only real cost is a day of sitting, fully covered by the flight-day walk and hydration protocol. v2 treated Mexico and Spain as one category, which surrendered roughly 4 perfectly good training weeks a year to jet lag that does not exist.

Why tempo replaces load on bands. A band's resistance curve peaks at end range and collapses at the start, so band tension caps out well below 24kg dumbbells. A 3-second lowering with a 1-second pause raises time under tension by roughly 60% per set and is the only progression variable that does not need another band. Adding sets instead would push HOTEL 32 past 45 minutes, which is how a hotel session stops happening.

The band anchor protocol, in full. One door anchor (a soft strap with a foam ball or knot on the far side of a door). Close the door so it opens AWAY from you, never toward. Anchor low (skirting height) for pulldowns and lateral raises, mid (chest height) for rows and pull-aparts, high (top of door) for face pulls and straight-arm work. Test the anchor with a hard two-handed pull before the first rep of every session. For the Spanish squat: one 41mm (2.5in) heavy resistance band looped behind both knees and anchored to a fixed upright at knee height; if that band and a genuinely fixed anchor are not both available, use the slow split squat instead, so there is nothing to decide on the day. For the band overhead press and RFE split squat, stand on the band with both feet, not one, or it slips. Bands are replaced on any visible nick, not on a schedule.

The labs panel. Full lipid panel plus ApoB and Lp(a) (Lp(a) once, it is genetically fixed), fasting glucose, fasting insulin, HbA1c, hs-CRP, full blood count, ferritin, renal panel with eGFR and cystatin C, liver panel, TSH with free T4 and free T3, total and free testosterone with SHBG and LH, oestradiol, vitamin D 25-OH, B12, folate, homocysteine, magnesium. Ask for numeric values, not normal/abnormal flags. Targets: ApoB below 80 mg/dL; home BP 7-day morning average below 120/75; fasting insulin below 6 mIU/L with HOMA-IR below 1.5; HbA1c below 5.4%; triglyceride-to-HDL below 1.5 (mg/dL units); hs-CRP below 1.0 mg/L; free testosterone in the upper third of the age-adjusted range from two morning draws a week apart; homocysteine below 9 micromol/L; vitamin D 25-OH 30 to 50 ng/mL; ferritin 50 to 150 ng/mL. B-complex returns only if homocysteine reads above 10.

Lab-week protocol (weeks 1, 13, 25). 48 hours clear of resistance training, fasted, drawn 08:00 to 09:00. The only draw that works is Monday morning: no Saturday med-ball session that weekend, draw at 08:00 Monday, and Monday's lifting moves to 17:00 that day. No caffeine before the draw.

Blood pressure at home. Validated upper-arm cuff, sit 5 minutes, two readings a minute apart, morning and evening, three non-consecutive days a week (Mon, Wed, Fri). Morning readings at 06:20, before the 06:30 caffeine, or the numbers are noise. Log the average of the two, never a single reading. A 7-day average at or above 130/80 is a GP appointment, not a training adjustment. About 60 minutes a week.

Heat, cold and anti-inflammatories. Sauna and hot-water immersion have cardiovascular effects that interact with anticoagulation and stay suspended until answered. Routine NSAID use for training soreness blunts the collagen and muscle protein synthesis the tendon work exists to produce, and there is a separate and more important clinical question about NSAIDs on anticoagulation. Neither is a recommendation; both are questions with his name on them.

H. The equipment analysis, and the defect it fixed

v2 stated that "week 1 is the baseline week and it is the load-bearing week of the whole document", then prescribed estimated 1RM tests on flat barbell bench, strict overhead press, back squat, weighted chin-up and trap-bar deadlift. On 17 August 2026 he has 2 adjustable dumbbells to 24kg per hand and resistance bands. No barbell, no bench, no rack, no trap bar, no pull-up bar, no cable stack. Five of the six strength baselines could not be measured, and every strength target in v2's section 7 was explicitly a delta from those numbers. The measurement spine of a 26-week plan was unexecutable in its first hour.

Downstream, the same gap invalidated the sessions, not only the tests: Monday's "flat barbell bench press, this is the tested lift", Thursday's weighted chin-up and the dead-hang grip test v2 called "the bottleneck tissue in this programme", Tuesday's back squat and leg extension and the band-anchored Spanish squat fallback, Friday's trap-bar and the farmer's carry progression capped at 24kg against a written cap of 60kg (stops progressing around week 6 with no rung above it), plus face pulls, cable laterals, reverse pec-deck and overhead cable extensions. Roughly 45 of 67 prescribed hard sets had no legal execution for the first 15 weeks.

The brittleness was not the gap. It was that a plan with one path has no rule that fires when a prescription is unavailable, so the athlete invents a substitution at 07:05 on a Monday, with no counting rule for whether the substitute is a hard set and no way to know in February whether the recorded numbers are comparable. The fix is section 4's two-column tables, the 6-rung home progression ladder, and the two-baseline structure in section 7.

The honest cost of that fix: the four barbell lifts get 11 weeks of measured progression instead of 26, so the February deltas came down from +18 to +25% (trap-bar), +15 to +20% (squat), +10 to +15% (bench), +12 to +18% (press) and +15kg on the chin belt, to the 11-week figures printed in section 7. Better paid in August than in February.

I. The behavioural chapter

Why all-or-nothing happens. A single lapse gets read as evidence that the plan is broken rather than that a day was, and the response is abandonment rather than adjustment. The mechanism has a name in the addiction literature (the abstinence violation effect) and it is the single largest killer of programmes like this one. Everything in PART ONE that looks like leniency is really this: a lapse that has a written procedure is not a lapse, it is a branch.

Why the Sunday declaration is the true keystone. Compliance is redefined from "did the week as written" (a binary that produces shame at 5 sessions out of 6) to "declared a tier on Sunday and hit that tier" (a target hittable in a tournament week, on a plane, and on 24 December). Under that definition a T4 week is a win. Any habit that circumstance can legitimately prevent will eventually be prevented, and the first prevention breaks a streak labelled unbreakable, which is exactly the event this design exists to stop. The unbreakable habit must therefore have zero prerequisites.

Why make-up sessions are banned. They stack two high-fatigue days back to back in a body that clears damage more slowly at 49, and the debt model turns training into a ledger that can only run negative. The 2.5-hour Saturday it eventually produces is the session that generates the injury or the resentment.

Why re-planning while behind is the terminal behaviour. Rewriting the plan feels like recommitment and is actually the end. It converts a 3-day gap into a 3-week planning project during which nothing is trained, then delivers a fresher, more ambitious plan into an already depleted week, which fails harder and confirms the story. Acting first and editing later inverts the order.

Why the weekly tally moved out of the front. An aggregate compliance number visible in the main body functions as a target for 3 weeks and as an indictment for the other 23. It survives in section 4.1 as a description of what a T1 week contains, never as a scoreboard.

J. The two failure modes this rewrite was built to catch

The tournament Monday. v2 had one version of Monday: 6 x 20m accelerations, 3 x 5 maximum-intent med ball throws and the week's heaviest bench, at 07:05. Put a real tournament weekend in front of it: Saturday and Sunday, 6 to 10 games, roughly 300 maximal-intent rotations, 40-plus accelerations off the base, plus a drive or a flight to get there. v2 had no counter. It did not count games as sets, did not count them as power exposures, and had no rule that fired when Saturday had already happened. Either he ran it as written, which is the standard midlife hamstring and low-back setup on a body 48 hours into a repair cycle after a bad hotel sleep, or he skipped it, and with no re-entry rule Tuesday was a guess, Wednesday was a guess, the 67-set week missed by 30, and the week logged as a failure. The logged failure is what kills adherence, not the missed sets. Same break at the other end: no taper, so the week before the Europeans ran 67 hard sets with a heavy squat 3 days out, and he arrived at the biggest tournament of the year carrying fatigue the plan instructed him to build.

The ratchet, and the missed Tuesday. v2's Sunday volume gate branched only on session-RPE load, capacity tests and morning readiness. Return from Mexico having trained twice: session-RPE load is far below 1.3 x the 4-week mean, no red mornings occurred because he was rested, heel-raise and hang capacity are intact because they decay far slower than a week. First match wins, so the gate fell through and, after two clean prior weeks, prescribed adding 2 hard sets in the exact week he returned with reduced work capacity, a shifted circadian phase and 48 hours of post-flight neuromuscular depression. That is how a 49-year-old with a patellar tendon block and 8 carry sets a week acquires an overuse injury, and the plan would have read it as bad luck rather than as an arithmetic error. Branch 0 in 6.10 closes it in one line.

And the small one that fires most often. Miss Tuesday's Lower A to a marking deadline. v2 had no rule, so it moves to Wednesday. Wednesday's 4x4 slides to Thursday, which already carries Upper B and evening Zone 2, so the 4x4 dies. Tuesday's heavy squat now sits 48 hours before Friday's heavy hinge instead of 72, and Tuesday's Nordics, deliberately placed four days clear of Saturday's maximum-intent rotational throwing, are now three days clear. Saturday he throws at full intent on hamstrings that took a 4-second-eccentric Nordic on Wednesday: the textbook hamstring strain setup that v2 itself names and then leaves unprotected the moment one day moves. The rigid plan does not break at the missed session. It breaks four days later, in a session that was never missed, and the log shows every session completed. Rule 6.0 catches it by deleting rather than moving, and each tier preserves the 72-hour spacing by construction because each tier is a designed week rather than the residue of a broken one.

K. What this programme deliberately does not do

It does not run 94 sets a week. It does not give arms the 8 to 10 direct sets they deserve (5: 3 triceps, 2 biceps; a named trade, and arms are first in line for the volume gate's +2). It does not chase visible abs (2 sets, and no body fat percentage is claimed because no instrument here can measure one). It does not train chest hard (5 sets; a shirt hides the chest, and flat bench is in because the programme tests it). It does not diet for 26 weeks (10 weeks above maintenance, 5 at it; the reveal only works because there is something under the fat). It does not test a true 1RM at any point. It does not add a third high-intensity modality, and it counts the three honestly: Monday sprints and throws, Wednesday 4x4, Saturday med ball and free swings. It does not run hitting at 3 sessions a week until 17 February. It does not do a photo-week peak: no depletion, no water manipulation, calories back to maintenance on 1 February. It does not pretend Christmas is not happening. It does not treat him as fragile: the tendon blocks, Copenhagens and Nordics are training, not rehab, and the section 8 flags are questions to ask once, get answered, and stop thinking about. And it does not attempt to recover missed volume. That is now a design decision, not an omission.

L. What it costs, all in

ItemMinutes per week at T1
Structured training, 9 sessions590
Mobility, 6 min daily42
Post-meal walks, 15-20 min daily105-140
Morning outdoor light not covered by the walk0-70
Blood pressure, 3 days, morning and evening60
Morning gate, 5 min daily35
Commute and shower, 6 trips120-180
Food prep and shopping180
Measurement, photos, Sunday review35
Total1,209 to 1,374 minutes, 20 to 23 hours

By tier, structured training only: T1 590 min, T2 350, T3 150 (2 x 45 plus mobility and walks), T4 60, T0 0. All-in: T1 20 to 23 hours, T2 about 12, T3 about 5, T4 about 2.5. That is the arithmetic that makes the Sunday declaration honest.

M. What changed from v2, and how the panel's disagreements were resolved

Structural, the redesign itself.

  1. Four tiers replaced one week. v2 had 1 defined week and 2 exceptions across 26 weeks.
  2. A Sunday declaration rule replaced mid-week improvisation.
  3. A fixed drop order and a fixed floor replaced the judgement call at 21:40.
  4. A re-entry ladder with hysteresis replaced nothing at all. Unplanned low weeks now absorb the nearest booked deload, so two junk weeks never run back to back.
  5. Branch 0 added to the volume gate, closing the post-travel ratchet.
  6. The 150-minute Zone 2 "floor that never goes below that, including travel weeks" was re-expressed as 7,000 steps a day. A promise a tournament plus an 11-hour flight will break is contagious: the week the floor fails is the week the whole document stops being true.
  7. The equipment gap was fixed with two-column sessions, a 6-rung home ladder and a two-baseline measurement structure (Appendix H).
  8. The season override was added, and the fixture-free 18-week window named as the asset it is (Appendix F).
  9. Everything not acted on daily moved to PART TWO.

Disagreements between the six contributors, and the resolution.

  • Tier hour thresholds. Proposals ranged over 8.0+/5.0-8.0/2.0-4.9 and 8.0+/4.5-7.9/2.0-4.4. Resolved to a single set: 8.0+, 4.5 to 7.9, 2.0 to 4.4, under 2.0. One number, no overlap, no gap.
  • T3 volume. One contributor argued 12 hard sets, another 20. Resolved at 20, because 20 is 30% of 67 and sits at the older-adult maintenance fraction; 12 sits below it. The 12-set version survives as the T4-plus-ratchet case.
  • What never drops. Six different pairs were proposed: mobility + rotational exposure; protein + wake anchor; warm-up ramp + four heavy top sets; walking + protein; protein + one heavy set per pattern; Sunday declaration + a daily ten. All six were right about their own domain and all six were incomplete. Resolved to one list of 6 items, ordered, plus the step floor. The Sunday declaration is first because it is the only one that makes the plan adaptive rather than merely gentle.
  • Protein floor: 132g (1.6 g/kg) or 150g? Resolved at 150g. The 132g figure is the physiological minimum and it is in Appendix B; 150g is the operational floor because a rounder number gets hit.
  • Should the tournament week be T3 or a bespoke countdown? Both. The week is declared T3 for planning, and the countdown in 6.1 governs what happens inside it, because a fixture is a fixed date and a Tuesday squat is not.
  • First hard session after a westbound long-haul: day 2 or day 3? Resolved at day 3, with day 2 as a deliberately submaximal HOTEL 32 at RPE 6-7, plus two numeric override gates. Eastbound adds a day.
  • Clip library size. The brief said 60; classified.json holds 113 items of which 60 are kept, and lean.json holds 110. Section 9 states all three numbers rather than picking one.
  • Deload cadence versus forced light weeks. Resolved by absorption: a forced light week deletes the nearest booked deload and pushes the next one out. A week with no fatigue in it does not need a tool against accumulated fatigue.

Carried forward from v2 unchanged, because they were right. The escalation rule, verbatim. No true 1RM at any point. Nordics on Tuesday, four days clear of Saturday's throwing. Flat bench as the tested press. The 6-set warm-up ramp. The 12-minute bike time trial in place of the Cooper run. Deltas rather than absolutes, with the 1.62 golden-ratio target deleted. Body fat percentage claimed nowhere. Deloads booked, not earned. The Christmas fortnight planned rather than survived. And the honest 20-to-23-hour cost, on the page, so the decision to start is made against it.

N. The baselines and the February targets

Moved here from PART ONE: filled in four times in 26 weeks, never consulted at 06:15.

Two baselines, because the equipment changes at week 16. Barbell deltas are 11-week deltas measured from week 16, not 26-week deltas. Every strength number comes from an RPE 8 triple. No true 1RM test, ever. Estimated 1RM = load / (1.0278 - 0.0278 x r).

Week 1 home baseline (17 to 23 Aug), tested with what exists

TestProtocol
Floor press, 2 x 24kgMax reps, 1 RIR
Goblet squat, 24kgMax reps, 1 RIR
Single-leg RDL, 24kg/handMax reps per side
Band-anchored or table inverted rowMax reps
Suitcase carry, 24kgDistance unbroken
Shoulder (widest delts, relaxed), neck, waist at navel, forearm, both thighsTwo readings, record the mean, unflexed, morning
Countermovement jumpChalk jump-and-reach, best of 3, accuracy about +/- 2cm
20m sprint, two-point stanceBest of 3, same surface
12-minute bike time trialAverage watts. Est. VO2max = (11.0 x watts / kg) + 7. A tracking number, not a lab value
Bodyweight4 fasted weigh-ins, take the mean
PhotosFront, side, back, same light, same spot, same time. Monthly
Labs, BP cuff, HRV/RHR baselineMonday 08:00, fasted, 48h clear of resistance training

Week 16 gym baseline (30 Nov to 6 Dec), and the February targets

LiftWk 16 baseline16 Feb target (11 weeks)
Trap-bar deadlift, est. 1RM____ kg+10 to +14%
Back squat, est. 1RM____ kg+8 to +12%
Flat bench press, est. 1RM____ kg+6 to +10%
Strict overhead press, est. 1RM____ kg+7 to +11%
Weighted chin-up, est. 1RM____ kg+8kg on the belt
Bodyweight chin-up, max reps____ reps+3 reps
Farmer's carry, 40m, no straps____ kg/hand+2kg/hand every 2nd week, cap 60kg
Grip, dynamometer or dead-hang time____+10%, from the week 16 number
Countermovement jump____ cm (wk 1)+3cm on week 1 (anything under +3 is noise)

Silhouette and conditioning, deltas from week 1

MeasureWeek 116 Feb target
Bodyweight82.6kg (confirm with 4 weigh-ins)81kg +/- 1, via about 85.0kg at week 15
Waist at navel____ cmminus 4 to 6cm
Shoulder at widest delts____ cmplus 2.5 to 3.5cm
Shoulder-to-waist ratio____plus 0.10 to 0.14
Neck at Adam's apple____ cmplus 1.5 to 2cm
Forearm at widest, relaxed____ cmplus 0.5 to 1cm
12-min bike TT, average watts____ W+12 to +18%
Resting heart rate, 7-day mean____ bpmminus 5 to 10 bpm
60s HR recovery after the last 4x4 interval____ bpm+10 bpm
20m sprint____ shold or improve at lower bodyweight

Body fat percentage is not measured and is not claimed anywhere. Rate of loss in Block C capped at 0.4 to 0.6kg a week on a 7-day rolling mean of 4 fasted weigh-ins. Waist must fall faster than bodyweight.

O. The clinician questions

The clinician questions. One appointment, before the first heavy week and before the first long-haul flight of the block. Nothing here is a directive about medication.

  1. Umbrella. 26 weeks, 4 resistance sessions a week at 6 to 20 reps, one weekly interval session at 90 to 95% max HR, 150 to 200 min Zone 2, competitive slowpitch. Given the PE history and current anticoagulation, what activity restrictions or monitoring do you want?
  2. Loading and bracing. Working sets 3 reps or higher at 1 to 2 RIR, no maximal singles, no long grinds, brace on a 70% breath, breath-holds capped at 3 seconds. Any load, rep range or intra-abdominal pressure pattern to stay under? Do you want a baseline resting BP, and an exercise BP reading, before the 87 to 90% weeks?
  3. Maximal effort test. One all-out bike effort in week 4 to establish max HR, then weekly work at 90 to 95% of it, plus 12-minute all-out bike time trials in weeks 1, 9, 17, 26. Submaximal protocol instead, or first effort supervised?
  4. Collision on the diamond. Sliding, diving, base collisions, being hit by a batted or thrown ball. What impact exposure are you comfortable with, what protective equipment, and specifically what sends me to A&E after a blow to the head or torso rather than wait and see? What should a doctor abroad be told?
  5. Long-haul travel. 8 to 11 hour flights several times a year, training around them. What do you want for hydration, movement cadence and compression in the cabin, and anything changed in the 24 hours either side?
  6. Clock shift. Medication timing when the clock moves 6 to 7 hours (Mexico).
  7. Altitude and heat. Mexico City at about 2,240m combined with heat and hard training.
  8. Supplements and interactions. Creatine 5g daily, vitamin D3 titrated to blood level, whey and casein, caffeine 250mg four mornings a week, electrolyte tablets on hot days, 15g hydrolysed collagen + 50mg vitamin C twice a week. Separately held pending your view: 2 to 3g combined EPA/DHA and a 100 to 200 mcg K2 tablet. Interactions? Does the consistency of dietary leafy greens matter week to week?
  9. Pain relief. What for ordinary muscle soreness, including topical anti-inflammatories, given the anticoagulation? A pre-agreed answer, so it is not decided at 22:00 with a sore shoulder.
  10. Sleep study. 49, male, 82.6kg, heavily muscled upper body, STOP-BANG [X]. Given my father's dementia and my PE history I want a home sleep study on file within 60 days, not a partner questionnaire.
  11. Sauna and hot-water immersion. Sometimes the same day as intervals or 50 minutes of Zone 2. Marked vasodilation, plasma shift, fluid loss, fainting risk on standing. Comfortable at all? If so: duration, temperature, rehydration, and should I avoid it on days I have already lost fluid? Until answered: none.
  12. Maximal sprinting. 6 x 20m maximal accelerations weekly for 26 weeks, the highest soft-tissue exposure in the plan; on anticoagulation a hamstring or calf tear can be a deep intramuscular bleed. Comfortable at all? Warm-up standard, surface restriction?
  13. The calf ambiguity, and this one needs a pre-agreed written answer. An acute calf tear and a DVT present the same way. If I feel a sudden painful pull in a calf during a sprint or a carry: do I present the same day regardless, is there a self-assessment that distinguishes them, and is there a threshold below which I manage it as a muscle injury? Written down now, not decided on a Monday at the track.

Carry the written answers, medication details and prescriber contact in cabin baggage on every trip, never in the hold. Tell whoever reads the blood panel that he takes creatine: it raises serum creatinine with no change in kidney function and reliably triggers an unnecessary renal workup.

P. Restored from v2: alcohol, sleep hygiene, and the 60-day baseline

These three were in v2, were dropped in the rewrite, and are restored here because rules in PART ONE now depend on them.

Alcohol, outside Christmas. Zero through Block C. Up to two drinks a week in Blocks A, B and D. None on a day before a lifting session. The Christmas fortnight is the stated exception and is priced in 6.7 at 4 drinks across the two weeks. The cost is deep sleep on the night he most needs it. That is a preference set deliberately, not a calculated number. A wedding or a family event abroad is a Block A/B/D-style allowance if it falls there and a suspension decision if it falls in Block C; either way the morning after runs 6.5, which is a branch, not a punishment.

Sleep hygiene. Lights out 22:15, in bed 22:00, screens off 21:30. Wake time is the circadian anchor, not bedtime, and it is floor item 3. Eight hours in bed for 7.5 asleep. Bedroom 17 to 19C, blacked out to the point where he cannot see his hand, phone charging in another room. Ten to twenty minutes of outdoor light daily, no sunglasses, Irish cloud included; morning where the clock allows it, the 13:00 walk from November to February. Caffeine hard stop at 11:00; in practice it is taken at 06:30 on the four lifting days and nowhere else, and blood pressure is always taken at 06:20 before it. Last hard effort finishes 3 hours before lights out, which every session in this document already does by finishing at 08:45. After any evening Zone 2: 10 minutes cooling, 500ml electrolyte fluid, food, then 5 minutes of nasal breathing at 6 breaths per minute.

The 60-day baseline, and why the morning gate is conditional. The morning gate takes RHR, HRV and a 1-to-10 readiness score before getting out of bed. Build a 60-day baseline before acting on any of it, then decide on 7-day rolling means, never single nights. That is why PART ONE's gate says to log and not act for the first 60 days: an HRV standard deviation and a 7-day RHR average do not exist in week 1, and a gate that fires against a baseline that does not exist is noise wearing the clothes of a rule. Sleep hours and fever are measurable from day one, which is why those two keep firing throughout. The same applies to 6.2's override gate ("RHR more than 8 bpm above the 7-day average"): it needs 7 days of readings on the trip's own baseline, and before that exists the sleep clause alone governs.

The diet

What to actually eat, in grams

Built by a sports dietician to fuel the plan opposite. Training day 3,507 kcal and 193g protein, rest day 3,145 and 195g. Every meal table sums to its total.

THE 50 DIETTHE DIETTHE DAY, TRAININGTHE DAY, RESTSEVEN DINNERSFIVE BREAKFASTS AND FIVE LUNCHESTHE SHOPPING LISTEATING AWAY FROM HOMETHE BLOCKSSUPPLEMENTS

Dinners · 14 photographed

Grilled Salmon with Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Quinoa
Dinner D01
Grilled Salmon with Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Quinoa
680 kcal · 48g protein
Mediterranean Baked Chicken with Vegetables
Dinner D02
Mediterranean Baked Chicken with Vegetables
650 kcal · 52g protein
Grilled White Fish with Lemon-Garlic Spinach & Sweet Potato
Dinner D03
Grilled White Fish with Lemon-Garlic Spinach & Sweet Potato
550 kcal · 46g protein
Stuffed Bell Peppers (Lean Turkey & Quinoa)
Dinner D04
Stuffed Bell Peppers (Lean Turkey & Quinoa)
600 kcal · 44g protein
Herb-Crusted Chicken with Roasted Root Vegetables
Dinner D05
Herb-Crusted Chicken with Roasted Root Vegetables
630 kcal · 54g protein
Shrimp Stir-Fry with Brown Rice
Dinner D06
Shrimp Stir-Fry with Brown Rice
560 kcal · 42g protein
Baked Cod with Tomato-Olive Tapenade & Farro
Dinner D07
Baked Cod with Tomato-Olive Tapenade & Farro
560 kcal · 46g protein
Carne Asada with Cauliflower Rice & Grilled Vegetables
Dinner D08
Carne Asada with Cauliflower Rice & Grilled Vegetables
580 kcal · 50g protein
Italian Chicken Cacciatore with Polenta
Dinner D09
Italian Chicken Cacciatore with Polenta
640 kcal · 52g protein
Grilled Mahi-Mahi with Salsa Verde & Quinoa
Dinner D10
Grilled Mahi-Mahi with Salsa Verde & Quinoa
600 kcal · 46g protein
Turkey Chili (Mexican-Style)
Dinner D11
Turkey Chili (Mexican-Style)
510 kcal · 42g protein
Italian Baked Cod with Tomatoes & Olives
Dinner D12
Italian Baked Cod with Tomatoes & Olives
500 kcal · 44g protein
Mexican Shrimp Skewers with Lime-Cilantro Rice
Dinner D13
Mexican Shrimp Skewers with Lime-Cilantro Rice
580 kcal · 42g protein
Italian Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Dinner D14
Italian Stuffed Zucchini Boats
580 kcal · 46g protein

Lunchs · 14 photographed

Mediterranean Chicken Bowl
Lunch L01
Mediterranean Chicken Bowl
600 kcal · 52g protein
Greek-Style Salmon Salad
Lunch L02
Greek-Style Salmon Salad
620 kcal · 48g protein
Turkey & Veggie Wrap with Hummus
Lunch L03
Turkey & Veggie Wrap with Hummus
520 kcal · 46g protein
Lemon Herb Chicken with Roasted Vegetables
Lunch L04
Lemon Herb Chicken with Roasted Vegetables
600 kcal · 54g protein
Tuna Nicoise-Style Bowl
Lunch L05
Tuna Nicoise-Style Bowl
500 kcal · 44g protein
Grilled Fish Tacos (No Cheese!)
Lunch L06
Grilled Fish Tacos (No Cheese!)
610 kcal · 50g protein
Italian-Style Chicken with Zucchini Noodles
Lunch L07
Italian-Style Chicken with Zucchini Noodles
540 kcal · 52g protein
Chicken Fajita Bowl (No Cheese!)
Lunch L08
Chicken Fajita Bowl (No Cheese!)
620 kcal · 50g protein
Italian Turkey Meatballs with Zucchini Noodles
Lunch L09
Italian Turkey Meatballs with Zucchini Noodles
540 kcal · 48g protein
Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa (No Cheese!)
Lunch L10
Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa (No Cheese!)
580 kcal · 48g protein
Italian Chicken Salad with White Beans
Lunch L11
Italian Chicken Salad with White Beans
580 kcal · 46g protein
Carnitas-Style Pork Bowl
Lunch L12
Carnitas-Style Pork Bowl
620 kcal · 44g protein
Italian Tuna Pasta Salad
Lunch L13
Italian Tuna Pasta Salad
580 kcal · 42g protein
Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup (Deconstructed Bowl)
Lunch L14
Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup (Deconstructed Bowl)
540 kcal · 42g protein

THE 50 DIET

Victor del Rosal, food to fuel THE 50 PROGRAMME (17 Aug 2026 to 16 Feb 2027)

This document does not set targets. The targets are already set in programme.md section 5: 3,500 kcal on lifting days and 3,150 otherwise in Block B, 2,800 and 2,400 in Block C, 3,100 flat in Blocks A and D, and 190g protein every single day in every block. This document turns those numbers into food with weights on it.

What was kept from the existing nutrition material. The four-feeds-a-day structure. The MIND-diet food selection: leafy greens daily, berries, walnuts and almonds, olive oil as the only cooking fat, oily fish twice a week, beans several times a week, poultry over red meat. The no-cheese default. The Mexican, Mediterranean and Italian rotation in BIWEEKLY_MEAL_PLAN.md, which is a good rotation and is reused here. The 85% rule.

What was changed. The calorie numbers in NUTRITION_GUIDE.md (2,700 training, 2,100 rest, 180g protein) are superseded by the programme's numbers (3,500/3,150, 190g protein). They are roughly 800 kcal a day apart, and the programme's are the ones the training is costed against. The supplement stack was cut from fourteen items to five plus one optional, matching programme section 5. Glutamine, resveratrol, lion's mane, curcumin, B-complex, zinc and ginkgo are gone. Omega-3 capsules and the K2 tablet are held pending his clinician, per programme section 8 item 6. The "diet break" schedule built for a 15-month deficit is gone, because this programme is 10 weeks above maintenance and only 9 below.

One arithmetic note, stated once. The programme's calorie targets and its carbohydrate/fat table do not close. Lifting day at 190g protein, 410g carbs and 110g fat sums to 3,390, not 3,500; the off-day row at 200g carbs and 100g fat sums to 2,460, not 3,150. Calories and protein are the load-bearing numbers, because the whole surplus and deficit arithmetic in section 5 is built on them. So the days below hit calories and protein exactly and let carbohydrate and fat sit slightly outside the table's bands. Where that happens it is flagged.

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THE DIET

Four protein feeds of 45 to 50g anchor the day and never move, and everything else is carbohydrate placed where the training is: a big pile before and after the 07:05 session, less of it at the far end of the day. Fat comes almost entirely from olive oil, oily fish, avocado and nuts, so the fat that is there is doing brain work as well as hormone work. That is the whole idea. Looking visibly strong at 50 is a shoulder and upper back problem, and shoulders and upper back are built by showing up to a heavy session with glycogen in the tank and repairing it with 190g of protein spread across the day rather than dumped into one dinner. The food is Mexican and Mediterranean because that is what he cooks and what he will keep cooking in week 22 when novelty has worn off.

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THE DAY, TRAINING

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in Block B. Target 3,500 kcal and 190g protein.

Four protein feeds land at 08:45, 13:00, 19:00 and 21:15. The 17:00 slot is deliberately a low-protein bridge; four feeds at 47g plus a real dinner plus casein is 240g of protein, not 190, so one of the five eating occasions has to be carbohydrate and fat only. That is the 17:00 one, because it sits furthest from any training.

06:30, pre-lift (90 minutes before the 07:05 session)

FoodAmount
Plain white bagel100g (1 bagel)
Banana, peeled120g
Black coffee with 250mg caffeine250ml

White bagel, not wholegrain, and not much fibre, because this is eaten 90 minutes before a heavy bench press. Blood pressure is taken at 06:20, before the coffee.

374 kcal. Protein 10g, carbs 80g, fat 2g.

08:45, post-lift feed 1

FoodAmount
Porridge oats, dry80g
Whey powder (80% protein by weight)35g
Banana, peeled130g
Blueberries120g
Peanut butter, no added sugar15g

Cook the oats in 400ml water, stir the whey in off the heat so it does not go grainy, top with the fruit and the peanut butter. Creatine 5g goes in here.

717 kcal. Protein 45g, carbs 97g, fat 17g.

13:00, lunch, feed 2

FoodAmount
Chicken breast, cooked weight105g
White rice, cooked weight300g
Black beans, tinned, drained80g
Red pepper and courgette, roasted200g
Extra virgin olive oil20g
Avocado60g
Lime, coriander, saltto taste

Batch-cooked Sunday. Assemble cold or reheat. The 15 to 20 minute daylight walk goes immediately after this.

914 kcal. Protein 47g, carbs 105g, fat 34g.

17:00, bridge (low protein by design)

FoodAmount
Apple200g
Almonds30g
Raisins15g

323 kcal. Protein 7g, carbs 40g, fat 15g.

19:00, dinner, feed 3

Any of the seven dinners below, plus the lifting-day top-up. Worked example uses Dinner 4.

FoodAmount
Dinner 4: baked salmon, crushed potatoes, tenderstem1 serving
Top-up: white rice, cooked weight150g

915 kcal. Protein 50g, carbs 101g, fat 35g.

21:15, feed 4

FoodAmount
Micellar casein powder in 300ml water40g
Dark chocolate, 85%20g

The programme puts this at 20:00, one hour after a 19:00 dinner. Moved to 21:15, which is 45 minutes before lights out and 2 hours 15 after dinner. That is a better casein slot and it changes nothing else.

264 kcal. Protein 34g, carbs 6g, fat 12g.

The running total

FeedkcalProteinCarbsFat
06:30 pre-lift37410802
08:45 post-lift717459717
13:00 lunch9144710534
17:00 bridge32374015
19:00 dinner9155010135
21:15 casein26434612
Total3,507193g429g115g

Check: 193 x 4 + 429 x 4 + 115 x 9 = 772 + 1,716 + 1,035 = 3,523 kcal. The 16 kcal gap between the two methods is rounding on individual items and is not worth chasing.

Against target: 3,500 kcal (hit, plus 0.2%), 190g protein (hit, plus 3g). Carbohydrate lands 19g above the programme's 410g ceiling and fat 5g above its 110g ceiling, because the table does not reach 3,500. If he wants to sit inside the carbohydrate band, drop the 15g of raisins at 17:00 and the top-up rice at dinner from 150g to 100g: carbs 401g, calories 3,410.

Water: 3.5L across the day, of which 750ml is during the session.

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THE DAY, REST

Sunday in Block B, and the same template for Wednesday and Saturday. Target 3,150 kcal and 190g protein. No pre-lift feed, so breakfast is real food and the carbohydrate load comes down while fat comes up.

08:00, breakfast, feed 1

FoodAmount
Eggs, whole4 (200g)
Smoked salmon60g
Wholegrain sourdough100g (2 slices)
Spinach100g
Cherry tomatoes150g
Extra virgin olive oil10g
Avocado60g

Soft-scramble the eggs in 5g of the oil. Wilt the spinach and blister the tomatoes in the other 5g. Salmon and avocado go on cold.

795 kcal. Protein 50g, carbs 53g, fat 43g.

12:30, lunch, feed 2

FoodAmount
Chicken breast, cooked weight120g
Brown rice, cooked weight250g
Red pepper, courgette and red onion, roasted200g
Extra virgin olive oil22g
Avocado60g

789 kcal. Protein 46g, carbs 68g, fat 37g.

17:00, bridge (low protein by design)

FoodAmount
Apple250g
Almonds40g
Raisins50g

528 kcal. Protein 9g, carbs 78g, fat 20g.

19:00, dinner, feed 3

FoodAmount
Dinner 6: cod with chorizo, chickpeas and spinach1 serving
Extra virgin olive oil, additional on the greens7g

No lifting-day top-up on a rest day. That is the single biggest difference between the two templates.

689 kcal. Protein 53g, carbs 54g, fat 29g.

21:15, feed 4

FoodAmount
Micellar casein powder in 300ml water40g
Walnuts25g
Raspberries100g

344 kcal. Protein 37g, carbs 10g, fat 18g.

The running total

FeedkcalProteinCarbsFat
08:00 breakfast795505343
12:30 lunch789466837
17:00 bridge52897820
19:00 dinner689535429
21:15 casein344371018
Total3,145195g263g147g

Check: 195 x 4 + 263 x 4 + 147 x 9 = 780 + 1,052 + 1,323 = 3,155 kcal.

Against target: 3,150 kcal (hit), 190g protein (hit, plus 5g). Fat lands at 147g, which is 1.78 g/kg and well above the programme's 90 to 100g off-day row, again because that row only reaches 2,460 kcal. If he wants fat nearer 110g on rest days, make three swaps: drop the 40g of almonds at 17:00, drop the avocado from both breakfast and lunch, and add 150g cooked white rice to lunch plus a 120g banana at 17:00. That lands roughly 3,150 kcal, 190g protein, 330g carbs, 110g fat. Either version works. The higher-fat one is more filling on a day with no session in it.

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SEVEN DINNERS

All seven are one serving, all cooked in one pan or one pan plus a pot, and all sit between 45 and 53g of protein so any of them can be dropped into either day template. Three are Mexican.

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Dinner 1: Pollo a la plancha con salsa verde, frijoles y arroz

Ingredients

  • Chicken breast, raw: 150g
  • Tomatillos, tinned or fresh: 200g
  • Jalapeño: 1
  • White onion: 40g
  • Garlic: 1 clove
  • Fresh coriander: 10g
  • White rice, cooked weight: 200g
  • Black beans, tinned, drained: 120g
  • Extra virgin olive oil: 10g
  • Avocado: 40g
  • Lime: half
  • Salt, cumin

Method

  1. Boil the tomatillos, jalapeño, onion and garlic in 300ml water for 8 minutes, then blitz with the coriander, the lime juice and a good pinch of salt. That is the salsa verde.
  2. Butterfly the chicken so it is an even 1.5cm thick, salt it, and cook it in 5g of the oil over high heat, 4 minutes a side. Rest it 3 minutes.
  3. Warm the beans in the other 5g of oil with a pinch of cumin, crushing about a third of them with the back of a spoon.
  4. Plate rice, beans, sliced chicken, salsa verde over the top, avocado on the side.

740 kcal. Protein 50g, carbs 90g, fat 20g.

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Dinner 2: Camarones al ajillo con arroz y nopales

Ingredients

  • Raw prawns, peeled: 220g
  • Garlic: 4 cloves, sliced thin
  • Dried guajillo chilli: 1, deseeded and torn
  • Extra virgin olive oil: 15g
  • White rice, cooked weight: 200g
  • Nopales (jarred cactus paddles), drained and rinsed: 150g
  • Cherry tomatoes: 100g
  • Avocado: 60g
  • Lime, coriander, salt

Method

  1. Rinse the nopales twice in cold water or they stay slimy. Cut into 2cm strips and dry-fry them in a hot pan for 4 minutes until the edges catch.
  2. In the same pan, warm the oil on medium-low with the garlic and the torn guajillo for 2 minutes. Do not brown the garlic or the whole dish turns bitter.
  3. Turn the heat up, add the prawns and the halved tomatoes, cook 3 minutes until the prawns are just opaque.
  4. Fold the nopales back in, squeeze the lime over, serve on the rice with the avocado and coriander.

699 kcal. Protein 50g, carbs 64g, fat 27g.

Jarred nopales are in the world food aisle of most Tesco and Dunnes stores, and in any Asia Market or Mexican specialist. If there are none, use 150g of green beans.

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Dinner 3: Albóndigas en chipotle con arroz

Ingredients

  • Beef mince, 5% fat, raw: 160g
  • Egg: 1
  • Porridge oats: 20g
  • Passata: 200g
  • Chipotle en adobo: 1 chilli plus 5g of the sauce
  • White onion: 50g
  • Garlic: 1 clove
  • Extra virgin olive oil: 10g
  • White rice, cooked weight: 180g
  • Spinach: 100g
  • Salt, oregano, cumin

Method

  1. Mix the mince, egg, oats, half the grated onion, salt, a pinch of cumin and oregano. Roll into 8 balls. Chill 10 minutes if you have it.
  2. Brown the balls in the oil, 5 minutes, turning. Lift them out.
  3. Soften the rest of the onion and the garlic in the same pan, add the passata and the blitzed chipotle plus 100ml water, simmer 5 minutes.
  4. Return the meatballs, simmer 10 minutes covered, stir the spinach through at the end. Serve on rice.

745 kcal. Protein 51g, carbs 79g, fat 25g.

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Dinner 4: Baked salmon, crushed potatoes, tenderstem

Ingredients

  • Salmon fillet, raw, skin on: 170g
  • Potatoes (Rooster or similar): 300g
  • Tenderstem broccoli: 150g
  • Extra virgin olive oil: 12g
  • Lemon: half
  • Dill: 5g
  • Salt, black pepper

Method

  1. Boil the potatoes whole, 20 minutes, drain, crush each one flat with the base of a mug, toss in 8g of the oil and salt, then roast at 220C for 20 minutes until the edges are brown.
  2. Salt the salmon skin and put it skin down in a cold dry non-stick pan, then turn the heat to medium. 6 minutes without touching it, then 90 seconds flesh side.
  3. Steam or pan-blister the tenderstem for 4 minutes, dress with the remaining 4g of oil and the lemon.
  4. Dill over the salmon.

730 kcal. Protein 47g, carbs 59g, fat 34g.

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Dinner 5: Grilled sirloin with sweet potato and chimichurri

Ingredients

  • Sirloin steak, raw, fat trimmed: 180g
  • Sweet potato: 300g
  • Green beans: 150g
  • Extra virgin olive oil: 17g total
  • Flat leaf parsley: 20g
  • Garlic: 1 clove
  • Red wine vinegar: 10ml
  • Dried chilli flakes, salt

Method

  1. Cut the sweet potato into 2cm wedges, toss in 8g of the oil and salt, roast at 200C for 30 minutes.
  2. Chop the parsley and garlic fine, mix with the vinegar, 5g of the oil, chilli flakes and salt. That is the chimichurri, and it is better made 20 minutes ahead.
  3. Salt the steak, get a pan properly hot with the last 4g of oil, 3 minutes a side for medium rare on a 2.5cm cut. Rest 5 minutes before slicing against the grain.
  4. Boil the green beans 4 minutes.

733 kcal. Protein 48g, carbs 70g, fat 29g.

This is the one red meat dinner of the week. The MIND ceiling is under 4 servings of red meat a week and this rotation runs at 2 (this one and the albóndigas).

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Dinner 6: Cod with chorizo, chickpeas and spinach

Ingredients

  • Cod loin, raw: 150g
  • Cooking chorizo: 25g, diced small
  • Chickpeas, tinned, drained: 120g
  • Spinach: 150g
  • Passata: 100g
  • Extra virgin olive oil: 8g
  • Sourdough: 60g
  • Garlic: 1 clove
  • Smoked paprika, salt

Method

  1. Render the chorizo in a dry pan over medium heat for 3 minutes until the orange oil comes out. That oil is the flavour base, do not pour it off.
  2. Add the garlic, the chickpeas and a pinch of smoked paprika, fry 2 minutes, then the passata and 80ml water. Simmer 5 minutes.
  3. Salt the cod, nestle it into the sauce, cover, 7 minutes until it flakes.
  4. Spinach in for the last minute. Olive oil over the top off the heat, bread on the side.

630 kcal. Protein 53g, carbs 54g, fat 22g.

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Dinner 7: Turkey meatballs in tomato with wholewheat spaghetti

Ingredients

  • Turkey breast mince, raw: 140g
  • Breadcrumbs: 20g
  • Passata: 250g
  • Wholewheat spaghetti, dry: 80g
  • Extra virgin olive oil: 12g
  • Onion: 50g
  • Garlic: 2 cloves
  • Basil: 10g
  • Salt, black pepper

Method

  1. Mix the mince, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and a splash of water. Roll into 8 balls.
  2. Brown them in 6g of the oil, 4 minutes. Lift out.
  3. Soften the onion and garlic in the same pan, add the passata plus 100ml of the pasta water, return the meatballs, simmer 12 minutes.
  4. Drain the pasta at one minute under the packet time, finish it in the sauce for 60 seconds, basil and the last 6g of oil off the heat.

697 kcal. Protein 47g, carbs 88g, fat 17g.

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FIVE BREAKFASTS AND FIVE LUNCHES

Breakfasts

B1. Post-lift oat and whey bowl (the default on lifting days). 80g dry porridge oats, 35g whey powder, 130g banana, 120g blueberries, 15g peanut butter, water. 717 kcal, 45g protein, 97g carbs, 17g fat.

B2. Huevos a la mexicana con frijoles. 4 eggs, 100g tomato, 40g white onion, 1 serrano chilli, 150g tinned black beans, 2 corn tortillas (60g), 8g olive oil, coriander. 654 kcal, 49g protein, 52g carbs, 28g fat.

B3. Eggs, smoked salmon and sourdough (the default on rest days). 4 eggs, 60g smoked salmon, 100g wholegrain sourdough, 100g spinach, 150g cherry tomatoes, 10g olive oil, 60g avocado. 795 kcal, 50g protein, 53g carbs, 43g fat.

B4. Greek yoghurt, oats, berries and walnuts. 250g 0% Greek yoghurt, 15g whey powder, 40g porridge oats, 100g blueberries, 25g walnuts. 572 kcal, 48g protein, 52g carbs, 20g fat.

B5. Chilaquiles verdes. 60g corn tortillas torn and oven-crisped, 200g salsa verde (see Dinner 1), 2 eggs, 60g cooked shredded chicken, 100g 0% Greek yoghurt, 10g olive oil, coriander, white onion. 524 kcal, 45g protein, 41g carbs, 20g fat.

Lunches

L1. Chicken, rice and black bean bowl (the default on lifting days). 120g cooked chicken breast, 300g cooked white rice, 80g tinned black beans, 200g roasted pepper and courgette, 15g olive oil, lime, coriander. 802 kcal, 47g protein, 104g carbs, 22g fat.

L2. Tuna, butter bean and egg salad. 110g tinned tuna in spring water drained, 150g tinned butter beans, 2 boiled eggs, 100g rocket, 150g cherry tomatoes, 20g olive oil, 60g wholegrain sourdough. 678 kcal, 50g protein, 52g carbs, 30g fat.

L3. Beef and quinoa bowl. 140g cooked 5% beef mince, 200g cooked quinoa, 150g roasted red pepper, 100g spinach, 15g olive oil, 50g avocado, cumin and lime. 704 kcal, 47g protein, 49g carbs, 34g fat.

L4. Salmon, sweet potato and tenderstem traybake. 150g cooked salmon, 250g sweet potato, 150g tenderstem broccoli, 12g olive oil, lemon. 708 kcal, 47g protein, 58g carbs, 32g fat.

L5. Turkey, hummus and rocket wraps. 2 wholewheat tortillas (120g), 100g cooked turkey breast, 60g hummus, 100g rocket, 100g tomato, 80g cucumber. 628 kcal, 47g protein, 74g carbs, 16g fat.

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THE SHOPPING LIST

One person, one week, Block B. Sized for four lifting days and three other days, assuming the Sunday batch cook covers lunches.

Butcher and fresh meat counter

  • Chicken breast fillets: 1.2kg
  • Turkey breast mince: 300g
  • Beef mince, 5% fat: 500g
  • Sirloin steak, trimmed: 200g
  • Cooking chorizo: 100g

Fish counter and chilled

  • Salmon fillets, skin on: 3 x 170g
  • Cod loin: 2 x 150g
  • Raw peeled prawns: 250g
  • Smoked salmon: 200g
  • Tinned tuna in spring water: 4 tins
  • Eggs, large, free range: 24
  • 0% fat Greek yoghurt: 1kg
  • Semi-skimmed milk: 2L

Fruit and veg

  • Bananas: 12
  • Apples: 8
  • Blueberries: 500g
  • Raspberries: 300g
  • Lemons: 3
  • Limes: 8
  • Avocados: 5
  • Potatoes: 1.5kg
  • Sweet potatoes: 1kg
  • Spinach: 600g
  • Rocket: 300g
  • Tenderstem broccoli: 500g
  • Green beans: 300g
  • Red peppers: 6
  • Courgettes: 4
  • Red onions: 3
  • White onions: 4
  • Garlic: 2 bulbs
  • Cherry tomatoes: 750g
  • Fresh coriander: 3 bunches
  • Flat leaf parsley: 1 bunch
  • Fresh basil: 1 pack
  • Jalapeño or serrano chillies: 4
  • Fresh dill: 1 pack

Ambient, dry goods

  • Porridge oats: 1kg
  • White rice, long grain: 1kg
  • Brown rice: 500g
  • Quinoa: 500g
  • Wholewheat spaghetti: 500g
  • Wholegrain sourdough loaf: 1
  • Plain bagels: 4
  • Corn tortillas: 1 pack of 12
  • Wholewheat tortilla wraps: 1 pack of 8
  • Breadcrumbs: 1 small pack

World food aisle

  • Tinned black beans: 5
  • Tinned chickpeas: 3
  • Tinned butter beans: 2
  • Passata: 4 cartons
  • Tinned tomatillos: 2 (or 400g fresh)
  • Chipotles en adobo: 1 tin
  • Dried guajillo chillies: 1 pack
  • Nopales, jarred: 1 jar
  • Hummus: 200g

Fats, nuts, store cupboard

  • Extra virgin olive oil: 750ml
  • Almonds, unsalted: 400g
  • Walnuts: 300g
  • Peanut butter, no added sugar: 1 jar
  • Raisins: 500g
  • Dark chocolate, 85%: 200g
  • Red wine vinegar
  • Ground cumin, dried oregano, smoked paprika, chilli flakes, black pepper, flaky salt

Supplements aisle or online

  • Whey protein powder: check supply, roughly 250g a week
  • Micellar casein powder: check supply, roughly 280g a week
  • Creatine monohydrate: 5g a day
  • Vitamin D3, dose per blood level

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EATING AWAY FROM HOME

In a restaurant

Order a protein main at roughly 200g of cooked meat or fish and ask for a second side of vegetables instead of the sauce. Steak, grilled chicken, whole fish and lamb are all fine. On a lifting day take the potatoes or the rice as well; on a rest day take the salad and leave them. If the portion looks like 120g rather than 200g, add a starter of prawns, smoked salmon or a bean soup rather than trying to make dinner do all the work.

Two things to actually say out loud, because they are not fussy and they work: "could I have it grilled rather than in the sauce" and "could I get a second portion of the greens instead of the chips". That is the entire negotiation.

What to skip: bread basket before a 190g protein target, cream sauces, and anything battered. What is fine: olive oil, olives, a whole fish, a plate of jamón.

At an airport

Airports are a protein desert and a carbohydrate swamp, which is exactly backwards. Carry the fix rather than shopping for it: 2 sachets of 40g whey and a 500ml shaker in hand luggage clears security, and 60g of almonds in a bag covers the fat. That is 64g of protein already handled before he buys anything.

Then buy: a chicken or tuna sandwich or salad box (typically 25 to 30g of protein), a 500g pot of Greek yoghurt if there is one, a banana. Boots, WHSmith and most airside M&S carry all three. Skip the pastry, the crisps and the pint.

On the plane: 250ml of water an hour, no alcohol, stand and walk 5 minutes an hour, 20 calf pumps every 30 minutes seated. That is programme section 5 and it is not optional given his history.

In Mexico at family meals

Do not be the man weighing his rice at his aunt's table. The Mexican table is already close to right and needs three adjustments, none of them visible.

  1. Take the protein twice. Two portions of the carne, the pollo, the pescado, the cochinita. Nobody has ever objected to a guest going back for more of the meat.
  2. Take the frijoles every time. A cup of beans is 15g of protein and 40g of carbohydrate and it is on every table in the country.
  3. Let the tortillas and the rice float. On a training day eat them freely. On a rest day take half of what is offered and fill the plate with the nopales, the salsas and the guacamole instead.

What to keep an eye on rather than refuse: the fried things (chicharrón, carnitas, anything capeado), the pan dulce, and the aguas frescas, which are roughly 150 kcal a glass of pure sugar. Have the agua fresca on a lifting day, have water on a rest day.

Two practical Mexican wins: huevos with beans for breakfast covers 45g of protein without anyone noticing, and a whole grilled fish (pescado a la talla, huachinango) is the single best restaurant order in the country for this plan.

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THE BLOCKS

Protein never moves. 190g a day, every day, in every block, including Christmas. Everything below is what happens to the other two macronutrients.

Block A, weeks 1 to 5, and Block D, weeks 25 to 26. 3,100 kcal flat, both day types.

From the training day template, remove the 30g of almonds and 15g of raisins at 17:00 and the 150g rice top-up at dinner. That is 400 kcal and lands 3,105.

From the rest day template, remove the 50g of raisins at 17:00. That is 145 kcal and lands 3,000; add 100g of cooked rice to lunch to get back to 3,100. Or leave it at 3,000 and stop worrying about 100 kcal on a Sunday.

Block B, weeks 6 to 15. 3,500 lifting, 3,150 otherwise.

The two templates above, as written. Nothing to change. This is the block the document was built around, and it is the block where he will feel like he is eating a lot, because he is.

Block C, weeks 16 to 24. 2,800 lifting, 2,400 otherwise.

Take 700 kcal off the lifting day and 745 off the rest day. The order matters, because the wrong 700 kcal costs him a session. Remove in this order and stop when the number lands.

1. The 17:00 bridge fats go first (about 230 kcal on a lifting day, 400 on a rest day). Keep the apple, drop the almonds, the raisins and the dark chocolate. This is the eating occasion furthest from any training and it is doing the least work.

2. The added fats at lunch and dinner (about 200 kcal). Avocado out of lunch entirely. Olive oil at lunch from 20g to 10g. Olive oil at dinner from 12g to 8g. Do not go below about 70g of fat for the whole day, which is the programme's 0.85 g/kg floor and is not negotiable.

3. The lifting-day dinner top-up (180 kcal). The 150g of rice or potato that sits beside the dinner recipe on lifting days. Gone in Block C.

4. Lunch rice from 300g cooked to 175g cooked (about 160 kcal).

5. Only if all four above are done and the number still has not landed: the pre-lift bagel from 100g to 60g.

What never comes down, in any circumstance. The four protein feeds. The 35g of whey and 80g of oats in the post-lift feed. The pre-lift carbohydrate before it has been through steps 1 to 4. Those three are the difference between a cut that keeps the shoulder line and one that gives it back, which is the entire stated purpose of Block C.

The programme's own override applies here. Two consecutive drops in the top-set load on any of the four lifts means an immediate 250 kcal a day back, and it goes back in the reverse of the order above: rice first, then the fats, then the 17:00 bridge.

Practical Block C dinner note. Dinners 6 (630 kcal) and 7 (697 kcal) are the two that fit Block C with the least surgery. Dinners 1, 3 and 5 need their rice or sweet potato cut by about a third.

Weeks 19 and 20, the Christmas fortnight. 3,100 flat, both weeks.

Same as Block A and D. Protein at 190g is the single thing being defended across the fortnight, and the way to defend it is boring: casein at night on every one of the fourteen days, and one whey shake on any day the table did not deliver. Four drinks across the two weeks, none in the three hours before bed, none on a day before a lifting session.

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SUPPLEMENTS

Five items, and one optional. This is programme section 5, unchanged, because it is already the correct list.

ItemDoseTimingWhy it is here
Creatine monohydrate5g dailyAny time, stirred into the 08:45 oatsThe best-evidenced supplement in sport, and one of the few with any signal for cognition under stress. No loading phase.
Vitamin D3Titrated to bring 25-OH into 30 to 50 ng/mL, then remeasuredMorning, with the fat in breakfastAt Irish latitude, October to March, 2,000 IU is often not enough. This is dosed to a blood level, not a habit.
Whey protein35g at 08:45Post-sessionFood, not a supplement. It is there because 190g across four feeds is hard without it.
Micellar casein40g at 21:15Pre-bedSame reason. Slower digestion is the only argument for casein over whey here and it is a modest one.
Caffeine250mg (3 mg/kg)06:30, 45 minutes before the 07:05 session, four mornings a week. Hard stop 11:00.Blood pressure is always read at 06:20, before this.
Electrolyte tablets1 tablet per litreTournament days and heat only500 to 700mg sodium per litre in heat.
Optional: hydrolysed collagen plus vitamin C15g collagen, 50mg vitamin C45 minutes before Tuesday and FridayModerate evidence for tendon, about 60 kcal, insurance rather than cornerstone.

Not on the list, deliberately: glutamine, resveratrol, lion's mane, bacopa, phosphatidylserine, ginkgo, curcumin, standalone B-complex, zinc without a documented deficiency, boron, garlic tablets. Several of these were in the old guide. None of them have evidence that survives contact with a real trial, and ginkgo specifically carries a bleeding-risk question that makes it a bad idea to take casually on anticoagulation.

Held pending his clinician, both of them. High-dose fish oil (2 to 3g combined EPA and DHA) and any vitamin K2 tablet at 100 to 200 mcg. Both are on the section 8 question list. In the meantime, take EPA and DHA from food: two portions of oily fish a week, which the salmon dinner and the smoked salmon breakfast already deliver.

Two things to raise with his clinician, and neither is optional.

  1. Creatine raises serum creatinine with no change in kidney function. Whoever reads the blood panel needs to be told he takes it, or it triggers an unnecessary renal workup. Say it before the draw, not after the result.
  1. 190g of protein a day, held for 26 weeks, in a 49-year-old. The evidence in healthy kidneys is reassuring, but "healthy kidneys" is the load-bearing part of that sentence and it is a measurement, not an assumption. The programme's lab panel already includes a renal panel with eGFR and cystatin C at weeks 1, 13 and 25, which is exactly right. Ask him to look at those three specifically as a series rather than one at a time.

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THE GREENS RULE

There is anticoagulation in his record, and leafy greens carry vitamin K. That is a real interaction and it deserves a straight answer rather than a warning label. Here is the straight answer.

First, the question that decides everything else: which drug is it?

This matters more than any food rule, and the programme does not name it. If he is on warfarin, vitamin K intake genuinely interacts with the drug and consistency matters. If he is on a direct oral anticoagulant (apixaban, rivaroxaban, edoxaban or dabigatran), vitamin K is essentially irrelevant to how the drug works and there is no dietary greens rule to follow at all. Those are completely different situations and they are treated as one thing far too often. So before anything below applies, confirm which one he is on.

If it is warfarin, the rule is consistency, not avoidance.

Warfarin works by blocking vitamin K recycling, and the dose he is on was set against whatever he was already eating. So the dose is calibrated to his habitual vitamin K intake. What destabilises an INR is not eating greens, it is changing how many greens he eats. A week of 400g of kale a day followed by a week of none is the problem. A steady 100 to 150g of leafy greens every single day is not a problem at all, and it is what the MIND diet wants anyway.

Do not cut greens out. They are one of the strongest components of the MIND diet, and the whole reason cognitive protection is in this programme is his father's history. Removing the single best-evidenced food group for that goal, in order to make a drug dose easier to manage, would be trading the thing that matters for the thing that is convenient.

What consistency looks like in practice, on this plan.

The templates above already deliver roughly 100 to 150g of greens a day: 100g of spinach at breakfast, 100g of rocket or spinach at lunch, 150g of tenderstem or 150g of spinach at dinner. That is the target. Keep it in that band every day, including Sundays, including travel weeks, including Christmas.

The high vitamin K foods in this plan, in rough descending order: kale, spinach, chard, tenderstem broccoli, Brussels sprouts, flat leaf parsley, rocket, green beans. The ones to watch for accidental spikes are parsley (the chimichurri in Dinner 5 uses 20g, which is a lot of parsley) and any week where he suddenly starts putting 200g of spinach in a smoothie.

Three habits that keep it steady with no effort:

  1. Weigh the greens the same way he weighs the protein. 100g at breakfast, 100g at lunch, 150g at dinner. It takes four seconds.
  2. On a Mexico or Spain trip, if the greens genuinely are not available, do not compensate by doubling up when he gets home. Come back to the normal amount, not more.
  3. If he is going to change the pattern permanently, for instance adding a daily green smoothie, tell the clinic before he starts, not after the INR moves.

Also relevant if it is warfarin, and worth mentioning in the same conversation: high-dose fish oil, high-dose vitamin E, cranberry juice, grapefruit juice and alcohol all interact with warfarin independently of vitamin K. The fish oil question is already on the programme's section 8 list at item 6. The alcohol allowance in this plan (up to two drinks a week in Blocks A, B and D, four across the Christmas fortnight) should be named out loud in the same conversation rather than assumed to be fine.

The question to ask, verbatim.

> "I'm on anticoagulation and I'm starting a 26-week training and nutrition plan. First, can you confirm which anticoagulant I'm on and whether dietary vitamin K is relevant to it at all. If it is relevant, my plan has me eating roughly 100 to 150g of leafy greens every day, spread across three meals, and holding that steady week to week rather than varying it. Is that intake level fine with my current dose, or would you rather I sat at a different amount? Should I be having an INR check after a few weeks on the new pattern to confirm it is stable? And separately: my plan suggests 2 to 3g of combined EPA and DHA from fish oil and a 100 to 200 mcg vitamin K2 tablet. I've held both, and I also want your view on my alcohol allowance, which is up to two drinks a week and four across the Christmas fortnight."

Nothing in this document is a recommendation to change any medication, and nothing in it should be acted on ahead of that answer. The greens stay either way.

---

THE ONE PAGE OF IT

  • 190g of protein a day, in four feeds of 45 to 50g at 08:45, 13:00, 19:00 and 21:15. This never changes, in any block, on any day, including Christmas and travel.
  • The 17:00 slot is carbohydrate and fat only. It is the first thing to shrink in Block C and the last thing to grow back.
  • Lifting days carry the carbohydrate: 80g before, 97g after, and a rice or potato top-up at dinner. Rest days drop the top-up and carry more fat instead.
  • Olive oil is the only cooking fat. Oily fish twice a week, walnuts and almonds most days, berries most days, beans four or five times a week, red meat twice a week maximum.
  • 100 to 150g of leafy greens every day, at the same amount every day, and a conversation with his clinician about whether that even matters for the drug he is on.
  • 3.5L of water on lifting days, 2.9L otherwise, plus 125 to 150% replacement of whatever the week 2 sweat test says he loses.
  • 85% adherence is the target. The 15% is real food with real people, and it is planned rather than apologised for.
Saved to WhatsApp · resolved & sorted

Training Library

Every coaching clip you sent yourself, read by machine, filtered for the ones that actually teach something, and grouped by what they fix.

60CLIPS WORTH KEEPING
11CATEGORIES
53FILTERED OUT AS NOISE
2026-03OLDEST IN LIBRARY

Start here

The clearest foundation clip from each category. If you only watch a handful, watch these.

18s
Strength & power

Full Body Dumbbell Workout

One dumbbell session covering chest, shoulders, back, arms and legs for all-round strength.

CueFlys, shoulder press, overhead extension, rows, curls, split squats; 3 sets each.

Last 7 days· Facebook· Strongwithroman· 2026-08-08
12s
Calisthenics & core

Quick Bodyweight Ab Routine

Builds trunk strength that holds your posture through the swing and protects the lower back.

Last 7 days· Facebook· Dimitrhix· 2026-08-08
27s
Conditioning

Stop Gassing Out When You Run

Adds strength and stability work so you last longer on the bases and in late innings.

CueDon't only run: train strength, stability and endurance too.

Last 7 days· Facebook· Dimitrhix· 2026-08-08
26s
Mobility & prehab

One minute on each movement drill

Primes hips, spine and shoulders so the whole body throws and the arm stops taking the load.

CueBefore throwing, one minute each: Jefferson Curls, Scarecrows, Frog Thrusters.

Prev 21 days· Facebook· Breland Almadova· 2026-07-07
17s
Hitting mechanics

Load the Rear Leg and Unwind Into the Ball

Fixes a weak lower half by teaching how to gather, coil into the back leg and hold it while moving forward.

CueLoad and coil the rear leg, hold it going forward, unwind into the ball.

Prev 21 days· Facebook· Theblueprint· 2026-06-29
11s
Slowpitch craft

Why You Catch the Ball Out Front When Pulling

Fixes weak pull-side contact by showing where the ball must be met to drive it.

CueCatch the ball out front when you are pulling.

Prev 14 days· Facebook· Justin Ruffin· 2026-07-24
16s
Model swings

Aaron Judge's Sweet Swing

Watch an elite big-league swing on repeat to sharpen your own sense of rhythm and balance.

C1 · 31 May to 28 Jun· Facebook· BB Sports Training· 2026-06-02
35s
Routine & mindset

Pre-Hitting Routine for Power

Gives you a repeatable warm-up sequence before you hit so power shows up on the first swing, not the tenth.

C3 · 5 Apr to 3 May· YouTube· Five O’clock Hitter· 2026-04-29
12s
Training past 50

Six Exercises Mastered at 59

Cuts your gym plan to six lifts that keep grip, arms and strength going past fifty.

CueSkip variety: pick six exercises and apply progressive overload consistently.

Last 7 days· Facebook· B-Fit Over 50· 2026-08-08
3m 46s
Fielding & defence

How to tag a runner at second base

Infield technique for applying the tag at second, the play you make from the middle.

C1 · 31 May to 28 Jun· Link· Pro Baseball Insider· 2026-06-23
9m 50s
Your own footage

Vic Playing Softball in Barcelona, March 2026

Your own game footage from Barcelona: watch your swing and field play back to spot what actually needs work.

C4 · 8 Mar to 5 Apr· YouTube· Victor del Rosal· 2026-04-03

Strength & power 8

The engine. Dumbbells, barbells, rotational power, bat speed, throwing velocity.

18s
Strength & power

Full Body Dumbbell Workout

One dumbbell session covering chest, shoulders, back, arms and legs for all-round strength.

CueFlys, shoulder press, overhead extension, rows, curls, split squats; 3 sets each.

Last 7 days· Facebook· Strongwithroman· 2026-08-08
25s
Strength & power

How to Order Exercises in a Session

Sequences your session so the explosive work gets your freshest effort and lifts carry over.

CueExplosive before slow, large muscle groups before small; plyometrics 2-3x.

Last 7 days· Facebook· All Your Heart Athletics· 2026-08-08
15s
Strength & power

Home Drill to Strengthen Your Swing

A no-gym drill that builds swing strength on days you can't get to a facility.

Last 7 days· Facebook· Puro Béisbol· 2026-08-08
19s
Strength & power

Rotational Power Work for a Stronger Swing

Trains the rotation and movement patterns the swing actually uses, not just general lifting.

CueTrain rotational power: banded swings and half-kneeling rotations.

Last 7 days· Facebook· Allamericanathletes365· 2026-08-08
9s
Strength & power

Strength, Rotation and Sprint Blueprint

Names the three training pillars worth your limited weekly hours as a power hitter.

CueCombine strength training, rotational training and sprint work.

Last 7 days· Facebook· Jared Dupere Baseball Performance· 2026-08-08
13s
Strength & power

Train Rotational Power, Not Just Bat Swings

Builds the force production and transfer that turn a rotational body into harder contact on the field.

CueAdd rotational work into your training so it carries over to the field.

Last 7 days· Facebook· Jared Dupere Baseball Performance· 2026-08-08
25s
Strength & power

Exercises to Build Strength, Power and Bat Speed

Targeted gym work aimed straight at swing speed, so the same swing produces more exit velocity.

Prev 14 days· Facebook· Puro Béisbol· 2026-07-24
53s
Strength & power

How to Build Strength for Baseball

Strength work aimed at hitting power, useful for adding carry to batted balls.

Prev 14 days· Facebook· Puro Béisbol· 2026-07-23

Calisthenics & core 3

Bodyweight work. Push-up variations, planche, abs, trunk.

12s
Calisthenics & core

Quick Bodyweight Ab Routine

Builds trunk strength that holds your posture through the swing and protects the lower back.

Last 7 days· Facebook· Dimitrhix· 2026-08-08
14s
Calisthenics & core

Home Glute and Ab Exercise, Three Times a Week

Simple at-home movement for glutes and midsection strength, with a stated weekly frequency to follow.

CueDo this exercise three times per week.

Last 7 days· Facebook· Lee Ortiz· 2026-08-05
16s
Calisthenics & core

One Combination Move That Works the Whole Body

Hits legs, glutes, core, back, shoulders and arms in a single movement when training time is short.

CueDo every rep with control.

Last 7 days· Facebook· Dimitrhix· 2026-08-04

Conditioning 1

Running, cardio, work capacity. Not getting tired in the seventh.

27s
Conditioning

Stop Gassing Out When You Run

Adds strength and stability work so you last longer on the bases and in late innings.

CueDon't only run: train strength, stability and endurance too.

Last 7 days· Facebook· Dimitrhix· 2026-08-08

Mobility & prehab 3

Warm-ups, arm care, shoulder and elbow health, staying available.

13s
Mobility & prehab

Arm Care Routine for Throwers

Keeps your shoulder and elbow healthy so throwing from the field doesn't cost you a season.

Last 7 days· Facebook· Jaden Beyer· 2026-08-08
26s
Mobility & prehab

One minute on each movement drill

Primes hips, spine and shoulders so the whole body throws and the arm stops taking the load.

CueBefore throwing, one minute each: Jefferson Curls, Scarecrows, Frog Thrusters.

Prev 21 days· Facebook· Breland Almadova· 2026-07-07
1h 15m
Mobility & prehab

Creatine, sleep and the myths around it

Sorts claims about creatine and sleep, useful before changing anything you take.

Cue5g will not reach your brain.

Prev 21 days· YouTube· The Diary Of A CEO· 2026-07-06

Hitting mechanics 16

The swing itself. Load, separation, timing, bat path, pitch location.

25s
Hitting mechanics

The Grip Behind Schwarber's Swing Consistency

Shows how hand and grip position feed repeatable contact rather than one-off good swings.

Prev 14 days· Facebook· Pivot Point Grips· 2026-07-31
24s
Hitting mechanics

How to Hit Better in Baseball

Swing corrections for harder, more consistent contact at the plate.

Prev 14 days· Facebook· Puro Béisbol· 2026-07-23
8s
Hitting mechanics

Bobby Witt Jr Swing: Rotate Behind and Extend

Shows the three checkpoints of an efficient swing so you can test your own barrel path against them.

CueSee the ball. Rotate behind it. Finish through it.

Prev 21 days· Facebook· Channing Brown Baseball Academy· 2026-07-03
17s
Hitting mechanics

Load the Rear Leg and Unwind Into the Ball

Fixes a weak lower half by teaching how to gather, coil into the back leg and hold it while moving forward.

CueLoad and coil the rear leg, hold it going forward, unwind into the ball.

Prev 21 days· Facebook· Theblueprint· 2026-06-29
7s
Hitting mechanics

The Adjustment That Makes You Attack the Ball

Shifts you from reacting late to attacking the ball, which lifts contact quality and confidence at the plate.

CueFix the foundation, not the mechanics.

C1 · 31 May to 28 Jun· Facebook· Coach Nick· 2026-06-15
26s
Hitting mechanics

Why the Swing Does Not Have to Look Perfect

Frees you from copying a textbook look and points attention at hand connection and barrel path instead.

CueMove hands and barrel in the right patterns through the zone.

C1 · 31 May to 28 Jun· Facebook· Pivot Point Grips· 2026-06-08
15s
Hitting mechanics

Murakami's Swing: Stride While Staying Coiled

Teaches how to stride with the front leg while the back half stays loaded, so you keep power on the forward move.

CueStretch only the front leg; keep the rest loaded and coiled while striding.

C1 · 31 May to 28 Jun· Facebook· BB Sports Training· 2026-06-04
58s
Hitting mechanics

How to Be Quick

Builds a quicker swing so you can wait longer, see the ball better and still get the barrel there on time.

C1 · 31 May to 28 Jun· Facebook· Teacherman Hitting· 2026-06-02
22s
Hitting mechanics

Five-Step Progression to Match the GOAT's Swing

A staged drill sequence for rebuilding your swing pattern one piece at a time.

CueTry this 5-step progression to match the GOAT.

C2 · 3 to 31 May· Facebook· Andrew Martinez· 2026-05-30
22s
Hitting mechanics

Hover Drill: Control the Forward Move

Builds body control as you move toward the pitch so you stay balanced and can still adjust.

CueControl the forward move; use the hover drill to build body control moving forward.

C2 · 3 to 31 May· Facebook· Nate Pallotta Hitting· 2026-05-21
10s
Hitting mechanics

High Fastball Progression: Baby Tilt, Tall Posture

Fixes the swing on pitches up in the zone so the barrel stays tight and posture holds.

CueOn the high fastball use a baby tilt; keep posture tall.

C2 · 3 to 31 May· Facebook· Optimal Power Performance· 2026-05-19
30s
Hitting mechanics

Stop Opening Up Too Early

Keeps you from spinning off the ball early, so you hold power and stay on the pitch longer.

CueHold your backside longer so you do not open up early.

C2 · 3 to 31 May· Facebook· Ping Brothers· 2026-05-15
47s
Hitting mechanics

Connect Ball of Foot to Glute for Elite Hitting

Teaches the ground connection that lets you use your legs and glutes to drive the swing.

CueStay on the balls of both feet and connect them to your glutes.

C2 · 3 to 31 May· Facebook· Andrew Martinez· 2026-05-14
16s
Hitting mechanics

Front Heel Down Before the Hands Fire

Fixes swing sequencing so power builds from the ground up instead of starting with the hands.

CueLand the front heel before the hands fire: ground, hips, hands.

C2 · 3 to 31 May· Facebook· Prime Performance· 2026-05-14
59s
Hitting mechanics

Teacherman Hitting: The Cheat Code Move

A single swing adjustment from a well-known hitting instructor that makes the pattern repeatable.

C2 · 3 to 31 May· Facebook· Teacherman Hitting· 2026-05-13
25s
Hitting mechanics

Half-Tee Drill by Distance for Better Bat Control

Builds barrel control by hitting to different distances off a half tee, so you can place the ball at will.

CueUse half-tee reps at varying distances to raise bat control.

C3 · 5 Apr to 3 May· YouTube· 義村 泰士· 2026-05-01

Slowpitch craft 7

Only true in slowpitch. Oppo, stance, cut swing, bat choice.

2m 35s
Slowpitch craft

Turning a Baseball Swing Into a Cut Swing

Shows how to convert a baseball swing into the flatter cut swing slowpitch rewards.

Prev 14 days· Facebook· Gabriel Brok· 2026-07-24
11s
Slowpitch craft

Why You Catch the Ball Out Front When Pulling

Fixes weak pull-side contact by showing where the ball must be met to drive it.

CueCatch the ball out front when you are pulling.

Prev 14 days· Facebook· Justin Ruffin· 2026-07-24
12s
Slowpitch craft

Tips to Get Closer to Your Cut Swing

Short adjustments that tighten the cut swing so you can drive the opposite gap.

Prev 14 days· Facebook· Justin Ruffin· 2026-07-20
12s
Slowpitch craft

Oppo Over Pull in Slowpitch

Reinforces hitting the opposite way in slowpitch, where oppo contact beats pulling for consistent hard hits.

CueOppo over pull.

Prev 21 days· Facebook· Justin Ruffin· 2026-07-05
7s
Slowpitch craft

End-loaded slowpitch bat, hit for distance

Shows what an end-loaded slowpitch bat does on contact when picking a bat.

C1 · 31 May to 28 Jun· Facebook· DeMarini Slowpitch· 2026-06-02
1m 35s
Slowpitch craft

Stance Adjustment for Hitting Oppo in Slowpitch

Shows how to set your stance so you can drive the ball the other way in slowpitch.

CueAdjust your stance when hitting to the opposite field.

C2 · 3 to 31 May· Facebook· Dan Blewett· 2026-05-08
1m 00s
Slowpitch craft

How to Cut Swing Like a Pro

Sharpens the cut swing so you can drive the ball the other way instead of rolling over it.

C3 · 5 Apr to 3 May· Facebook· Slowpitch Hank· 2026-05-02

Model swings 10

Elite swings to study frame by frame. No instruction, just the picture.

13s
Model swings

Justin Ruffin: Doubles Incoming

Elite slowpitch swing to watch and copy, especially the barrel path and finish.

Last 7 days· Facebook· Justin Ruffin· 2026-08-03
13s
Model swings

Justin Ruffin: It's Not That Hard, Right?

Another clean slowpitch swing from an elite hitter, shown at speed for study.

Prev 14 days· Facebook· Justin Ruffin· 2026-07-30
22s
Model swings

Elite College Softball Swing: Tight Turns

An elite softball swing worth watching on repeat for how compact the turn stays through contact.

Prev 21 days· Facebook· hitting_done_right_hdr· 2026-07-01
9s
Model swings

Sweet Swing

A clean swing to watch on repeat and copy the rhythm of before a hitting session.

C1 · 31 May to 28 Jun· Facebook· BB Sports Training· 2026-06-22
6s
Model swings

Vahn Lackey Swing in Slow Motion

Slow-motion look at an elite athletic swing producing huge exit velocity, worth studying frame by frame.

C1 · 31 May to 28 Jun· Facebook· Launchin’ Leather Baseball· 2026-06-10
16s
Model swings

Aaron Judge's Sweet Swing

Watch an elite big-league swing on repeat to sharpen your own sense of rhythm and balance.

C1 · 31 May to 28 Jun· Facebook· BB Sports Training· 2026-06-02
15s
Model swings

Ohtani's Move That Some Coaches Call Bad

See the elite move coaches argue about, then judge it against what your own swing does.

C2 · 3 to 31 May· Facebook· Baseball Done· 2026-05-24
30s
Model swings

117.3 mph Line Drive by Justin Gonzales

Watch what a near-max exit velocity swing looks like at full speed and copy the shape.

C2 · 3 to 31 May· Facebook· Baseball America· 2026-05-15
20s
Model swings

Learning to Love the High and Inside Pitch

Shows how an elite slowpitch hitter turns the high inside pitch from a weakness into a strength.

C3 · 5 Apr to 3 May· Facebook· Sarah Helen Davis· 2026-05-01
26s
Model swings

Justin Ruffin Slowpitch Swing

An elite slowpitch swing to watch and copy: load, path and finish at full intent, with nothing explained.

C4 · 8 Mar to 5 Apr· Facebook· Justin Ruffin· 2026-03-24

Routine & mindset 6

What you do before you train, and what you tell yourself.

23s
Routine & mindset

Nobody has full context on your life

Loosens the fear of looking bad in front of teammates so he trains and swings freely.

CueHave empathy for their opinions; no one has full context on you.

Prev 21 days· Facebook· Gary Vaynerchuk· 2026-07-16
17s
Routine & mindset

If you don't back yourself, who will

Short reset for the days when self-criticism after a bad game kills the next session.

Prev 21 days· Facebook· Gary Vaynerchuk· 2026-07-07
26s
Routine & mindset

Stop training for other people's opinions

Refocuses effort on his own standards instead of how he looks to the field or the gym.

CueStop giving a f*ck about others, and focus on yourself.

Prev 21 days· Facebook· Gary Vaynerchuk· 2026-07-07
29s
Routine & mindset

Stop Worrying What Other People Think

A short push to keep showing up and sharing training work instead of stalling on other people's opinions.

CueStop worrying what other people think, post.

Prev 21 days· Facebook· Gil Fernandez· 2026-07-05
35s
Routine & mindset

Pre-Hitting Routine for Power

Gives you a repeatable warm-up sequence before you hit so power shows up on the first swing, not the tenth.

C3 · 5 Apr to 3 May· YouTube· Five O’clock Hitter· 2026-04-29
31s
Routine & mindset

Sadaharu Oh and the Samurai Sword Swing

A daily-practice model from the all-time home run leader: precision reps done relentlessly, no gym needed.

CueSwing daily from your hitting stance, slicing a paper hung from the ceiling.

C3 · 5 Apr to 3 May· Facebook· Joseph Kummick· 2026-04-26

Training past 50 1

Framed for ageing well. The 5025 brief, in clip form.

12s
Training past 50

Six Exercises Mastered at 59

Cuts your gym plan to six lifts that keep grip, arms and strength going past fifty.

CueSkip variety: pick six exercises and apply progressive overload consistently.

Last 7 days· Facebook· B-Fit Over 50· 2026-08-08

Fielding & defence 1

The other half of the game. Infield technique and making the play.

3m 46s
Fielding & defence

How to tag a runner at second base

Infield technique for applying the tag at second, the play you make from the middle.

C1 · 31 May to 28 Jun· Link· Pro Baseball Insider· 2026-06-23

Your own footage 4

Your own game and training video, to review against everything else.

Your own footage

Great Britain vs Ireland, full game

Full Ireland game broadcast, for watching your own team's at-bats back.

Prev 21 days· Link· Baseball Europe TV· 2026-07-17
Your own footage

Czechia vs Ireland, full game

Full Ireland game broadcast, for watching your own team's at-bats back.

Prev 21 days· Link· Baseball Europe TV· 2026-07-14
10s
Your own footage

Team Ireland Slowpitch Feature Clip

Your own footage with the Ireland squad, useful for checking how you actually look and move in game context.

C1 · 31 May to 28 Jun· Facebook· National Slowpitch Team Ireland· 2026-06-24
9m 50s
Your own footage

Vic Playing Softball in Barcelona, March 2026

Your own game footage from Barcelona: watch your swing and field play back to spot what actually needs work.

C4 · 8 Mar to 5 Apr· YouTube· Victor del Rosal· 2026-04-03
Nothing matches that. Clear the search or pick another category.

Where this came from. 113 links you shared to your own Mexican handset on WhatsApp between 2026-03-24 to 2026-08-08. Each was resolved to its real title, author and duration with yt-dlp, then read and sorted by what it teaches. 53 were filtered out as noise (property ads, dev clips, comedy, engagement bait).

Thumbnails are stored locally, so this page keeps working after Facebook's image links expire. Every card opens the original post.