I started this training cycle in November 2025.
Since then, the details changed, but the basic pattern stayed surprisingly similar: two strength sessions, four runs, progressive loading, another mesocycle, another deload, then repeat.
It worked.
Just not equally everywhere.
My legs progressed very well. Block 4 confirmed that clearly: Smith squat moved to 80 kg for controlled sets, leg press went far beyond the original plan, and hip thrust reached 130 kg with reserve.
Bench was different. Different loads, different rep ranges, essentially the same estimated strength.
Running became even more obvious. I spent the entire year running consistently, including laboratory testing, low-HR base work, stamina work, and eventually a Garmin Greg McMillan plan that was supposed to end with a proper 10K test.
That test is not happening.
The groin started complaining before the block was finished, fast running made it worse, and forcing a record attempt now would be a stupid way to protect an ego problem.
This may be the first year in a long time without a serious PB attempt.
Fine.
I am not training for the annual report. I am trying to stay strong, fast, and functional for decades.
So the next phase is not another accumulation block.
It is two weeks of Active Rest.
Why Active Rest now
I initially assumed Active Rest would mean another four- or five-week mesocycle.
It does not.
Going back to Scientific Principles of Strength Training clarified the distinction. Active Rest is a dedicated fatigue-management block, usually around two weeks, with both volume and intensity reduced heavily. It has no normal accumulation phase and no progression.
That fits the problem unusually well.
I have already completed a deload, so this is not about needing another easy week because one session felt hard.
It is about accumulated cost from months of repetitive loading:
- nine months of hip thrusts,
- repeated heavy pressing,
- continuous running volume,
- increasingly strong lower-body work,
- and finally a groin signal that started affecting running, leg training, and core work at the same time.
The objective for the next fourteen days is therefore simple:
Keep the movement patterns. Remove the need to prove anything.
No overload.
No rep records.
No “I feel good today, so technically this is still Active Rest at RIR 1.”
The running reset
Running changes more than strength.
The previous structure was four runs per week, with roughly three one-hour sessions and one long run around 90 minutes.
That is gone.
For these two weeks:
- running frequency drops from 4 to 3 sessions per week,
- every run is limited to roughly 40-50 minutes,
- there is only one steady run,
- there are no cruise intervals, repeats, or hard threshold sessions,
- and a fourth aerobic session comes from 30 minutes on the StairMaster.
This reduces running specificity slightly on purpose.
For most of the year I treated running improvement as if more running-specific volume was automatically better. The result was a lot of slow running, a lot of accumulated impact, and not much evidence that another 90-minute easy run was the missing ingredient.
For now I want a broader aerobic stimulus with lower mechanical cost.
Not less cardio.
Less repeated running load.
Run 1 - Easy
40-50 minutes.
Easy means easy.
No pace target and no attempt to manufacture a particular cadence. I want a relaxed running pattern and a quiet groin, not another technique intervention copied from YouTube.
Run 2 - Z2 run/walk
My second laboratory test placed Zone 2 at 140-149 bpm.
Instead of deliberately slowing my running mechanics to stay below the top of the range, I will use a simple alert system:
- run while HR is 140-149 bpm,
- when the 149 bpm alert fires, walk,
- when HR drops below 140 bpm, run again.
The interesting variable here is not pace.
It is whether I can accumulate aerobic work inside the measured zone while allowing the movement itself to stay natural.
Run 3 - Steady
One controlled quality-lite session.
40-50 minutes total, with the working section in steady territory.
No threshold ambition.
No cruise intervals.
No 180+ bpm experiment.
The purpose is to keep some speed in the system without recreating the exact stimulus that has been irritating the groin.
StairMaster
30 minutes in Zone 2.
This is the deliberate specificity trade.
Running is still the primary aerobic modality, but not every cardiovascular adaptation requires another running session.
For two weeks, stairs give me aerobic work without another round of repetitive running impact.
Strength: preserve patterns, cut the cost
Strength stays at two full-body sessions per week.
I do not want Active Rest to become random machine training completely detached from the movements I actually care about.
So the main patterns stay:
- squat,
- press,
- vertical pull,
- horizontal pull,
- triceps,
- some biceps,
- shoulder skill work.
But the exercises and loads change enough to reduce direct specificity and accumulated stress.
General rules:
- approximately 50% of normal overload-day intensity and volume,
- RIR 6+ as the practical governor,
- no progression between Week 1 and Week 2,
- no added sets,
- no top sets,
- no grinders,
- stop any movement that reproduces the groin problem.
The second week repeats the first.
Feeling stronger is not permission to turn the second week into Week 1 of the next block.
Strength Session A
| Exercise | Work | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Barbell Back Squat | 3 x 6-8 @ 40 kg | Free squat returns, but at roughly half-strength territory instead of continuing the Smith progression. |
| Incline Dumbbell Press | 3 x 8-10, very easy | Keeps a chest pressing pattern while giving flat bench a complete break. |
| Leg Extension | 2 x 10-12, easy | Quad stimulus without deep loaded hip flexion. |
| One-Arm Dumbbell Row | 3 x 8-10, easy | Familiar horizontal pull, heavily backed off. |
| One-Arm Overhead DB Triceps Extension | 2 x 10-12 @ ~8 kg | Same useful triceps pattern, far below the previous heavy 12 kg work. |
| Dumbbell Curl | 2 x 10-12, easy | Minimal direct biceps work. |
The squat stays because removing every specific strength pattern would solve the wrong problem.
The previous block used the Smith machine. Returning to a 40 kg free squat gives me technical practice with a very small absolute load.
Leg press does not get the same privilege.
Deep heavy leg press was one of the first movements associated with the groin problem. I could test a different selectorized machine and hope that it behaves differently.
There is no reason to.
Two weeks without leg press costs nothing.
Strength Session B
Before the working sets:
Handstand practice
5-10 minutes.
This is skill work, not conditioning.
The previous block used wall handstand holds. Now I can spend a few minutes actually practicing the position and balance while the shoulders are fresh.
Stop before fatigue turns skill practice into ugly pressing volume.
Then:
| Exercise | Work | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press | 3 x 8-10, very easy | Reintroduces seated shoulder pressing with low load instead of repeating the old heavy pressing pattern. |
| Leg Curl | 3 x 10-12, easy | One direct hamstring exposure per week is enough here. |
| Lat Pulldown | 3 x 8-10, easy | Controlled vertical pulling without explosive pull-up work. |
That is only nine normal working sets plus the handstand practice.
Good.
The goal is not to make Sessions A and B look symmetrical in a spreadsheet.
The goal is recovery.
What is deliberately missing
Several movements disappear completely for fourteen days:
- flat bench press,
- Smith squat,
- leg press,
- Bulgarian split squat,
- box jumps,
- explosive pull-ups,
- hard core work that reproduces groin symptoms,
- and hip thrust.
Hip thrust deserves special mention.
It has been productive for roughly nine months and reached 130 kg without being a problem.
That is exactly why I am removing it.
Not every removed exercise needs a replacement.
Two weeks without hip thrust gives the pattern a genuine break and gives the glutes plenty of time to survive the devastating absence of 130 kg across my pelvis.
They will cope.
Weekly structure
The exact days can move, but the intended rhythm is:
| Day | Session | Goal |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Off | Full rest |
| Tuesday | Steady run | Controlled running stimulus |
| Wednesday | Strength A | Light full-body strength |
| Thursday | Z2 run/walk | Aerobic work inside 140-149 bpm |
| Friday | Strength B | Light strength + handstand skill |
| Saturday | Easy run | Relaxed running, low mechanical cost |
| Sunday | StairMaster 30 min | Z2 cardio without another run |
Week 2 repeats the same structure.
There is no Week 2 progression.
What happens after the two weeks
Active Rest is not the new training philosophy.
It is a reset before the next macrocycle.
The current direction is:
- Active Rest - 2 weeks
- Cut / Hypertrophy - 3:1
- Cut / Hypertrophy - 3:1
- Mass / Hypertrophy - 4:1
- Strength mesocycle
- Return to Hypertrophy and Strength as needed before a later peak
The cut has a very practical reason.
Bodyweight has moved to roughly 83.5 kg, and I have added more body fat than I want. The initial target is around 80 kg, likely using roughly 2500 kcal/day and aiming for a controlled loss around 0.5 kg per week.
The training objective during that phase will not be to build maximum new muscle.
It will be to preserve muscle and strength while body fat comes down.
Then calories can come back up and essentially the same hypertrophy principles can finally be used for their other job: building tissue instead of defending it.
That is the larger change in how I want to train.
The last year was mostly one long sequence of similar work.
The next one should have actual phases with different jobs.
For the next fourteen days, though, there is only one job:
Reduce cost without becoming inactive.