MTN Tough Post Season Strength 2.0

[hoosierhunter11]

Anyone else working through this program? I am about to finish up week 2. I love it. I came in in decent shape and it's whooping my you know what. Started at 255, hoping to be at 240ish by the end of the 16 weeks.

My gym does not heavy sandbags or med balls and the program calls for 60-80 pounds of these. What are folks doing to sub? I've been replacing med ball/sand bag over the shoulders with heavy DB cleans to the shoulder. Any other ideas?

I'm also subbing any walking lunges with step ups. I had a foot surgery that recked my big toe mobility back in 2023. I am still struggling to lunge through my right foot under weight. Step ups are better than nothing. I LOVE all the bulgarian programming.

Get after it!

 

[IDShane]

I am on week 8 of the program I like it too. I keep tweaking my back on the deadlifts I just can't seem to get my form right on them. After 2 weeks of healing I got back to it tonight with "The Reckoning" that was one hell of a welcome back.....

 

[Echo]

It’s a good program, for sure. I think step ups are a great sub for lunges and if your gym doesn’t have sandbags, you can mod most of those movements with a dumbbell.

Also, MTN Tough does have a lot of movements that suggest heavy weights for things like ground to shoulder. I haven’t seen a ton of gyms that have medballs in the 60 to 80 range. So, I’ve often done those same movements with a lighter weight and more reps. Something around 20 to 30lbs.

Most of the time, those pieces are thrown in as accessory work, or to keep a metcon going so your heart rate is up. I think it’s fine to experiment with lower weights and higher reps. You really want your focus for strength gains on the primary lifts where you build in plenty of reps.

 

[V2Pnutrition]

My gym does not heavy sandbags or med balls and the program calls for 60-80 pounds of these. What are folks doing to sub? I've been replacing med ball/sand bag over the shoulders with heavy DB cleans to the shoulder. Any other ideas?

Now is a great time to grab a tube of sand at your local hardware store for pretty cheap.
Wrap it in duck tape so it'll survive the over shoulders. This doubles great as a weight for pack training in the summer, too. Mine is several years old and keeps going (with occasional repair to the duck tape).

You can buy one of these, too. GoRuck has similar ones. And, there are a couple of cheap ones on Amazon.

Fill it with pea gravel vs sand if you want more weight than the bag suggests in can hold. You can add/remove however much you want to get the desired weight.

I also have one of these stuffed with pea gravel that's survived quite a bit of abuse.

 

[hoosierhunter11]

Now is a great time to grab a tube of sand at your local hardware store for pretty cheap.
Wrap it in duck tape so it'll survive the over shoulders. This doubles great as a weight for pack training in the summer, too. Mine is several years old and keeps going (with occasional repair to the duck tape).

You can buy one of these, too. GoRuck has similar ones. And, there are a couple of cheap ones on Amazon.

Fill it with pea gravel vs sand if you want more weight than the bag suggests in can hold. You can add/remove however much you want to get the desired weight.

I also have one of these stuffed with pea gravel that's survived quite a bit of abuse.

This is solid advice - I do have a canvas bag at home that can hold up to 100 pounds of pea gravel that I use for training hikes. I've considered dragging it into the gym during the workouts that require it... seems like a case of me overthinking this.

 

[hoosierhunter11]

It’s a good program, for sure. I think step ups are a great sub for lunges and if your gym doesn’t have sandbags, you can mod most of those movements with a dumbbell.

Also, MTN Tough does have a lot of movements that suggest heavy weights for things like ground to shoulder. I haven’t seen a ton of gyms that have medballs in the 60 to 80 range. So, I’ve often done those same movements with a lighter weight and more reps. Something around 20 to 30lbs.

Most of the time, those pieces are thrown in as accessory work, or to keep a metcon going so your heart rate is up. I think it’s fine to experiment with lower weights and higher reps. You really want your focus for strength gains on the primary lifts where you build in plenty of reps.

Good points! I'll fiddle around with the weight and rep scheme. Thanks!

 

[samhelmer]

On week 14 and it’s great. Less high intensity than some of the other programs and some good traditional strength training. Also some good primal movements that make me feel like a sissy. Good stuff but will be hard to go to the next program if there is more cardio/high intensity stuff just due to the lack of it on this particular program.
I also really enjoyed the kettlebell specific programs that MTNTOUGH has.

 

[Mongo_jr]

Anyone else working through this program? I am about to finish up week 2. I love it. I came in in decent shape and it's whooping my you know what. Started at 255, hoping to be at 240ish by the end of the 16 weeks.

My gym does not heavy sandbags or med balls and the program calls for 60-80 pounds of these. What are folks doing to sub? I've been replacing med ball/sand bag over the shoulders with heavy DB cleans to the shoulder. Any other ideas?

I'm also subbing any walking lunges with step ups. I had a foot surgery that recked my big toe mobility back in 2023. I am still struggling to lunge through my right foot under weight. Step ups are better than nothing. I LOVE all the bulgarian programming.

Get after it!

I think you’re spot on with cleans. Could also do ground to overhead with 45 or 55 lb plate and increase reps for lower weight?
Or bring a backpack with a sandbag from hardware store in it?