A Week in The Life of My Training

At your request, I recorded a week of my training.

Date: November 14, 2026

At your request, I recorded a week of my training. I’m including a sample photo of my next gym, which will help you visualize the purpose of my program.

MONDAY: BODYWEIGHT

I start with a Gymnastics / Bodyweight Day, which includes fundamentals like pulling, pressing, and core strengthening, plus building lower body strength, mobility, and explosive power.

This full body gymnastics day was unexpected. It came from my experiences coaching my parents, wife, children and high school students.

I’ve been a volunteer high school coach most of my adult life. After my own family, mentoring high schoolers remains my #1 passion.

In the past, we had methods that got high school students fit, but they didn’tknow the Why behind it. They didn’t know the history. They didn’t know GRADIENT SCALES, so they could use the knowledge the rest of their lives to help themselves and others.

That’s what I do.

My parents can work on any physical ability that my kids can!

This full-body Gymnastics Day isn’t “better” than other programming styles - it’s way more realistic.

The toughest coaching I’ve ever done is with groups of high schoolers.

I’m unable to coach high school groups through many styles of fitness in a single session with the ATG educational standard I’ve grown accustomed to.

By working on “only” bodyweight on Monday, I can better teach and progress those abilities.

This also gives me a full session I can do with my younger children - yet this session is so robust, it makes me an even freakier athlete, and thanks to gradient scale obsession, my parents can also work on it all!

This is priceless for me.

Take a day off, and upon these bodyweight abilities you can envision how smoothly my kids will eventually learn…

WEDNESDAY: FREE WEIGHT

My kids already ask to copy me, so I got them some sand kettlebells.

I have three generations working on my bread and butter: the counterbalance squat.

The 1970s university mistakes of “no knees over toes” was understandable, but now requires education to sort out.

Long-term studies now show it’s a good thing to work, but working through painain’t truth, either.

The farther the weight is in front of you, the less knee pressure!

This is an example of the value of free weight.

I work on the same motion as my dad, just heavier and closer to my body.

I would also consider a full split squat among my bread and butter free weight exercises.

This is another example of the value of free weight.

THERE IS NO MACHINE THAT MIMICS THESE MOBILITY RESULTS.

This is arguably the most direct exercise to balance out excessively sitting in a chair, since you work “below the chair” and stretch the hip back to balance out the forward stiff hip position.

You can do this with just a stairwell, and this could be considered a bodyweight exercise, but for certain goals I add load.

(This Monday - Wednesday - Friday system of Bodyweight - Free Weight - Machine is not perfect. The purpose is realistic and exceptional results and education. You can easily customize details within my framework.)

I’ve also spent over a decade working on my ability to pick things up withoutrounding my back (which is strategically and safely addressed in Friday’s session with single-leg back extension progression).

A traditional deadlift involves hoisting a heavy weight, then more or less crashing it back to the ground.

This is fine, but factually it has among the highest rates of low back injury of any activity.

What I’m talking about is not letting the weights crash to the ground, owning the tension, and even stretching my upper hamstrings.

Even for someone who wants to pursue a maximum deadlift, this foundation is logical to support.

For general health purposes, you can start this with light dumbbell/kettlebell loading.

These three exercises are the heart of how I went from reaching my 20s having never been able to grab the basketball rim (mostly due to injuries holding me back), to being able to dunk from a full squat and do the splits at age 35, with no signs of slowing down.

I will obviously stay true to my basics!

Take the next day off, then…

FRIDAY: MACHINES

Calves, ham curls, groin, back extensions, and rows are my favorites.

Look how the groin machine accurately measures your strength and flexibility - that’s incredible!

There are also bodyweight and free weight options for the groin, and that’s how I teach the groin, but no bodyweight or free weight version trains and measures its strength and flexibility as safely and simply.

This is an example of how it would be unfairly biased of me not to teach my students the value of machines.

Bodyweight, free weight, and machines have wonderful values.

A true education would teach some of each area.

CONCLUSION

This schedule has increased my exercise joy, improved my recovery, and is taking my total ability and physique up a notch, but with my purposes in life, I really don’t have a choice but to break things up more patiently for better focus and teaching of each part.

My wife and I have land paid off and are now saving up to build this big garage-style structure. Since it’s a volunteer project, we don’t want any financial stress, so this will be a patient process.

I’ve had a few ideas of how I want to help the next generation, but this is the first one that aligns ATG, my family, and my personal passion.

Thank YOU for making this possible.

I’ll keep on keeping you posted as life goes.

Yours in Solutions,

Ben

Help with this program (Timeless Basics) starts at $19 a month, with full access to all my other programs

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